The Anomalies

Chanced Encounter

I exited the camp and continued walking, admiring the surroundings. This place really seems untouched by the outbreak. You could hear birds chirping and wildlife moving about in the back, completely oblivious to the fact that there are millions of zombies running around the Earth but maybe that's just us humans. We think that we are an important species on the planet, we convince ourselves that we are the superior species but in reality the Earth would have been in a better place without us. I sat down leaning against a tree nearby the river admiring the nature around me. There was something about this place that was oddly satisfying, it was calm and soothing. I closed my eyes and let my imagination take over.

I was happily enjoying my time until I heard some splashes near the river. I shook the sleepiness away and went to investigate the noise. I saw a figure of someone happily taking a shower in the river, upon closer inspection I saw that it was Anna and she was completely naked.

Immediately I turned away. This was wrong on so many levels but my body told me otherwise, I was peeping on Anna taking a shower in the middle of a god damn forest. I couldn't help myself as I continued admiring her. It didn't look like she was bathing at all, more like enjoying her time in the water. From a point of view it looks as if she was dancing and damn it she looks so good. Her face was flawless and I can't even begin to describe her body and physique. I was happily enjoying this sinful act when I noticed something weird happening. About hundred metres downstream, some disturbance in the water caught my attention. All I could see was a dark shadow moving rapidly through the river and it was headed straight for Anna.

I uttered a curse and ran straight for Anna. I closed the gap between us pretty fast and I started shouting my lungs out.

"ANNA! Get out of the water right now!" I shouted as loud as I could.

"Naz! What the hell are you doing?" Anna responded, shocked at my appearance.

"No time for questions, just get out of the river right now!' I replied almost exasperated at this point.

"Is this some sick joke you're playing at? Because if it is, its not wo..."

Anna never had the chance to complete the sentence before she went down and disappeared in the river. I cursed again and jumped straight in to try and save her. The water was both welcoming and unforgiving, the cold went straight through to my bones. Thankfully, the water was super clear that I could immediately see Anna struggling to get free of something. That thing was absolutely disgusting on so many levels that I almost puked at the sight of it. It was like the combination of an undead-merman fish thingy. One of its eyes was gone, probably eaten away by fishes and it was covered in scales. It had webbed hands ending with long nails and it had them around Anna's neck. I swam as fast as I can towards it all the while thinking, "Why the hell must there be water zombies". I expected it to get away as soon as possible but it seemed to be struggling with Anna, she must be putting up a good fight. I reached for my machete only to realise that it was missing, I had no time to search for it so I just went ahead and closed my hands around its head and began raining slow-mo punches on it which had no effect whatsoever. Annoyed at my presence, it let go of Anna and turned its attention to me instead, from the corner of my eye I could see Anna make it to the surface. The zombfish grabbed my throat and brought me down straight to the riverbed and I realised it was trying to drown me. I started struggling frantically and panicking, once again afraid of dying. The scales proved to be too tough for my hands to do anything about.

"I need something sharp, I need something to pierce that scale of his," I kept thinking to myself. That was when I felt an incredible pain in my right arm and to my horror my arm was changing. My hand got bigger, muscular and what was once nails became claws. An unbearable hunger took over me and all I could think of was killing anything in sight. My claw gripped around its throat and ripped it wide open. The zomb-fish began squealing in pain, desperately trying to get away while it leaked black blood staining the water surrounding it but that didn't stop me. I continued my ferocious attack and clawed its chest out. In a matter of seconds, the zomb-fish lay dead in front of me, the river current slowly washing it away downstream. I was about to get out when I felt a pair of hands pull me out of the river onto the banks. My lungs welcomed the fresh air as I took deep breaths after breaths, I never realised how long I was underwater.

"Naz! Where is that thing? What happened? Are you alright?" Anna bombarded me with questions.

"Hush... One at a time and at least let me catch my breath first," I answered.

"Sorry..." Anna muttered sheepishly.

I looked at Anna to see that she had a towel around herself. I looked at my right hand to see that it was back to normal, no traces at all of the horror that it was only minutes ago.

"You might wanna put some clothes on by the way," I said staring at Anna.

She blushed crimson and turned away to get dressed. Once again I admired her as she got dressed.

"So are you gonna tell me how you managed to survive and kill that thing?" Anna questioned.

"What makes you think I killed it? I asked

"Well, I could see you thrashing about with it before blood started pouring out and then all movement stopped. I assumed you managed to kill it somehow," Anna answered.

I looked at Anna straight in the eyes and asked, "Can you keep a secret?"

Anna nodded in reply, waiting for an answer of any sorts. I sighed at myself suddenly feeling tired before I told her everything.