- Day Zero -
"Oh my god! Stop cheating, Dave!" John yells even though the object of his complaints is only two feet away.
"Not cheating, John, it's not my fault the game keeps giving me red shells. Maybe you should get out of in front of me."
"I'm not going to let you win, dipshit."
"Language, John," a deep voice calls out from behind them.
"Sorry, Dad."
"Hey, let the kid talk shit. All's fair in war and Mario Kart but sometimes it's the game that's against ya." Bro leans casually against the kitchen counter, pulling Egbert's attention away from the boys where they played the video game on the futon.
"Dirk, I respect that you have your own rules of the household but do not encourage my son's use of profanities."
"It's fucking weird that you keep calling me that," Bro comments, enjoying the twitch of Egbert's eyebrow at the curse.
"But it is your name, is it not?"
"It's the name Mom gave me when I crawled out of her womb yea, but I go by Bro."
"But you are not my brother." Bro catches the twinkle in Egbert's eye.
"Jesus shit on a stick, old man, you are doing this on purpose again."
John and Egbert senior are in Houston for two weeks while on summer break. Bro doesn't understand the desire to come to these hellish temperatures. Who would willingly choose to visit Texas in the middle of summer. Bro just shakes his head and keeps the air conditioning cranked to the coldest setting.
The Strider residence was slightly cramped with the additional two people but arrangements had been made to get John some sleeping space in Dave's room and Bro had given his bed to Egbert, volunteering to sleep on the futon since he ended up crashing there more times that he actually ended up on a mattress normally. Bro actually enjoyed the company. John kept Dave entertained during the school-less days and having another adult to talk to was a huge contrast to his normally hermit-like existence.
Bro glances over at the boys when John crows in victory despite the increasing boons that the games had been providing Dave. Apparently he needs to school the younger Strider better in the ways of the Kart. He looks back to Egbert to find him looking down at his PDA (who has a fucking PDA in this day and age, doesn't he know about smart phones) with a pretty significant frown.
"Sup, Egbert?"
He holds up a single finger in response, the universal sign to wait. He scrolls down on his phone a little bit more before finally looking up.
"Dir- Bro, can I speak with you out in the hall for a moment?"
Bro lifts an eyebrow at him. What's so important that they have to step outside? What's so important that Egbert would use his prefered name?
"Sure. The brats will be alright without five min of supervision." Bro pushes away from the counter as Egbert stands to follow him as he steps out into the hall. "So. what's up?" Bro asks again.
"An associate of me just informed me of some very grave news. Fedorafreak- I'm sorry, a friend of mine, Jordan, has connections to certain government agencies. Usually he does not discuss work with me but found confidentiality moot in this situation."
"You ain't making any sense. Talk straight."
"Apparently the Center of Disease Control has failed to properly contain a deadly biological agent that is highly destructive and highly contagious. And it has spread to transportation hubs, specifically Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. As the infected do not show any symptoms for some time, they were not aware of the outbreak until some cases went critical. It has been determined that the agent, codename Zombie, has not been contained within Georgia."
Bro stares at Egbert through his tinted glasses as if searching for any trace of the infamous Prankster Gambit.
"Zombie?"
"Apparently it is aptly named. I do not have any significant details but Jordan assures me that it lives up to it's name and will bring civilization as we know it to an absolute standstill."
"Are you shitting me? You have to be shitting me. 'cause if you ain't then you are telling me that we have a case of biological warfare scenario with something called Zombie. Are we having a fucking zombie apocalypse, Egbert?"
"It would seem so," he answers levelly.
"If this is some kind of joke-"
"This is no joke. I trust Jordan with my life, with my son's life. He has given me advanced notice of the incident because I saved his life once. There will be a formal announcement this evening to the country but by then, it will be too late. I want to ensure my son's survival and I am sure you will want to do the same for Dave."
"Course. But a fucking zombie apocalypse... What the fuck do we do for that?"
"I have a plan."
"Hey kids, who has ever wanted to experience a real life zombie apocalypse?" Bro greets as he and Egbert step back inside the apartment.
"Not me. Zombie shooters are fun to play, but ew to actual zombies," Dave answers over his shoulder.
"Well too bad. This one is happening whether or not we want it to."
"What the fuck have you been smoking?"
"Oh boy, I wish I have been. Would explain so much. But nope. It's the goddamn truth."
"Seriously, Mr. Egbert, what did you slip him?"
"Dave, as facetious as your brother is being, he is telling the truth."
"What?" both boys chime in.
"So." Bro claps his hands together. "We have some work to do."
Over the next few hours, the Striders and Egberts raid every grocery, hardware supply store, gun store, club store, and other like retail areas for water, canned foods, gasoline, hardware, ammo, new weapons, a new generator, and anything else they could think of for survival. Turns out that Egbert has some good skill with a rifle and had been giving John lessons on how to use a handgun. Both readily available in Texas. There is always a gunshow going on somewhere. They stretch their bank accounts to the limit but if Jordan was correct, then their bank accounts would be worthless in less than twenty-four hours anyways.
When Bro picks up a pack of cheap cigarettes from the last store, Egbert raises an eyebrow at him.
"It ain't like I'm gonna die of old age now," Bro comments as he steps away from the register, tucking the pack into his back pocket along with a new lighter. Egbert just nods grimly at the wry smile on the Strider's face.
The four of them are putting away all of their new purchases with the television on in the background when the news suddenly cuts in. They each stop where they are and look towards the screen where the new anchor confirms the news.
The pause of disbelief is almost palpable across the city.
Bro breaks it in their apartment first by moving to the futon. Egbert joins him at the other end and together they slide it in front of the door.
- Day One -
They wake up as they fell asleep, with the harsh sounds of people panicking in the streets. They hear the crunch of metal and glass. They hear cars roaring down the street in escape. They hear heated voices arguing with each other over what to take, what to have, who has what. They can only imagine the state of all of the stores they visited the day before now.
They build up the barricade at the apartment door, sliding the planks of plywood behind the futon and working to lock those in place. They organize their supplies and weapons and work out a ration system to get them through a couple weeks. Bro thinks that it's overkill to plan out that far in advance but Egbert won't let up any slack. Dave and John keep an eye on the city out the window. They announce some of the buildings are on fire, but they are far enough away from their building that they should be safe.
The riots get louder as the sun rises in the sky and raise the temperature in the streets. They start to calm as more people evacuate the city, streams of cars filling up all lanes on any and all highways that pass through the city.
"Where are they going? Will it be any safer out there?" John asks out loud.
"It was before everyone and their mother decided to rough it," Bro answers gruffly.
"At this point, nowhere is can be considered safe except for this apartment." Egbert flips through the new channels for more information while they are still available.
"Unless the apartment catches fire."
"Dave! Why do you have to be such a downer?"
"Hey just speaking what we are all thinking."
"Thankfully concrete and steel aren't too flammable so we should be fine."
With that somewhat comforting fact, the four of them fall into silence. Egbert grabs his rifle for cleaning and inspection and sets up near the window. Bro joins him with his katana and an oiling cloth. Dave tilts his head to his room and John follows him.
They sit side by side on Dave's bed with their backs against the wall and their legs draped across the sheets. Their knees bump into each other.
"Do you think we'll make it?"
"How can we not? We got Bro and your dad on our side."
"They aren't invincible."
"Obviously you haven't strifed with Bro. That guy is. And I've seen your dad. He's got all that muscle and strength and he can shoot? No walking dead is gonna get him."
"I've never really been afraid of zombies before."
"You're scared, Egbert?"
There is a pause. "Yea. I am."
"Good. Me too." Dave slips his hand into John's and squeezes. The sun sets, causing the city to glow red and bright. But even as night settles in, the red glow persists.
John's head falls against Dave's shoulder. Dave's stomach twists in sudden nervousness as he catches John's scent. It smells a little like his own shampoo since they had been sharing over the past week but underneath that there is definitely something that is John. It reminds Dave of a summer day which doesn't even make sense because what does summer even smell like and it's definitely not Texas summer and he smells really good. Dave turns his head to press his nose against the black hair and before he can stop himself he presses his lips in a kiss to the top of his head.
"Dave? Did you just kiss my head?"
Dave freezes. Hadn't he been asleep? Isn't that why his head was on his shoulder? "Maybe."
"Why?"
"Because... because I wanted to."
"Why?"
"What sort of interrogation is this? Do I really need to explain my every little action to my best friend who should already know all the answers about me? Seriously John, dropping the ball here on being my soul mate. I thought you actually cared about me but obviously you were just using me to get to my bro and didn't pick up on any of my brain's subtle intricacies otherwise you wouldn't have to ask a question like that." Dave pauses but John doesn't move or speak, apparently still waiting for Dave's actual answer. Dave sighs internally. "Because I think you are cute."
"Why?"
"Because you are cute."
"Why?"
"Oh my god, no. You are not five years old. I know you aren't because then I would feel skeevy and I am not skeevy. It's Bro who is skeevy, I mean, how else do you describe what he does with all those puppets and especially those puppets. With me in the same apartment. I could call up child protection services and be whisked away to somewhere else where my psyche won't be scarred with plush mounds and puppet traps." Again, John just waits patiently. "Because you have good genetics, I don't know. I don't know why I think you are a cute little shit that I just wanna-" Dave's mouth snaps close.
John pulls away a little and turns his body to face Dave. "Just wanna what?" Bright blue eyes shine from behind black frames searching Dave's bright red face.
"Nuthin'."
"No, it's not nothing. I'm a cute little shit and you just wanna..." he trails off to let Dave fill in the blank.
"Let's just say that it's something that has to do with before involving lips but not against hair because I'm not a chaetophille no matter how good it sme-" Dave is interrupted by John leaning forward and pressing his lips against his own. There is a moment of shock before Dave seizes the opportunity and kisses him back, closing his eyes and bringing a hand up to cup the side of John's face.
John tastes sweet and soft with his fuller lips. Dave feels self conscious about his thin ones but apparently John doesn't mind as it is his tongue that darts out to brush across them. Dave eagerly returns the gesture but meets John's halfway. A shiver runs down his spine as John opens his mouth a little to let Dave in and deepen the kiss. Their tongues slide against each other and explore each other's mouth, prodding gums, palates, teeth, lips, cheeks, in the process of swapping spit that seems gross until you are in the middle of it and then it is just heaven.
They eventually part with a soft wet smack of lips when their lungs remind them that they still need to breathe. Dave rests his forehead against John's.
"You are adorable."
"You are a dork."
They get back to making out once they stop laughing with the city's red glow coming in the window.
- Day Two -
The boys startle awake from where they had been entangled in Dave's bed when a scream comes from outside the window. Both of them leap up and press their faces against the glass. They locate the scream coming from a young woman running down the street. Looking at where she came from, John and Dave see two more people chasing after her with strange looping gaits. But even for their bad form, they are gaining on the girl and catch her before she can turn the corner. The first of the pursuers makes a flying tackle through the air at her and she goes down with another scream. The second one is upon them quickly and then Dave and John lose sight of the girl under the attackers. All they can see is pieces of bloodied cloth flying and more splattered blood staining the pavement. The boys stare with horror unable to turn away even as their guts roil at the gruesome scene. They both recoil from the window when one of the attackers spins away from the victim with an arm in his mouth. They both scramble for the bathroom, John taking the toilet and Dave grabbing the trash can to throw up their dinners.
When their bodies finally settle they sit back against the wall with white faces. Their limbs are still shaking as they try to catch their breath.
"Guess it's real." Their eyes snap up to Bro who is leaning up against the door frame. His face is a grim mask. He turns back into the apartment when Egbert approaches with two cups of water to help wash out the boys mouths. The drink the water and set down the empty cups. Egbert kneels between them and pulls them into a hug. Together they cry into his shirt.
Throughout the day there is more screaming as more people are caught trying to flee. The number of passing zombies are slowly increasing as well. The boys stay well away from the windows but at least one of the adults maintain at post at the window that leads out to the fire escape.
"Shuffling undead, my ass."
"Yes, they seem to be in fit condition. At least the ones that the virus has initially infected. But notice some of the newer ones aren't doing as well. I think those have been infected by others after the initial release."
"You mean those are the actual undead?"
"I'm afraid so. I saw a young man attacked around noon. And I think I just saw him go by again."
"Fucking hell."
"Reanimation..."
"Where the fuck did this thing come from?"
"Jordan did not have that high of a clearance to that kind of information. But apparently it is man made."
"God have mercy on our souls as we die by the sins of our hands, the sins of our tongues, the sins of our fathers, the sins of our young."
"I didn't know you were religious."
"I'm not. But if ya live long enough in God's country you pick up a bit and when things are this fucked up, a little prayer can't hurt." Egbert nods sagely. "So what else can we tell about these fuckers?"
"It seems that the agent reduces someone to primal need, focusing mostly on food. And I would assume that sustaining the reanimation would take a lot of energy so they seem to be always hungry. That puts them constantly on the hunt. They are sensitive to movement. They seem to ignore pain. Several... victims have tried to defend themselves and caused damage to the... zombies but that didn't seem to affect them that much unless it was an actual loss of a leg or a severe head injury. But anything else didn't slow them zombies down."
"Well shit."
"Dave. I don't want to go out like that." John curls up into Dave's side. They put a curtain up over the window but it doesn't stop the screaming they hear from beyond it.
"None of us are going to go out like that. We'll get through this and we'll end up dying of old age."
"Where can we go to get away from this?"
"Why don't we hit up Harley? She's pretty damn isolated on that jungle island of hers. We'll go pick up Rose and her mom and all end up shacking out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with Harley and that devil beast of a dog." Dave wraps a comforting arm around John's shoulders.
"Hmm, that sounds nice."
"Yea. I can imagine us now. Hanging out in paradise, tropical jungle on one side, beautiful sandy beach on the other, you frolicking around with a delicious tan in some skimpy swimsuit," Dave trails off in a dreamy voice only to burst out in laughter when John pokes him in the side.
"Hey!" John pouts.
"Hey what? You started macking on me last night. Can you blame me for fantasizing about you on the beach?"
"Uhh..." John turns bright red.
"God you are too cute." Dave leans down and kisses him sweetly. "Too adorable to be eaten by zombies. I'll make sure that doesn't happen. I'll protect you."
"I know you will. And you know I have your back, right?"
"Course," Dave hums in agreement. A particular sharp and close scream destroys the moment they have. John buries his face in Dave's shirt, trembling. Dave swallows harshly and tries to calm him by running his hands over John's back, finding the repetitive movement soothing as well.
"I hate this."
"Me too. Hey," Dave says suddenly as he comes up with a distraction for him. "Dadbert says you are pretty good at shooting. Care to show me? Actually... could you teach me a little? I'm pretty sure we have enough ammo to wage war against a small country."
"Yea. Let me ask Dad. And then you can show me how to use a sword. That way I won't always have to shoot around you."
"Are you calling me fat, Egbert?"
John showed Dave his excellent aim, punching a neat little cluster of holes in the wall. Dave's shots were a bit wilder due to his surprise about how loud a gun could be but near the end of the lesson they were at least within a torso shape. They don't take out the earplugs after their impromptu lesson. The small foam inserts help muffle the screaming city.
Dave teaches John how not to cut himself on a three foot long katana, but in the end, they are both more comfortable with their own respective weapons.