This is my new skins story about zombies. The focus will be mostly on Naomi and Emily and there is also a Katie and Effy pairing. I was trying to write original characters but figured it would be fun for the skins gang. Read and let me know what you think. I hope you guys like it .
"It was a dark and gloomy day…" JJ began.
"Fucking cliché." Katie interrupted.
He shot her a glare and continued his story. The gang was out camping this time sans mushrooms. They sat around the campfire drinking and listening to JJ and his infinitely many ghost stories. When the fire began to dim JJ and Cook got up to go get more wood.
"Make sure you come back soon, yeah? I'll miss you babes." Arsia said to Cook.
While Cook and JJ were scavenging for firewood, they came upon a nest that had fallen from a tree. There were baby birds in it, chirping. They must have been waiting for their mom to come and feed them.
"Oh man look at them. They look like little aliens. They don't even have any feathers yet. Sick." Cook said as he bent over to get a closer look. As he reached out his hand to touch them JJ stopped him.
"You can't do that. If you touch them then you get your smell on them and their mother will reject them."
"Ugh maybe she should. Look at their eyes. They look demonic. I didn't think birds had white eyes. It looks like there's nothing even there." He bent closer and I looked over his shoulder. JJ agreed that something did look wrong. He thought maybe that they were blind. Cook reached out his hand again and this time JJ was too busy watching the birds to stop him. Before he could touch one, one of them hopped and pecked his finger. It pricked him like a needle and a drop of blood formed on his finger.
"Ow son of a bitch." He yelled as he jumped back. "I should stomp on those wankers."
"Leave them alone. Let's go. We need more wood for tonight." JJ rationalized.
"Fine." He said a little begrudgingly.
They finished collecting the wood and made their way back to the camp. When they got back most of the gang was gone except for Lara and Arsia who were waiting for Cook and JJ.
"Where did everyone go?" JJ asked. "I had another story to tell them about the time Dracula came to England, these very woods actually."
"Naomi and Emily went back to their tent." Lara said.
"And Katie and Effy went back to their tent." Arsia added.
"Panda and Tommo went back to their tent and Freddie and that girl he brought went back to their tent." Lara concluded.
"So can we go back to ours?" Arsia asked slashed whined to Cook.
"Yeah right babes." He said and grabbed a bottle of vodka and Arsia's hand and led her to their tent.
JJ looked quite crestfallen that he couldn't tell his story. "Come on JJ. Let's go." Lara said and took his hand.
4 hours later
Naomi sat bolt upright from sleeping. "What was that?" She asked. When she got no response from Emily, she shook the smaller girl's shoulder. "Ems, wake up. I hear something."
"Hmmm wassa matter? Is it morning?" Emily asked thoroughly confused her voice even raspier from sleep.
"I heard something. Someone is out there." Naomi said.
Hearing the slight panic in her girlfriend's voice made Emily more awake. "Aww Naoms, did JJ's stories scare you?" Emily asked finding her girlfriend extremely cute in this moment.
"No Ems it's not the stories. I heard something." Just as she said this there was another sound like a retching and then coughing. "Someone's out there."
Emily was completely awake now. "It's probably just one of the boys. If it was a crazy ax murderer he wouldn't be making so much noise, right?" She tried to rationalize.
"You're right." This seemed to calm down Naomi who always needed facts to believe things. "I'm going to go check it out." Apparently Emily's logic had made her brave. She grabbed her cellphone and unzipped the tent. Emily followed her out. They didn't see anything around where they had set up but then they heard another retching sound. They slowly made their way towards the sound. Naomi saw him first leaning a hand against a tree and bent over. It was Cook making a proper mess all over the forest floor.
"Are you alright? You scared the shit out of me." Naomi asked.
Cook stood up straight and turned to look at them. His face was pale and sweaty but he was smiling nonetheless. "Emilio, Nomi, I'm great. Just ate something that didn't agree with my stomach. Probably Arsia." He said with a huge grin on his face.
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Let's get you back to the tent so you can sleep it off."
After bringing him back to his tent, Naomi and Emily returned to theirs.
Emily snuggled close to Naomi and smiled as she said, "You were scared."
"I was not." Naomi said immediately in defense mode for being thought weak. "I was…curious." She said searching for a good word.
"You don't have to lie to me." Emily said holding tighter. "I love you no matter what. Besides I thought it was cute." She could feel Naomi's body relax. Emily always saw right through her to the truth inside. She always made it okay to feel whatever Naomi was feeling. Naomi briefly wondered if she made Emily feel the same and hoped she did. She realized in that moment there was nothing more she wanted in the world than to make Emily feel the way Emily made her feel. She felt Emily shift and then there was a soft kiss being placed on her cheek. The message was clear. Emily felt the same.
"Now I'm worried about Cook. I've never seen him throw up before. He drinks more than any of us and remember on his birthday he ate a whole cake in one sitting and he never did." Emily said pondering the situation.
"I don't know. He's probably just getting a bug. Everyone gets sick Ems."
"Mmmhmmm." Emily said starting to drift off.
Emily fell asleep and Naomi lay there still thinking, about Cook and camping trips and how they never seem to end well for the gang, but mostly she thought about the beautiful girl now fast asleep in her arms. It was with these thoughts of her fiery redhead that Naomi fell asleep.
The next morning Naomi and Emily woke up and went out to eat breakfast with the gang.
"Good morning. I would ask you if you slept well but judging by the noises that were emanating from your tent I would say that there wasn't much sleeping going on." JJ said not in a dirty way insinuating anything but in his JJ way that drew conclusions purely from his observations. Still Emily blushed slightly.
"We slept fine, Jay." Naomi answered. "Except we were woken up by Cook tossing his cookies all over the place."
"Yes we heard something too but JJ and I were too scared to go out and investigate." Lara said and this time it was JJ's turn to blush.
"Statistically speaking all horror movies that involve a group of teens drinking and shagging in the woods ends with them all dead in horrific and gruesome ways and none of them ever think they are in a move so the probability that we are in fact in a horror movie…" JJ started rambling before Lara stopped him. "Jay, you're getting locked on."
"Sorry." He said.
"Anyway," Naomi said trying to bring them back on topic, "Has anyone seen Cook this morning?"
"No. Arsia either." Freddie stated.
"Should we check on them?" Panda asked concern apparent in her voice.
"I will." Naomi said. She walked over to the tent she knew Cook and Arsia had slept in. She could hear heavy breathing and then Cook started crying out, "Grab my balls. Grab my balls." Naomi again rolled her eyes and walked back to the gang.
"Well they sound fine."
They could tell by the tone in her voice what she meant. The gang settled and began eating breakfast before the long drive home. About fifteen minutes later Arsia and Cook emerged from their tent. Cook looked even worse than last night. He was deathly pale still and his hair and clothes were drenched with sweat. He had red lines running up his arms and the pinprick the baby bird's beak had left on his finger was now highly infected and had grown a bit in diameter. His whole finger was red and swollen.
"Cook babes, you look like microwaved shit." Katie said as she sat on Effy's lap and threw her arm around Effy's neck.
"Katie love, thanks. I feel like microwaved shit." Cook said.
"Yeah I don't know what happened to this one but we were in the middle of some really steamy shagging, yeah, and this one starts gagging and has to run out. Seems like some shit like…food poisoning, innit?" Arsia added.
"I don't think so. I don't like the looks of that wound." JJ said.
"Yeah or those lines running up his arms. JJ what is it?" Freddie asked concern in his voice.
"An infection of some sort I suppose. Must be from the bird that pecked at him last night. Although I'm not familiar with this." JJ said lost in thought. It wasn't often that he didn't know everything about a subject.
"I think we should take him to the hospital." Emily suggested.
"No, no way," Cook immediately objected, "those nosey wankers always ask to many questions and stick their shit where it doesn't belong," He said as he being to scratch his finger that had the cut on it, "I just need some rest. This one didn't let me get much last night. Isn't that right, babes?" Cook asked grinning smugly.
"Right babes but not like you didn't want it. This one here got frisky and bit my shoulder. He even broke the skin. Kinky innit?" Arsia said proudly showing off her shoulder.
On the ride home Naomi turned around in her seat and looked at Cook. "You are incredible you know that? You're a real winner." She said sarcastically.
"What's that? What are you mad at me for?" Cook asked clueless.
"You're sick as a dog and if possible grosser than I've ever seen you and you still manage to have sex."
He laughed his big Cook laugh, "Ain't no stopping the Cookie Monster," he said and winked. The ride was peaceful for a while.
"Pull over. Pull over." Panda yelled to Effy who was driving. "Cook's about to blow to bits all over the floor." Effy pulled over and the gang piled out so Cook could safely blow to bits as Panda put it.
"I still think we should go to the hospital." Emily said looking at Naomi for support.
"I agree. Besides Arsia's not looking so good either. She may have caught it. It'd be best to get it checked out." Naomi added.
Just as Cook turned around to object Naomi stopped him. "You're too weak to object. We're going."
"Arsia, how are you feeling?" JJ asked walking over to her. He lifted his hand to her forehead and stopped before touching her asking her for permission with his eyes. Arsia nodded that it was okay.
"I'm all right. A little nauseous." Arsia answered a bit concerned.
"You definitely have a fever," JJ said, "I would say at least thirty-eight degrees centigrade."
"Jay, how can you know that?" Freddie asked for a minute distracted from the real problem in amazement at JJ's skills. He and the girl he brought, Gina, had smoked a spliff before the drama with Cook started.
JJ just shrugged. "But I have to also agree with Emily as Naomi did. We should go to a hospital before dehydration sets in, if it hasn't already for Cook." As JJ said this Cook again hunched over and started heaving.
"Fucking hospital filled with fucking tossers." Cook said. Freddie and Thomas went over and helped him back into the car.
They all got back into the car now more shaken up. As Effy drove she took one hand off the wheel to grab one of Katie's that was resting in her lap. Katie had been spacing out but now she looked at Effy and smiled. Both girls had a tough front and pretended to be so strong, as if they could handle anything. They both hid everything from everyone but not from each other. They could be weak in front of each other and strong for each other. They were each other's safe place where they could be completely themselves.
Cook started moaning in the back and could barely move. He was completely out of it. When they arrived at the hospital, Naomi and Emily ran into the emergency room.
"We need help. Our friend is in the car and he's really sick. He can't move. Please help him." Naomi said as she got to the front desk slightly out of breath from running in. She leaned against the counter as two paramedics arrived with a stretcher.
"This way." Emily said and took off holding on to Naomi's hand. They got back to the car and the gang had formed a circle around the car with its doors open. Cook was lying down in the back seat. The paramedics lifted him out and strapped him onto the stretcher. They rushed him inside with the gang following. They pushed him through doors that the gang wasn't allowed to go through.
"What's going to happen?" Naomi asked.
"They'll help him. Does he have family?" A nurse asked.
"I'm his sister." Naomi lied easily.
"Could you have someone check out her too?" JJ asked the nurse indicating to Arsia. "She said she felt nauseous and she has a fever. She might be getting what Cook has."
"No, really I'm fine." Arsia said nervously.
"Let me see." The nurse touched Arsia's forehead. "You're burning up. We'll get someone to check you out. Don't worry dear with you we caught it early. This way you won't get as bad as him. You'll only get better." She said with a reassuring smile.
They waited for hours and hours. Around noon a doctor came out and whisked Arsia away. Then more hours passed with no news of either Cook or Arsia.
"Look Freddie love, I have to get home." Gina said.
"Okay." He looked to Effy.
"I'll give you guys a ride."
"I'm coming with you." Katie said and stood next to Effy.
"Me too. Mom's out of her tree worried. She's called my phone lots." Panda added and Thomas decided to go to.
It ended up with only Naomi and Emily staying.
"We'll call you guys when we hear something." Emily said to the gang.
So the gang left and Emily and Naomi sat there with Emily's head resting on Naomi's shoulder and Naomi's head resting against Emily's. When it started to get dark, Naomi had decided she had had it.
"Excuse me," She said to the nurses at the front desk, "when will they tell us something? We've been here since ten this morning and now it is almost ten at night. Surely they must know something and can give us some information. Not to mention my friend, the girl, wasn't that bad and we haven't heard anything about her either."
The nurse listened to this rant with an expressionless face. She was a different one from earlier. "When they know something, they will let you know."
"Isn't there anyone I can speak to for an update?" Naomi asked becoming irritated.
"One second." The nurse answered as she picked up a phone. When she finished she turned to Naomi and said, "Dr. Higgins will come speak with you."
Naomi now satisfied returned to her seat next to Emily and they waited for Dr. Higgins. About ten minutes later he came through the doors with a tense look on his face.
Naomi and Emily stood up with matching worried expressions.
"I'm Dr. Higgins. I've been one of Cook's doctors."
"How is he? What does he have?"
"We don't know exactly what it is. It is unlike any other illness we have seen. It presents itself a bit like the flu with the characteristics of fever, nausea, and aches but it doesn't respond to any medication and it is clear the body cannot fight it off itself."
"So how is he?" Emily asked even more worried upon hearing the diagnosis or lack thereof.
Dr. Higgins looked down at the floor a bit reluctant to tell them. "Does Cook have any other family, a mother or father, someone…older?" He didn't want to tell the bad news to such young girls not that this was easy news to tell anyone.
"We're the only family he has." Naomi answered to get the information.
"Well, he is becoming increasingly worse with each minute that passes. This virus is killing all his cells ever more rapidly. I wish I had better news but I'm almost one hundred percent sure he will not recover from this. He has only hours to live."
"Why? Why haven't you told us anything until now?" Naomi asked angrily.
"We had nothing to tell, just that he was not doing good. We were trying many different kinds of treatments and even now the other doctors are still trying but there isn't much hope."
"What about Arsia?" Emily asked tears running down her cheeks.
"I'm afraid she is also not doing well. She too has gotten worse. She is not as serious as he is right now but she's not responding to any treatment either so she has more time but the results will end up being the same."
"Oh god." Emily said as she sobbed into her hands.
"I'm so sorry. I wish I had better news to tell you. There is one more thing. We would like to run blood tests on you two and whoever else was with you. We know very little about this virus and unfortunately we do not how it is transmitted. It is just precautionary but we want to make sure it was not spread to anyone else."
Naomi and Emily looked panicked and scared and Dr. Higgins picked up on it.
"Don't worry like I said it is just precautionary. I believe that if anyone else had been infected they would have already been showing symptoms. This virus is very fast moving."
"I'll call everyone else and let them know." Naomi said.
"Can we at least see Cook and Arsia?" Emily asked.
"Unfortunately no, they are both in a quarantine unit and only authorized personal are allowed back there. You understand we can't allow this to spread. Now I will set up blood tests for you two and your friends when they get here. A nurse will be out shortly to get you two." With that final thought Dr. Higgins went back through the doors. Emily turned to Naomi still crying and wrapped her arms around her neck.
"I'm scared." She whispered into Naomi's shoulder.
"I know." She rubbed comforting circles on Emily's back. "I better call the gang and get them here."
"I'll call Katie and Effy. Naomi, do you think we'll be okay?" Emily asked looking up at Naomi. Naomi noted how childlike and helpless Emily looked.
"We're going to be fine." She stated as reassuringly as she could even though inside she felt as scared as Emily was.
An hour later the whole gang sat in the waiting room. They all either had tears still staining their cheeks or frowns on their faces. They were waiting for their blood test results and any more news on Cook and Arsia. When Dr. Higgins came back through the doors all ten of them stood in unison.
"Well I finally have some good news to tell you. It appears that none of you have the virus."
"Appears?" Panda asked worried.
"Yes at the time you're all clear."
"Meaning that since they don't know much about the virus they don't know whether it could lay dormant in our bodies for some time before presenting itself or being triggered." JJ tried to clarify.
"Yes," Dr. Higgins said with a disapproving look on his face. He was upset that this was a virus that was unidentifiable and now he didn't want to panic these kids anymore, "but I wouldn't worry. Like I've said before this virus is extremely fast moving so it is highly unlikely it would lay dormant. It seems to like making its presence known."
"What should we do now?" Effy asked one arm around Katie's shoulders keeping her close.
"Go home. Get some sleep. It's been a long day. We will call Ms. Campbell if there is any significant change in Mr. Cook's status."
"What about Arsia?" Freddie asked.
"Her parents are here. I told her mom to call me if she needs anything." Naomi answered.
The gang walked back to Effy's car dejected. They all piled in and noted how they had more room but none of them were grateful for it. The ride home was quiet. No one could think of anything to say that wasn't sad or just too awful to think about. Effy dropped everyone off then took Katie, Emily, Naomi, and herself back to the Fitch house. Rob, Jenna, and James were gone visiting a sister of Jenna's. Normally, when Rob and Jenna were gone for the night and both couples were staying at the Fitches' the girls would switch which couple would get the twins' room and which couple would get the guest room but tonight they all stayed in the twins' room. Everyone was shaken up by what happened and the company was good for comfort. The four of them fell asleep with the television on at about two in the morning. At five the telly started blaring its alert system awaking the four girls from their slumber.
"What the bloody hell is that?" Effy asked sitting up in bed.
"Algjfgj…" Katie mumbled unintelligibly annoyed at the disruption in her beauty rest caused by both the sound emanating from the television and Effy's shifting in bed.
"Katie, wake up." Effy said.
Naomi was already gently shaking Emily's shoulder. The twins weren't the easiest to wake up. When Emily was awake enough, Naomi turned her attention to the television screen. It said in big red letters 'Warning: This is not a test' as the siren like noise sounded. Naomi started flipping through the channels and they all said the same thing.
"Bloody useless. It doesn't even say what the emergency is." She said as she continued flipping. Just as she said this a news program came on. There was a lady standing outside the very hospital they had been at that day.
"We're unsure how this all began but it's like something from a horror movie. It seems the dead are coming back to life." The lady said as in the background cops could be seen shooting at people but the people didn't look alive. When they were shot, they continued walking towards the cops.
"It seems extremely difficult to stop these creatures and they have a taste for human flesh. The authorities are advising everyone to stay inside their homes and to not only lock the doors but also barricade themselves inside. Place objects against doors and try to nail anything you can across windows. These creatures don't seem to be smart but are very persistent and you can easily become overpowered by the number of them. The city of Bristol has been quarantined and the army has come to get this situation under control. Stayed tuned for more news and again I stress do not leave your homes until the authorities let us know it is safe." The lady made her way to an armored truck while cops covered her.
"Amazing there's still news." Effy said.
"You think this has to do with Cook and Arsia?" Emily asked now fully awake.
"I tend not to believe in coincidences so yes." Naomi said.
"It's unbelievable. Zombies." Effy said and the four of them stood there shocked in silence for a few moments.
"Oh my god. The doors and windows…we have to do what they said." Katie said as she jumped up and ran out the door. This news finally sunk into the brains of the other three girls and they hurried out of the room following Katie.