"Is this bloke ever gonna wake up?"

"Maybe. It didn't help that Harry scared the shit out of him."

More crunching noises occurred. "This tastes good."

"And is it true he said this wanker was still turning?"

"Apparently. And he's probably right. I can only detect the slightest of heat signatures in this guy."

Holy shit, my head hurts, Aaron thought to himself. I don't even know why I blacked out. I've seen worse messes.

"I think he's waking up," a female voice said.

Aaron blinked several times as the blurriness in his eyes disappeared. His vision slowly restored itself and the first thing he saw was the female Deadman. He automatically jumped back away from her, backing up into another tree.

"What the f..." he said as his breathing quickened.

"The hell are you doing?" she asked, seemingly confused by his breathing. "What's with those wheezing noises?"

Aaron gulped. "Oh yeah. I forgot you monsters don't need to breathe."

"Monster?" the female Deadman repeated. She stepped off the stump she was sitting on and slowly made her way to Aaron.

"Stay back!" he said, pushing himself against the tree.

The zombie girl didn't stop. She continued her trek until she knelt down right in front of Aaron, meeting him eye to eye. "Do I look like a monster?" she asked.

Aaron took a quick glance at the female Deadman. Like most Deadmen, her skin was pale and her eyes were colorless, not even the pupil was visible. Dry blood decorated her shirt and teeth, with a trickle of it on her chin. Her shirt and jeans were torn in multiple places and the left sleeve dangled off her shoulder, revealing a rugged bite mark fatally close to her neck. Despite that, she was surprisingly pretty, especially because of her long brown, dirty hair traveling down to her shoulders.

"To be honest, I originally thought so," Aaron said, trying to choose his words carefully. "But I'm positive that there are plenty of people who would disagree."

The female Deadman stood up, a smirk forming across her face. "I like this guy. He thinks before he speaks."

"Props, kid," another Deadman said. He was sitting on a pile of rocks with a plate in his hand, small pieces of human meat served on it like a steak dinner. The Deadman himself was darker skinned but still had those lifeless, white eyes like the rest of them. He wore a hoodie smudged with dirt, but there wasn't a single bloodstain on him.

Aaron would've asked what their names were, but he was too distracted by this Deadman's surprisingly proper manners. "You're using utensils."

"Yeah. Is there a problem?"

"It's just...usually Deadmen use their bare hands. Kinda like--"

He paused as he saw Harry tearing apart another corpse. He continued ripping into the body like his life depended on it and scooped out large chunks of muscle. He then scarfed them down and moved on to the next pieces.

"That's repulsive," Aaron said.

"Bloody Harry," the female Deadman replied. "That's what we like to call him. Dirty Harry and Bloody Mary combined into one."

Aaron switched his view back to the other Deadman, the darker-skinned one. He carefully cut into a piece of meat with a knife and stabbed it with a fork. He placed the piece into his mouth and casually ate it like if he was eating a quality meal.

"He eats like if he's at a luxury restaurant," Aaron said.

"That's why we call him Kyle the Cavalier Corpse," the female Deadman replied.

Aaron turned toward her. "Do you have a nickname?"

"I wish. But I just go by Jade." She held out her hand for Aaron to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Jade," he replied. "The name's Aaron."

He looked away from Jade to survey the area around him. He could tell they were in a clearing deep within the Bowland Fells, but they must've been close to an abandoned settlement. There were a few dilapidated shops around him surrounded by groups of Deadmen mingling like average citizens, but the building that stood out the most was an abandoned, eight-story hospital at the edge of the clearing. Shattered windows lined each level and greenery seemed to be taking over the first and second floor.

Harry stopped eating. He turned toward Aaron and wiped the blood off his face. "You talk to these guys and everything's hunky-dory. Yet when you met me, you nearly shat yourself."

"You were the first talking Deadman I ever met! What do you expect?" Aaron replied. "And it doesn't help that there are pieces of innards lodged in your teeth."

"All Deadmen talk," Kyle chimed in. "What's so weird about that?"

"That's the thing, mate," Harry replied, approaching the three of them. "He was barely infected yesterday. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't be able to communicate with us."

"He probably would've been down your gullet if it weren't for it," Jade chimed in.

"Then what's stopping you?" Aaron asked.

"Easy, mate," Kyle replied. "Heat signatures. Corpses like us are cold and clammy. However, there's a small part of you that seems warm and...alive."

Kyle slowly opened his mouth, revealing malnourished teeth covered in brown stains of blood. A strand of drool dangled out of his mouth. However, Harry walked over to him and smacked him across the the face, instantly snapping him out of his crazed look.

"Avoid my mistakes," Harry said.

"Sorry, bruv," Kyle replied. The two exchanged a couple of apologetic high-fives before returning their views back to Aaron and Jade.

"I've got a question for your guys," Aaron said.

"Same here, mate," Kyle replied. "Can I please go first?"

"Come on, kid," Jade chimed in. "He asked nicely. It's not everyday you find a Deadman as polite as Kyle."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Fine. Shoot."

"What do Deadmen sound like to non-infected humans?"

"Mostly hisses and screeches like a pissed-off cat. But sometimes it's hard to tell over the horrific screaming when you're fucking eating somebody!"

Harry sighed. "Aaron, I already told you. We only eat them when they're already dead."

"No, you said you eat them when they're officially out cold. I barely met these guys, so I don't know how much respect they have for the dead."

"Don't worry, kid," Kyle replied. "We're pacifists, too. We're the consumers, not the butchers."

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain that poor schmuck Harry was eating?!"

Harry stood between Aaron and Kyle. "He was dead before we got here. And if you're gonna keep questioning our ways of life, maybe we should start questioning yours. Why are you trying to kill us?!"

"You guys were killing us first!"

"None of us even wanted to! It's all part of our animalistic instinct!"

"Then where the fuck did that come from?!"

"I don't know! Nobody knows! Aside from our names, any memory from before our turning was wiped clean out of our minds!"

"Actually, Harry," Jade chimed in, seemingly the only calm person in this conversation. "There's only one Deadman here who remembers his days before his turning."

Aaron turned toward Jade, still frustrated and furious. "And who the bloody hell would that be?!"

The three Deadmen surrounding him stayed silent, as if implying this character's existence was too much information already. They each exchanged glances ranging from worried to curious. Aaron could tell they were silently considering telling him.

"Well, who is he?" Aaron asked. "I don't have all day. I'm slowly turning by the minute."

Kyle slowly approached Aaron. "We're gonna tell you, but don't expect us to take you to him."

"Why not?"

"He has a nasty habit of killing every human who lays eyes on him. He's never dealt with a Deadman in the turning process, but I'm still not sure if he'll show any sympathy. Not that he ever does."

Loud, inhuman screams echoed through the clearing. Every Deadman in the area looked toward the abandoned hospital, the source of the deafening noises. All of a sudden, waves of bright red light exploded out of the top floor, causing glass shards to rain down on the ground below. The waves of crimson dissipated into red mist.

"Is that..." Aaron asked. He would've finished his sentence with blood, but the drops of red drizzling down on the trees surrounding the hospital took the words right out of his mouth.

"The Man in the Red Mist," Kyle said, his eyes still aimed toward the hospital.

"Who's that?" Aaron replied.

"More commonly known as Bloodletter."

Aaron's eyes widened. The last time he'd encountered the Abnormal known as Bloodletter, he wasn't even in the DZI yet. He was only twelve years old and living in an orphanage in London with Jonah, Nika, and her twin sister Natalya. The day he finally saw the creature, he teamed up with another Abnormal to destroy the city and turn most of its population into Deadmen.

Aaron clearly remembered those events. And if he could not only find a Deadmen who remembered when and why he committed such brutal violence, he could maybe even get some answers to the mysteries behind the origins of the Deadmen. That is if he could survive the interview.

"He's usually in control of his power," Kyle explained. "But he says sometimes the ghosts from his past come back to haunt him. Some of them try to soothe him, but others scorn him. And no matter what he does, he can never kill them. He calls those hauntings the Revenants."

Harry noticed Aaron's looks of curiosity. "Aaron, I know what you're thinking, and there's no way in hell we're taking you to him."

"He's right, kid," Jade said. "Just hang out with us here in the Dead Center."

"Dead Center?" Aaron repeated, still keeping his eyes on the building.

"Yeah. 'Cuz it's a center of activity. And everyone's dead."

"You guys can chill with the rest of the Commoners," Aaron replied. He started walking toward the hospital.

"Did he just call us Commoners?" Kyle asked.

"I've got some business with this Bloodletter character."

"Aaron!" Harry shouted. "You can't just to go up to an Abnormal! Even we don't talk him! The point is to let him come to you!"

"Harry, I'm gonna die anyway. And knowing how Abnormals act, he'll probably kill me before I completely turn. Might be doing me a favor."

Aaron was only about twenty feet away from the entrance to the hospital by the time he finished that sentence.

Harry groaned in frustration. "Come on. Let's make sure he doesn't lose his head."

The three Deadmen jogged far behind Aaron, following him to the abandoned building.

"Gotta admit," Jade said as they continued running. "The kid's got guts."

Harry forced himself to chuckle. "Too bad Bloodletter's probably gonna rip 'em out of him."