Patience and Prudence

Braxton was not caught up in the fact that he was dead and a zombie. This was the best possible outcome. He was a zombie and he had kept his ego. He was already one of them, so he didn't have to mind getting infected.

Or if he was not a Zombie, maybe he was even one of those mutations that popped up in some movies. This didn't really mean he was not a zombie...

A better question was whether he needed sustenance. Braxton was not into raw meat or brains, if he didn't need any food or water it would be a worry less. But what if he needed it?

Braxton decided to scavenge for now. The first place he searched was his landlord's flat. The door was already kicked in and Mr. Sawakis was already out of the way.

The stench in the flat made him wish he had lost his sense of smell after he became a zombie. The floor of the living room was covered in dirty clothes, there were porn magazines all over the place and porn videos were stacked beside the TV.

The couch opposite of the TV was the source of the stench and it had a suspicious crust covering it all over. Mr. Sawakis had lived his best life, or so it seemed. He tried not to touch anything and walked to the kitchen.

After 14 days there was nothing fresh left behind, but Braxton the smell of rotten food was an improvement to what he had just experienced. There were a few quite old cans that seemed useful. He also found noodles and rice.

It was meager loot compared to the effort he had put into killing his landlord. He had killed his landlord right? he became a little paranoid and decided to check the man's corpse again.

The headless sack of meat was lying limply in his bathroom, where Braxton had left it earlier. He kicked it but there was no reaction. Something else pulled his attention. In the porridge of brain matter and skull fragments that was left of the man's head, he saw something glinting.

Braxton fought off his disgust and pulled it out of the fleshy bits. it was a small, deep red shard of stone. he lifted it up to take a closer look. The light was glinting on the surface of the opaque gem.

Suddenly he followed a weird urge and instinctively put it in his mouth and swallowed it.

He ripped open his eyes when he realized what he had just done! The taste of this disgusting man's flesh and blood was on his tongue and he couldn't stop retching and spitting. Just why had he done that? What had gotten in him?

It didn't take long for a warm and cozy feeling to spread from his stomach. he suddenly felt like he had eaten a big meal. Was this? Was this how he would have to eat from now on?

He could accept it and decided to return to his flat first and cook a meal. Maybe he was a hybrid and could survive on food too? Electricity and water were still working, so he cooked a pot of noodles with a ready-made sauce.

The food filled his stomach, but it didn't bring him the same satiation as the small stone. Maybe he should try to find another one. But this time he would control himself and wash it beforehand!

There were a few more tenants beside him. maybe he could find another recipient of his hard love on the floors below. He was sure anybody would succumb to patience and prudence. That's what he decided to call the hammers.

Now he also connected the blood on the staircase with the current situation outside. There had to be more zombies aside from Mr. Sawakis inside.

Braxton checked the door of the neighbor right below him. He found it unlocked. Directly behind the unlocked door, he found what was left of the previous tenant. he had not known the guy personally, he just knew he was living alone.

The corpse, or what was left of it lay not far from the door. It had already started rotting a fourth of its skull was missing at the back of the head. It was not bashed in, but missing as if bitten off.

Suspicious Braxton looked to the ceiling where he found holes and marks. Did Mr. Sawakis hunt anyone who unlocked their door? But how did he bite off part of their skill with his toothless gums?

He gagged again when he remembered those soft flabby gums rubbing on his wrist.

"Well, this guy probably doesn't have one anymore... " he mumbled to himself and started checking other doors.

The scene kept repeating. Was this really Mr. Sawakis' work? or was there a second creep zombie? Braxton became a lot more careful on his way down. He kept prudence ready to strike if something attacked from above.

Only at the ground floor did he finally find a door that was still locked and intact. Polite as he was he knocked at the door. When he heard the howls and screams from inside, he kicked it in then his in the hallway beside the door.

A wild-looking female zombie came charging out from the door. It didn't get far as Braxton pierced its skull with the hammer's spike. before he could relax, another zombie came out of the apartment. He pulled out patience and smacked the male zombie straight in the face.

It made a few steps back from the force but didn't show any signs of pain from the square hole between its eyes. It charged again, evaded his hammer strike this time, and bit his shoulder.

Braxton had prepared for the pain, but nothing happened. it felt not different from the landlord's toothless gums. He felt the pressure, but neither pain nor that a piece of meat was ripped out of him.

When he looked he saw that the zombie was gnawing on his shoulder, but its teeth were unable to penetrate his skin. The motivated zombie didn't even make a scratch.

It seemed that Braxton had changed a lot more than he had expected. He ended his existence as a chewing toy with patience and prudence.

Grimacing he started searching for the stones in the grey mass of his two victims. Inside their heads, he really found a small crystal each. They were smaller and paler than the one in Mr. Sawakis.

If it was really the landlord who had hunted the other tenant, and every zombie had such crystals, did this mean that these crystals grew stronger by predating on other infected?

So, if he ate them, would he grow stronger? What about him would grow stronger? He seemed really durable, considering the zombie couldn't even bite through his skin. Would that strengthen?

Even so, he didn't know what exactly would happen, he knew that eating the stone had probably no negative effects. he wanted to wash of the two stones, but when he stepped into the flat he quickly stumbled back out.

Inside were several corpses of children. Were they eaten by their parents? The scene made him unwilling to enter any further. instead, he chose the other door. The other door on the ground floor was another dud but there was only a victim of Mr. Sawakis, everything else was clean. He used the kitchen sink to wash off the two stones.

Only when he was sure that all brain bits and blood were gone, did he swallow the two stones. The warm and cozy feeling was there, but weaker than with Mr. Sawakis' brain stone. he didn't feel any change though.

Perhaps if he took more at once or if he found another predatory zombie like his landlord?

It didn't seem like he needed food for now which meant there was nothing that kept him from hunting other zombies.

With patience and prudence, he would clean out the area.