Lucky Charm

“A,” She breathed out. “A…. A B? A B?” She questioned, letting out a sigh.

Her eyes monitored the half eaten rabbit with practiced caution. Looking around carefully before approaching.

Hunting for herself was a death sentence in this world. Scavenging on the remains of whatever the predators ate was much “safer.” Of course, the ones that were truly high functioning usually didn’t leave remains, this was the work of the Rotten, those types had very little sense left.

Ila eyed the rabbit, the thing had its innards out, most of it scraped clean, but even bones had broken to be useful for Ila, let alone this much meat.

The thing was dirtied by its own blood and grime, but it didn’t matter, Ila’s own face was three different layers of dirt.

“A week’s worth of food,” she muttered, grabbing the rabbit, and turning around.

As she motioned forward there were bodies, some in the worst conditions that the rabbit, the stench was atrocious, but the stench was beyond necessary. Predators preferred the smell of life over death.

‘I might need some water,’ she thought. The water wasn’t for drinking, water from the lake wasn’t much use and had a high risk of infection anyways.

She needed to clean her guest, as she always did.

As she left the clearing she was halted by the appearance of a male figure. The figure seemed to eye the unmoving form on the concrete underneath the gas station’s shade.

‘Fuck,’ Ila thought, brown eyes watching the scene attentively, hiding behind the trees.

The male figure remained standing for a moment before turning around. It’s eyes blood red, drifted into nothing, its movement erratic and nonsensical as it motioned toward. On its head was a clear hole yet it remained moving like any other living being would.

Ila didn’t release the breath she was holding as the Rotten walked away, even while knowing how it always turned out.

Her guest was always ever in less trouble than she was. Predators, rotten or not, didn't come too close to her guest.

As the rotten drifted from sight, she gingerly moved forward. Giving the blood stained road a left and then a right sweep with her eyes before continuing towards the gas station.

She rushed forward the closer she got, immediately crouching over the guest on the ground.

“Shit,” her eyes scanned the male form on the ground, dropping the rabbit next to him.

The man that laid on the floor was nothing like Ila, while his clothes were bloodstained, and as dirtied as hers, his face however was clean, every single feature cut into a symmetrical almost unnaturally beautiful frame. Seeing a pretty face like this was difficult these days unless they were a pet.

She brought her ear towards his chest, his heart beating in slow, disjointed paces. She exhaled.

“I have no idea why I worry,” she exclaimed before bursting into a peal of laughter, her hand balanced on the concrete.

“You won’t die,” she grinned at him as if he could hear her. “Will you lucky?” She questioned the slumbering man.

Lucky charm. She has long begun to call her lying companion.

“Yeah, you won’t die,” she answered her own question. “You can’t die,” her eyes trailed toward his neck, there was a blatant slit side to side.

“We got something real nice to eat today Lucky,” she reached out towards the rabbit. “Meat!”

She hoisted herself off the ground glancing at Lucky. “We can’t stay here anymore, Lucky, I saw fresh corpses in the woods while scavenging, they might be a pack of predators or something.”

She paused, a thoughtful look on her face, before shrugging it off with a smirk, “No way we’re that unlucky,”

As if mocking her own thought process she shook her head, her gaze shifting to the sticks on the ground.

“Let’s make a little something to eat!” She glanced back at the unmoving Lucky. “I’ll bathe you tomorrow Lucky, we’ll have to fill our bellies first.”

She began picking up a few of the sticks. “I could really use some weed right now,” she muttered as she did her task.

Night came quickly for her and soon parts of the rabbit had been toasted, and a small fire flickered before Ila.

She curled her hands around her knees, her eyes on the pink lighter which she flicked on and off. On the pink lighter was the inscription J.I.

Her brown eyes moved towards Lucky. “Are you hungry lucky?” She asked the man. “If you wake up I’ll feed you.”

There was a moment of silence, and the answer she already knew awaited her in the silence itself. She sighed.

“If you woke up, I’ll probably be like that rabbit over there,” her brown eyes shifted towards the rabbit only for a second. “You’re really pretty, were you this pretty before this damned apocalypse?”

The crackling of the fire filled the space of quiet in between her words.

“You should wake up, Lucky, so I can tell you I like you,” she remained quiet for a short moment before erupting into laughter.

“I’ve gone deranged, my brain is probably more mush than those rotten,” she kissed her teeth, rubbing her hands against each other. “If my brother were here he’d tell me it’s my mental illness talking.”

She stared at the lying man, her eyes seemingly on him yet distant. “I wonder who's really mentally sick, me or those things.”

The silence was abruptly broken by a stumbling footstep. She immediately shifted, standing on her feet, her eyes meeting with a pair of blood red ones.

The red eyed female was lacking one eye, one could almost see a clean hole out the back of her skull.

The rotten stared at Ila only for a fraction of a second before dragging its way towards her, one of its legs mangled.

It stopped suddenly, its face contorting for a moment. Ila, she understood the look, having seen it many times it could smell Lucky’s presence obviously repelled.

Yet it pressed on, the smell of a living body irresistible.

“Fuck,” Ila grunted, reaching for a stick from her fire as aid.

But before it even reached the gas station itself it stopped once, five fingers covered in blood protruding from the rotten’s head.

A hand extracted itself from the rotten’s head, the female body collapsing on the ground revealing another figure.

Ila’s heart dropped at the sight. ‘I truly am unlucky,’ she thought at the sight.

Before her was the familiar sight of blood red eyes, coupled with slightly parted lips showing of a pair of jagged sharpened teeth, unlike the disorganized, and erratic demeanor of the fallen rotten, this male was fully composed, his head cocking.

“Livestock?” He croaked, his voice hoarse and croaky.

His mouth was painted in blood, his side buns, as was his blackened hands.

‘Hunter,’ she thought.

Ila raised the fire up against him.

In the blink of an eye it was closer than humanly possible. “Livestock,” he whispered with certainty this time, a gleeful look in its dark red eyes.

Yet it stopped, smelling the air. “An Alpha’s here?” He asked.

Ila nodded. “Y-yes.”

The red haired Hunter looked around, grinning somewhat at Ila. “Where are they?”

Ila squared her shoulders. “Eating.” She responded, a shaky breath following her word.

Those red eyes eyed Ila carefully. “You their pet or something?”

The fire remained pointed at the Hunter as she said. “Yeah.”

He ran his tongue over his teeth. “Real fucking attitude for a pet.”

Her heart slammed against her chest, she would attempt to feign calmness but her heart would give her away anyways.

“Wanna say it to his face?” She responded, her face contorting into demand.

The Hunter sniffed, rubbing his bloody fingers on his chin before shrugging. “Nah,” he responded, smirking at her. “I’ll be on my way, maybe if I’m lucky I’ll run into yous on the road and beg him to share.”

Her teeth pressed together, her eyes unblinking all this time, beads of liquid forming on it. “Break a leg then,” she told him.

The Hunter clicked his tongue that, making a leaving gesture before another voice resounded.

“Cricks! What’s holding you up?” This voice was deeper, but most certainly masculine.

Two people appeared under a quick movement. One of them being a red haired female, and another being a bald headed man.

“Livestock,” the woman muttered, her bloody mouth parted.

‘I was wrong Lucky, this day is shit!’ She thought, her breathing fast, and irregular.

“Lay off, Rexie, she's a pet,” The red haired hunter — Cricks told the woman.

The bald headed man who previously had a bloody index in his mouth let it out with a pop. “It’ll be one against three then,”

Cricks hissed. “Of an Alpha, dumbass, don’t that nose work no more, Kent? She fucking reeks of it.”

Before the twinkle of an eye the red haired woman was before Ila, her hand wrapped around Ila’s as she sniffed Ila in.

“But she smells sooo good underneath that stench,” Rexie said, stepping forward as the fire pressed against her chest. “I’m tired of eating dirty corpses. Making my shit hurt.”

‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’ Ila’s chest rose and fell haphazardly.

Rexie’s nose contorted, her red eyes shifted towards the unmoving man on the ground.

“What’s this?” Rexie spoke softly.

“An Alpha,” Came Kent, his body now in full view his eyes on Lucky. “What’d you do to him?”

“H-He’s just resting, can’t you see?” Ila responded, her heart pounding as Kent approached Lucky.

A resounding smack from Rexie landed on her cheek cleanly. “Watch you mouth livestock.”

“Rexie, this don’t feel right,” Cricks said, his form still distant.

‘Yeah Cricks! Tell em to leave!’ Her scrambled through came, her face throbbing painfully.

“Her Alpha is incapacitated Cricks, stop pussyfooting,” Kent replied.

Cricks eyebrows pulled, “We ain’t seen a live body in a year, let alone a skinny bitch, alive, this ain’t right, let’s bail Rexie, Kent can do whatever the fuck he wants.”

“She’s real meaty for a Skinny bitch though," Rexie leaned forward and Ila felt a cold feeling wash over her.

Her mouth split open, jaw dropping unnaturally, showing off her jagged sharpened teeth when a soft sound echoed over the night.

“What the fuck was that?” Came Kent.

“C-corpse,” a deep masculine voice, slow, and soft came.

Ila’s eyes flickered over to Lucky, the man was unmoving but after watching the same face for over 3 years she could immediately tell his lips had parted a little more than it had been over the past three years.

‘This could work,’ Ila thought, staring at Lucky.

“Ha,” a soft laugh came from Ila. The three predators turned those dark red gazes at her as her laughing continued. “He-he’s gonna fucking kill y’all.”

“Corpse… ha…. Corpse,” the deep voice came once more from the lips of the unmoving man.

Ila swallowed, her gaze still on the man who hadn’t so much had twitched over the years.

“Rexie! Get the fuck over he—”

“What the hell?” Kent said his fingers on his nose that now had crimson trailing down the nostril, and then before Ila could register what was happening his neck twisted unnaturally followed by a sickening snap and his head rolling off his body.

Ila’s mouth hung, her heart a race of pounding flesh, her fingers trembling as her eye darted away from the now headless Kent to Lucky’s still unmoving frame.

“H-Hungry….” The words rolled out softly it could almost go unheard from the lying body.

“J-Jesus Christ,” she choked out, body trembling

Rexie pulled away from Ila, her fingers touching the cold liquid trailing down her nose, eyes widening.

“Rexie! Rexie get away—” Rexie didn’t allow Cricks’ words to land before she zipped away from Ila, suddenly stopping just a foot away from the shade of the gas station.

Snap! Came the sickening snap again, along with Rexie’s head torn from her body.

“Away.” Cricks red eyes were still, then slowly rose towards Ila.

Ila could hardly register his movements, only one moment he was there then the next he was gone.