Alright everyone. It's been quite some time since I've written anything for this fandom, (at all, really) and I'm happy to be back with this new one! It's a collaboration fanfiction with a long time friend of mine. We spent quite a lot of time going over ideas, and we landed on the very typical zombie apocalypse esc. type. I can't seem to get enough of these however. For how common they seem to come off, I really do have a hard time finding multi-chaptered apocalypse fics.
PLEASE do not send this fic to anyone mentioned in the story! I highly dislike the thought of them reading this in a video somewhere down the line since it includes people that aren't typically written about. (Therefore, making it easier to find.) There's also the whole zombie precursor that makes the story even easier to make fun of. We worked extremely hard on this, and while it would be amazing to have it appreciated by the talented people included, I have seen far too many works made fun of through these kinds of videos. Thank you!
This chapter was written by Klaudija3300. I myself will be writing the next, and it will alternate. I did however beta test this chapter and change a large amount of content.
"Hey all, just letting you know that I'll be hosting a pre-vidcon party this year! I know we've had several like this in the past, and everyone seemed to have a great time before. Let me know if you'd be interested!"
Sincerely,
Markiplier
Alfie sighed as he read the email, quickly hopping up and over to his cell to quickly text Joe and see if he had decided to attend this year. Not too long after, tired of waiting for the response, he decided to call Felix. He and Marzia live only two cities over, and he wanted to know if this was even worth going to. Felix and Alfie had been friends for quite a long time now, and it had been far too long since the two of them had really spoken.
"Hey Felix, It's Alfie. Did you get the email from Mark?" There was a long pause before Felix answered.
"Yeah, I did." He responded quickly.
"Are you going?" Alfie asked.
"Yeah, of course! Mark's hosting, and I couldn't pass up a chance to visit him."
"And where Mark is, Jack is too right?" Alfie chuckled, a similar response echoing from the other side of the line.
"You know it. Two birds with one stone."
"So, is Marzia going then?" He asked, taking a seat on his bed. His hand ghosted over Nala's sleeping frame, a slight sense of unease rousing at the prolonged silence from his friend.
"I'm not all that sure. Hey, I have some really important stuff to take care of. I'll text you when I get to LA. See ya." Before he had a chance to process Felix had hung up. It took him off guard, but he shook it off quickly. Alfie sighed quietly and stood, walking towards the lounge to see if Zoe wanted to go. He poked his head into the kitchen, the lounge, the bathroom, any place he could think of and Zoe was nowhere to be seen.
"Zoe?" He shouted, groaning audibly when he received no response back. He instead opted to go back to their bedroom and grab his phone, meaning to call and find out where she had gone.
Then, all of a sudden she comes from nowhere and yells, "I got the plane tickets!" She bounded toward him. "Troye and Tyler are going. We haven't seen Troye in a while have we? Actually, everyone is going!"
"Why are you so excited about this?" he laughed, wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"Because I love parties, you twat!" she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. She then broke out of his hold, skipped to the lounge and plopped on the sofa. He sat happily beside her and turned on the tv.
The plane ride only took 11 hours of Phil being an idiot, making "are we there yet" a common phrase and quotes of his favorite movies never seemed to stop. Dan was annoyed but happy he got to spend this last little time with Phil before they'd be thrust back into more uncomfortable socialization. The two of them hardly joined in on parties and other such events with their fellow YouTubers. It wasn't exactly that they disliked them, but they surely weren't ones for more than Buffy marathons and pizza dinners with each other.
It wasn't too long after Phil had fallen asleep on his shoulder that the pilot announced their arrival. "Fucking finally." Was the only sound that left his mouth, gently rousing Phil from his not quite peaceful slumber. Who could sleep on an airplane anyway? After the belt buckle sign turned off, he quickly collected his things and made his way off the plane. It didn't take long after to realize he'd lost his quirky friend in the sea of people quick to get off the claustrophobic deathtrap. After a load more people, there came Phil with his trademark smile walking to Dan.
"Just got a text from our Taxi driver, he should be waiting right outside." Dan nodded and smiled. They both walked to the suitcase loading dock then through customs. Once all that had been taken care of and they collected all of their items, they made their way outside. Their taxi driver was a short little man with a grey beard. He looked like a Indian Santa Claus, Phil thought quickly. Ignoring that thought process, they jumped in the cab and the driver started the car.
Phil quickly became antsy, this part of the trip he truly hated the most. No matter how many times he rode in taxis and ubers, his anxiety hardly seemed to let up. It wasn't long before Phil's eyes began to trail curiously over the interior of the car, ignoring Dan's concerned glances from the side. His eyes stopped on a small, hardly noticeable bite mark on the back of the man's neck.
It was rapidly turning all shades of blues and purples, and as the drive went on, Phil could've sworn it began to turn a nasty black.
"Sir, are you alright?" Phil asked, his worry getting the better of his judgement. Dan looked at him curiously eyes focused on the taxi driver as the man scoffed.
"Little bastard bit me on the neck as I was coming into work this morning. Little fucker took a good blow to the head from yours truly for it. Knocked him right out." Phil couldn't tell if the man was exaggerating, but Dan seemed to find the story quite hilarious.
"What a freak. At least he got what was coming to him." Dan responded, completely unaware of the fact the once bright red mark was now oozing pus, the entire wound turned black.
"You know it. I'm sure it'll heal right up in a few days. Hardly left a mark after all." Phil sunk down in his seat, eyes staring instead out the window. Maybe he was seeing things?
The driver and Dan continued to talk the rest of the way. They were headed toward Sepulveda Boulevard towards Jefferson Boulevard, where their hotel would be. The driver pulled up to the curb next to the front door, exiting the car with the two much taller men. Phil's eyes never strayed from the man's festering wound, and it was obvious Dan had taken notice that he wasn't all with it.
"Phil, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Dan chuckled, but Phil's lack of a response nearly erased the smallest trace of a smile from his lips.
"We will take your bags inside, and once you check in to your rooms we will deliver them in 10 to 15 minutes." Phil jumped as a staff member spoke to them. He really was out of it.
"Yes. Uh, yes. Yes, thank you." Phil responded. How in God's name did that man not know his "hardly a mark" bite wound was now festering and black? It had to have hurt, he had to have a fever. Something. The man just waved them goodbye and sat back in his car. Even as he began to drive away, Phil kept his eyes trained on the vehicle, noticing with a gut wrecking feeling that the man was screaming.
They both headed to the front desk and checked in. Phil's head continued to stay in a fog, and it was obvious Dan was extremely worried. His eyes kept trailing sadly over to him, and once they received their room keys, he was quick to drag Phil as fast as he could to their shared room.
"Alright, what the Hell's wrong with you?" Dan asked, eyes trailing up and down his body until they locked on his eyes. Phil sighed, shaking as he continued to think about the man's black and oozing wound, and the later sight of him screaming in pain. How had Dan not noticed? "Phil, please talk to me."
"Did you see it?" Phil asked, his voice cracking. Dan looked down at the ground once again, suddenly refusing to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, I was hoping-"
"That you were seeing things?" Phil interrupted, and Dan nodded. Phil's heart beat suddenly sped up too quickly, and he hardly knew why he was reacting in such a manner. However, it wasn't every day you watched a perfectly normal bite mark turn into dead flesh in a span of twenty five minutes.
"Hey, calm down. It's fine, probably just...infected. He'll go to the doctor and get it cleaned up and he'll be fine." Dan said, grabbing Phil's hand in his own. Phil nodded softly, sighing to clear his foggy brain. "Come on, Alfie text me a while ago and said that he, Zoe, and Joe would like to all drive to the party together." Phil did nothing more than nod yet again. It wouldn't be too horrible to see their long time friends. It might take his mind of the images floating disgustingly throughout his brain. They had two hours before they had to arrive at the hotel space rented out for their gathering, and he for sure didn't want to spend it feeling like this.
"Welcome to 2016 Vidcon kick off party!" yelled Mark Fischbach, a familiar green haired YouTuber standing to his side. He was all smiles, as always. "I will be your host for tonight's events." Everyone applauded, some louder than others. "Please, enjoy. There's plenty of food in the dining hall, games and such down the hall for our fellow gamers. Keep in mind that we'll all converge later on tonight to discuss expansion and benefits of collaboration. All those boring topics that we in reality, probably won't cover because we'll be too busy actually having fun." Everyone in the crowd let out a collective chuckle, Mark smiling brightly at his friends before him. "Go on, mingle!" The crowd dispersed only slightly, people spending very little time grabbing their closest friends and heading in separate directions.
Tyler Oakley looked around the dispersing crowd to see Zoe actually came, and surprisingly, Felix showed up as well. It was a hard time getting the Swed to come to anything, let alone a measly party. Hell, they could hardly get him in YouTube rewind. Needless to say, it was good to have him there. The second thing that caught Tyler's eye was there was no Marzia. That in itself was terribly odd. The two hardly ever went anywhere without each other, but Felix seemed just fine conversing with Mark and Jack like nothing was wrong. He wouldn't worry on it too much.
He continued to look around, unsure of who exactly he was looking for. Troye would be nice, yeah. Troye would be really nice. However, instead of his Australian his eyes wandered across a guy with long red and black hair. Tyler had never seen this man before. Huh, another fresh face. Mark was always good at getting groups together, he thought. He seemed to feel quite awkward, sticking close to the door by himself. It wasn't like Tyler to let someone feel lonely or awkward at a social event of any kind, so he made his way over to the man.
"Hey, I'm Tyler. I haven't seen you around before." Tyler said putting out his hand. The man shook his hand in response, smiling slightly.
"Hello, I'm David Brown. I'm a big fan." Tyler smiled widely, a slight curtsy in his posture as he thanked the man.
"What kind of videos do you make?" asked Tyler. David didn't answer at first. He looked like he was trying to find the right words to say.
"I write music and sing. Not really your typical cover artists though. I try to stray a bit from pop music myself." David said, Tyler laughed in response.
"Girl, pop is the best. Get with it!" Tyler smiled as David broke out into a slightly awkward laugh. At least he seemed to be warming up. "Are you waiting for someone?"
"Ah yeah actually, my friend Roomie convinced me to come out for this." He responded, sighing in relief as he spotted his friend across the room. "Speak of the devil. Thanks for the talk, man. I'll see you around." The two of them shook hands as Tyler bid him a farewell. Not a second after David walked away did he feel slender arms wrap around his waist.
"Chatting up other men? I'm disappointed." Tyler rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Oh stop it, you know you're the only man for me." Troye Sivan chuckled softly, leading Tyler over towards where a small group of vloggers were dancing to the overly loud music blasting throughout the room.
Phil's nerves hadn't let up at all since their experience in the taxi, and it only flared even more with the close proximity to others and the loud music drowning out any thoughts from his head. He hated not being able to think clearly. Dan spent most of the night chatting with Louise and Caspar, only occasionally chatting to others such as Anthony from Smosh. It'd been awhile since they'd really spoken in person, so there wasn't much more than a hello. It was the same for most of the other people in attendance.
"Hey, if you want to go we can?" Dan suddenly appeared next to him, holding a hot glass of tea in his hands. "Mark made this for you, said you looked like you could use it." Phil shakily took the cup out of his hands, sighing as the heat radiated throughout his hands and up to his arms.
"There's not alcohol in it, is there?" Dan chuckled at this, shaking his head.
"No sir, just good ol' fashioned relaxing tea." Phil nodded, taking a small sip. He relished in the strong taste and slight burn as the hot liquid traveled down the back of his throat. Now if only the music would stop, this would be perfect. "You know it's okay, right?" Dan asked, throwing Phil only slightly off guard.
"It's just, you hear about things like this and then...You hear about that." Phil said quietly, eyes trained on his own through the swirling dark liquid. Dan nodded.
"They're just stories." Dan had said, and even he didn't believe it when he said it. What Phil referred to as that, was just an endless cycle of new stories coming out about people going into terrifying rage fits and ripping apart anyone that seemed to cross its path. It wasn't long before it got out that the fits were more of a hunger driven stupor, but he hardly believed what he saw on television. Regardless of the fact there had been four documented cases just in London within the past week. Four genuinely documented cases of people walking around the streets, moaning and limping, attempting to bite whoever came within their line of sight. It was like a less violent rabies almost.
"Yeah, stories." Phil responded, eyes still trained on his slowly cooling tea.
"You know the same kind of stuff happened here. The bath salts stuff? People were eating people's faces and not dropping from bullets and it was fine." Dan said, trying to make even himself feel better. Phil nodded and sighed, truly believing that this may just be a similar case. Copy cats can go farther than the states, couldn't they?