A Zombie's Memories

Milly squeezes sideways beneath the abandoned loading platform, pressing her immense body between stacked crates while clutching the damaged backpack and torn photograph. Undead Rifleman settles beside her, pump shotgun secured and M4 ready.

Through gaps in the warped boards, Haven’s central yard comes into view. The residents gather around the broad-shouldered man, with a woman with dark hair beside him. Many young children run up to him, cheering for their leader.

The broad-shouldered man stands atop a wooden pallet beside open crates displaying canned food, batteries, and medical supplies. He lifts both hands as the settlement quiets, turning a supply delivery into a public triumph.

Applause rolls across the yard. The woman watches the crowd rather than the crates, while the children clap and cheer around him.

A faint radio-static growl slips from beneath the platform. The broad-shouldered man’s speech falters for half a second; he turns toward the stacked crates, staring at them with unsettling focus.

Undead Rifleman stays silent beneath the platform, his broken headset reduced to a faint static hiss. Leaving no sound to trace, while his smell of death blurs the yard's finer scents.

The man stares at their position for a long moment before shaking his head and returning to his speech.

The crowd answers with renewed cheers. Their attention remains fixed on their leader.

The speech reveals the supplies came from a defeated bandit attack, and the broad-shouldered man is using that victory to bind Haven closer around him.

The dark-haired woman finally glances toward the crates, then back across the residents. Her guarded posture says she is measuring the claim, not sharing the speaker's certainty.

Children weave between adult legs as applause fades into murmurs. Undead Rifleman remains motionless beside Milly, having heard the settlement's mood and the story its leader wants believed.

A young adult man in a dust-streaked tan jacket bursts into the yard, lean and breathless, his cropped brown hair plastered to his forehead, with a pale scar cutting through one eyebrow. He points toward the outer streets.

The cheering dies at once. Children are pulled behind adults as the residents turn toward their leader, while the dark-haired woman studies the scout with a tightened jaw.

Haven Defenders break from the gathering and collect their weapons. Boots move toward the gates as Waylon remains beside the crates, his gaze lingering on the loading platform.

Beneath the platform, Milly presses closer around the backpack and photograph. Outside, the first defenders pass the hidden gate, beginning their search while the yard’s alarmed murmur spreads.

Undead Rifleman slips from beneath the loading platform after Waylon moves on. Milly remains tucked among the crates as he crosses behind stacked barrels, using many crates and boxes to remain unseen.

His smell of death drifts across the yard, making a few heads turn but he moves fast and ducks behind walls and other obstacles.

Waylon passes through a side gate and enters a narrow supply court. Undead Rifleman follows along the blind side of a brick shed, rifle held close and his decayed silhouette hidden from the patrol.

The dark-haired woman joins him beside a rain barrel, her attention fixed on the gate. Waylon lowers his voice, and Undead Rifleman settles behind the shed close enough to hear without exposing himself.

Undead Rifleman remains behind the brick shed, angled toward Waylon and the dark-haired woman. His scent is lingering but he remains silent and unseen.

Undead Rifleman chuckles under his breath. The static noise from his headset nearly giving him away, but the two humans don't notice.

Undead Rifleman now knows that the leader is a controlling man who has little patience for anyone who questions his rules.

Undead Rifleman slips back along the brick shed and returns beneath the loading platform. Milly North remains among the crates, clutching the backpack and photograph, untouched by Haven’s patrols.

He searches the backpack by touch, but his smell of death overwhelms every faint human trace. Forensic Reconstruction instead follows the objects’ wear: the child’s pack was carried recently, then hidden in haste.

Milly opens the damaged pack with stiff fingers. Beneath a small sweater and a cracked plastic cup, Undead Rifleman finds a school card bearing a child’s first name.

If Milly's family was alive, they either passed through Haven or were staying here.

Undead Rifleman folds the card into the backpack and angles his skull toward the loading platform’s inner wall. A faded maintenance stencil points toward the records office, giving the search a clear direction.

Undead Rifleman slips from beneath the platform and follows the maintenance stencil through a narrow service corridor. Milly North stays hidden among the crates, clutching her backpack and photograph.

His smell of death leaks around each corner, turning nearby footsteps and murmurs toward the corridor. He pauses whenever heads turn, then uses their alarm to draw attention away from his chosen path.

Reads Crowds maps the shifting patrols through Haven: a clear gap opens between the workshops and the records office. He crosses during it, rifle tucked close, unseen despite his scent.

The records office door is locked but its warped frame yields to his careful pressure. Inside, filing cabinets and ledgers sit beneath dust, while a single desk lamp remains dead beside stacked folders.

He searches the intake ledgers without disturbing the room. A family entry matches the child’s name on the school card, listing Milly’s old address and a later destination: Haven’s south gate shelter.

A folded relocation sheet confirms the family was registered at the south gate shelter, then marked transferred to the community clinic. Undead Rifleman gathers both records and turns back toward Milly.