Hey again! I know it's been a while but the Talumbus couple will never die in my opinion.
Read, have fun and review if you like.
Just so you know, this one is kinda sad. I mean, sad sad. But I'm just not able to write bad endings so this one will have on. I think. Well I believe this is a good ending. As good as can be expected under the circumstances XD
„Don't take it personally, Columbus…" Blondie smiled cutely down at the boy. Columbus stood in a dark abandoned basement, glaring furiously at her. Why was he furious?
Was it because he never liked Blondie much? Yes.
Was it because he was again too naïve? Also yes.
Was it because they both were in love with Tallahassee and now they were alone in a lonely mansion and Blondie shoved Columbus downstairs into mentioned basement full of zombies?
Absolutely yes.
"…but we both know that only one can have him." She grinned as Columbus shouted at the first attacking zombie.
"Don't worry sweet heart," the blond chuckled lovely," I will tell Tally that you saved my life, that way you can have a special place in his heart too"
Columbus slammed his shovel at the next approaching zombie.
"Bye bye, Columbus…"
The door closed as Columbus ran up the stairs only to hear the clicking sound of the door being locked.
"BLONDIE!" He yelled as he hammered his fist on the door," BLONDIE STOP IT! YOU CAN HAVE HIM, YOU HEAR ME!? I GIVE UP ON TALLAHASSEE!"
He heard her laugh amused and her steps getting quieter. Columbus turned around just as another zombie attempted to bite him and kicked him down the stairs. The teen tried again to open the door, all the while fighting the zombies off.
But then a bite on his ankle made him shout in pain as he kicked the dead away. Then he shoved another zombie away which scratched him by the arms. He hit one in the face which dared to bite his elbow.
After some time Columbus turned away from the locked door and attacked the nearest zombie and slamming his teeth into its neck. The zombie screeched and tried to pull away. Columbus just bit deeper still it stopped moving all together.
He turned to the next one and repeated his action.
Afterwards, Columbus grabbed for the third one.
The last zombie was quite difficult to get, it was whiney and always dodged his attacks, but finally, Columbus caught him and ripped the rotten flesh from its throat with his teeth.
And then, silence.
…
"Nice one…" The older brother smiled at the mansion, then at his little brother," wanna have a look?"
"Are you crazy? This thing looks like it kills you even without zombies in it!"
The older brother laughed, get his backpack more comfortable on his shoulder and walked in with his shotgun ready," come on, Bunny"
The younger brother sighed and followed him.
They walked around, looking for food but also found a good place to spend a night or two.
"Good night, Bunny" the older brother said, cuddling up to his brother.
"Good night, Gilbert," the younger one said.
"Stop calling me Gilbert"
"Stop calling me Bunny"
The brothers chuckled before going to sleep.
…
…thumb…
…
…thumb…
"What was that?" Bunny asked.
"Mhwaa…?" Gilbert asked sleepily.
…
…thumb…
"That! That sound!"
Gilbert sat up quickly, blinking his sleep away and reaching for his shotgun.
"Follow me," he whispered, not wanting to leave his little brother alone. Bunny nodded, grabbed his own two guns and followed his older brother.
The slowly sneaked downstairs, carefully following the sound.
"Here…" Bunny pointed toward a closed door. There was another thumb and both shivered.
"Ok, let me take this, go, get behind that couch," Gilbert whispered as he slowly went to the door.
"But-"
"Don't worry, I stay behind the door and shoot it from there, it won't see me without turning around first"
Bunny gulped but nodded again. He ran to the couch to hide behind it but glanced over to him.
"Ready?" Gilbert asked.
Bunny shook his head annoyed.
"Ready!" Gilbert said then and opened the door.
Well…tried to open the door.
"It's locked," he whispered. Then he unlocked it and readied his shotgun for the attack only for-
"Gilbert! Look out!"
The older brother looked up quickly from his gun only to the see the zombie running towards the doors. It threw its body against it, again and again till the door broke down and ran out.
"What the…" Bunny whispered when he heard his brother curse shocked.
"What the hell happened here?!"
Bunny walked up to Gilbert to look down to the basement. It was bloody and disgusting. Boney bodies lying around, arms and legs parted from their owners and all in all…
"Looks like someone was quite hungry…"
…
An old soldier was praying his probably last prayer while shooting the zombies who tried to climb on his car where he stood. There was no way out of this, he knew that. But he won't stop trying. Wonders can happen and he prayed so desperately for one now.
This wonder appeared in form of a crazy running zombie attacking every other zombie in its sight. The soldier stared as one by one fell to its mercy and the crazy zombie ripped each one's throat out with its teeth and claws.
Zombies around him didn't try to eat him any longer. They more or less tried to fight their attacker but in the end, ran/stumbled away. Only to be followed by said attacker who killed every single one till no walking dead was left. The soldier prayed his thanks to heaven as he watched the crazy zombie just running off, no interest in him at all.
…
The dog sneaked around the building, sniffing for danger. She looked out and turned another corner, then another and under a desk. That was once her spot. Her human always took her with him when he was longer at work. He called it 'office' she remembered.
She whined sadly and lain down on the covers, her head on her paws. She missed her human.
The dog looked up as she noticed the dangerous noises. Quickly, she sneaked away from her spot and left the building for a safe place. She barked shocked as one attacker attacked her out of nowhere and she ran even faster.
But before she knew it, she turned a wrong corner in panic and was now trapped by walls and attackers. She barked to scare them off but that made them just more aggressive.
She howled for her human, frightened and scared.
Suddenly the attackers scattered around as one attacker appeared and attacked them all.
She just moved backwards to the corner and silently watched the attackers being attacked by that one strange attacker.
The dog whined afraid as everything turned silent and the one strange attacker stared at her. Then it turned around and ran off again. She looked after him curious.
…
The mother was shooting at the running zombie, telling her child to keep hiding in the car.
When the zombie fell, she slowly walked up to it. She flinched when something pulled at her pants. As she looked down, she looked at a dirty Labrador pulling her away from the zombie. "What the-"
The mother shouted shocked when she noticed another zombie walking up to them. When she was about to shoot it as well, she hesitated as the dog growled at her.
Suddenly, the zombie passed her and crushed its foot on the crawling zombie's head. The mother flinched and didn't dare to move at the stare. She sighed carefully as it just kept on walking and watched in confusion the dog following. Maybe the zombie was once the dog's human?
…
"Who are you?" Little Rock snapped, her guns pointed at the two dark skinned men standing next to her car.
"My…my name is Bunny and this is my big brother, Gilbert" the young man softly said, watching the young woman in awe.
"Little Rock my name," Little Rock replied, still not putting her guns down," and what were you doing with my car?"
"Oh! It was… it was your car? Sorry, we didn't know, otherwise we of course wouldn't have taken it" Bunny tried to back out and Gilbert quickly stood in front of him.
The young woman sighed annoyed.
"Ok, how about we get this over and work with the Columbian rules?"
"The what?" Bunny asked confused.
"The Columbian rules," Little Rock said," Rule #29, Buddy system. I take you along for a little while and expect truce between us. You won't attack me, I won't attack you"
The brothers switched glances before looking back at her," sounds good. And you really won't trick us?"
"The Columbian rules never shall be broken, I live with it in honor of the creator of these rules" Little Rock explained, finally putting her weapons away and walking up to the car, climbing in.
"Are you coming now?"
…
Wichita stopped her car as she noticed an old man stumbling through the empty streets. She quickly climbed out when he collapsed and carefully moved closer with her gun pointed at him.
"Sir, are you alright?"
The man tiredly looked up," please don't kill me…"
"Were you bitten?"
"No"
"Scratched?"
"No"
"Got attacked?"
"All the time, and I'm just too old for this shit…"
Wichita watched the man sighing into the dirt, clearly tired. "How about I take you with me? I'm heading to a friend who has a safe place. We can give you a place to rest"
"Are you cannibals?"
"No?"
"In a questionable religion?"
"No"
"Cult?"
"No"
The man sighed and heaved himself on his knees. "Please, god, don't let this be a trap…"
"If it eased your mind, I'm acting after the Columbian rules"
"Thank goodness," the man chuckled relieved.
…
Tallahassee smiled at the little boy hiding behind his mother who held up her baseball bat at the redneck.
"Don't underestimate me" she warned him. Tallahassee put his gun, his shovel and his fork away (don't ask why the fork, this explanation would take weeks…) and held up his hands in friendly manner.
"Ma'am, I'm only here to find some food and maybe some twinkies…"
"Why should I believe you?"
"Did you ever hear of the Columbian rules?"
"They are my bible" the woman said, now standing more comfortable, her bat placed on her shoulder and her son now hugging her leg.
"As they are mine," the man looked at the child," I once was a father myself and am father again. I'll be damned if I let you go on without at least taking you with me to a safe place to rest"
The woman hesitated for a moment.
"Rule #3"
"Beware of Bathrooms," Tallahassee answered and smiled as the woman smiled.
…
"And this was the story of Gilbert losing his tongue to safe my life," Bunny said proudly next to an impressed Little Rock and a smugly nodding Gilbert in the backseats.
"Gosh you are both badass!" She smirked and looked at the rear view mirror as she heard honks.
"Well, will you look at that," she chuckled and honked as well," there are some friends of mine. We will reach our home in around 20 minutes"
"Sounds good," Bunny smiled. Gilbert smirked between the two teens. Young love is beautiful to watch.
…
"You see that car over there?" Tallahassee asked the boy, smiling. The boy nodded shyly and cuddled closer to his mom.
Tallahassee honked and laughed loudly when a honk in reply came. The boy chuckled and his mother kissed his head lovingly.
…
The dog ran after her new friend, barking happily for the good run. She was hunting for food while her friend was hunting for other attackers before both just went on. The dog noticed that her friend was running in a certain direction. She had no idea where they are heading but it must be important for her friend.
She barked when she scented something. She smelled…humans! The dog looked at her friend who stared at her emotionless. She barked again and ran after the scent. The dog happily noticed her friend following her.
…
"What the hell!?" Wichita shouted in shock, the man beside her jumped, woken up from his sleep.
"What is it? What is wrong?" he asked.
"I see dead zombies here!"
"Isn't that good?"
"We crossed our fences, there shouldn't be any zombies to begin with," Wichita explained worried and sped up the car.
…
The dog barked at the broken fences and watched her friend staring at it. He was staring at it a long time before actually moving again. He followed her again till they reached an old looking farm. Attackers were standing and crawling around and the dog simply sat down and watched her friend hunting each and every one.
The dog suddenly heard screeches and cries for help. She jumped to her paws and stormed into the old building. She pointed up her nose and quickly followed the smells and cries. She barked and growled at the attacker cornering two children. The children were crying and cuddling each other and staring at their attacker.
The dog barked and ran out of the room to get her friend. Just as she ran downstairs, her friend threw the door down and sprinted upstairs. Apparently he also heard the children's cry for help.
…
Colly and Jake cried for their mommy to stop, to please not kill them.
"Daddy won't be happy, mommy," Jake shouted and cuddled into his two years older brother for comfort.
Their mother didn't react to their pleas, just groaning, moaning and stumbled towards them with bleeding limbs and glassy eyes.
Suddenly there was a dog, barking at her and running out of the room again. And Colly was wearing his daddy's brave face while Jake cried desperate as their mother was about to attack when something stopped her.
Colly stared at the other Zombie glaring furious at their mother, actually grabbed her at the hair and harshly pulled her and slammed her to the next wall.
…
"Oh my god, not again! I can't…not AGAIN!" Tallahassee yelled as his car came to a stop and he jumped out and ran to the old farm.
"WHAT IS THIS?" He yelled, his eyes filling with tears with fury and sadness.
"We don't know!" Little Rock shouted, running up to him and checking the dead zombies around them, all unmoving corpses.
Wichita came out of the building with a man and a dog running after her. "WATCH OUT!"
Suddenly a window from the upper floor shattered and two zombies were falling.
Tallahassee felt his body freezing as he saw them, Blondie as zombie and about to attack him now if it weren't for long declared dead Columbus to stop her by throwing himself at her.
"Where are Jake and Colly!?" He shouted, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"They're in their room, unharmed," Wichita shouted, watching the fighting zombies in shock.
"Hey, isn't that this zombie-zombie?" The old man beside Wichita asked, pointing at Columbus. Columbus screamed at blondie and stopped her from another attack at Little Rock this time.
"Zombie-zombie?" The girl asked irritated.
"Yeah, we remember letting him free, right Gilbert?" Bunny asked his brother who nodded quickly in agreement.
"What do you mean you let him free?" Little Rock asked.
Tallahassee watched heartbroken the zombies fighting each other, finding no strength to kill each of them. He should, they were zombies after all but-
Columbus grabbed her by the neck and slammed her to the ground. The he slammed his free fist on her face, again and again. He punched and punched till she stopped moving and still he kicked and punched and got his frustration out on her corps. The group of survivors watched him silently.
"I need to see my kids," Tallahassee choked out and ran to the house. Columbus ignored everyone around him and kept on killing the dead zombie.
…
Tallahassee was bringing his boys to bed this evening. This night they will sleep with him in his bed. He walked around the house to see Wichita and Little Rock sleeping in their room, the new survivors of mother with son, two brothers and old soldier were firstly sleeping in the living room and switching the lights off.
He then looked out of the kitchen window.
…
Columbus was still punching the smashed corps of Blondie. Tallahassee looked at the dog sitting beside Columbus watching him silently.
"You're mad at her or what?" Tallahassee spoke up.
Columbus stopped shortly before continuing again.
"You saved her live, why are you doing this?"
Columbus this time just punched and punched even more angrily.
Tallahassee sighed sadly and pulled out his gun.
"Goodbye, my little spitfuck…"
BANG!
…
...BANG!
"Rule #2…the double tap…" the redneck whispered, staring at the now not moving body.
He buried them both and went to sleep. And he only managed to with the help of his two cuddly sons.
…
"So you found him locked up in that mansion?" Little Rock asked the brothers who both nodded. They all sat around the fire place in the living room while the children were sleeping.
"Yeah, and when we opened the door, he ran out and left."
"He saved my life," the old man spoke up then, sipping at the hot tea," I was seriously about to die if it weren't for him attacking the zombies"
"He just walked past me, with his dog," the woman said calmly," he walked towards the zombie and killed it."
"But I'm confused…" Wichita shook her head," I mean…all the time…he was dead for 9 years…Blondie told us he saved her life and…"
"He told her to be there for Florida…" Little Rock finished.
"That's not what I mean…" Wichita said," I mean, … I don't know what to think now…"
"Couldn't it be that Blondie lied?" Bunny asked and received angry glares from the group.
"Why would she do that?" Tallahassee asked, keeping his voice as low as possible.
"Just thinking…" Bunny said and looked away.
…
Two month later while Little Rock taking care of her friends' graves, 8 year old Colly walked up to her.
"Aunt Rocky, where is dad?"
"He's out, getting something to eat. You need something?"
"I…mommy wanted me to give this to daddy…" he gave her a paper and looked at her.
Little Rock frowned and read it.
Just got bitten and want to tell you the truth about Columbus.
He never saved my life. I killed him. I did it for us, Tallahassee please believe me when I say that I did it for our love Columbus would have destroyed.
I'm sorry that I lied to you.
I sorry
Little Rock began to cry and cried more when Colly hugged her for comfort.
…
I'm sorry that I lied to you.
I sorry
Tallahassee stared at the letter, then at his friends.
"She…she's not even sorry for his death…" he mumbled neither feeling the girls hugging nor his boys hugging him.
…
Years passed. The group grew with every new survivor. Tallahassee asked the old soldier (who once studied art) to draw a picture of Columbus.
"Never thought of taking pictures with him and yeah…" the redneck explained.
The children grew up and left their home for adventures. The older generation learned to at least enjoy the little things even after the new information of their friends.
Little Rock and Bunny married when they both turned 20. They had six children and 13 grandchildren and couldn't be any happier. Wichita was taking care of Tallahassee who lost more strength day after day.
Colly J. (full name Columbus Junior) met a few years older woman and proposed to her after almost losing her to a zombie attack. They had three children and 8 grandchildren.
Jake was 17 when he came out to his father. He was crying in relief when he heard the story of him and Columbus and also his mother. Tallahassee finally found the courage to tell the true story of their mother but also that he loved her dearly but was deeply hurt of her actions.
Jake met Richard when the young man was chased by wolves. Richard saved him and stayed together a while longer. They became good friends and later on wonderful husbands and awesome uncles and great uncles.
When Tallahassee died, he was lying in his bed, smiled at his friends, at his sons and at his large family surrounding him. He was buried beside Columbus' grave.
Little Celvin was standing in front of a large picture of Columbus. He heard his teacher telling them about him writing down the Columbian rules and about his biography. While his class walked on to the next room, Celvin stayed and watched the picture in awe.
"I bet that you are exaggerating, Merritt."
"I'm sensing your nervousness, Daniel"
Celvin looked up and stared at the two men walking up to the picture. J. Daniel Atlas and Merritt McKinney are here! The little boy silently stood there and watched the two men standing in front of him and watching the painting behind him.
"What do you say?" The mentalist smirked at the frowning magician.
"Hmmm…"
"Come on, we both know that you must be a reincarnation of this boy here"
Daniel shook his head," no way…that dude is soo…not like me" he frowned annoyed.
"I mean look at me! I'm handsome, charismatic and far cooler than this teen would have ever been!" Daniel huffed and crossed his arms.
"Yeah but you both are afraid of clowns-"
"I'm not afraid of clowns!" Daniel blushed embarrassed, snapping at Merritt annoyed when the mentalist ruffled his perfect styled hair.
"Sure you're not," Merritt replied sarcastically.
"You know what? I think I may have seen you in that zombieland too," Daniel tried to change the subject and pulled the man away from the painting. He smacked the mentalist's hand which was moving towards his butt away.
Celvin blushed when Merritt turned around and winked at him before putting his arm around the smaller man's back.
The boy looked back at the painting and was anew impressed by how familiar the face was now. Daniel and Columbus really look like twins.
"I really hope that reincarnations are real…" he whispered to the painting and looked back to the magician couple who were sharing a kiss.