Sam heard the motor from a long way off. The noise of the car engine as it rolled over the road, travelled to his hiding spot as a dull roar. Many times he had heard the sound of car engines passing along the road as survivors came and went, each one searching for something, somewhere that they thought they needed. This time was different however, the noise came to an abrupt halt and Sam could have almost swore he heard a crash.
Still he was in no rush to go and see, in his own experience, rushing into things was a good way to get killed. So far he had managed to do a pretty good job of keeping himself alive and Sam put much of that down to the fact he didn't share the same needs as other people. He was quite content to live off the land, eating what the local woodland provided.
Of course that didn't diminish Sam's child like curiosity, and when he had eaten, he set out to investigate. In the last six months he had done a lot of growing up, to survive he'd had to. At the same time as death had destroyed one part of his life, it had also opened up another avenue, one where he could play a lost boy in never land. As he walked, Sam kept his eyes peeled for mushrooms and berries to pick along the way, as well as rabbit holes to dig later all while waving a spear that was little more than a sharpened stick.
The hike to the road was quite zombie free and pleasant. The sun warmed his skin nicely as he walked in the fresh air. The first sign that something was out of place was the small herd of dead horses that milled about not far from the road. The ponies were a common sight and Sam had even come to recognize behavior, however this was a new one. The way they stamped and turned, constantly stopping their grazing to gaze off into the distance. Sam had never had much to do with horses before but he imagined this was much what they were like before they died, but then again Sam imagined lots of things. He had fantasizes of riding a dead steed, clad in amour like a death knight from Dragon Lance stories, however he was old enough to know a pipe dream when he saw it.
He stopped to watch the ponies for a while, listening to the environment for any sign of something that might tell him what was going on. It all seemed normal, birds singing the wind in the grass and even the ponies were chomping away at the grass between bursts of excited neighing. Sam always found it strange how the dead alway seemed to fit right in, as if this was where they belonged. Maybe it was because they were animals and people first and living dead zombies second. He didn't believe in magic, not really but then again he had no idea about what else it could be either. People had said virus so many times, and in the early days Sam had believed it. As time wore on he lost less sleep over becoming infected, choosing instead to only worry about things he could control.
Leaving the ponies to their evil consumption of grass en mass, Sam continued towards the road following the horses nose's while keeping an eye out himself and before long he reached the road. It was long and shrouded in shadow from rows of trees, but even then he could see that it was vacant. Maybe he had been wrong and the car hadn't stopped, or maybe they had stopped but continued on again. With nothing better to do Sam began to walk, keeping close to the scrub for safety's sake, while sourly wishing he had bought a fishing pole and not wasted the trip.
As it turned out the trip was not a waste at all, the car not only stopped but it stopped dead. For a long time he watched it from a distance, the rear end view not giving him much excitement Sam agonized over getting closer. Already it had been at least an hour since he had heard the engine stop, still he didn't trust the situation. A lone car, abandoned on the road, he mulled it over in his head and almost left it be. Too often people threw their lives away on things they didn't really need and when he thought hard about it, there was nothing down that road he needed.
It would have been fine if his curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him. Instead he figured there was no harm in circling around, keeping a safe distance before he left for home. Besides, he reasoned with himself, it was a shame to waste the trip only to bring home a mystery. All that changed when he caught sight of the body through the bush. He felt a rush at solving two mysteries in one, the ponies were acting strange because they knew one of their own was struck down and the car had stopped in the process. The human body on the road was probably why the car hadn't started again, or maybe they had left him there and moved on foot. Either way, the situation was somehow less sinister with the new information and therefore it seemed warrant a closer look.
Sam like most kids had a morbid fascination to fulfill and with no signs of present danger he approached the car with caution. Upon closer inspection he found three bodies plus the still moving corpse of the pony. The repulsion he felt at seeing more dead people was dulled slightly, but still enough that he did t need to get up close and personal. In fact the whole scene gave him the creeps slightly and he wished suddenly that it had happened far away from here. Sam was just about to leave, when a thump from within the boot startled him, sending him scurrying back, heart racing.
The thump became a steady rhythm and for an hour Sam sat on the grass contemplating them. His mind had run through seemingly endless possibilities as to what they could be when he devised a simple test. Stepping up close to the boot Sam could feel the person on the other side of the thin sheet metal. Quickly he rapped his own knuckles on the lid, forming a basic pattern two knocks followed by three consecutive faster ones. The survivor repeated the pattern. Again he tested the knocks and again the reply came back.
A sudden fear gripped Sam as he realized that the person may be running out of oxygen and in his moment of compassion he took the key from the ignition and unlocked the boot. What climbed out next was not expected at all. It's bright blue eyes shone in the light while it's dark skin gave it an almost natural camouflage in the cris cross pattern that the tree's shadow lay over the road.
All of a sudden his stick felt like a twig as the creature rose to full height and glared coldly with dead eyes. Reaching into the space he had been frees from it grabbed a large knife.
