“I’m aware that you are usually mostly in control.” He holds up a collar and some wide wrist constraints apologetically. “But I’m not one to take chances again.” I sign and even tilt my head up. 

“Just get it over with.” I shiver as his hands touch my neck flinching surprisingly hard as the collar clicks into place. An electronic whir sets my heart racing and my eyes go black, “Get it off, get it off!” I scream, shaking my head violently. 

I flash back from where my throat was destroyed, blurring my vision and senses. Red! Everything is red. I'm bleeding out, dying. 

I scream and scream starting to foam at the mouth in a panic as if it was going to happen again. I somehow break the wrist restraints causing the stunned doctor to yell for sedation. I grab the collar and violently rip it off. Panting I grab the restraints by my ankle and slice through them jumping away as guards and doctors swarm me. 

I’m exhausted. I glance at the food and slowly reach for it. They all watch and then I carefully pull the box towards myself. 

“Don’t.” I beg them knowing I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I just wanted to eat and be left alone. 

The half zombified doctor makes a thinking expression then letting out a shaky growl I twitch looking at him while trying to protect my food. 

I repeat, “Don’t sedate me, I’m starving…I, I didn’t mean to freak out.” 

One of the guards huffs, “It was the collar you idiots, look at his neck.” Confused at what he meant, I touched my throat. The guard throws me the wrist shackles.

I reach for them hesitantly.

“Put those on and eat," he gestures for the others to leave but purposefully takes a sedation needle from one of the nervous wrecks of a doctor. He makes pointed eye contact with me. 

“I’ll watch him. Go!” 

I click on the wrist restraints as they shuffle out one muttering. 

“Who made you boss?” Under his breath that anyone who had a virus would have heard. 

He holds out his hands placatingly to me, “I’m just going to sit down here.” He says while doing so. “What flavor do you like?”

I blink as I relax, opening the box, ‘there's a beautiful burger and a welcome addition of fries and something else…a desert maybe?’

“Flavor?” I repeat, before stuffing my face full of food, it's heavenly. I’m not sure what he means and kind of confused at why my heartbeat is making a return surging my exhausted body with adrenaline. 

“Fruit or something like chocolate?” He opens a drawer and I lean over to peek at the weird containers. Finally he realizes I have no freaking clue what he was talking about. “For your medicine.” He holds up a few mini cups. 

“Oh uh, anything I guess.” I’m still freaked out. 

“I’ll give you my favorite.” He mutters to himself and starts messing through the drawer. I keep peeking curious about which one was his favorite. I sniff. Smelling his scent and more importantly his virus over all the other smells. I can smell other wounded zombies and personnel too. 

My mouth waters and I swallow quickly wishing I could feel as satiated by my burger then as when I took chunks out of that one guy. The guard looks at me. I freeze. He seems…intense, almost like he’s reading my dark disturbing thoughts. He picks up the collar turning a little away from me as he accesses the damage. He raises an eyebrow at me. 

“How are you feeling?”

I let out a little shudder. I can't take how normal and nice he’s being to me right now.

I swallow the handful of fries I stuffed in my mouth earlier. 

“Exhausted.” 

He snorts, “Your mutated virus is…new.” He sniffs, “But it’s a mixture of old ones. Not going to lie, I smelled you when passing and came in here to see one of mine.”

‘His?!’ 

“Kind of wouldn’t mind if you’d let me get closer.” 

I startle and my stomach flutters happily. I can’t explain it. My normal human self would be weirded out or skeptical but my viruses or at least one of them is losing its mind. 

“Why? Who are you?” I surprise myself by asking out loud.

He grins now and I feel very human all the sudden as I feel an almost prey-like drive. 

“I,” He starts gesturing to a tattoo on his neck, “I’m the first host of one of the viruses infecting you, you’ve been infected with a part of my blood.” He moves a little closer and the prey drive becomes a comfortable warm feeling, changing again to me lowering my eyes a little. 

“They always seem to forget.” He says softly. “They created the viruses but the viruses choose how they mutate.” He’s whispering now and I feel a strange pull towards him, respect and a little fear. 

“One.” I realize out loud seeing his tattoo clearly now. He reaches for my face and then traces it down to my neck. I shiver, flinching, when he touches my neck. I pull away a little. He growls and I tense growling softly in return. ‘I can’t help it.’ 

“Your neck healed nicely.” He says observing it.

“But not the experience.” I say quickly.

“You know my name, what’s yours.” He leans forwards fully aware of the effect, the control he had over me. Every human part of me screamed to push him away and every part of the virus was excited to be near him, the host, the first. 

“Rory.” I whisper. 

He winks at me, “Welcome to my hoard, Rory.” 

I bite my lip as he unsurprisingly bites my neck. What was surprising is that I moved to accommodate him so that he could reinforce the infection of the virus in me. ‘Ah well for weakening my virus.’ I shudder as it feels good and I know it’s so, so wrong. I flush as he notices my unorthodox reaction to being bit. I shift to try to hide. He yanks my head around and I let out a little gasp, throwing my cuffed hands up. 

Only to lower them holding his head against mine as he responds to my arousal with a kiss. He casually moves the food out of the way and presses me into the mattress to make out with me. I feel lightheaded. I wish I could get the shackles off but I’d worry about what my free hands would do if free to wander. 

He speaks so softly in zombie, growling and clicking, that I know the others can’t hear. I feel my chest tighten around a whimper I force myself not to make. He licks my neck saying he can do more if I want. I nod my head, unable to think straight. I want more, I need it, he presses against me and I growl in pleasure. I open my eyes to see that my vision shifts. I look around motion sensitive as he mouths my body continuing to bite and inject me driving my body even crazier. 

I try to grind but he shifts his weight, putting a hand on my hip holding me down. Which I find feels even better. He returns to kissing me slicking his tongue around and I notice my teeth are secreting venom worried I jerk my head back deep into the pillows. 

“My teeth!” I whisper urgently and he looks to see what I was talking about.

“It's okay, I like the taste of it.” He leans forward again and pants into my gasping mouth. I tentatively open my mouth wider. Causing me to flush as he presses against me firmly and then he bites my tongue very gently. 

My teeth ache. ‘I wanna bite, I wanna bite you,’ I feel myself growling in my chest. Desperate. He barely nods and I moan, biting his shoulder probably far too hard but it’s amazing.

I cum and hurriedly let go, turning away mortified when I realize... ‘What did I just do?! He laughs quietly lifting up off of me. “Alright I think that's enough.” I look at him embarrassed. ‘Did I go too far?’ I think sitting up and he hands me the medicine seemingly unbothered about what just transpired. Only the flush on his cheeks and his slightly heavy breathing show any reaction with him. I look down at the flavor and then take the medicine. It’s sour, but sweet. Rasberry I realize thats cute.

“Can’t say that I get that reaction from one of my hoard that often though.” He chuckles to himself. I feel as though I’ve been struck.

I cover my flushed face a little and then wish I was brave enough to ask him why my body wanted him so badly if it was just the viruses or something else. 

He leans forward again wiping blood off my lips. “Does it upset you that I treat all of the horde that is interested in me the same?” 

I relax my shoulders with relief, ‘no actually, thank goodness.’ 

“Is it normal for me to be this…attracted to you?” 

He shrugs, “From my experience there's a filial reaction with the straight males and gay females.”

He winks at me, “and a bit more of an intense reaction like the one you displayed when there's attraction.” I flush a little but nod grateful that he answered my questions.

“Eat your food, I can bring you the meat you’re craving, no judgment, even some support if you need it.” He says after I look at the burger dejectedly. I close my eyes and double over myself, hands going to my head as I nod. I can’t believe it. I’m just going to do it, no fighting? No agonizing fight of inner turmoil, slowly starving? Losing my mind? No grand battle of wills or needs or anything? 

“Hey I know it can be rough but if it helps the meat is ethically sourced.”

“Ethically? How!?” I laugh.

“You know I never asked.” He sees my shock and then shrugs, “That’s what they always say, who knows maybe they get it from death row inmates or grow it in a lab.” I make a face unsure how to feel about lab grown meat, ‘probably the same as that burger.’ I smirk. 

Then sigh, “Just…I’m hungry, let’s not talk about it right now.” He nods and leaves. When he comes back I’m not sure how to feel about how meat-like and…normal it looks. I shudder a little. 

“I think I’d prefer if it still “looked” human you know. I couldn't have ever told if this was human or not.”

“I see, I chose a more recognizable form, it can be hard for newly turned people if it were like a hand or something.” He hands me the little to go container. I glance at my half-eaten burger again. Then I take a small bite of the meat, it's hot. Not sure what to expect flavor wise but definitely not expecting how amazing it tasted. I feel like I might dissociate but I force myself to deal with it. I look down at it as I swallow and allow myself to look at the black veins on my arms. Stressed. I lick my inhuman teeth and sigh heavily. “I’m a zombie.” 

He stays close and slowly puts a hand on my back. “You don’t have to finish it if you don’t want to.”

“It tastes good.” I tell him looking distressed through changed eyes.

“The virus has changed everything about you. It's amplifying your tastebuds and changing your food preferences to what IT needs. If it helps, no, humans don't normally taste that good.”

“How do you know that?” I ask. 

He smiles knowingly, “Oh well we have a few cannibals here who mentioned that after changing it made human taste even better.”

I look at him for a long time and then take another small bite of the meat. “If you’re One and specimen zero is well “Zero””. I think about Nine. “Does that mean there are at least nine different virus types?” 

“Nine? No, there's only like three original types. Why?” He sees me looking at his tattoo, “Ah the guards all have numbers, some like me chose to get it tattooed.” It dawns on him, “Oh that guard." His face darkens, "number Nine. He’s going to be in pretty big trouble for messing with you and trying to infect you with his virus.” He looks like he wants to hold me and I scoot closer, relaxing as One wraps his arms around me protectively.

‘Protectively or possessively?’ My brain feels a little clearer now, ‘He’s been calling you a part of his horde this whole time.’

“Rory?” He asks. “About what happened. You were pretty beaten up-”

“I was set up.” I breathe finally. I look up at him, that’s right he took the time to ask my name. “Nine actually tried protecting me from the other guards at first but I got caught when trying to escape.”

He stares at me waiting for me to finish before asking questions.

“They dumped me in his room and he was nice all the way up till he recognized that I was affiliated with specimen zero. Then he thought he could piss him off by biting me.”

He thinks about it for a second and then nods. “The guards that beat you up will be reprimanded and Nine’s punishment may be made lighter but whoever set you up… They wanted to kill you and that’s definitely going to piss off the boss.”

He hugs me a little tighter and then sighs, “I have to go report to the big man, just focus on healing up for now, I’ll check in on you later alright?”

“What’s it like being the first?” I ask suddenly, “Feeling attached to everyone that becomes infected with your virus after?” ‘Is it like family or like minions?’

“It’s…powerful.” He smiles curling his fingers into a fist, “I try not to have favorites but," he laughs, “I’ll see you around later Rory.” He hesitates and then leans down to kiss me again. I feel like purring or whatever the zombie equivalent is. I close my eyes enjoying it leaving my head I tilted back like that. Wanting him to stay a little longer but other than a soft peck letting me know he was done, he slips out from behind me, and then situates me comfortably in the bed.

“If you need anything you can just call out. The doctors here will take care of you.” He leaves and I see a flash of him talking with grateful doctors. I wonder if he comes here often to calm the zombies that are infected with his virus. If there are only three or so original virus strains then he must have quite a few horde members. I roll over looking at the half eaten burger and half eaten meat in the to-go box. I close my eyes trying not to feel my poor broken ribs protesting despite the medicine.