'So we were standing there on the deck, inhaling the smell of the sea when my brother Liam….'
Emma was sitting across from Hook in a fancy restaurant they chose to have dinner at for their one month anniversary. He had been telling her stories all night. Most of them about the adventures he and his brothers had together, some of them about the ships they had been on.
She pretended to listen, nodding her head every now and then when it seemed appropriate and smiling at him occasionally. The topic didn't really interest Emma. Actually, she wasn't sure if she was still interested in Hook at all.
It was nice as first, because she finally felt like someone wanted her, which was kind of a big deal to Emma. As a child, she had been in a lot of foster homes and in the end they always got rid of her. Sometimes because they finally got children of their own, sometimes because they thought she was too difficult to handle.
It had bothered her quite a lot when she was younger, but it had also made her strong. It had thought her how to take care of herself. Despite that, it still influenced her sometimes. When she was having a bad day, sometimes the fear of not being wanted came back. That's why, when Hook told her he was in love with her, she just couldn't say no to him.
However, after the chase, Hook didn't seem to care about her very much anymore. It was like she was his prize instead of his girlfriend. So here she was, playing with the food that was on her plate, pretending to be having a good time while actually contemplating their relationship, when suddenly she heard the loud sound of an alarm.
At first, she thought she might have been dreaming, that she dozed off because the conversation wasn't interesting enough to keep her awake. After pinching herself though, she realized she wasn't dreaming and she looked around her to see what was going on.
Most people just looked really confused, and Emma was too. She stood up and looked out of the window, if this was the air-raid alarm, the danger was probably on the outside.
Emma didn't see much at first, until a man ran past their window, his hands were up in the air and he was screaming. She couldn't really make out what he was saying, but apparently some people outside did, because panic followed.
She observed them for a moment, still trying to find out what was going on. It was weird to see how all people reacted to danger differently. Some stayed calm, waiting to see if there was actually any danger before doing something, while others just started running in random directions.
Emma wasn't really one to run from danger. Running away from her problems or from people maybe, but she had been in quite a lot threatening situations because of her job as a bail bonds person, so she could handle a little bit of danger, having learned that it was best to stay calm.
Because people started running, some got closer to the restaurant and that made it possible for Emma to actually understand what some of them where yelling. 'Did he just say zombies?'
She turned around to face Hook, looking for confirmation. 'I think he did, love'. Hook tried his best to look tough, like he was not afraid of anything, but Emma could see the fear in his eyes. She was good at reading people. When she was little, she used to call that her superpower. She could always see the truth, always knew when people were lying to her.
Emma and Hook weren't the only one hearing the screams. The people that were with them at the restaurant could hear it too. Of course, most of them didn't stay calm.
Some people ran out to see what was happening for themselves and some were hiding under their table, thinking that they would be safe there from whatever danger was outside.
Emma thought about hiding for a while too, but then decided against that. She wanted to go outside to see what was going on and see if she could offer some help. It couldn't really be zombies anyways right? Those only existed in movies. Maybe it was just a prank. Yeah, it had to be a prank.
Of course, when she was walking towards the door, Hook tried to stop her. 'We have to stay inside Emma, I can keep you safe in here' he said, but Emma wanted to go outside as soon as possible, and she wasn't going to let Hook stop her.
'I can keep myself safe. You can either join me or stay here, that's totally your choice, but I'm going'. So Emma made her way outside, and Hook followed her. He always followed her.
Taking a few seconds to look around, she didn't really see anything dangerous going on, didn't saw zombies, only people, running around aimlessly.
She tried to ask some people what was going on, but nobody had time to answer. They were all trying to run as far away as possible.
Then she saw a woman standing still in the middle of the road. She seemed to be calling out a name. She decided to ask the woman if she could help with something and find out if she knew what was going on.
Getting closer, she could hear that the name the woman was shouting was David. 'Do you know what is going on? Are you trying to find someone?' she asked.
'I don't know.. we heard the alarm and everyone just started panicking. I lost my husband in the chaos while we were trying to get out of a shop, I can't see him anymore!'
Looking around, Emma knew it would be pretty damn difficult to find someone in this chaos indeed. There were too many people running around to get a good look at their faces.
She was thinking about the best strategy to find the man when some screams interrupted her thought process. The screams quickly came closer. She tried to focus but then she noticed that these people weren't just running around. They kept looking behind them, they were being followed.
Because it was dark, it was hard to see what exactly they were running for, but then she noticed something. The people that were in the back weren't really running, they were walking quite slowly actually, making weird gestures and noises.
She tried to remember the zombie movies she had seen, all the books she had read about them when she was a kid. This couldn't be real. She was trying really hard to convince herself that zombies don't exist when she saw it.
An old man couldn't quite keep up with the others and fell behind. The creatures caught up to him fairly quick, making him their victim.
As they devoured him, Emma closed her eyes. However, that didn't stop her from hearing his screams. When the screaming finally stopped she opened her eyes again. The man was lying on the ground, he wasn't moving anymore. They killed him.
It made her realise that this couldn't have been a prank. This was real. She didn't have time to process this at all, wanting to get away from the creatures as quickly as possible.
She looked at the dark haired woman. 'Your husband has probably found shelter somewhere. We should do the same. When everything here goes back to normal we will search for him, I promise'
The woman seemed a bit reluctant at first but then nodded her head. 'Okay. Let's find a safe place to wait this out'
Looking around, Emma scanned the streets quickly, searching for a place to hide from the creatures. Then she saw it, across the street a man was guiding people into the department store.
She didn't need long to decide that that was where they needed to go. The store seemed to have quite thick walls, not too many windows and there would be supplies there to last them quite a while, which could come in handy, since there was no telling how long this would last.
She turned to face Hook and the woman again. 'That way, we'll be safe there!' She said, while the creatures were getting closer. She waited until the two started running towards the department store and followed them quickly.
When they were in the store, Emma had a few seconds to catch her breath. 'I'm going outside again to get as many people as possible here before they get too close!' She said, and to Hook 'Keep an eye on her for me please'.
He nodded and Emma made her way trough the little crowd that had already formed in the store. When she was outside she started telling people about the department store. 'It's not safe to stay outside, a bunch of people are seeking shelter right there, you should go there too', she said while pointing her finger in the right direction.
Doing this, she got a few people inside. Then she saw a couple with a small child. She walked towards them and told them the same thing. The man, who seemed a lot older than the woman, agreed quickly, because he wanted to keep his little boy safe.
After making sure the couple got inside safely, she looked around, scanning the crows for more people to help.
She was just pointing two girls in the direction of the department store when she saw a woman lying on the ground. She was unconscious. Another woman and a man were trying to wake her up. 'What happened?' Emma asked, running towards them.
'She fell, she's not waking up!' the woman replied, while the man kept trying. 'Okay, lift her up carefully and get her to the department store. It's safe there for now and there are beds, lay her down on one of them. I'll come check on you later'. The man didn't hear seem to hear her, he was panicking too much. That's why the woman quickly took charge and carried the other woman to the department store. 'Thanks!'
She was just about to go back when she saw a woman trip over something. She tried to get up but her ankle seemed to make that impossible. Emma raced towards the woman and grabbed her hand so she could get up. 'I don't need your help, I can do it myself' the woman said, yanking her arm away.
'Come on, now is not the time to argue, let me help you'. The woman let out a sigh, but still let Emma help. 'I would have gotten up myself eventually'
'You could have just said thank you?' Emma said, getting a little bit angry. She didn't have time to deal with this now. Then the woman looked up for the first time, making eye contact with Emma.
That's when Emma noticed how beautiful this woman actually was. Despite tripping, she still looked very elegant. Emma forced herself to stop thinking about that. To stop thinking about those enticing plump lips and the hot scar just above it, because she could hear the creatures coming closer and she needed to get them to safety.
'Want to shelter in the department store?' She quickly asked the woman, who nodded her head as an answer. Emma tried to get her there as fast as she could. Just when she thought she could use some help, a blond man appeared in front of them, asking if he could lend a hand. Emma let him, not even bothering to ask the woman if it was okay, because she didn't need any more snarky comments from her right now.
They got to the department store much quicker this way. While she helped the woman sit down on the ground, she saw the man that had helped her walk up to the other dark haired woman she met earlier. 'Mary Margaret?' He said. 'David!' She answered happily. 'You found me'.
'I will always find you'. Emma couldn't help but smile at that. She really hoped she could find love like that one day.
Notes: Thank you all so much for going on this journey with me. I will try to upload a new chapter once or twice a week. Also I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts on this story, so if you want to leave a comment that would be great!