He ran into the room, his heart pounding, and his clothes soaking wet. One of the Abel Security Volunteers, Daniel, brought up the rear.

"Peter has been trying to leave the compound again, Major."

"It's Luke. My neighb… my… friend. He's still alive." the boy interrupted. "A runner on rofflenet posted evidence of looting in Mr. Grant's, a shop near where we used to live."

The major pulled out a map. After a brief inspection Peter pointed to one of the orange 'No Go' areas. The Major considered the chart doubtfully.

"There are two or three old supermarkets in the vicinity. Enough supplies, but it's a hot zone. Many didn't get out in time. Full of zoms!

Surely, if this boy…"

"Luke. His name is Luke."

"…if Luke was still alive, he'd have left, looking for help?"

Peter shrugged. "He's 'special'." He tapped his skull, "Different… You know… a window licker!"

The boy seemed uncomfortable. The Major turned a querying gaze to Daniel, "Window licker?"

"I think he means Luke has Downs Syndrome. Some have extended tongues. The term comes from seeing them on the Special Needs coaches, nose up against the glass, looking out at the normal kids on their way to day care."

Now it was Daniel's turn to look uncomfortable. Clearly there was some history there, thought the Major. Bitter experience? A relative perhaps? Exploring that would have to wait, but now to practicalities.

"If th… Luke… is special, is it likely he would have survived?"

Peter stood his ground. "He's not stupid. Just slow. And he's good at hiding. Can we just go and see?"

There weren't many children at Abel. The Major recalled vaguely that this boy's parents hadn't survived the exodus, and he'd nearly starved in the boot of their car. She shrugged.

"Maybe we could do a recce to see what supplies there are in the area…"

To be continued…

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DoctorMikeReddy over 11 years ago

This is a two part response to "Big Boys don't Cry"
https://www.zombiesrungame.com/static/special/competition/prose/prose-first-BigBoysDontCry.pdf
1st place winner of the Zombies, Run! Prose writing competition:
https://www.zombiesrungame.com/competition/
http://blog.zombiesrungame.com/post/41946235726/zombies-run-fan-competition

I didn't want to see the (unnamed) boy, Peter's friend and protagonist die. So here's a sliver of hope he'll survive.

DoctorMikeReddy over 11 years ago

Looks like it will have to be a three parter

DoctorMikeReddy about 11 years ago

This is now available as audio as part of July 2013 #audiomo at
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1505819-audiomo-very-late-1st-july-window-licker-part-1-6minutestory

DoctorMikeReddy (joined about 14 years ago)
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I do all sorts of things. Mostly badly. Mostly better than others. I tell stories. Occasionally, I lie.

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Story information

License

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

genres

fan fiction Zombie Apocalypse Zombies Run

tags

Zombies special needs window licker

Prompt

He ran into the room, his heart pounding, and his clothes soaking wet.
Prompt suggested by Ararelucidness

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