Zed woke up agog as he heard the low hoarse cry of the undead. He looked over the unassuming hut where an undead was stuck inside... and then he looked at the ash of what was left of his source of flames.
The warmth of the flames was long gone, but the warmth continued to course in his flesh. This reminded him just how alive he was. As he straightened himself and stretched his legs, he felt the sudden touch of warmth from the sun. It reminded him to value life.
He dragged his bag while he trudged in the familiar forest.
Zed had an excellent memory, nearly eidetic, perhaps an influence of his mutation. He would recall details of the past he had seen and experienced.
As long as it had left enough impression on him, he would remember it.
And.
He certainly could remember it.
The time he spent with his precious person. The taste of Tuna Tuesdays on his tongue. The feeling of home as he bathed under the sunlight by the windowsill.
He could remember them all.
Maybe. This was just another misfortune manifested, for he blamed himself for the fate that had befallen his precious person. But most often, he would think of this excellent memory of his as a blessing.
Zed could not understand the meanings of his mutation though he had an inkling of a sense of what they were. His precious person was a fan of TV, and so was Zed. He'd watch X-Men movies with his precious person and stuff.
Removing his distracting thoughts, the black furred quadruped focussed on the journey ahead.,
When he returned to the familiar highway, he was annoyed to see that a herd of undead had already gathered. They were headed north. Zed watched his compass ascertaining where the long line of undead was going. With careful steps, he made a detour.
It would have been better if he had a map.
Zed used the congested cars to his advantage, and with his small build, he smartly used the cars all over the highway as walls and cover. That was when... he noticed a commotion.
Far way back from where the undead were heading was... something.
As a cat, he didn't have the best hearing in the animal kingdom, but he still had it in him... With hearing three times higher than humans and perhaps more since his hypermutation, he heard the change in pace of the undead.
The zom-zoms... Their marching speed had increased several fold suggesting that they had found a target of their ire.
Normally, Zed would have come where the commotion was to check whether it was caused by a group of human survivors. Most often, he would find housepets or other beast kind, which he all... had ignored.
His persistence and stubbornness were certainly amazing that he had not changed his ways for years... so just like before, he would check the sourse of the commotion. If it was human, he would help them... If they weren't then he would just go on his merry way.
Just like the many Old Ones like him, he was persistent and stubborn... and most would even say... misguided... not that any of the Old Ones were aware of their flaws.
As such, the black cat starved of human affection, ambled his way to the source of the commotion.
*****
Bill's group was cornered.
It had been too easy so far, being able to traverse the lands without any undead confrontation. Now, they were faced with their greatest challenge.
"I was overconfident..." He should have scouted first on their pathways. He had relied too much on the bird's information.
It was common sense that the state of 'information' would change as time passed. It had been a few weeks since they started their incursion... "Lari... hide them here..."
Bill acted immediately at the first sight of the undead. With his bulk and teeth, he pried open the back of a car. Lari helped by using his precious knife to force the lock open.
"I'd lure them far. Hide the wolf cubs, puppies, and kittens here. Meanwhile, you would help the others find a hiding spot in the forest, and climb the trees."
"Lure them? You could die! No. You would die! Let me lure them!"
"Then you would die! I might be the leader, but you were a more important member than me. You have fingers. You could make use of most artifacts of the Lost Race and with you, the others would have a better chance for survival!"
Lari watched as Bill ran away while barking loudly at the undead circling to the right side of the forest.
With no choice, Lari followed as Bill instructed.
"The kids! Bring them here!" He hissed as he hastily hid the kittens, puppies, and wolf cubs at the rear end of the car. "Ed, Ponpon... Lead the others to the forest to our left. Felipe would bring up the rear."
Ed the cat, and Ponpon the dog immediately went as they were instructed.
"How about you?" Felipe the cat warily asked Lari as he watched his litter with fear. "Could we really hide them kids here?"
"I'd be with them. I would stay here, and protect them with my life. With this many, we would not be able to drag them to the trees so it was better we hide them here. I would not leave them. I swore that to you."
"You had my trust a long time ago already... stay safe..." Felipe turned around as he brought up the rear.
Lari watched the group of felines and canines make their silent path to the forest. He came to the rear end of the car and used his knife to forcibly pin and nail the hatch so it would not happen.
He watched his anxious wards looking at him with worry.
*****
Bill ran with haste. He jumped over the fence and to the flank of the forest right to him. He barked and barked. "ARF! ARF!" The undead seemed to have taken an interest in him as they turned and headed on his way.
The undead stumbled on the metal fence buying Bill more time as he ran and ran while barking. He looked back and saw the undead behind him rise, crawl, and walk to him.
He was faster, but his stamina had its limitations. So before he ran out of gas, he must run as far as he could. from out of nowhere, a mutated zombie jumped at him from his left. It ignored the metal fence and descended with fury.
He noticed it as mutated since no ordinary undead would be capable of such a feat. He barely reacted and escaped the descending rotten monster as he rolled on the ground, and maneuvered to the right and left which allowed him space to outmaneuver the undead.
He ran forward with more haste as he became aware of a much deadlier foe. He could have snapped his fangs and ripped the undead's throat, but that would have been a time lost.
He watched the undead runner chase after him, who was thankfully still slower than a quadruped like him. From his peripheral vision, he saw another quadruped perched over a truck. It was a black-furred cat watching him in silence. He was momentarily curious and assumed that the cat must be stranded, but his life was at stake and had no energy to pay attention to other things.
From in front of Bill, the undead suddenly barred his path as they destroyed the metal fence with ease perhaps all of the rust had given out at once. He came at a skidding halt. More undead adjacent to his left threatened to rip his guts out and feed with him. He looked at the right thinking to himself that this was the only way out.
When he looked at his left, he saw the cat just watching him with a bored expression.
Bill gritted his teeth, his sense of righteousness was provoked or maybe he was just being indignant. Also, he thought, he would be safer in numbers.
The truck where the cat stayed also appeared to be a safe island of sorts, a far more guaranteed surefire safer sanctuary than gambling with the unknown forest.
Thus, Bill had decided.
He lunged at his left just under the metal fence careful and as low as possible. The bipedal undead was having a hard time reaching him, but that would not mean they could not reach him.
No matter what amount of nimbleness he displayed a few scratches still reached him. Because of the radiation sickness that had integrated with all of the Eart's lifeforms, they wouldn't mutate with decay, but they might still suffer infections.
But suffering from infections was many times better than being dead. He had lost sight of the runner-jumping undead, and he had the undead surrounding him to thank for as they had provided him sufficient cover.
With momentum, he forced his way forward, and when he saw the truck, he used his every muscle to its fullest as he jumped to a scooter from the side to the car, to the sideward-turned car, and then to the top of the truck's cargo where a black cat sat.
Bill was exhausted, so he huffed and puffed until he calmed his breathing. "Greetings. My name was Bill..." He introduced himself in his native language.
"Meow..." The cat replied.
"..."