TheVirus

Hearing moaning and groaning from outside the room, I stand up. Edging towards the door to my bedroom, I slowly turn the knob and push. The squeaking of the hinges bounces into the darkness of the hallway and the quiet returns. Now I am wary.

Wary of the danger that hides in the shadows…awaiting a misstep in the right direction at which to pounce. But momma didn’t raise no fool, I bear arms. Forsaking the choice of a gun like every predecessor before me, I…take a katana from the stand that stands next to me. Hattori Hanzo would be proud of how I wielded it…like a samurai from a lost generation of ancient warriors. I feel invincible, yet far from invisible as I see eyes before me. Blank stares in my direction, as I slowly make my way down blank stairs bare of carpet towards the level below me.

Mouths gaping at the threat they have found, they close in. But I refuse to die, nor join their ranks so I begin to raise the slender blade I wield between my foes and I. From right to left, they inch closer…the cloying smell of decay in their breath has me dazed, but I hold my ground. In one swoop I slice through three and floorboards creak as decapitated torsos thud against them. Five more go down in just the same fashion, and as I leave the house with a heroic sense of self, my jaw drops.

Legions of vile creatures drag themselves towards me in a macabre likeness of a video game made reality. I am Leon Kennedy. And the army in front of me is the reanimated dead they call zombies. Step after step, eventually they surround me. I’m stuck in a vicious whirlwind with the only escapes through the ground as a corpse and through the sky as a martyr. But I choose neither.

Holding the handle all the more tighter, I hack away like a madman. Through flesh and bone that once held minds and souls, I fight to survive. Through men and women, I splatter gore so that I may feel like a hero, but let me tell you. Zombies were people too, and each one that has died, is a person that has gone through death twice. That is twice more than what should be necessary because life must be forever if a martyr is a willing sacrifice.

As I begin to understand the deepest mysteries of this mystery, I grow weak. With the last ounce of my strength I try to strike the final one…but I realize that he is a mirror image of me. Then the realization seeps in…the more pain I cause, the closer I come to destroying myself. Because an eye for an eye only makes the world blind and fighting for survival is an excuse the strong give to eradicate the useless. But no one is useless…if not, we are all useless. Because the ruthless rule the world and word ruthless is only one syllable away from useless. So with one mistake, they become obsolete with loss of power.

Which is exactly what happened to me… As my arms grew weary of swinging this sword, I begin to fall prey to the throng of undead. In the endless expanse of a second I become the opposite of ruthless, and the embodiment of peaceful. While I did not survive, I have attained the knowledge to guide me through the rest of eternity. A transformed man, I embrace death…but with my dying breath I ask just one question…why are there so many zombies!?