This morning I woke up feeling very achy and sore all over. Taking a warm shower and stretching sort of helped, but then I realized it wasn't just a muscular ache or soreness. That ache and hollowness in my chest and legs remained. There was also another sensation sitting in my body, and I remember the only word I can describe it with was "hunger." I also realized that I was viewing and assessing the world in a different way: It felt like when you notice how things a tiny crack in a window that changes your vision just slightly.
After finding a small meal at the dining hall, I wandered down towards my class on far south campus. It was a very lonely morning, as I didn't see a single potential victim around, only the slowly-growing numbers of my brethren and sistren. We nodded our heads with slight smiles--we were as one and we all know it--even the fresh ones. I went to class as usual,took my exam, and again wandered outside.
The rest of the morning was slow and target-less. The one pack of humans I glimpsed disappeared into a building, and I had seen them toting large blasters that could easily spray me in darts...those filthy darts. Just seeing those blasters my body knew instinctively to be wary of them.
I later realized that the human I had infected the afternoon before still hadn't completely turned. A full 15 hours later, and he was still human. By the 16th hour he finally was consumed. Apparently those freshly-infected, in their first hour or two, sometimes spread a strain of the infection that hasn't passed the threshold to infect humans. (Others say that some humans may be slightly less susceptible).
When I looked upon my first kill, there was a vivid moment where I remembered the moment I tagged him. He had been leading a few zombies away from his friends so they can escape. For a moment I felt sad for him, but a shadow passed through me and all I could focus on in the memory was the feeling that went through me as I had infected him. One of us...one of us...
By the afternoon more humans were about on campus, mainly to show up for classes, and they kept in tightly-knit packs that defended all their members. Of course, this didn't deter some of the braver zombies. The impacts from the darts cause our infection to withdraw deep within, but some zombies--especially Those That Make Us Chant--say this is good for promoting a healthy strain that will infect many. Makes it hearty and resistant.
In the late afternoon there was dark rumors crossing the campus. Many zombies claimed of information about a weapon against the growing hordes. They spoke of the local administration, and how it was already trying to contain our masses. The administration had deployed a device that could hold the infected at bay--specifically on the East-side of Haggard Hall, where all day many of our kind stayed away from, like some sort of a taboo. The rumors spread by the hordes claimed that an even greater weapon was coming to campus. We could not have this, and so we planned, waited, and searched for information.
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