Memento Mori

The time is 7:21pm. Rain hits the windows of a small office. The view is from a high rise overlooking a colorful city. Axel sits at his desk, tapping his fingers on his desk in a state of boredom. The zombie hunter looks at his computer, searching for a listing from anyone that needs any undead exterminated but is empty handed in his search. He shuts his eyes and sighs.

"Really? Nobody needs zombies killed tonight? No vampires slain? No werewolves put down? No pizzas delivered? Just another slow night, I guess." says Axel, with his eyes closed and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looks at the vintage phone on the desk but is disappointed to not hear a single ring. "Well it's not a stream night... and almost everybody I know is busy. I guess I'm on my own tonight."

The hunter examines the room, looking for something to kill his boredom with. He looks at this computer and browses the library of games on it but nothing interests him. Axel looks over at the wall of firearms at the corner of his eye. A small portion of a collection that had been built up over several years of zombie hunting, alongside his favorite wooden bat covered with barbed wire at the end, which he dubbed the Wooden Rose.

"I spent all day yesterday cleaning them. Not really a point since I can't get a job to use them on", Axel tells himself then peers over at his workbench to see an unfinished rifle he had been working on.

Axel gets out of his chair, taking a minute to stretch and get his bearings. He walks across the dimly lit room to reach his workbench. The young zombie hunter looks at the rifle and holds it in his hands.

"An AN-94..." said the zombie hunter "pretty hard to find these and a pain in the ass to work with."

Inspecting the rifle, he looks at the pitch black finish, with the sides of the rifle both having a spade, heart, club, and diamond, all in silver. Under the symbols is the phrase Memento Mori.

 
"Remember you must die... unfortunately, not all of us get the fortune to die."

Distraught, Axel puts the rifle back on the workbench and walks back over to sulk at his desk. The multitude of picture frames on the desk catch his attention. He glances through all of them, spotting pictures of him with friends he made through streaming. Axel cracks a smile and chuckles looking over the picture frames until he notices the last one on the desk. The photo is of a group of young and joyful athletes on a baseball diamond, holding up a trophy and all wearing the same jersey; the jersey of the Elysium Island Frogs. The zombie hunter cradles the photo in his hands and a tear rolls down his cheek.

Axel thinks back on the fond memories he had with the Frogs, a baseball team he played with before he became a zombie hunter. He remembers the highs and the lows with his teammates, all the hardships they endured and prospered through together. All the victories they achieved but all the losses they also suffered in their seasons playing together. With the memories of Frogs also came the memories of that horrible night; the night of the zombie outbreak on Elysium Island. Axel starts to remember witnessing all his teammates dying and succumbing to the hordes of the undead, leaving him the last one alive until the horde took his life as well. He then remembers why he's still living.

"That Phoenix..." thinking to himself, "They cut me a deal. I would be granted immortality if I swore to fight the undead. I wouldn't be here without them... Was it really worth it?"

Axel ponders to himself and thinks for what seemed like an eternity before making up his mind. He puts the picture frame down, gets up, and slams his fist on the desk.

"Of course it was. I'm not gonna let any more people die to the undead." Axel proclaims and looks back at the picture frame with him and his old team, "I'm not going to let your deaths be in vain."

With determination, he walks back over his workbench and finishes work on the black and silver assault rifle. "Memento Mori... another beautiful creation." he smirks to himself.

Axel hears a ring coming from the phone on his desk and answers before hanging up.

"Time to send some undead bastards back to hell."

The zombie hunter slings the Memento Mori and Wooden Rose on his back, holstering his favorite revolver Kingslayer on his side. Axel heads out the door of his apartment to take on the first of many zombie hunting jobs of the night.