Hey guys! Welcome back! Hope you like this chapter! Honestly this is my favorite story I've written. Never have I had THIS MUCH FUN writing something. I really liked writing this chapter, I hope you like reading it. I hope you haven't gotten too attached to anyone, cause numbers will be dropping.
You guys didn't exactly get a death last chapter, more of a loss. (I miss you Waddles ;-;) I hope you didn't take advantage of that, because this chapter WILL have a death.
I usually update every weekend, and I was planning on skipping this week because I was studying for an exam and I usually write all week and publish on the weekend. However, it's the weekend now, and since I have nothing to do I figured I'd update cause WHY NOT. Since I got less time to write this, there might be more mistakes, but hopefully nothing distracting
Enjoy!
Grenda, Lee, and Nate went on numerous rounds into the Northwest Manison, coming back with full suitcases each time. Food, clothes, tampons, blankets, water bottles, books, first aid kits, towels, shoes, even money.
"Just in case the apocalypse ends faster than we think it will, and we'll have to go back to buying things," Nate explained, stuffing hundred dollar bills into his pocket.
But the one thing they had plenty of, were guns. Hand guns, harpoon guns, shot guns, you name it. Mabel wasn't comfortable at all sleeping in a space with so many weapons, but knew that if she spoke out about it, she'd get shut down.
Finally, after the last round, the crew was snuggled in with mountains of blankets and pillows, asleep. Except for Mabel and Dipper. Waddles loved blankets, and would've enjoyed snuggling in with her under the covers. She longed for the warmth of her pet in her arms, but without him with her she couldn't sleep.
The first night of the zombie apocalypse was spent, and they already lost two.
Mabel was awoken by Wendy's voice yelling "MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!" and suddenly they were all jogging outside. Mabel stepped outside, finding herself at a gas station.
"Gotta filler up," Soos said, humming to himself as he filled up the tank.
Dipper was still fast asleep in the RV, having stayed up all night watching guard for zombies, so Wendy had mercy on him. Still, Mabel wanted an explanation on why she was standing outside at a gas stations right across from the woods.
The gang were all lined up horizontally, and Mabel found herself flanked by Candy and Grenda.
Wendy stood in front of them all, wearing a burgundy turtle neck Grenda smuggled from Preston Northwest's closet to replace her bloody tank top. Mabel almost giggled at how much she resembled Ford in that outfit, then remembered that she didn't know whether or not Great Uncle Ford was safe, and her stomach sank.
"ALRIGHT MEAT BAGS!" Wendy screamed at the team like a boot camp coach, "WE'VE BEEN IN THAT CRAMPED RV FOR FAR TOO LONG! IT'S TIME TO STRETCH OUT OUR LEGS AND DO SOME BLOOD PUMPING WARM UPS! I'LL LEAD STRETCHES, YOU FOLLOW!"
The group played copy the leader, following Wendy's routine and pulling out any knots in their muscles. Mabel participated half-heartedly, still holding a grudge against the people that voiced their opinions on throwing out her pig. She knew it was inevitable, but Mabel wasn't ready to stop being mad.
She was tired of Dipper and Wendy being in charge.
The logical side of Mabel knew that Wendy and Dipper were the right choices for this. Dipper exceeded in the brains department, and was leaking with knowledge on the super natural. Wendy was tough, she was a warrior with her ax and was the only one in the group that knew how to fire a gun.
They were perfect leaders.
And she hated it!
Mabel always imagined herself and Dipper being the leaders of every group. They were twins, Mabel always assumed they'd be a great team. Still, deep down she knew why the pair was Dipper and Wendy. Cause Mabel brought nothing to the group. She knew if she brought it up everyone would deny it, but it was true. Everyone in the 'zombie escape' squad had their own special talent that made them useful. Even Lee and Nate, the ones EVERYONE thought were idiots, were amazing at looting and stealing supplies. But Mabel was just there. She was the only useless one. Well, besides Toby Determined.
"GREAT JOB, DORKS! NOW, IT'S TIME FOR PUSH UPS!" Wendy ordered.
"NO!" Pacifica fell on her hands and knees, fake crying the way babies did when they wanted attention, "PLEASE NO! I CAN'T PERSPIRE IN THIS MAKEUP!"
"IT'S SUMMER, YOU'RE GOING TO PERSPIRE ANYWAYS!" Wendy snapped back, diving into push up position.
And after push ups, sit ups, jumping jacks, and burpees, Wendy proposed the group do any warm up they pleased.
"Great, finally time to do my 'sit on the bench and do nothing' warm up," Mabel grumbled.
Mabel trudged to a rusty bench flanked by two porta potties and watched the rest of the group.
Grenda, Lee, and Nate were doing some warm up boxing moves together, laughing as they threw playful punches. Every since the looting, the three had become joined at the hip. Tambry had crossed the street, using her flip phone to take pictures of the woods.
When Soos had filled up the tank, he snuck back inside the RV to avoid Wendy's warm ups. Smart.
The seat numbed her bum, making her squirm with discomfort.
"HEY!" Grenda walked up to her, smiling, "WHAT'S THE MATTER?"
When Mabel didn't respond, Grenda sat down next to her, pulling a paper back out from behind her back, "IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL ANY BETTER, I SMUGGLED SOMETHING FOR YOU IN THE MANSION. I KNOW THE RULE WAS 'NECESSITIES ONLY' BUT I FIGURED YOU'D WANT THIS."
Grenda pulled out a large clump of purple, tangled yarn and knitting needles from the bag.
Mabel gasped, "OH MY-"
"THIS WAS THE ONLY COLOR I COULD FIND. MRS. NORTHWEST HAS A LONG PURPLE BLANKET MADE OF YARN IN HER ROOM, SO I JUST UNDID IT ALL AND FIGURED YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN CREATION OUT OF IT!"
Mabel smiled, pulling herself up to her knees and embracing her friend, "Thank you thank you thank you so much!"
Grenda grinned, "IT'S NOTHING!"
"Yes, it IS something!" Mabel looked over at the gross convenience store, "Stay here, Mabel's gonna get you a treat from that store!" Mabel winked, hopping off the bench and running into the store.
It was abandoned no doubt, giving Mabel unlimited options to choose from. She knew Grenda would want something sugary, something the two shared in common. She wondered if that frozen yogurt machine was still working.
She skipped over to it, grabbing a waffle cone and pressing the button to see if the fro-yo machine worked. When chocolate and vanilla swirl came oozing out of the hole, Mabel pumped her fist in the air.
The door slammed behind her, and Mabel spun around, finding Toby Determined running in frantically. Mabel tensed up. If it had been anyone else, even Old Man McGucket, Mabel would've greeted them and smiled. But...Toby made her...uncomfortable.
"I HATE IT IN THE RV!" Toby huffed, his nasally voice making it hard to take him seriously, "It's cramped, and no one will allow me to tap dance in there."
"We need to be in the RV to stay safe," Mabel explained, filling up the cone with fro-yo.
"No way! I am never going back in there! I'll live in here! There's food, there's space, everything I need! But, I'll need company..." His eyes gazed over to Mabel, "You can live with me, Mabel! Pretty girl like you, we'd make a great team."
Mabel's knees buckled. She knew she was being silly, but the way Toby called her 'pretty girl' sent a wave of discomfort over her. "Absolutely not!" she said, "I need to bring this fro-yo back to Grenda."
"Silly Mabel," Toby slapped his knee like she told a funny joke, "I'm not giving you a choice."
Before Mabel could even spin her head around, she heard Wendy's voice scream. "EVERYONE BACK IN THE RV! NOW NOW NOW! GO GO GO!" Followed by the tortured cries of her friends. Then she heard an inhumane groan. Uh oh.
Toby took the hint as well, "The zombies are here, it's their cue to leave. Now they can leave us behind, and we can live together."
Mabel sprinted towards the door, the waffle cone breaking in her tight fists as the cold treat froze her hands. She was inches away when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist.
"You can't leave," Toby whispered in her ear as Mabel struggled to break free, "You have to stay with me."
Mabel struggled, wiggling like a worm. But Toby's grasp was like a seatbelt, the more she moved, the tighter he held onto her.
The zombie's moans got closer and closer, and Mabel's lungs felt heavier and heaver in her chest. Tear pooled in her eyes, first Robbie then Waddles, now her. Guess she really was useless.
As she heard Grenda scream, Mabel gasped and smashed her fro-yo covered hand into Toby's face.
Toby yelped, "FACE FREEZE!" he released her, clawing the frozen treat off of his face. As Mabel smashed through the door, she knew she wouldn't make it out alive.
Everyone was trying to get through the one small door in the RV, and no one was making progress. It didn't help that Thompson, one of the largest, was in the front and stuck, and that the zombies were getting closer and closer. Everyone was frantic, pushing into each other without a plan, and no one could fit. Zombies oozed from the trees like water, coming closer and closer.
Mabel pulled her grappling hook out of her pocket and aimed towards the roof of the RV. Meeting her target, she used her grappling hook to shoot herself onto the roof. She opened up the sun roof, and jumped into the RV, landing on her hands and knees. Dipper and Soos were inside, trying to pull Thompson in.
"MABEL, HELP!" He pleaded. Mabel ran towards her friends, yanking Thompson's arm until he finally fell through, leading the rest of the group frantically pushing each other inside.
It was a disaster. People were falling down, pushing others backwards, completely disorganized and crowded. But soon, more and more people were in the RV, and more and more zombies were getting closer. Candy ran into the RV, but tripped and with a loud snap coming from her leg, Candy let out a tortured scream.
"Is that everyone?" Wendy asked, scanning around the RV.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME, JUST STEP ON IT!" McGucket yelled. Soos ran to the driver's seat and began driving, sending everyone standing flying backwards.
Right away, the RV hit something, and drove over a person-sized bump.
"WAIT, DID WE JUST HIT SOMEONE?" Pacifica exclaimed.
"Probably just a zombie," Lee said.
Unconvinced, Wendy stuck her head out one of the windows and looked back onto the road they left behind, gasping, "TAMBRY!"
Mabel followed her, sticking her head out the window as well and saw Tambry's body sprawled on the road, her back snapped into an awkward position with tire tracks on her body.
They had just run over Tambry.
Lee, Nate, and Thompson stuck their heads out the window, their mouths gaped as they watched the zombies crowd around Tambry's lifeless body and feast on it. It wasn't until a walking corpse grabbed her arm and ripped it out of her socket like a chicken wing that they looked away.
"W-W-WE RAN OVER TAMBRY!" Nate cried out, choking on sobs, "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?"
"We..." Wendy sniffled, "We were unprepared. We let ourselves get distracted and unguarded at the gas station. And when we saw the zombies, we all tried to get inside at the same time. W-we were so frantic we didn't notice that we were missing a person and started driving."
"Thanks a lot, Soos!" Lee shouted at the driver that hit her. Soos bowed his head down a little, but kept his eyes on the road as he drove.
Dipper sighed, "It's not Soos' fault. This was just a wake-up call to the fact that we need more rules! Rule number one, only three people are allowed out of the RV at a time. We have to make sure nothing like this happens ever again."
Pacifica fell onto the floor, hugging her knees and sobbing. Mabel knew Pacifica never had a relationship with Tambry, yet she was sobbing like a baby. Mabel pitied her, she knew Pacifica couldn't handle death or loss after being pampered all her life.
Candy whimpered and cried, only it wasn't because of the loss of Tambry. When Candy tripped as she ran into the RV, her foot had snapped into a position it wasn't supposed to be in.
She was hoisted onto the table, pulling her hair as she screamed.
Grenda bent down in front of her, "CANDY, THIS IS GOING TO HURT! NOW, I WANT YOU TO RECITE THE DIGITS OF PI FOR ME, OKAY?"
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Candy obeyed, "3.14159265 AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Grenda snapped her foot back into its place with a loud crack, making everyone wince.
Candy screamed, punching Grenda in the shoulder like it was a reflex. "S-S-Sorry..." she whimpered, realizing what she did.
"IT'S OKAY, CANDY!" Grenda cooed, "I'M JUST GLAD WE DIDN'T LOOSE YOU TOO."
Mabel sighed, "Speaking of loosing...Toby's gone."
The group looked at her, like they wanted to feel bad, but didn't. Toby wasn't exactly...the most popular one in the group.
"What happened?" Dipper asked.
Mabel sighed, "Well, Toby wanted to stay in the store forever. And he tried to get me to-" Mabel faltered, her stomach began doing flips as she thought of the way Toby grabbed onto her, telling her she had no choice but to stay.
Unfortunately, Dipper was not an idiot. "Get you to do what?" He asked her, raising his voice.
Mabel shrunk into her fro-yo stained sweater, darting her eyes away from him.
"Mabel, did he touch you?" He asked, his face growing red.
Mabel shook her head, "No, well, kinda. He was trying to kidnap me sorta, he wouldn't let me leave. He wanted us to be roommates and held me back. I thought you guys were going to leave without me...and-" tears swam down her cheeks, her face turning red with both embarrassment and due to the crying.
Dipper hugged her, allowing her to bury her head into his shoulder as she sobbed.
"He's gone now," Dipper whispered, "It's okay."
Mabel melted into his embrace, until Soos made a sharp turn and the two went tumbling down onto the floor.
"Grenda, I'm sorry I couldn't get your gift." Mabel slowly hoisted herself upwards, "I was going to get you fro-yo but when Toby-"
"IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT, MABEL!" Grenda nodded with understanding, "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT."
Mabel looked over at Candy and saw her pulling puffy dandelions out of her pocket, the same ones she picked the day they first got attacked. Candy closed her eyes, still shaking from the pain, and blew into them one at a time.
Mabel hoped Candy was wishing for the zombie apocalypse to end.
AN: REST IN PEACE TAMBRY! Maybe now the group will learn not to be so reckless. Maybe it was for the best, Tambry would've lost her mind without phone service.
And GOOD RIDDANCE TOBY!
Fact: I was going to have what Toby did in this chapter be done by Gideon. Mabel would walk into the store and find Gideon hiding out in there, and HE'D be the one that tried to do that to Mabel. But I decided throwing Gideon in this chapter would be too random, I'm saving him for another time ;)
Is Toby living his life in the convenience store, or was he eaten by those zombies? Or, is he coming back sooner than you think? Mwaaahahhahaha, just kidding I haven't drafted THAT far yet, but you never knowwww!
Leave some feedback, I'd enjoy it.
Thanks for reading :)
*whispers* you look cute today