Hi everyone! So I've been looking forward to posting this story. I will put a warning as a start to each chapter as a reminder of what to expect and so with that, I will begin. Warning: Story contains scenes of bloody gore, detail of murder, some boyxboy, and may later have the ratings turned up. Hope you enjoy.
~Flash back Harry's POV~
London was still in ruins, buildings have crushed and tilting collapsed laying onto others, the streets were starting to fill more now these days with people who had begun to start repairs.
They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As the clambering limp forms of hundreds of corpses began to file through the remaining supports of the half collapsed building, it began to groan louder and louder till screams echoed from the street bellow as a thousand windows smashed the sharp glass began raining down.
Then the building fell crushing the people in the street.
We hid on the remaining bits of concrete which remained on the top structure, people were already frantically running in desperation, clawing their way over the remains away anything in sight which was moving. "What are they!" they screamed, the women and men ran in a frantic long stride but they were all locked in one long headlong line, London had become a labyrinth. It was so simple for them to be killed. After all, they had just ensured it. As roars of screams
Michael looked and me and shook his head slightly; eyes full of an ocean of expanding tears, "N-No way, this can't be" he began. But I just shook my head. There was no point in denying what was going on directly in front of our eyes. How could you ignore the mass stench of a thousand rotting corpses all moving together and hunting. What point was there on denying the roar and screams of those who were falling under the ongoing, endless slaughter which never seemed to cease or give way.
What was the point at all any more?
That's what I thought anyway. I just couldn't see why we should care at all? This was a time where the living were envious of those six feet under. When the living envied the dead, you knew there was no time to care about what happened to others. What was important was your own survival. You had to look out for the skin on your back instead of making sure that you sugar coat everything.
I crouched behind the makeshift barrier of rock as I pulled Michael down. Our faces were coated thickly in dirt, grease and grime from everything around us. My lungs were starving for fresh air instead of the dust stained substance which we were forced to inhale right now. "Come on... We need to get out of here." I looked around over my bleeding shoulder towards where the gates of the park were beginning to open to let stragglers in. Even from here I could hear the distant shouts and orders from the guard as they were hauling in as many people as they could get.
I should have known at that time that something wrong was happening.
I lowered myself down slowly as my hands gripped onto the ragged concrete. I stared up towards the toned boy above me as we grasped on for anything that would help us get down: Steel girders, railings, strong ledges of concrete, absolutely anything that could help us descend the wreckage of what had become our home. There was no more full apartments. There was only the dark and cold desolate city which had become our ruins.
As the ledge cracked and my hand slipped, a sharp pain bellowed from my wrist and shoulder and the right side of my body as something sharp grabbed me. My vision blurred out of focus for a moment as the pain wedged me into a dark and cold recess of my mind where nothing made sense but how agonising this was. What the hell had just happened?! "You okay?!" Michael gasped as he pulled me back towards the ledge. His face was olive toned and slightly pale from the exhaustion of climbing and running. His eyes were dark and burdened with exhaustion from having to fight for his life. His clothes, like the rest of ours were torn and shredded almost beyond any use. His brow line was coated in sweat and dried dust which was now plastered to his skin. "Jesus Christ!" He stammered as he looked down and I managed to finally follow his line of vision.
Buried into my calf was a steel rod. "O-Oh... fuck." I gasped as I finally registered why I had felt such a bellowing sense of sharp pain. My grip loosened slightly as I couldn't take the sight.
Yeah so I gave that big speech about not being phased. But get over it. I. Don't. Like. Seeing. My. Blood.
"If you let go and drop. I swear to god I will kill you." Michael snarled. I knew that deep down he was trying to sway some deep sense of instinct anger to get me to survive.
But If I dropped and died right now?
He would have the possibility of killing me again.
He hand gripped around my wrists as after what felt like an eternity, our feet finally touched down on solid ground. Michael kept that grip as I looked down uncertainly. "It has pierced too deeply... just beneath the skin." I gritted my teeth. "Shouldn't be too hard to dig out." I watched Michael grab onto it.
"Okay... I'm going to count down from three... and rip it out." He paled slightly as he put his hand on it.
In the distance I could hear the faint sounds of growls and long extended hisses. "Okay."
I took a long breath.
"Three."
The sound of skin tearing echoed down my ears as Michael pulled it out sharply. I bit as harshly as possible down on my lip. The sharp metallic taste filled my mouth as I harshly violated the skin of my lips. Anything to avoid my scream escaping to the ears of the risen... my shouts and cursed of anger however... "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SAID YOU WOULD COUNTDOWN FROM THREE!" My curled fist twitched towards his neck as my anger at the wound was now directed towards him. Though from his pale face and focused, determined look. I guessed my pain wasn't the most important thing at that time.
Our gazes were now locked determinedly onto the tall gates and fences which had been set up as an expanding barrier around the park to keep the walkers out. It would be absolutely impossible for the walkers to be able to climb onto them without impaling themselves. It was impossible to break the fence, even with their persistence.
But even so.
It was filling up fast. "Come on!" Michael grabbed me roughly and began to dragged us along as we saw people piling in by the hundreds to get to Victoria square. It had got to the extend that they were even allowing others to file into Buckingham palace to accommodate for the sheer amount of size. "Keep calm everyone!" The guards yelled.
"Great." I muttered. Michael rose a questioning eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes as I turned my head back to the guard as we fell into the crushing crowd. "I spent years trying to get a response out of those cocky impassive arse holes and all of a sudden the dead come back to life and that's what gets a reaction?" I pushed for a laugh out of him but he just locked me with a disturbed and angry look.
"There's a time and place!" He barked.
"Well excuse for trying to bring some humour to a bad situation!" I glared viciously back at him.
"Talking to you is like trying to rise the dead!"
He paused as I turned my head slowly and pointed an accusing glare at him. "I didn't mean that pun."
"Sure chuckles! When I make a joke it's in appropriate, but when you start playing with words on the subject, that makes it okay?!" People were turning towards us with pointed glares as they were starting to take more notice.
"YOU TWO!"
We turned our head as the guards shoved us roughly inside of the park and slammed the gates shut behind us. Immediately the desperate clawed hands of hundreds began to smashed and punch at the gates as they screamed and pleaded their case.
Like I said earlier. There was no point now in denying what was going on. "Go! Run to the tunnels!" I screamed at them as I grabbed onto a few of their hands but was quickly shoved back by a guard without mercy as he glared into the pits of my eyes. Right now he had fulfilled his orders and now it was time for him to look out for his own skin.
The sound of repeated gates slamming shut, echoed around the park as the guards all received the order for lock down. Hundreds of persistent and desperate people remained as they slammed the gates violently. "There are children out here! YOU HAVE TO LET US IN!" One woman pleaded as she pushed a small bundle through the thin bars and began eagerly pushing her kids through the gap of the black iron. One man and woman quickly nodded her as they took hold of the baby and turned away quickly disappearing into the crowd. "HARRY! MICHAEL!" The shout echoed again.
My eyes searched around eagerly for the source of the shout. "Did you hear that?" I frowned and looked around for any sign of familiarity. All I could see were horses rearing as they angrily whinnied at the distant approach and vast gathering crowds.
Oh come on! My thoughts snarled as I looked for any familiar sight of turquoise and lilac among the crowd. You think that finding a boy with blue and lilac hair would be easy right? Well guess what? It. Freaking. Isn't.
It wasn't until the smallest shine of sunlight burst through the cloud cover and hit the gold of the statue, I managed to make out the smaller figure of a boy. His red hoody was pulled around his shoulders as he kept a white shirt on his torso. He was pressed into some black skinny jeans and trainers... I won't deny that my heart did a faint tap dance as I took in the sight of his face. His face was sculpted and smooth with soft peach skin, his eyes were a pale emerald and I will admit that on one or more occasion, I have lost myself in them.
The back of his short cut hair was a light turquoise which ended around his crown as his fringe and moving back was coloured lilac. I remember when it used to be his natural, beautiful gold. "Where have you guys-" He paused as he saw my leg. "Oh god." He whispered.
"It's fine Raffi." I tried to push for a smile as I hid a blush at how he got close to me and wrapped an arm around my torso. Even though he was smaller than me and only came up half a head shorter than me. I was still desperate for any sign of comfort or familiarity with him. You see, the three of us weren't much. Barely older than thirteen.
"What the hell happened." He whispered as he helped me over to the fountain where we managed to get a small spot, sat on the cold stone.
As I said earlier, the wound wasn't that deep, but it stung like hell! I guess Raffi could see this as he shed his hoody and used the sleeves to tied around my leg and compress it. There wasn't too much blood being lost and I still had feeling, that was a good sign.
What wasn't a good sign was Michael off to the left on his phone as he was desperately trying to get through to either his mom, his family, his girlfriend who were back up in Birmingham and far away from this onslaught.
As you can already probably guess about me. I had more interests in Raffi than I would ever have on a girl.
Michael was always able to get girls. I remember when we had been young, he always had the girls fawning over him.
And Raffi...?Well... Raffi was just one of those who seemed to never give a clue to about his preferences.
I winced slightly as he tightened the knot and finished compressing the wound. "Sorry." He sighed as we began to rest and catch our breath. We had all been on the run since the moon's shed of light and the sky's first drop of rain on the previous evening.
Ever since we had first starting hearing the growls and screams.
We were all pale and exhausted beyond anything else and were more than desperate just for this small respite. "Here I managed to get some water... even when the city is burning, people are still trying to make money." He held out a cold bottle of water and our palms crossed for the briefest of seconds before I took a small sip of the liquid. "You paid for rain water." I sighed quietly and Raffi glared off in the direction of the closed off park.
I raised my gaze and let the pouring rain hit me in the face as it cooled my beading brow. You would think that someone who spent most of the year, practising track and running at school would be in better shape? Well guess what. I spent most of the night and evening running so I deserved to be tired and out of breath! "Are you sure you're okay?" He said quietly and I nodded.
My gaze shifted over to a couple who were crying and holding each other in comfort as they were trying to make sense of everything going on around them.
I wish I was one of them. I wish I was in the arms of the person I loved as they told me that everything would be okay because we had each other. I wish I had that bond that could keep me going while I was having to face all of this. "You okay?"
"Fine... just... peachy." I sighed and stood as I looked away towards the dispersing crowds outside.
There had to be some point to where this was all going now?
They had all us cramped into this space and had us locked in... They had us locked in like rats in a corner waiting for the shovel.
I looked over to Raffi who seemed to have a blank mask covering his expression. "A penny for your thoughts?" I whispered softly and watched those beautiful eyes lock onto me as I shuffled my feet slightly.
"I'm just thinking back to something they told us." Raffi murmured as he watched the distance.
"What?"
"They said there would be a jet to come and take out the immediate and future threat of the area." We watched and ducked as over head the quick and roaring sound of jets echoed around us.
The Immediate and future threat of the area? My thoughts began to wonder, suspiciously and absently.
The jet slowly lined up with the long stretch of road and the expanding crowd who had turned up to see the show.
The immediate threat would be all the walkers on the outside...
Hundreds of thousands of people.
The future threat would be if one of the walkers got in-
All locked into one small path.
And bit one of us.
All lined up perfectly and neatly into one easy line and crowd.
The only way to deal with that, would be to stop us from being bit and changed.
"GET DOWN!" I screamed as the whir of on rushing jet's barrel guns began to speed up.
And unleashed wave after wave of bullets into crowds of people.
I grabbed Raffi and Michael as hard as I could and hit the ground.
I had heard how some bullets could tear through people. How some were shattered when a wave of bullets hit them... But watching as people were ripped in half or were broken as their skulls were blasted apart. How they just dropped to the ground as they were nothing short of obliterated by the endless waves.
The bullets stopped short just before the fountain as though some aura was radiating out blocking the jet from firing directly onto it...
or any where near the area around us.
I clung tightly to the other two as I turned and pulled them both sharply. My fingers lacing with Raffi as he grabbed onto Michael all as our surroundings slowed down, our minds allowing our reactions to start taking over, giving only way to the sound of our pounding hearts.
I turned his head in time to see a new missile to be unleashed and relentlessly bombard into the statue as he too unleashed his barrage of bullets which struck those who were all around the fence...
Destroying the gate and fence which had us all blocked in.
The last thing that I saw before I sprinted into the tree cover was the palace going up in flames as the jets unleashed their missile arsenal onto the building.
Our eyes sparkled faintly and involuntarily as the windows exploded. Fire burst from each pane as the bricks were rocketed onto the rows of the dead bodies which were (if not already) crushed and obliterated beyond entire recognition. All that was left of them was a stream of crimson which lined and stained the bricks of the roads and every expanse of free colour around the square.
Raffi began to turn back to run after some people who tripped and went crashing but the ground by my body reacted by itself as just grabbed the boy's hand tighter. We were at the bottom of the park and not that far from a subway. The tunnels were a perfect place right now to duck and hide!
But with two jets now turning towards them in the park and with Raffi and Michael trying to run towards some people who had fallen and were now being blasted through their torso by bullets.
It made the whole ordeal much more difficult to survive through.
The worst sight was what came next. I watched in the distance as one man's eyes widened while his torso began to tear apart. A large circle of his chest cavity was eradicated before he fell to the floor and could no longer bear life; his eyes fading. "RAFFI! MICHAEL! FOR FUCK SAKE COME ON!" I screamed as the two jets over head locked onto them... Or so it looked.
I grabbed the smaller boy's hand as the three of us sprinted back up the brick stone path.
I heard the final note of the melody which I thought would be my death as I heard missiles which were launched to the ground behind us.
Brick by brick flew into the air as the intense shock wave began lifting the path out of the very ground. A angry roar and growl pierced the sky as both jets banked sharply and began to circle around the area as they shot precisely and expertly.
I didn't say anything as the ground vanished beneath mu feet and the shock wave caught up with me. It was as though, for a moment, it was like how people say, you watch something happening from outside of your body. I could see myself beginning to turn and flip forward like a rag doll or a leaf caught on a runway at the air port.
But even as watched for a moment as my eyes connected with Raffi's, I tried to pour a simple message into the gaze that I could no longer put in words. The shock wave drew out ever ounce of oxygen from my lungs as I stared at him blankly. Run. I made my gaze plead, desperately to him. Please, for the love of god. Just run.
The pale emerald eyes stared back blankly at me before Raffi turned and took off running, pulling Michael along with him.
Neither of them looked back to meet as I smashed through the air and crashed into the trunk of a tree nearby.
~End of Flash back- Present day. Raffi & Michael POV~
The night was cold as distant shadows were shifting slightly as they searched through the dense and ongoing mess of a forest. The rain was still ongoing and vicious. It never seemed to stop raining these days. It seemed ever since the world came crashing down, the sun had just given up an attempt to come back. The skies were always an endless cascade of a Columbus grey clouds. They never broke and gave way, even for one minute.
The stars and the moon never shined any more. Like the sun, they seemed reclined to be hidden and put away. As though they didn't deem any person worth the sight of them any more.
The sounds of crunching twigs and squelching mood bounced off the trees as two boys trudged through the unstable ground. It was an exertion to do even the smallest thing such as walking through the terrain. The two figures wore both shorts and skin tight shirts which tried to keep their skin warm against the constant battle of rain, gale force wind and dropped temperature.
Around their waists was a sight not ordinary for these two fourteen year old boys. A pistol was placed in the taller boy's belt while in the smaller one was a hunting knife which had started to get a little rusty. The smaller boy's hair was plastered down to his brow and covering his hair slightly as he sighed and shouldered the heavy backpack he was having to carry. The lilac and turquoise colour had begun to fade and lose it's colour as it was thick and stuck with either dirt or the constant battle of rain.
Both paused as they turned and quickly checked around the area. "Come on. The warehouse isn't much further ahead." The taller boy turned and it took a while but eventually his features began to become defined and focused into view.
Michael was still the same old boy, whether or not he physically looked different over the expense of the last year; his buzz cut hair had grown slightly more. Whether he looked stronger and more toned didn't matter. All that mattered was the dark and tired expression which was weighed in his eyes. "We should stay there and get some rest."
Raffi looked down to his wrist and sighed as he ran his hand over the blue and pink WWLGD band. What would Lady Gaga Do. He had found it after he had ran back after the area had been given the all clear sign.
The band was the only thing that had been left of him, except for a small puddle of blood which had stained the trunk of the tree.
To this day, Raffi could still smell the sickly metallic scent of blood.
He blinked hard through the rain as he looked around for any sign of there being some end to this forest.
That's when he finally glanced towards a small rusty and broke shell of a building. "There it is." He whispered as they glanced over their shoulders. The shadows were already moving closer towards them; staggering with laboured movements. "The walkers." Raffi hissed as he took off sprinting towards the grating metal and heavy doors.
He didn't notice his shadow elongate and thicken slightly as a burst of lightning filled the sky.
All that mattered was getting inside the warehouse. "You've still got that band after all this time?" Michael growled as he heaved against the door frame, trying desperately to open it as the sounds of growls got closer.
"Yeah!" Raffi snapped defensively. "So what!"
"So. Harry is dead!" Michael snarled and pulled the smaller boy inside and bolted the door shut.
Neither noticed as in a flash of lightning, a dark figure loomed over in the tree as rain poured onto them.
Then with another flash and dark light of a black mask.
It was gone.
