10:08 PM
We step into the store hesitantly, noting that the electricity is still working. That's a plus. It's eerie even so, because the place is empty. This is Wal-Mart. It's NEVER empty, not even at 4 in the morning. The vacancy of the building makes it look even larger. I sigh. On a list of places to head to gather supplies for a crisis like a zombie outbreak, Wal-Mart seems to be an excellent choice. There's plenty of food, a multitude of extra supplies and various forms of weaponry. But if you think about it, that's what makes Wal-Mart a terrible place to go in these circumstances-everyone will go here. Who knows how many people had already been through here, and if any had been infected.
We could be walking into a death trap, I think.
Okay, Soul says. First we need non-perishable food. We don't know when this place'll be totally emptied, and they have the most canned food here. Next, we need to get you a weapon.
I look at him curiously.
Maka, if for any reason we get separated, I can turn just my arm into a scythe as protection. You have nothing.
The thought of us getting separated suddenly seems like the darkest event imaginable.
I nod wearily.
What kind of weapon should I get?
What about…a knife? It'll need to be big enough to ensure you can do damage to their brain, but I think that's your best option here. We can always find something more your style later on. I'll just feel better if you have something.
We set off to the food department, each with a basket. Turning down the first aisle we find, well, nothing shocking. No dead bodies, no guts splattered on the floor or anything. I should feel safer but I don't. Instead, I feel like I'm in the beginning of a horror movie, and this false state of security is just prepping the audience to shit their pants when a hoard of zombies burst through the door. I shake the scenario from my head and start picking up all the long-lasting food I can find. We continue down aisles like this, and eventually end up with a whole load of various fruits, vegetables, meats, soups and snacks, all in cans or pouches. We also grab things like toilet paper and to Soul's minor embarrassment, tampons. We still haven't come up against a single other human.
We prepare to leave the food section when Soul receives a call.
He frowns. It's Black Star. What should I do?
Chances are, even Black Star's figured out what's happening now. Better fill him in.
Soul nods and answers the phone, before cursing and holding it away from his ear as Black Star yells from the other line. That boy has no inside voice to be found.
I walk on ahead of Soul as he stops and eyes a stand of chips, still mumbling to Black Star to shut the hell up and listen for a minute.
A series of sniffles makes me stop dead in my tracks. I glance into a clothing section to find a girl no older than five huddled up in a ball, crying. Unthinkingly, I run toward her.
Hey, are you okay?
She sniffles again and looks up at me with wide eyes. They're pure black.
I'm taken aback, but she's still just a little girl. And she looks terrified!
Sweetie don't worry, you'll be okay. Where's you-
And then it's pitch black.
If I thought it was quiet before, with nothing but the buzzing of lights, it's dead silent now. The girl had stopped crying at the exact moment the lights switched off. How uncanny.
I'm starting to get a really bad feeling in the pit of my gut but I still call out to her.
Hey, little girl, are you there?
No answer.
Just as I begin to feel blindly forward, squatted so that I'll bump into her, I hear Soul yell
Maka?
Soul! I'm right over here, in the clothes, I found this little girl-
Maka RUN!
What? I have to h-
NO JUST RUN TO MY VOICE! NOW!
Soul doesn't particularly like kids but I know he isn't heartless. And I trust him. So I immediately back away but trip over a clothing rack behind me and fall, spilling the contents of my basket.
Ah!
I hear Soul's footsteps desperately turn into the clothes section and then feel his hands grip mine, pulling me up.
Thanks.
He throws all the things haphazardly back in the basket and hands it back to me.
Now let's get you a weapon. He's whispering.
Wait, what about the little-
SHH. He grabs my arm and pulls me away before I have time to say anything else.
We have to use the dim light of Soul's phone to guide us to the kitchen utensils. Soul still isn't saying anything, his jaw taut and ruby eyes darting around, as if expecting an ambush.
I decide there's a reason and he'll tell me when it's appropriate.
We find the knives and I pick out the largest one, an industrial butcher knife. The blade is long and wide, the handle a smooth cherry wood. I hold it up to my face and gulp at my dim reflection. My pigtails are in a disarray, the ends of some strands dyed black from the blood of zombies on the way here. My emerald eyes are wide with fear and my complexion is even paler than usual.
Quickly, I put the knife in a strap on my boot. I shake my right foot around experimentally; the knife doesn't budge. Soul looks a bit relieved now that I have a weapon of my own and pulls me toward the front of the store.
I'm still completely confused as to why he's so intent on getting us out of here. Is Soul scared of the dark? I almost chuckle at the thought.
We come back to the front and I stifle a gasp as I take in the scene at the door.s Illuminated by the moon from outside, we can see the shadows of at least 50 zombies. I put my basket down and look at Soul expectantly, preparing my stance for combat, but he shakes his head and holds a finger up to his mouth, as if it's of the utmost importance that I do not speak. Then he whispers very faintly in my ear.
I'm going to test something.
I want to scream, now's not exactly the best time for experiments! But I hold my tongue.
The zombies are still walking forward- they're almost at us now. Soul grabs my basket from the ground and pushes me back with him so that we're up against a soda machine and I watch in amazement as the zombies PASS US. Without even looking. They walk in a surprisingly organized fashion to the clothing section.
My heart drops in my stomach. The little girl. What is going on?
Soul notices my panic-stricken face and shakes his head sadly, as if to say, there's nothing we can do.
Almost all of the zombies have passed us. We're ready to make a run for it as soon as they've cleared the door. And then the most obnoxious, yet heart-stopping voice yells out.
SOUL? MAKA? YOU GUYS THERE? DON'T WORRY, THE GREAT BLACK STAR IS COMING TO SAVE YOU! YAHHH- OUCH!
Evidently Tsubaki had hit him for being so loud. But it was too late. The zombies at the back of the herd had definitely heard him.
While a lot of them continued their pilgrimage to the back of the store, a great deal turned around and decided we were worth killing.
Black Star you IDIOT!
I figure now that we've been noticed I can afford to scream at him.
He comes through the front door laughing, Relax Maka! I can take out these bakas in two seconds flat! Watch me!
And I sigh as he flings Tsubaki, in her giant shuriken mode, like a boomerang. The first row of enemies fall, having their legs all taken out from underneath.
Black Star, you need to take out their HEADS or they won't die! As I say this, we all watch as black blood forms a string between each leg and zombie, connecting the two until the zombies stand back up, looking the same as before.
Woah.
Shit, Soul spits. He puts down the baskets and transforms.
Black Star just laughs. So you have to take out the head, huh? No wonder they kept coming at us on the way here! Gyahahaha! And then he throws Tsubaki again, this time decapitating every one in the front line. You had to admit, his aim was fantastic.
We wait, half-expecting their heads to reattach, even though we'd killed plenty the same way already. However this time they stay dead, so we can move forward and kill the rest.
The zombies all range in age but are all adults I don't recognize, I notice while slicing through them. I'm sort of glad; I don't want to think about killing another person we know. Stein's maniacal smile flashes through my thoughts long enough to distract me and a zombie has a clear shot at my neck.
Maka watch out! My scythe screams at me.
I snap out of my reverie just in time to slice clean up the zombie's head, and he falls with his head in pieces. Any normal girl would have squealed at the gore. I guess I can thank my schooling for desensitizing me.
As we cut through the mob of them, it becomes increasingly darker until it's very hard to make out even their shadows, so I'm basically swinging blindly.
Maka are you blind? Gyahaa you don't have great night vision like me! As expected! I'll take the rest out, you go get a flashlight!
I want to growl at the idiot but he IS killing them much better than me in the dark. And a flashlight might save our asses in the future, when all the electricity in the city goes out. That always happens in apocalypses, right?
I run off to the camping supplies, constantly looking back over my shoulder to make sure no zombies have followed me. Black Star is still making tons of noise and they're all staying by him. Suddenly it dawns on me- they're blind! They didn't notice us until Black Star showed up, hollering as always. So they only react to sound. This will help us a ton, I figure.
After getting a few different flashlights, all claiming to "last days longer than the competing brand!" and all the batteries I can hold, we head back to retrieve our baskets and check up on Black Star. He's standing triumphantly with his hands on his hips and a huge grin in the middle of a floor covered in zombie parts. I think he was made for this type of thing. Tsubaki is back in her human form and I run up to her as she bursts into tears, hugging her tightly. She, unlike Black Star, is not quite as thrilled with so much killing.
Come on Tsubaki, we did it! We took those fuckers out without a scratch!
Black Star is so dense when it comes to girls.
We-we're staying t-together, she whimpers in my shoulder.
Of course, I agree firmly.
The four of us head back to Soul and my apartment, since it's closer.
Black Star takes out every zombie in our way with enthusiasm while Soul and I carry all the items we stole. I had tried leaving money at a cash register but Black Star bursted out laughing and Soul reminded me patiently that there wasn't anyone, not even a Wal-Mart employee, worried about money at this point.
Poor Tsubaki.
Soul snorts, she's gonna have to get over it at some point.
I glare at him. Not everyone was sitting around waiting for the excuse to kill hundreds of people, you know.
He sighs. Yeah, I got it. She's not a crazy bastard like Black Star. But he's her partner, and there's no way she'll leave him.
I nod and continue watching said crazy bastard tear up another few bodies.
11:52
We arrive home and set our things down, then flop down on the couch in the living room. I wonder why the electricity here is still on, but Wal-Mart's got knocked out…?
Black Star sits in a chair and Tsubaki on the floor below him. She looks like she's going to be sick.
So now that we're all relatively safe, Soul starts, I think we need to talk about what's going on here.
What was the deal with that little girl...? I wonder.
Oh, you guys came across one too? Black Star shouts excitedly. I wince and nod.
Well we found one on our way to your guys' apartment, and tried helping her out. But the second we touched her she screamed and BAM! We were surrounded by a ton of pissed off zombie fuckers!
How weird. I tried calming one down too and then the lights went out...And I don't know what happened to her after...
Black Star had just told me about the little girl when the power went down and that's why I told you to run, Soul says.
I nod. I wonder what would have happened if I touched her...?
I don't want to find out.
So, Tsubaki adds up, that's where the zombies were going when we showed up- to that little girl?
It must be! But why?
I stand up and motion the others to follow me.
I think we need to get a hold of Shinigami-sama and find out what's going on. I also wanna know how Kidd's doing…
There's a moment of silence while we think about our other best friends- the black haired son of Shinigami and his two eccentric weapons.
Then Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki follow me down the hall.
After writing the number to the Death Room on the mirror, I stand back and we all watch expectantly.
Something I've never seen before appears in the mirror. Nothing. Our reflections disappear and the mirror goes blank white.
Shinigami-sama…didn't answer?
Weeeeeee so there's chapter two! I didn't go through this one as many times to edit so hopefully there aren't too many grammar errors.
Many more questions to be answered in the following chapters, like who those creepy little girls are (reminds me of Bioshock, hehe) and what happened to Shinigami! I'm basically winging this whole story a chapter at a time sooooo
REVIEW! PLEASE! if you have suggestions for the plot, errors you found, characters you want killed...
And thank you for reading :3