(IMPORTANT NOTE: Please read this author's note first, before reading the story. It is very important you do.)
I'd say now is a perfect time to publish this.
Hello everyone, thank you for coming to read this. This is my brand new work, "400 Days", the semi-sequel to my previous story, "A New Day". "400 Days" will focus on five different stories that will all intertwine in an epilogue. Before you continue reading, I highly suggest you read all of "A New Day" before reading this. Otherwise, things may not make sense, and there may be potential spoilers that I'm sure plenty of people would not want.
"A New Day" is a Gravity Falls story where the gang is thrust into the zombie apocalypse, and as stupid as that sounds, I guess it works, because people liked it. This is the kind-of-sequel, a mid-quel of sorts before the true sequel is released. Regardless, though, neither this or the next story will make any sense unless "A New Day" is read first.
If you do not want any spoilers in this story, or in "A New Day", please click away now and read that first, it will be well worth your time.
If you already have read "A New Day", then welcome back, this is the start of the probably long-awaited continuation.
Anyways, let us begin with the first of the five stories to be told here.
400 Days - Lee's Story
"Chain Gang"
"You are, just, well, a serious bitch."
Lee Jewitt rolled his eyes, the blonde chuckling softly as he punched his best friend in the shoulder, the school bus turning gently into a parking lot. "Never said I had to like those kinds of exhibits."
"But dinosaurs are fuckin' cool, man." Was the next statement to come from said best friend of Lee, Nate Horace. He adjusted his cap. "Are you really gonna be a pussy in there?"
"Dude, shut up." The moment the bus stopped, Lee was already scrambling over the other teen to get out into the aisle. He slithered by others with ease with his slender form, before he slid out of the bus with a smirk. "Looks fuckin' cool on the outside, Wendy and Robbie are seriously missing out."
"Man, I got the perfect idea now." Nate hurried out of the crowd to stand with Lee. "Look, if ya hate dinos, then this is the plan for you. Let's pull a history mystery."
"A what? That sounds like something out of a children's book."
"Oh shut it, listen, I'm gonna put a bullet in the T-Rex skull."
Lee stopped walking ahead and turned. "What."
Nate grinned and opened his vest, revealing that, hidden in the inner pocket, he had a gun. How he managed to get one, conceal it, and keep it all the way here, Lee would never know.
"Why the fuck do you have a gun."
"Relaaaax, I'm not gonna shoot anyone you doof." He hastily pulled out the gun and shoved it onto Lee's person, making the blonde's eyes widen quickly. Nate stepped away before Lee could force it back, making the teen shove it into his back pocket.
He glared. "You dumbass, what if I get caught with this?! I could be arrested."
"Then don't get caught, and don't shoot anyone. Shoot a dino and leave."
"People will hear the shot."
"Well that's a you problem!" Nate laughed and ran off to catch up with the others.
Lee watched him disappear into the crowd, before he sighed, shook his head, and followed the class in.
Summer would be starting in a couple of days, this last "round the country" field trip would be done. He'd finally be out of high school.
Along with a few of his friends, Lee signed up for an end of the year "Cross-Country Trip" event, but instead of a sporting event it turned into a field trip around the states. After a long, long way round the states, they finally reached their final stop.
Parker's Run, a museum on the border of Georgia and Tennessee.
He stretched and followed everyone inside. Stress was already starting to pile up inside of him, maybe he could just throw the gun in a garbage bin and never have to think of it again.
But there were too many people, something would happen and it wouldn't be a good thing.
His next thought was to just approach his teacher and say, "Mrs. Wilkes, Nate gave me this and I don't feel safe having this, could you please help me get rid of this or report it to someone?"
But even what he thought of saying didn't sound perfectly right.
Fuck it, worth a shot, probably my safest option.
He started off through the crowd, trying to find his teacher. The gun lagged a bit, and he could feel it sliding down his pants. He hurriedly pulled it up, sweating more. It slid again, and again, and each time he pulled it up, the more he began to sweat.
Finally, he just slid it out and gripped it it's near entirety in a single hand.
And he kept walking.
Everything blurred around him as he walked, and he couldn't even make anybody out. He could've passed his teacher for all he knew.
He felt scared.
Tap.
Lee froze. A hand touched his shoulder.
"Oh, Lee, would you mind not going into that exhibit-"
The teen panicked, not registering what the female voice behind him had said. He whirled around.
Without registering what he was even doing, Lee pulled the trigger.
His teacher stood, shocked, holding her stomach as she collapsed to the floor.
Her body twitched.
Then she stilled.
LEE
2 Days In
It was as if those events happened in the previous blink of an eye, because before he even knew it, Lee was sitting in the near back of a prison bus, staring out of the window in dismay. He sighed.
Fuck Nate. This was his fault.
He jolted upright as the chain holding his ankle rattled, the convict seated ahead of him tugging on it. He was a rather muscular man. Probably in his early thirties. Definitely someone Lee didn't plan on fucking around with.
"Come on man." The one behind Lee muttered. He was slimmer but still fairly lean and tall, probably between twenty-five and thirty. Something about him was off-putting.
The teen sighed.
Wonderful, Danny and Justin are at it again.
The radio up front crackled. "...be advised. Listen, we got a 10-5-"
"Can't listen to this crap anymore." The bus driver hastily flicked it off.
The police officer at the front - Lee squinted to read his name patch; Clyde - shook his head. "Two hours, Bennett. Think it'll be over soon?"
"What am I, the traffic man?" He slammed a fist on the wheel lightly. "Supposed to have been at the pen an hour ago, I'm gettin' written up for this…"
"Relax, it's not your fault."
Lee turned around and looked at the one behind him; Justin. "He gonna be this annoying for the NEXT two hours?"
Justin shrugged. "Get used to it."
Lee huffed and shook his head, turning back. The one in front, Danny, tugged again.
"The hell, man?" Justin glared.
"What?" The bigger man flashed a cocky grin.
"You know-" Justin was cut off by another tug. "Cut it out."
"Jesus, you guys, don't argue." Lee stepped in.
"You gonna make me?" Danny laughed.
The slim prisoner shook his head. "Yeah."
"Hey Lee! Justin's gonna make me!"
"It's too hot for this shit."
"Lee, I'm makin' him hot now."
Justin sighed. "Yeah, Danny, you're making me hot."
"You guys ever gonna quit?" Lee glared at both of them. "It's, like, annoying as hell."
"How else are we gonna pass the time?" Danny shrugged.
"Hey man, how 'bout you open a fuckin' window?"
The three looked over at the other two prisoners in the bus. Both African-American males, one smaller than the other with a beard, the other far more muscular, and bald.
"It's a prison bus, asshole. The windows don't open." The bigger one said from behind.
Danny rolled his eyes and looked out the window. "Hey Justin, see that guy in the beat-up truck? I bet he lives in that truck now. You probably got his whole house. Life savings. Shit, I bet you stole his dog. You steal his dog, man?"
"I wasn't stealing from guys like that." Justin huffed. "Anyway, better than stealing his virginity."
"Hey." Danny whirled around and glared. "How many times I gotta tell you?"
"Here we go…"
"Seriously! I was falsely accused!"
"How old was she, fifteen?"
"Dammit, it ain't like that!"
"You're telling me there wasn't a star witness waitin' around in your white van? I'm shocked."
"Guys, shut up." Lee exhaled. "We're all in the same boat here. What's the point of arguing?"
"The point is; I'm not like that." Danny shook his head. He sat back down as silence fell between the three. "...tell you what, guys. I ain't afraid to say it, but I'm really missin' my girlfriend right now."
"I'm guessin' she's pretty pissed at you." Justin said.
Danny shook his head. "It's worse than that, man. She won't talk to me. Haven't heard her voice in months. It's really messin' with me, like for real."
"Just let it go, man."
"I want to, but you know…" Danny sighed. "...I love her, man."
"You should call her up when we get there." Lee said. "You gotta face that shit."
Danny nodded. "You're right, man. First call I get."
"Danny, I know you probably don't realize this cause you're you, but you probably ruined that poor girl's life, you piece of shit." Justin glared.
"Big talk from White Collar back there. How many lives YOU wrecked, kid?"
Justin fell silent and looked out the window. "...who cares."
"It's hotter than hell up in here, I'm gettin' dehydrated." The prisoners up front were at it again. "Hey? How bout some water back here?"
"Shut up back there." Officer Clyde replied. "I'm not tellin' ya again."
Lee looked at Justin. "I thought you took the stand and cried your eyes out. Didn't you lose your shit and tell them you didn't know what you were doing?"
Justin shrugged. "I lied. Turns out I'm good at that."
"You lied on the stand?" Danny's eyes widened. "See, that's the kinda shit I could never do."
"Religious?"
"Nah, man."
"Watch a lot of cop shows?"
"Nope."
"What, then?"
"Just ain't right."
"I gotta admit, I'd say anything to get outta doin' more time, just to go back home." Lee sighed. "I miss my parents, honestly."
Danny shook his head. "You guys are messed up."
"Says the criminal." Justin chuckled. "You wanna know the funny thing? I don't regret any of it. I carried my "victims" for years; they knew what they were getting into. And now, here I am, and, there they are, and Wall Street assholes pullin' the same scores are smiling on TV. Fuck. That."
"How'd it all work, anyway?" Danny raised an eyebrow.
"It was like, uh...a pyramid scheme, I guess." Justin shrugged.
"Aren't those kinda...shit?"
"It was a really good pyramid scheme."
"Good shit is still shit."
"This was some pretty elegant shit."
Lee chuckled. "Well ya know what? Fuck Wall Street."
Danny grinned. "Fuck Wall Street."
Justin smiled. "Fuck Wall Street."
"How much did you make off with, anyway?" Lee asked.
"Enough."
"So like, a couple hundred-k?" Danny asked.
"Little over a hundred…" Justin smirked. "...million."
"Goddamn, boy!" Justin laughed. "When we get outta here, you, me, and Lee gotta go into business, know what I'm saying?"
"You know, I don't actually know a thing about you, Lee." Justin looked at the teen. "Maybe he's a priest in training."
"Father Lee don't roll off the tongue, probably got a better name." Danny joked. "Father Leonardo."
"I bet he touched a kid."
"Two kids. You touch a couple kids, Lee?"
"Actually, doesn't look that old. You're a teen, right?"
"I'm eighteen, a senior at Gravity Falls High School in Oregon." Lee shrugged.
"Oregon?" Justin's eyes widened. "Shit, what're you doing in Georgia?"
"I was here on an end of the year field trip around the country. We stopped at Parker's Run and my dickhead of a best friend gave me a gun to pull a prank." Lee slouched in his seat. "Next thing I knew, I accidentally shot and killed my teacher."
"Sheesh…" Danny sighed. "You regret it, man?"
"That's a stupid question, Danny." Justin huffed.
"What? I'm just saying."
"Of course. I regret it every second of the day." Lee shook his head slowly. "It fuckin' sucks, man…"
"Just before summer break, too. Man, you're bad luck, Lee." Danny chuckled. "Hey, 'Bad Luck Lee'! That's not bad, what do you think-?"
"What the fuck are you gonna do about it?"
"Fuck you."
"Fuck me? Heh, fuck you motherfucker."
The prisoners continued to argue, but then the larger one got up and wrapped his cuffs around the smaller one's neck. He was strangling him in an instant.
"Oh shit!"
"Jesus Christ!"
"The hell is goin' on?!"
Officer Clyde leaped up. "Crabtree, you stop that right this instant!"
"Hey, let him go, man!" Lee shouted.
"Boy, you gotta get in there and do somethin'!" The bus driver, Bennett, yelled.
Officer Clyde, with hesitation, opened the door between the driver's seat and the convict's seats, holding a shotgun. "I-I said knock it off!"
"He's gonna kill him, Lee!" Danny said.
"Let the guard handle it, guys." Justin shook his head.
"Fuck that, we gotta do something!"
"You do not wanna get in the middle of that shit, Danny."
Danny ignored him. "Lee, we gotta get in there, you know this ain't right."
"I'm not doing anymore time just to save some stupid asshole." Justin argued.
"Where's your empathy, man?"
"We can't do anything with these damn chains on!" Lee tugged at his ankle.
"Crabtree, this is your last warning!" Officer Clyde shouted.
Lee growled. "Just FUCKING DO SOMETHING!"
The gun went off.
The bigger one's head was entirely blown off, and his corpse collapsed into the seat. The smaller convict was still, cuffs still around his neck.
"What the fuck was that?!" The bus driver shouted.
"Fuck…" Danny muttered.
"Jesus...what the hell happened…?" Justin breathed.
"Just...blew his fucking head off…" Lee shook his head in disbelief. "That guy is still alive, get those cuffs off of him!"
Officer Clyde shivered before he hurriedly unlocked the cuffs, allowing the smaller man to slump over.
"What the hell was that?!" Justin shouted.
"H-He made a move on me!" Officer Clyde shrugged. "I-I don't know!"
"You don't know?!"
"This is crazy, nobody had to die." Lee said.
"THIS is what happens when you give guns to assholes." Justin retaliated.
"He's, uh…" The police officer tried to check for a pulse.
"Fuck, you gotta call someone, man!" Danny said.
"What?"
"You killed that guy, you gotta deal with it!" Lee said.
"I just need a minute!" He groaned. "I need a minute to think."
"You ain't got a minute!" Danny shouted.
"Shut up, you hear me?" Clyde stepped forward and aimed his gun at them. "Just shut yer mouth!"
"Okay, okay...calm down, take it easy." Justin muttered.
"Yeah, everybody just needs to calm the fuck down." Lee said. "The situation is bad enough as is."
"He's right, let's all just take it down a notch, okay?"
Danny stood and glared. "You really wanna pull that trigger again, son?"
Clyde huffed, then lowered his gun.
"Thanks man." Justin said.
Silence befell over the bus.
Then, screams.
Quickly, everyone looked outside. Lee's eyes widened. "What the fuck?"
On the side of the road, a few people were in a struggle with some others. The other people stumbled about, looking unhealthy and rather aggravated. Two of the others ran away as one was left to be attacked.
"Did you just see that…?" Justin muttered.
"I saw it…" Danny nodded. "Hey, you gotta get us the hell out of here, man!"
"We're not going anywhere!" Clyde aimed his gun again.
"Fuck that, get this bus movin'!" Lee shouted. "Hey, driver! Let's go, man!"
"I said, we're staying RIGHT HERE! We're safe inside the bus!" Clyde shouted. "Nothin's gonna-!"
A growl came from the smaller prisoner, who leaped up, face a pale green, eyes white. He grabbed Clyde and yanked him back, and to the surprise of the others, he sank his teeth into the officer's neck, tearing out a large chunk of it.
"J-Jesus…!" Clyde shoved him away and stumbled. "O-Oh god…!"
He collapsed, blood pooling on the floor.
"Oh my god…!" Justin looked at the prisoner, who was now growling fiercely, trying to get to the three of them. Then he looked at the driver. "Hey, you need to call someone, man! We need to-!"
The driver watched in fear before he ran out of the bus.
"Did he just fucking bail on us?!" Lee's eyes widened. "What the hell is happening?"
"Back up before he gets any closer!" Justin shouted.
"Fuck!" Danny pressed himself against the wall of the bus, as did the others.
Lee stared into the dead eyes of the convict, fear filling his whole body. Something seemed so off about him, he clearly wasn't, well…
...he clearly wasn't alive.
"He can't reach us." Justin muttered.
"You sure about that?!" Danny yelled.
"That fucking ankle will give!" Lee pointed out.
"Shit, what are we gonna do, guys?" Justin looked to the other two.
"Find a weapon!" Lee shouted.
"What kinda weapon?!" Danny looked at him.
"W-Where's the guard's gun?" Justin panicked.
"Yeah, the gun, good thinkin' Justin!"
Lee stared at the corpse before him, the dead officer's face permanently an expression of fear and lifelessness. "...fuck, I think he fell on it. It's gotta be, like, underneath him or something."
Danny sighed and shook his head. "Aw, fuck me…"
Carefully, the three of them leaned over and, evading the struggling...well, the 'whatever' that was advancing on them ever so slowly, they grabbed the body of Officer Clyde and forcefully rolled him over.
The shotgun. Bingo.
Lee quickly grabbed it and got up as Danny and Justin leaped back into their seats. "Shoot this fucker, Lee!"
With almost no hesitation, Lee aimed the gun and fired.
The array of bullets destroyed the head of the lifeless prisoner, sending the body back onto the floor. The three panted, chained up and alone on the prison bus, but still alive and safe, to some degree.
Justin hurled into the aisle. Danny grimaced. "Augh! Watch it, man!"
"Sorry, s-sorry…" Justin rubbed the dribble from his lips and slouched back into his seat.
"Man...I can't believe this shit, can you believe this shit, man?"
Lee shook his head, wincing at the body. "No."
"We gotta find some way to get outta here." Danny got up.
"We gotta get these chains off." Lee struggled with his ankle. "The keys weren't on him, he must've left them up front or something."
"Well fuck, then how-" Danny looked at the front. "Hey, there's somebody there!"
The three looked at a man kneeling at the dash, fiddling with...well, something. The radio, probably. None of them knew, none of them cared. If he was any shot at them getting free, they'd have to take it.
Danny smirked. "Maybe we finally caught a break."
"Danny, don't-"
"Hey, buddy! Can ya help us?"
The man turned, his eyes white and jaw deformed.
He was one of them.
"Aw FUCK!" Danny grimaced.
Justin glared as the deformed man lunged at the door. "Goddammit Danny, you always put your fuckin'-"
"Hey fuck you man!" Danny shouted.
"Guys, just calm down! Arguing won't fucking do shit!" Lee glared at the two of them. "I've had enough of you two right now, we gotta do something or else we could die! I don't even know what the fuck is happening, but whatever it is, it comes fucking first! You get that?!"
As silence fell over the three prisoners, a few more of the deformed individuals swarmed into the front of the bus, slamming on the rattling chain door, growling as blood dripped from their dried, torn lips.
Justin slid back. "That's not gonna hold!"
"Lee!" Danny shouted. "Fire the fucking gun!"
Lee stared at the 'things' at the front, gun aimed at them, before he looked down slowly. The three of them were wearing cufflinks around their ankles, attached to the chains. They were leather, tough enough to hold, but maybe…
The teen aimed the shotgun down at the link around Danny's ankle.
He noticed. "Whoa, what the fuck, man!"
"Hey, watch it Lee!" Justin said.
"What about the cuff? If we shoot one off, like, we can just yank the chains right off!" Lee yelled.
"Are you fucking insane?! What do you think will happen if you fire a shotgun that close to someone's foot?!"
"Well what do YOU think is gonna happen if we don't get the fuck outta here?!" Danny shouted, reaching for the shotgun. "Lee, gimme the gun, we gotta do this!"
Justin reached as well, but Lee glared and stepped back, aiming at both of them. "Back the fuck off!"
It was time to decide. Lee had to shoot one of them. One of them would die, while him and the other would escape. He felt bad, he wished there was some other way.
But...as long as he himself got out, that was all the matter to him right now.
"I'm sorry, man."
He aimed at Danny.
Before the man could react, he was shoved over. Falling to the ground. "Urgh! L-Lee, what the fuck!"
"Do it, hurry!" Justin shouted.
"Justin's just gonna slow you- AAAARRRGHHH!"
The bullets tore past the ankle, partially disconnecting Danny's foot as he fully collapsed, blood already spilling out rapidly.
"Shit, it's still attached!" Lee aimed and fired again, disconnecting the ankle.
"GNNAAAAARGH!" Danny screamed, punching the ground and panting as the stinging pain became even worse. "Fuuuu…! What the f-f-f-fuuuuck…!"
Lee looked down solemnly, yanking the chains off. "I-I'm sorry, man…"
Justin hurriedly kicked the back door of the bus open and jumped out, Danny trying to crawl after them. Lee looked at the struggling man, before he leaped out, running off down the road with Justin, not even looking back.
He killed his teacher.
He killed a new friend.
Next, he was going to kill his best friend.
You're fuckin' next, Nate.
-(End Of Chapter)-
And thus ends the first of the five individual stories. Each chapter will tell its own story, and they will be released each day for the next five or six days. December 29th, December 30th, December 31st, January 1st, January 2nd, and finally, the day I go back to school, January 3rd, which is when the epilogue will be posted.
Very fast, right? I already have plenty of these chapters pre-written. While I work on touching them up and finishing the final few, enjoy daily updates for a near week before this story is complete.
For new readers, how dare you read this before the prequel?
For returning readers, thank you for joining me again for another ride into the "A New Day" Gravity Falls universe.
Thank you for reading the first story of "400 Days", tune in tomorrow to read the next.