everyone’s got the story of the first loved one they killed. some people did it before they turned, some did it after, but in the end, almost everyone did it. it’s like a rite of passage, bridging the gap between those who run from the truth, and those who embrace it. some sick fucks did it the moment they knew their loved one was bitten. this guy taylor, i met him about eight months ago, he was a loner too, a nice guy, met him out in the woods one day, just both of us passing through. we ended up spending a week roaming around the forest together, killing zombies. one night we find a shack, like a little log cabin dealie, and there’s booze inside, i mean an unopened bottle of decent bourbon. so naturally we drink, and when we’re all good and sloshed is when he tells me he was in a survivor party with his wife, carla, and a few other folks, and they got trapped inside a mini-mall in i don’t know, some bumfuck town in the south. the zoms manage to break through the glass, start chasing the group. there’s a ton of them, and they’re running through a back hallway when carla rolls her ankle. suddenly there’s a zombie at her foot and it takes a bite–just a bite–out of her leg before she kicks it away. she manages to stand, hobbling onto her good foot, and looks up. there’s taylor, shotgun pointed at her face. he pulls the trigger, no questions, no concern. this was his wife, for eight years! he said their daughter emma got pulled into a sewer drain by some zombies four months earlier, and, but his own admission, that sort of rewired his brain something strange.
naturally, the others kicked him out of the group near immediately and he had been a loner ever since. i stopped drinking after he told that story and ended up leaving him at sunrise while he was still passed out. that’s the nature of the world today. can’t be around someone who would just as soon shoot you as love you. gotta figure out who’s in it for the others as much as for themselves. cause truth is, we’re all gonna die and we’re all gonna be zombies, so it makes sense to keep us all alive and unbit for as long as possible, you know what i’m saying? watch each other’s backs. that’s all i’m saying.
