Chapter 2: Snake in the Apple

Seven months before the Outbreak.

The snow powdered the streets of Faircomb. It veiled its asphalt with a flawless coat of fur. In one of its rustic brick houses, the Christmas decorations were for once set all over it. Inside, the rattle of the fireplace and the sizzle of the lurid rainbow lights were the unique sounds to be heard. Around a table, Jack brushed his blond hair. He avoided the gaze of the older man sat in front of him. The latter leaned forward with his elbows still on the snowman themed cloth. Between the two of them, Michael shifted his stare, as he tapped his fingers on the table with a smile. Finally, as Michael rubbed Jack's right hand with tenderness, the silence was broken.

"Hmm, dad. Well, "Jack sighed. "I-I am... gay," Jack said with a small voice, his gaze feeble.

Michael turned his attention to Jack's father. The latter jutted his chin, as sweat dropped on his son's forehead. Suddenly, a burst of laughter erupted from him as he hugged Jack.

"I thought you would never tell me!" he shouted with a relieved tone.

Michael watched the scene. He had on the innocent smile of a baby crocodile.

One month after the Outbreak.

In a dark alley, Michael shook his left leg. He tried to get rid of the sticky intestine part on his shoe. With groans, he rubbed it on a nearby wall. It squished and left a red trail on it. Satisfied, he stripped himself of his clothes and dropped his backpack on the ground. Out of it, he grabbed a bottle of water and poured it all over him. Then, he picked a syringe out and injected himself with the dark crimson liquid. Soon, the black veins on him disappeared with his mutated appendages. It veneered him to a healthier complexion.

His slitted eyes caught his reflection in a window, and looked at his lean and fawn-tinted body. After he walked closer to it, he scrutinized his face and washed it with a towel. Before the virus struck the town, he was used to conceal and retouch his appearance with makeup, to peel one skin to another for his audience. Even if no blood remained on his feminine features, he continued to admire his face. He smiled before he grabbed clothes out of his bag, the ones he wore before he left the hospital. The stage, the curtain, the act. Michael knew how to adapt to the costume he wore.

In the white palace that was Eden's Hospital, the wind blew through the air vents the faint scent of rot from the streets. It blended with the perfume of antiseptic. In the library, some survivors were reunited, whose shelves were pushed against the barricaded windows and missed a great number of books because of the chaos. On a center table, two maps of the town were slightly piled while whiteboards were nailed on the walls.

"What about this way?" Jack pointed at a red cross at the top right corner of one map.

"No way. The infected have crowded this area, they know that this is the only exit possible," said Peter with an assurance firm as an oak tree.

Marian looked at the ground and rubbed her right arm while Ariel crossed hers.

"If we can find enough weapons, we can reach the army and find a way out." Jack tapped his finger on the location.

"If we do this, we're risking to lose many people." Ariel brushed her hair.

"But, what if-"

"Jack. Jack, is it?" David put his hand on Jack's left shoulder. "Your courage and optimism, great, good qualities. But, you're new here. So, listen to the grown-ups." David laughed as he patted Jack on the cheek.

Michael leaned back on the desk behind him. He leered at David with half-closed lids, and tilted his head to the side, with a smirk. His spectacle was interrupted by a man's loud coughs.

"What do you want?" Michael asked and moved his head in his direction with laziness.

"I know about your little secret," the man whispered through his alcohol-scented beard, which froze Michael. "Follow me."

Arms crossed, Michael followed the leather-jacket man to an empty part of the hospital. The room was robbed of any useful item and dim lighted, which gave to the porcelain walls a sick halo.

"I saw you, going out last night, it was very strange," the bald man said.

"It- it was just some stuff to eat, I needed it!" Michael said with a worried voice. "The things that we ate and drank here, it's so-"

"Wait," the man cut Michael. "You said drinking?"

"Yes," Michael hissed. "It was a bar, it was incredible all the things that were left inside. Burgers, fries..." His eyes meandered before they aimed directly at the man at the last word, opened like wolf snares." Beer."

"Tell me where I can find it!" the man lifted Michael by the collar.

On the inside, Michael smiled.

Ariel looked for the medication in the pharmacy, the place has been tainted by stretchers and blood splatters, forced to be the hospital of the hospital. Injured and sick people lied on their emergency beds, while the medical staff watched over them. Under her surgical mask, she let out a sigh at the sight of a few empty drawers.

Ariel walked out of the room and leaned down against the wall of the hallway. She covered her face with her hands and brushed them through her chestnut hair. At one point, she noticed a redhead woman in her forties, at her right, who sobbed over the picture of a boy.

"S-sorry, I thought nobody was here." The woman wiped the tears off her face. "My name's Lily." She simpered. "This is my son in the picture... He, he's..." The woman covered her face with her right hand.

Ariel gave one more look at the picture before she put her hands on the woman's right shoulder and left arm. Suddenly, the woman gasped, before she walked away.

"What's wrong with her?" Michael asked with an innocent voice.

"She... she lost her son," Ariel said.

"Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea," Michael said as he threw his hands up, which made Ariel glare daggers at him. "Aaanyway..." Michael rolled his. "What do you think of me and David's honeymoon hotel?"

"It's missing a lot of important drugs." Ariel rushed inside the pharmacy.

"Wow, I know that they are like-people dying around you, but could you relax a little? Where is the fun Ariel? The one I got arrested with?" Michael complained with a pout.

"I don't have time to party. Plus, the one nightclub in our town got swarmed with zombies," Ariel said while she read a diagnosis sheet.

"Hmm, what if I got you humongous supplies of the drugs you need. Would you be up to party then?" Michael asked as he sat on a sick man's lap.

"In this case, I guess that I would be more inclined to-"

Before Ariel could finish, Michael was already gone. Have it been a cartoon, there would have been a hole shaped like him in the wall.

The burnt down buildings were repopulated by creeper weeds. Between them, Michael led the leather-jacket man, escorted by Peter and Lily. They were on bicycles, much to Michael's entertainment. At one point, they arrived in front of the location of the red cross on David's map. Avernus Bridge. It was a rusty truss bridge, whose path and waters were infested by zombies.

"What's happening?!" asked the man with the leather jacket.

From behind, Peter had seized him.

Michael gestured toward the water. Peter dragged him at the edge of the pit.

His nails rasped on the ground, which trailed lines of blood.

"N-no no! Please!" he screamed.

Peter threw him inside the pit.

Above him, Michael watched the feast. Peter had already seen this.

At Tekapo, a sheep struggled to climb up the slope of a slough. Before he could help, a body of slippery eels had crawled toward the harmless animal.

Unable to move, Peter watched as the sheep yelped for his life, almost with a human tone. The creatures around bit his skin. Tore the holes open and dug their maws inside. A steady rip to pieces, Peter turned away from the spectacle.

Michael had his eyes closed.

"That was fun," Michael said with a disjointed smile.

Peter observed the young man's expression. It was contorted as if Michael forced himself to smile.

"That was fun," said Michael again with a happier tone.

Michael kept on repeating these words. Peter thought that it was an attempt to convince him and Lily of the statement. However, Michael seemed detached from the whole situation. His gaze was not oriented toward anyone. Were those words meant for Michael himself?

"So," Michael said as he clapped his hands together. "You're gonna fetch some food around the town, with an emergency for puppy kibble." The young man handed a bag to Lily. "And you, you're gonna find the drugs on this list, as much as you can." He did the same with Peter, escorted with a shopping list. "Let's reunite at the bridge later. See ya!" Michael said as he started to walk away.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Peter asked while a bewildered and still shocked Lily just stared at him.

"I'm gonna find some presents for David, of course," Michael announced with gleamer in his eyes.

"Michael," Peter paused. "Are you okay?"

The young man shook. He turned his head toward Peter with tremors.

"Yes," Michael said with a perfect plastered smile.

Ariel was in her room with Marian, one arm on Marian's right shoulder, another on her left elbow. Her room had the bare minimum, a bed, and a desk. On the latter were organized medical papers, pencils, and a large amount of brainwork.

"What if those monsters find a way to the hospital and we all die?" Marian asked while tears shed on her brown cream cheeks.

"Don't worry, I know that we will be okay." Ariel firmly pored over Marian.

"Thank you." Marian smiled, which stopped as she looked behind Ariel."I have to go."

Quickly, she stood up and walked out of the room. She avoided hitting Michael on the way.

Ariel tried to stop her, but she was already gone.

"Does she know that it's your room?" Michael asked, his left hand clasped on Ariel's desk.

"You should be nicer to her," Ariel said.

"Yeah, suuure... Anyway, guess what the fairy Godmother found?" Michael showed a bag full of medication, lifting his chin up.

"This, this is outstanding. Thank you," Ariel mumbled.

"That's the role of a best friend." Michael stood tall.

With one of his hands, he pushed a strand of hair on Ariel's left shoulder.

Seven months before the Outbreak.

The snow melted in Faircomb, which revealed rubbish on the streets. Michael removed the flashy lights. Inside his father's house, Jack paced in circles.

"Perhaps he-"

"He is never late," Jack cut Michael.

Suddenly, somebody knocked at the door, which Jack opened in a dart, only to see a different older man.

"Jack Collins?" The police officer asked.

"Yes?"

"Sorry... We think he tried to fight a thief and..."

Jack almost fell on the ground, before he was caught by Michael. Michael hugged him as hard as he could. He brushed his boyfriend's hair and whispered to him with kind words. The sirens echoed in front of the house. On the porch, the snow was gone.