Ahhh, I'm sorry for the super long delay! I have this terrible thing with school and procrastination and writer's block. I've also run out of things to read, so I've turned back to writing to relieve my ever present boredom. So this is me, writing stories instead of studying and working on my AP homework. Huzzah. To make up for my long absence, I'll give you a long chapter.
I don't own Choice of Zombies, Rise of the Guardians, or Guardians of Childhood. But I really wish I did.
This is a line, kay.
They passed the night fairly quietly. Tatiana had served a wonderful meal, Aster was graciously silent. For now, at least. Kozmotis couldn't care less about sleeping on the floor. They were safe for the night. Before going to bed, Kozmotis had gone over the plan with Tatiana and Aster; it was the least he could do. "We're leaving in the morning," He'd said. "It's safer for everyone if we keep moving. We could also use some help, so you're welcome to come if you want." Aster looked like he wanted to protest, but a sharp jab from his wife cut him off before he began. "I trust your judgment, at least. If what you say is true, then I don't think I would feel comfortable staying here. We'll do what we can to help." She smiled weakly, the sudden pressure of the dark news straining her pretty face.
Sleep would be hard to come by now, but Kozmotis couldn't sleep. He felt restless. He wanted to make sure his daughter, and now Jack as well, were safe. With another restless sigh, Kozmotis sat up from his little nest of blankets on the floor and stood to go stand by the little window. The stars twinkled at him from the sky, but there was no moon to be seen. A new moon. The general had never been one for superstitions, but the lack of moonlight made him uneasy. Were they going to survive this? And even if they did, would they come out of it with their minds still intact. In a sense, this was worse than war. Nobody seemed to know what to do, and Kozmotis wondered if he even knew what to do. But he had people to protect, and as long as he still had life in his body, he would keep them safe. With that in mind, he shuffled back from the window and to his nest. He should still try to sleep.
Everyone was up early the next day. Well, almost everyone. Kozmotis carried Seraphina out of the bedroom, walking silently down the hall were a quick breakfast and coffee were waiting. He had better enjoy the coffee while it lasted. This would most likely be the last time he had any for a very long time. He shared a small smile with Tatiana as he sat down. Jack was still half asleep in his chair and at risk of slumping face first into his breakfast. Aster, he assumed, had finished a while ago and was now gathering up supplies they would need. They ate quickly and Kozmotis went to go help Aster as soon as he was done. He may not have been very fond of the man, but petty dislike wasn't very high on the priority list at the moment.
Kozmotis found Aster in the hall closet, pulling out a small medical kit. It looked a little outdated and unused. The general eyed it warily. Aster must have caught the look because he made a grumpy sound and glares back. Oi, don't turn your nose up at it. Some is better than none, ain't it?" "I never said anything," Kozmotis said, putting his hands up in a show of non-aggression. He just got another grumble in response. "You have non-perishable food, don't you? We'll need a lot of it, since we probably won't be stopping very frequently after this. At least not in places where we can get food." Kozmotis inquired with a tilted head. Aster only seemed to glare at him harder for that. "You think we didn't already think of that? Tatiana packed up all of the food we could take earlier this morning before you lot even got up." With a sigh, Kozmotis just turned and walked away. He just couldn't win with this man. He would have more luck talking to Aster's wife. Why Tatiana even married the man, he will never know.
After that, it doesn't take long to get everything in order. They all pack up the car, take their seats, and head out.
About half an hour into the drive, Kozmotis glanced over at Jack to see how he was doing. The young man looked like he was playing around with a smartphone. "What are you doing?" He asked, turning his eyes back to the road. "Oh," Jack said, looking up briefly. "Well, I thought my phone had fallen out of my pocket when I was running away, but it didn't." He leaned back and tapped at the screen. "I checked to see if the internet was still up. It is which is kind of funny. Twitter actually has a #zombiepocalypse survivor group going on. Looks like it's so people can check in and tell everyone they're okay." Jack paused for a minute or two, scrolling down to look at a few of the posts. "I'll put all of our names on it, okay." Kozmotis blinked and raised a brow. "Er… Alright." He had absolutely no idea what Jack was talking about. Again, he just wasn't a technology person.
"Huh," Jack said after a few more minutes. "This is weird." "What's weird?" Tatiana piped up from a row back. She leaned up a little bit to join the conversation.
"Okay, so there's all these Tweets, from the last few days-they're all from different people, and they all say things like #still okay and #not a zombie yet and stuff like that. Except there aren't any from yesterday or today. Everyone's gone dark. But there's still one guy-Nicholas North. He's been posting the same thing over and over again every few hours. The last few say COME GET ME, Need transport to shelter, and Can provide protection." Jack squints at his phone in concentration. "The name sounds familiar…" He shook his head and began to type. "I'm going to ask him for directions on how to get to him."
While Jack was doing that, Kozmotis glanced down at the gas gage out of reflex. It's just the smart thing to do when driving through the back country roads. The tank is about half full. That's about when Aster points out an upcoming gas station. It's little more than a single pump and a shack for a rest house, but it could still be working. "I'm not sure we should stop there…" Tatiana said quietly. Kozmotis silently agreed with her. It just looked too quiet to actually be safe. "Yeah, well it never hurts to bag some extra stuff. It's too far out to have been looted, I bet." An uneasy silence came over the car for a while. Kozmotis slowed down and looked at the tiny station. He came to a gradual stop at the turn off and glanced around at the other passengers. "Well? Do we want to stop or keep going?" Another long silence, and then, "Why not just pull in for a minute?" suggested Jack. Kozmotis hesitated for a while longer, but in the end, he rolled into the drive and parked next to the little pump.
"Alright, here's what we'll do. Two people are going to stay here to fill up the car and stand guard. Two people are going to go look through the shop and see if we can find anything. Understood?" He got a nod out of everyone but his daughter. Seraphina looked very put out. "But daddy, what about me? What do I get to do?" She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted up at him. Kozmotis sighed and gave her a tired smile. "You get to be our siren, sweetheart. You stay with the group at the car, and if you see anything bad, you scream as loud as you can." He knew they could all count on that. Seraphina could scream like a banshee when she was so inclined to do so.
Her face changed to something resembling determination. Kozmotis knew he could count on her. Both Aster and Tatiana slid out of their seats, followed by Jack. Once he was sure his daughter would be alright, Kozmotis stepped out and stretched. When he put his arms down and opened his eyes, he noticed a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head slightly to find Jack staring at him with a slightly awed look. The general blinked at Jack, frowning. "What?" That seemed to snap Jack out of his stupor. The boy shook his head and laughed nervously. "Nothing, just… I haven't really had the chance to notice how tall you were until now." Jack ducked his head and shifted uneasily. For now, Kozmotis left it alone. They had to work quickly.
Tatiana and Jack volunteered to stay with the car and top it off, which left Aster and Kozmotis to go scope out the shop. They didn't look at or talk to each other as they made the short walk to the creaky looking door. They really shouldn't have been surprised at the zombie shuffling toward the back corner of the store. It looked like it had trapped someone and was advancing forward. There was still the chance to save them, then, if they hadn't been bitten yet. "Pitchiner, I know what you're thinking," Aster growled. "It ain't worth it, mate. Don't do it." Kozmotis just shot him a look. "If you know what I'm thinking, then you know I'm going to try." They had worked together long enough, so Aster should know that by now. He was going to save this man. He didn't want to use the gun just yet unless he had to. They would need to save ammunition.
Kozmotis glanced around the shop to look for something to use. Along the left shelves were Frisbees, beach balls, whiffle balls, and plastic bats. A little further down there was a freezer full of bags of ice. Nothing very useful there. On the right side of the store there were cans of cat food, charcoal, lighter fluid, and some cookout type foods. Vaguely, Kozmotis wondered why there was cat food in the cookout display. However, in the time it had taken him to look around the store, the zombie had lost interest in the cowering person in the corner and had turned on them. For whatever reason, it seemed more interested in the two of them. With very little warning, it lunged forward. On a split second decision, Kozmotis jumped right. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aster going for the person in the corner. Good.
What wasn't good was that the zombie was lurching after him as he scrambled for the shelves. As quickly as he could, Kozmotis grabbed one of the lighters and a jug of lighter fluid. His hands were shaking slightly as he wrenched the cap off of the jug. The zombie continued to shuffle forward and Kozmotis forced himself not to freeze up. He swung the lighter fluid in a wide arc, sending the liquid everywhere. A good splash lands on the zombie. He swung the container back again before pouring the rest of the jug out on the floor. The zombie had paused, seemingly confused by the lighter fluid. It didn't stop for long, but it was just enough time to flick the lighter on and dash out of the way.
"GO!" Kozmotis shouted. He dropped the lighter, as he ran. Aster was close behind him, carrying the other person over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Neither of them look back.
From there, it's a mad dash to the car. Aster is shouting at Jack and Tatiana to get in the car. The Australian ripped his door open and jumped in, slamming it behind him. The person from the store is unceremoniously tossed into the row behind them. Kozmotis jumped and rolled across the hood of his car. He caught a brief glimpse of Jack's startled expression before he landed on the driver's side and hurried in. Kozmotis barely managed to get his door shut before he cranked the key in the ignition and floored the gas. By the time they had started down the road, the entire station was in flames. A few more minutes on and they could all hear the explosion. The gas pump had blown, sending balls of fire in every direction.
They had been driving for what felt like a small eternity before Kozmotis felt his heart start to settle.
Eventually, Aster insisted they stop when they got to a wide open area a few more miles down the road. They had to make sure the person from the store hadn't been bitten. There were no bite marks, much to everyone's relief. But then Kozmotis really looked at the man. "Hang on a tick, is that…" He squinted and stepped closer. The man was short and chubby, with fluffy blonde hair sticking up in all direction. He had a kind face; one that Kozmotis would never forget. "Sanderson!"
He rushed forward, hands flying in a flurry of signs. He hadn't seen Sanderson in years! Sanderson grinned up at him, signing back. They spent a few minutes briefing each other on what had happened. When they were done, Kozmotis turned back to the rest of the group with a smile. "Everyone, this is Sanderson Mansnoozie; Sandy for short. He's a friend of mine from college. He said he was trying to get to the interstate to get to Mr. North, but apparently his car broke down." Kozmotis turned back to Sandy, signing again, He pointed to each member of their group and told him their names. "Um… Can you ask him if he wants to come with us?" Tatiana asked quietly, still keeping a wary eye on the short man. "Well, if we're all going to the same place, then I think he should come. Besides, safety in numbers." Jack said, shrugging. Kozmotis caught the young man staring again, but he paid it no mind.
"Sandy will be coming with us." Kozmotis announced after a minute or two more of silent conversation. "Just so everyone knows where we're going, Mr. North is apparently in the transfer station a few miles from here on exit 13." After all of the talking was done, everyone piled back into the car, now with a permanent sixth member. "Our family is even bigger now." Seraphina said, bouncing happily in her seat. Even though most of them weren't blood related, nobody bothered to correct the little girl. The statement was true, after all.
There were flowers blooming along the road. They were vivid shades of pink and purple and every other color. The breeze blew around them, making them wave gently as the group drove by. Pennsylvania at its finest. It really should look lovely. But there were cars crashed and abandoned all up and down the interstate. And Jack was complaining weakly about seeing a hand in the wildflowers. That isn't lovely at all. Slowly, cautiously, Kozmotis rolled the car into the entrance of the transfer station. They came to a stop and almost everyone leaned forward or pressed themselves against a window to see out and get a good look at their surroundings. The car has stopped in front of a wide paved area that is almost completely surrounded by barbed wire at the perimeter. Aster cursed loudly as he got a good look out. "The entire place is fucking overrun with those undead bastards!" Aster growled. He was promptly slapped in the back of the head by Tatiana. "No bad words in front of children." Tatiana shook a delicate finger in her husband's face. Aster grumped under his breath, but had better sense than to argue.
Kozmotis hummed, thinking hard as he watched the lurching figures move across the pavement and among the abandoned cars. At the far end, he could see the transfer building. It was a multistory building that looked a little like an oversized shack to him. "Look," Jack said, pointing toward the bottom of the building. There was more fencing surrounding the base, but Kozmotis could see where Jack was pointing to. "There are some openings there that probably lead to the pit floor. Like where trucks can dump their garbage." Jack dropped his hand and grinned up at the general. He managed to return a small smile to the young man. Sure enough, there was a wide open space where a truck was parked with the bed slightly raised. It must have been in the process of unloading trash when the attacks started up.
"Some of those zombies are probably the employees. Their parking lot is right next to the pit floor." Tatiana said, watching with some kind of morbid fascination as the undead milled around what could have been their cars. "Yeah, but there's too many of them to all be employees. Where did the other ones come from?" Jack asked. He turned in his seat to look back at the couple and the little girl. Aster snorted and rolled his eyes. "It's obvious, ain't it? They were probably drawn by the smells coming from the pit." Everyone shuddered. Kozmotis thought he could hear somebody gag. That wasn't something he wanted to think about.
"Daddy, look! There's a man on that tower!" Seraphina had pulled herself forward so that she was halfway into the front of the car. Everyone turned their gazes up to the top of the smokestack that stood just to the left of the transfer building. There on the catwalk among the scaffolding was a rather large looking man in a bright red coat. Kozmotis assumed that this must be Nicholas North.
Half a dozen zombies were surrounding the area, sluggishly pulling the metal mesh back and forth and staring up at the potential meal with their blank eyes. They were not being particularly efficient about it, but the fence would come down eventually. They must have run out of everything else to eat. That was when Jack's phone cheeped. Jack glanced down at it and read the message. "He's asking if we're here yet. He says that he saw our car coming in. He's on top of the smokestack." The young man looked up from his phone to the general, gaze questioning. "Alright. Er… Tell him we're here, I guess." He said, suppressing the urge to shrug. Almost as soon as the message was sent, the phone began to ring. Jack answered it and put it on speaker. "Hello," says the voice on the other end. The accent is thick and the voice sounds tinny through the speakerphone. Kozmotis guessed that it could be Russian. "This is Nicholas."
"Kozmotis." The general says in lieu of a hello. He kept a wary eye on the various hordes of zombies.
"You will want to be careful." North said. "This place is full of zombies." As if they had missed that fact so far, Kozmotis thought dryly to himself. "Inside and out," North continued. "I am thinking couple people came to work with infection. Incubation time from biting is about one hour as far as I can tell from people I have seen, assuming you are not just killed. If you are already dead, BOOM! Instant zombie! It spread through this place very fast. I knew that only chance to live for me was to get to the tower and make barricade."
North sounded pretty proud of himself. Had he not noticed that he had put himself in a position where there are several floors and several zombies between himself and safety? Kozmotis mentions something to that effect. "Bah, is fine," North laughed. Kozmotis could picture him waving a hand dismissively, as though all of their lives were not in danger. "I have plan."
"I have had lot of time to watch them. They are very distractible. They will go after nearest shiny thing. Or loud thing. And I can see everything from here." North said in what could have been an encouraging and reassuring manner. It really wasn't. But North did seem to have some valuable information. "So here is plan. You see that truck? The keys are still in. I can help you sneak to it. You start it and get it pointed downhill, and fix block of wood or something to hold gas pedal down. Maybe get the horn to beep too. The zombies will all flock after it, and as soon as they're drawn away from incinerator fence, I come down the ladder and we get out of here. Is perfect, no?"
"I think I hate this plan." Aster deadpanned. Well, the plan didn't seem too bad, but it was risky. "Well, do you have a better plan, Bunnymund?" Kozmotis glanced back at the Australian, raising a brow expectantly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." Aster puffed out his chest and raised his chin up. "You drive away from the door, honk the horn a few times and get their attention. They'll follow us. Then ya just run 'em down as they come and we meet the guy by the door when we get 'em all. Simple. And nobody has to get out of the car." That could be a possibility, but there were a lot of zombies out there. "I think we should use the first plan." Kozmotis decided. "Okay," North said quietly. "You will have to have to approach truck from the pit floor. I can see everything from here, and there are no zombies in the lunch area behind building. So you could climb the perimeter fence near the lunch area and run into the transfer building. Or if you don't want to climb, there is hole in the fence near the employee cars. You could hide behind cars and sneak into the building."
For a moment, Kozmotis considered his options. Climbing the fence would put him at risk from the barbed wire at the top, but it would put him exactly where he needed to be. Leapfrogging past all of the cars would put him perilously close to the zombies ambling around outside, but if he was quiet, it should be possible. He hesitated for another minute before quietly pushing his door open. Before he stepped out, he felt a hand on his arm. Kozmotis turned, his golden gaze meeting Jack's icy blue gaze. He expected the boy to ask him not to go, but he was surprised. "Be careful, okay. Come back in one piece." Jack said softly. They held the gaze for a few more seconds before Kozmotis turned away. "I'll try." But there would be no promises.
With his heart in his throat, the general slipped through the hole in the fence. Just on the other side of the cars, he could hear the zombies shuffling about. For the most part, the cars could provide some protection, but there were a few gaps where he would have to make a run for it. He could only hope that none of them saw him.
Kozmotis quickly made has way past the first too cars, looking over his shoulder to his car. Everyone was leaning forward with wide eyes. Even Aster looked a little nervous. The first gap was coming up. Kozmotis peeked out from behind the bumper and held his breath. There were two zombies standing there, so close he could have reached out to touch them if he had wanted to. Lucky for him, they were looking in the opposite direction. He crouched down, took a deep breath, then darted forward. He froze behind the next car, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of his chest. Neither of the zombies pursued him. He got past the next car and dashed again. On the last run, Kozmotis made it to the lunch area. A few zombies turned their heads then, but the general had already ducked into the building.
Kozmotis nearly heaved as he eased into the pit floor. The inside of the transfer station reeked of meat and slimy things and vomit and diapers and whatever else was in people's trash. The whole place looked like one big garage and the truck he needed was on the far side of the pit. It would be difficult and probably very stupid to try to run straight to the truck. It would be too easy to get caught by a horde of hungry zombies. There was a set of stairs and a platform leading almost directly to the truck. It wasn't nearly as risky, but the horde still might be able to see him. They wouldn't be able to do very much about it if he went up to the platform, but the situation could change while he was up there. Sprint across or take the stairs…
The situation changed while Kozmotis thought. Movement on the platform drew the general's attention, and he caught sight of a solitary zombie shuffling along by the railing. Still, it was only one… And there was a fire extinguisher right there by the staircase. He acted quickly. Kozmotis silently took the fire extinguisher, crept up the stairs, and raised the metal canister. The zombie had just started to turn when Kozmotis brought the extinguisher down hard. It collided with the zombie's head with a dull thunk, adding coagulated blood and brain to the fire truck red metal.
It was almost comical how the zombie toppled sideways and cartwheeled over the railing. Kozmotis glanced over the railing just in time to see the zombies on the floor below swarm their fellow to gnaw on its skewed limbs. After that, he sprinted the rest of the way over to the truck, stumbled down the stairs, and carefully oven the passenger door to slide into the driver's seat. Zombies clustered around the truck, banging their fists uselessly on the sides. They left disgusting smears on the sides as their wet, rotting skin made contact with the metal and glass. Just as North had said, the keys were in the ignition. Kozmotis started the truck.
He gunned the engine to start it up and attract as much attention as possible, even blowing the horn a few times for good measure. With the fire extinguisher, Kozmotis wedged the engine down. Then he pressed down on the clutch, engaged the first gear, and pushed himself over to the other side of the cab as far as he could without letting up on the clutch. He reached over, shoved open the passenger door, released the clutch, and jumped. He was in freefall for a second or two, jarred and slightly nauseated as the ground rushed up to meet him. The zombies that had been in front of the truck were now flat on their backs being used as speed bumps, and the ones in back were being dragged all over the pavement. Kozmotis had landed heavily, but had thankfully gone unnoticed as the zombies not attached to the truck chased after it.
"North, go!" Kozmotis shouted into the phone. The general made his way outside and watched as the fat man in the red coat barreled down the circular staircase around the tower.
"Zamechatel'no!" North exclaimed when they met up at the base of the tower. "That was truly inspiring!" Frankly, Kozmotis thought so as well. He had done pretty damn good today.
When they got back to the car, North in tow, Jack leapt at the man. "Uncle North! I'm so glad you're okay!" The two shared broad grins, and Kozmotis could see how they might be family. Same smiles, same mischievous twinkle in similar blue eyes. "Jackie! Is very good to see you again! I see you have found good man to be with in hard times." North teased him, nudging the young man with a huge forearm. The fat man nodded his head in Kozmotis' direction with a suggestive look. Jack's face turned red and he started to splutter. "N-no, it isn't like that!"
Kozmotis sighed and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "We really do need to get going. We don't know if or when another hoard might come by." North laughed, slapping the general on the back as he walked by. The force nearly knocked the poor man over. North clambered into the back seat as Jack and Kozmotis took their places up front.
"So, uh… I think you may have just gone from 'zombiepocalypse survivor' to 'zombiepocalypse force to be reckoned with' out there." Jack said once they were on their way. "That was… pretty awesome." Kozmotis chuckled and offered a brighter smile. He liked this boy.
Along the drive, North shared some information about himself. He was a toymaker and a toy inventor, though he sometimes worked other odd jobs to pay the bills. He was more of a family friend than an actual blood relative to Jack, but that hardly mattered. "So," North said jovially. "Where are we going?" "Burgess Mall." Aster said, looking for all the world like he would rather be anywhere else. "Hmm… That may not be good choice. From what I have seen, it looks like dead human is stronger than average alive human. It means we really need a place that is secure. I am thinking that mall is not so secure."
"Yeah," Aster said. "But it seems-"
"I have been thinking about what makes them so much stronger than us. It looks to me like they're operating at full peak exertion—maybe even more. How they do that without lot of energy is not clear to me, but human muscle formations are capable of significant feats of strength beyond what we normally operate at."
Aster tried to interrupt then to get his point across. "I'm not sure-"
"I saw some really interesting tests in one of the labs on mechanics of the human body. You would be amazed by the possible forces the larger muscle groups can exert. Most of us never get to that limit, but somehow zombies are right on that edge. I would not be surprised to see them snap their own arms. So, we need somewhere that average body builder couldn't break into."
"Hey," Aster tried again. "Maybe-"
"You have to wonder what chemical reactions are going on in those bodies to allow this to happen. Hey, it makes more sense now why they're after meat—is high in protein and fat and probably good source of energy. Makes me wonder if they might just burn themselves out—like nuclear reactor—that would be good, except what will we do with all the corpses? Maybe we can put them in huge hole with the spent uranium. That would burn up the bodies, too.…"
North didn't seem to take a breath the entire way to the mall, and Aster looked like he had given up trying to get a word in edgewise. He was sitting hunkered down in his seat with a stormy expression on his face. Across from him, Tatiana just rolled her eyes. This was probably a normal thing for her.
The sun is hanging low in the sky by the time they pull into the parking lot. Two or three of the occupants are dozing in their seats. Kozmotis frowns as he surveys the parking lot and the building. Everything looks abandoned and quiet.
Too quiet.
Yo, this is the line because I can't make lines. Technology hates me, guys.
Zamechatel'no-Wonderful/Wow (Russian)
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
I'm really sorry about how long this took you guys! I've been so busy, and I'm pretty sure my work load through November has given me an ulcer. But it's better now. Kind of. The only reason I got on the stick and wrote this chapter is because I literally had nothing else to do. This is what happens to me on an eight hour car ride. Fanfiction. The plot bunnies attack me at my weakest state. But it means you get another chapter. Possibly two. Maybe even three. I kind of want to keep writing for this story now. It's 11:00 p.m. here right now, and I'm on the verge of starting a new chapter. I don't think I'll kill off anyone important, but there will be more zombies yet to come. And more explosions. I hope you guys liked the explosion. So, this thing is about 5,500 words long. I hope you guys appreciate how long this took me to write.
So, I really want your opinions. I do plan on putting Jack and Kozmotis together, but when do you guys want that to happen? How much do you want? Should I change the rating later on and throw in a sex scene? Do you want a baby for Tooth and Bunny? I wanna hear from you guys. Please R&R, but no flames. Constructive criticism is welcome.
