Toby's P.O.V.
This plane ride was taking forever! Well, it's not like I didn't expect it to, but still! I was flying from California to Florida to go and visit some family. It had been a while since I last saw my parents, siblings, and my other family members, so it was a good thing my sister, Angie, had invited me to St. Petersburg where she and my niece Ciara are living. I immediately said yes to her offer. I really missed them. Yeah, I do talk to my mom and dad a lot, but it's just been a while since I'd seen Ang and Ciara, so I really wanted to visit.
Finally, the pilot announced that we were going to land in a few minutes. I flipped up my tray-table, and looked out the window. I could see the sparkling blue water and lines of criss-crossing streets below me as the plane descended toward the airport. I was excited that I was going to see my family, and finally get off this freaking plane! I drummed my fingers to the beat of the "Doctor Who" theme song on my leg. I really need to do some catching-up with the recent episodes some time. Maybe I can convince Ciara to watch it with me.
The plane wheels hitting the runway snapped me out of my thoughts, and the plane moved slowly to the gate. By now, I was really anxious to get off, and the guy sitting next to me obviously noticed because he seemed kind of annoyed at me. Eh, whatever. When the plane came to a stop, and the pilot announced that the doors were open, I hopped up out of my seat, slamming my head into the little thingy with the signs that light up, and I fell right back into my seat.
"Ouch," I grumbled. The guy who was sitting next to me, now in the aisle getting his bag from the overhead bin rolled his eyes and followed the people ahead of him out of the plane. I stood up, more carefully this time, and slid out of the seat, grabbing my small carry-on bag and walking out of the plane.
The airport was filled with people walking to all the different gates and terrible airport restaurants. I pushed through the crowd and headed toward baggage claim to get my bags and meet Angie. Once there, I found the right carousel, and waited not-so-patiently for my bag. I felt like doing a quick lazy vlog would be a good way to pass the time.
"Audience, WHAT? What are you doing waiting at baggage claim?!" I began, "INTRO OF DARKNESS REDNESS AND WHITENESS! Alright, I'm in St. Petersburg, Florida right now, coming to visit my sisterbuscus and my niecebuscus. Ugh, the flight was so boring! The guy next to me didn't seem to like that much, but that's alright! He just couldn't handle my awesome. But anyway, I have been waiting forever for my bag! God dangit airport, could you be any slower? Geez." Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around, turning the camera on my phone to face them as well.
"Toby! Wow, it really is you!" a blonde man said, a huge smile on his face.
"Pewdiepie! What are you doing here? Audience? Why is Pewdiepie waitin' at baggage claim?!" I exclaimed into the camera. I flashed him a huge grin.
Felix laughed, "I'm here to visit a friend, and do a bit of vacationing, but my bag hasn't come through yet."
"Ugh, I know! Man, it's taking forever! If any of you work these things, you need to learn to HURRY UP!" At that moment, the carousel next to the one I was waiting at started up.
"YES! Finally!" Felix exclaimed. Then he turned and looked at me, a look of confusion and wonder on his face. "Bro, the carousel... It turned on as soon as you.."
"It's official! I'M MAGIC!" Several people turned and looked at me, shooting me weird looks. I didn't care, I just did magic! I'm freaking Harry Potter!
"Hey, I'm going to go get my bag. I'll be right back. Maybe after your bag comes-" Now, my carousel whirred to life, and Felix and I shot each other wide-eyed looks.
"Dude.."
"Twice in a row? But.. That's just.." Felix stood there, staring in disbelief.
"Oh my God," I murmured, "YOU'RE MAGIC TOO FELIX!" Now, pretty much everyone froze where they were and stared at the two of us. Felix's cheeks turned red, and I laughed.
When I looked up, Felix seemed to be deep in thought, and those thoughts didn't seem to be very happy ones. He looked so sad and lonely. This totally wasn't like him.
"Hey, you alright man?" I asked him.
"Yeah, don't worry about me, bro. Just jet-lagged, is all," Felix replied, a tired smile on his face. "I'm going to go get my bags." With that, he rushed off to the other carousel. Then I remembered I was still recording.
"Well, audience, looks like Pewds is a bit tired! Well, I'm gonna end it here, guys. Bless your face. If you sneezed during this meeting with Pewdiepie, bless you. To enter to win a t-shirt, post a comment about Pewdiepie, airport carousels, uh magic, and hmm hurrying stuff up. Ba da do do do do do do do do subscribe! Outro of darkness and redness than whiteness, then, BOOP!" I hit the stop button and put my phone back in my pocket. I wanted to go talk with Felix, but I still needed to get my bag. I saw the familiar dark blue rolling suitcase on the carousel, and I heaved it off. I place my small carry-on on top, and rolled it toward the other carousel, where I saw Felix looking over each of the bags, trying to find his own.
Felix's P.O.V.
Oh my God, what just happened? Those were the weirdest two coincidences ever. Not to mention meeting Toby Turner at the airport by accident! Who knew that he would be here! Maybe we could do a collab video while I'm here or something. But, after I get a little time to hang out with a good friend of mine, and just collect my thoughts. A lot has happened back in the UK, and I just needed to get away. My neighbor is looking after Maya and Edgar until I get back, or at least until Marzia decides which one she's going to keep.
Marzia. The only reason I'm here. What did I do wrong? Did I even do anything? Who was at fault? Why did this happen? God, I miss her. I wish she never broke up with me. I wish we could be together and just be happy, like we used to be. We. There is no more we. No more us. No more together. That hurts more than anything. I never thought heartache could be a physical pain.
I shook my head. Toby was looking at me a little weird.
"Hey, you alright man?" he asked, his usual happy and child-like tone fading a bit.
"Yeah, don't worry about me, bro. Just jet-lagged, is all," I lied, putting on a tired smile. "I'm going to get my bags." I turned away before Toby could say anything, heading to the carousel. I stopped and waited in front of it, trying to see where my bag was. I heard someone coming up behind me, and I figured that it was probably Toby, but I didn't acknowledge him. Finally, I saw the deep olive green suitcase on the carousel, and I reached out and grabbed it, roughly pulling it off the carousel and practically slamming it down on the floor.
"Woah, someone's in a mood!" Toby joked lightly. I still didn't look at him. I just needed to be alone.
"I don't want to talk about it, Tobe. It's... Det gör ont så illa." I looked down at the floor, gripping the handle of my suitcase with white knuckles.
"Huh? I, uh, didn't catch that.. You know what, let's just forget about it, alright," Toby replied, his tone soft and understanding. I looked up at him, and he had a small, but warm, smile on his face. I smiled back.
"Hey, you said you were here to visit a friend, right? Well, who are you visiting? Internet friend? Fellow YouTuber? Both?" Toby questioned, his silly and childish tone back.
"Both. I'm going to visit Cry. He actually has invited me to stay with him several times. I took him up on his offer this time around because..." I trailed off. "Because of Marzia." But I didn't say that last part. I was having a bit of trouble accepting what had happened as the truth. In the back of my mind I just thought that maybe it was all a big misunderstanding, and maybe Marzia just needed a little space. So that's what he was doing, giving her space.
"Oh, cool! I've actually watched you play a couple games with him, and he seems pretty cool. How long are you here for?" Toby replied quickly. He seemed to be trying to steer me away from the sad thoughts I was having by asking a bunch of questions. Good. I needed that.
"Oh, uh, I'm not really sure yet. A week, maybe two? I haven't bought a return ticket yet. I just wasn't sure how long I needed to be here."
"Huh. Well, maybe the two of us can get together sometime. I'm just here visiting some family, and I probably will end up having some free time, so maybe we can hang out sometime."
"Oh, yeah. That sounds pretty cool, actually. I look forward to it!" Toby beamed, and I couldn't help but laugh a little. He had a ridiculously goofy grin on his face. By then, we had reached the doors that led to the pick-up, where a seemingly endless line of cars waited for the seemingly endless stream of people. It was strange. No matter where you were in the world, you could pretty much see almost the exact same things at every single airport. It was almost kind of comforting, the sense of familiarity it gives you.
"So, who's picking you up?" I asked Toby.
"My sister, Angie. I'm coming to visit her and my niece, Ciara. Although, she should have been here by now. Ang said she'd be here by 2:30, and it's 3 now. I'm a little worried. She's generally never late." Toby looked around, his brow furrowed in worry.
"Hey, it's probably nothing to worry about it. Maybe she hit some traffic, or lost track of time. But, if you're really worried, call her."
"Oh, yeah. Good idea! I'll do that!" Toby took his phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number. He walked a little ways away, most likely for privacy. I watched the passing cars, waiting for Cry to drive up. I heard a frustrated groan from Toby, and then he was shouting into his phone. Woah, what? Was something wrong? He angrily shoved his phone in his pocket, and he ran a hand through his messy brunette hair. He was pacing, and seemed scared out of his mind.
"Uh, Toby? What's wrong?"
"My sister.. I called her.. She said she was stuck in traffic, but... But I heard screaming, and she said that these people were being attacked by other people that would... Eat them.." Toby shivered.
"What?!" People attacking and eating people in the middle of traffic?! What the hell was happening?!
"I told her to get out of there as fast as she could, run and call the police, but the call just ended. I tried calling her back, but she didn't answer. I'm really scared, Felix. W-What if something happened to her? Oh God, what do I do?" Toby's were wide with fear, and he was pacing back and forth. He was beginning to hyperventilate, which scared me a bit, considering he's got asthma, and if he keeps breathing like that, he might have an asthma attack!
"Toby, calm down. Take deep breaths, alright? Everything will be alright. Your sister probably just got the hell out of there. The police are probably there and they're taking care of it. She's probably heading back to her house or something." Just then, a small dark blue Toyota pulled up to the curb, and honked. When Felix turned around, he saw a man with a white poker-face mask, long, messy brown hair, and a green sweatshirt. Felix turned back to Toby, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Toby, just relax. I'll see if Cry can drive you to your sister's house, alright?" He gave me a weak nod, and I jogged up to Cry's car.
Cry's P.O.V.
I drove up to the airport pick-up place, and saw Felix there, talking with another guy. I honked the horn, and then took a look at Felix and the other guy. The other guy was kind of tall, skinny, had slightly curly brown hair, and wore a green t-shirt with a purple zip hoodie and loose-fitting jeans. The shirt and the jacket both had some kind of logo on them, the same logo, actually, but I couldn't quite read it. The guy seemed to be kind of familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. The other guy seemed to be panicking about something, and Felix seemed to be trying to calm him down. Felix had turned to look at me, looked back to the guy, put a hand on his shoulder and said something to him, and jogged to my car. I rolled down the passenger window, and Felix bent down to talk to me.
"Who's the guy?" I asked him.
"Toby. Toby Turner." Felix replied, glancing back at Toby, a worried expression on his face.
"Oh, Toby! Now I see it. I knew he seemed familiar! But what's going on? He's seems to be freaking out or something."
"It's kind of complicated, and I'm surprised you haven't heard anything on the radio about it, but do you mind giving Toby a ride to his sister's house?"
"Uh, yeah, no problem. But, on the way, you gotta tell me what happened, alright?"
"Deal. I'll go get Toby. Can you open the trunk?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll get out and help you guys with your stuff." With that, Felix flashed a smiled, and jogged back to Toby. I opened to trunk using a button on the door, and got out of the car, walking to the two fellow YouTubers. I heard a weird moan coming from behind me, and I turned and saw a guy, his skin a very unhealthy looking hue, and he was shuffling toward me, moaning.
"Hey, you alright there?" I ask, taking a step toward him. He was moving a bit faster now, the moaning even louder. I saw he was covered in dark-colored blood, scratch marks all over his arms, his clothes torn, and there was a bite-mark on his neck.
"Woah, dude, what the hell happened to you?!" He was only a foot away now, and the smell hit me like a brick wall. It smelled like rotting flesh. He grabbed my shoulder, and yanked me toward him.
"What the fuck?!" He tried to bite my face, but lucky for me, my mask got in the way, and the only thing he got to taste was porcelain. I shoved him off of me, and he fell to the ground. I turned to run to Toby and Felix, but he grabbed my ankle, causing me to fall on the ground. I punched him in the jaw just before he bit my thigh, and kicked him in the chest. I was able crawl away from him, only to be pinned against my car. He crawled to me, moaning, and it was then that I was able to look into his eyes. They were yellow. Not just the whites of the eye, and not just a tint, the were bright fucking yellow. The only thing that wasn't yellow were the small, black pupils. There was no doubt in my mind that this thing, whatever it was, was not a human being.
"TOBY! FELIX! HELP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Toby and Felix ran around from either side of my car, saw the thing, looked at each other, grabbed it, and began dragging it away. But, it tried to bite Toby, so he let go, causing the thing to pull Felix down onto the pavement. It tried to bite him, but Felix had an elbow on it's throat, keeping the thing's teeth merely inches from his face. I scrambled up off the ground, rolled the thing off Felix so it was facing me on the ground, and I slammed my foot down into its face. It's skull cracked loudly, and it made a sicken crunch as I pulled my foot out, my gray converse now covered in skull fragments and warm, sticky, dark red blood. I stumbled back a few steps, and I realized that Toby and Felix were staring at me.
"Dude.. Did you just kill that guy?" Toby asked, completely bewildered.
"That..." I said, pointing at the thing, "That thing was definitely not human. And I had to kill it! It would have killed Felix!"
"He's right," Felix breathed, standing up shakily, "Whatever that was may have looked human, but it was certainly not."
"Then what is it?" Toby murmured, stepping a little closer to it.
"There's only one thing it could have been, and I can promise you that you aren't gonna like it. In fact, I thought it would have been impossible, but there it is."
"What is it Cry?" Felix looked at me expectantly.
I took a shaky breath, "It's a zombie."
Translations:
Det gör ont så illa.= It hurts so bad. (Thanks google translate!)
Aww, poor Felix. Sorry for the super long chapter, I got a bit carried away. I will be chipping away at chapter 2 right after I post this, so keep a lookout!
Let me know what you thought, I love to hear your opinions!