Drop dead

The man was still conscious .

That meant he felt it .

He felt each moment the zombie above him , pulled out another piece of his intestines . Stringy and juicy , they were yanked from his gullet like strings of toffee .

The man wasn't sure what hurt worse ; the shock or the horror . His body spasmed in shock when the zombie reached into him , trying to get the juiciest innards . Then his eyes were swirling around in their sockets , looking at the zombie in disbelief and denial .

The zombie had been his wife .

They'd been survivors together , living day by day , just themselves . The man was the one to forage for food and the woman was the one to fix him up when he came back bruised , cut and injured . They had been happy , or as close to it as they could . He had loved her so dearly .

The day before then , he'd gone out to find some more food , leaving her alone . The last image he had was of her , in their abandoned apartment far from the zombie hordes territory , just sitting and waving him goodbye . Her eyes had been bright , her smile luminous and her last words had been ; " Hurry on home . "

He'd tried to hurry home , he damned did ! But the zombies had been moving rampantly and he'd had no choice but to hide , scurrying around in alleys and corners like a rat . It had been nearly a day past , and when he'd come home , he'd found the door open and his wife gone .

Frantically he'd gone down stairs planning to find her , but he hadn't needed to ... she'd found him . Just as he went into the alley , he'd seen her moving around and rushed to her with a relieved smile .

The smile died when she turned around to face him .

Gone was the bright light in her eyes , instead in its place was the vacant dull stare of death , like a beached whale after giving up hope . The smile he'd adored , was replaced with a hungry hanging mouth expression , that lay between starvation and laughter . Her ragged clothes were bloody , and he could see scratch marks and bites all over her body .

She'd gone out to look for him , then been attacked by a wandering zombie . Barely making it out alive , her body had been ravaged like a Christmas goose given to a street dog . Her neck had a vicious bite with a lovely chunk of flesh missing , her abdomen had a deep gash showing her muscle tissue , red with recent spilt blood . She'd attacked him instantly and , fool that he was , he gave no resistance .

How could he hurt his wife ?

The man looked at her then , ignoring the blood drenched , canivorous and horrific thing she had become . His eyes watered with tears as he imaged her as she had been , his sweet love . His truest love .

A cough of blood brought him up short and the zombie looked at him . Her mouth was stuffed with his guts, blood dripped from her lips and her hands held more intestines to feast on . The man weakly raised a hand to touch her face but it fell down , his body to weak to do his wish .

His last wish .

The zombie turned back to his body and tore more of his shirt off , revealing more naked vulnerable skin . Her hand reached under his rib cage , going through his gullet and when she felt the bones , her hand pulled up and opened his chest to the world .

" Ahhh ! " The man cried as his lungs released the little air he held .

Just as his lungs collapsed , the man saw his wife reach into him and pull out his heart . The bloody organ beat in her hand , pulsing and beating slower than the normal healthy one . He gave his last breath then , wishing just one thing ;

That he'd hurried home sooner .

Blood oozed out of the man's heart , as the zombie bit into the thick and tough organ . Her tongue rolling over and teeth gashing into it , tearing it apart piece by piece . A loud screeching groan escaped her throat as she feasted on her former husband's remains .

Just as an axe flew into her skull .

The weapon had wheezed by from behind and wedged into the brain and bone . Noticing the shift of her head , the zombie turned around with a growl and raised her hands to attack . Three men walked up to her and she charged forward , teeth exposed and hands bloodstained .

Her head was blown off before she reached them and she collapsed at the men's feet .

" Another one . By me and not you . " Will said to Darwin , who cursed under his breath , " This is why I say that Skillets are better than On hand weapons . "

" So how many is that ? " Will asked Justin .

" Four me and ten you . " Darwin answered begrudgingly as he picked up the axe from the ground ignoring the blood and brains on it . Will smirked and looked at the corpse at their feet .

" Damn , another fresh zombie . Most of them look like they've been dead a few weeks compared to the old bags of bones we hunt . " Justin said softly , his voice was quiet but deep like an ocean at midnight .

" Fresh yeah , but too few . We've been here a while and no hordes or large groups attacked . " Darwin said walking up to the dead man , he grimaced with disgust as he looked at him .

" True , this place is close to zombie zero , since most are in the back alleys down south . Heavier number of survivors there , since that's where most of the food is . " Will said taking his foot and stepping on the dead woman's body thoughtfully . He had his eyes narrowed and his bottom lip out , with a look that Justin knew too well .

" So why are we here ? It would take days to hunt something close to a decent number . Is it because we're short of a rookie ? " Darwin asked and Will turned his head to him .

Justin sighed under his breath , knowing the fool had just made a very stupid mistake . Will chuckled softly and went over to Darwin , holding him by the shoulder . A sense of fear crept into the other man , it was unexpected and cold . His eyes moved to Justin who was looking at him with indifferent pity , a very hard expression to pull off .

" You think I want a little squirt on my squad team ? " Will asked him in a dangerously calm voice .

His fist shot out and landed a punch into Darwin's stomach , making the man double over . Will then grabbed his hair and made him look up at his face , his eyes now hard and angry .

Will was a relatively calm person , friendly to many and tolerant to most . He had way of talking to people that made it seem like he was interested in what they said and in a way that made the other person listen more to what he was saying . It was a form of kind mind control , where he was only kind to make you do as he wished .

But there were things Will did not tolerate and that was when he got wounded , not physically but emotionally . Despite his good sense of charm to sway people over , he had a short temper when it came to criticism , especially when he was on the other end of it . Of course many people did not notice , he hid it very well . Like a snake smiling with its fangs after you stepped on its tail .

It would bite eventually .

" I don't want a kid on my squad team . I don't want that , at all . No need for a useless living bag of garbage to carry around , you got that ? " Will asked Darwin and the man blinked to show he did , where upon Will smiled at him and let him go .

" Besides , " Will said looking around them , " We didn't come here for the zombies . "

" Then what are we here for ? " Justin asked him and Will smirked and pointed south .

" That's why we're here . "