*Hey all! Here's the deal. Hollywood Hookups was apparently a dud so I decided to axe that story. This is something I've been working on for literally a month, and that's just the actual writing of the chapter! Though the storyline itself may be confuzzling, so feel free to message me if you need a further explanation or anything and I'll be happy to explain when I can. This chapter is wordy (4,110 words excluding this author's note) but it is the first chapter and there's explaining to do so please bear with me. Also, I've been working really hard on this so I would appreciate a review from you! Doesn't have to be long, just whatever you have time for, know I'll be thankful for it. Enjoy!*
Gwen awoke early that Saturday morning, the glow of sunlight jump-starting her senses. She sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes as she took in the silence. It was odd for an early morning, especially in a busy little town like hers. There were no birds chirping outside her window, no cars honking their horns or trains tooting theirs, and even in her own home the hallways and bedrooms usually echoing with yells and clicks and snickers were silent. Too groggy to think much of anything of it, Gwen collected a few clothing items and trudged into the bathroom. After a rather refreshing shower and an equally refreshing root touch-up on her hair, the pale-skinned girl pulled on her combat boots and went downstairs.
She was surprised to find that her mom and brother weren't up and about yet. Both brunettes were almost always up before Gwen, and weekends were no exception. Again, she thought nothing of it and instead poured herself some orange juice and fixed a slice of toast, except it turned out to be just buttered bread. The toaster just wouldn't work for some reason. Plate and glass in hand, she plopped down on the couch and chewed at the tough crust of the bread. The silence was starting to bother her now. It was so deafening somehow. Shaking her head as her now shaky hand grabbed the remote, the Goth opted to turn to television for a distraction. She pressed the power button and turned her attention back to her toast, her nimble fingers collecting crumbs from the plate. Five minutes passed before Gwen realized something; the TV wasn't on. Confused, she pressed the power button a few more times, each time met with the same blackness on the screen. She even checked to make sure it was actually plugged in, which it was.
"Power must be out." She sighed, unlocking the front door. There was some control box outside that she was sure held the key to solving this dilemma. She walked out the front door and stopped. Silence. Her pulse quickened a bit and she raised a brow, curiously poking her head out back towards her street. All she could do was gape at what she saw.
Everything was in a state of destruction. Roofs of houses were caved in, the windows broken and doors ripped to shreds. Cars were overturned in the streets, glass from the windshields littering the sidewalks. Farther down the street Gwen noticed an SUV and plastic trash can were both ablaze. Tree branches were stripped from their trunks, now stuck leaning against cars and dilapidated traffic signs. Papers, food, money, even shoes littered the ground. If the items weren't on fire then they looked like a dog's chew toy: slobbery and bitten. Signs of human life were nowhere in sight. Perhaps the worst part of it all, though, was the sickening smell of blood in the air.
The scent entering her nose made Gwen both nauseous and extremely alert. She wasn't sure why, but all her senses were telling her to run. She turned back towards her own home, just noticing the bashed in windows and scratch marks on the front door but choosing not to acknowledge them for the time being. Instead she flung open the front door and bolted towards her room. Her eyes wide and breaths uneven and shallow, she dug into her closet for her suitcase.
"I just put it away!" She screeched. Finding it under a discarded shirt, Gwen unzipped it, hurriedly throwing things in there. She ripped shirts off hangers and piled skirts in left and right, not really knowing how long she would be gone or if she would even be back. She just knew that she had to figure this out, and running was the only way to achieve that at this point. Toiletries were piled in after clothes, then came valuables and her journal, along with a few family photos for future reference. She had found a small cooler in the kitchen and immediately filled that with water bottles and other non-perishable foods. By the time she had finished her packing, the cooler could just barely close and her suitcase's seams were visible. She left the load there for a moment to check her mom and brother's room, wondering why she hadn't thought of that sooner.
Her heart dropped to her stomach when she checked both rooms and they were empty, but she found little relief in the fact that their rooms looked a little torn apart; they had packed things. She stuffed her cell phone into her pocket as she glided back down the stairs, the suitcase laying comfortably against her back (The extra straps really ended up coming in handy) and the cooler in her hand. Sighing, Gwen did one more once-over of the room before exiting her house completely, locking the door out of habit on her way out. She made it all the way to the end of her driveway before reaching a figurative crossroads: where is she going? There was no plan, not really. It was more just find out what the heck happened last night that caused a huge mass hysteria that she apparently slept through and find someone who knew how to fix it! Gwen started listing off possible places to try.
"Police Station?" It was the first and most logical choice, she assumed. She took a step forward and heard something metal scratch the sidewalk beneath her foot. She moved her feet and picked up the object, sighing when it ended up being the town Sheriff's scuffed up badge. Dropping the object, she looked around at her block, grunting when she decided that she didn't need a plan, she'd just walk until she found someone, however long that may take. She started off the process by hopping off the curb and onto the street, walking in the middle of it like she was eight again and her and her brother were tossing a baseball around. She smiled at the memory, even going so far as to stop in the middle of the abandoned street and shut her eyes, thinking about all the warm summer days she enjoyed on this street, on this block, in that house just to the left of her...
A crash behind her jolted her out of her reverie, gray eyes wide and frantic as she turned around. Whatever collided with the car could only be described as a thing. It was something living, moving, but it was so inhuman. It was a creature, it had to be. There were arms, legs, a head, feet, hands, but no skin, or at least not much. Whatever skin there was was green or yellow and hanging off in thick leathery pieces. The only thing that confirmed whatever it was was once human was that it was wearing tattered, torn clothes, baggy on the creature's bony frame. It's face was thin and Gwen was pretty sure that that long pink string with an eyeball at the end originated at it's empty eye socket. To tip the scale of grotesque even further, a collection of sandy brown hair, messy and matted with blood covered the thing's head in patches.
It took a moment for Gwen to react at which point she began to back up, eyes looking around frantically. She needed a weapon of some sort, something to kill whatever this was. Suddenly, a low, engine-like rumbling sound caught her attention and she watched as a large but old luxury bus drove up to the scene. For a moment her attention was on the steel doors of the bus, eager to see who or what exactly was about to hop out. It was bad move in hindsight, as the creature had gotten a lot closer to her now. It jumped at Gwen just as she turned back to it. Everything went in slow motion then; Gwen shrieked, the bus' double doors sprang open, and a single shot rang out through the air. Time seemed to settle back in place as the monster's (Gwen had deemed that a fitting name in her head at this point) head rolled away in the other direction and it's body froze, the bones cracking and the hanging skin finally melting off of them. Instead of vomiting like the bile burning her throat had wanted her to, Gwen gulped and turned towards the bus, nowhere near prepared to see Duncan at the bottom of the steps pocketing a small handgun.
"Hey, Sunshine." He greeted casually. "What's up?"
About twenty minutes later, Gwen was seated inside the bus, examining it with an inspecting eye. Despite the constant sputtering noises and cracks she could hear coming from deep within the large vehicle's core, the interior of the bus was rather nice. The seats were plush and comfortable, and near the back of the bus they were set up in all different configurations. The runway down the middle was lighted and carpeted with the same rug-like fabric that the seats were. Gwen hadn't noticed initially because of all the commotion, but the hallway was actually very wide, wider than most luxury buses she had seen. It was safe to say that at least width wise, it was more Mack truck than DeCamp. In the back right corner was a small lavatory, complete with a small mirror and what looked like a basin for hand-washing purposes. Her fingers began to absently fiddle with the strap of her suitcase just as Duncan appeared next her. She jumped a little, obviously still frazzled from the day's events so far. He chuckled, calming her senses.
"Chill out." She relaxed into the seat a bit, taking advantage of it's reclining feature as Duncan did the same. Geoff, surprisingly a very non-destructive driver was at the wheel. "Can't handle a little zombie attack?" Gwen's slowly closing eyes shot open.
"Zombies?"
"Yeah, you know, like Day of the Dead, Zombieland, Twenty-Eight Days Later-" She cut him off there. They were both well aware that he could go on for hours and frankly, Gwen didn't have the patience for it.
"Yeah, I know, I get it. But that was a zombie?" Her voice cracked at the last word. Thinking about now, it made sense. The greening flesh, missing eyeball, torn clothing...She swallowed hard and turned to face him.
"Got any other suggestions?" He shrugged, his eyes shut lazily. Geoff honked the bus' loud horn just then, shooting both outcasts into upright and alert positions.
"Yo, Bridge! We're here to save you, Babe!" He called from the wheel before hopping out of his seat, opening the steel doors and bounding out of them. Gwen and Duncan heard the couple exchange a few words, albeit they were more like yells, before a teary-eyed, shaking Bridgette entered the bus slowly.
"Gwen!" Bridgette breathed, reaching over Duncan to hug her friend. "You're okay."
"Yeah." The Goth mumbled into Bridgette's hair, releasing her as well as a sigh. With a curt nod to Duncan, the blond walked back towards Geoff. When the engine started rumbling, Gwen leaned towards Duncan. "Who else are we picking up?"
"Everyone from the show." He responded simply.
"How do you even know they're all still-" She gulped. "Human?"
"It's a long story." Duncan responded, holding out the "o" and shaking his head. "I'll explain once we've picked everyone up."
By some miraculous feat, the once small group of four had morphed into a much more intimidating (at least in at least in a quantitative aspect) group of twenty-four. Also miraculous, the group fit comfortably in the bus. No cramped quarters or complaints of being crushed together in a seat. After a while of silence in the bus, Duncan hopped out of his seat and began to pace down the wide hallway. He stopped when he reached the driver's seat, leaning his back against it.
"Were any of your houses destroyed? Completely?" Duncan's voice filled the cabin of the bus, his voice penetrating the bones of the other passengers. "Come on!" He shouted when he got no response. "In case you haven't noticed, it's a little important!" Lindsay hesitantly shook her head, a fat tear rolling down her cheek as she looked up at Tyler. She and the athlete were sharing a seat, their arms and legs intertwined in such a way that it comforted the other. He shook his head.
"Not totally." He confirmed.
"Same." LeShawna sniffled. Soon the sea of faces all began shaking their heads in a resounding "No".
"Okay, so that means all our families are safe." Duncan breathed what seemed to Gwen to be a sigh of relief and he briefly returned to his thoughts, his eyes focused until Courtney's shrill voice broke his trance.
"And how exactly does the state of destruction our homes are in determine the safety of our missing families?" She asked in a challenging tone. Gwen saw Duncan's jaw clench.
"Look, Courtney," He said her name sourly, "I hate that I'm stuck minding you throughout this whole thing too-"
"Minding me?" She repeated, rising from her seat angrily. "It's too late for minding me. You lost that privilege when I kicked your lying, cheating butt to the curb!" There was about a foot between the exes now, and anyone who knew the true toxicity of their relationship knew all too well that blood would be drawn very soon if no one stepped in right away. Surprisingly, Noah was the one to break it up by way of clearing his throat and standing up from his seat beside a wide-eyed and frightened Owen.
"Look, I really hate to break up this little love-fest you two have going on right now, but at the moment we have bigger problems than your sham of a past relationship." Courtney turned to face the shorter brunette, eyes full of fury. She opened her mouth but shut it when DJ stood up from his seat.
"He's right, Courtney. Let Duncan explain." Everyone else nodded in agreement. With a huff, Courtney returned to her seat, screaming "This isn't over!" over her shoulder as she went. Rolling his eyes discreetly, Duncan turned his attention back to the group.
"So, I woke up at like, whenever o'clock this morning and my dad just come bursting through my door wearing this stupid haz-mat suit." He began. "He says I need to get dressed and pack a bag for a trip, then just ditches me like it's no one's business." Duncan snorted, rolling his eyes. Gwen knew that wasn't the first time his father had pulled a stunt like that, but kept quiet and continued listening. "Anyway, I do what he says for some stupid reason and walk outside and stuff and there's all these...zombies! Running around my neighborhood. I watched my dad shoot one before he turned to me. He explained that this was all caused by some genetic virus and it's spreading. Apparently even the government's in on this!" He exclaimed with excitement. Looking out onto the sea of uncaring eyes, he sighed and continued his recounting of events. "Everyone who's houses didn't get demolished got still had a chance against the things and were sent overseas somewhere. See, the zombies destroy houses when they go in them. So if your house wasn't destroyed, then that means no one in your home got infected, you get it. Now, onto where your families are, I don't know for sure. Germany, France, it's all written down someplace."
"Why didn't we go with everyone else?" Heather asked shakily, shivers racking her thin frame as she spoke.
"Because." Duncan sighed. "It's our job to stop the zombies."
"What?" Gwen questioned after a moment. "But you just said that the disease or whatever is airborne, we could-"
"No, see, the thing is we're the only ones in North America that can't catch the virus." Duncan saw that he was looking out onto a group of confused faces and sighed. "Okay, so you know how at the beginning of every season Chris makes up get a bunch of those Vasea-whatever's and they really hurt?"
"You mean vaccines!" Courtney corrected bitterly.
"I said whatever." The Delinquent sneered.
"I think they get it, Man." Geoff tilted his head to look at Duncan.
"Yeah." He agreed. "Anyway, One of the vaccines we got was for the virus. Manson only knows where he got that crap."
"Even the non-competitors?" Beth asked in a squeaky voice. Tears were brimming at her dark eyes as she eagerly awaited her answer.
"Are you telling me you don't remember Chef stabbing us with a bunch of needles?" Duncan asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Oh wait." Beth sniffled. "I do remember that!"
"Okay then, that clears that up. Our job from this point on is to find out where this virus came from and kill it at the root. That'll pretty much take down whatever zombies are left. But if we do see any of the zombies, we've got to take them down. They're destructive, and if they bite you, you're a goner. The vaccine only protects us from the virus itself, not the jacked-up crap it creates."
"Dead?" LeShawna gulped.
"No. You're one of them." Duncan answered darkly. It was dead silent for a split second until Courtney shot up from her seat again.
"Okay, fine. We're all in on this "save humanity" stuff. But," She raised a perfectly manicured finger. "I demand we collect more supplies from somewhere!"
"Fine." Duncan shrugged. "Geoff." The bus turned a sharp corner, causing everyone to grip their seats tightly except for Courtney, whom of which ended up sprawled out and face down on the carpeted walkway between the seats. With a groan she peeled herself off the carpet to reveal a purplish-yellow bruise on her forehead and a dark brown shiner on her eye. "That's payback for kick in the crotch number two-hundred and forty-three." Duncan smirked as he opened the buses doors. A low growl escaped Courtney's throat as she stared him down. "Relax, I've only got seven-hundred and thirty-nine more kicks to make up for after this." He assured her. She scoffed.
"After what?" Courtney asked as she exited the bus. Right as she was about to step out, the two steel doors slammed in front of her, effectively scraping skin off of her nose.
"That!" He responded laughingly, bolting out of the newly-opened doors.
Inside the abandoned mall the teens split up into groups to go find supplies. Duncan, Geoff, Tyler, and Alejandro went to the hunting store for guns and ammunition, Beth, Lindsay, and Justin went to find bathing suits and parkas in loo of any weather changes during the journey and Courtney headed off alone to a small pharmacy she spotted, mumbling something about first aid and proper vitamins. Owen ran straight for the bathroom, but one only knew that thanks to the stench in the area. Gwen wasn't sure or didn't catch where any of the others had gone off to, but LeShawna, Bridgette, and herself were the only ones still standing in the middle of the mall when everyone else had gone looking for things.
The trio decided to just wander around various stores, picking things up if they felt they might need it. By the time they were standing in front of Hot Topic, they had only collected a few items.
"I guess one of the perks to this whole thing is free jewelry." Gwen smirked as she entered the store, immediately stalking over to the wall of jewelry. A necklace with a large spider amulet caught her eye and she picked up the piece, thumbing over the ruby-red rhinestones for a moment before slipping it in her pocket. Another piece had caught her eye when she heard Bridgette shout:
"Zombie!" Gwen whirled around fast, a pathetic excuse for a scream escaping her lips as a feeble, leathery-looking skeleton started limping towards her. LeShawna ran out of the store screaming for help while Bridgette cowered in a corner. Desperate gray eyes shot around the store, looking for something, anything to bash that thing's face in. She spotted a stool behind the tall counter and reached for it, effectively breaking it into pieces on the way. Retrieving a piece of the splintered wood, she lifted it over her head and poised herself for a strike when a shot echoed through the mall first. The creature fell down, it's bones beginning to crackle. Even so Gwen smacked it again and again, and she kept doing so until her peers all rejoined her.
"I think it's dead now." She panted, her gaze fixed on the zombie's pulverized remains.
"No kidding." Duncan snorted. Gwen scoffed in return, elbowing him the ribcage.
"Hey, I was just kidding, Babe, I swear." He insisted, throwing his arm around her shoulders to reassure her. She playfully rolled her eyes and folded her own arms over chest. She sobered up immediately.
"Well, is everyone ready to get out of here? The last thing I'm up for is taking on another one of those things today." The group around her wearily agreed and they headed back outside, arms full of supplies.
It took a few minutes of wrangling inside the otherwise empty mall and numerous head counts to make sure everyone was accounted for and they could leave the place for...somewhere else. About fifteen minutes into the continued journey, Gwen took a look around the large bus. Most people were working on the set-up for a makeshift shelter. Apparently, Duncan and Geoff had been working on tricking out this bus for a long time (although they had been planning to enter a monster truck competition with it), and there was an electricity setup thanks to a generator strapped to rumbling insides of the bus. DJ was hooking up a hot plate and mini fridge near the back of the vehicle with the help of Katie and Sadie. Courtney was sitting alone, bandages riddling her face as she put together a first-aid kit. Duncan was sitting beside her, a menagerie of guns and other weaponry surrounding them as he marveled at the weapons.
She spotted Harold, Noah, Cody, and by default Sierra sitting around the only table on the bus, all of their eyes glued to a laptop screen. Gwen got up to see what they were looking at.
"What's up?" The Goth stretched her neck to peer at the screen, but it was just text a picture of what looked like a large satellite dish.
"This is the Pieberry Genetic Research Laboratory in Tombstone, Arizona." Noah introduced it to her as he scrolled back up to the page. The name was written across the top in shiny silver lettering and beside it was a small picture of the place. It was basically a big white box in the middle of nowhere.
"Pieberry in Tombstone?" Duncan called over to the group. "That sounds like a crappy horror movie or something." Thinking about it, Gwen had decided that Duncan was right; it was a horrible name. Making a mental note to mention it to him later, she decided to turn her attention back to Noah.
"It says that the lab has been doing a lot of research with mixing skin cells of the living with those of the dead. They mixed it up and created a new virus."
"And!" Cody took over, excitedly flipping through a newspaper he had picked up before finally pointing to an article on the side of a page. "In here it mentions the exact same lab being broken into just a few days ago!"
"Geoff!" Duncan yelled a second later. "Go south. Looks like we're headed for Tombstone."
*Alright then! There's your first chapter for you! Like I said, if you enjoyed it, I would appreciate a review so much. Other than that, thank you for reading!*