Lesley held his gun to the ready , as the door opened , planning to blow some skulls off .
But he didn't do it .
Or rather , he couldn't it .
Infront of him was a small boy with blonde hair , his eyes were blue and his cheeks were round . Or atleast that's what he had probably been like when he was still alive , now his blonde hair was unkept and dirty , his blue eyes like a dead fish and his cheeks sunken , matching his small bony body .
It was a toddler zombie .
Lesley put his finger on the trigger , bitting his bottom lip , about to fire . The toddler zombie looked at him and raised his hands , then he walked into the room , aiming for Lesley . For each step he took forward , Lesley took one step back until he was by the wall .
Fire ! He thought to himself , pull the trigger !
But he didn't , instead the gun shook in his hand and his grip grew tight . He looked on as the toddler zombie came up to him , it's eyes dull and lifeless . God , he was going to die !
Pull the trigger !
The toddler looked up at him , raising it's arms it out , then it put them around his waist . It placed its head on his thigh and Lesley expected it to bite into him any moment .
But instead the toddler zombie stood like that , unmoving , just holding onto him . Lesley looked down in bafflement when he realised what was happening ; the zombie was hugging him .
" What are you ... no , what ... , " Lesley was lost for words as the zombie looked up at him , it's eyes still dead .
He didn't dare move but his mind was doing cartwheels . This was a zombie , wasn't it supposed to want to feed ? Why wasn't it biting into his skin , carving his body open and trying to get into the red insides ?
The toddler zombie made a groaning sound , making him tense but it just let Lesley go . It turned around and walked out of the room , not giving Lesley a backward glance . When it left the room , Lesley rushed and shut the door , his nerves pulled tight as a rubber band .
" Fu..." He whispered under his breath in relief .
Then the door opened again .
" Shit ! " Lesley pulley out his Crux , aiming for where the neck would be on a zombie .
This meant that Liam was almost decapitated , but just at the last moment , Lesley stopped himself . Of course that didn't stop Liam from freaking out .
" Holy hell ! What the F ? " Liam asked him in an angry whisper .
" I thought you were a freaking zombie . " Lesley whispered back as he pulled Liam into the room and shut the door .
" The zombies are down the hall , I saw them turn the corner a second ago . " Liam said .
That means the whole time the door was opened they could have come in here whilst that toddler zombie was hugging me , Lesley thought faintingly , I would have been dead .
" We gotta get out of here . They're going to sniff us out in this place . " Liam said checking the corridor by the door .
" What about the others ? Rick and Martin were down stairs and the zombies are going up stairs to Ross . " Lesley said with a frown .
He didn't doubt Martin and Rick's capabilities , they had the most experience . But he was worried never the less and felt like he needed to check on them .
" I'll go upstairs to check on Ross and cover him . You , head downstairs to find the Captain and Mart . " Liam said but Lesley frowned harder .
" Why are going towards the zombies ? You can't handle them alone . If we both went - "
" It would change nothing . I'm a good shot and a better fighter than you . " Liam said to him , " Also I'm not alone . Ross will cover me . "
" What if he is hiding and doesn't know you're there ? " Lesley asked him and Liam gave a sigh.
" You want to go to Rick don't you ? " He asked and Lesley bit his lip .
" I also don't want to leave you . I don't know what I would do if you - "
" Whoa , whoa , whoa , cousin . Now is not the time for a love confession . " Liam said jokingly but Lesley didn't laugh .
" I'll be careful . You won't lose me . I promise . " Liam said reassuringly placing his hand on Lesley's shoulder and the red haired boy nodded his head .
" Good , let's go . See you at the Rover . " Liam said as he opened the door and left first .
Lesley looked at the door and for a moment , he saw blood spill onto the glass window .
Just as it appeared , it quickly vanished and Lesley took a deep breath . Then he held his Skillet tight , opened the door and entered hospital hell .
.....
Realisation is a strange thing .
It's a shock , a breaker of impulse and stopper of thought .
When one realises something , they pause and reflect as their mind catches up with their brain .
Like a divorced woman setting a table for dinner realises that she put her husband's plate aswell .
Or an orphan who calls his mother when he's had a bad dream , to remember she won't be coming .
Realisation is hard , unwelcomed but undeniable . It's memory waking up to stop the mind and then stop the body . It's a fact in the mind , shaking ones thoughts back into place and giving information that was momentarily forgotten .
Lesley had barely turned the corner when he realised something ; there was no such thing as a child zombie .
Zombie bites , which turned people into the undead , were very toxic and the human body had to go through death before reawakening . However for children , who had smaller bodies , the bites poisonous blood was too toxic to absorb , meaning a child would die or change into a zombie that would whither away as their body weakened , even if they ate humans .
Zombies were usually late teens or adults , never infants or ... toddlers . So Lesley had to pause and ask one question ; What the hell was that thing that hugged me ?