Tainted Curse

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The bleakness of the sky drew the last of my sorrows from beneath my protective shield of guilt, anger and enough pain to serve a lifetime.

Lifetime...

Wasn’t such a large word now I knew the truth. A lifetime could serve an eternity for me on this rock and I’d take every day with a casual breath, metaphorically of course. Breathing was a hassle that I didn’t keep up with.

 I chewed the inside of my cheek, blinking away the tears that threatened my eyes as I kicked my tattered converse against the brick wall that I was slouched on. Altogether, the wall took me a full five feet into the air. Enough to get a glimpse at the dying city lights ahead, enough for me to see the deserted dirt paths in front of my nose... enough to see the stars of the never space. The Universe I wished I knew.

“Hey guys, check it out!”

My ears pricked cautiously to the voice; though I knew who it was. K, her real name no one knew. Lost to the wind most likely decades ago. She didn’t share much; like all of us. We trusted each other with little, though in retrospect we were all we had of each other. I turned my head around to see her deep purple hair flapping in the breeze of the late summer night. She was doing what she did best, directing the newer ones whilst completely ignoring the rule of the elders. She knew no better, from what I could tell, she knew little of reality in general. All she had was death to keep her alive. Ironic really.

Her green tinged skin lifted into the moonlight, her bony forefinger protruding from her wrist like a weapon as she pointed out beyond the dirt path. Her violet eyes met my gaze steadily. “Do you feel it?”

I didn’t need to voice my agreement, I simply nodded. Her lips quivered with a smirk as she ushered our team to circle around. There were only six of us, some came and some went. We didn’t judge. If they were running on their last legs and needed a quick kill we’d serve it to them. Brains and human flesh hot and steamy ready for the taking. We were like the Zombie soup kitchen on legs.

 So far I only knew two of their names, the two I had been travelling with ever since I was turned eight or so months ago. You lose track of time after a while, your body clock falls to pieces and you’re left with a shred of the humanity you had when you were alive. That shred was never easy to work with.

“Come on guys, I want you lookin’ alive tonight. You wanna get a good meal you’re gonna have to work for it.” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes to that. The voice of a burly soldier, though he had no experience of it. Brendon; the jokester of the gang. He talked the most, but never said anything. He was a loner before he was bitten and all we could guess was getting turned brought the best out of him. It gave him friends and the opportunity to help people make a living in something other than gaining personal wealth. This was a matter of life and death, or rather undead or permanent dead, meaning no dramatic rising from the Graveyard down the street and most likely, no harmonious uniting with God either. We knew our place in the afterlife, which was why we steered clear of cities and picked out prey carefully. We didn’t want to meet our end. Truthfully, we were just as scared as the humans that locked their doors at night, the humans that told their kids not to open their windows. The people that were utterly serious when they said that Zombies could very well devour you in the night.

“Teagan, you gonna sit there all night? We got our prey so you helpin’ with the noobs or not?”

I sighed, rolling my shoulders. Sometimes I thought that if I looked at the stars... just for a while I could kid myself that I was human again. Getting tucked up in bed by my mother as she read me a story about Silkies or Fairies. Never Zombies; she didn’t believe the young mind should be tainted with such reality. I could feel my lip quiver. If she could see me now... oh how wrong she was.