Author's Note:
*Shamelessly updates another part to this that was written in one sitting instead of working on Tram Wrecked as what should take first priority.*
Apocalyptic
Chapter 2
With Chloe in tow, I broke through the threshold of the coffee house only to be greeted by the complete cataclysm that surrounded the establishment. Despite the lack of humor in the situation whatsoever, my brain took in our surroundings and, funny enough, I instantly thought of a videogame that Simon and I had recently played. The Last of Us. The beginning portion of the game gave way to a scene of a father and daughter fleeing a city-wide slaughter as infected people pounced on their nearest prey. Other people. Ripping out their throats and feasting on their flesh.
What Chloe and I had just stepped into was extremely similar aside from the fact that the man in the coffee house and his friends that we saw outside were not regular people infected by some virus. A few feet ahead of us, a kid that couldn't have been any older than I was, was tackled to the ground by a figure consumed in oversized, tattered clothing. They tumbled onto the street, the boy landing on his back, dark eyes wide with shock and fear as his attacker reared from its straddled position, poising to strike. That's when I noticed that the figure was nothing more than a mass of bones, a full skeleton. Chloe gasped as the creature struck. On reflex, I turned in her direction and stepped in front of her, blocking her view. But that didn't keep her from hearing the kid's screams before they were cut short.
That was not some infected person. That was a corpse. A body that had been dead for years and buried. How it was up and kicking, attacking the living and breathing, I had no idea. And considering that one corpse enjoying the lunch it had just maimed was only one of countless littering the street with dead civilians, I didn't have time to wonder if I was dreaming or had stepped into an alternate reality where suddenly this kind of shit was in existence. I had to find Simon and then get both him and Chloe out of here before one of those things decided that we would be their next meal. After that- well, I just had to cross that bridge when we got there.
I hated that. Not being able to plan ahead. Not knowing the current facts that would help me decipher the best outcome. I was a strategist, not a quick thinker. However, the situation called for an action on the spot and I went with my gut.
"Chloe, we gotta move."
I was relieved when she only nodded in agreement- a shaky nod, but one nonetheless- which meant that she wasn't so overwhelmed by the horrific events taking place that she couldn't move. On my end, I knew I was in survival mode, reacting on adrenaline. That must have been her case too, for her grip on my hand tightened and she started for the front parking lot.
"You sent your brother to your car, right?" She asked in a rush, head on a swivel, trying to find it and keep from barreling into people running in the opposite direction. She flinched at every scream and cry that sounded around us. I urged her to keep going. Don't stop. Don't look. Just go.
I saw my car at the end of the parking lot and felt a slight panic zing through me when I didn't immediately see Simon near it. But then I saw his head slowly lift from hiding down in the back seat, peaking out to scan the area for me. When he spotted us, he waved wildly. Chloe and I broke out into a sprint.
We reached the car as Simon leaned across the front seats and threw the doors open for us. He already had it started, keys in the ignition. When Chloe had her door closed behind her, I threw it into reverse and punched the gas. We ripped out of the parking spot until I hit the breaks to put the car into drive. Chloe nearly hit the dashboard as she hadn't been fastened in yet.
"Seatbelt!" I snapped.
"I'm getting to it." She retorted. "Why don't you just worry about driving."
"I'd be able to concentrate on driving if I knew you weren't going to go through the windshield in case I had to break for one of these fuckers." I growled, trying to maneuver around the number of people filtering through the parking lot like a group of maniacs.
There was a click as Chloe's seatbelt fastened.
"Happy?" She bit out.
"Thrilled." I muttered through clenched teeth, swerving around a corpse that still had patches of skin hanging from its bones.
"Some things just don't change, huh?" Simon said from the back seat, his light tone forced. "Like you two arguing as if school never separated all of us."
"Shut up, Simon." I barked, blinking in slight surprise when I heard Chloe snap the same order in unison with myself.
"That hasn't changed either." Simon uttered under his breath.
Chloe didn't complain when I drove straight to me and Simon's house. I put that off as her having the same family situation she had growing up. Her aunt working in Syracuse and her father always away on business, more often than not in Europe. When we were in grade school she had a 'nanny.' By her lack of concern to get home, I'm sure she had convinced her father that she no longer needed one. She was seventeen after all.
I parked the car in the garage- which was a first- then rushed Chloe and Simon into the house. I instructed Simon to try getting a hold of Dad while Chloe and I bolted up all the doors and windows. From what I could tell, the corpses hadn't made it this far through Buffalo. I had no idea where they were coming from or where they were going, only that we had to keep ourselves indoors and out of sight. I had Chloe run back through and close all the blinds.
"What did Dad say?" I asked Simon when he met us in the living room. I felt an unsettling sinking sensation in my gut when I noted the disparaged look on his face.
"No answer at the office and his cell went straight to voicemail."
I told him to wait a bit then try again, and then I glanced towards Chloe.
"Both my dad and my aunt are overseas right now. The best way to get in contact with them is by email, so I sent one out on our drive over here." She informed me.
"Your aunt is in Europe too?" I asked. Her dad with his realty business I could understand. But her aunt was a full-time doctor at Syracuse General. At least, from what I could remember she was.
"She was hired as a civilian doctor by the Air National Guard base near Syracuse. They stationed her in Germany for the year."
"It'd be awful nice to have a doctor of her caliber tell us what the hell is going on out there." Simon said. "Now I may sound crazy, but I'm pretty sure we just witnessed a bunch of dead people going rampant throughout Buffalo."
"You can't seriously be suggesting that those things were-" Chloe started, but stopped, looking as if she were struggling to get the word out.
"You're the movie buff, aren't you? Didn't those things look like your Hollywood movie zombies?"
"Yeah, but zombies aren't-"
"I don't know about zombies," I interrupted, intent on derailing their Sci-Fi fantasies before they got out of hand. "But those things were people. Dead people. You could tell by the different levels of decomposition, their worn clothes and the filth that they were covered in that they had once been buried. How they're topside or what they are exactly, I don't know. What I do know is that Dad would think that we'd stay indoors and he'll find a way to reach us. Hopefully sooner than later. With that being said, we're staying here and we're going to gather as much information about what's going on as we can. After that, all we can do is wait it out."
"Wait out for what though?" Simon asked.
I tried to come up with an answer. Someone had to take care of this problem. The police? It seemed too big a job for them. Military? The closest base was the one Chloe had mentioned in regards to her aunt. How far had this even spread anyways? Was this just happening in Buffalo? Or was it all of New York State? Or were things far worse than what the three of us had just seen? Everything had been going as per usual and then suddenly, we're under an attack of a zombie invasion?
I had no answer.
"I don't know."
Thanks so much for all the warm responses to this, guys! I honestly didn't think it would be this popular. Basically everyone demanded for me to continue and, for now, I will. I had only one person guess correctly as to what was going on with the sudden dead guy and I hope that more people will catch on. Also, I'm trying really hard to make this feel as if it were a movie by trying to make the updates short with not as much detail as I normally have in my chapters. I don't know how long it will be- if I even finish it- but we'll just have to see how this all plays out.
I'm going to go read Sweet's newest chapter for Amnesia now! You guys should seriously check it out!
Let me know what you think!
