A Zombie's Memories

Milly North and Undead Rifleman leave the blue station wagon behind and advance through ruined streets. She clutches the damaged backpack and torn photograph while he carries his rifle at the ready.

Gunfire cracks ahead. At a barricade of burned cars, Haven defenders trade shots with a group of bandits while a broad-shouldered man shouts orders through the smoke.

Milly turns toward the gunfire, but Undead Rifleman guides her into a battered office building. They crouch behind a broken window, watching the defenders and bandits fire across the street.

Inside the dusty office, Milly's rancid odor gathers in the stale air. His headset answers with a low radio-static growl that carries toward the shattered windows.

Across the street, the exchange continues, but several Haven rifles begin angling toward the office frontage.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

Undead Rifleman stays low behind the broken window, keeping Milly beneath the sill. Her rancid odor clouds the street’s finer scents, but the defenders pay no attention to the building they are in.

His Reads Crowds instinct sorts the shifting bodies into firing lanes and retreat routes. He recognizes the defenders’ fear-driven hostility before any muzzle fully settles on the office.

The bandits break from the burned cars under covering fire, abandoning crates as they retreat into a side street. Haven Defenders keep their weapons trained toward the surrounding buildings.

Undead Rifleman shifts between Milly and the shattered frontage, rifle raised without firing. The crowd’s movement confirms the fight’s outcome: the broad-shouldered man holds the barricade, while they still haven't noticed them yet.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

Undead Rifleman keeps his rifle trained through the broken window without firing. The M4 Carbine’s steady silhouette, his skull-like face, and Milly’s rancid odor make the office frontage an ominous sight.

His Reads Crowds instinct follows the defenders’ shifting muzzles and movements. Their hostility has ceased, but they don't relax just yet as they begin picking up the crates while still gazing at their position.

The Haven Defenders obey, loading the crates onto trucks and then driving out of the area before any zombies show up.

Undead Rifleman shifts sideways until his decayed body fully blocks the frontage between Milly and the open window. Ready to fire if any straggler spots them.

Smoke thins over the burned cars. The defenders disappear behind some buildings, leaving the street beyond the office clear.

The Haven force has left the area, and Milly stands protected behind the empty window while the road toward Haven opens ahead.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

Undead Rifleman leaves Haven office building behind and arrives at Haven.

Haven rises beyond the ruined avenue, a sprawling settlement of patched walls, watchtowers, and smoke-wreathed rooftops. Milly lumbers beside him as the pair enter its outer streets.

The nearest storefronts stand dark beneath faded signs. Undead Rifleman moves with startling speed between them, checking windows, doorways, and alleys while keeping Milly behind his rifle.

A corner pharmacy yields to his careful hands. Inside, dust covers empty shelves, but a locked cabinet remains untouched behind the counter.

He breaks the cabinet latch and gathers sealed bottles of water, antibiotics, gauze, and canned nutrition bars into a canvas medical bag. His zombie form has no use for any of these, but he collects them anyways... a part of him still hanging on to the human he once was.

Milly’s groan echoes through the shop. From deeper inside the building, something shifts and the sound of footsteps can be heard.

Undead Rifleman shoulders the supply bag and steps between Milly and the sound. The pharmacy has given them useful provisions, but not immediate safety.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

Undead Rifleman follows the footsteps through the pharmacy’s rear aisle. Milly’s death-stink muddies every human trace, but his Reads Crowds instinct sorts the sounds into one moving presence and a covered retreat.

The M4 Carbine’s familiar weight steadies his aim and makes the hidden survivor hesitate. His skull-like face appears between the shelves, and Terrifying Presence turns that hesitation into a sharp, hostile scramble.

A young adult woman in a dust-streaked green security jacket steps from the stockroom, compact and tense, her dark braid tucked beneath a cracked helmet, her olive skin and square face marked by a crooked cheek scar. She grips a pump shotgun toward him.

Undead Rifleman shifts directly between the shotgun and Milly, the medical bag hanging at his side. The defender tracks his movement, hostile and frightened, ready to fire.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

Undead Rifleman reads the defender’s firing angle through the M4 Carbine’s steady silhouette. He closes the distance before she can react.

His Terrifying Presence drives her backward, while the smell of death and Milly’s rancid odor make her recoil and lose focus.

He steps in, covers her mouth with one blood-stained glove, and pins the shotgun aside with his rifle. Her struggle cannot dislodge him; Feels no Pain keeps his grip firm.

Hunger for Flesh surges as his jaws clamp onto her throat. His teeth tears through it in one brutal, silent motion, making her attempt to scream futile.

He lowers her shocked state without a gunshot or alarm, keeping himself between Milly and the now bleeding woman. The pump shotgun lies unfired, and the pharmacy remains quiet.

The woman lays on the ground choking on her own blood while attempting to stop the bleeding, slowly dying.

Milly crouches over her and begins feasting. Undead Rifleman swallows the chunk he bit out of the woman and continues to stand guard.

The human must act with hostility toward the zombie.

Undead Rifleman must protect Milly.

While Milly North feeds over the dead pharmacy defender, Undead Rifleman hooks the pump shotgun off the floor. Hunger pulls his glowing eyes toward the corpse, but his protective stance keeps him facing the aisles.

The shotgun comes free, it is a little worn and hasn't been fired for some time. But it should work perfectly.

Reads Crowds sorts the pharmacy into blind corners and clear lanes. His M4 remains trained toward the entrance while he sweeps the aisles, letting the shotgun hang securely from his belt.

The pharmacy now smells of death. That stench ruins finer traces as he searches beneath the counters and behind fallen shelves.

He finds sealed water bottles, canned beans, batteries, and a roll of plastic wrap in a back storage rack. He packs them beside the medical supplies without disturbing Milly's feeding.

The search is complete, and the shotgun is his. Outside, distant Haven voices carry between the buildings while Milly rises from the body, still hungry and following him.

Undead Rifleman leaves Pharmacy rear aisle behind and arrives at Haven.

Haven’s patched outer walls rise from the ruined avenue, layered with sheet metal, timber, and burned vehicle doors. Watchtowers overlook the street, but no sentry watches the shadowed side.

Undead Rifleman guides Milly through a narrow alley, moving with startling speed between collapsed storefronts. Ahead, a weed-choked service lane ends at a rusted maintenance gate beneath the wall.

Beyond the wall, Haven Defenders cross an inner yard in a loose patrol, their attention fixed on the main avenue. He waits in the alley’s deepest shadow until their boots fade.

His gloved fingers test the gate. The corroded latch gives without a squeal, revealing a low drainage passage wide enough for Milly’s immense frame if she turns sideways.

Milly North squeezes through after him, clutching the backpack and photograph. Undead Rifleman follows, pulling the gate nearly shut behind them and leaving the alley’s darkness undisturbed.

The passage opens inside Haven beneath an abandoned loading platform. A hand-painted arrow points toward the settlement’s workshops, while stacked empty crates provide concealment and a dry place to regroup.