《Survival in a Zombie World》


 The Day Of The Storm

    It was 5am, and the sun was finally pulling over the horizon, bathing the world in its warm, bright glow. It illuminated the populous city Warden, hugging a river enclosed by mountains with highways piercing through the mountain range.


    Damon Thana sat high in the clouds overlooking the city far away on a cliff face. He was rock climbing again and had stopped to camp on the cliff. The thrill of being above the world like this made him fall in love with rock climbing. He sat there breathing in the sight when suddenly his phone rang.


    He picked up his phone and answered it cheerfully.


    "Hello, mom. What''s up?"


    But his mother''s tone on the other side of the phone was anything but cheerful.


    "Damon! Where are you right now?! Are you safe!? They''re talking about zombies or something crazy like that. Your dad said people are trying to evacuate to the military base by Altoron. We have your brother with us, but we have no clue where your sister is. Please tell me you are safe and not in that rain!"


    Damon was stunned by the machine-gun fire of questions and barrage of information that was just thrown at him.


    "What? What rain are you talking about? I''m in the mountains right now. I''m rock climbing. But I think Stella was with her friends last time I heard. And why would we be evacuating to Alotoron, and did you say something about zombies??"


    "Yes! Zombies! People are saying people soaked by the red rain turn into zombies. So please get inside and stay out of the rain! Call me as soon as you find shelter and call me if you hear anything about your sister. Your dad is packing the car right now, and we are taking your brother to the military base. So please stay safe, okay! Come find us at the base!"


    Before Damon could reply suddenly, a blood-curdling scream erupted from the phone, and then all he could hear was the sound of the phone being dropped and a deadline.


    "MOM!! MOM!! FUCK!!!"


    Damon shouted into the phone.


    ( FUCK I gotta get down the mountain. I gotta get to the military base. FUCK what the hell is going on.)


    Damon kept calling his mother''s phone, waiting for her to pick up, praying that this was all a prank. But he had never known her to pull a stunt like this as he kept calling her phone in a panic. Dark clouds coalesced together in the clear skies above him, forming a storm. The clouds gathered together until finally their payload was released, and a torrent of red rained down from the skies. The rain instantly slammed down into Damon, soaking him to the core.


    (Fuck I am guessing this is the rain that mom was talking about. I gotta get down and out of this storm.)The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Damon quickly started to pack up his camp on the cliffside as he rushed to get down the mountain and see his family. But in his haste in the rain, Damon slipped from the hill and started to slide downhill in the mud. Damon''s hands grasped out, looking for any purchase in the slick hillside. Damon continued his descent down the mountain until he arrived at a cliff and shot off the edge of it. Damon soared through the air for several seconds until his body met the ground in a sickening crunch.


    The rain continued to pour down from the sky, bathing Damon''s body. Bones stuck out from Damon''s flesh as they were splintered into pieces from the drop. The raindrops flowed into his wounds, fusing with blood running through his veins together.


    (Fuck.... damn it. I don''t want to die like this. I need to get back to my family.)


    The rain flooded into his body, mutating his genes. It seemed to mutate his cells as his heart slowed down. His heart had slowed to such a point it had nearly flatlined, yet his cells did not stop mutating. Instead, his cells mutated even faster as they started to cannibalize nearby cells directly to hasten the transformation, unlike before, when it was slowly nurturing the cells into a change. But the change in his cells had actually repaired Damon''s heart enough for it to start beating again. So again, feeling that heartbeat, the cells slowed down and began to nurture his cells again like before, as if they''ve been lulled into peace by his heartbeat and were no longer so ferocious. That was until the energy that sustained his heart ran out, and his heartbeat slowed. The second his heartbeat wavered again, the cells started to fiercely mutate again. But this mutation provided energy to fuel his heartbeat, then it ran out, and the cells mutated. Once again, this cycle continued over and over. His body fell into this cycle ending in an odd state of balance as he hung on the edge of life and death. The energy was never enough to fully heal him, yet it never diminished sufficiently for him to die either. Damon laid there in the dirt for what seemed like hours. The rain seemed to never stop, as if it was trying to drown him in its downpour. It took an entire day and night until finally, it did. The black clouds broke, and a clear blue sky was revealed.


    Damon had survived the storm. His body had slowly pulled itself back together during the storm, using the rainwater as fuel to heal him. His eyes slowly fluttered open as the sunlight hit him. Damon barely managed to open his eyes and look at his grizzled hands before he shot up in fear.


    (WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH MY HANDS!!!???!!?!?)


    Damon''s hands had turned into tiny claws from his previously trimmed nails. Damon quickly started to check the rest of his body for any changes. His previously bronzed skin had now paled and greyed slightly. Damon hastily pulled out his phone and took a photo of his eyes and teeth, checking them too before confirming with fear that his teeth had changed. His teeth had sharpened with multiple canine teeth protruding out, having grown in length overnight. While his eyes remained the same light green, they have always been. At least that reassured him slightly.


    (Wait a minute... didn''t mom say something about those hit by the rain turning into zombies?? Am I a zombie now?)


    The fear of turning into a mindless zombie made Damon''s heartbeat shoot through the roof. He had seen too many zombie movies and played too many zombie games for him to ever think being zombie was a good end.


    ( I don''t want to be a zombie freak!!!!!)


    Damon tried to rein in his breathing as his heart pounded in his chest.


    (My heart is going crazy right now!! Wait a minute? My heart is going crazy right now? How did he have a heartbeat if he was a zombie?)


    This thought calmed Damon slightly as he put his hand to his throat, feeling for his heartbeat. The familiar beat sent some relief through his body.


    ( I have a heartbeat. I am alive as long as I have a heartbeat. Zombies don''t have heartbeats. Ergo I''m not a zombie. But I have claws and fangs like a zombie. But I have a heartbeat, though... wait, does that make me a half-zombie??)


    This thought sent Damon spiralling again.


    (Being half-zombie isn''t much better than being a total zombie....)

 Biker Zombie

    (Should I start hungering for brains now, or does that come later? Besides falling off a cliff, blacked out and woken up with fangs and claws, I still feel pretty normal.)


    Damon looked down at his clawed hands. Without a doubt, they were not the hands of an ordinary person but then again, nothing a good pair of gloves couldn''t fix. For his teeth, he just had to keep his mouth shut. The idea of being a zombie had freaked him out at first, but for some reason, the panic didn''t last very long as he slowly accepted what he had to. The emotions he felt before felt diluted as if toned down somehow. But, whatever. Right now, the first priority is packing up and making it to the city. Next, he had to find his family. Everything else could wait.


    Damon stood up and patted himself off a cloud of dust and dirt flying off from him. His clothes were torn in many places from the fall, and they had holes from where his bones pierced cloth. His clothes were also dyed red from the rain and his blood. If someone saw him now, they would think he looked more like a full-zombie than a half-zombie. Luckily there was no one else around. Damon really didn''t want to be confused for a zombie, and worse, he didn''t want to find out if he really craved for brains or not.


    Damon took a look up at the massive cliff he had fallen off from and started to wordlessly make his way back up to his camp. It took him about 20 minutes of tireless climbing to make it back up to his tent. Everything was as he left it except that everything was now soaked from the rain. A small pool of red rain had accumulated on the top of his tent. Seeing that, Damon quickly emptied out a water bottle to collect the rainwater. He didn''t know what it was, but maybe he could get it to someone for analysis. Any information at this point could only help. Damon had felt like he had just walked into the world''s biggest puzzle, and he had to collect every useful puzzle piece he could. After putting the water bottle away, Damon got to work packing up his camp. It took him about 15 minutes before he was packed up and in his car speeding down the road, all changed in clean clothes. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was a black crowbar he had grabbed from his trunk. It was a gift from one of his cousins. He told Damon to always keep a crowbar in the trunk when he first got the car cause a crowbar is always useful. At the time, Damon laughed and thought it was a weird joke, but now he felt it was surprisingly solid advice.


    Damon had made it about halfway down the dirt path to the main road before seeing an overturned motorcycle ahead of him. Someone was lying in the middle of the street wearing a black motorcycle helmet with red flames down the side and typical black biker leather gear. If Damon had to make a wild guess, that was probably the bike''s owner. Damon''s car rolled to a stop a couple of feet away from the accident.


    (Should I get out and see if I can help this guy? Or just whip past him? What if I go out there and suddenly feel the urge to eat him? That would be really fucked up! But then again, it would probably be better finding out now in buttfuck nowhere. Instead of when I finally meet a group of people and end up eating one of their faces.)


    After a couple of moments of hesitation, Damon decided to get out of the car. He started moving closer to the body, trusty crowbar in hand.


    "Hello? Are you okay, man? Still hanging on by a thread?"


    Damon spoke out hesitantly, waiting for a reaction. His two hands gripped the crowbar tightly, ready to swing on any movement. Only the wind answered back as it rustled leaves nearby. Damon''s head swivelled back and forth, scanning the environment. This continued for a minute before the guy on the road slowly started moving. The body struggled to get up for a second before finally standing upright. It slowly turned to face Damon, the helmet on its head completely obscuring any vision of the guy''s head. Then slowly, with outstretched arms, the man started to shuffle towards Damon. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    (Oh shit, that''s a fucking zombie, alright.)


    "Hey, man, quit fucking playing. This is not funny!"


    Yelled out, Damon. He made several empty swings in the air to scare the zombie off while backing away towards his car.


    The zombie shuffled closer and closer before making a lunge toward Damon. Seeing the lunge coming, Damon decisively dodged to the left, avoiding the lunge as if foreseeing it. Then, seeing the zombie wide open, Damon swung the crowbar viciously down onto the helmeted zombie''s head. The blow sent the zombie stumbling down onto the ground. But the helmet seemed to do its job, and the zombie was slowly getting back on its feet. Once the zombie got up, it started its slow advance once again. Then once again, it made its lunge, and just like before, Damon patiently waited for the lunge, dodged it and swung the crowbar down on the helmet. But the helmet held up, protecting the zombie. Then repeating again, Damon swung the crowbar down on the zombie for the third time. But the third time was not the charm as the zombie got up again, shuffling towards his opponent. Damon quickly backed away, readying himself.


    "Man, can you please stop? I''m getting tired, aren''t you?"


    Damon joked out loud. He was breathing hard, and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Those previous strikes had taken quite a lot out of him. But as soon as he finished saying those words, he felt a green flash of light shoot towards the zombie then all he could feel was a pounding feeling in his head. Damon quickly shook himself free from the pain and looked up, fearing the zombie had made a move on him in his daze. But the zombie just stood there, having stopped in his tracks.


    (Uh, did this zombie really just stop because I said so?)


    The sight before him had Damon seriously confused.


    "Sit!"


    Trying to test his luck, Damon decided to test his luck again and yelled out another command. Suddenly a green flash shot at the zombie once again, and then the pounding headache appeared again. But just like before, the zombie followed the command and sat down on the concrete. When the headache receded and Damon saw that the zombie had sat down, his mind was blown.


    (Well, damn, I got a zombie pet now, I guess.)


    Damon cautiously approached the seated zombie. But even as Damon got into almost arms reach of the zombie, there was still no reaction from it. Damon got closer and closer, yet still no response. Eventually, Damon got close enough to flip the visor on the zombie''s helmet up, and a pair of glowing bright green eyes stared back at him. The moment their eyes met, Damon felt a flood of memories enter his mind. Suddenly it was as if he was looking through someone else''s eyes and he was someone else. The person he was looking through was sitting atop a bright red and black motorcycle riding through the valley like a meteor as the rider kept accelerating down the road. The bike''s engine roaring. Damon could not only see what the rider was doing but also experience his emotions and read his thoughts. But right now, Damon was focusing on the feeling of euphoria and excitement as the rider indulged in the joy of speeding. Then suddenly, a heavy wave of rain started to fall upon the rider. The onslaught of rain sent a wave of panic through the rider. The slick roads gave the bike''s tire little purchase as the road curved, and the rider crashed. The rider''s last thought was of how the rain felt against his skin. Then suddenly, Damon was back in his body, staring at the zombie.


    (What the fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. That was his last memories, weren''t they? How the hell did I just see that?)


    Damon stared at the zombie in confusion again. But this time, Damon saw a light green thread tied around the zombie''s neck, leading to his left wrist.


    (Did this appear cause I saw his memories, or did I see his memories because of this link?)


    Damon only felt more and more lost as the day went on. Well, whatever. Damon decided to shake off his confusion and just keep on moving. He was already a half-zombie. Any other weird stuff ranked below that. At least he''s got a travel companion now.


    "Well, I''m going to name you Zombo, and you''re going to be my number one lackey."


    Damon patted Zombo on the shoulder and left him sitting there as he headed towards the crashed bike.