Jasmine finally sat down and started eating, queuing everyone else to start eating as well. We all ate in silence, the ecstasy numbed by the fact that sooner or later we’re going to be hunted down like a pack of rabid wolves. I sat back, plate bare, and started staring at the ceiling. The saturation of the food settling in, I finally felt healthy and something made me realize that maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. We would only be eating newly dead John Doe’s, which no one would miss, and it’s keep us from being crazed into eating live people. Poor Emanuel, that dream still haunts me, I couldn’t imagine what he may be going through. I looked at him as he sat back, plate bare, and asked, “Emanuel…how are you doing after the incident…I mean I dreamed it and it still haunts me. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
He shook his head and said, “You know man…you’d think I’d be horrified, but I kinda just accepted it. I mean that wasn’t me, I’m not a killer, I’m not a sociopath, I used to be biology teacher so I understand the basics of anatomy, DNA, and stuff like that. My thinking is, that this is kind of like an evolution of sorts. Every hundred years or so, we get a small group of people that have extraordinary minds. Look at Leonardo Divinci, Albert Einstein, Newton, all those guys had a mutation that allowed them to understand things that normal people cannot. We all have a engineered mutation that provides us with natural predator instincts. While they seem to be inconvenience, if we could explore what else we may have from the mutation we may be able to survive longer than the other clans, groups, herds, or whatever we are. I mean hell, one night here and we already found out that we can all sense each other if we get crazed and find a ‘hunt’, if you will. What else can we do, and will we be able to control it?”
I just stared at him, thinking this guy is crazy if he thinks we can BENEFIT from this! “What do you mean control it? There’s no way we can control those urges like that. If we let it go to that point, there’s no way in telling if we’re going to hurt someone in the process or not. I don’t know about you guys, but filling up on John Doe’s is fine with me.” I stopped there laughing. “Man that sounds crazy…filling up on people…I sound like Hannibal Lector or something. Anyway, I don’t want to get to the point where I may hurt someone.”
“Sorry man, I was just saying we may have more than we think going for us. Something that could give us an advantage over the other groups.” Emanuel apologized.
“I know man, I’m just saying that this virus is more than an inconvenience. It’s worse than dying of cancer, worse than knowing your about to die, and worse than just about everything out there. The only ‘plus side’ is that Jasmine has a friend that can hook us up with food when we need it.” I said.
“Until he gets caught or worse…” Jasmine muttered.
“What do you mean ?” I asked Jasmine.
“Like I said earlier, people are going to eventually catch on. We need to stock up on food while we can, otherwise when the government steps in and requires all deaths to be cremated within 24 hours, and ashes tested for DNA to ensure body count accuracy, we’ll be screwed and the only thing left at that point will be to find people when they die. It’s going to be rough for a while is all I’m saying.” she said.
I look down at my watch and realize it’s 4 o’clock in the morning. “Oh shit, I need to get home and get some rest before work…So what’s next? We keep a look out for people with the virus and ask them if they’ve had any weird dreams lately? What if they have, but they don’t match ours? Should we still include them in our pack, or let them go their own way.”
“We’ll figure that out tomorrow, in the meantime, just note everyone you see that may be infected. As soon as the media takes wind of people liking human flesh, it’ll come out because a lot of people are going to get crazy really quick with the meat shortage in the state, they’re going to put a name on people like us. We’re carnivores, we’re really into human meat…first word that comes to mind is…” Jasmine stopped.
“Zombies…” I whispered.
“ZOMBIES?!” Susan exclaimed. “We’re not zombies! Zombies are dead, well…undead at least. Sure they are similar to us, but we’re not dead! I mean, I have a heartbeat, I can think freely!”
“I know, I know! But what else can we be classified as? When we’re in the craze like Emanuel was, he couldn’t think of anything but food, all zombies think about is food. That’s what we’ll be coined as.”
We each shook our head in disbelief. “But if people think we’re zombies, they’re going to be even more willing to hunt us down…” Susan said.
“You’re right about that…” Emanuel said.
“Zombies…” I said still shaking my head. “What are we going to do?”
“We’ll keep on doing what we are doing. We’ll be under the radar for a while. While we’re under the radar they will take care of the infected that are crazed and are eating live people. Once they see them all gone from around here, we’ll be in the clear, but we’ll need to be REALLY careful. One slip up and we could all be dead by day light.” Jasmine said.
“It’s almost like we’re going to need a look out.” Emanuel said laughingly.
“We will all have to look out for each other, otherwise we’re dead.” I said.
Zombies….that’s what we’ve become. Government induced zombies, talk about population control…