Disclaimer: All Total Drama characters belong to Fresh Tv. I'm only writing this for a project and no copyright violation is intended. Rated T for now, but might get gory and full of coarse language as it goes on.
~A/N~ After the small success of my first story: Total Drama: Return of the Underdogs, I decided to try out something new. This is a story of Shawn and Jasmine's struggle to survive in a world run by the living dead (totally original, I know.) But I like Shazmine, I like zombies, and I like writing, so why not?
The updates will be slower on this one than on my other story, but hopefully it's good enough to be memorable. Feel free to leave reviews, preferably of the constructive type, and follow.
Life Goes On: Chapter 1- Rememberance
POV: Shawn
I'm running.
That's all I have to do. That's all I can do.
Jasmine is holding onto my outstretched arm as she pulls the both of us through the brush. I try not to trip, but my left thigh is slowly becoming drenched in a fiery pain that threatens to drag me down with each step.
"Just keep going," she says to me. I barely hear her over the crashing of brush.
I look back to see a set of five lights in the distance, each with a relentless owner that will never stop until I finally fall.
"Don't you dare look back!" my girlfriend scolds me. "Just keep running!"
My forehead is seeping with sweat and I involuntarily stumble on my own feet. When I hit the ground, Jasmine forcefully grabs my orange vest and lifts me to my feet. It's not long before my injured leg gives out and my body collapses to the forest floor.
"Shawn?!" she says in a panic, unsure of my ability to continue. "Shawn?!"
I feel her long arms scoop me up. My vision is fading and I know I'm going to black out from the pain. I grip her rough leather jacket and hold on for my life.
"Hold in there. It's just a bit longer."
I can hear the despair in her voice, but I can't comfort her like I've always done and its killing me more than my wound is. For over a year, we've had each other's backs every step of the way. From that wretched reality show to the deserted deserts of the out back, we've always been able to take care of each other. But now is different. I'm helpless. I'm hurt. My life and hers rests on her shoulders, and I can't do anything about it. For the first time in my career as a survivalist, I'm the one who needs help. I'm the one who won't survive. I'm the one with the problem.
Jasmine stumbles a bit and I feel my injured limb rub against the ground. A sharp pain jets through my leg and I let out a yelp.
"Keep it down," she whispers. "Were almost there."
I try to say something to her, but all I can muster is a dry croak. I look behind her arm and notice that the lights are still following us, albeit a bit farther away than before. It's not good news, but it gives me a sense of hope that allows me to stay conscious.
Before I know it, my body is gently set down on the ground . When my leg touches the soil, it burns like the devil.
Jasmine grabs me by the shoulders and looks my in the eyes. I can see the fear peaking through her stern face.
"Don't make another sound, you hear me. Just stay down and keep quiet. This might hurt."
Before I can attempt to speak, she tears off a piece of her undershirt and looks down at my leg. Her face is a composition of fear, sorrow, anger, and every other emotion possible.
She reaches down to my wounded leg and pulls my blood-soaked pant leg up to my knee. I see her look up and she kisses my lips before I feel the pain spike. It's unlike anything I've ever felt before.
As I grind my teeth, I feel a tightening sensation a couple of inches below my kneecap.
"That should stop the bleeding," she says under her breath. "Hopefully."
She opens her mouth to speak again and is cut off by a much deeper and more masculine voice. "Are you sure they went this way? You better not be screwin' with me!"
A faint and mellow voice responds. "Y-yes sir! I know they went this way. I'm sure of it!"
"Well, then where are the assholes!?" the owner of the deep voice asks with rage.
"They have to be close, I saw blood, and footprints, and-"
"I don't give two shits about blood and prints! I want their heads on stakes in front of camp!"
Jasmine puts a finger over her mouth and looks at me with desperation. I nod as best as I can. I can see the lights of our pursuers shining onto to slope below me and I examine my surroundings. We're behind what appears to be a tree. I'm facing a steep hill that fades into the black.
"Look dude," comes another voice. "It's late, and you know what happens after dark. Let's just get back to camp and we can look tomorrow. They're probably dead by now and you're putting us all in danger."
The angry man calms down. "All right. We can do that," he says enthusiastically.
I hear a gunshot followed by screams. I jump a bit and my eyes slam shut.
"Anyone else want to challenge my authority? Huh, anyone?" the man asks. Silence follows. "Just what I thought. Now get your lazy asses up and runnin' cause we're looking until I say we can stop! Got it?!" More silence. "Good," the murderer says maliciously. He sounds amused. He's obviously done this before, and not just to lurkers.
I hear footsteps passing by and the lights disappear into the thicket. My leg is still on fire, but I'm slowly coming back to full consciousness.
Jasmine grabs my trembling hand. She's shaking too. I feel her majestic arms wrap around my shoulders and I'm brought a small bit of comfort.
She kisses me again and sighs. "It's gonna be a long night."
I reach over and touch her arm, but she backs off to my dismay.
"I'll keep up guard. You need your rest," she says.
I smile and open my mouth. "Thanks," I say quietly.
Jasmine walks a few feet down the hill and takes a seat. She looks back at me and the moonlight allows me to see a tear rolling down her cheek as she smiles.
I smile back and close my eyes, ignoring the pain. "We have to make it," I think to himself. "You've been training your entire life, Shawn. It's up to you to save her. You have to."
I lean my head back onto the tree behind me and take a deep breath. This is it. This is what I've prepared for. It's hell on Earth.
Two Weeks Earlier...
(Day 4)
I open my eyes to see a drab ceiling of grey. It's only a reminder of what's happened so far. Life has gone to hell, and we're at the center of it.
The snore of my partner in the cot next to mine is music to my ears. I adore her with all my heart. She's my drive. I turn my body to look at her. My cot squeaks when I move, but it doesn't wake her.
"Poor Jasmine," I say to myself. Memories of the past come flowing back, but I decide to block them. They're no use to me now. No use to us, that is. The days of Total Drama, loads of money, and cage fighting and flower shops are dead. And so are the people. So many people.
I close my eyes as I yawn and dangle my legs over the edge of the bed.
My bare feet touch the cold tiles and I shiver. It's been a handful of days, but my life is still out of order. I thought I had prepared for the dead to rise, but I was wrong. I had only lived out a fantasy. This was no fantasy. It was life and death. Still, I remain strong-willed and focused.
I tiptoe across the room, making sure not to wake Jasmine, and leave through the doorway and into a long hallway.
After I take a deep breath, I stroll down the bright corridor and open the bathroom door. Inside is the standard set-up. A toilet, a sink, a mirror. It's just like the old times.
"No," I think. "Don't remember the old ways. Survival is key. It's all that matters."
I turn on the faucet and dip my hands into the stream of cold water. With my hands, I raise the water to my face and clean myself off. Three days underground isn't the cleanest experience after all.
More memories come back. My fear still controls me, but not as severely as it once did. Jasmine on the other hand is plagued by her claustrophobia. Every time she stands up, she's forced to duck below the doorways and kneel in order to get around. It's actually somewhat of a hindrance. What if she holds me back? No, I can't think that way. I promised myself I'd keep her safe. But what's more important, my life or her life?
I shake off my cluelessness and begin to clean my teeth. It's sad that life has grown so boring in three days that merely flossing of all things is becoming my new hobby. Flossing!
When I finish cleaning my teeth, I hear a loud thump from the bedroom. I think about calling out to Jasmine, but my fear sets in. I can't move and ask myself if she's possibly turned in her sleep. What if she died? What if she's coming to eat my brains?!
Then I hear her voice rattling through the hall. "Shawn? Was that you?"
"I'm just cleaning up," I say as I wipe my face with a towel. Her Australian accent fills me with hope and relief. "I'll be out in a sec."
After spending over ten minutes in the bathroom cleaning up, a new record, I look into the bedroom to see Jasmine trying to stand up. She's nervous.
"It's okay," I say. "It's not too cramped, right?"
She sighs and nods. "Can you help me out of the room?"
"Sure," I tell her. Sadly, I have second thoughts. If we're gonna be living underground for the rest of eternity, she has to get over her fear of tight spaces. It just won't work out, and both of us know it. When she and I have to fight zombies, I can't help her all the time. It just won't happen. So, I change my mind.
"Well, uh, how about you try it yourself," I say in the nicest way possible. "You need to get over your fear if you're gonna live here forever."
She looks at me with a hint of disdain. "Really?" she says. "You know I can't just get over it. You've known for a full year!"
"Sorry," I wince. "I just don't want you getting hurt if we have to fight anyone."
Her frown fades to a smile. "Alrighty then. I'll try on my own." She stands up and her head is only a foot or so from the ceiling. I notice her arms shaking and decide to help her anyways.
"Here," I say as I take her hand. As we exit the room and Jasmine ducks under the doorway, I can only think about how easier it would be if I had kept the full prize. Larger rooms? Weaponized pillows? A panic room inside the panic room? Taller doors? An eye scan security system? A snack machine? Nope. Nothing but a five room bunker with a bathroom, a bedroom, a supply room, a panic room, and two above ground exits, the worst kind of exit imaginable. What if someone busted in? We'd be zombie snacks for sure!
But what happened to Jasmine's half of the money? It went into a horrible idea that never got off the ground. I want to call her out for wasting it on such a pathetic idea when the money could have been used to perfect my, er, our bunker, but of course, she never believed in zombies. She thought I was loony, a joke, and wasting my time. But look at us now. The dead have risen and I was right all along. We're stuck underground, and I'm glad I trained for it. Jasmine on the other hand, never bothered to train or prep or whatever she calls it. One minute she's in my living room and the next she's crawling down a ladder and into the darkness of the bunker.
I slowly help Jasmine along until she and I reach the kitchen. It's the largest room in the bunker, if only to provide extra storage space, so Jasmine can find a bit of comfort here.
She's sits down at the table and looks at me. "What's for breakfast? Canned beans again?"
She knows me too well. "Yeah, it's uh, fine with you, right?"
She sighs and rests her elbows on the table. "Sure, but I just wish you packed a little more variety. Got any eggs, or pancakes, or bacon?"
"I'll check," I say. I walk over to the storage pantry marked 'Breakfast/Medicine' and hold the combination lock in my hands. I turn to Jasmine and test her. "You know the combo, right?"
She taps her chin in deep thought. "Uh, three, nine, two?"
I shake my head. "Nope. It's three, nine, eight."
She suddenly snaps. "Well, how can you expect me to know every damn code in the place in just three days! Give me some time!"
"Sorry," I sigh. After I open the doors, I fiddle through the canned goods. Beans. Beans. Beans. Green Beans. Beans. Bean. Cream of broccoli soup. Beans. Beans. Peas. Beans. Oh, spam!
I turn back to her and ask her, "How about some spam, huh?"
She looks at me in disapproval, but doesn't answer.
"Or maybe not," I say before putting the canned meat back on the shelf. She's too picky. When you're on the run from walkers, you don't have time to look through food pantries for bacon and eggs. And even though we're locked underground, it could happen. I never got the good security system I wanted, so a zombie horde could bust in with enough luck.
"Oh, forget it, Shawn," she says. "Just make beans, already. That clattering and clanking is driving my sanity up a tree."
"You sure?"
"I just said I was fine with baked beans ! Did you not hear me?!"
I hate it when she gets angry, and being in my zombie shelter is only making it worse on her temper. "I heard ya."
I pull out one of the cans from the back of the shelf, as you should always eat the older food before it goes to waste. Jasmine grabs a small, stainless steel pot and sets it on the electric stove. With everything running on solar power, we have unlimited energy unless the sun goes down or we get a storm overhead. It hasn't been to bad so far. We lost power at night on the first day and Jasmine nearly wet herself over it.
A small can opener is all I need to open the can of beans and I pour the food into the pot. As I turn on the hot plate, I hear a rumble from the surface world. Thunder. Looks like I spoke too soon.
Jasmine and I stand in silence as the beans cook and the thunder rumbles. I want to have a nice discussion with her, but she's probably too peeved right now. Her life has pulled a 180 and might stay this way forever. If only she was as prepared as I was.
When the beans are done, I pull two bowls out of the dish rack and pour an equal amount into each. I set them down on the table and dig in with my spoon. Jasmine is just playing with them. Once again, I fail to say anything. I don't know what to say her. Jasmine's stuck here with me, might have lost her family, and has to live here forever. I guess it must be harder on her than it is for me. I'm not worried about my parents. They were away when the outbreak started and were trained by me for years, not that they listened though. They took my wisdom as a joke, just like Jasmine.
"Zombies?" they would say. "You need to stop playing those horror games on your computer. They're filling your rotting mind with all sorts of crazy ideas."
As much as I loved them, I knew my parents wouldn't last in an apocalypse. They were too naive. I'm afraid that Jasmine is in the same boat. She might have survival skills, peak physical condition, and a great body, but unless she wises up about the realism of what's happening above ground, she's mincemeat.
I wish I could read her mind. She's holding back her feelings, and I know she could break down and cry at any given moment. The pressure is too much.
But even if she's not ready, I am. And I'm ready to take her to the end with me, no matter what the cost. I don't want to be alone in a world on fire or I'll get engulfed by the flames.
I look down to my beans to discover that I've eaten all of them and have been scooping up air instead. Jasmine hasn't even touched them yet, or so I think.
It's going to be a long time before things go back to normal, if they do at all. I know it won't end, and I've been ready since I was ten years old. But until that day might come, life will go on. We will survive. Life goes on.
~A/N~ I've never written Shazmine before, so I just pray that they're not OOC. This was a different experience for me, as I rarely write in a first person point of view, so I hope it went well. Feel free to leave a review or PM me if you have any suggestions