Heart Hunters

BEFORE THE CURE

H O L L Y

I'm not stupid. When Teddy never came back from his supply run, I knew — I knew it! And there he stood four years after his disappearance, staring directly at me from across the lot, his face half-eaten and gray and dead.

The pharmacy stood quiet and tempting. Tall shadows wandered in the tinted windows. Unlike the thing that used to be my brother, they hadn't caught my scent yet. That was the only thing keeping me from bolting for the pharmacy — that it hadn't moved at all since I fell in range.

You'd think the shell of my idiot brother would have the brain capacity to know when it's supposed to attack, right? Guess there wasn't much left after the Walker virus took over.

I reached over my shoulder and unslung my spiked bat. I didn't usually engage Walkers unless they were in my way, but what the Hell. My meds weren't going anywhere.

I should bury my brother before he wanders off again.

It didn't move at all as I approached. It still had Teddy's M-16. A bruised grey finger rested on the trigger. Not that I was worried or anything. Walkers that can fire assault rifles? God doesn't quite hate me enough for that.

I raised the bat, and the Teddy-Walker whipped the muzzle of the gun directly at my face.

Nope.

Nopety nope nope nope.

I turned around, ready to run. A gunshot exploded in my ears.

And I saw a walker twitching on the asphalt eight feet away, moaning and foaming at the mouth as it clawed the air. Its limbs curled and stiffened, shuddering.

"Youuuuu," snarled the Teddy-Walker at the dying thing, lowering the steaming muzzle of his M-16, "g-g-go... to Hell."

He turned. He tilted his head. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. He raised two fingers — V for Victory.

"H-h-hi. Holly."

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't speak.

In the terse seconds where I waited for my heart to beat, I was Infected.

"Hey," I croaked, and swallowed, and wet my lips. "Can you... wait here for a sec?"

I ran. I burst into the infested pharmacy, my bat exploding across every Walker I saw, attacking or not. Every dead face I saw was Teddy's— half-torn, exposed teeth grinning, skin gray as bruises. I heard him call my name — Holly — that jerk — how long had it been since I last heard my name?

I might have stayed in the pharmacy longer than I should've. It was waiting for me outside. But fear of being cornered at night overrode fear of facing my undead big brother, and eventually I crept out.

"How?" I demanded, pointing my spiked bat at its chest. "How are you still...?"

The Walker shrugged. It bared its teeth in a ghastly second cousin of my brother's tilted grin. This is the smile that melts hearts, I heard him say, and clenched my jaw tight.

"Ssssspite?"

He raised his arm, and I flinched. Raw, angry bite-and-scratch marks crawled all over it. That was the arm he'd used to fend them off, wasn't it? Idiot. You're supposed to layer duct tape on your forearm and bicep. To the very end, he never listened to me.

Teddy rubbed the back of his neck. "Youuuuuu..." he ventured, then paused. His eyes sank to the asphalt, and his shoulders slumped. " ... Ssssso b-b-big. N-Now."