Zombie apocalypse AU, if you hate zombies, then you have come to the wrong place, friends.

-Ophelia


"'Ponine, I'm scared," her little brother started shaking uncontrollably.

Her tears rushed to her eyes as she held him tightly in her arms.

She shook herself out of the memory. She had to keep moving forward. No stopping, or she knew the consequences. Taking a deep breath, she took her back off the wall she rested on and just walked.

Eponine didn't know where she was going, she never knew. You could say that she was lost but she would deny it. Being lost means you're trying to find a destination but you can't reach it due to a strange atmosphere. And Eponine just walked. Moved from place to pace. Survived.

She held the metal bat in her arms as she swung it in the air a couple times, she was testing out her sore arm from the last attack. She barely made it out alive. All she did was stop at a pharmacy to hopefully get a few supplies but what she didn't know was that it was raided with the monsters. Well, that's what she called the unholy things. The monsters were basically corpses that walked around and ate the living. Nothing about them was human.

'Ponine found that out the hard way.

She adjusted the backpack over her shoulders and walked to the unfamiliar town. It looked like a small downtown area with small business shops that were structured side by side. It looked dead and it was quiet. There weren't any monsters around, she assumed. She thought about going to, what looked like, a drug store. But taking what she had just experienced, she changed her mind. She can last on what was in her bags for about another week before needing to get more supplies.

The sky was getting dark, which meant she needed to find a safe place to stay. This was always the hardest part of surviving, finding somewhere safe. Because right when she settles, the monsters tear it all apart.

"Pet store," she read the sign out loud of the run down store. Slowly walking up to it, she made sure it would be clear. Taking in a deep breath she opened the door.

Clear so far.

She took the baseball bat and tapped the glass very softly, hoping to attract any that were in there to go towards the sound. Just in case, she whistled as well. Not a sound. This was safe.

She entered through the door and observed what it once used to be. There were empty tanks on shelves where some of the fish used to be. Blood was splattered on the wall something else caught her eye. A pocket knife was on the counter where an old telephone and some papers were stacked. Without hesitation, she took the knife and stuffed it in her pocket.

She sat on the floor and leaned back against the blood splattered wall. Taking off her torn up backpack, she emptied it's contents: 8 boxes of matches, a bottle of water, four cans of beans, a lighter, family picture, and her red and black plaid shirt she used as a blanket for cold night such as this one.

All she needed now was something to burn.

Walking up to the once front desk, she took the papers that were left on there and set them where she spilled her supplies. It would be a quick fire but hopefully it would at least warm the room for a little bit.

Grabbing her one of the match boxes, she lit one and set it close to the papers to get the fire going. At last they burned in a glorious orange and yellow color they kept her legs and arms warm. Eponine sadly watched it burn away in a matter of minutes but it did the job to warm her up. After rubbing her hands together for a brief moment, she grabbed on of the cans of beans. Using her new pocket knife she opened it without struggle and ate what she had.

While savoring each bean, she looked over at the wallet sized family photo that rested on the floor. She wanted to look at it, live the life she once used to live inside her head. But she knew it would be painful to look back at them. She couldn't do that to herself, she couldn't forgive herself. Thankfully it was face down she wouldn't have to see their faces. She grabbed it and set back in her backpack, out of her sight.

Eponine hated surviving on her own, she often questioned if there were even any people around anymore. The thought of being the only human left on the planet broke her a part. What if she was the last person alive? What if the whole world was full of the monsters? How would life ever start again? Would it really be the end? Is this really the end? She once held onto hope that it would all die down, but that was in the beginning when only a few people in the world were getting infected. But when she first saw a herd of them, she knew that hoping was useless.

She even asked questions that made her want to stop surfing such as: 'What's the point? It'll happen to me any day now. What's the point?'.

It was now completely dark inside the 'Pet store' and she felt it was ' safe enough' to close her eyes.


When the sun rose, Eponine knew it was time to keep moving.

Packing up again, she clutched her baseball bat in her hands and walked the streets again.

Vacant cars were in all sorts of positions. Some of them were even on their sides. Eponine could just imagine what it was like for a car to get that way.

Humming under breath, she lightly swung at the air and heard the faint sound of feet shuffling. Stopping in her tracks, she listened for it again. It was coming from behind her.

Whipping around she examined the monster. Small and had pig tails and blodd smeared blonde hair. Her face was rotting, a large gash was presented on her bare shoulder. It was a disgusting sight.

"Hey you sick monster," Eponine sang, "you hungry? Hungry? Huh?" She lured it in by using her 'pet friendly voice'. It was getting faster but monsters never ran. They were too stupid.

It's pale rotten arms reached in Eponine's direction as it was getting closer. It snarled and growled as it was only a few feet from her.

With all her might, Eponine swing her bat at the monster's head with a grunt. The impact was worse than Eponine imagined it to be. The head of the monster went flying off its body and hit a nearby.

Laughing to herself, she cleaned the side of the baseball bat where it met the brain of the monster.

Her celebration was interrupted by voices.

Only people talk.

Her knees almost gave out when she hid behind a nearby car. Were there actually people or was she imagining it? There couldn't possibly people. It was only Eponine, right?

"I'm starved," she heard a boy's voice.

It was in fact a real human. A boy even. She peered her head above the hood to catch a glimpse of the walking figure-figures...It was a group! A group! Eponine was saved!

There were five boys and one girl. All the men had dark hair but the girl had strikingly golden hair.

"We'll find food soon," another boy said.

"I heard it somewhere over here," the girl spoke up.

This was her chance, but why wasn't she moving? After all this time of walking around by herself, she found actual living people! Her heart nearly stopped.

"It was a voice, I swear it was," another man said.

"Or maybe we're all just lacking sleep and-"

"What the hell is that?!" She looked to see what the boy with black curly hair was pointing to...it was almost as if he were pointing at her.

Upon realizing this, she ducked back under the hood and tried her best to calm down her intense breathing.

"Over there!"

Footsteps ran in her direction and she was going off instinct now by crawling away.

"Holy shit," a boy shouted.

It was too late, the group already spotted her. They were armed with pistols and knives. Was this how she was going to die? By humans? Not monsters? Closing her eyes she held her hands above her head, a final act to show that she meant no harm.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot," The blonde spoke up.

Opening just one eye, Eponine examined her. She was the same age as her...all six of the survivors were.

"Look she's harmless," she told the boy with the raised handgun that aimed at Eponine.

He didn't look away, "No, we can't assume that anymore, you know what happened to Combeffere. I will not let this group go through that again," He glared at Eponine, "Where is your group?"

Was this an interrogation now? Eponine swallowed through the lump that formed in her throat, "I don't have a group," she said timidly.

"She's lying," she gun man said.

"God damn! She's harmless, I said!" The blonde spoke against the 'leader' of the group.

"If we leave her here, she'll follow us back to camp," the boy with black curls said, "Take her back to the camp and we question her there," he reasoned with the leader.

"Tie her up," the leader ordered the blonde, "but if you try anything," he warned Eppnine, I will not hesitate to shoot you, understand?"

She nodded and watched the blonde two items from one of their packs. A bandana and rope. Kneeling in front of her she whispered, "I'm sorry before covering her eyes with the red bandana,"

'Great,' Eponine thought, 'the first people I encounter after months take me as their prisoner'


Give me your thoughts!

-Ophelia