(All right! Time for a new story! This is based roughly a year into the future from the events of Last Laugh. So, Paige, Tanzi, Leslie and Zach survived, but now, they will face something completely different. I'm not hanging around, i'm going straight into things! Read on folks! (Side note: This is gonna be fun to write, because the only other horror i've written about is Final Destination.)
Emporium City was based near the coast of America, and was a fairly small city for a city. There were skyscrapers, but not many; the city was mostly made up of tourist-friendly shops and hotels. The outer rim of the city was made up of the houses, which all looked the same; White boards and light green shingles.
Near the middle of the city was the main tourist area, with multiple souvenir shops and B & B's. Opposite one such souvenir shop, a cafe stood called 'The Aroma Cafe'. It was one of the only Cafe's in the city surprisingly, so the owner, Jeffrey Jebediah, had made a lot of money.
The front of the cafe was mostly made up of a large window showing the interior of the cafe, while the brick had been painted white. The second floor of the cafe had two windows, and was where Jeffrey slept, ate, and pretty much lived. Inside was made of white tables and chairs, each with their own menus and a jar of flowers. It was lunch time, so the cafe was pretty busy.
"Ham and egg, white sub!" called out Leslie, while putting a note of paper on a spin rack. Leslie was 17, and was open about his sexuality, which was homosexual or known on the streets as 'Gay'. He was wearing a pair of jeans which had holes in the knees, and converse shoes. Over his t-shirt he wore the standard Aroma Cafe apron. However, Leslie's face was one of the most surprising things about him. What used to be a handsome face was now scarred and had slight bumps from extensive plastic surgery. Leslie's right eye was grey and colourless, as it was artificial, and was covered by part of his long blonde hair. His one working eye was green, and showed great history and sorrow within them.
Leslie looked this way because one year ago, his face had be thrown onto a destroyed hotdog cart, and the shrapnel had pierced his skin as well as popped his right eye. This was because of Death, who was intent on hunting him and the other survivors down. But that was all over now.
"Sure, sure." Tanzi said, taking the white note and started to make the sub roll. Tanzi was of Japanese descent, and that showed in her look. She had shoulder length raven black hair and hazel eyes. Tanzi's slim body was colored a smooth brown, making her look tanned whereas it was actually natural. She walked with a limp, after she had been shot in the ankle by a detective, who was being possessed by Death. The bullet had completely shattered her bone, and she had to have a lot of surgery on her ankle.
Tanzi finished making the order, and placed in on a clear white plate, which she handed to Zach Dryer, a 22 year old man. As he worked, he was smiling, occasionally cracking jokes to the customers. Zach was by far the most popular of the workers at the cafe, and was the one the customers could talk with without feeling slightly awkward. His brown messy hair stuck out at random directions on his head, and his blue eyes were covered by its fringe. Zach was the only one who was unscathed by the whole death business, and it showed in his fairly healthy body. As he walked with the plate of food, he passed Paige Callaway, who was cleaning a table of rubbish.
Paige was 19, and has long waist length brown hair which was tied in a ponytail as she was working. She was tall and slim, but not to the point of being anorexic. Ever since she had personally defeated Death, her eyes showed deep sadness and guilt. Paige could never stop feeling guilty over the deaths of her friends, colleagues and people she didn't even know personally.
"Sure, just push past me." Paige commented as Zach pushed her slightly, and she rolled her eyes.
"Okay!" Zach exclaimed, swinging around and making a mock salute.
Paige shook her head, smiling slightly. 'At least Jeffrey doesn't have to work this hard, the slacker.'
BREAK
With his legs propped up on a coffee table, Jeffrey watched the news, sipping a cup of coffee. He was dressed in a black suit with a white cowboy hat propped on his head. Jeffrey had started the Aroma Cafe after his business partner, William Bludworth, broke up their partnership. A large stack of papers stood on one side of the table, ready to be checked soon, or so Jeffrey said. Jeffrey was absently clicking the channels on the TV, switching between multiple shows. He decided to leave it on a talk show.
"-And the 'Living Dead' continue on, so it is heard. But really, how can we believe this?" asked a man to the audience; He had a silly thin moustache which seemed to hang from his face.
"It's a hoax!!" Called out an audience member.
"No it's not!" Cried out another one. "It's god punishing us for all the murders of the world. The gates of heaven have closed!"
"Bull shit!" said the first audience member. "Truly, how the hell can something not die. Everything dies in the end. It's just people pretending to be corpses and then scaring the people."
"Then how do you explain the half a man crawling after that old woman yesterday in Iceland?"
"She's imagining it, obviously."
The arguing continued, with it getting more and more heated as more and more people joined in. Soon, the room was split into believing it's a hoax and believing god was punishing them. The camera turned back to the host, who was rubbing the back of his head while talking into a microphone on his ear.
"Okay. We are going to take a commercial break. We'll see you soon!"
The adverts came on, starting with an advert for shampoo. The TV switched off as Jeffrey got up from the sofa.
"Geez... the Living dead? What is this, a zombie film?" Jeffrey muttered, scratching his chin. "I can believe in Death, as I met him. But zombies? No chance sunshine."
Jeffrey heard a dull thud, just only heard over the noise of the cafe downstairs. No one would be able to hear it from downstairs. He heard it again, and decided to investigate.
BREAK
"Hey! Everyone!" The cafe's noise was silent as Zach shouted. The remote for the cafe TV was in his hand, and his was turning the sound up.
"Zach, what're you..." Paige started, holding two glasses of coke. Zach just put a finger to his lips and pointed to the TV. He had also attracted the attention of the whole of the cafe, and there were small murmurs of interest.
"We interrupt your regular broadcast with urgent news." The newsreader said, as the TV was turned on to the news channel. "There has been sightings of the 'Living dead' in the south of America. This is a warning to keep your eye out for any of these creature. This is not a hoax, I repeat, this is NOT a..."
There was some sort of shouting, before a blurred shape appeared on the camera, knocking over half of the set.
"Wha..." the newsreader started, before the blur was upon him. The cameras were quickly turned off, but the sound wasn't. The horrified people in the cafe heard some sort of ripping sound, and screams of women. All of a sudden, the sound went dead, and everything was quiet.
A baby started to cry, and the murmuring grew louder.
"What? Here?"
"Wasn't that a hoax?"
"No! No... This can't happen, I have so much to live for."
"All right everyone!!" Paige shouted over the clamour, again silencing everyone. "It's time for the lunch break, and also, keep your speculations to yourself. Any who, please leave, and you will be able to come back in an hour or so." People started to file out, surprised at the coldness in Paige's voice. Zach, Tanzi and Leslie walked up to her.
"Hey? What was that about, Paige?" asked Leslie, unconsciously stroking his cheek, where a particular large scar was.
"Why'd you send them away?" Tanzi quickly checked her watch. "It's still half an hour till lunch break."
"Yes, but I need to tell you something." Paige said grimly. "And it may take some time. It's best if we don't involve Jeffrey, due to the fact he isn't a survivor like us."
BREAK
Jeffrey looked around his room, in cupboards, drawers and even the small fridge. He just couldn't put his finger on the source of the thudding sound, which continually kept going. 'Let's check the bathroom'. He thought, as that was the only other separate room above the cafe.
He walked to the grimy white door and opened it. Jeffrey quickly poked his head through the doorway, but nothing was in there. He walked back into the main room, and noticed the door leading outside with some stairs was wide open, blowing a breeze in. 'What the hell? I'm sure that door was closed a moment ago.' Jeffrey looked out of the doorway, and saw that the street was empty and silent. He tilted his hat up, and rubbed his eyes. 'Guess I'm more tired than I thought I was'
Something creaked behind him.
Jeffrey spun around, but nothing was there. "All right. If this is you, Zach, you better get your ass in here and say sorry." Another creak. "Zach? Or is it one of the other three? Wanting to play a joke on ol' Jeffrey. Well guys, I'm not fooled that easily." Something touched his shoulder.
Jeffrey quickly spun around again, and grasped the wrist of something slimy. "Ah-hah! Got ya... wait..." After staring at the wrist, Jeffrey slowly looked up at the pale chest of something. The whole skin was shining with what looked like slime. "What the..." He looked up to the things face, and saw that his jaw was missing. "Holy Frickin' Hell!" he cursed, leaping backwards, but tripping on the glass table. He painfully went straight through it, smashing it to pieces. The small slivers of glass cut him on the elbows and tore at his suit.
The thing was upon him, saliva dripping from its mouth. Jeffrey kicked at it, but the thing kept on coming.
BREAK
Totally oblivious from what was happening upstairs; Paige started to begin her explanation of what Death said in his last moments.
(So, things get started on the first chapter huh? What is Jeffrey going to do, and what is Paige gonna say? Well, if you read Last Laugh, you'll know. Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter of Last Laugh, and till next time. PEACE OUT!!)
