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There was barely any supplies in the store. That was to be expected. Most of them had been raided already. They’d have to go further.
Supplies wasn’t what Matt wanted however. He was searching for corpses. Anything would do, though Matt preferred to have humans. Though those were definitely on short supply these days.
He found some rats. Medium sized. They would hold Jay over for a week probably. Hopefully. He seemed more hungry recently.
He met back up with Jared. The grey haired man looked displeased. “We can’t afford to keep feeding it. You have to let it go.”
Matt just ignored Jared. He’d been like this ever since it happened. He didn’t view Jay as a human. But Matt did. Jay was still in there, somewhere.
It was an uneventful trip back to the “base.” It was barely even a base. Just the house they all lived in with piss poor defenses. Occasionally, a zombie would pass by. Matt didn’t expect the apocalypse to be this uneventful.
Matt went into the shed they had constructed to keep Jay in. It wasn’t much, but Jay seemed to like it. Or maybe he didn’t. It was hard to tell these days.
Jay stood in the back of the shed. His leg was chained to the ground. He was grey and his skin was coming off, but you could still tell it was him. His hair was completely grey. He had his sharp teeth, and his shiny brown eye. He used to have two, but he lost the other one a while ago.
“Bird! I got you some rats!”
“Uggh”
“Bird, I was only out for like 2 hours! Now eat up buddy!”
Matt dropped the bag on the ground. Jay immediately grabbed it and sunk his teeth into the rats. The rats were gobbled down quickly.
“You’re getting better at not making a mess! Good job Bird!”
“Gurrrgh”
“Bye Jay! See you soon!”
“Uuuuurgh”
Matt left the shed. He wasn’t expecting Jared to be outside. He was holding his trusty shotgun, and he looked annoyed.
“This has to end tonight.”
“Jared, we can wait for a cure! He’s still Jay! You can’t kill him just because he’s a zombie!
“It’s dangerous. You think just because it used to be Jay, that it won’t kill us all? We both remember what happened the night he turned.”
“He killed Andy accidentally! He didn’t mean to! I’m sure he’s sorry!”
“IT’S NOT SORRY! IT’S NO LONGER SENTIENT! ITS NO LONGER JAY! IT’S A MINDLESS MASS OF FLESH SHAPED LIKE JAY MCCARROL!” Jared screamed.
He pushed Matt to the ground and readied his shotgun. “Jay” cowered in fear. Strange response, but he’d seen zombies do this before.
“Jarughh. Sorghh.”
What? Was it trying to say his name? No, it was another trick that they could do. Why was he hesitating? He had to kill this thing.
It wasn’t Jay. It used to be Jay. It used to beautifully play the piano. It used to run all over Toronto. It used to be his friend. But it can’t be his friend anymore. No matter how much Matt tried, Jay was gone.
BOOM
The zombie’s guts flew everywhere. Mostly onto Jared, though he didn’t pay it any mind. Bites were the only way it could spread anyway. Something about the teeth.
Matt walked into the shed, and picked up what remained of the zombie’s head. He stared at it, and then he hugged it. He started crying.
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
“I-I wanted to see if you’d really do it.” Matt said through tears. “He told you to stop. Why didn’t you?!”
“Those were just random moans. Don’t you know anything about these types of zombies?!”
“He wasn’t too far gone!”
“He was long gone. It’s getting dark. Let’s head inside. And leave his head out here, I don’t want it inside the base.”