(So until I can get all the files from Catman Sr. I will have to began a new story, and there' one genre I've yet to see; Zombies! So I'll break it in! Enjoy!)
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money, it's just for fun!
Warning: violence, gore, Zombie junk, the works, death...zombies, zombies, zombies...
Life After Z
Three years; it's been three long years of eeking out some kind of life. This game of survival was wearing Stephanie Plum down. She wanted her old life back, where there were modern comforts and the like. Stephanie wasn't one for this nomadic lifestyle, she was and will always be a New Jersey girl from the 'Burg.
"What I wouldn't do for a shower," Stephanie muttered softly, looking over at her partner, "a hot one as well, not a cold shower."
Stephanie's partner nodded their head and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know, you'd find the person or group responsible for this epidemic and gut them like a fish, Auntie Stephanie."
"When did you grow up into such a smart butt, Mary Alice?" Stephanie huffed turning away from her niece, "Three years of no school, and you're nothing but a thug."
"No way," Mary Alice said pushing Stephanie, "That would be Lisa, she's the little thug…"
'You're right," Stephanie said, pushing away a broken tree branch, "It's that damn Lester and his influence."
Mary Alice giggled and then said, "We can't go too far, remember what Ranger said, he should still be able to hear us when we go to the bathroom."
"Yeah, yeah," Stephanie said, turning away from Mary Alice to use the restroom, "Just try to keep it down, Mary Alice, those things might be lurking around."
Stephanie crouched down to do her business, her mind on that fateful day; the day that everything changed for them all.
Three Years Ago
Stephanie woke up early, and she woke up without the aid of her alarm clock. It made the hairs on Stephanie's arms rise, she had never woken up early on her own. Stephanie let out a long yawn and slipped out her bed, going into the bathroom to use the restroom and to prepare for the day. She spent an extra five minute under the hot water, to wake her up. Stephanie decided to put her hair up in a ponytail, due to the humid, put some makeup on and then left the bathroom to get dressed. With the rent due in about a week, and with only 20 dollars in the bank, Stephanie knew that she had to go out and catch some skips. Stephanie put on a pair of jeans and a thin red t-shirt. It wasn't even 7 in the morning yet, and the may heat was already making itself known.
Stephanie walked into her small kitchen, grabbed the last pack of Pop tarts and began to make some coffee. Since she was up early, she could have the luxury of eating with her favorite hamster, Rex. She broke off a chunk of Pop tart off and gave it to Rex, before she turned her TV on to watch the news. Stephanie frowned when all she got was the Emergency Broadcast system. She flipped through every channel, and cursed, turning off the TV. The first time in a long time to be awake early enough to catch the news, and they're running stupid tests!
Stephanie fixed herself a cup of coffee, and turned to Rex, "Well, I guess we can talk, right?'
Rex twitched his whiskers and then returned to his soup can, with his meal. Stephanie rolled her eyes and said, "Figures…." Before her phone went off. Stephanie looked down and frowned, "What does Val need now?" before she picked her phone up and said, "Hey Val what's-"
"Stephanie! Oh my god! You have to come quickly, Mom killed Daddy and now she's killing Grandma Mazur!" Val sobbed into Stephanie's phone, "Oh god, there's blood everywhere!"
Stephanie's heart froze and she ran into her bedroom, threw a pair of sneakers on and was racing out her apartment, and over to her POS electric blue Honda civic, "Val, you need to get out the house! Go somewhere safe!"
Stephanie winced when she heard Val scream, "What are you doing, Mom, get off her!" there was a moment of silence and then Val let out a high pitch scream of pain, and then the Phone went dead. By then, Stephanie was halfway to her parents' house, doing 75 in a 25 area. Stephanie jumped as her phone went off again, though this time, it was her batman ringtone, which only meant one thing.
Stephanie grabbed her phone, and answered it with a breathless, "Ranger, I can't talk to you, Val-"
"Where are you?" Ranger asked Stephanie, his voice tight.
"I'm going over to my parent's, Val-"Stephanie started, but Ranger cut her off with, "I'll be there soon." Ending the phone call.
It took Stephanie five minutes to get to her parent's house. She parked behind Val's mini van on the side of the curb. When saw that the front door was wide open, Stephanie felt the hair on her arm rise, What was going on in there? Why weren't the neighbors outside when they heard Val scream? She couldn't just stay in her car, Val could be in danger. Stephanie slid out her car and made her way up the front stairs and through the open door. Everything looked normal at the entrance of the house, so Stephanie walked into the dining room, and nearly let out a gasp at what she saw.
Blood, it was everywhere, on the walls, on the table, the chairs, so much blood. Stephanie covered her mouth to prevent the bile from rising, as she scooped the area. Stephanie nearly walked into the dining room, but two figures hunched in the corner made stop dead. It was her mother and her sister,looming over the body of her father. Stephanie's eyes widen when she saw that her sister and mother were eating at his body, what was this, some kind of sick joke?
Stephanie took a step back, and made to run away, but a soft "Aunt Stephanie!" had her turning back into the narrow hallway to see Mary Alice and Lisa, hiding in the powder room that was situated at the end of the hallway. Oh god, did they get a glimpse of this as well?
Stephanie placed her finger to her lips and turned to go and get the two girls. As she did, her shoulder bumped the wall, hitting a picture frame. The frame fell onto the floor with a soft thump, causing Stephanie's sister and mother to turn to where she stood. Stephanie's stomach recoiled in horror. Her mother and Val didn't look normal, they looked, dead. Their eyes were glazed over and sunken in, their skin was greyed and seemed to be decaying, their lips were black, and they seemed to be moving along with some stiffness. Stephanie took a step back, and let out a shriek as her mother and Val came charging towards her. Stephanie turned and ran down the narrow hallway and into the powder room with Mary Alice and Lisa. She closed and locked the door, before she turned to the two shaken girls and said, "It's going to be alright, okay?" earning two nervous head nods from the children, "Okay, good girls…."
Stephanie turned and went over to the small window that was in the bathroom, Lisa and Mary Alice could fit through it with ease. She pushed it open and said, "I'm going to help you two out of here, run to my car, and get in it. Lock the doors and wait for me, I'll be right behind you."
Mary Alice clambered out of the window first, so she could catch Lisa and lead her to the car. Stephanie herself made it halfway out the window, when the door caved in and her sister and mother came in snarling, groaning and rushing towards her. They would have gotten to her but two gunshots rang out through the house, and both Stephanie's mother and sister fell, their bodies not moving. Stephanie let out a gasp as Ranger walked into the powder room and asked, "Babe, are you alright?"
Stephanie nodded her head, as Ranger pulled her back into the powder room, "I'm good, Ranger….the girls! They're outside, I have to go-"
"It's alright, we have them," Ranger said, leading Stephanie out the powder room and into the hallway, "They're in the SUV right now, are you okay, Babe? You haven't been bitten or anything, right?"
"No," Stephanie said, as Ranger led her out the house and over to the waiting Black Rangeman SUV, "Ranger, What's going on? I'm scared."
"I'll tell you when we get to the safe house," Ranger said as they climbed into the SUV, "For now, I just want us out of Trenton."
Mary Alice and Lisa latched onto Stephanie as the SUV went down the road. Stephanie hadn't had a moment to look at what was going on outside, she had been too busy with trying to get to her parent's. Stephanie could now see that something big had happened, the deeper they got into Trenton. People were running around, cars had been totaled in accidents, some were even on the fire. Stephanie covered the girl's eyes as they passed a group of people, looming over a person, eating at said person.
"Oh god, Angie," Stephanie said suddenly, looking up to Ranger, "I don't know where she is! She wasn't at the house!"
"She's at school," Mary Alice said, looking up at Stephanie, "I didn't have to go to school, I had a doctor's appointment today, I have to get a shot, does this mean I don't have to get a shot?"
"I think so, kiddo," Lester said from the driver seat, "This is a valid reason not to go to the doctor's office."
"Auntie Stephanie, m'scared," Lisa whimpered, burying her head into Stephanie's side, "I want mama…"
"I know, sweetie, I know," Stephanie said, hugging the two children.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Auntie Stephanie!" Mary Alice said, going over to Stephanie, who pulled her pants up, finished with the bathroom, "Are you done, I'm hungry and I bet they've begun to make dinner!"
"Alright, alright," Stephanie said, leading Mary Alice back to where they were camping, "Come on, I'm sure you're excited for MREs and mystery canned food."
"You bet," Mary Alice said, grabbing Stephanie's hand, as they walked out the woods, "It's better than eating deer kidneys."
"True," Stephanie said, as they got closer to the camp site, "Maybe there's something sweet in the supplies we found."
"It'll probably taste icky," Mary Alice said, before she perked up, seeing her sister run towards them, "Lisa!"
"M.A.!" Lisa exclaimed pouncing on her older sister, "You're back, no icky creepers got you!"
"They're not creepers, Lisa," Mary Alice said as the trio made it into the camp, "They're Zombies….get it right!"
"Whatever," Lisa said, sticking her small tongue out at her sister, before rounding on Stephanie, "Auntie Stephanie, can you help me read that book we found, unlike my sister, I like reading."
Stephanie smiled and picked up the six year old, "Sure, we can, come on now, let's go get some food."
"Lester taught me how to hold a handgun properly," Lisa said, as Stephanie led them over to a black SUV, "He says that I have potential, that's a good thing, right?"
"I don't know…." Stephanie sighed, putting Lisa down, "Now scoot, you and Mary Alice go eat, I think Lula is in charge of food rationing tonight."
Lisa and Mary Alice ran off to another black SUV, while Stephanie climbed up on top of the SUV she stood in front of. Ranger was situated on top of it, reading a map, and drawing lines on it to mark their route. Even after three years of living day by day, Ranger was still as handsome as ever, with Mocha colored skin, and soft milk chocolate eyes. He was fitter than ever, having to deal with Zombies, his muscles bulged underneath the shirt he wore. It still made Stephanie's heart flutter when she looked at him.
Ranger's lip curled into a smile and he said, "I'm glad I can still make you swoon, Babe," making Stephanie sputter and whine.
"I didn't say that out loud, did I?!" Stephanie asked, sitting beside Ranger on the roof of the SUV, "What are you doing?"
"You did say that out loud, and for your second question, I'm looking for a way around the city, I don't want us to go through any city or town, we need to be sticking to country roads." Ranger said looking up to Stephanie.
"Do you think it's true?" Stephanie asked, looking up at the darkening sky, "Do you think there's a safe place that's Zombie free?"
"I'm not a wishful kind of guy," Ranger said softly, looking back down at the map, "I don't know, Stephanie, but we won't know until we see for ourselves, right?"
"I just want a place where the girls can have some kind of childhood," Stephanie said looking over to where Mary Alice and Lisa stood, "Running and hiding from creatures that want to eat our flesh gets kind of tiring, right?"
"Yeah," Ranger said folding the map up, "It does, but we have to keep living, so we have to keep running, until we find a safe place."
Ranger pulled Stephanie into a hug and said, "Go get some food, I know you're starving, we're heading out at day break."
"Okay," Stephanie said as Ranger let go of her, "Did you eat?"
"No, but I'll eat something soon," Ranger said with a smile, "Go on and eat…."
Stephanie slid off the roof of the car and made to turn to walk over to where the girl were. Stephanie turned when Ranger said, "Babe, catch."
Stephanie stuck her hands out and caught a packet of Tastykakes. Ranger gave her a smile and said, "Managed to find those at the gas station we were at, they might be a little on stale side, but it's the thought that counts, right?"
Stephanie smiled and said, "Right," before she gave Ranger a finger wave and walked over to the girls.
TBC
(So, how this for a start? Reviews are loved, I love your feedback! :T)