The lanky zombie stood up and looked at Nolan. The vicious creature stood over 2 meters tall, with a ring cutting into his left ring finger. The red blood of the baby stained the monsters' greyish green skin and the remnants of clothing that appeared to have been stretched, now appearing as discoloured rags draped over the shoulders and legs of the hideous undead. Finally, its gray face stared at Nolan with cold white eyes, smiling. The undead's bloody teeth had pieces of infant flesh stuck between them.
The zombie lowered his position. Nolan was still crying as his life was flashing before his eyes. Seeing the zombie crouch, a surge of alertness crashed over Nolan's consciousness. Finally realizing the severity of his situation, Nolan's vision tunnelled as adrenaline surged across his entire body.
He still had a moment to react to the zombie before it pounced on him. Knowing he wouldn't be able to run, Nolan instinctively raised his axe to cover his body. By the time the axe handle was in front of him, the zombie had already lunged at him; its jaw getting caught on the metal handle.
Now staring directly in front of the undead's ghoulish face, Nolan mustered all his strength to force back the zombie as it tried to push its unhinged jaw towards just below his chest. As the growling macabre beast tried reaching for his head, Nolan screamed as he rallied what seemed to him like a mountain of his strength to push the sharp side of the axe down on one of the zombie's arms.
A second later, the axe swung down on the undead's left arm while Nolan was still holding it, leaving only a small gash on the zombie's arm. He screamed in frustration.
"Shit! Is his skin made of steel!?"
Realizing his effort went to waste, Nolan furiously kicked at the zombie's arms while still blocking its impending jaw. Bloody drool spilling onto his clothes, Nolan was miraculously able to prevent the grisly undead's hands from reaching, but he was losing strength, and losing it fast.
'I'm gonna die at this rate!'
Trying to think of a solution, Nolan was only becoming more exhausted. Then an idea popped into his mind.
'That has to be the only way.'
First, he recited the trait he had dismissed earlier.
'Weirdo!'
A slightly hued green aura appeared, causing the zombie to shake up and struggle less viciously. Next, in a last-ditch effort, Nolan tried recalling the feeling he felt when the policeman who warned his family walked back to his car. If only his parents had listened…
'Mom…dad…where are you right now?'
'…'
'Damn it! Now's not the time!'
Remembering the policeman's footsteps, he had noticed the sound wave coming off his broken sole. Recalling that feeling, Nolan had felt an urge, almost as if he would be able to grab that wave. If he could do that, maybe he would have a chance to kill the zombie. Nolan cut off all of his other senses and tried to concentrate.
'It happened when I noticed his sole broke…Maybe that means I need to find the source of the sound.'
Still wrestling with the zombie, Nolan tried zoning into its growl.
Nothing happened.
'Damn, why the hell isn't it working!'
Still trying, Nolan took a swift deep breath.
'That snarl. It's not coming from the zombie's diaphragm. I feel like it's coming from the head… Almost as if the brain itself is crying…'
Then Nolan realized. This wasn't an aggressive noise; it was a painful one. The zombie was in agonizing torment in its own flesh. Then it happened.
Nolan looked forward and saw the wave on the zombie's face, but this time it wasn't going away. The wave was pulsating and changing with every noise the creature made. Feeling the wave felt like a new sense to Nolan.
Not sure what to do, Nolan tried putting pressure on the wave by concentrating on it as hard as he could. Suddenly, the zombie began showing less resistance.
'It's working!'
Continuing to concentrate on that wave, the zombie backed off, letting Nolan move back and stand up. Its head began to spasm and shake violently. Next came the ears beginning to bleed, followed by what sounded like a bag of popcorn in the microwave. Wary and fearful, Nolan watched as blood began flowing from the zombie's eyes, nose, and mouth. Then it hit fell to the floor, as the green aura made by Nolan dissipated.
At first, Nolan could not believe what he had done, but when he came to, he jumped in excitement.
"I killed that thing! I'm alive!"
Suddenly, the system appeared before his eyes.
[*Infected Mutant Teihiihan* felled]
[Enemy rank: F+]
[You have collected a scrap]
'Teihiihan? What a name… It sounds like something Uncle Negan would tell me about.'
He paused.
'Huh, where is Uncle Negan?'
Nolan was about to check what a scrap was before another tab appeared in front of him.
[Metamorphosis initiated]
'Metamorphosis! Does that mean there are even more abilities I can unlock!?'
Nolan was about to regain his excitement, but then the system screen disappeared. In place of where he was reading the text, he saw the mangled corpse of the baby.
Whatever smile or excitement Nolan had had was wiped off his face instantly. He fell to his knees, next to his first blood, and crawled over to the infant's remains. In an instant, the adrenaline had completely faded.
Then he stared at his own hands, putting them on his face. Tears came flowing from his face again as he fell to the floor, covering his head. In a choked voice, Nolan was consoling himself.
"No…No…I don't want to fight one of those things again…"
He looked up at the baby's vertebrae and broken bones as small as a chicken's. Nolan looked back down. Revolted, he vomited atop the pool of gore.
"Why did I do that… Why couldn't I save her? Why did I do anything?"
He looked up again. He could almost see the ghost of the baby girl staring at him in place of her broken bones. Squealing in a choked voice, he continued.
"I don't wanna die… I don't wanna die… Please, I'm so sorry."
Nolan's hushed sobbing quickly turned into horror as he stared at the viscera. Sitting up, he grabbed his knees. His bloodshot eyes opened wide as he scooted his way to a corner of the dining room, still staring.
He sat there for a few more seconds, which turned into minutes, which turned into hours. His tears had quickly turned into cold sweat, making him shiver with the draft of Autumn air coming from the broken window. Occasionally, he heard more zombies outside, but no screams like earlier that day. They seemed to be more active in the area after the incident. At times, he would look at his hands, contemplating.
'W- will I have to see more things like this?'
At one point, he looked at his axe and began fantasizing about ways to gouge out his eyes.
"Why did I ever want to have a life like this! What was I thinking, praying for such a thing! Is this some sort of divine punishment for a blasphemous prayer?"
Nolan spoke out, but his words fell on deaf ears.
'Right… I'm alone. All alone. Just me…'
***
Three days later, Nolan was still in that corner next to the broken window. Well, for him, those three days felt like a month. He had gotten up a few times to eat some sardines in the house pantry, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the area situated between the dining room and the kitchen. Well, it was more like he couldn't bring himself to be forgiven while he watched the unnamed infant get devoured.
The only time Nolan would leave the area was to use the restroom, only to return to the bloody viscera of the infant and the teihiihan's corpse. By now, both had begun to rot, creating a fetid stench, but Nolan didn't care; all he did was sit and watch the scene as now insects and even rodents began to scavenge the carcasses. Surprisingly, whenever Nolan heard another zombie, they were not attracted to the scent of the rotting corpses.
Given his simple routine, Nolan had a lot of time to think. He thought about Sean. Where he was. If he had survived. If Sean had experienced what he did. How did he react?
Then he thought about his sister, Thalia. Where was she when all of this was happening? Did anything happen to her at college? Why didn't she contact Nolan or his parents?
…
His parents… That was the biggest question of them all. They had shown no trace of trying to leave the house, yet they were gone. This was Nolan's second biggest worry. His first one stared at him across the kitchen.
Nolan knew he had to move on, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the house…or the baby. Taking a break from his despair to use the bathroom, Nolan passed the baby carrier he had brought downstairs three days ago. There was a tag hanging off the side. Hands trembling with regret, he flipped it over. He let out a forced smile.
'Judith, huh.'
He stared at the stained name tag. A single tear fell from his eye as he spoke softly, as if to console himself.
"I wonder what her life would have been like if this didn't happen."
He wiped away his tears and looked back at he corpse again
'You probably would have grown up as a normal kid in this house. Make some friends at school. Become an adult.'
'Maybe you'd even have your own daughter, one day.'
Colour began returning to Nolan's face. The disaster, becoming a changeling, getting superpowers; Nolan had accepted all of these without a second thought. He never considered how much he had already been given. Nolan spoke to the baby's remains.
"You would've had a future, Judith."
He paused.
"A life…"
Nolan stared at Judith's remains for a couple of moments and then walked over to the Teihiihan. He leaned down and shooed away the feasting flies and rats. Nolan opened the unhinged jaw towards the ground, and a second later, a small skull rolled out of it.
Nolan was still sickened by the sight, but he did not look away. He picked up the skull and brought it over to Judith's baby carriage, placing it on the bed. Nolan stared for a few seconds. He spoke again, his words finally holding some slight conviction.
"For now, and as long as I walk this wretched disaster-ridden world, I will never cry again."
He was about to say more, but then he picked up a peculiar sound. Sneaking towards the window, it sounded like footsteps. Someone was running. Then there was that familiar thumping.
Nolan peered out the window. What looked to be a middle-aged man was being chased by two small zombies. Nolan's whole body shivered. His conviction would be tested.