Biological Hazard has a minion!

the Infected Subeta

profile, writing and overlay by Johnny_673 || art by Sound
story revised by Rampage || backgrounds from patterncooler

!! TW !! VIOLENCE AND GORE

Talbot never fully accepted his un-dead state at first. Once a handsome man with luscious long hair, he is since reduced to a decaying piece of meat with insects flying from his stomach. It's not a easy change to handle. Even among the zombies, Talbot was considered handsome in the same level as Skitters or Gunner, and that was the factor that helped him not accept, but tolerate being a zombie. Zombie girls would sigh and smile as he passes by, always shirtless, looking down, grumpy face... Maybe that was part of his charm, the growing anger and hate inside him.

Those girls weren't his type. He liked the "living" type; he just couldn't enjoy or have any other pleasures in his after life. The last straw was when his left arm fell off—he could bare losing an eye; he got used to it quickly since the underground is quite dark anyway—but missing an arm sparked a fire inside him that he never felt before. He just had to let it out.

On that dark night, he was the only zombie walking through the graves of Shadowglen, with only ghosts and Harversters wandering around. But there was one young man, the poor soul, who was mourning in his younger sister's grave, and had the lack of luck to be the first thing that Talbot spotted in the cold fog.
A bite in the neck and a twist of the head was all it took; that man was now with his sister, and Talbot was feasting in his guts. He couldn't control himself. He was disgusted but was feeling so much pleasure at the same time, like never before. After half an hour of devouring the man's flesh, Talbot stopped and screamed into the night. He never wanted to hurt anyone. He was not a good person but he never killed anybody! He spent the rest of the night sobbing behind a gravestone, trying to attach the man's ripped arm, much smaller, to his own stump.

• • •

It didn't take many days before a mob of angry subetians where protesting at the gates of Shadowglen. We know there are humans who are just fine with sharing the world with zombies, celebrating holidays together and exchanging candies, but the anti-un-dead folks were HYPED and happy with that attack, since they could use it against the whole zombie community.

They were quick to point fingers at any random zombie: "It was him! I saw it! Look at his sharp claws!" They captured him, like he was an animal. Skitters couldn't control the angry mob and that was when Ecks emerged from the shadows, with a scream that scared even the ghouls.

Ecks tried to say the attack wasn't caused by a zombie. Maybe an angry Harvester or a wild Telenine, but a zombie could never do it! And Talbot decided to not let any more lies be told, standing up and assuming his guilt, deciding to go with the mob, who wanted to burn Talbot to ashes.

Once again, Ecks interrupted and said no more "deaths" would occur; that wouldn't change anything or bring the man back. She made a long speech about how human and zombie lives are equal, and Talbot would be locked down in the Root Forest for everyone's safety. More lies.

• • •

Months passed, and Talbot was now an active soldier of Ecks's "Z Coalition". He was never locked in the Root Forest; he was punished by the murder he committed. Quite the opposite, in fact. He was rewarded.

Ecks told Talbot the story of the Z Coalition, and how they fight humans to protect the zombie community. If he joined her and the killing division, she would fix him a shiny new arm.

Talbot didn't take one single minute to accept the offer, to unleash all his rage. More than that, though, he wanted the humans to feel what he felt when he was turned into a walking corpse. He wanted to spread the viruses ALL around Subeta. His plan is to gain respect from Ecks and persuade her to agree with this plan. But for now, Talbot is just a pawn in her game.