Hey,

Its been a while, eh?

I bring you guys a short story. It's a Zombie Au fic. All the main characters of the series are in this. They are all humans.

I was just going to post the whole story in one chapter but since the story is technically divided into 5 parts, I decided to just post five chapters. I have 4 chapters written, 5th one almost done so don't worry about me abandoning this fic.

I was going to post this earlier but stupid Canada, stupid storm, stupid house with no wifi for a week.

Anywho!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Night World.

Enjoy!

Blood's Getting Hotter; Bodies Getting Colder

-o-

Summary: It was more or less an apocalypse. The virus had spread throughout the nation and there was no flicker of hope. They weren't going to survive, they knew that, but death was something they had known would happen to them all their lives. Who said they couldn't live their lives just because the undead ruled the world? Killing zombies; what better way than saying 'yolo'?

-o-

Part I; Surviving

It had happened so quickly Quinn never had the chance to actually take everything in. One minute he was holding hands with Dove while they walked around the mall and the next he was trying to find a place to hide as the police bolted in and began shooting. He had dragged Dove towards the nearest store and they had hid from the cops behind a clothing stand.

They heard glass breaking, shots, screams, shots, cries but most importantly shots and then- then that crash. It was like some animal had been unleashed from a cage and had immediately attacked the police because they heard shots and shots and shots and then nothing.

There was silence for just one minute but then more screams began and more cries and it was suddenly clear that what ever was out there was killing everyone in the mall and Quinn wasn't going to let that happen. He couldn't die, Dove couldn't die. He grabbed Dove's hand tightly and once again dragged her, but this time outside the store. They were close to the exit and Quinn was sure they could out run whatever it was-

But he had been wrong.

Of course he had been wrong because it appeared in front of them. Blocking the only exit meant for their escape stood Clark, the fat Best Buy employee that seemed to work 24/7 because Quinn always saw him there when he went to buy new games for his X-Box. Clark the 29 year old geek who played World of Warcraft and lived with his grandmother downtown. Clark who was shy and stupidly kind. Clark- Clark who was covered in blood. His eyes were yellow and his skin so pale you could see his veins and his mouth... Quinn could never forget his mouth. Wide open, showing red teeth that reminded him of wolves after a day out hunting.

Clark bolted towards them. Quinn was frozen and terrified and he was sure he was going to die because he had seen the movies and shows and fuck, he had even played the games. He had never thought it possible but it was clear enough to know that Clark was a fucking Zombie and he was going to kill him and his girlfriend-

But then a shot, and Clark was falling forward with a bullet through his head.

Quinn stayed standing, frozen in that spot staring at Clark not believing anything and then; Dove had ran, obviously twice as terrified. By the time Quinn had noticed it was too late. Another one had been just around the corner, also wearing the best buy uniform, and it had brought Dove crashing against the ground in a matter of seconds. He hadn't had the time to scream as he saw it bite her neck off.

Then there was somebody grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the exit, and then-

The first thing Quinn saw when he opened his eyes was the Walking Dead poster he had taped on the ceiling. His heart pounding hard against his chest and his eyes wide open. He was evidently soaked in sweat and he couldn't help but feel irritated for just a second knowing that he now had to wash another set of sheets.

It was the third time this week experiencing those nightmares. Though they weren't really nightmares but instead memories, Quinn still felt sickened by them and for the third time this week he prayed they would just stop.

-o-

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Morgead greeted him with a wide smile. "About time you grace us with your presence."

"Beans or eggs?" Mary-Lynnette asked and Quinn decided to offer her a smile before completely ignoring Morgead.

"Beans please." He said sitting down on the side opposite to Morgead knowing well they had no more eggs and Mary-Lynnette was only asking out of habit. "Any juice left?"

"None what-so-ever. We barely have water- but don't worry, beer wont be running out any time soon." The last part was said with sarcasm as she pointedly glared at Morgead.

Morgead just grinned obviously pleased for being the one that managed to stoke their garage with an endless supply of beer.

"How much is barely?" Quinn asked.

At that Mary-Lynnette tensed before letting out a tired sigh, "Thierry went out with David, Galen, and Keller."

Quinn stood up from his seat alarmed, "why did no one wake me up?"

"Calm down princess, Jez and I weren't allowed to go either."

Mary-Lynnette frowned, "That's because you and Jez nearly got killed last time for being reckless," Morgead rolled his eyes "and Quinn, Thierry thought you needed some time to rest. You've been taking a lot of night shifts. You hardly sleep."

Quinn wanted to argue but he knew that his lack of sleep had become obvious and If he were to push it then Mare would start asking questions and he definitely wasn't ready to tell anybody about his nightmares; no one needed to know that he was avoiding sleep. "I see," he said instead taking a seat once again. "When did they leave?"

"Two hours ago," Mary-Lynnette frowned, "they should be back soon. Why don't you two go check the gate?"

Morgead shrugged and left right away while Quinn stayed to eat his breakfast. He avoided small talk with Mare because he knew she was dying to get him to 'open up' considering it was obvious that something was bugging him. They've been living together for over four months and Quinn was still a mystery to everyone in the shelter. They only one who knows his 'story' is Thierry, and that's because it was a prerequisite for him to live in the shelter.

"You make me worry so much, Quinn." Mare mumbled and no matter how hard Quinn wanted to act like he hadn't heard that, he couldn't because Mare's voice sounded hurt and that left him feeling something heavy fall in his stomach.

"Don't worry about me." Quinn spoke leaving his plate on the sink, "I'm not worth your worry." With that said he left, leaving Mare looking at him with a saddened look.

-o-

Quinn found Morgead and Jez by the gate, both holding their guns. He approached them while swinging his bat back and forward. He caught Maggie looking at him from the roof, and Quinn made a mental note to talk to her about standing way too close to the edge.

"I still can't believe Thierry saw this coming." Jez said while looking at the screen that showed what was at the other side of the gate, when she saw Quinn she smiled brightly; "morning sleeping beauty."

"I'm not so sure about the beauty part."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, "you said the same thing this morning."

Morgead shrugged, "yeah but I didn't mean it."

"That makes no sense, and Jez," Quinn turned to look at her, "Thierry didn't 'see' it coming. His father knew it was coming."

Jez hummed in agreement, "yeah, who would have thought the cure for cancer would turn people into zombies."

"His father did not find the cure for cancer." Quinn said at the same time that Morgead exclaimed; "the cure didn't have shit all to do with this."

Jez rolled her eyes, "His father worked at the research centre for cancer and that's were the first person was infected. Fox News reported that before they- well, you know."

"That makes no-" Morgead started but was interrupted by the buzzing of the gate. "They are almost here." He sighed before looking up towards Maggie. After a minute or two, Maggie gave him a thumbs up and then Morgead was signalling Jez to open the gate. Quinn stood by the left side with Jez while Morgead was on the right. Both he and Jez had their guns aimed up while Quinn kept a tight grip on his bat.

They saw Galen's car first. Galen was clearly driving and Keller was on the passenger seat and- Quinn's eyes widened. He could see someone sitting on the back seat, someone he did not recognize. Jez must have seen that person too because she hissed a low "shit" before following Galen's car once it came inside, her gun still aimed up high.

Quinn stood still as he watched David drive Thierry's car in, right after Galen. He shared a look with Morgead, both realizing that Thierry was not in the car and since when does he let anyone drive his SUV? But everything made sense once Quinn saw a third car coming inside. A car he didn't recognize that Thierry was driving and there was someone sitting on the passenger seat, once again, Quinn did not recognize her.

Quinn shook his head confused before turning to face the controls to close the gate as Morgead signalled an 'all clear'. He quickly looked up at Maggie to double check and with a small and hesitant nod from her, he closed the gate.

"Let's see what this is about" he heard Morgead mumble as they both walked towards the last car that came in. Thierry was getting off the drivers seat and he looked completely exhausted. "Thierry what the-"

"There is a girl in critical conditions in Galen's car, go help her." Was all he said before he went to stand by the passenger side where a girl was getting off.

Morgead had bolted towards Galen's car and Quinn had quickly followed. David and Galen were trying to get a girl out from the back seat while a guy, the one that Quinn had seen earlier sitting on the back, was being pushed against the trunk of the car by Keller and Jez; they both had their guns aimed right at his chest. He looked both furious and miserable holding his hands up while glancing towards the back seat every time he heard a moan coming from the injured girl.

"Is that necessary?" Quinn asked looking at the boy with pity.

"The girl can die if she doesn't get treated right away. I wont let her die because her stupid boyfriend couldn't calm the fuck down."

The guy visibly tensed at that, "she wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you." He growled sending Keller daggers through his eyes.

Quinn saw Keller tense for a second, a look of regret crossed her face before she went back to looking fearless. "Well she should know not to sneak up on people."

"Enough," Galen ordered. The girl was out of the car and was currently being carried by David. "Morgead, go get Thea and Mare, tell them someone has been shot and the bullet is still inside." Usually Morgead would have scoffed at the command but he simply nodded and went straight towards the kitchen where he knew he would find Mary-Lynnette. "Quinn, help David take Poppy towards the main room."

Poppy, so that's her name. Quinn thought as he moved to open the door to the shelter. The girl, Poppy, was small and by the look on David's face, she was probably weightless. He could tell she was sweating, but she was definitely conscious since she opened her eyes to look directly at Quinn.

"Jamie," she whispered, "where is Jamie?" it took Quinn a minute to figure out that 'Jamie' was probably her boyfriend being held captive by Keller and Jez.

"Uhm" he said before looking at David.

David sighed, "Go get him, it will probably do her better having him by her side. It's going to hurt as hell to get that bullet removed."

Quinn opened the last door that lead them to the main room of the shelter before going back outside to the parking lot where he was sure a lot of fighting was happening.

"...fucking mad!" and he was right as he caught Jez yelling at Thierry.

"Jez," both Galen and Keller warned but it was no good.

"You can't just bring random fucking people here, Thierry! Not if you plan on letting them go."

"I know."

Jez was livid, "Do you? Because I don't think you do." Jez was no longer aiming her gun at 'Jamie', instead Galen was holding her gun as Jez paced back and forward in front of Thierry and the girl that had been sitting on the passenger seat. "Because here I am looking at stranger number one," she turned to face the girl, "and stranger number two," she faced 'Jamie', "and guess what, stranger number three is in our fucking home getting her leg amputated all for-"

"What!?" 'Jamie' and the girl yelled.

"She is not," Quinn spoke up quickly catching the eyes of 'Jamie'. "Jez is just talking shit, she is not getting her leg amputated. Actually..." he trailed off to look at Thierry who nodded right away, "'Jamie'?" he asked said person.

"James, actually." Was the reply before realization hit him. "Did Poppy-?"

"She wants you there." Quinn said turning to look at Thierry who once again nodded.

"Ill take him," Galen said handing Jez back her gun as Keller moved away from James. "Follow me," and like that they both left towards the shelter.

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't have a sissy fit over that." Spoke a voice Quinn didn't recognize. He turned to face the only stranger left. She was glaring at Jez who seemed just about ready to jump her.

The first thing Quinn noticed about the girl was a very obvious scar on her cheek, and by the pinkness of it, it was evidently post-Zombie invasion. She had a young looking face so she could be no older than Quinn. The bags under her eyes were noticeable and the dirt that covered some parts of her face and arms was clear evidence that this girl was just surviving. In fact by the condition both Poppy and James were in, it was clear they were barely getting by.

"Excuse me?" Jez finally reacted to the comment made by the girl.

"You had that coming Jez, I could hear your screaming from all the way up there." Maggie spoke up as she approached the group. Quinn frowned before looking up and as he expected, he found Eric looking down at them. They switch shifts at noon and in all honesty Quinn couldn't believe it was already that late.

"Jez, why don't you help Maggie do the cooking today? Mare will probably be preoccupied for a while." Thierry spoke softly but in a very firm tone and even though Jez had been yelling at him just a few minutes ago, she did nothing but nod before heading off inside.

"Make sure she doesn't break anything," Thierry told Maggie who hadn't moved from her spot.

"I will," she said before turning to face the girl, "I talked to James just now and he told me he was allergic to nuts and that Poppy really dislikes beans. Anything I should know..." Maggie trailed off as the girl blinked surprised.

"I'm fine. No allergies uhm, beans are fine too." She said baffled before extending her hand, "Hannah, by the way."

Maggie smiled, shaking her hand, "I'm Maggie and I really suck at cooking but I am better than most," she turned to give Quinn a knowing look. "Lunch should be ready in an hour," and with that she left.

"I like Maggie, Jez not so much." Hannah said, more to herself than anything.

"Jez is just cautious, it's nothing personal." Thierry explained.

Hannah scoffed, "Cautious? Please, your girlfriend is a paranoid psycho."

There were two things Quinn wanted to do at that moment. One was to defend Jez because no matter how true that statement was, Jez was his friend and he couldn't let a stranger just up and front say something so true- wrong about her right in front of his face. The second was to laugh because Hannah thought Jez was Thierry's girlfriend and god was there anything funnier than that?

But of course he did none of that because Thierry immediately sent him a glare that basically said "leave" so without a second glance he went back inside to let out a laugh he had been trying very hard to control.

Talk about comic relief.

-o-

Like Maggie had said, lunch was ready in an hour. Of course the only ones eating at that time were Maggie, Hannah and Quinn. Mare and Thea were still aiding Poppy, though Quinn was sure they had already taken the bullet out. James was with them in the main room (which was sort of like a living room) with David keeping a close eye on him and supervising the whole situation. Galen and Keller were with Thierry, taking care of all the stuff they had brought from the trip to the mall, where, as Quinn had found out, was the place they were at when Keller had accidentally shot Poppy.

Morgead and Jez were nowhere to be seen which probably meant they were keeping Eric company. Eric who was still on the roof keeping watch. Their shelter was located right beside a pond so the front side was the only side in need of supervision due to the fact that Zombies can't swim. The brick built fences around the sides were covered with electric wires and the outside of the fences had plenty alarms that would activate as soon as anything 'undead' got near.

It was very convenient, their shelter. Due to Thierry knowing of the Zombie apocalypse before it actually took place, he was able to prepare for it accordingly. Of course Thierry had originally prepared the shelter for him and his family, but things had not gone according to plan.

Thierry had lost a lot since the virus began spreading. His parents were the first to go, quickly followed by every other family member he had living in the States. He tried calling everyone, but at the end he never got a reply and he was left alone in a shelter capable of fitting around fifteen people. He had it stoked with food and water, and armed with an electric fence and various weapons available for usage. However he couldn't survive by himself. Which is why ten other people were now living with him.

"So, how did you all get together?" Hannah asked after taking a sip from her water.

Maggie and Quinn exchanged looks before Maggie answered. "Thierry found each one of us trying to survive and he just took us in." She paused to take a bite from her bread before she continued, "He asked us all what our story was, you know, why we were alone. He didn't want much detail, I think he just wanted to find a reason to help us.

He asked us to come live with him saying he lived in a safe place were no zombies were ever around. He also offered food and water and well, at that time Mary-Lynnette, Quinn, Morgead and Jez were all living with him so he warned me about them, but yeah. When he found me I didn't care about much, I just didn't want to be eaten by one of them."

Hannah listened closely to everything Maggie said before frowning at something, "were you all alone before he took you in?"

Maggie hesitated, looking at Quinn before she shrugged and answered, "Morgead and Jez were together when he found them. But everyone else was by themselves."

Hannah scowled, "I thought Thierry and his girlfriend were together since the beginning."

Quinn nearly choked on his food when he heard that because oh, Thierry hadn't told Hannah that Jez was not his girlfriend and wow, he needed to have a chat with Thierry. Maggie looked confused before she seemed to have connected the dots and she opened her mouth to correct Hannah but Quinn slammed his fork against his plate and Maggie clearly understood the silent message of 'shut up'.

"But I guess it's nice of him," Hannah continued, oblivious of what had just happened between Maggie and Quinn. "To help you guys."

"What about you?" Quinn asked, "What's your story?"

Hannah looked at her plate, which was already empty -confirming Quinn's earlier assumption that she was hardly surviving- and then glanced up as she began speaking. "When the virus first hit my university, I was on a study date with a few friends. It spread quickly, and before we knew it we were stuck in the boys washroom on the third floor of our library.

Poppy and James were there and well, we were freaking out; my friend Gillian and I- Poppy and James were pretty calm considering what we saw; one of our classmates eating his girlfriend by the way, but... Poppy and James, they had this look. It was like they weren't really surprised by seeing one of their friends act like a complete monster.

I guess the news had been talking about the virus and all that but... no one really believed it. So even if Poppy and James had watched the news before, I was sure that they wouldn't have believed it was actually true."

"You mean they knew? Like Thierry, I mean. They knew about the virus before it actually happened?" Maggie interrupted.

At first Hannah seemed a bit shocked, and Quinn figured it was because she probably hadn't known Thierry knew about the virus before it hit, but Hannah quickly shook the shock away and nodded. "James explained how his family had told him about it, and seeing how he and Poppy are in a very serious relationship, she had to know too.

The Rasmussen's, James' family, were very important people- I don't know how important because I've never pushed for answers but they were important enough to know everything about the virus. They knew about it before it was even a virus. That doesn't mean they could have stopped it from becoming one or spreading so please don't blame James or his family for this." Hannah added the last part noticing the look of hostility Quinn and Maggie shared. "James found out about the virus two days before we got stuck in the washroom and well, I guess they weren't really expecting it to hit our university with us in it. He kept going on about it 'being too soon' and how 'it wasn't suppose to happen like this' until Poppy told him to call his cousins.

His cousins obviously knew about the virus and they were more than ready for it. They came to rescue us from the washroom. Honestly once they came I didn't know what I was scared of the most, them -teenagers holding a bunch of guns- or the zombies. They seemed surprised to see Gillian and I, but they didn't say anything.

Apparently James had been right about it 'being too soon' because their parents, all the Rasmussen's apart from them and their uncle, were dead. It was heartbreaking seeing James find out about the death of his family that way. Of course at that point I came to the realization that my parents could possibly be dead too and well, it was quickly confirmed when we turned the radio on in their car. The whole city was basically considered infected.

At first I thought, if I'm alright, they can be too, but that was quickly shot down when we passed my neighbourhood and there was nothing but dead bodies and zombies. I tried calling too, and so did Gillian but I knew deep inside they were gone."

"I'm sorry," Maggie said taking a hold of Hannah's hands. She smiled sadly before continuing.

"We drove to this house, where five more people were waiting, including James' uncle, Hunter. It took us about four hours but eventually we had agreed to become a group and to try to survive this apocalypse. It was hard, the first few weeks because we were a bunch of terrified kids that knew nothing about each other. It took time getting used to working as a team, a lot of us hated the term teamwork and that caused a lot of fights.

Eventually our failure to cooperate with one another ended up costing more than we could afford. We lost five people, including James' uncle and his cousin, Lily. We also lost most of our food and water and fuck, it all happened because Gary and Lily didn't want to lock the door and they wasted time arguing, making noise- and fuck." Hannah removed her hands from Maggie's as they turned to fists. "It was so stupid. A stupid mistake but it cost us everything we had.

Nothing but bad luck followed after that. The place we were staying at was no longer safe so we had to keep moving. There was seven of us and finding food and water became so hard- we wanted to give up. In fact the thought of just jumping off a building crossed my mind several times. But I couldn't. The seven of us got quite attached and losing someone else would have done more damage than good.

We stayed at a different place every night until we found a bank in the mall. It has a vault and fire proof windows and it was completely zombie free so we decided to make it our new home. The mall itself is basically deserted, so we were extremely shocked to hear gun shots today. At first we thought it was the police or the army but we all know that to be impossible. We went to check it out and well, you know what happened."

"Keller shot Poppy," Maggie guessed.

"Thierry's "hold fire" order came too late. She got shot right on the thigh. When Poppy fell, James went ballistic. It took both David and Galen to hold him down while Thierry examined her leg. He then said he could help and well, Keller threw a sissy fit much like the one Jez pulled earlier." Quinn snorted because of-fucking-course. "He said he had all the material to take care of Poppy so he basically picked her up and ordered everyone to follow." Hannah paused before her lips formed a smile. "It's amazing how you guys respect Thierry's authority. I mean, even now we still have problems obeying Delos-"

"Delos?" Maggie and Quinn asked at the same time.

Hannah blinked, "Yeah, our leader, Delos. He is one of James' cousins. One of our 'seven'."

And that's when it hit Quinn that Hannah had mentioned there were seven of them, and since three were right now with them, than the other four... "Where are the other four?"

"They went for resources earlier today, they should be back in the bank now."

"Wont they be worried?" Maggie asked alarmed.

"Thierry left a note."

Maggie and Quinn shared a look;

"Fuckin' dumbass."

-o-

That's it for part I!

Thoughts?
Part II should be up no later than Sunday.

Sorry for my lack of updates on my other stories (if you read those) I'm not giving up on them. Just got to do some editing and fix a few things and I should be back on FanFiction more often.

I really hope 2014 is the year my true writing talent makes its appearance!

With that said, thanks for reading! Have a splendid New Years. If you're old enough and legal to drink, drink away! If you have a special someone, kiss away! And if you're by yourself at home and what not, enjoy the hell out of the internet!

Love you guys!

Review?

Please?

=D?