Survivors?

It took all the way until morning to get closer to the city center, but Braxton had found a good way safe time. He had remembered the don'ts of the zombie apocalypse and he did them all.

The easiest was triggering car alarms to summon his people to the streets. Drawn by the loud sounds they would fall from windows or break through the doors of their homes on their own, without Braxton having to check it all himself.

He left streets filled with zombies in his wake and he only picked out the ones that aggressively attacked their brethren. When the friendlies realized there were no humans, they were docile like puppies in his presence.

Roaming without a real goal besides farming the brain fruits- freeing his people he had unwitting come to work. He ended up standing before the computer store he had previously worked. The glass front was broken down and the inside was ransacked.

Braxton could not quite decipher what he was feeling. Except- With great motivation, he started destroying what was left standing inside. It was his way of saying goodbye to the boring and frustrating past.

"Braxton?" a voice suddenly asked from behind.

He jumped from the scare as if he had been caught by something. When he turned around he found his colleague and former manager of the shop standing behind him.

"Pierce? What are you doing here? The world has ended and you still didn't leave this place?" the zombie asked disparagingly.

He had never liked Pierce who used his position as a manager to bully the employees below him. messing with the shifts, the roles, or even their holidays based on how far up his arse they got.

Turning around he found Pierce in a group of survivors of which some actually were his former colleagues.

"Well, look at this! Even now there are people who did not manage to pull their head out of your behind!" they looked away when he openly ridiculed them. The former manager's head became red.

"Braxton! You are still not dead? It seems like I crowed too soon."

"Ha! That's so like you. You wouldn't have the balls to pull it off yourself, you passive-aggressive weasel."

"I guess, you know each other." a serious man stated as he looked at the back and forth.

"And you are?"

"You can call me Cooper. I am the leader of this scavenger group."

"Pff, I don't believe you." Braxton scoffed.

Cooper looked in surprise.

"Why do you say that?"

"There is no way a piece of---- Pierce would ever risk his life for something like resource gathering."

"Braxton, you-!"

"Shut it, Pierce. We all know he's right. You wouldn't be here if you had found a way to avoid it." Cooper interrupted the man coldly. Then he turned back to Braxton.

" I won't deny the man's character, but we are out here to search resources. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just roaming around and came across my old workplace accidentally. I thought of saying by goodbyes and leaving it behind once and for all," he told Cooper.

It seemed like humans were unable to see the difference between himself and them, unlike Zombies. He decided to just play along.

"You are roaming alone? Are you a metahuman?" Cooper asked in surprise.

"A metahuman? Do you mean like in those comics? A mutant or a superhero?"

"Yes, something like this. It seems you really managed to get through alone, huh?"

It didn't seem uncommon to not know about this topic and Cooper explained it to him. With the spreading of the virus from an unknown source, many changes had happened. Although most humans had turned into zombies, some among them had mutated and become metahumans.

The people had been blessed with supernatural abilities that could materialize the impossible. but something similar also happened among Zombies.

Mutants, or predators as Braxton called them. They grew and strength and intelligence by feeding on humans and other zombies and could also manifest such abilities.

By this explanation, Braxton was a mutant. He knew for a fact, that he was not a metahuman. Why? Simple. He had no heartbeat and his skin felt rather cold. He had checked it some time ago.

He also didn't feel hunger or thirst, he had human intelligence, increased strength and speed, and most of all he seemed invincible to some extent.

No matter how often the zombies had managed to bite or claw him, he bore no wounds. not even a mutant like Mr.Sawakis who had bitten through people's skulls was able to harm him. if what cooper said was true, Braxton had supernatural durability.

With these specs, he could probably act as a metahuman in the presence of other people. Just that if he was to enter human society, he would better cover up everything.

Maybe all this metahuman and mutant stuff had something to do with the whole apocalypse. It tied in with one of his bigger questions. How was he alive?

Braxton had no idea what power kept his body moving or that of other zombies. The only certainty was that it definitely was not burning food for energy. He could only imagine that it had something to do with the brain fruits.

Then the little stone from zombies' brains would also have something to do with superpowers, right? Or maybe he was just a little top hasty with this conclusion.

"Our camp has a few Metahumans. If you want to, you can follow us back and join. Otherwise, I would advise you not to roam in the city area alone. The outskirts and suburbs are relatively safe, but you might run into a strong zombie or even a mutant in the city. You would not stand a chance alone."

Braxton nodded as he deliberated what to do. Following them to a survivor camp could be a good way to gather information. he just had to be careful not to be found out. Although he would not mind freeing the world from something like Pierce, it would probably become a pain to fight a big group of survivors and metahumans.

"Sure, why not. I will join you for now."

"Great. Another hand will always come in handy." the group leader joked.

"Where are you headed for right now?" he asked Cooper before deciding.

"We wanted to check the suburbs along route 9 and then return to the base."

"Then you should return to base straight away."

"Look here! I know you might be impatient but we still need to do our job." someone from the group stepped up.

"Oh, sorry. it's not that. That road is currently flooding with zombies. Most streets in that direction are. I had to be really careful when I entered the city. Something must have really agitated them."

Most in the group looked worried, while a few did not trust his words.

"How many are there when you say "flooding"? " Cooper probed

"Hundreds. You don't have to believe me. I am just trying to save you some time. if you go that way, I would rather stay here and wait for your return." Braxton said relaxed and sat down on a fallen shelf.

There was no way he would come along if the chance of meeting and fighting zombies was this high. No, it was guaranteed. He couldn't risk them seeing, that the friendlies were, well, not hostile towards him.

"Are you sure about staying here? Although it seems safe for now, there could be roaming mutants." the group leader checked.

"Don't worry about me. I will wait patiently and prudently. You can go and check if I said the truth." he smiled amicably.

He didn't mind sitting down here and waiting in silence. He could use a break anyway. Not for his body, but for his mind. Staying awake for this long felt weird, especially since it didn't come with a physical fatigue.

Of course, the group leader could not simply believe the words of a stranger. The group left again. Cooper mentioned that they would not go too far and send a scout to check his info. If it was true they would return soon.

he watched the group of survivors finally leave. only Pierce and some of his former colleagues looked back at him with mixed feelings.

Braxton watched their backs as they left and then continued staring into the distance with an empty gaze. He tried to relax and let go of his thoughts and they soon slowed down and moved to the back of his mind.

The zombie still saw everything and was ready to react but at the same time, it felt like he had entered a kind of meditative state. As he simply stared into the distance, his brain dealt with the experiences of the day.

He had never really fought in his life, but last night he almost didn't stop fighting. He had bashed in skulls, broken limbs, and saw horrible scenes. Some he had caused himself. His mind processed all of it in the back and it felt quite refreshing.

Was it this what happened, when zombies would just stand there and stare in the distance? Waiting for an impulse from the outside they would just enjoy their brain filing through the memories of their life?

Braxton had no sense of time in this almost vegetative state and decided to call it Pseudo Sleep.

The condition was broken when he heard something on the street outside and a small figure slowly came into view.