Like Rats by Adam Watts

Author:Adam Watts [Watts, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Horror | Post-Apocalyptic | Zombies
Published: 2016-10-23T18:30:00+00:00

THE DEAD SHALL DEAD REMAIN.

I’ve never seen a dead person before. I’ve never seen the light (if such a thing exists) fade from somebody’s eyes as they succumb to illness or injury. Even when my parents died they did so in a manner that spared me from ‘discovering’ them, or worse yet, having to identify them. I suppose it shouldn’t come as a shock to see a dead person – given the current social climate – and in a way, it doesn’t. What was most shocking, what really punched me in the guts, was Stan’s reaction, and the reaction he continues to have.

He’d continued on ahead of me, turned a corner and then came running back, his face stricken and pale. Not for the first time in the last few days, I felt that burning surge of adrenaline course through me; fight or flight, ready to take on whatever lumbering horror might be coming our way. I asked him what he’d seen; he responded by throwing up in a bush, and once finished, told me that there was a dead girl round the corner and that she fucking stunk.

In my mind, I pictured Eve. I imagined her dead, having taken off into the night, full of remorse and unable to deal with what had happened. Perhaps still under the influence of MIDS. Did she take her own life? Was she attacked? Did she get lost and succumb to exposure? I left Stan retching into the bush and went as close as I could. I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve – it was understandable why Stan threw up. That smell goes right for the back of the throat.

It wasn’t Eve, and that’s all I needed to know. I rushed back to Stan and set about retching into a bush adjacent to his. Whether this was a result of the smell or some kind of grim relief, I have no idea.

‘Holy shit,’ Stan said, his eyes watering. He took a drink of water and rinsed his mouth out. ‘I’m pretty sure she wasn’t there the other day.’

I didn’t say anything to that. I believed him.

We sat on the ground together, not saying anything, separately wondering what to do about the dead girl. And half an hour later, we’re still sat here.

‘How long do you think she’s been there?’ I finally ask, smelling my t-shirt and wondering if the stench of death has permanently bonded itself to me.

‘Don’t know…’ he says. ‘Long enough to stink, but not long enough to have gone rotten or got herself eaten by the wildlife.’

‘A couple of days then?’

‘Probably. I don’t know, mate, I’m not a doctor.’

‘No shit,’ I say.

‘We need to check her, though,’ he says, looking at me with expectation.

‘And by we, you mean...?’

Stan turns white and shakes his head.

‘Some fucking adventurer you turned out to be,’ I say. ‘Why do we have to check her?’

‘Because that’s what you do. You find a body and you check it over.’

‘She’d dead, Stan. What else

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