Beware of the boy who speaks to the dead

The Zed wolves

The wolves circle the area, they surprisingly accepted him and the crawler into their group. Bluescreen sits near a few of the wolves, one licking his hair and another laying on his lap. He smiles a bit, letting them do what they do. They wolves seemed to like his presence, thinking of how happy they seem. But suddenly, he feels one sniffing his side, where his wound is. The crawler tries to push the wolf’s face away, but it in return shoves his hand and nudges the bandages off. It then licks the wound, numbing it surprisingly. The crawler didn’t seem to like that it did that, nor did it like being here. “So I guess you could hear me before?”, says that same voice from when he was running, the one that told him to run in the first place. Bluescreen looks around confused, “Who a-are you? I-I k-know you a-aren’t a normal s-spirit.”. “And I see you aren’t a normal human. I’m the thing you’ve been carrying in your backpack”, the voice says calmly, “I wasn’t sure if you really could hear me or not. Thought I was waiting to see if you’d ask me about it. I was really expecting you to. How in the h*** are you able to do it?”. Bluescreen turns toward the Crawler, he isn't as confused as he was before, “I h-have a-an ability t-to hear t-things t-that can’t talk. M-More or l-less, I c-consider t-the things I-I talk t-to spirits. D-Dead p-people. But I-I didn’t think I-I could h-hear the u-undead.” The Crawler just rolls it’s eyes a bit, “Well I guess you can. I know for sure you aren’t stupid. Really, I’m not being sarcastic or anything.”, he looks at him, “Thought I didn’t think you could hear me or that you were smart enough to run when I told you to. Though honestly it was very unsmart of you to help me in the first place. But I thank you for it, you really aren’t a bad kid as far as I know.”. The alpha looks at them and the wolves nearby guard the area again, leaving Bluescreen and the Crawler alone. “W-Why is t-that? A-Are you gonna e-eat me?”, Bluescreen asks a bit nervously. The crawler laughs a bit, “No kid. I like you.”, the voice seemed more embodied now to what was talking. Bluescreen kinda smiles a bit, he never really thought anyone would ever talk to him. He then realized this is the only real conversation he’s ever had, besides with Paperjam of course. “W-Well...um...d-do you have a-a name? I-I don’t k-know it..”, Bluescreen asks kinda tilting his head. The Crawler looks away a bit, “Eh, I do. But I liked what you called me before.”, “D-Deathly?”, “Yes I like that. Better than my old name. Not many undead remember their names but I did, I kinda just wish I hadn’t so technically you would be naming me.”. Bluescreen smiles a bit and looks around to check the surroundings. The forest was a bit dark now, leaves and sticks littered the ground around him. He smiles cause it reminds him of when he finally got away, when he was finally at last free. “Didn’t you say your name before?”, Deathly asks seeming to be thinking about what he asked. Bluescreen looks confused but shrugs a bit, “I-I don’t remember b-but I m-may h-have at t-the house o-or when we m-met. I-It’s Bluescreen.”, he responds with. The zombie smirks a bit, “I can see why they added the Blue part.”. Bluescreen blushes a bit in embarrassment, “My b-brother named m-me…”, he says very quietly. “We can get off that subject, I have something more important to speak with you about. Your survival. I’m not sure how you survived on your own this long, child. Nowadays this world is quite dangerous for a young one such as yourself.”, Deathly states, he’s very exact with his words like a doctor or a writer. Bluescreen looks at him and smiles more, “Oh well uh...I j-just r-ran away from m-my dad a-and m-my group r-recently. A-And I h-had other help.”. “Hmm well, I see you don’t speak very well, you stammer a lot. I’m guessing you might have been born before, when, or after the apocalypse happened, judging you’re young enough to be a child. You obviously don’t seem to have much education.”, Deathly says with a frown, taking in how the boy acts and why. Bluescreen looks down, “I-I’m usually s-shy w-with humans. A-Also yes, I-I’m a c-child. 13 o-or 14. I-I h-haven’t really k-kept track exactly. B-But why d-does that m-matter?”. Deathy looks up at him and kinda examines his face for a second, “You may have been born during the beginning. I should know, I was there when it began. I used to be a scientist. You’ve been living in this h*** your whole life.”. The large eyes of blue fill with wonder, “W-What’s a s-scientist?”. Deathly smiles a bit, “Kinda like a doctor if you know what that is. Except we um, don’t always do things to help just humans. And some scientists don’t even help humans. I remember what I used to do kinda, I was a biochemist from what I remember. I think I worked with illnesses. The last thing I do remember doing as a scientist was trying to neutralize the virus which made me what I am. But there was an explosion and I guess I lost my legs somehow between there.”.  A small silence passes between them, Bluescreen seems a bit sad. But he wasn’t sure Deathly was sad about it, maybe not anymore anyways. “So. Why exactly did you run from your group? I don’t think you told me.”, Deathly asks sitting in front of him after crawling out of the backpack. Bluescreen thinks for a second, he isn’t sure if he really wants to tell the zombie about it. About his brothers suicide, his dad’s abuse, the other groups neglect. Should he tell him? Can he tell him? He really doesn’t know about it, but he just ignores the feeling of dread and just says it. He has to say something at least, “I-I ran b-because I-I have n-no place i-in their w-world. T-They’re dead a-anyways, t-they lived w-where that c-crater is o-out there. I-I’m k-kinda glad I-I left.”. The zombie looks at him confused, “Didn’t they take care of you and love you? Why would you want to be gone? Why exactly would you wanna lose that?”, he asks. Bluescreen looks down and feels his eyes burn and water slightly, “...w-would you w-wanna s-stay locked u-up in a r-room your w-whole life? W-Would y-you wanna l-live like t-that?”. The boy looks up, tears rolling down his cheeks, Deathly feels a little bad seeing his face, “Aw Blue...I didn’t...you know what you don’t have to talk about it. Just forget I even asked.”. “N-No...I-I wanna t-tell you. Y-You’re one o-of the n-nicest p-people I’ve e-ever met…”, Bluescreen wipes the tears from his eyes and takes a breath before speaking, “I-I lived i-in a r-room, j-just a r-room. I-I was n-never allowed out. N-Never. I-I never met m-my m-mother. And m-my d-dad, he a-always abused m-me and m-my older b-brother, Paperjam. H-He didn’t hurt u-us physically i-if you k-know w-what I m-mean..and m-my brother I r-recently lost. H-He couldn’t take t-the pain a-anymore, he j-just...h-he shot h-his brains o-out...a-and I k-knew then, I-I had to g-go. So I-I gathered w-what I-I could a-and left.”. The wolves move a bit and go to sleep, Deathly looks down for a second looking for the words to respond with, he then looks up confidently as scientist do, “Maybe you made the right decision to leave. No one, especially a child, should be locked up in a room. I think you may have ended up like your brother honestly. Yet um...in a different way. Your farm is gone you said, right?”. Bluescreen nods a bit, more tears forming in his light blue eyes. Then suddenly the boy broke, he just couldn’t take it anymore, he hugs Deathly and sobs quietly. Deathly is a bit surprised yet hugs back, “It’s ok. They can’t hurt you anymore.”. Though, Deathly may be wrong, for sure he knows well. He didn’t hear his dad’s voice.