"Wait!"
Seth spoke in plain English as he stopped the zombies from leaving.
The zombies that had just exited the door suddenly halted and looked towards the apartment with an almost puzzled expression.
Human voice?
They had clearly just checked inside but now there was a voice?
They rushed back in at the thought of being able to devour living human flesh.
The largest zombie stomped through the hall then entered the kitchen where the voice came from.
*groans*
The zombies searched the kitchen for any human scent which looked like dogs sniffing out rats.
Seth thought zombies would be mindless and stupid but it surprised him that these zombies seemed to have their own thinking.
The kitchen was considered large so these zombies did not bump into each other.
Seth stood there and watched as these zombies searched for the voice that obviously belonged to a human.
They once again ignored Seth as they had no doubt that he was one of them.
Just as they were about to give up and leave, the human voice emerged once again.
"Do you understand me?"
The clueless heads of these zombies turned 180 degrees in an instant and stared at Seth.
They snarled before calming down when they saw Seth casually standing there.
This zombie could speak like humans?
They rushed up to him and started sniffing.
Not human.
They came to this conclusion immediately.
They growled in low and high voices as if trying to communicate with this strange zombie.
"Are you human? No, you don't smell like one or look like one"
"How can you speak?"
The zombies looked at each other before tilting their heads at him.
It surprised Seth that he could actually understand these growls and snarls as if they were speaking a common language.
Seth continued to speak in English.
"I am a zombie" he admitted easily.
Their gazed faces could be considered horrifying from all the rotting flesh, but to Seth, these confused faces seemed normal to him.
Their expressions were almost human.
But little did Seth know that this was only possible because he is a zombie.
Humans who saw this scene would think they're just mindlessly growling at each other.
The large zombie was the one who asked if Seth was human or zombie.
After Seth casually said he was a zombie, they had no more doubt, he was one of them.
"Hey kid, how are you able to speak like humans?"
"How are we able to understand you so clearly?"
"Yeah, that's impossible..."
The zombies glanced at each other.
They were once human, so they could understand his language.
It was common knowledge to the zombies that they were once human.
But after becoming zombies, their memories would be wiped by an unknown force.
They only retained some traits like what hobbies they liked and useless knowledge like where the nearest gas station was.
Of course, they could still think and communicate to each other to a degree.
It was unlike any zombie movie, the zombies in this world could be considered smart.
Once becoming a zombie, it was etched into their souls that they were zombies.
Eat.
The single command that ruled them.
Seth spoke in a calm voice and said he didn't know why he could speak like humans.
He told them he woke up like that.
A skinny zombie with his head caved in spoke next, he seemed like an underling of the large zombie.
"Ah, now that I think of it, I saw another guy who seemed special"
"He was bloody huge for a zombie, almost 4 meters tall!"
The leader looked at his underling and thought for a second then nodded.
He too noticed some strange things among the zombies.
He himself saw a change in his body recently.
At first, he was a normal guy eating what he could catch for the past 2 days.
Then a feeling rose in him that told him he had changed.
His belly had become huge, it'd probably weigh more than his underling.
The reason these other zombies followed him was because they had a feeling.
A feeling that told them to follow this guy.
The leader still didn't know what his humongous stomach could do but he'll find out eventually.
After they realized Seth was special, they actually admired him.
"Hey kid, follow us"
The leader spoke first and invited Seth to join them.
Seth clearly saw the hierarchy in this group and almost declined when the leader cut him off.
"Ah, don't be mistaken"
Pausing for a second, his eyes seemed to lit up as he came to a conclusion.
"You'll be our leader!"
The leader awkwardly crossed his arms and nodded as if he had approved.
The underlings quickly followed suit and voiced their agreement.
"Kid, you're obviously special"
"We will naturally follow the strongest"
"Yeah, speaking in English alone can bait humans into a trap"
The leader spoke last and his comment had the most applause.
An underling responded to the leader.
"Haha! That's right! This kid is like a mimic!"
"Mimic?"
"Shit! I forgot now"
The zombies laughed for a moment almost like humans.
But if a human saw this scene, they'd be filled with fear as all they'd hear is cackling and sinister snarling.
Seth thought for a second and nodded, it wasn't a bad idea to be with this small group.
A few hours passed and they all left the apartment with Seth.
Seth did not forget to pack a bag full of stuff he thought he'd need.
The zombies did not think much of his actions, they too would loot when something caught their eyes.
Although they now called Seth the leader, it was still the previous guy who took command.
Seth was just a tag along.
Leaving his apartment door, he was greeted by a pleasant smell of blood and flesh.
On the way down the building, the leader introduced himself as Leon.
He explained the situation of the world that occurred within these two/three days.
It had only been a short time since the outbreak and none of them knew why it happened.
They just all accepted they were zombies.
As they were reaching the ground floor, a human ran past them followed by a zombie chasing her.
Seth's group immediately took action to hunt this human when suddenly Seth's human voice echoed in the hall.
"Wait!"