Keller smiled as he wove through the grass, the blades caressing his jeans. He glanced behind him, catching sight of his companions’ silhouettes as they crossed the street. For the first time in over a day, he was free and alone and alive. Each hour within the group was torture. He longed for the ability to express his desires, to break free of the boring social etiquette and the meaningless conversations.
He’d been stifled for too long already.
For most of his life, Keller had controlled his urges, striving to fit within society’s framework. His days were spent working meaningless jobs, smiling and kowtowing to his superiors. His nights were his freedom. After a long shift as a groundskeeper or a maintenance worker, he spent the twilight hours hunting, searching for people alone in the park or couples too caught up in each other to notice him. Each time he killed, the cleanup took longer than the encounter, and each one had only incited his hunger and rage.
But not anymore. The agents had opened the world up to his desires.
Now that the infection had hit, there was no cleanup, no one to answer to. The only person controlling his urges was Keller. It was time to unleash his desires.
Keller crawled to the edge of grass and surveyed the men’s backyard. Dan’s description was accurate. The two brothers, Marvin and Jed, were cutting up the infected, separating limbs from bodies, laughing as they worked. It was a ritual he knew well, having done it multiple times himself. Keller wondered if the men had partaken in violence prior to the infection, or if they’d contained themselves until recently.
Maybe he’d ask before killing them.
The men were in the middle of the yard, just past the fire. Diagonally to Keller’s right was the shed; fifteen feet to the left of it was the oak tree. The infected woman strained against her bindings, shrieking at the gruesome scene. Keller snuck through the grass, keeping an eye on the men, gaining confidence as he crawled. Even if the men saw him, he’d take care of them. He didn’t even need Dan’s gun. The man had offered it, but Keller had insisted he keep it to protect his family.
Keller planned on taking it later, anyway.
He reached the edge of the grass. He was ten feet from the shed. Keller glanced at the men, confirming they were distracted, and then sprinted to the small building. When he reached it, he pressed his back against the wall and waited. The fire crackled; the men laughed.
The infected woman moaned.
No one heard him. He peered around the side of the shed, confirming he was safe, and then worked his way around the shed. When he’d reached the far side, he peered around at the oak tree.
The sun had slid from view, tinting the yard orange. Jed stoked the fire with an infected limb, then returned to his perch next to Marvin.
Keller sprinted for the oak tree, his heart battering against his ribcage. As he made his way across the lawn, his body felt like it was on automatic, his brain running a program. It was the feeling he always felt before he killed, the feeling of maximizing his potential. The feeling of being alive. He stole a glance down the driveway and past the pickup, thinking he might see his companions crouched in the grass across the street, but they were too far away. When he reached the oak tree, he clung to the back of it. The infected woman hissed from the other side.
Using his knife, Keller cut her loose.
He peered around the trunk, watching her stagger across the lawn. He smiled as she found her targets. The sadistic celebration of the brothers was cut short, replaced by their surprised, terrified screams.
“Holy shit! Mom?!”
“How did she—?”
Keller ducked out of sight, letting chaos ensue. When he peered back around the tree, he saw the woman shoving fistfuls of Jed into her mouth. Marvin had been wounded. He stumbled toward her, his arm bleeding, and gored her in the back.
Keller broke from the tree, covering the gap between him and Marvin, clutching his knife. In seconds he’d pulled Marvin away from his mother, and he thrust the knife into the man’s side. Keller felt the wet spurt of blood on his hand, but he continued stabbing, listening to Marvin gasp for breath. The knife felt like a third hand as he weaved it in and out of the man’s side and stomach. When Marvin finally stopped struggling, Keller threw him to the ground.
The infected woman continued to feast on Jed, oblivious to the knife protruding from her back where Marvin had stabbed her. Keller bent down and wiped his hands on the grass. His pulse was pounding, but he felt good—better than he had in quite some time. He rode the waves of adrenaline and bliss, listening to the slap of the old woman’s gums as she finished eating her son. When she’d completed her meal, she turned to look at him, her black eyes reflecting the glow of the firelight.
Keller stared at the infected woman for a moment, trying to read her expression. Her mouth hung open, dripping gore. Perhaps she was grateful for the moment of freedom.
Without another thought, Keller advanced and plunged the blade into her forehead, then removed it, watching her topple face-first into the mess she’d made.