ＡＵＳＴＥＲＥ

ᎾNE

(A/N: So I just wanna say you guys might want to be careful reading this... My character is very obviously unhinged, and holds some very dark ideals/conversations within his head. Just a brief warning. Otherwise, enjoy. :) )

I was never known for keeping good company. In fact some might say society's most nefarious individuals were drawn to me. If they were still here, I'd tell them that's no bad thing for nowadays, with the world in the state it is. Only those nefarious individuals, those with cunning and a side dark enough to make the devil himself blush, can survive.

I've always preferred to work alone. Even with the world the way it is, dying away as the few that still lived feared the dead.

Funny. I probably would've called them Goners, but nobody was as fun as I am. At least not anymore. Though, to be fair, I wasn't exactly the most entertaining guy with the way I was rummaging around the ransacked shelves of some mercantile in the middle of nowhere, searching for non-perishables in order to keep myself alive.

It took nearly half an hour for me to find even a few cans that had only expired about a month or so ago. Mystery meat is what I call it. No idea why people have to go around ripping off the tags to prevent others from knowing what was really in the can. Could be some zombie's balls for all I knew.

Zombies. People used to say that you shouldn't believe everything you saw on TV. Might've saved a lot of people if they weren't expecting the undead to be slow and unable to come out in daylight. No. These bastards could run nearly as fast as we ourselves could, and they seemed quite fine in the daylight if the last three years was anything to go by. Not even winter slowed them down anymore than one of us living.

It was nearly infuriating, probably would be if I was the type of guy to care.

With the way things've been going, I was almost tempted to get myself turned. With my armor, I'd be a fun challenge for other survivors. Imagine that, a big ol' juggernaut wearing enough armor to stop most weapons. Too bad I'd be too out of it to actually enjoy it.

Oh dear god, I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? Shouldn't matter. Better late than never, isn't it? I'm Bartholomew. Bartholomew Thaddeus Keeler, to be completely honest. Awesome name, I know. Shame I don't get to say it very often. Most people I've come across took to calling me Godzilla or Heavy. Some joker actually called me 'mountain' for the longest time I still got a kick out of it when I was trying to sleep.

I didn't realize I'd been crouching for so long until my legs began to burn, convincing me that I'd spent enough time in here, enough time playing the thinker, so I got up. Left the run-down mercantile to head for my van. The thing was a piece of junk, but all the additions were mine and that made it better: spikes, mirrors, the plow on the front was my favorite. 

Checking my chrono I could see it was almost noon. My current tag-along should be returning by now. If he didn't I'd just assume the worst and leave. I've always wondered how many of my partners got mauled because of that... Well, nothing to dwell on for so long. Why think about the negatives when you could think of the positives? Such as me still being alive? That was a great thing! It meant the living weren't extinct yet, and I was the best chance it had for staying alive until I got too old to outrun the dead. Long time in coming hopefully.