Reciprocal Altruism
Hey guys, I got bit by the Walking Dead bug. So that combined with that Simon dream from last week or so, got me thinking about a fanfic series. Not sure if I want do do ReaderxSimon or a little bit of ReaderxDaryl... maybe both. :P So without further ado.. a prologue/teaser for Reciprocal Altruism.
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Walking Dead
Reciprocal Altruism
Readerx???
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The end of the world. Everyone speculated how it would happen, if it would happen. The choices were endless, each more outlandish than the last; nuclear war, asteroid a la the Armageddon movie, collapse of the world’s ecosystems, humanity enslaved by alien overlords, the list goes on.
You had been around long enough to hear all the theories. Every year it seemed some zealot was screaming how the world was going to end, but the Earth kept spinning, regardless of what the crazy man filming himself in his basement foretold. Predictably, when the dead rose and started walking, everyone seemed to lose their goddamn minds. No one wanted to believe it was true. It was only when faced with shambling, rotting corpses that had no remorse for eating your flesh, did people even comprehend that the world was changing. No more day time television, Starbucks, or lazy Sundays. It was either survive, or die.
Still, it wasn’t that shocking for you. Technically, you’d been dead for over 50 years. Well, undead...ish. A vampire, nosferatu, strigoi, lots of names tied to lots of legends. But it wasn’t all Bram Stoker and Lost Boys. Or whatever fictional story happened to be trending. The Twi-hard years had you rolling your eyes.
The sun while irritating didn’t make you burst in flames, or heaven forbid, sparkle. You were actually quite fond of garlic, albeit it was in short supply now. Church grounds and crucifixes didn’t repel you physically. In fact you had spent many of your years and travels admiring the old architecture of the churches of Europe.
You did, however, have to rely on blood for sustenance. And with the undead roaming around, gnawing on anything living, your food supply was becoming more scarce. Luckily for you, your nose was very sensitive, even filled with the scent of death. So, tracking a human was hardly difficult. It was staying that proved a challenge.
You had joined various groups since the end of the world, some lasting longer than others. Broaching the topic of drinking blood, and being a vampire had its ups and downs. How would you start that conversation? When would be the appropriate time? Once your strange situation was revealed, some people, while wary, had jumped at the chance to have you in their group. You needed less sleep than your human counterparts, were stronger than most, could dispatch the walking dead with ease, and most of all, you could smell the rotting corpses from a mile away. All of these protections were gladly accepted in exchange for blood. It was a game of choosing the lesser of two evils.
You never took more than you needed, sometimes even less than a pint. You also took care to cycle through donors. After all, it would do you no good to protect your food source from threats, only to be the cause of their demise. So you watched over your flock, a strange guardian, while they kept your thirst at bay.
There were times, when you came across those that would harm you or your companions. In those cases, you drank your fill. You took no pleasure in killing. Even the worst that dared to threaten your way of life were quickly drained, and the brain was destroyed. No muss, no fuss.
Unfortunately, playing happy family wasn’t always the case. For some, the idea of vampires existing on top of the world being overrun by the walking dead, was too much. Filled with fear and distrust, you were more dangerous than a walker. Usually you were able to discern which group would be more amiable to your situation, as it were. Sometimes you made mistakes.
Since the end of the world, you had been shot at least 10 times. Someone had even attempted to stake you. Suffice to say, people had relied on fiction and attempted to apply it in real life. Though you couldn’t fault them for being afraid. You may have been top of the food chain before the end, but now, you just wanted to survive, just like everyone else. And for that, you needed humans.
And so you wandered, trying to find both a steady food source and maybe a companion or two. After all, whether human or immortal, the end of the world could be very lonely place.
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It was quiet. The suburb you had found yourself in had been ransacked long ago. The walking dead even seemed sparse. The town was dead, literally and figuratively. But the town was on a central hub of highway, just out of DC, one that you noticed had recent use. And so you waited.
You sat on top of one of the tallest buildings around. The sunlight was irritating your eyes, but you had your trusty side shield sunglasses, which blocked most of the harmful rays. You had spent five days on that roof, keeping an eye and ear out for any indication of life.
You were about to pack it in and search somewhere else when you heard it. The telltale noise of vehicles rattling. You scanned the horizon, squinting as you saw the glint of glass and dust kicking up in the distance. They were heading west. You stretched, having been stuck on that roof for awhile.
Time to play follow the leader.
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