A muffled groan escaped his lips as his eyes slid open. A familiar green being stood over him, peering down at him with genuine curiosity. He yelped and staggered back, staring at the creature before it spoke and said, "Hey, don't worry, kid. I ain't about to kill my own kind. I ain't a cannibal." That only made him feel a bit better, but good enough to allow his legs to creep towards the green stranger.

The thing grinned at him.

"So you must be a new infected."

Infected? What did that mean?

"I'm Bob. You got a name kid?"

Name? There was something nagging at the back of his head. He followed it's wishes and said his name that seemed so achingly unfamiliar on his tongue.

"T-Tom," he croaked out, dry throat causing the simple word to scratch on the back of his throat.

Bob tilted his head slightly. "That's quite the accent there. You gotta be a translator."

Now it was Tom's turn to tilt his head. "T-Translator?"

Stupid throat.

Bob nodded. "Zombie translator. They're rare and only speak in accents. They can talk to humans."

Zombie? Was that what he was? The word made his mind tingle with memories that seemed too far out to reach.

Bob turned away from the 8-year-old and turned to say, "Come on! I'll show you how to live the zombie life."

So Tom followed obediently, 'zombie' still swirling in his brain.

The 20-year-old zombie rushed after his mentor, panting.

"HEY!" he panted, red tie coming around and smacking him in the face. "Wait up!"

The zombie was, unlike most zombies, was dressed in an unscathed, clean sharp suit. He had taken great pride in his clothes and always wanted to look nice. His zombie acquaintances discarded him as an outcast, and the fact he could talk to the enemy didn't help his reasoning.

Bob ignored him, striding forward. Ever since he had brought the little boy to the base, he had been nothing but trouble. He was always in the zombie's supplies and pranking and annoying others. Countless times had he had to fight to get him out of trouble. But this time, Tom had gone too far.

Despite the cries Tom hollered, he could not get him to turn around. He hadn't meant it! It was an accident!

But finally, Bob turned to face him. Tom fully expected him to apologize for being a dick and the two would go back and forget about the whole thing. But what left his mouth certainly wasn't the beginning of a happy ending.

"Stop following me. Get out of here, Tom."

Tom reeled back, staring at his 'mentor' with mute shock. What?

"Bu-but-"

"No 'buts' this time, Tom. I can't forgive you."

"It was an accid-"

"DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTENCE! You have been NOTHING but trouble since you arrived. I've risked my own LIFE for you. And you repay me by killing my only lover?"

Tom could see the tears appearing in his eyes. Bob clenched them shut and took a deep breath and turned away. "Go to the humans, Tom. Obviously that's where you belong."

Tom didn't move until Bob gave him a sharp 'LEAVE!', which caused him to scrabble backwards and run through the trees.

Leaves smacked at his face and branches and thorns scratched at his arms and legs, but they were numb and Tom blindly trampled through the dense forest. He finally came to the edge of the forest and the beginning of a small village. The village was next to the water, and constantly had ship riding in and out of it's docks.

He tried to step into the bright daylight, but immediately hissed and jerked back, the faint smell of burning flesh sizzling into the air. So Tom promptly sat where he was and stared at the roaming and milling people with a longing glint in his coal-black eyes.

"Hey."

Tom yelped and jerked the opposite direction the voice came from, staring at the new person in fear. The man backed up and held his hands up in defense.

"Woah, didn't mean to scare you. Thought you would've saw me. Why are you sad?"

The man sat next to him and stared at him in curiosity. Why wasn't he scared of him? Tom struggled to fight off the urge to drive his sharp teeth in his arm and lick the crimson blood off his teeth, and taste the copper on his taste buds... STOP! Tom shook his head. Thinking about it wasn't helping.

"I wish I was human," Tom said softly, turning to look at the bustling crowds of people again.

The man nodded, the feather perched on his pirate hat blowing in the breeze lightly. "I can help you."

Tom jerked to look at him in surprise. "You can?!"

The man smiled and nodded, grinning. "Yeah. Come on!"

He plopped his pirate hat on Tom's head and jumped to his feet, hauling Tom up too. He jogged evenly with Tom to a rather secluded house, farther away from the village. Tom got a better look at the man in the light, and noticed the strange red-rimmed glasses. Pirates didn't have those, did they?

The man knocked on the door, and a crash was heard from the other side. Tom jumped a bit, and the door slammed open.

"What?" the woman said grouchily, slouch making her look shorter than she already was.

"Witch, I need you help," the man said. Tom thought that calling her 'Witch would insult her, but the looked unfazed and she grumbled something under her breath and hobbled back inside. The man strode inside, with a less than thrilled zombie trailing behind.

Potions lay scattered untidily around the little cottage, and little spider and cobwebs hung in whatever corner they could find. Book were everywhere, almost everyone having some sort of stain on them.

"What do you want?" the witch snapped, sitting in an old wooden rocking chair.

"My friend here," the man started, pointing to Tom. "Wants to be human."

The witch thought for a moment before answering "I can't make you human" Tom deflated. "- but I can make you sort of human."

Tom nodded to encourage her to talk more.

"I can make you invulnerable to the sunlight, and only take away most of your urges for blood."

"Alright!" Tom said, nearly bouncing up and down with excitement. "Let's do it!"

"But," the witch said, holding up a hand. "There are consequences."

" I don't care! Let's go!"

"Alright," the witch mumbled, and nodded for the pirate to go away. With one last tip of his hat (which he had gotten back from Tom), he left.

The witch held up her hands and said something he couldn't quite comprehend, and suddenly pain raced up and down his spine. He wanted to so desperately screech and scream, but the cries bubbled away in his throat. Where these the consequences?

The pain suddenly died away and he collapsed to the ground, air unable to get to his brain fast enough.

When he awoke, nothing looked familiar to him. Dull orange grass and strangely shaped trees. He looked around and noticed a figure lying face first in the long grass.

"Hey," he said, nudging the man lightly. "Are you OK?"

The man awoke with a start, jerking up and nearly slamming his head into Tom's. Luckily, he moved just in time to avoid a massive headache.

"Who are you?" the man said, inspecting him before moving to his surroundings. "And where are we?"

"I'm Tom," he said, standing up. "And I'm not sure."

The man stood next to him, dusting off his hat and placing it back on his head. "I'm Tucker."

They shook hands. They decided to start building a house, and left to collect wood. While chopping down a tree, Tom couldn't help but think.

How did I get here?

His mind only grew fuzzy as he tried to think about anything about his past. He had no idea what happened before he got here. He remembered nothing.

But when the man with the red-rimmed frames showed up on the beach one day, he got one memory, after all this time.

"That fucking witch!"

I think I should put all my one-shots into one book :P

These are fun.

~Zero