Zombies - The Outbreak of 1879

Zombies II - Walking A Second Time

Yukon POV:
The night comes and sure enough it's pitch black without the moon.  I'm up against a tree close to the horses while everyone else is just sitting around the fire and Eli just keeps putting on more clothes, which is not a good sign. It wasn't especially cold out that night, but even then Eli is sweating up a storm. I mean there's pure sweat on his face, like someone had dumped a bucket of water on him.

Charlie: "He ain't gonna last the Goddamn night." 

Ezra: "I'm tellin' ya, we should'a tried to get him home." 

There's mumbling and murmurs from the rest of the guys on what they should have done. 

At this point, Eli  stands up, steps away from the fire, then lays himself on the ground. It looked like he just fell, but he'd laid his blanket out on the ground like he was going to bed so nobody really knew what to think.

Jake: "Night..." 

The boys stay by the fire but after only a few minutes Eli starts moving on the ground. He rolls back and forth for a few seconds then full on starts convulsing, thrashing his body around.

Charlie: "Jesus H-"

Jake: "Help him for Christ's sake!" 

The rest of the guys all huddle around Eli. 

After what seemed like an hour Eli stops seizing, lets out this raspy groan which probably let all the air out of lungs, then stops moving. 

Jake: "Eli!" 

I grab his hand and check for a pulse.

Yukon: "Jesus Christ, he's stone cold." 

After a minute or two of trying to wake Eli up, I look at Grayson and he already seems to know. Sheriff speaks up.

Grayson: "He's dead." 

Nobody can believe it.

Ezra: "He didn't look good..."

Charlie: "He looks like that damn turtle." 

I guess Eli was looking pale. Not so much gray I reckon, but he looked like life had left him before he even died. But you're not supposed to look that color as soon as you die is the thing that's botherin' me. It takes time for life to fade out of someone's body after they die.

Grayson lets out a long sigh.

Grayson: "Alright, listen up. He was fine this morning, that turtle bit him, and now he's dead. Nobody touch the body, if you did wash your hands right damn now. Wrap him up in the blanket and slide him away from where we'll be sleeping. We need to get his body to the Doc for an autopsy."

Yukon: "We'll give him a proper burial tomorrow. For now, clean up your dishes."

We clean up dinner before messing with Eli's body. Jake found a nice spot under a tree away from the camp to stash the body. Grayson and I were the ones to move him. We each grab a tuft of blanket, parts which hadn't touched Eli, and slide him over to the tree.

Yukon: "Poor son of a bitch."

 I turned around but didn't walk away yet. Grayson turned around too.

Yukon: "Did you know him well?" 

Before Grayson can answer, there was a growl behind him. I guess you can call it guttural, savage. Like feral, even. Then another one.

Grayson and I stop talking as soon as we hear the growl and kind of stand there looking at each other without saying anything for a couple seconds. After the second growl we slowly  turn our heads to find Eli sitting up.