Just FYI - * signals a change in character point of view


Chapter 0

Cat, Anne, Lissa, Marie, Max, Lani, Mae, Hunter, Tony, James, Logan, Kendall, and Carlos were hanging out in a very large group one day at the bowling alley. They were laughing and talking and having an all-around good time. That was when the trouble started.

First they heard the fire alarm begin to blare. Little lights began to brighten up and screech a God-awful racket. The thirteen (oooh, unlucky thirteen) friends jumped and started running around crashing into each other, creating even more mayhem.

People were running to the exits, banging on the doors and the windows, panicking more when they found every place of departure locked and unmovable. They were trapped. In a bowling alley. With a fire.

"Shut up!" yelled a large tenor voice. The man who was responsible for the shout was a short, hairy-looking dude standing on a table. Tony recognized him as the owner of the bowling alley, a man named Ritchie. The most interesting thing about Ritchie wasn't his scruffiness, his tiny stature, or even the fact that his bloodshot eyes indicated an intense state of completely drunk. It was the rifle in his hand.

Everyone, amazingly, stopped moving and looked up at this odd little inebriated man who seemed as though he might take a head-first dive off the tabletop any second.

"I have good news and bad news," Ritchie slurred as the alarm continued to shriek. "Which do you want first?"

They just stared.

"Okay, good news first!" he giggled semi-hysterically. "This is not a fire alarm!"

Everyone looked at each other in relief, beginning to relax from their big shock. A couple were beginning to smile sheepishly at each other and return to their games, while others began to wonder what was up with the gun. Then he broke the bad news…

"It's a zombie apocalypse alarm!"

Then the first zombies walked in. They were gross. They were really, really, really gross! Emaciated skin hung off crumbling skeletons and maggots writhed in eye sockets. They walked slowly, in zombie fashion, with arms out, legs locked, and mouths emitting high-pitched groans.

The screaming commenced, and Ritchie fell off the table. He stumbled behind the front desk, ducked down, and came back up with a bunch of guns. He tossed them to every guy who looked like they could catch one, which included Tony, the BTR boys, and Hunter.

When Ritchie realized that he had a couple guns left over, he tossed one to Mae and one to Max and Marie as well.

Then everyone in the bowling alley went to war with the creepy zombies. The group of thirteen scattered as the eight with guns went shooting monsters and the other five ran screaming to try knocking the doors down.

As Lani was trying to force the front entrance to open, she felt a hand close around her shoulder. She spun around to find… herself.

"You have to come with me right now!" Other-Lani said. "We don't have much time!"

Lani fainted.

*Lissa was running around dodging zombies and trying to find Tony. Eventually she found him blasting zombie heads left and right. "They keep coming. There's too many!" he yelled over the noise of guns, screams, and groaning.

The couple ran to a side door, and Tony shot it six times to create a hole big enough that he could push a small opening into the thin wood.

"Everybody out!" he screamed at the bowlers. They came in waves, shoving and punching through the crowd to get to the new exit. Once they got outside, Lissa and Tony found that it wasn't just the bowling alley; everywhere was being overrun by the undead!

*Max was running down the street looking for Cat and Kendall when she ran straight into a familiar face.

"Max!" yelped a surprised voice. It was her kind-of-friend Alice, a black-belt girl who was in all the advanced classes in school.

"Alice! What the heck is going on? Do you know?" Max asked, hoarse from the screaming.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Not exactly sure, but I'd guess… zombie apocalypse! What do you think is going on here, idiot?"

"Right, well, what I meant was, do you know why we are having a zombie apocalypse?"

Alice rolled her eyes again. "Max, you do know today is December 21st, right?"

"Oh… right…" Max mumbled, trailing after Alice as she sprinted toward the high school.

*Cat and Anne were also sprinting toward the high school. They had run into Logan soon after leaving the bowling alley, but he'd just given Cat a peck on the lips and run off to save a puppy dog. Boy bands. Always gotta be the hero.

As they reached the doors of the school, Cat slowed to a walk, Anne soon following suit. They were gasping from the exertion of the run, but Cat found the breath to pant out, "We… need… to… find… some… adults…" Anne nodded in agreement, but a voice spoke up behind them, ruining that plan.

"Girls, haven't you noticed? All the adults are gone. They poofed to smoke a couple seconds ago when that wizard guy did that spell thing."

The two friends turned to find themselves looking at Adair and Bon, two of the most macho and rebellious guys in the 11th grade. Adair was tall, lean, dark, and had his head cocked to the side with a humorless grin. Bon was stocky, broad-shouldered, and was leering at them like they were anchovies he wanted to put on his pizza.

"Wizard guy?" Anne asked tentatively.

"Yeah. Wizard guy, sweetheart. Want me to introduce you?" Bon sneered back.

Adair glanced passively at his friend. "Bon, be nice." He directed his attention back to Anne. "There's a guy with the full-blown blue robes with shiny silver stars standing in the gym inside of a huge symbol on the floor."

Anne looked at Cat nervously, knowing she might not like what she wanted to say next. Then she firmly took her gaze and latched it onto Adair.

"Can you? Show me the wizard, I mean. Will you take me?"

Adair looked at her in surprise, then curiosity. Cat gave a surprised little gasp and whispered, "No! Anne! What are you thinking?" Bon just chuckled.

"Well, well, well, little miss nerd has some guts, does she?" He waved at her to follow him back into the school. "Come on. We'll take you."

Adair put an arm out to halt his friend. "No. I'll take her. If you go in you'll just get us all killed. You know I'm the only one who can keep her from getting hurt."

Bon didn't look happy, but he changed direction and said,"Fine. I'll protect you." He pointed to Cat. "And we'll let Adair and…?"

"Anne," Anne interjected, introducing herself.

"Right," Bon turned back to Cat. "Adair can take care of Anne, and you'll be safe with me."

*At the same time as this, Mae, Hunter, Kendall, James, and Marie were running around town shooting zombie heads off left and right. Unfortunately, they were running out of ammo.

"We don't have many bullets left!" shouted James.

"Maybe we would if you wouldn't keep missing the target!" Marie shouted back.

"That isn't me," James replied indignantly, blasting an undead in the eye socket. "It's Kendall who can't shoot worth a crap."

To prove his point, Kendall tried to shoot a zombie at point-blank range, somehow managing not only to miss, but to hit a reflective car part that sent the bullet shooting back toward the group and hitting Marie in the arm.

*Meanwhile, Lani was waking up to a very strange sight. The White House. Why was she at the White House? And more importantly, why was the White House on top of a humongous New York skyscraper? And why was everyone flying around in bubbles?

Other-Lani looked around and said in a chipper voice, "Oh, you're awake! Good. We have a lot to talk about."

"We, what…?" Lani asked groggily.

Other-Lani nodded sagely. "Exactly. Now do you want me to tell you what's going on or do you want to ask a bunch of pointless questions? Your choice."

Lani seemed to be in shock. "Um. Tell me what's going on?"

Other-Lani nodded again, adjusting her position on the white couch which was floating about thirteen feet above the ground across from Lani's own flying couch.

"Well… where to start? First of all, we're in the future."

Lani started to interrupt, but Other-Lani raised a hand and said, "Uh, uh, uh. You chose an explanation. You don't get the questions, too." Surprisingly, Lani shut up.

Other-Lani continued. "It is the year 2029, and I, that is to say, Future You, am the President of the United States." It was getting really hard not to ask questions. "The reason I time-traveled back to get you is because I need to tell you that it was I who started the zombie apocalypse in the past. Your present. You may be wondering how.

"The truth is, I started it by killing Anne."

*Back in the past, Max and Alice were dodging undead punches left and right. They actually weren't doing that bad until Max got caught from behind by one of the zombies, who wrapped his arms around her back, pinning her arms.

"Max!" Alice shouted, running to help. She grabbed onto the zombie's arm and tried to pull her off of Max. The zombie wasn't fazed, and instead of backing off, he bit her. Uh oh.

Alice started convulsing, and the undead creeper finally backed away. In fact, all over town, all the zombies were backing off. Then they knelt down and said in one voice, "Master…"

*Mae, Marie, Kendall, James, and Hunter stared in surprise as the zombies knelt down, all facing the same direction. They shuddered when they heard the word "Master" come out of their emaciated mouths.

They just stayed that way, staring, still as statues. The group of five might have been worried, but they had more important things to think about.

Marie was in a bad way. The shot in her shoulder wouldn't stop bleeding. She was losing consciousness quickly. And then, as her friends watched in horror and tried desperately to save her, Marie died.

Carlos, miles away, jerked to a halt and looked around, his eyes suddenly a mysterious milky white…

*Anne followed Adair into the school gym, nervously wiping her sweaty palms on her pants. She turned to face the boy as he stopped and leaned against the doorway. Anne shot him a questioning look, and he shrugged.

"Can't go any further, I'm afraid, even if I have the ability to shoot fire out of my hands." He jerked his head nonchalantly as she looked at him in shock at this casual admittance. "It's not that big a deal. It's not me he wants to see. It's you." Then he waved her into the gym, Anne getting a very bad feeling all of a sudden.

*Lani, 17 years in the future, was scrambling to find a way to escape the monster wearing her face. Other-Lani waved her hand, and an invisible force pushed Lani into the back of the couch.

"Just listen, okay? Anne isn't the same person she was back when you know her. She's the apprentice of the most powerful wizard in all of time. Making her the second-most powerful wizard in all of time. And she was, until very recently, our bodyguard. But she slacked off. Got us shot. Overestimated her own abilities. We were very nearly killed.

"That was when Cat convinced us to have her assassinated. Of course, it's not like we could just go up and shoot her, so we had to go back in time and kill her before she could possibly have reason to suspect we would want to.

"Unfortunately, the wizard of the past-but-not-quite-your-past wasn't very happy with that little development. So he went back to your time, before she'd ever met him, so that he could start over with his student at an earlier age. But… I'm afraid he's not very happy with us right now. So he created the zombie apocalypse to kill every human he sees as a threat. Which consists of most of our friends, past and present and future. Not that the zombies are the real threat. It's their master we have to watch out for. So, what I'm here to ask is… Will you go back and help me kill Anne in your time?"

*Alice was twitching on the ground. Max leaned over her, panicking. No! Alice couldn't die! Why was this happening? What had they done to deserve a freaking zombie apocalypse?

Suddenly Alice went still. Dead. Oh God no.

But then she stirred, and she opened her eyes. What the heck?

That was when Max realized she might be in trouble. Alice slowly turned her head to look at Max, only her eyes were… red. Blood-red. Ewwww…

Max ran.

Alice chased. Or at least, the thing that was Alice. And as she passed, sprinting after her prey, the zombies gave grotesque smiles and murmured "Master…"

*Anne stared at the man in the gym. He was old and gray and tall and surrounded by crackling blue lightning. And he was staring at her. Crap.

"Welcome, Annika," he greeted her, smiling a vicious smile. "You're just in time for the best part – getting revenge on the assassins who kill you."

A glowing mirror appeared in front of Anne, but it didn't reflect her. It reflected Lissa and Tony. What was going on? She was so confused. Then the wizard disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared behind her. Apparently walking was too much of a hassle.

He touched a finger to her temple and a shock of energy flowed into her mind. With it came her memory. Except it wasn't her memory. It was Future-Anne's memory. And it remembered seeing Tony and Lissa's faces as the lights went out and her soul went into the dark.

"They did it. They killed you." She heard the wizard whisper behind her. "Now let's pay them back."

Anne felt the familiar power well up inside her, overflowing into blue sparks. She was gone. She wasn't Anne any longer. She was Annika, and she was thirsty for revenge.

*Max was running so fast, she almost shot right past Lissa and Tony. She slowed down as she panted out in a rush, "Alice… Evil… Possessed… Master…"

Tony shot to attention as Alice came skidding around the corner, her red eyes almost glowing. "Holy s***!" Tony yelled, pulling up his gun and firing off a sharp blast.

Alice fell to the ground, and Max let out a relieved sigh just as two bolts of blue lightning came down from the sky and fried her two friends. Then the relief turned to panic and the sigh to a scream. Lissa and Tony were dead.

And Alice was sitting up with a grin on her face as the bullet hole in her forehead wept blood.

*Lani screeched her denial to the girl with her face. "No! No way! Not happening! I won't do it! I won't hurt my friend!"

Other-Lissa sighed disappointedly, but with no surprise. "I thought you'd say that. Just like I know you won't be changing your mind. Good-bye."

Then she waved, her chair floating away. Lani stared after her, stunned. Was she trapped in the future now? But no, there was someone coming toward her, someone not even using a bubble or a floating couch, but simply walking on air.

It was Cat.

"Well, Lani. I am sorry about this. Believe it or not, but I wish I didn't have to kill you."

Lani started shaking. This wasn't her Cat. This was Other-Lani's Other-Cat. And she was going to kill her.

But, as it turned out, Other-Cat wasn't going to kill her. She would let the giant duck do it for her.

*Mae, Hunter, Kendall, and James were sobbing over the body of their fallen friend. They had closed her eyes and said their last respects.

Then they went in the direction that the zombies were facing. That was how they came across the scene with Alice and Max.

Max had run all-out, but she couldn't outrun someone not only physically fit, but possessed by some bloody-eyed zombie voodoo. She could hear Alice coming, and knew she had to get out of sight before Alice rounded the corner.

The only place she could see with her tunnel-vision was… the vending machine. So she kicked it. It was all so hazy with fear, so she couldn't tell you how she did it, but she got inside the machine. Not the smartest plan.

Master Alice could smell her. And see her. That is the point of a vending machine, after all.

That was around the time when Mae, Kendall, Hunter, and James heard the screaming start. They began to sprint, and got there just in time to find Alice's hand on the machine emitting a red glow that appeared to be burning Max alive. Max, Marie, Lissa, and Tony were all dead now.

The foursome couldn't defeat Alice. Not like this. They knew that. So they ran. But they didn't get far.

*Lani screamed. Other-Cat watched, a bemused smile on her face. The giant duck, which was actually a mechanical house, for God's sake! kept coming. It's strides were about 100 yards long, about the size of a football field. She couldn't outrun a giant duck! And that is why she got eaten.

Lani got eaten by a duck. What a stupid way to die, eaten by a giant duck!

*Cat arrived at a house with Bon. He sniffed the air like a dog. She asked what he was doing.

Bon grinned cockily. "I'm smelling. It's my power. Don't know when exactly it started, but my senses have gotten enhanced these past few weeks. I'm like a bloodhound. Don't' worry, there's no one here now."

Bon led the way as they went inside.

*Mae, Hunter, Kendall, and James stopped short, jaws dropping, as Carlos walked up to stand in front of Alice, his arms cradling the bloody body of Marie. His eyes were white. They stared in shock.

Carlos dropped Marie with an unceremonious thump. Then he punched Alice in the jaw. And thus started an all-out freaking ninja war. The others stared in shock.

Alice and Carlos jumped and dodged and punched and kicked, evenly matched. Then the zombies came. They came to help their master.

Carlos was outmatched.

Suddenly Mae felt something enter her soul and shove her consciousness aside. What was it? That was when she recognized the presence as… Marie! Marie's ghost was possessing her and Carlos!

*Anne (aka Future-Anne, aka Other-Anne, aka Annika) was staring into the mirror intently. She watched her friends die and found she wasn't sorry. They all deserved itl. They'd all had a part to play in her future demise.

But Marie and Alice would destroy each other, along with everyone else near them, so she didn't really have to worry about that. She would go after the mastermind behind the future operation against her – Cat.

*Marie possessed Hunter after Mae. Then Kendall. Then James. Then, since even that didn't seem to be enough, Logan came bursting into the scene, also possessed by Marie's latent spirit.

The milky-eyed possessees fought the red-eyed Alice and her zombie hoard. Marie finally delivered a punch with Logan's body, breaking his arm in the process and impaling him on Alice's claws (when did she get those?)

The punch knocked Alice unconscious, the zombies keeling over with her.

Marie released all of her friends except Carlos. They turned to her and expressed their gratitude. "That was awesome, Mar!", "Thanks Marie!", "You rock, girl!"

She didn't return the sentiments. She glared. The others gradually realized something they had forgotten – Marie was dead.

"Listen, Mar," Kendall stepped forward. "I am… I can't even begin to…"

Marie interrupted him. "You got me killed, jerk." Then she shot two rounds into his chest from a gun that hadn't been in her hand a second before, and he slumped, dead, onto the ground beside Logan, who's injuries made quick work of him.

Then Carlos-Marie turned to the others. "You couldn't save me." She raised the gun.

They just had time to whisper, "You're not Marie…" before the lights went out forever.

Her work done, Marie dissipated into the ether, taking Carlos with her as she ascended into the afterlife. Now the only ones left alive were Alice, who was out cold, Annika, who was evil, the wizard, who was evil-er, Adair and Bon, what was their game plan?, and Cat, who had no idea her best friend was out to kill her.

*Anne arrived at Cat and Bon's hiding place in short time. Bon had smelled them coming. The wizard, Annika, and Adair faced off with Bon and Cat, who didn't understand what was going on.

"Anne! You're okay!" she exclaimed, running to throw her arms around her buddy.

Bon held her back. "I wouldn't do that, Cat. This isn't the Anne you knew."

Cat looked confused until she noticed the blue lightning crackling around Anne's fist. "What? What's going on? Anne?"

Annika looked at her coldly. "Die, traitor." Then she shoved the lightning at Cat.

As Cat screamed and disappeared into nothingness, Present-Anne surged up from the depths of Other-Anne, Annika's mind, screaming at the loss of her beloved friend. "Noooooooo!"

Suddenly it was an internal battle. Anne vs. Annika. Who won? Anne. Her pain for her dead almost-sister made her strong. She took control and used the memories and talents of her future self to work a piece of magic that had never been, nor would ever be again tried.

Adair smiled and nudged Bon. "Knew she could do it," he said.

"You did not," he grumbled. "It was touch and go there for a long while."

"Don't be silly. She was always going to come through," he argued. "And either way, I win the bet and you owe me $70!"

"Fine," Bon said, handing over the money as the world itself started to warp. "Here you go. But it's not like we'll remember this in a couple seconds anyway. We won't even exist in a couple seconds. And Anne here's going to die fixing her future self's mistake. Tsk tsk. It's a shame that this magic will take too much power for her to work it and survive."

The twelve friends met at school the next day. They looked around. They waited. They wondered. They called. They asked her parents. They hoped for weeks. Months. Years. But no one ever saw Anne again. And life went on as usual. Except for the fact that the Wisconsin high school happened to lose three students at once. Strange coincidence. No one could explain it. No one could find a trace of the missing children. Anne, Adair, and Bon were never seen again. They vanished without a hint of evidence left behind. Like they had never existed in the first place.