Creatures On Fire

Hunt Me Down (Left 4 Dead)

It's been a while since the Green Flu has taken over the whole city. All happened so quickly, the entire population got infected by the unknown virus and not much time passed until living people turned into flesh-eating monsters that were driven by nothing but hunger. Some even got quite unique mutations; from the leaping and growling Hunters to huge gorilla-type things that were dubbed Tanks. This is how the city looked like now. It's what you could confidently call "The city of the dead".

I had no possibility to escape the infection either, and now I sat on the ground in the middle of the park, surrounded by the ordinary zombies that staggered around the city at a loose end. I lifted my head to look around with my white, blurry eyes and lowered it again, seeing nothing but my pale hands with a bit yellowish skin. It hasn't been a long time since I feasted on a living human that tried to escape the town. Yes, he sure tried a lot; he managed to evade and kill several average zombies and even shoot one Smoker on his way, but he always knew that the enemies are around which couldn't be said about me. I followed him stealthily, so he had no idea that I was near him; and when he thought he was safe, I pounced on him suddenly, sinking my teeth into his throat and leaving him no chance to survive. His flesh tasted marvelous, and for now I felt good. But time will pass and we all must search for more survivors. And it's not easy at all, considering the fact that the whole city was now populated by the zombies.

So far I was the only one among the infected who was still able to think and analyze the situation, at least in this part of the city. I was a unique type of zombie that maintained intelligence after the mutation. Basically my abilities didn't differ much from the Hunter's: agility, leaping, strength, and clawed hands. But the main difference between me and the Hunters was the ability to think and analyze; and I really didn't find it a good idea to growl so loudly. With that the Hunters always betrayed themselves, and humans always knew their location in advance and could prepare themselves for a counter attack. I was more of a hunting type, but it wasn't me who was called a Hunter. I wonder how humans would call me if they knew about such type of zombie. But it's not up to me to decide anyway, and I sure wasn't going to think about it. There were more important things to think about – hunting and searching for new flesh to feast on.

Thus the time would pass hour after hour, day after day, if it wasn't for one particular Hunter that had his eyes on me. I still don't really comprehend what exactly he wants from me. Usually zombies ignore each other, but this case was special. It has been several times already when he crawled close to me, growling quietly and sniffing me like a dog. Not that I has something against it, not at all. But all those times it ended with nothing, as we were always interrupted by some new meat to hunt. We had to use this opportunity, otherwise the meat would escape, and we would starve. And starving is not a very nice feeling, even if you are a zombie. But now I felt full and fine and I bet that Hunter felt the same for now.

Speaking of which, here he comes again. The sound of familiar growling reached my ears, and as I turned to face the source on the left, the hooded zombie pounced to me from the distance and now was only a few inches away from me. Growling gently, he sniffed my face and hair again; and judging by the sounds he made, he liked my smell. Now we had all the time in the world, so why not to try to know him better? Besides, I felt myself having interest in this Hunter; and while watching his actions, it gradually became clear to me that he was interested in me like a male is interested in a female. What he was doing now to me reminded of some kind of courtship ritual by different types of animals. And the Hunters mostly always are guided by animalistic behavior, but this particular one seemed to have some intelligence still left in him.

And I decided – why not? We are infected, but it doesn't mean yet that we are dead. We are mutants, but we're not walking rotten corpses. So why not to give it a try?