Hector laughed like a madman as he stumbled through the dark city streets.
Free. He was finally free!
This infection that was taking over everywhere had been his godsend. It had allowed him and the other inmates to break free.
He cackled loudly. A 'Screamer' they'd called him. He liked being a Screamer.
He tripped, almost falling, before hitting a wall with his side. He frowned. It sucked not being able to use your arms. He tugged at the straight jacket, trying to break free, but to no avail. He made an irritated noise and continued on. He wasn't going anywhere specific, just needed to get as far away from the hellhole asylum he'd been stuck in for over six years as possible.
He headed toward a large building close by. It was an abandoned Sugar Mill and would be a good place to stop and rest for the night.
Or so he thought.
As he stumbled into the building, a strange noise met his ears. He tilted his head to listen. Crying?
He headed for the noise, thinking someone might be hurt.
Or maybe there was someone to hurt.
He grinned when he saw a thin woman sitting in a corner, crying. Her pretty little neck would be easy to snap. "Miss?" He said in his most calm voice possible, putting on the fake smile that had won him so many victims. "Are you alright?" He said, stepping closer, "Perhaps we could help each other out, hm?"
The crying stopped and was replaced with a low growling. Hector titled his head, "Miss?"
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Without warning, she screeched and jumped up, throwing out her arms and running at him. Hector noted that her fingers were very long and sharp claws, before turning and bolting.
He was glad that he was no longer human, otherwise she might have caught him. Thanks to being a special infected, however, he easily out ran her and hid. He stayed low, crouched in some bushes until he heard her start crying again. He sighed in relief before slipping out and heading in the opposite direction....
Right into another one.
Hector stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a second woman crying a few feet away from him. He'd been too preoccupied with the first to notice her, and thankfully, she seemed too preoccupied with crying to notice him. He silently began backing away...
He backed into something that gasped. He didn't have to look to know what it was when it began growling. When she shrieked, he took off. He glanced behind him to see that the third crying woman, who had been standing rather than sitting like the others, was about to give chase, forgetting about the second until he tripped over her. She yelled and began making that same loud noise as the other two.
He stumbled and caught himself before he hit the ground and ran as hard and fast as he could, long black hair flowing behind him and the two PMSing ladies on his tail. He rounded a corner and quickly ducked into what he believed to be a way into the factory. He was horrified to realize that it seemed to be a storage room.
He curled himself into a corner and listened as the two ran past him outside. He relaxed, thinking he'd escaped death again.
He almost died on the spot, however, when he heard more crying. Another woman, sitting in the opposite corner, had yet to notice him. He stood as silently as possible and attempted to sneak out past her.
She suddenly turned and began growling. Throwing caution to the wind, he took off, leaving the storage room and heading straight into the trees beyond. He stopped just inside the tree line and slammed himself behind a tree, breathing heavily and listening closely for more crying.
When he heard none, he slid down the trunk of the tree and rested there. He pulled his knees to his chest and closed his eyes, tilting his head back to rest it against the tree.
That's when he heard it. A very faint crying. He groaned, mentally preparing to run again.
As it drew closer, he realized that it sounded different from the others. He'd heard enough crying in his day to know that this was a boy. He peeked out from behind the tree and watched as a blonde boy in tattered clothes slowly wandered out from behind some crates. His arms were wrapped around himself and he kept his head down as he softly sobbed.
Hector grinned widely. This boy was just how he liked them; small, beautiful, young, blonde, vulnerable. He watched in delight as the boy stumbled and fell to his knees, crying louder and moving his clawed hands to cover his face. Hector's face fell.
The boy was one of them. There was no way he could get close.
Or could he?
As silently as possible, he stood and backed further into the trees. When he could no longer see the boy through the trees he turned and headed for town.
***
"Goddammit!" Hector cursed quietly as he peered into the window of the gas station. Inside, several survivors were messing with guns or patching up wounds.
He needed in that fucking station.
Taking a few steps back, he tossed his head back and let out a loud shriek before hiding on the windowless side of the building.
Within seconds, a horde swarmed the building, busting windows and rushing in. Hector listened intently for the screams and gunshots to die down.
In a few minutes, it became silent. Hector grinned and went back around to the front, easily slipping in through a shattered door. Several infected were eating the fallen survivors. He moved past them and headed for the cash register.
He let out a mad laugh when he found what he was looking for; a plastic tub full of those cheap fake roses. He didn't know what color the boy would like, so he grabbed a red one because it reminded him of blood. He couldn't pick it up with his hands, as they were restrained to his sides, so he tilted his head and picked it up with his mouth.
He left the station and headed back to the Sugar Mill. It didn't take long.
He first went to the place he'd previously seen the boy. He was no longer there, so Hector carefully searched the general area. He eventually found him next to a stack of large pipes.
The Screamer went around until he was behind the boy and very carefully made his way towards him. He moved slowly and silently, taking his time with deliberate steps as he drew closer and closer to the sobbing boy. He stopped when he was barely two feet away and slowly leaned down. The boy made no move as if he'd heard. Hector slowly repositioned his feet, then dropped the rose and bolted.
He stopped around the corner and listened. He couldn't hear the boy crying any longer. Cautiously, he peeked around the corner and watched as the blonde looked around, confused, before his gaze fell on the rose. He carefully picked it up, with some difficulty because of the claws, and examined it. He sniffled and gave a very small smile before turning back around and holding it against his chest, crying softer than before.
A mad grin tore across Hector's face.
***
He didn't sleep, paranoia rarely allowed him to anyway, and instead thought over how he was going to get close enough to the boy to hurt him. Granted, it really would have been smarter just to leave him alone and find someone else to harm, but Hector was too crazy to realize this.
Hector's first, and only, idea was to shower him with gifts. Naturally, he didn't think about how he was going to actually introduce himself or what he was going to do other than give the boy gifts. Instead, he focused on thinking up gift ideas and what he was going to do to the poor boy later.
The whole reason he'd been caught in the first place was poor planning. There was always a beginning and an end, but never a middle. Sadly, he often forgot this little flaw.
***
When daylight flooded the horizon, Hector set out to find items in which to display his 'affection.' He went to a general store and used his mouth to carry a basket which he dropped things into. Trinkets, teddy bears, beanie babies, jewelry and candy found their way into the basket, which Hector then carried back to the shack he'd taken refuge in.
He took a blue teddy bear and headed back to the Mill.
The boy wasn't far from where he'd been the previous day, the red rose sitting next to him as he cried. Like before, Hector carefully sneaked up behind him and dropped the bear, running for his life the next instant. He hid behind some crates and waited. When he felt he was safe, he peaked around and watched the boy gently rubbing the bear's head and sniffling.
Hector grinned and watched over the boy in silence.
***
"Be careful, this place is full of Witches." The female survivor warned. Hector watched them wearily them from the bushes. Witches? Where those the crying girls everywhere?
He followed them silently. He felt they were a threat to not only him, but the little Witch he was courting as well. He'd grown attached to the boy in the week he'd been watching over him.
Hector gave a low growl when the survivors rounded a corner near where he knew the boy was weeping. His sensitive ears picked up the Witch's unique cry before they could hear it.
He glared darkly at the healthy group. They had become an immediate threat and would need to be disposed of. He sat down and gave a loud shriek.
"Screamer!" A man shouted. The survivors began shooting wildly into the brush and running at the same time.
Running in the opposite direction Hector wanted them to go.
Yelling in frustration, Hector stood and ran along the tree line. He quickly passed them and headed toward the familiar crying. He spotted the boy sitting in the middle of the path several feet in front of him. Behind him, he could hear the horde and the survivors fighting one another.
When he stopped behind the boy, he finally realized that he had not planned this far. The blonde turned and looked at him, a mix between fear, anger and confusion on his face.
Time seemed to slow as they made eye contact. Hector gazed into foggy blue while the boy stared back into murky black. The Screamer swallowed roughly, voice leaving him.
"There's the Screamer! He's with a Witch!"
Time returned to normal as Hector snapped his head around and saw a male survivor taking aim at him. He couldn't scream again for fear he'd upset the little Witch next to him. A shot rang out, barely missing him, which was enough to get him moving again. Acting on instinct, he bit into the back of the boy's shirt and lifted.
The boy was light and required little effort to pick up. Hector would have sworn he heard one of the survivors yell "What the fuck?!" as he took off with the Witch in his jaws.
In the week he'd followed the boy, Hector had memorized the layout of the Mill. He headed for the front where he knew there was an opening into the Mill.
As he rushed through to doors, he completely ignored the two sobbing women inside and ran up a flight of stairs to the second story, which was nothing more than a grated pathway overlooking the factory. He headed for a dark area where several common infected were wandering around. He pushed through them to an opening and gently sat the Witch down in a corner.
Hector stayed low as he peered out between the bars of the path and looked down at the doors.
"They went in here."
He growled as two male survivors entered. He was ready to shriek if need be, even at the risk of upsetting the Witches.
Thankfully, he didn't have to.
"Witches!" One survivor whispered harshly to his partner when both infected began growling at them. They attempted to flee, but it was too late as the two Witches screeched and went after them.
Hector grinned as all four fled the building and quietly returned to where he'd left the boy.
When they made eye contact again, Hector realized how terrified he was. The boy was looking up at him fearfully, tears in his lovely eyes, and the Screamer was very afraid. Not of what the Witch could do to him, but of the boy rejecting him. He tried to speak, but felt his face heat up and his mouth run dry.
The boy whimpered and sniffled, rubbing his eyes, and Hector took the chance and ran. "Don't leave meeee!" He heard the boy call as he went down the stairs two at a time, but he ignored it and quickly exited the Mill.
***
Hector came back to the Mill the next day, a large bouquet of fake flowers in his jaws. He found the boy sitting outside of where he'd left him the previous day. Swallowing nervously, he cautiously made his way toward the boy, whom he noticed was sobbing harder than he had before.
He stopped in front of him and fell to his knees, tilting his head so that the flowers were standing correctly. When the boy looked up, Hector gave him a sheepish smile and leaned a little closer. The boy sniffled and carefully took the bouquet, looking it over thoughtfully as Hector shifted to sit on his rump rather than his knees.
They starred at each other in silence. Hector felt his insides begin to twist with nervousness and his face heat up. He wanted to run again, but was fighting the urge.
Finally, the boy wiped his eyes and spoke, "I'm Cedric."
"Hector." The Screamer answered quickly.
"That's nice." Cedric whimpered, "I liked your gifts."
"That's good."
Cedric nodded and looked down at the straight jacket, "Did you hurt someone?"
"I used to..."
The Witch sniffled, "Are you gonna hurt me?"
"I thought about it..." Hector admitted, "But I don't think I can..." He lied.
Cedric's mouth twitched, as though he nearly smiled, and he reached forward and cut the sleeves so Hector's arms were freed.
Hector moved his arms, stretching them, holding them out, lifting them above his head, testing them, using them for the first time in years, while grinning like a madman. "Thanks!" He said appreciatively.
"D-don't m-mention it." Cedric choked before he began sobbing again. "H-hey!" Hector called, leaning down to see the boy's face, "Don't cry! What's wrong?"
"Y-you're going t-to l-leave agaaiin!!" Cedric sobbed into his hands. Hector gently grasped his wrists and moved them away from his face, "No I won't." He spoke softly, pulling the boy into his lap.
"P-promise?" Cedric whimpered and sniffled. Hector grinned as sanely as possible, wiping the tears from the blonde's eyes, "Promise."
Cedric smiled then. A real smile. Hector's throat clenched and he couldn't breathe. He leaned down and pressed their lips together, overjoyed when Cedric wrapped his arms around his neck and returned the kiss.
When they parted, Cedric lowered his arms and nuzzled the older man's neck, "I'm so happy." He whispered. "Me too." Hector agreed, holding the boy close.
And he was.
In an odd moment of clarity he hadn't experienced in over ten years, he realized his previous 'lie' had been the truth. He couldn't hurt Cedric.
He could only protect him and love him.
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