AN: Inspiration drawn from a continuously reincarnating person from someone else's story. She gets thrown into this world.
LA. Motherfucking LA. She was born in 20th century America.
This could not bode well.
She's in either in a shitty video game world or some sort of terrible world-ending tv show and/or movie.
The first few years of her life are filled with paranoia and suspicion of the world around her. What was it about this world that made it special enough to warrant a reincarnation (Long ago she had hoped for a world where she didn't have to fight for her life. She'd outgrown that naivety very quickly). She watches the Y2K panic pass at 7, the attack on the twin towers at 8, and is steadily reconsidering her thought of being in a shitty world when the year 2012 ends and everything seems normal (because the apocalyptic date would be the biggest chance of the world deciding to fuck her over).
When she reaches adulthood, and gets accepted to a community college in Texas (she never bothered with excelling in school after the third world where she died as a 12 year old). She moves into one of the crappy dorms on campus and meets her athlete of a roommate Madeleine, track runner extraordinaire. Madeleine ("Call me Mads. Or Maddy. Madeleine is wayyyyy too long") is disciplined and focused when it counts, and gets along well with Teresa (another name for another world but will she keep it for much longer?) who did several different sports back in middle school and high school (because why commit to something when she might die at any moment to the whims of the world?). Well, it's more like Madeleine ("Didn't I tell you to call me Mads? Jeez.") isn't deterred by Teresa's standoffish nature.
Over the course of freshman year Madeleine ("Call me Mads or I'll put glitter in your shampoo." "No." "Ugggh.") continues to try to get Teresa to call her by her preferred nickname through an increasingly ridiculous amount of badgering ("I brought you coffee!" "Thanks Madeleine." "Nuh-uh-uh! Call me Mads. Or I won't give you the coff- hey!" "Too slow." "Uuuuugh.") that ultimately amounts to nothing. Nothing, until Madeleine confronts her about her nightly terrors (she's trying to suppress the bad things but there's so much that sometimes she can't do it) and it somehow ends with Teresa sobbing into Madeleine's shoulder as she rubs circles into Teresa's back. Come morning Teresa wakes up to Madeleine's arms wrapped tightly around her as she lightly snores into Teresa's pillow.
Teresa's nightly terrors seem dimmer and further away on the nights afterwards. On the really bad nights Madeleine holds her as she cries and serves as her anchor to the present. Teresa relaxes, unwinds over time. She opens up to Madeleine and tries to socialize and live a life in the world. When summer rolls around Teresa returns to where she grew up (she hasn't called a place home in a long time) and her parents are delighted by what college has done for Teresa. When she haltingly tells her parents at length about her roommate and friend (when did that happen, she wonders) and how much she's helped her parents exchange a glance that she can't quite understand and make her a big welcome dinner.
The beginning of sophomore year she's beaten to the dorm by her roommate. She opens the door and is greeted with a loud cheer and hug and babbling of "You're here it's been too long oh my goodness what did you do to your hair" - and Teresa cuts her off with "Hey Mads. It's good to see you again." Madeleine freezes with her mouth open and her smile grows even wider how is that even possible and practically crushes Teresa in a big hug.
As time passes the nightly terrors grow weaker. She doesn't have to cry into Madeleine's shoulder as often, and the weight of her past lives and the anxiety of the future are so much lighter. She has hope, she's surprised to find. Hope, that this world might be a calm one. One where she doesn't have to fight.
The summer after sophomore year Teresa is surprised by Madeleine's invitation to go to Europe with her. She accepts, of course, and the two go off on a trip through the wonders of the Old World. There's late nights and some more drinks that she's used to and it's wonderful. She sees Italy, Germany, France, and basks in the normality of it all. She sends all the relevant photos home to her parents, and receives delighted replies and well-wishes in response.
And if a few of the late nights end in more than just Mads holding her as she falls asleep, well. That's their business.
Teresa comes back to the US with a tan and a huge smile on her face. She bids Madeleine goodbye, and goes to prepare for her junior year.
Junior year they've gotten an apartment together close to the gym. On the 1st of September Madeleine welcomes Teresa with a hug and she responds with a kiss.
By the end of the month the world goes to hell.
The media isn't clear on where it started, but the outbreak is spreading fast and it seems nowhere is safe. Teresa only curses and readies her emergency supplies. She calls her parents, tells them to prepare for the worst, and hightails it with Madeleine. She knows a zombie apocalypse when she sees one, and even if she doesn't know which one it is she'll be damned if she dies to a shambling corpse.
She and Mads fight their way out of the infected area towards a "safe zone" created by the government. Teresa takes this with a grain of salt, but Mads is insistent and Teresa doesn't really have any other ideas. So they cut across the wide expanse of Texas plain toward the shelter. They can think about what comes after later, decides Teresa.
The world has other plans. They've stumbled onto a group of zombies and Teresa is nearly out of bullets. They make a break through the broken supermarket they've found themselves in. Teresa runs ahead, checking the area in front for any stragglers.
When she hears Mad's shriek of pain it's like the world is turned upside down. She sprints back to where she left Mads (nonononono not her not Mads not her not her not her) and shoots the fucking zombie that dared attack her friend in the face and drags Mads out of the building.
When they reach another defensible place only then she allows herself to panic. The bite on Mads' arm is nasty and Teresa sobs as she tries to wrap bandages around the wound. A gentle hand stops her and Teresa looks into Madeleine's bloodshot eyes and sees her wavering smile and Teresa curses and damns the world damns the zombies and damns whatever force made her keep coming back over and over to this bullshit.
They have one last talk, one last chat of what was, what could have been (she's not crying) and Teresa complies with the last favor she'll ever give Madeleine.
"G-goodbye Mads." Teresa stumbles over the words. "I-I love you."
Madeleine shakily smiles at her. "I love you too, Tess. Goodbye."
A gunshot echoes through the room, and Teresa is alone.
Mads is buried by a church. Tess makes a headstone for her. She moves on.
20 years later she's on a job with an old friend when she's bitten by a zombie. She tells him to go and finish the job while she distracts the pursuers. If she's going down, she's going down on her fucking terms. She loads her gun as she stands in the Capitol building.
As she waits for the pursuers, she thinks of Mads again. "I love you, Mads." she whispers, as footsteps and yells sound outside the building.
"Goodbye."