Prologue
It was a cold, snowy day in the worst living place imaginable, Akron, Ohio. Two former students of the University made their way through the dreadful town. There was little life on campus, which is now the usual in a world like this. As Kelsey was waiting inside her 1998 Chevy Cavalier, trying to escape the brutal wind and snow, Anna was filling up the tank with gas that they had stolen from their neighbors. They might feel bad if they were alive to notice that the gas missing, Kelsey thought. It had been a rough few months for the two girls. As a matter of fact it had been for every living soul on the planet. While most families were celebrating their thanks by gorging themselves with unlimited amounts of food, watching football all day, and finishing with shopping to avoid the families they were already tired of; there were more important matters happening in the nation's capital. The morning of that Black Friday took a different meaning as the first virus inflicted human took to the streets to rip out the hearts of innocent people. Nearly two months later, the country had been turned upside down. Cities burned, people died, and there were far too many zombies than you could count.
Perhaps the most dangerous places to be in during a situation like this is a college campus. However, the two girls moved to the safety of their friends' house off campus, with boarded up windows and plenty of supplies to make it. Or at least this far. Their supplies had been dwindling, and that is why they have come here, on their way to the closest Walmart or Giant Eagle. I just pray there's anything left, and that's if we even make it, Kelsey told herself.
The opening of the passenger side door broke Kelsey of her terrifying thoughts, as Anna started to place the gas container in the back seat of the car. "We better make this quick, you know how Jake and Zach will be wor-"
And that was all she could get out. She couldn't even let out her scream as the monster took her from behind, tearing out the flesh from her shoulder with a menacing bite. Perhaps she was too shocked to scream, but Kelsey wasn't. A shrill, deafening scream took hold of Kelsey before she even realized what she was doing. She knew she had to get away, to leave her best friend to die in the cold hands of one of her former Zips classmates.
She punched it, sending both Anna and her attacker flailing outside of the vehicle. But fate wasn't on her side either that day, as the snow sent her reeling into the nearest house. After her screams there had been more zombies coming after her, and with her head smashed against the windshield there was little she could do to stop the inevitable.
"Oh well", Kelsey said aloud, "I was lucky to make it this far".
Chapter One
Tommy Pickles
It has been two weeks since the supposed "zombie attacks" in Washington D.C. Since that time there has been cities all across the United States with reports of these creatures, with the exception of Southern California. Tommy had seen the news and the videos on Youtube, but he couldn't get himself to believe that they were zombies. "It's just a bad drug or something. The government will get a cure and get it to stop, just like usual", he told his younger brother Dill.
"No way Tommy, these things are real, and they're here to stay, just like in the movies and video games". No surprise that he would be the one to have the strongest belief in the zombies.
The whole gang was meeting up today at Tommy's house, and the two brothers were cleaning up their rooms in advance. Not that they wanted to, however. It was their Mother's insistence that they should clean. Although the two seemed like men, they were still just 17 and 16, with at least another year with his parents for Tommy.
The past week had been a real drag, as neither of the two had been allowed to leave the house. At first it was great, of course, because there was no school. But they had really missed their friends. That's why this visit from Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, and Lil was all Tommy could think about all day. How is a guy supposed to clean his room with that on his mind?
Just as that thought left his mind there was a knock at the door, and Didi let in the four teens. Tommy ran full speed to the steps, then slid down the hand railing, although he only made it three quarters of the way before losing balance and falling flat on his face on the floor at the feet of Kimi Finster. The smile Kimi gave him was all he needed to make his face flush red, but the laughter of the other kid's in the room would have done the job on its own. "Uhh, hey guys", Tommy said with an embarrassed grin.
"Hey Tommy, nice fall" Phil laughed. Chuckie and Lil also made their bad jokes. But Kimi just smiled, helped Tommy get to his feet, and made sure he was okay. "Hey don't ask if he's okay!" Phil yelled, "It's his fault for falling, so we get to laugh at him".
"I think three of you laughing is enough, Phil." Kimi and Phil always fought. And Kimi also sticks up for me, Tommy thought with a small smile forming on the mouth of the eldest Pickles.
"Actually Kim, make it six", said Dill, laughing along with his parents behind him. That sent Tommy into more of an anger than his previous embarrassment. His friends could make fun of him, but not his parents. Especially his super weird brother Dill.
"Come on guys let's go to my room. We have a lot of catching up to do". And with that Phil, Lil, Dill, Chuckie, and Kimi made their way up the stairs, with Tommy following. Like always, he made sure he followed the girl of his dreams.
Kimi Finster
"No homework, no going to church, no running errands for your parents..." Phil kept going on and on about the things that were better about not being able to leave the house. "We can still play catch in our house.."
"Phillip we're not really allowed to play catch in the house. Mom caught us three times this week, and said if she even finds another baseball she'll shove it up our-"
"Hey it's your fault she catches us Lillian, you're the one that throws like a girl!" This would go on for a while, Kimi knew. So instead of trying to stop the fighting, which she knew was impossible, she would go on in her dark thoughts until the fighting was done. Kimi was not the most normal of kids. In fact none of them really were. In short, Tommy was the tech nerd, always filming everything under the sun for the school. Plays, sporting events, even the most boring things like orientations and graduations. Anything that he could film and later edit was the bee's knees for Tommy Pickles. And to the surprise of no one except for Didi Pickles, this did not make him popular in the least. Chuckie was the stereotypical nerd. Very smart, both in class and also with computers. He wore glasses and had shaggy red hair and an endless amount of freckles. But that didn't complete Chuckie. He was also known for having some definite anger problems, whether it was necessary or not. This helped ignite some of his bullying, as he never really could keep his mouth shut to those who bullied him. Once a bully had continuously shoved him into his locker, but instead of being quiet and waiting for the bully to leave, Chuckie just kept egging him on. His extreme shyness he had mostly overcome, but to what cost? Lil was perhaps the most normal of the group, as sad as that may be. She was an excellent soccer player, as she always had been. She was not one of the jocks, however. She put her time in on the field, but when that was over she came back and did all the weird things that her friends did. And that leads to Phil and Dill. As the two may have overcome their extreme grossness, they still did enough to merit having very few friends. And the two rarely left each other's sides. Whenever they weren't playing the awful Call of Duty games and listening to people screaming, they would do other things to pass the time. During these times they never would invite the rest of us, so you could only imagine what they did. It's just a good thing they've never been caught, even by us. As for Kimi, even she would have to admit that she's a different character. She dresses different than everyone else, listens to different music, and enjoys "strange" hobbies. Most consider her sort of punk/hipster, but even those outcasts don't include her in their clicks. Really the only people that get her are her friends. And even they sort of just put up with me.
"What do you think, Kimi?" She heard Tommy say as she broke out of her thoughts. Well this will be a tough one to get out of. Guess I'll just tell the truth.
"Uhh sorry I was zoning out there. What is the question?" She asked.
"I told you she wasn't listening Tommy" Chuckie said with a scolding tone.
"Calm down Chuckie. Kimi, we were talking about our plans for tonight" Tommy spat back with an evil grin that would curl your hair. Oh this can't be good, Kimi thought to herself. He continued. "So tell your parents we're all staying here tonight. When our parents go to bed it all begins".
"What begins?" Kimi asked stubbornly.
"Well if you'd stop interrupting him he'll tell you" Said Phil. Kimi wouldn't let his tone start another fight, so she just looked to Tommy.
And Tommy looked around to the other four members of the group with a knowing smile. One that may have actually been more evil than the previous one, before replying, "The fun, Kimster".