A/N: I found this fic from a while ago so I decided to finish it up. I really like it, I hope you do to!
Sharp footsteps pounding on the hard concrete floor smashed through the silence like a hammer thumping on metal.
"Quick, in here!"
Two figures rounded the bend and darted into the dimly lit alleyway, not pausing in their frantic sprint, their breathing ragged and sweat dripping of both their brows. The first figure was a tall, lean boy who's clothes were ripped and torn. Blood splattered the bottom of his leg and a mixture of mud, sweat and rain plastered his auburn hair to his forehead. In his hand he grasped a bloodied baseball bat and and a gun glittered in his belt.
The second was an athletic looking girl with long blond hair tied back in a loose ponytail and a pretty face. She wore what was a loose white and blue T-shirt and shorts but it was hard to tell as her clothes were equally ripped and torn with mud spattered over them. Blood stained her shoe, scratches covered her legs and a long gash down the side of her arm showed signs of a recent struggle. Just like the boy she too held a weapon in her hands, though this one more obvious as it was a blood stained axe, though it was noticeable that the blade was dull from months of frequent use.
The pair bolted down the alleyway, quick yet careful to avoid the many cracks and potholes in the path where weeds were starting to sprout. The darkening sky ahead rumbled, making their predicament that much worse as the sky promised signs of a heavy storm.
A fat raindrop landed on the girl's shoulder and she looked up momentarily, not paying attention to the path.
There was a dull thud and a hiss of pain and the boy span round. The girl had tripped in a pot hole and she lay of the floor, her knee and hand bruised and bleeding.
"Astrid are you alright?" the boy asked, concern mixed with urgency evident in his tone.
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," Astrid gasped scrambling to her feet, blatantly ignoring the beads of warm blood dripping down her leg, "let's go, we can't waste anymore time."
The teen nodded and they continued their sprint until a lumbering figure came into view. It walked in a shuffling manner, it's head lolling unnaturally to the left as it dragged its feet against the floor. Astrid's eyes widened as she saw it and clenched her axe even tighter. A look passed between her and her companion, and that was all that needed to be said. Without warning they sprinted even faster foward, each raising their weapons. The figure's head jerked unnaturally at the noise of their footsteps, it's mouth opening far too wide as it emitted a long, low moan.
Suddenly with an unnatural speed it ran towards the boy, mouth flailing, spit flying, as it released an ear-splitting scream. Caught slightly unawares the boy swung his bat at it, aiming for it's lolling head, but the thing was too fast. The boy stumbled, the momentum from the swing sending him out of balance.
The corpse like figure lunged at him again; it's mouth clacking shut on empty air as the boy flung himself out of the way, causing him to sprawl in a heap on the damp ground.
"Hiccup!" Before he even had time to register Astrid's voice or the pain of his bare arms scraping against the concrete, the creature was on him, screaming and shrieking.
In a last ditch effort he shoved his baseball bat upwards into its neck, forcing its gaping mouth away from him. It screamed and wailed, it's whole body writhing, blood and spit flying from its spasming mouth which was only inches away from his face.
A sickening crunch and the body went limp. Astrid stood over the corpse, axe in hand, breathing heavily, and shaking.
Disgusted and more than a little rattled, Hiccup shoved the decomposing body off of him. Shakely he accepted Astrid's hand up, grateful for the support. Suddenly dizzy he felt his knees buckle and would have fallen, if it wasn't for the hand Astrid had wrapped around his shoulders.
"That was far too close," Astrid murmured, tightening her grip on her axe.
"Yeah, that thing knew nothing about personal space," Hiccup joked half heartedly, and Astrid cracked a smile.
"Come on, let's just get out of here, before any more unwelcome guests start showing up. Do you think you can walk?"
Hiccup nods."Yeah, I'm fine."
Suddenly Astrid stares at him, eyes wide with undisguised terror.
"You weren't bitten were you?" It came out as more than a whisper, a question dipped in fear and worry.
"No. The bastard tried his damn hardest to do though. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get a piece of these good looks," Hiccup laughed, feeling the shock fading as he did so, and Astrid squeezed him tighter round the shoulders.
A distant symphony of shuffling feet and low moans stole the response out of Astrid's mouth. Fog and smoke cloaked and distorted the shapes but the duo didn't need to see to know what was coming down the alleyway.
"Shit. They really don't know when to fuck off," Astrid remarked sourly under her breath before they turned on their heels and ran, yet again.
It wasn't long before they came to a dead end. The wall towered above them; to the two of them it looked like a death sentence. The only way over was to climb on the roof of the battered blue Ford that's parked there and then longer the wall. Only the roof has now been smashed in.
Fuck.
He could see them now, stumbling, shuffling, scraping down the alleyway. At least 15, maybe more.
Astrid scrambled onto the battered, bloodstained bonnet of the car, and Hiccup reached for the gun in his belt. He hated firing in cities, as the sharp, explosive noise of bullet leaving the gun normally brought more trouble that it was worth, and alerted nearby infected, sending hordes of them after you.
"Hiccup how's this gonna work?" Astrid spoke, her voice on shaking slightly, on the verge of panic. They were so close now you could smell the putrid stench of their bodies, and hear the occasional wet slap when a body part fell of one and hit the floor.
"Shit, I don't know. We need to get over the wall. I'll give you a boost." There was no time to argue, so much to Astrid's displeasure she complied without complaint; she would have much preferred if it had been the other way around. Hiccup scrambled onto the bonnet, setting his weapons down and hoisted Astrid by the legs until she was high enough to reach the top of the wall. He let go of her just in time to see a rogue zombie come charging out of the shuffling crowd at them, screeching grotesquely. It made a grab at them, arms failing, spit flying from it's open mouth. Hiccup dropped to the floor grab his gun and popped a bullet in it's rotting head, just in time.
"Fuck off!" The force of the shot sent it stumbling backwards, and it fell down with a heavy thud, blood pooling.
As soon as Astrid had managed to hoist herself up so she was sitting on the wall, she grabbed her gun which she kept on the waistband of her jeans. It was a small black revolver, one she had managed to grab from an abandoned cop car earlier, and was cold and unfamiliar in her hands. The gun she normally wielded sat safely in her back pack along with all the cans of food and other necessities they had managed to salvage from remaining houses, but the precious time it would take to unpack it may well cost Hiccup his life. However this didn't stop her from cocking the stiff trigger and peppering a round of bullets into the closest zombie's heads with accuracy, 5 out of 6 hitting their mark.
Hiccup seeing this quickly handed her his bat and her axe, before he fired a few bullets into the swiftly approaching hoard. A few fell but the rest surged onwards. By now a few were almost a metre away from the car- this was his last chance.
One lunged at him and he made a wild leap for the wall, hands outstretched, groping for freedom. The zombies smashed against the car, a writhing mass of putrid flesh and slathering jaws, their hands scratching and clawing at the air in a desperate, mind consuming attempt for fresh meat.
Hiccup felt his finger tips graze the top of the wall. He felt his grip loosen. He felt his hands scrabble at the rough surface. He felt himself falling.
Suddenly strong hands gripped his wrists and he looked up to see Astrid, in all her blood soaked and battle worn glory, her crystal eyes steeled with concentration.
With a grunt she yanked him up so he sprawled onto the wall, just as the zombies swarmed onto the hood of the car. He grunted at the impact, but managed to scramble up into an upright position, his breathing heavy.
Astrid was busy looking over the other side of the wall. Cautiously he followed her gaze, only to discover that the gunshots had attracted at least 10 more zombies.
Fuckity, fuckity, fuck. This shit storm just got even better.
"We're trapped," Astrid breathed, her face pale but her voice deadly calm. They were sandwiched into an alleyway, houses pressing in on either side, on wall only a metre or so higher from a rabid zombie hord.
Hiccup struggled to think rationally.
"There's got to be a way out," his sharp mind frantically analysing the possibilities. "If we could somehow jump to that window ledge we can smash the window and get into that house... if we can jump that far." The window ledge was at least a few meters away, and this was forgetting to mention the zombies underneath. If you missed you'd surely be ripped to shreds.
Astrid swallowed. "Well it's the best plan we have."
A zombie hurled itself at the wall with a nasty crunch and they both flinched.
Hiccup looked at Astrid and their eyes locked, suddenly more desperate and intense. They'd survived this long mostly out of pure luck and some quick thinking, but the reality of the situation was almost crushing. Death was too real to them.
A thought flitted into his mind, then flush spread across his cheeks and he looked away slightly, clearing his throat.
"Look, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you," Hiccup murmured, gripping the wall tightly. Astrid stared back at him, eyes big and blue and curious, a few wisps of her blonde fringe sticking to the fresh blood oozing from a scrape on her head. "I think it's probably best to tell you now, in case we get eaten soon."
He held his breath.
"Honestly, I'm so glad I met you. You and Toothless, you're my best friends in this shithole of a world, and I owe you so much more than my life. Astrid, you're what keeps me able to get up in the morning, you're what makes life worth living for. I understand if you don't feel the same but I honestly Iove you Astrid Hofferson, thank you for sticking with me this far."
Astrid opened her mouth, and shut it again. Her cheeks were wet, and suddenly she was aware that she was crying and then Hiccup was crying to and-
"Gods Hiccup," she laughed, half choking, sniffing, leaning in. "What took you so long?"
They kissed, gentle and hesitant. Astrid had her fingers in Hiccup's ruffled hair and Hiccup's hands settled on the small of her back. Astrid tasted like salt and dirt, but underneath that something soft and warm and sweet, which made Hiccup's heart melt inside and gave him a golden felling that spread from his heart to the tips of his toes. And in that moment, with zombies groaning all around them, it was perfect.