"Come on Andy!" yelled a young teen as he sprinted down the house lined street. He was dressed in light clothes that were draped over his brown skin, perfect for the summer weather, with a billed cap adorning his head and a cricket bat clutched in his hand. A few yards behind him a similarly equipped heavier boy about the same age struggled to keep up.

"Wait-wait up!" the heavier teen, Andy, gasped. His companion gradually slowed before finally coming to a stop underneath a lit streetlight

"Come on Andy," he repeated, looking at his watch. "You know I told my mom I was staying at your house. If we hurry we can just make it there before your mom gets home." He anxiously began to jog in place. "Let's go."

Having finally caught his breath, Andy began to walk into one of the polished house's front yard. "If I can recall correctly, Bobby, you had no worries about the time at the park." He hesitantly opened the gate to the house's back yard, ducked his head in, then waved the lighter boy over. "You remember, when I wanted to head back and you were to preoccupied with those Collins' girls." He quickly led the other boy through the yard then, despite his size, easily scaled the fence into another yard.

He chuckled as his friend landed next to him. "A classic Bobby move, huh?" He once again led them forward and into another street.

Bobby smiled back, his white teeth seeming to glow in the darkness. "You know me better than anyone else, you know." He then looked around then met Andy's eyes, seeming to just realize where they were. "What are we doing?"

Andy sped up then stopped just before a black iron gate. "Taking a shortcut of course."

Bobby looked at the various stones jutting out from the gated field. "A graveyard? You can't be serious."

Andy grasped the fence and carefully pulled himself over. "I'm dead serious," he chuckled.

Bobby rolled his eyes as he followed suit. "That's not funny at all. Haven't you ever seen a zombie movie? It always starts with a bloody shortcut through a graveyard."

He warily avoided the gravestones as they ventured through. " Then something pops out out of nowhere, an obvious sign that something is happening, but everyone ignores it." He stopped and jumped up onto a bench, much to the amusement of a laughing Andy. "And you know who's always the first to die in those movies? Yeah. The black guy."

Bobby looked around and sighed as if in relief. "Good thing neither of us are black, huh?" He then looked at the back of his dark hand and comically widened his eyes in surprise. "OH! Wait!"

"Come off it, Bobby!" Andy, now laughing loudly, exclaimed. "If you keep it going we will be late and then you'll really have something to be scared of. You know how your mom gets when she's mad."

"Yeah, yeah." Bobby jumped down and the two set out at a comfortable jog.

"But, seriously," he continued after a moment. "It is a perfect set up isn't it? Two rowdy teenagers, alone at night in a graveyard, breaking the rules. A perfect cliché. It's almost as if we're asking to get eaten. The only way it could be worse is if we were sluts."

"I wouldn't be so calm then if I were you," Andy huffed.

Bobby suddenly veered off course, ignoring the slight jab. He stopped in a circular clearing and pointed to the old manor in view. "That would be the base of the operation, where the virus was first created and spread."

He then walked up to a mausoleum that made up part of the circle's side and hid behind a stone column. "And this would be a perfect place for the Big Bad to hide out until the hero passes."

"The 'Big Bad'?" Andy walked up to the other side.

"Yeah, the Big Bad." He spoke as if it were obvious. "You know what I'm talking about. Usually it's the first victim of the prototype of the virus. Got too super powered or too super smart. Although sometimes it's just some random zombie."

He poked his head around and shrugged. "Either way it's the huge zombie that's been taking almost everyone out and that seems impossible to kill. Anyway, the rugged hero just passes along with his sidekick after some big battle."

He ducked back behind the column. "He thinks the worst is over and his heading back to his home or his lady friend, his guard completely down as he passes the seemingly innocent shadowy mausoleum. Then when he does..." Bobby suddenly spun around the column and vaulted himself onto his friend's back, laughing.

"And that's when the hero bashes the bastard's head in!" Andy replied as he dumped the other teen off and playfully raised his cricket bat. Bobby quickly rolled to the side and retrieved his bat where he had dropped it during the attack. He jumped to his feet and the two stood, bats raised as if they were swords.

"Ha!" Bobby lunged and easily hit the larger boy in the stomach. He shot back and cockily raised his free hand in the air.

In retaliation Andy moved with surprising speed and struck the side of his opponent's hip sending him sprawling. Luckily, Bobby caught himself on a tombstone before his head hit any of the granite forms.

"Whoa! I'm sorry Bobby!" Andy nervously chuckled. "I was trying to kick your ass, not give you a concussion."

Bobby waved off the apology. "No problem. My buddy here, um." He wiped the grime off the tombstone he had fallen into. "..Mr. Thomas Riddle saved me."

He looked at his fallen blue hat in the dirt. "That was my favorite hat, though, and for that you must pay."

He once again jumped the bigger teen, successfully knocking the other's own yellow hat off. The two struggled for a moment before Bobby suddenly stopped.

"Did someone light a fire in there?"

The two looked to the old manor where the tell-tale orange glow could be seen in one of the windows.

"No one's lived there in ages, some bum must have broken in or something."

"Or maybe, it's the creators of the virus I was talking about," Bobby added mockingly.

"You know you watch too many movies, right?"

"Hey!" Bobby actually seemed insulted by this and lightly pushed the other boy. "If I watch too many movies then you read too many books."

"What?"

"You heard me. All those books are basically the same plot with different names."

Andy gave the shorter teen a annoyed look. "Weren't you the one that just explained the plot of every zombie movie in existence? There's no originality in movies anymore."

"How about all those stupid adventure books you've read? There's always a poor young boy who grows up a normal life before discovering something amazing about himself. He's a prince! He's the only one who can defeat the Big Bad of his world! He's a bloody elf! He was born a women!"

"Come on!" Andy snorted.

"I'm not done! Then some old guy comes and whisk him away to foreign lands where he trains and turns into a typical superhero." He raised a wiry arm and mockingly flexed. "Then, once he's stronger than everyone else, which usually seems to take about a few days, he goes off to kill the villain who most likely killed or is the hero's last living relative. An epic battle ensues where the hero plays fair despite whatever his rival may pull and in the end wins and goes on to live happily-ever-after."

By this time Bobby was pacing, his irritation growing with every word.

"And of course the hero needs his fair, fuckin maiden. She's either the humble but slightly pretty girl that the hero grew up with, but never noticed until she hit puberty or she's that quiet girl on the dark side that secretly yearns to help the light and falls for the hero. It's the same bloody thing all the time! I'm sick of it!"

"..."

"..."

"Better now?"

Bobby sighed and absently ran a hand over his shirt. "Yeah, I just had to get that out I suppose."

"Well, I suppose your right." Andy patted his friend on the shoulder. "But you have heard of a movie called Star Wars, right?"

"Damn," Bobby chuckled. "Call it a draw?"

"Draw."

"It's just that..." Bobby leaned against a statue with an annoyed sigh. "I just want a 'hero' that acts normal. Why won't one do the smart thing and kick the villain when he's down? Or better yet, just grab a knife and stab him in the back when he's not looking? What's the point of being so noble? Your ridding the world of this great evil, there's no need to act like even more of a good guy. And there's always an easier way than what they go for."

He smiled and put on a confused face. "And why go for the 'humble-but-cute-in-her-own-way-with-a-great-personality-who-constantly-needs-saving-girl' or the 'angsty-dark-side-girl-who won't-stop-crying-on-my-damn-shoulder-and-also-constantly-needs-saving-despite-that-fiery-attitude'?" He smirked. "I want my hero to go for that 'slightly-arrogant-and-bitchy-but-so bloody-gorgeous-that-you-can-ignore-what-she's-saying-and-can-save-her-own-arse-women'. If I was a hero thats who I'd try to bag. I may sound a bit shallow, but still."

Andy laughed. "I like the sound of that." He glanced back to the manor. "So you think that is the base?"

Bobby grinned. "Maybe."

"I guess we better watch our backs then-what the hell!" A emerald light suddenly flashed followed by a distant thump in the window. The sound of both cricket bats and Bobby's body as he slipped off the statue in surprise hitting the ground followed and echoed across the field.

"Shit!"

The two held their breath. Bobby slowly raised himself to a crouch and both unconsciously moved to block their forms behind the closest tombstones. Bobby's forehead pressed against the granite of the stone and his eyes squeezed shut. His shaking fingers seemed to trace the aged word 'Riddle' on their own. His breath started to come out in harsh gasp as the blood started to slowly drain from his head. Something wasn't right.

Nearby, Andy hesitantly maneuvered himself so he could watch as the light of the fire eventually dimmed.

"You remember that sign I was talking about?" Bobby hoarsely whispered.

Andy swallowed. "Yeah."

Even with distance both sets of young ears caught the sound of a door opening and being slammed shut.

Andy whispered, "I think we're late."

"Race you to your house?"

Both boys shot off, their cricket bats and favorite hats forgotten in the dirt.

Meanwhile, in a lush apartment in South Kensington, a fourteen-year old boy slowly opened his eyes. He raised himself up on his elbows, then rubbed his green eyes before casually wiping the line of drool away from his chin. His eyes lazily wandered around his dark room before settling on the objects resting on his dresser.

He gave an unfocused glare. "No more of you before bed," he slurred as he waved his finger at the empty bottle of Coke and Cheeto bag. His mission completed, he gave a rewarding yawn. He fell back asleep before his messy black hair hit the pillow.

Author's notes:

Eh...well, there you go. I'm not really taking this fic too seriously so expect it to be sloppy sometimes, changing from serious to comedy (which I'm not very skilled at anyway), and updates to be random.

I'm really just doing this for fun and something to occupy me while I have writer's block on any other stories I might post.