Smiler took a step forward before stopping, this time turning his body to the tracks on their left. He then turned, facing Bucky only a few feet away. Smiler took a step toward him. Bucky stared as the zombie entered his comfort zone. They stood together, as close as he had stood with his friends. Smiler’s breath expelled from a blackened mouth, stinking of decay as it wafted onto Bucky. Bucky did nothing as the zombie gurgled and swayed. It peered right through him. Any other zombie, any other time, and he’d have been gutted by now.
A thud emanated in the distance. Smiler hissed. Bucky side stepped as the zombie ran past and into the darkness, leaving him alone. Bucky relaxed, but knew one of his friends must have made a sound. The clank of metal echoed through the darkness. A muted cheer erupted from the offices above where Seth and his cronies were watching them on a screen. Bucky’s heart sank. Something had happened. Shrills and screams wailed through the darkness.
Intuition kicked in. Bucky kicked one of the metal track runners, causing it to rattle. He sprinted from the area. The shrieks emerged again. His heart sank. They had not happened behind him. They happened in the area ahead. Smiler bounded back, screaming and wailing as he descended upon Bucky. Bucky dropped the boots as the zombie’s clawed hands shredded through the air in his direction. Bucky ducked as a hand came down, whistling past his head with great ferocity. Smiler turned and immediately swung his other arm.
Bucky stepped back, evading the attack. More cheers emerged from the offices. Smiler hissed and launched through the air, grabbing Bucky’s shoulders and smashing him to the ground. Bucky took a grasp of his throat and pushed the attacking teeth upward. Above him the zombie squirmed. Bucky pushed the torso away with his left knee, placed his right foot into Smiler’s stomach and pushed him away. Smiler rolled forward and hit the floor. Bucky stood and scoured the area. Nothing else had joined them. Smiler lurched to his feet and screamed. Bucky stood upright and froze. Smiler hunched forward, his head leading as he searched for Bucky by sound. The zombie swayed from left to right. Bucky remained solid. Smiler gasped and drooled. The zombie had lost him.
After a moment, Smiler turned. Bucky reached down and took one of the boots he had dropped. Without looking, he launched it over his head as high and far as he could throw it. It clattered somewhere. Smiler dashed in that direction, vanishing into the darkness.
Bucky released his breath, gaining his thoughts as he did so. He’d been stupid. Sound had played a trick on him, making him believe that the ruckus came from behind, not the front. It had almost cost him his life. No more stupid mistakes, he thought to himself before ghost walking into the darkness once again. He wandered on, hoping that the infected had gone from his immediate area.
Every step took a decade as his methodical and quiet approach moved him through the factory. He heard nothing, not a sound, not even from the infected. This gave him hope. No screams may have signalled that his friends were okay, too, at least for the time being. That clatter, though, the one he’d heard before Smiler attacked, had sounded like it had happened in anger. He pictured the White Witch swinging her scythe down with the curved metal striking the ground. If that had happened, then one of his friends had been discovered. If that was the case… Bucky shook the thoughts from his head. He didn’t want to think about that. Not now. He’d walked so far in this damn factory he had to be coming up to the key soon, he just had to be.
He stopped. A safety light shone a poor shaft on top of him. Something caught his attention in the darkness. A noise emerged, strange yet oddly familiar. His heart sank. Somewhere near, somebody sniffed. Bucky took a breath once more and stood silent. From the darkness to his left Snitchers emerged, crawling on all fours. He sniffed at the ground, tracking the scent he’d been given from a shirt. Bucky’s shirt. As the gangly, erratic zombie approached, Bucky looked around for something, anything, he could use as a weapon. The area stood empty. Only the metal frame of a machine stood there. Snitchers stopped, taking a deep, whistling breath through his nose. Bucky stood silent and motionless. The pulse in his wrists moved his hands with every beat.
Snitchers placed his feet on the floor and stood upright. He was awful to set eyes upon with tacked eyes and missing lips. Flight or fight kicked in. Bucky knew the attack was coming. He recalled Smiler and how he had launched through the air. Snitchers had displayed similar aggression whilst attacking the boots. An idea formulated in his mind. Bucky stepped in front of the machine and jumped. Snitchers launched through the air. Bucky dashed from his spot as Snitchers crashed into the machine and tumbled to the floor. The zombie wailed
