Geez... Uploading takes a lot of work... Lol..
So this is the other story I have and I'm only gonna upload the first chapter for now, but there'll definitely be more to come!
Same disclaimer as my other story. I own nothing except the original characters and the plot. Everything else should be credited to the people who actually own it.
Reviews/Favorites are appreciated!
With Love,
DixieStar
Katie whimpered as Kendall held her close to his chest. Logan was right behind them dragging Carlos and James by their shirts. The other two boys were turned around, Carlos with a bat and James with an old hand gun that they'd found moving from place to place, and both boys were keeping an eye out for the infected.
The boys could remember when stories like this were considered stupid. When a zombie apocalypse was something joked about on Pinterest or Facebook. But now, now it was a horrifying reality.
It started only months ago. A bodily enhancer was being tested on willing young men, to see if they could be enhanced in their strength, their intelligence, or if any changes would occur at all. Many young men volunteered of course, because money was involved.
The drug appeared to have no effect, and for two to three weeks things were normal, until the first man mutated. He attacked his wife and their dog, leaving both a mangled bloody pile, and when the police got to him, the only way to stop him was to shot him in the forehead. They tried rounding up the other participants, but some went into hiding until they turned, and then became a danger to society. Just like the zombie apocalypse that everyone had joked about.
The whole country was a wasteland, the infected taking over quickly. It seemed that the more people got bitten, the faster they would transform, the elapsed time going from weeks to days, and for some unlucky souls, (the boys friend Guitar Dude) mere hours after they were bitten.
Unlike actual Zombies, it is possible to resist the illness, one man having done so and was effectively shipped off to a lab so they could find a cure. The problem is, that none of the people exactly know where the lab is and if the antidote has been discovered yet. Still this brought every 'normal' person enormous amounts of hope.
The boys had been living in LA when this whole ordeal had started, and had overlooked it until Mama Knight left for the supermarket one night.
Kendall remembered that horrid night with disturbing clarity. He hated it, the weakness that came with the images. The fact that every time he closed his eyes he saw it all over again. His mother stumbling into the apartment with a huge bite mark on her shoulder, teary-eyed Kendall as he held her close, she was beaten and bruised and dying, asking Kendall to do something horrible, more horrible than anything he could have imagined.
To shot her in the case she became one of them.
He agreed, and despairingly, three days later he shot her between the eyes when she went after Katie.
Kendall can no longer close his eyes without seeing it all again. Without thinking of his poor mother again. And now, as the 5 head out toward what they hope will be a fruitful destination to the lab, he clutches his baby sister tighter to him. He thinks it will be different this time. This time, he won't harm a loved one. No matter what the personal cost. And no one is going to tell him differently.
Logan spotted a white SUV parked along the street they were running down. The door was open and it was obvious that there had been a struggle. There were something like claw marks dragged across the back door, and a puddle on the ground next to unidentifiable mass of something. As gruesome or sick as it is, he thanked God.
Someone had been getting in the car and had been attacked. The keys were on the ground close to the vehicle with a mass of what he assumed was flesh, he also assumed the puddle next to the keys was blood, but he got everyone loaded in the car anyway. Him and Kendall in the front seat, James and Carlos in the second seat, and all their bags in the last seat. The car was big enough to accommodate at least 4 more. Or well, 3 more, considering that Kendall has Katie pulled across his lap in the front seat. Logan had been the one to take the wheel.
He started the car, looked at the gas gage and saw that there was only a quarter of a tank left.
He tried not to let the dwindling gas bother him as he drove out of the city. Taking the highway to leave and start their destination to God only knows where.
Logan began planning, where he could get some gas tanks, where he could get gas, where he could get nonperishable foods, and just as he was getting this all planned, he happened upon a seemingly abandoned Wal-Mart, with a gas station and an auto parts section all within 5 minutes of each other. Logan prayed that somehow they'd be able to get gas from the pumps. He pulled off of the road immediately and got to the parking lot between the areas. After he turned the car off he looked behind him.
"James, take your gun and go into Wal-Mart. Get as much nonperishable food as you can. Don't get hurt okay? If you're not out in 10 minutes I'm coming in after you.
Carlos. First, give me the bat. Take over here and fill the car up with gas. I saw a crow bar over by the pump so pick that up and you'll have something to protect yourself with. After you've got it all the way filled guard the car. If it's not me or James, don't let 'em near the car. Got it?"
Carlos nodded and James took off towards the store, slowly and carefully examining his surroundings. Logan watched him go and then looked to Kendall, who was still in the front seat hugging Katie to his chest. He shut the door to the driver's side of the car and pulled Carlos over to him so he could talk without Kendall hearing them.
"Watch out for them okay? I'll be right back as soon as I find us some gas cans. If she looks like she's changing you need to get her away from him."
Carlos' lower lip jutted out from where it was, he looked at Logan with a pained look on his face, and he knew what he was asking him to do. To kill Katie if he thought she was gonna kill Kendall.
"I don't know if I can Loges." He whispered. "She's like a sister."
Logan's shoulders drooped. He felt the same way, and he knew that had he been given the task, he would have begged and pleaded for another way. Looking at Kendall though, his tear stained cheeks and his heaving breaths; he knew he would be able to. And sadly, that's what he needed from Carlos.
"I know bud, but think about it. We may be losing Katie; do you want to lose Kendall too?" He said may because he still hoped against all hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd be one that wasn't effected by the bite, even if it had only happened to one other man.
Carlos stared at the ground, and Logan heard a muttered 'no' escape him. He grabbed Carlos in a hug and drew him close.
"I know it's hard to think, but thank you. You don't know how much he means to me."
He looked Carlos in the eyes and Carlos knew that he'd be saving more than one person if he had to protect Kendall from Katie.
Logan let go and walked around the car, opening the door and leaning close to Kendall. He put his lips to Kendall's hairline, and though it wasn't reciprocated, he kissed Kendall's temple as much as he could because the boy refused to turn his head.
"I love you boo, just stay here with Katie Cat, and I'll be right back okay?"
This elicited a response, because Kendall whimpered at the sound of the girls nick name. He turned toward Logan with tear filled eyes while still holding onto the girl. Logan kissed his cheeks where the tears were leaking down and then his lips.
"It's going to be fine, the guys and I will be right back."
Logan felt like complete and utter shit for saying something he of course didn't know was true, but he wanted to be comforting. So he carefully shut the door of the car and took off across the parking lot to the outdoor auto section of the Wal-Mart, looking for gas cans.
He could have almost sung with glee when he approached the auto section and didn't only find one gas can, but several. He found at least 20, in all assorted sizes.
He grabbed 4 big cans, 3 small ones and one that was bigger than the other 4 big ones that he found near the back.
He had a bit of trouble getting all of them out to the car, but he made it about halfway there with no trouble. He was sure he would have made it all the way, but the worst possible thing happened.
He could see James and Carlos loading food into the car. They looked up and stopped when they saw him. The gas looked like it was still filling the car, and Kendall was finally out of the car. But he couldn't be happy because of the look of horror on Kendall's face.
He turned around there had to at least be a dozen of the ill coming toward him. Moving faster than he had ever seen one of them move.
He hauled his cans up and got closer to the car before flinging all of them toward it. He told James and Carlos to get in and lock it and wait for him to finish. He flung the bat toward a wheel and made James give him the gun. As a child, Logan's father had been adamant that he learned how to shoot a gun. And now that the boys had the shot gun to protect themselves, it was a unanimous vote, Logan was by far the best marksman.
He ran to the middle of the parking lot, and the ill all followed behind like lionesses stalking their prey. He let them make a circle and got the shot gun ready.
Spinning around, he shot each one in the face as they came toward him. He knocked most of them out, but had not shot one in the face like he had meant to.
The ill middle aged man clambered toward him with a gaping hole in his shoulder where Logan had gotten him with the shot gun. Logan pulled back on the barrel and got ready to fire, only to realize that there were no more bullets in his gun.
His forehead broke out in a little sweat. This was it. He had nothing to protect himself with and there was no way he would drag the ill man toward the car and risk his friends… who were really all the family he had left.
He made to turn around and take off away from the car, a method of distraction so the boys could get away but he twisted his ankle while he was turning and hit the ground before he really knew what was happening. The older man continued toward him and Logan closed his eyes tightly. He was waiting for it to end, but it didn't.
He heard a gunshot and while opening his eyes he felt something splatter across his face.
When he tried to open his eyes fully, he still had to squint back, but could make out the outline of what he assumed was one of the guys in front of him. The ill man that had been coming toward him lay to his left, a hole blown through the middle of his forehead and Logan assumed what had splattered across his face was this man's polluted blood.
Logan turned to his left and watched as the corpse lazily dropped to farther back onto the ground in front of him and Logan found himself to be covered in the blood of the ill man. He took care to wipe it away from his mouth and any cuts he had on his skin, couldn't be too careful after all.
When he was sure he hadn't gotten any blood in him he finally looked up to see which one of the guys had saved him.
He was surely surprised when, after looking up, he was not met with the sight of any of the guys, but a woman instead.
She stood just a little taller than Logan, or at least, that's what he supposed. She was heavier than any of the girls at the Palmwoods had been, but Logan wouldn't call her fat, in fact, she couldn't be too much bigger that Jordan Sparks. She had a long sleeved leather jacket on with big boots and camo pants to match. Her hair was braided on both sides in French braids that fell past her chest and almost reminded him of a bigger version of Katniss, from the hunger games.
When he was done observing her he caught a glimpse of the girl behind her, and the girls behind her. Behind her was a redhead that had a single braid falling over her left shoulder. Like the taller girl in front of him the red head had a shot gun. But the girl in front of him looked like she only had an extra hand gun and a little bit of ammo.
The red head looked like she had at least three more guns, and Logan was sure she had ammo on her somewhere.
Behind the red head was a smaller brunette and a small African American girl. She had large blue eyes which freaked Logan out. The red head pulled the little girl forward into her arms as the large girl in front of him offered him a hand up.
He made to pull himself up but the large woman pulled him up to his feet instead. She brushed one of his shoulders off and left him to brush the other one off. When he was firmly planted back on his feet he found himself with an armful of Kendall.
Kendall was shaking and squeezing him tight, Logan almost couldn't breathe. He pulled Kendall's face back and firmly planted a kiss on his lips.
Kendall held on tight. Not wanting to let Logan go but obviously breath became a bit of a necessity. He still looked ready to cry when he let Logan go but he held himself close rather than smothering him. When Logan looked around Kendall's shoulders he saw Carlos and James standing between him and the woman. James had Katie pressed to his chest and Carlos had a large shot gun held tightly in his right arm. He looked wary of the girls, but he wasn't about to say anything to the woman that just saved his best friend's life.
When the taller woman got a good look and Katie, she took a step back.
The red head went to take a step again, but the larger woman grabbed her by the elbow and gestured towards the little Africa American girl behind them.
"Get a vile from Jerina, and bring it to me."
The red head nodded and turned to the smaller brunette with the little girl.
The tall brunette in front of them strapped her shot gun onto her back before addressing the boys.
"Name's Allison, Allison Frederick. Former college student and aspiring actress… Names?"
The boys were a little surprised she didn't recognize them, given that she was trying to break into Hollywood, but stood tall and introduced themselves anyway. Logan went first.
"I'm Logan Mitchell, former member of the boy band Big Time Rush. The blonde next to me is my boyfriend Kendall Knight, also former member and the small brunette being held over there is Kendall's little sister, Katie."
"I'm Carlos Garcia, another former member of Big Time Rush."
"And I'm James, past and present face of Big Time Rush, the most handsome of us all."
He made a motion across his face that had Allison rolling her eyes. She stepped forward to get a closer look at Kendall, looking from him to Katie and back again.
"Does Blondie got a voice on 'im? Or is he gonna stand there staring through the ground all day?" The red head hollered from her place bent over a bag the girls must've been traveling with.
"Erica would you shut it? He's probably lost someone," Allison growled, causing the red head to look away from her, and purse her lips tightly, "and he thinks he's about to lose another person." Allison added more as a whisper.
Logan's head snapped up at that.
"He thinks? How do you know? What do you know? What-?"
"Woah! Easy there short stack, I'll explain everything, but first, wanna move somewhere where we're not all out in the open?"
It dawned on everyone else then that it'd be better to move and not be so open. You never knew what to expect, so, after handing Katie back to Kendall, James and Carlos trudged over to the girls and took their bags to the SUV, tossing everything in the back.
The red head, Erica, went to protest but Allison put her hand up and silenced her before she could.
When their stuff was in the car, they moved to the Wal-Mart behind them. Checking to make sure it was clear before heading to the back, finding a room that had a partially still working light and some semi-comfortable chairs for them to sit on.
Allison watched while everyone else sat down. When they were all situated, she began.
"I already told you my name, but here it is again. I'm Allison Frederick, daughter of the late May Frederick and Her husband, my very much alive father, Martin Frederick. Otherwise known as the man that started all this shit. "
The boys gasped and the girls looked rather stoic, they obviously knew this already and didn't care, but Allison did, she looked horribly upset.
"He made a mistake, and now thousands are paying for it with their lives…." Erica moved forward and patted her shoulder, encouraging her to move on.
"But he's gonna fix that… I'm gonna fix that." The boys looked over at the small African girl, whose blue eyes shone brightly, contrasted by the darkness of her complexion. She really was a sight to behold.
"I found her in Arkansas. I've been looking for a way to fix this, to reverse the disease and clear my father's name. He's in a safety settlement type thing in New Hampshire right now, working on a way to fix this. I found Jerina amongst some less than desirable company… But the ill won't bite her. She'd been living with them for months she said, and they'd never even tried to bite her. I didn't know what to think, so I decided to see if she had any effect on them…. Megs?"
The smaller brunette that had been holding Jerina in her lap stood then, coming to stand next to Allison.
"Sorry to introduce everyone for them boys, but this is Megan. She used to be one of the ill…"
The boys looked surprised and Carlos, who'd been looking at Allison with his 'skeptical face', raised his eyebrows in anticipation of whatever she had to say.
"When I went through Ohio I happened upon Erica here. She was chasing a herd of deer with a rifle. We went to high school together and after graduation, I split. I felt horrible about not seeing any of the kids in my class again, but I thought it was for the best.
Erica and Megan, along with Erica's boyfriend Cole, had been traveling north to find the settlement for the healthy people when Megan was attacked. "
Erica looked away, and Jerina, who had moved into her lap, tucked her head under Erica's. Megan moved away from Allison's side to go sit with Erica. Allison looked over at Erica and she nodded her head, giving her permission to keep telling the story.
"Cole threw himself in between Megan and the ill. He tried fighting them off but he ran out of bullets. While Erica was able to pull Megan out of the pile, she didn't get back to him quick enough.
He died protecting them, even took out most of the ill before he did. He was torn apart, but he stopped them. I think Erica may have had to shoot one. But when she got to him, he didn't turn, he was just dead."
Erica was silently crying, small tears running down her face but she made no sound, just held onto Jerina tighter.
"Erica drug Megan back to their hide out but didn't really check her out, just passed out from exhaustion. When she woke up, Megan was turning. She locked Megan up as best she could, but refused to shoot her. That's how I found them."
The boys looked over to Megan and Erica, who were sitting close with their hands interlocked. Jerina was tucked into Erica, but she held tightly to Megan's other hand.
"I had taken Jerina from Arkansas and when I met up with Erica, she was gathering meat. She took it to their little hide out. Megan got raw meat and Erica cooked hers. She had Megan chained up, but she still treated her as normal as she could. When Erica met Jerina, she had an odd sort of idea. Well, it was because Jerina stood as close to Megan as she could, and she would put herself in a place where Megan could bite her. So we tried to get Jerina to bite Megan. But she wouldn't. So I did the next thing I thought of, took some of Jerina's blood and injected Megan with it.
It didn't seem to work at first. But after a week or so, Megan began returning to normal. It took her a while to speak again, and she has no memory of being one of them… But there she sits. Healthy again."
The boys were shocked for a second, before Kendall shot up from his place by Logan.
"You can heal them?! Do it! Heal my sister! Quickly!"
Logan ended up having to pull him back, because he almost tackled the girl, but he looked insistently at the girl before him as well.
"Easy there Kendall. I'm all about helping the little one, but first I need to know some things."
Logan and Kendall nodded, pulling Katie along with them as they got closer to Allison.
"Okay, when was she bitten? Has she shown signs of being turned? Does she talk? And has she made a grab at any of you yet?"
Kendall swallowed. Then took a deep breath.
"She was bitten 3 days ago. An old man just barely got her wrist before Logan took his head off. She's just been still and whimpered a lot. I assumed she could talk, but she hasn't since she was bitten and no she hasn't made a grab-"
"Actually she has Kendall."
Kendall spun around to face James, who'd been the one to speak.
"What?! When?!"
"Before we found the van, she nicked my pinky. I didn't think anything of it because she hadn't turned yet."
Kendall started to hyperventilate, grabbing James' outstretched hand and finding his left pinky in a state of trying to heal, but glossed over with an angry color between light pink and red that made it obvious the finger was not healed yet. He glanced to his little sister before turning to look back at James. He looked about ready to sob, but Allison intervened.
"Woah, hold it right there bub, calm down. From the looks of your sister, I'd say her body's fighting the virus tooth and nail, which is why she hasn't turned yet. But the biting big boy over here means she may succumb to it if we don't act fast. Erica,"
The redhead was already staring intensely, but grabbed at Megan's backpack. She produced two shots. One had a vile already full of dark red blood, the other was empty. Erica hand the full one to Allison, awaiting what was next.
"You ask Jerina if we can have some more, I'll take care of the little one, then we'll get the big guy here."
James looked at them nervously. He hated shots, but if it meant his life, of course he'd take it. They just might have to hold him down a little bit.
Allison went over to where Carlos had begun to hold Katie in his lap. She knelt in front of him and slowly grabbed Katie's arm, the arm that had been bitten, and turned it towards her. She found the vein by the elbow and as gently as she could, put the syringe in and pushed the blood into her system. When she was finished she looked to Kendall.
"We're gonna have to monitor her here for a few days, just to make sure this worked. You're in charge of that, cool?"
He nodded solemnly reaching forward and hugging the girl tightly for helping him. Allison grinned and returned the hug, then stood up and found Erica waiting with another shot. They eyed James and he looked very pale.
"You wanna take your chances pretty boy? Or ya gonna let us help?"
James held his arm out, but it was quite shaky. Erica handed the shot over and held James' arm out to Allison, her strong grip making him a little more nervous.
"It's okay big guy." Allison whispered. "I'm gonna do my very best to make sure you don't even feel it, okay? The last thing I wanna do is hurt ya."
She gripped his arm tightly and carefully put the needle in. He breathed out loudly through his nose and then looked up. She had removed the needle and he had barely felt a thing!
He smiled down at her and she returned it, patting his shoulder and reaching for a band aid which Erica supplied.
Logan took in everything happening and it almost seemed too good to be true. Katie was probably going to be fine and from the looks of it, everyone else was completely normal. He could tell that this group was going to become a family. And a strong one at that.