Heavy, thick metal doors slowly shifted open, letting the convoy of vehicles drive into the basement of the skyscraper that housed the dwindling survivors of New York City.
Dave was only three years old when the first undead corpse was found in Miami, and only a year later it had spread across the country and into upstate New York, infesting Dave's hometown and dropping the living population by half.
For as long as Dave could remember he'd lived in a world of the undead, staying indoors, and fleeing from one safe haven to the next. Today however was the first time he'd ever been in New York City.
And as he had rode through the city of dreams in the van with his family and friends he couldn't help but look up in awe at the buildings that seemed to touch the sky. But he was quickly brought back to reality when the vacant and ghost-like streets caught his attention.
It was dark inside the basement of the new compound Dave would be calling home when he crawled out of the van, and after being out in the bright sun, Dave stumbled around unable to see clearly in the darkness. He heard what sounded to be the man in charge of this compound welcoming his group when his vision came back enough to make out the commanding black man standing before him.
"I'm Lieutenant Marcus Williams, I've been here for the past nine years and I've been in command at one compound or another in New York since the beginning. Before that I was on the NYPD force, so yes I know what I'm doing, and to keep everyone safe and secure here, everyone has to follow the rules," The man in charge boomed out addressing the newcomers.
"Number one is to not leave the compound. The only people who leave this compound are on our Defense Squad, and they go through extensive training…" Dave stopped paying attention.
It was the same rules as everywhere else. Don't leave the compound. Don't skip out on work. Don't do anything stupid.
Of course out of all the rules, the first was generally the most often broken. Dave and his friends had already made plans to sneak out and explore the city. It was, after all, once the most bustling and powerful city in the country, if not the world.
It was a typical past time of the younger generation, sneaking out and exploring the ruins of whatever city had once been home to the people confined in compounds, trying to evade the ever-growing zombie population. Most would just sit around and tell tales of zombie killing in a sort of grotesque campfire story rendition, but few had actually come face-to-face with one.
In fact, the only people who ever did were usually on the defense squad and trained for months before ever being let out of the compound to face any of the undead. Those brave men and women in Dave's old compound had to be over 18.
"Dude," Dave's friend Marty said softly, hitting him in the arm to get his attention. "We are so signing up for defense squad." He whispered.
"What are you talking about? We aren't old enough, Marty," Dave replied condescendingly.
"Dammit, Dave, pay attention," Marty whisper yelled at him. "The lieutenant just said they accept recruits at 16 here," He whispered excitedly and his other friend, Todd, grinned holding two thumbs up in the air enthusiastically as if to say, 'we're in!" Which if they were on the defense squad, they would definitely be a part of the 'in' crowd.
In an age where the only people you ever know and would ever meet pretty much stayed the same due to the quarantine and confinement the zombie plague had brought to the country, celebrity status came only from one thing. And that thing was killing zombies.
And the only way to kill zombies was to be on the defense squad. Which had always made age 18 the ultimate right of passage. But now that it was within reach, Dave could feel his blood pumping with excitement.
He'd never been a reject or the last one picked, but he definitely was far from being noticed. He was just sort of invisible. Especially when it came to the opposite sex. Although at times Dave was thankful that girls couldn't 'see' him since he often embarrassed himself every time he tried talking to one.
But if he were on the defense squad, that would change everything. Girls would notice him, probably even want him, and the guys wouldn't just think he was a geek that spent his time day dreaming anymore. They would probably be on the squad together, looking out for each other's backs and for the community. He'd be a hero.
He was thinking about his bright looking future while he made his way to what would be his new home with his father. He carried the bundles of supplies each new family was given, which typically were a first aid kit, rations, and other necessities, when time seemed to slow down. Down the hall, across from where Dave was walking, stood a stunning brunette talking to another girl.
Dave couldn't help but stare, this girl was beautiful. She was smiling and talking with the other girl, and Dave felt a heat rise to his face. Both of the girls started laughing and Dave swore that the brunette sounded as if she were tinkling like little bells. Dave was almost right next to the girl when she turned and looked right at him.
Dave realized that he was literally staring at the girl, eyes wide and mouth agape, so he tried saving face and awkwardly smiled and chuckled. The girl looked at him with cautious confusion and Dave snapped his head away, trying to keep from embarrassing himself further.
Dave walked the rest of the way with his head down, staring at the ground. The room Dave wound up with wasn't anything spectacular. It didn't even have a window. But it wasn't as cramped as their last one. There were two cots laid out with bedding and an extra change of sheets with a nightstand on one edge of the room and a small table and chairs on the other. There was also a small medicine cabinet on the wall, a chest of drawers, and a trashcan. It was plain and a hodgepodge of different furniture, but it was a home. It provided the necessities.
The compound was set up like many of the others had been. When people started fleeing and holing up in makeshift compounds towards the beginning of the zombie plague, people tried using old hospitals or hotels, but most of those places weren't secure enough to survive against the ever-growing zombie population. So they were either abandoned or became zombie breeding grounds.
Now that it's been over a decade since the initial invasion, the people that survived adapted and learned that security is key to survival. Thus most compounds now are modified military compounds or prisons. There had even been mental institutions turned into safe havens. This particular compound was the last standing in New York City.
It was once full of offices and businessmen, but it had a basement built to withstand nuclear fallout. It was constructed during the cold war, and rumors were that it was originally designed as a safe haven for the New York elite if things with Russia went south. It was never used for that purpose, but it's purpose of protection worked out well decades later against a different type of enemy.
Only a handful of the residents within really knew all the secrets that the building held, but most of the people didn't mind that. They were safe, and that's pretty much all a person could ask fore. Plus there had never been a zombie break-in, unlike the other compounds that had once dotted around the city, made from notoriously 'secure' buildings such as the Federal Reserve Bank, or the Empire State Building.
Dave had spent time in several compounds. After the initial outbreak, when Dave was just a small child, his family had decided to flee to the local sports arena, like many others in the community had. It had been set up to house people like refuges. But the expanse of glass windows, that had been so modern in design, did little to keep hungry, raving zombies from entering and having a feast.
Next, Dave and his parents fled to a hotel complex that had been set up as a makeshift compound, but it was also compromised and the Lizewski family had to flee once more. After several failed attempts at survival inside their home city, Dave's family decided to try living in the wilderness. They found a small band of survivors holed up in caves and that's where Dave met his life-long friends, Marty and Todd. Their families had gone through similar experiences and bonded. But once again the area had been invaded by zombies.
Marty, Todd, and Dave's families stuck together throughout many compounds to come, and until the last one, things had seemed fairly normal to Dave. The occurrence of zombies invading the compound was unfortunately common to Dave and his friends. Not that it made it any less frightening.
Dave's dad had told him that there had been movies about zombies back before the invasion, but that those zombies were like shuffling corpses rather than the diverse mixture of 'creepers' (as they were sometimes called) that were around today.
Some of them did shuffle along, but those were rare since zombies tended to retain parts of their physical and mental personality. Some would run after you, others would play strategies of trapping groups of people. Every zombie was different, which made surviving them more difficult.
Dave gritted his teeth, thinking back on the demise of his last home, and dropped the bundle of supplies on the table.
"Not too shabby, considering what I've heard about New York apartments, this is luxury sized," Dave's father joked, sitting down on the cot and bouncing up and down, as if testing it's softness.
Dave rolled his eyes at his father failing at trying to be funny. "I was going to meet up with Todd and Marty to sign up for defense squad, so I'll see you at dinner," Dave told his dad, turning to walk out the door and head towards the common area.
Dave's father jumped up off the bed and his demeanor changed. "No you're not. Defense squad is out of the question. I can't believe they even let you kids go out and do that here."
Dave turned back around to face his father and gave a pout before he even realized it. He quickly wiped his face of that emotion and tried to look as mature as possible.
"What do you mean, I can't be on the defense squad?"
"I mean, you're not going to be going out at sixteen and getting yourself killed, or worse, turned, just because you think being on the squad will make you mister popularity or something. I was a teenager once myself, you know, I remember all the stupid mistakes I made, and I'm not going to let you do one that could cost you your life, Dave." His father retorted, very serious, and in full-on father discipline mode.
"You can't be serious. I'm going to be the only guy not on the squad!" Dave whined, forgetting about the whole, act as mature as you possibly can, act.
"I'm sure there will be at least one other family that has enough sense to keep their son out of that death club, son," He replied, nonchalantly, meaning that this wasn't a negotiable subject.
Dave's face fell into a scowl and he gave up, knowing there was nothing he could do. "Fine. I'm still meeting up with Marty and Todd, though," He said darkly as he turned and stomped out of the room, leaving his father alone.
So instead of writing the next chapter of Fledgling Chance, I've come up with this new story idea I had to write down. I tried looking to see if there were any fics in the KA universe with zombies and couldn't find any (found one w/ vampires, but no zombies but that's probably just due to a CGM influence. Oh and one Holiday Bonus of Makokam's I think had some sort of zombie theme going on, now that I think of it) which I found kind of surprising. I'd figured Mindy would be the ultimate zombie hunter, am I right?
I promise I'm working on FC, I haven't given up on it, I just felt like this would be something equally fun to write as well (here we go, trying out writing two fics at once...).
I guess I should tell you that I've never watched the Walking Dead, so there's not much of an influence there. In fact, I think the only zombie movies I've seen all the way through are Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland.
So let me know what you guys think. Will this be an awesome idea or a horrible failure? Lol, hope to hear from all of you guys!