'Zombies…and they've spread this far away from the city!'
Nolan was about to have another thought when the zombies scream became to change pitch. The loud scream transformed into a high octave shriek, reverberating through Nolan's ears. He covered them right away, but the screech pierced right through his hands. The noise was so loud it felt like it was echoing in his mind.
Nolan stepped away from the window and lowered his body to the floor, while the shriek had continued to haunt his ear canal. It was the worst sound he had ever heard. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a muffled gasp came out of his throat. If the feeling he had when first receiving his powers felt like burning knives, the sound of the zombie's scream felt like a continuous stream of lava spreading across his entire being and being sourced at his ear.
'It burns…'
Trying his best to endure the pain without screaming, Nolan's body began to recoil and convulse.
'It burns…'
Then, came the seizure. Nolan's twitching body caused his hands to move, making the sound unbearable as he writhed in pain. He wanted to scream but knew the possibility of attracting the zombie. Biting his lip ferociously, the immense stress of the sound made him cry blood.
'…'
After what felt like an eternity the scream ended. Nolan heard movement towards the one zombie he had seen, but he no longer had the strength to look. He sighed with relief and fainted on the kitchen floor.
***
When he awoke it was well past afternoon. Nolan had slept for several hours, but his in mind he felt like he had been awake the whole time.
'I can't catch a break, huh?'
He stood up cautiously, wiping the dried blood from under his eyelids.
'Still, I can't believe there are zombies, and they are coming this far out from the city.'
There were no more sounds he could hear directly outside, so Nolan glanced through the window.
The zombie was no longer there. Finally given a chance to take in his surroundings, he looked outside. What used to be his neighborhood looked lifeless. Nolan noticed three broken down cars in the middle of the street with each of the hoods smashed, having four dent marks per hood. But what really caught his gaze was to the right of the cars.
'Come to think of it, I only heard jumping noises earlier.'
There he saw three mutilated corpses piled against each other. Although difficult to see, from the window, Nolan could make out bite marks on the sides of the body. Further out there was a maimed and torn intestine followed by a trail of viscera going out of the frame of the window towards the inner city.
Witnessing the scene he rushed to the bathroom to vomit.
'Damn it! I got some on my hair'
After his experience with the zombies scream, Nolan was not deeply upset witnessing a dead body for the first time. The pain from earlier had somewhat helped by numbing his sensitivity towards such a scene, and he got over it very quickly. For now.
After rinsing his hair, Nolan stopped and looked at Sean's last message.
It looks like some forces have been placed on the outskirts of the suburbs near that old toilet paper factory overnight to help traffic any people running away. I don't know where you are, but it would be good to help get your parents over there. I don't know what will happen when this whole thing goes down.
'Well that would be helpful if I knew where they were…'
Nolan walked towards his parents garage and opened the door.
'The car is still here. Did Mr. Miller drive them? It looked like his car was gone.'
Mr. Miller has been neighbors with the Cossack family since Nolan was a baby and they had a pretty decent relationship. He helped Ross, Nolan's father, with building the garage.
'Let's hope that's what happened.'
Nolan stepped back into his house and began packing supplies. He was troubled by the situation, but his excitement for adventure was building up again, and he really wanted to head out into the city. For some reason, he had not felt strongly towards the sight of the mangled corpse in the street. This gave him the motivation to get moving.
'Sean can handle himself, I'm sure.'
Nolan grabbed several canned foods, some packs of ramen, and a filtered water bottle. He carried light enough where he would be able to drop the bag and run at a moments notice.
Before taking his next steps he decided to look at his stats one more time.
'Nolan.'
The hologram once again appeared.
[Nolan Cossack]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Changeling]
[State: Impure]
[Innate Ability: Sound Magic]
[Traits: Social Chameleon, Weirdo, Apocalyptic Prayer]
[Class: None]
[Scraps: None]
He had ignored the class tab, assuming it was something he would receive later on, but Nolan had no idea what scraps were.
'Guess I'll find out later.'
Nolan turned off the disaster system and opened his map. The red dot was smaller now and he could see it in the boroughs. Nolan's house was on Long Island, so he had some distance to travel, but he decided he would aim for queens and decide from there.
Finally, Nolan returned to his garage to grab a fire axe he hadn't considered taking before. Sporting a sports jacket and sweatpants with his backpack, he stood in front of his front door. Nolan was sweating excitedly, with a slight grin on his face. It was time to leave. Nolan tied his hair in a bun and opened the door, descending into his front yard. Trying to ignore the mutilated corpse in the street, he walked towards the inner city.
***
Nolan had been able to traverse fairly easily after leaving his house. In theory, his enhanced hearing would help him notice a zombie at least in the inside of the houses as he walked by, but he did not have a single encounter.
'Where is everyone? It's only been a few hours…'
Actually, Nolan very much enjoyed the quietness. He had always been fond of places with little people, and even more so with the experience of the zombie shriek earlier.
The street was relatively clear. Several houses were left in pristine condition, with occasional cars on the road. To Nolan's relief there were no more dead bodies. Some houses were either burnt down or had appeared to have been blown up. For whatever reason, it was clear the government was not sending in military force.
Continuing his silent stroll, Nolan stopped. In the house up ahead he heard what sounded like a wail. He shuddered and hid himself inside a nearby house.
Next Nolan, concentrated on the sound. After focusing on the noise, he realized it wasn't a wail, but…a crying baby?
'I haven't seen any survivors, which is odd considering it's only been around 8 hours. Maybe this is plausible?'
Keeping his guard up, Nolan tracked the voice of the baby crying up ahead and located the house where it came from. Stopping to check for any traps, he walked to the house next to the source of the crying baby noises.
Although it sounded harmless, Nolan wasn't going to take the chances of being snuck up on by another changeling, some other aspect of the disaster, or even a scavenging human. His face darkened.
'I'm not sure if I would have the guts to kill someone if they threatened my life.'
After concentrating a little more, he couldn't pick up any other sounds.
'I think I'll take my chances.'
Nolan scurried around to the back of the house. He opened the door, trying to avoid any creaking, before shutting it with a light pressure.
Now that he was inside, he was sure this was the sound of a distressed infant. Holding his axe and clenching his teeth he checked the whole house before going to the room where the noise was coming from. Finding nothing, he headed to the source of the noise. Nolan grabbed the door handle, and then stopped.
'What if there's someone with a gun?'
He knew the baby was not directly behind the door and in a corner. Nolan was going to be extra careful. He let go of the door handle and instead grabbed his axe and swung it through the door like using his remnant skills of a volleyball player. Part of the wooden door easily shattered, but there was no one there.
Nolan entered the room and checked but saw no signs of another person…except for the baby in the corner, still crying.
Then came a sudden realization. This wasn't a trap, this was abandonment. Nolan's expression suddenly dropped and became almost angry.
He walked up to the whining baby. It's obsidian eyes piercered his mind. Nolan spoke in a soft, solemn tone to the child.
"Who could do such a thing?"
The baby stopped crying, and looked at Nolan with expecting eyes. Both, stared at each other. Before getting caught up in the moment, he heard the baby's raspy breathing, indicating it was hungry.
Nolan grabbed a nearby by carrier board and gently picked up the baby, placing it in there, taking it downstairs.
'I'm borrowing your kitchen assholes.'
Finding some baby formula in the cabinet and a sippy cup, Nolan followed the instructions on the box. The gas was still working in this house, so he turned it on and boiled some water from the sink. After boiling the water, he let it cool before mixing it with the powdered formula.
While the water was cooling, he stared at the baby. Nolan never liked dealing with infants, but he was so angered by the parents betrayal of leaving it behind that he felt compassion for the child.
"I'll make sure you don't die."
Nolan turned around.
'Oh I forgot to turn off the stove.'
He walked back to the kitchen from the dining room, keeping the baby in sight. Nolan turned off the stove and stopped.
'…'
'What's that noise?'
Once the stove turned off, something was off. Nolan had heard what sounded like a jumping frog. Nolan began walking back to grab the baby, until hearing the familiar growl from when he first woke up, prompting a sprint.
But the zombie was faster.
Jumping the through the curtain covered windows glass shattered all over the floor. The zombie began reaching for the baby.
"Shit!"
Nolan grabbed his axe and began to swing at it, but the zombie dodged quickly and grabbed the baby.
"NO!"
Before Nolan had another chance to react, the zombie had twisted off the infants head along with its vertebrae.
What happened afterwards could only be described by a man who had already lost his mind. Nolan watched, frozen in horror as the zombie began picking the infant apart piece by piece, popping different pieces of flesh into his mouth like sushi.
Weeping in fear, Nolan tried to get away, but couldn't find the strength nor courage to stand up. After every bite, Nolan became more paralyzed with fright. His thoughts were racing.
'It's eating the baby! It's eating the baby!'
Cold tears were streaming down his face; his hazel eyes losing all glimmer of excitement he had felt earlier that day.
'It's coming for me next!'
Nolan clenched his teeth.
'I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna-'
The zombie finished his appetizer and licked the blood off his fingers. He stood up tall and slender, and turned towards the young man cowering on the floor. The mindless being salivated. He had found his entree.