The Virus

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"It's kooky. Kooky is fine, though. Better than being bland, right? And it's how I remember you, so it can't be too bad, can it? Look, come sit, Elijah. You got turned too, then? I think most the kids from our class did, from what I've seen of them," admitted the charismatic teenager with a faint shrug, offering Logan the limb he'd been cooking up. He had clearly had plenty to eat already, and his mother had always taught him to be gracious and share what he had with guests. Logan and Elijah were sort of guests of his, and he was quite willing to share what he had.

"...Hey, you guys need anywhere to go? My brothers will welcome you guys in if you need a place. They'll protect you guys too. I don't want to go boasting about my family, but my brothers are pretty tough," he casually mentioned, having noticed already that Elijah was pretty panicky and anxious, and, because he knew him, he was happy to lend a hand where it was clearly needed. "We're friends, Elijah-- I don't think I've ever talked to you before, but I know you from school and that means you're a friend now. You look like you need somewhere to sleep."

"Zack did say I couldn't bring you to his place," reminded Logan as he absently tore into the meat, trying to do so as refined as he could manage, for Elijah's benefit. "I mean, I'd rather you slept over this kid's place than in the back alley on some old mattress, Eli. I care about you and I want to go to bed knowing you're safe somewhere."
 
"You're treating me like a stray dog," he commented lightly, all the while his free hand curiously peeled a bit of the burnt flesh from Logan's arm. "I mean, I don't know if you'd call us friends. You have family, right? That still are with you? I mean, I have no clue where my ma went, so that's... nice. Um... Look, I won't be intruding, would I? I'm sure I could find somewhere to stay if I needed, but somewhere solid and safe certainly sounds nice. I'm not going to get beaten up or anything, right? I mean, I had enough of that in school."

After all, that was one of Elijah's biggest fears. He was often picked on by the likes of Frankie, often shoved through lockers and the whole stereotype. Yeah, petty things like that were stupid after the epidemic, but that didn't mean it was totally impossible to happen.
 
"Is that a dig at me?-- Shit. Did I bully you? I can't really remember anything from school, I was always high. My brothers found out I smoked weed and practically beat the crap out of me for it. Ironic really, given they deal drugs. It's apparently okay to sell them, but god forbid I smoke a bit of cannabis. Sorry, about the whole bullying thing," apologised the handsome teenager with a genuine smile, all while fiddling with his gun for amusement. He didn't really remember anything from school, as he said. It wasn't an excuse. He was mostly off his head when he even turned up, but most his school days were spent lurking about the mall and wasting time.

"It's just me and my brothers," he explained as he turned to poke the fire. "My Ma and Pa died-- I mean, they shot themselves. I ain't too sad, really. It was better than seeing them go through this, I suppose. But honestly, Eli, you'll be real safe. My brother, Lorenzo, he's a total ass, but he can shoot a guy dead right between the eyes without looking. I swear, nobody's gonna storm in and try and kill us. Hell, don't you know my family? Everyone's scared of us-- well, my brothers, really. I'm the angel of the family~"
 
"Why are you just out in the street alone, then? I mean, if I were you, I'd probably stay in all day and hope nothing happened," he admitted, while putting past the idea of his own mother shooting herself. He physically cringed, though, and his face only twisted into that of disgust when he tasted the crispy flesh. He was a pretty pisspoor zombie, it seemed.

"This tastes salty- why is this salty? I thought human flesh would taste like chicken or something. I don't know how I feel about it, a-aha... Isn't there anything else we can eat?"
 
"...You serious? It tastes like pork, I think. We're zombies, Eli. I've never heard of a zombie having particular tastes. Just... have some raw stuff, then. My brothers send me out to get food a lot of the time, but they can go fuck themselves. I'm not dragging back humans on my back. I'm strong, all zombies are, but I'm not making myself a walking target for human hunters, you know?" Smiled Frankie, apparently happy to ignore Elijah's cringes and grimaces. He was happy to be talking to people who weren't his thuggish brothers, so he was going to put up with the facial expressions, even though Elijah would have been punched already if he was talking to any one of Frankie's brothers. They didn't have a good patience.

"Hey, we can still hang out, right? You're not going to abandon me for Mr. Handsome over here, are you?" Logan laughed, offering his friend a slight nudge. "...I still want to meet up and stuff, Eli. I promised to take care of you, didn't I?"
 
"O-Oh, of course!" He insisted, while offering a small smile and a faint blush, especially from the Mr. Handsome comment. "I mean, you're the closest person I have to family here. You still have your human friend, right? Can't you visit me when you're not with him? I mean, I don't want some guys beating me up - no offense, Frankie. I don't want to die at the hands of a human, but I definitely don't want to die at the hands of a zombie. Do we eat other zombies? Is that a thing? I've only been this way for a little while, I don't know proper 'zombie etiquette'." He babbled on, though grew quiet when his attempt at a joke seemed to fail.
 
"Of course I'll come visit, dummy. You're like the little brother I never had. If you were human, I still don't think you'd be invited into the apartment, by the way. My friend's... he's complicated. He doesn't want to date me, but he's also bitter about me finding some zombie boyfriend, so I don't know where I stand. He doesn't like me living there, but he also doesn't want me to leave. It's all just... complicated," he smiled, leaning in closer to Elijah for warmth. He felt he owed him some explanation, because he did feel awful that he had to see Elijah share a place with his former bully.

Their situation was a lot like his own, really. He used to bully Zackarie, and now they were sharing a place-- though that was different, too. He had dated Zack before he bullied him. He got the impression from Frankie that he was too 'cool' to have hung out with Elijah, though, despite that, he couldn't help liking the handsome teenager. He was clearly from a murky family, if the talk of his violent brothers was anything to go by, but Frankie himself seemed kind and nice enough. He could handle a gun, and that at least gave Elijah some protection.
 
"He still wants to see you, even though you're a zombie? I mean, I think that's pretty cool. Sounds too complicated for me, though, I'm sorry. The last time I dated anyone, they dumped me because I didn't socialize with their friends often. It was awkward, and they're probably dead..." Elijah whispered, while staring at the flame in contemplation. He only pulled away his focus once feeling the heavy thunk of the man's weight.
 
"Oh, this is depressing. People die, that's normal. My girlfriend's dead. My brother literally tore her apart in front of me, and I got over it. She was cheating on me anyway, which my brothers knew about. They were really being loyal to me, I suppose. It's what families do," smiled Frankie, shrugging his shoulders at the mention of his girlfriend, if just to show how little it had affected him. "Now, really, mate... Let's not get depressing, it just bores me. We're zombies, it's pretty fucking cool, ain't it? Chill out a little bit. My brothers ain't gonna like you if you moan and whine all the time. Hey, I should introduce you as my boyfriend, they'll be nicer to you that way. They know I swing both ways, that ain't a problem."
 
"Oh, fuck! I-I... Wow. I mean, that's pretty brutal. Are... Are you okay? I know that if I had a girlfriend and she was torn apart, iI'd probably cry and kick my brothers out. You've, uh... wow." Elijah stammered in horror, and glanced at Logan for some form of positive input. After all, how the hell was he supposed to respond for that?! Of course, he decided to lock on the whole prospect of pretending to be the other's boyfriend. Anything was better than the current conversation.

"You promise they won't tear me apart? I don't want to wake up one day and suddenly have some buff guys standing over me, only to tear my head off or something. That would be awful!"
 
"...Your brothers won't hurt him, will they? You sure seem nice enough, but... god, your brothers don't sound like they're the nicest of people, no offence," admitted Logan, having immediately jumped to voice his concerns before he had been prompted to do so. He cared about Elijah a great deal, even despite knowing him a few days at the most, and he wasn't prepared to send him off somewhere he could, theoretically, be killed. Even if these men sounded tough and capable of protecting him, they didn't sound like the most forgiving of characters.

"Huh? Oh, c'mon, they're not brutes. I mean... they're nice guys, really," smiled Frankie as he laughed at the worries. "We're a family, y'know? Cross one of us, you pay the price. As long as you don't go, like, insulting me, they're gonna love 'ya. They make fun of me because I'm the youngest, but they'll have to shut up when I bring you home, because you're pretty awesome, ain't you?"
 
"I hardly qualify to be called 'awesome'. You've known me for a solid half hour, I hardly doubt you'd know how 'awesome' I was." He grumbled shyly, before offering a faint and bashful smile.

"Let's get out of here quick, I don't want some humans finding us. I know we're a lot faster and whatnot, but I don't want to get a billet through the head. I ain't like you, I'm... scared."
 
"You're scared? You're scared of a lot, ain't 'ya? You're a zombie! Sure, it's not a good thing to come to terms with initially, but come on, it ain't that bad! We're not drooling and groaning mindlessly, are we? We're still us. Just... I dunno, improved? That's what my brothers said when they turned me, anyway," he shrugged, regurgitating the words his brothers had indoctrinated him with. Being the youngest, he was impressionable and looked up to all of them, which was why he found their thuggish, bullying behaviour 'cool' and 'admirable'. He wasn't particularly involved in their business because of his young age, but he was determined to prove to them he wasn't useless... which was why he did stunts like this, killing a good five humans in brutal fashion in the hope that was enough to prove himself to them. Hell, bringing home a friend was bound to earn him some attention, however minimal.

"Come on then," he beamed, making a grab for his hand whilst waving casually back at Logan with the other. "Your friend's pretty cool, Elijah. My brothers would love him. They like making friends with tough people-- he doesn't seem like a horrible guy, but he sure is strong, ain't he? I'll have to introduce him to my brothers soon, they'd like him a lot..."
 
"I don't know if his friend would like that," Elijah admitted once he waved a wary goodbye to Logan. "He's friends with a human. Isn't that ridiculous? I'd be terrified to be anywhere near a human. What if that guy shoots Logan? Then what? Like, how could you even trust someone who wants you dead? I-I don't know." He babbled quietly, if only to keep himself calm.
 
"...You can't tell my brothers that. They'll track him down and tear your friend's friend apart, seriously. My brothers ain't... happy to let humans just wander about freely. If they find out your friend knows a human, they won't rest until they find him, I guess. It's best not to mention that around them, they're pretty ruthless. I'm not gonna tell them! I mean, I know they're my brothers and stuff, but fuck them. They don't get me involved in their shady fucking business they have running, so I'm not telling them I know where a human is," he defiantly nodded, his lips pulled into a smug smile at having some information his brothers didn't know about, especially concerning a human they would all inevitably see as an easy meal. As tempting as it would be to brag about it, he was going to keep his lips sealed, purely because he had a friend in Elijah, and he didn't want to ruin that.

"You should have chatted to me more in school, mate. We'd have been buddies, easily. I bet you were smart at school, huh? Maybe that's why we didn't become friends. I wasn't a smart kid. I bunked off a lot, hung out in the parking lot with my older brother and my girlfriend. Bit stupid, really..."
 
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"It doesn't really matter anymore, does it? I mean, you don't really need a physicist in the world we're living in, do with?" He murmured, only then having the thought really hit him. There had been a sliver of hope that he held, that one day everything could be better and that he could go back on a proper track, but seeing a garbage fire where the original main road was, was suddenly pretty intense proof of otherwise.

"Obviously, you're the one who is going to be okay. You've got worldly skills, you know? I mean, clearly. You... k-killed... all of those people by yourself, right? That's impressive!"
 
"I was hungry, it ain't rocket science. It's no different than humans killing some cows, is it? That's what my brothers said. Humans eat meat too, this really ain't a big deal. I... I guess, it's not a big deal if you keep emotions out of it. You can't go feeling sorry for 'em, because they'd put a bullet in our brains the moment they had a chance, buddy. Hey, we should totally go and get a meal together tomorrow, I can show you how to do it properly, I'm pretty ace at it, actually-- and you seem like you need a little help. No offence, but you looked like you were gonna throw up back there, and that's not great when you're a zombie and sorta need to face the blood and guts and stuff, unless you wanna starve."

Gripping his wrist quickly to pull him swiftly down an alleyway -a shortcut back to his house that gave them some cover and protection-, he shot the other young zombie a reassuring smile. "Hey, it's all gonna be fine, y'know? We get to look young forever, that's pretty cool. I mean, assuming we don't just disintegrate like zombies on the TV, but my limbs don't feel like they're gonna drop off, so I'm sure we'll be alright~"
 
"I was a vegetarian," he admitted at the cow analogy, and tried to hurry along sides the other as best as he could. He was a zombie now, which meant he definitely had more stamina and speed, but that small piece of flesh was the only piece of human skin he had ever eaten, so his lack of energy could be excused.

"You promise they won't hurt me? I'm not strong like you, at all. Your brothers seem like the types to wail on me or something because I'm not 'fit', you know? I just... how nice is your place?"
 
"Nice place? I mean, it ain't... bad. Is it the Ritz? Fuck no. I might have exaggerated earlier when I implied we were... you know... important. Just wanted to impress you and that friend of yours-- but it ain't a dump! It's... It's alright. You'll be fine, buddy! My brothers are tough, so we'll be safe enough," he promised quickly, knowing the fact he'd deceived the other already about the extent of his family's influence in the city wasn't... particularly helpful, even if it hadn't been for any other reason than to impress the others.

"You don't have to freak out about it, you'll be alright. My brothers ain't gonna hurt you, I mean... jeez, they're good guys! You know my brother Bobby? He worked with charities before this whole zombie thing. He helped out kids in orphanages and shit. Do you really think he's gonna beat you up without justification?"
 
"I mean, I'm sort of an orphan now, aren't I? So, that means he's got to like me," Elijah teased weakly, while slowing down a tad to really take in how vacant the streets were. It was unsettling, to say the least. "Look, I just hope they're nice enough to let me hang around. How much further is your place, by the way? My legs are hurting, and I don't think I really like this whole empty area. What if some humans pop up and try to hurt us?"
 
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