With their packs more or less full with food Alec, Jace and Izzy turned back to the scraper, bickering among themselves like usual. There were almost no zombies around and the usually dark mood was somewhat lifted, with the knowledge of new friends and food.
However, that was dashed in moments, as the radio on Izzy's hip crackled frantically.
"Izzy!... Jace there are…. Hurry please… so many…" Clary's voice faded in and out and with barely a glance at each other, the three began to sprint to the sky scraper.
Before they had even entered the lobby they could tell there was a problem. Hordes of zombies were fighting to get into the doors, not caring about limbs that were torn off by other frenzied monsters or by the sharp shards of glass that were still in the windows and doors.
They could hear Clary screaming inside, and Simon yelling with pain and fear. The three began slashing with their swords through the zombies, which were all mostly too dumb to turn attention from the two humans inside to the people who were currently slicing through their ranks.
A zombie tried to bite Izzy but she sliced its head off easily, her mouth thinned into a line to prevent any blood or zombie gore getting in.
They managed to get inside, to find even more Undead clawing at Clary who was trying to fend them off with a wireless keyboard. Simon was… nowhere to be seen.
"Get Clary out! I'll find Simon." Jace yelled, his hair dripping unpleasantly with blood and rotting skin. Izzy dispatched the few zombies around Clary, grabbing her and the backpack next to her and fighting her way back outside.
Clary was pulling against, looking frantically back into the building for Simon. "I can't go, I need- I have to find Simon!" she yelled and Izzy held her hand over her mouth as they got outside.
"Be quiet, we don't need more zombies here. Alec and Jace are finding him." She tried to soothe her, itching to go back and help her brothers, but knew that Clary would probably dive back into the frenzy for Simon.
"What the hell happened?" she asked, eyes trained on the building for any sign of Alec or Jace or Simon.
Clary was crying as she shook her head, obviously distraught. "I don't even know, we were in the lobby packing up and all of a sudden I could hear them, and Simon was yelling for me to get back and there were so many of them." She broke off into tears and Izzy patted her shoulder gently. She wasn't really good with this whole emotion thing. Her parents weren't really those sorts of parents, all touchy-feely, and Alec didn't rant to her because of his whole big cool older brother thing of his. And Jace hid his feelings from everyone, not just her. She just hoped Jace and Alec came back soon.
"Simon!" Jace yelled, not bothered about attracting more zombies. He peered up the stairs, remembering just hours before but no dark-haired nerd appeared. Alec was looking around too, kicking over zombie corpses just in case.
"Clary…" came a faint, laboured voice and Jace turned around immediately, him and Alec both narrowing in on the reception area. Alec slid over the counter in a way that made Jace jealous.
Simon was leaning against a wall, fists weakly beating on the zombie- one of the last ones it seemed- that had him pinned.
Simon was bleeding down one side of his face, hair matted, and his glasses were missing an arm but managed to stay on. The zombies mouth was chewing at his neck vampire-style and his eyes were full of pain. Jace couldn't help but stare at the scene for a moment. He'd seen a lot of gore, but not usually from someone he really knew.
"Take care of her. I love her." Simon wheezed, his eyes fixed on the two of them as they didn't move to help him, out of shock.
Alec snapped into action, slicing the zombie's head off and then knocking the head off of Simon's neck, which it was still gorily attached.
"You're going to be okay." Jace started, but it was already too late for Simon. He gave Jace a pained, accepting look and slid down the wall, his hand cupping the hole in his neck.
"Look after Clary." He told them one last time, a begging tone in his voice and his eyes glazed over. Alec looked back at Jace, who was pale.
"He's going to turn." Alec stated, and Jace nodded but he didn't know what to do.
When his father killed his mother, it had been okay, in the crudest form of the word because Maryse wouldn't have wanted to be a zombie, and her children and husband couldn't bear the thought of their mother and wife shambling around, and possibly killing them. When his Father had shot himself in the mouth, and the zombies around him had immediately started feasting on his blown-out brains (Jace knew he shouldn't have looked around but he couldn't help it, couldn't help praying that his father- his hero- would have killed them all and could re-join his children so they weren't so alone) Jace knew it was because his father couldn't imagine being a zombie and hurting others.
And now, as he knelt before Simon, seeing the boy's skin around his neck slowly turn grey-green and his veins turn black under his skin, he didn't know what to do.
"I'll do it." Alec said firmly, giving Jace a push. "Go and find Izzy and Clary."
Alec was the older sibling, the one meant to protect his younger siblings no matter what. He had promised his mother and father that before they had both died, when this whole zombie infestation was just a rumour. He picked up his blade again and watched as Jace stumbled back outside.
He turned back to Simon and closed the boy's eyes, taking his glasses off and wiping them on his shirt and put them in his pocket for Clary.
"I'll look after her for you." He told the cold body, adding another person to his protection list. "I'll make sure she makes it."
He was putting this off because they were friends, or allies in this. Even as he raised his blade he hesitated.
Simon made the choice for him however, his eyes opening again with the bloodshot expression of a zombie and his hand clutched at Alec's forearm.
Panicked, Alec stabbed Simon through the heart, and the zombie's hand fell limply off his arm. Alec slowly calmed himself down, rubbing hard at the spot where Simon had grabbed him to get rid of the slimy feeling. He stood and, awkwardly, made the sign of the cross, before remembering Simon mentioning he was Jewish.
"She'll be okay." He promised the empty room and the empty corpse and left, wiping his blade on the upholstery of an overturned armchair.
Clary knew when Jace left the apartment block building, a stumble in his normally confident step, that Simon was dead. She let out a scream and ran a few steps forward before Jace grabbed her, shushing her.
"You don't want to go in there, believe me. I'm sorry, he was too far gone." He tried to tell her as she cried on his chest. Izzy shouldered the two packs and looked for Alec.
"He's just coming. Sorting out some… stuff." He told her as he stroked Clary's hair as some way of comfort.
Soon, Alec appeared, a new darkness to his eyes as he joined the group. He held out the broken pair of glasses to Clary and she sobbed again, taking them and clipping them to the front of her top.
"He said he loved you." He said softly, and Clary nodded, like she had already known and wiped her eyes as she turned back to the skyscraper.
"We should get going." Izzy said gently, and Clary took a deep breath and turned to follow the small group, wishing Simon could be at her side.
