ZOMBIE apocalypse solangelo
the rambles r so good and oomf helped me with this story (thanks to them <33) @notwooshie <33
“What if Nico is a rare case where he died very early on in the apocalypse, but when Will finds him, he's different than a regular walker. He's clearly conscious and aware, though he can move very little because he was trapped since his death. And he doesn't exactly look dead, not like a regular walker does. He looks like a very stiff, sick vampire.
What if the strain inside of him mutated, and despite Nico being undead, he's more alive than any other walker ever has been. What if Will finds a walker while he's clearing a building, and ends up discovering a miracle
He needs physical rehabilitation, because he can barely talk and move, so Will frees him and carries him back to his own apartment, and slowly helps him with physical therapy, letting him regain a little bit of motion every day and watching him become a little bit more himself every day while they try to understand what happened to him
They communicate through Nico tapping on things in tap language, because his fingers are the part of him that's retained the most motion after so many years sitting still
Something preserved his mind enough in a good enough location that he retained his memory and brain function, and the infection evolved to keep him alive somehow without wanting to eat people
He just lost all muscle function because of being trapped and not being able to move much for a long while, so Will has to carry him initially until Nico can move and talk a little bit more
I think the infection in Nico would mutate to keep him from just fading away due to being unable to move or feed as a walker. I think at first he'd have the same walker instincts as the rest, but as the pathogen mutates, he somehow evolves to feed through sunlight, similar to photosynthesis but not exactly
The pathogen will alter the cells to start their own mitosis and take in sunlight to form a sort of weak supply of energy. He'd need to drink water to be fully active and recover tissue, but the sunlight keeps him alive for long enough for Will to find him. Pretty much all of his organs have failed except for his nervous system, so the pathogen created its own system in their place, using his skin as a main circulatory system that goes deeper
Will was trying to get to his family in Texas when the apocalypse started, but he was considerably slowed because the highways aren't functional anymore, so he's been painfully slowly making his way there on foot. He found Nico on the way, and the two of them are determined to get to Texas so Will can try to find his family, but also because they've also heard that one of the last standing hospital bases looking for a cure is there.”
