Chapter 2: Disbelief

Daphne gave up on sleeping. Whether it be from the uncomfortable sleeping situation or the constant worry directed towards Fred. She doubted he was sleeping well either, he had been tossing and turning all night. She wondered how tomorrow would be, hopefully Fred would be back to his normal state of mind, denying anything supernatural. She sat herself up and watched him sleep. After minutes of watching him trying to get comfortable she started shaking him to wake him up. Fred groaned, "Do you mind Daph? I almost had it," She rose an eyebrow, "Had what?"

"A comfortable position,"

"I'm sure you did," She laughed. Fred sat himself up and looked at her. He knew she was going to try and convince him to go back home.

"Let me guess, you want to go home,"

"How'd you know," she said with a smirk. Fred shook his head, knowing Daphne she was not going to give up without a fight.

"Can't we just stay here for the night," He pleaded giving her puppy eyes. She hated when he gave her that face that was his winning move. Whenever they disagreed on something all he had to do was give her that look, and she was finished. Annoyed she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, but how about a compromise? We should drive around town. If it is in total chaos, I'll listen to you and we can sleep wherever you please, but if everything is normal, which it is, we have to go home. Deal?" She leant out a hand for him to shake. Fred frowned and looked at her disappointment in his eyes Daphne was stubborn and hard to beat.

"Freddie, do we have a deal?" He unwillingly shook her hand. "Deal," he said with a defeated tone.

They drove around town, and much to Fred's dismay the town was its usual quiet self. Daphne decided to take the route Fred's truck was on hopefully to knock some sense into him.

"See Freddie, everything is perfectly fine," She started gesturing like they were on a tour, "Over here you have a historical white steeple church, a must have in every town,"

"Daphne," Fred said annoyance creeping in his voice.

"Oh, and over here we have Harvey's apple orchard a perfect place for any apple picking adventures,"

"Daphne, I swear," She cut him off "And lastly we have Fred's brand-new F-150 smashed to bits into a tree!" She exclaimed. She put her car into park and looked out the window towards Fred's truck worry plastered over her face. With her in thought Fred had the perfect opportunity to lean over and pinch her.

"OW! That was way too hard!"

"Yeah, well that's what you get for that ridiculous tour you just gave," She sighed rubbing her now sore arm.

"What now?" She asked.

"I don't know, but let's not stay here it's giving me the creeps," She shot him a worried look and continued driving.

"When are we going to deal with your tuck?"

"When I feel like it," He spat. They glared at each other the angry tension between them growing stronger.

"That's it I'm heading home,"

"Like hell you are,"

"Watch me, Jones," She took a sharp turn onto a street earning a low growl from Fred. They continued to bicker back and forth until they were interrupted by a bright light followed by a loud boom. Startled and blinded from this Daphne slammed on the brakes causing Fred to smash his head onto the dash.

"Fred, are you ok?!" She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," he groaned rubbing his head, "Just going to have a headache." Feeling a bit relieved by his response she turned her attention towards the explosion. It was a farmhouse that was now engulfed in flames more specifically Nelson's farmhouse he was a regular at Daphne's park. Fixated on the scene before her, her body froze, and her eyes widened when she saw an ungodly sight. She saw a body calmly walking out of the house acting like it was unaware that it was on fire. Is that Mr. Nelson she thought. The body was slowly walking towards the car causing Daphne's heart to pound even harder with each step it took. As much as she wanted to move, she couldn't she was in total shock all she could do was watch. Focusing off of his pounding head Fred caught glimpse of what Daphne was fixated on.

"Jesus, Daphne start driving," he said calmly, shaking her shoulder. Not getting a response he shook her harder.

"DAPHNE," he yelled causing her to snap out of her trance. She slammed on the gas causing the car to skid but fly out of there. She kept looking at her rearview mirror curious of what the body was going to do next. Uneventfully, it collapsed to the ground, dead she assumed. When she felt it was safe she pulled over.

"I want you to drive." She said calmly which he nodded in return. She proceeded to open her door to get out causing Fred to immediately lean over her and slam it shut. She looked at him, surprised by his sudden action. He simply shook his head, "Don't want to take any chances," Daphne nodded in agreement. Daphne climbed into the back, so Fred could easily get in the driver's seat, then she climbed into the passenger seat. She grabbed her phone and dialed 911.

"Who are you calling?" Fred asked. Daphne looked at him in disbelief.

"The cops, fire fighters, ambulance, fucking anybody we just saw somebody die!" She said she was absolutely disgusted by the question.

"I don't believe this," she said looking at her phone.

"What?"

"It's a busy line, can you believe that? Is everybody calling the police at six in the morning? Ridiculous." She ended the call. Fred gulped causing Daphne to shake her head.

"It's not zombies, Fred. Don't even start with that." Fred could tell Daphne was on a verge of a breakdown, she had every right to be hell he was on the verge of one as well, so he chose his next words carefully.

"Whaddya say we head up to the house, grab some… I don't know camping supplies, and head towards somewhere quiet. To help get us thinking straight about what to do next." She looked up at him she was extremely exhausted at this point and Fred could see it. "I don't care do whatever." He heard the defeat in her voice, and it made his heart ache he hated seeing her like this.

Pulling into their neighborhood they were both surprised to see everyone packing their cars up like they were going on vacation but instead of happy faces they saw fear. Daphne groaned and put her head into her hands hoping she was just in a bad dream. Fred started rubbing her back with his free hand to try and comfort her. He backed up into their driveway and put the car into park.

"Ok, we gotta do this fast," he said looking at Daphne hoping for some response, she just shook her head and dragged herself out of the car. Once inside Fred rushed up the stairs while Daphne slowly went up behind him. All she could do was replay the images of that corpse walking towards her. Was he in pain? What was going through his head? As much as she tried, she couldn't get the images or thoughts out of her head. Once in their bedroom Fred rushed to the closet throwing any clothes on the bed. Daphne grabbed their suitcases from under the bed and started folding the clothes and throwing them in as quickly as she could. Once the suitcases were full, she calmly dragged them down the stairs and put them in the car. Fred was in a rushed state he was running around the house creating piles of things of what he thought was necessary to bring for survival. Daphne in her state of mind decided to sit on the couch and see what was really happening in the world. She turned on the news and watched with fear in her eyes. Fred walked by with a load of things in his arms and just watched his fiancée in total disbelief.

"You are seriously not watching T.V right now. Damnit Daphne, help me pack," he pleaded. She turned to look at him and then back towards the T.V shaking her head in disbelief.

"You were right Freddie, it's the end of the fucking world."