A/N:
Me: *Hears extremely loud, rioting sounds and yelling outside of my room, then someone pounding on my door in a panic over the noise. Tries to ignore it.*
Francis: Viper let me in! Help!
Me: No...
Francis: PLEASE! *Claws at door.*
*There's a very loud boom. Francis, Bill, Zoey, Jordan, Louis, Beth and Ian all scream. I just cuddle in my blanket nest sipping on hot chocolate as Kayla, Amber and Keirstan laugh maniacally. The chaos continues. I'm too lazy to see what's happening.*
There's a mention of drug use here. There's also dark content in the next chapter.
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The truck rumbled down a deserted road. Its high beams were switched off once there was enough light to see clearly ahead. Beth held the music player and scrolled through the tracklist. There was a little more than half of battery life left in it. Songs skipped when she changed tunes, humming to herself while trying to decide what to play. "Play the one you just passed, that's a good one." Ian requested from behind her.
She pressed the reverse button, "yes your highness." As it played, Beth recognized its lyrics as a Daughtry song called "Deep End".
They have been driving for a little while now, the industrial area was far behind them. Wind blew through a cracked window noisily, until Francis rolled it up completely and rested his temple in his hand on the frame with his eyes straight ahead. "Can I drive next?" Beth asked pleadingly, seeing the look in his orbs. He shifted them on her, "I'll think about it."
"What confidence you have for me."
"Ya haven't had much practice."
"I will if I can drive next." She patted her chest as she spoke.
He raised his brows and blinked. "Sure. Just don't kill us."
A pair of fingers slowly moved towards and pushed his cheek upwards. He reacted to the touch and glanced at Kayla who sat in the small space between their seats. "Yes Cat?"
"How we doing on gas?" Louis spoke up.
Francis peered at the dashboard while Beth turned the heat up a little then kicked off her boots and curled up in her seat. The flicker read just below half a gallon mark. He announced the amount as Kayla turned back to Zoey, Jordan and Amber in a conversation. The topic being of urban exploring again. It was quite the interesting and fun thing to talk about for them. The vehicle thumped over potholes as they talked.
"Beth and I were chased by Dogs into an abandoned house we lived close to during a walk one day as kids. That's how the hobby started for us." Kayla explained.
Bill smiled hearing this. "Least they weren't zombies at the time." He commented.
"They acted just as vicious. And before you ask, I didn't stop to take a guess at what kind they may have been. All I saw was they were big, loud 'n after us." She held up three fingers to list off the traits.
"Why the hell would you stop?" Jordan shot her an odd stare.
"We've been asked before."
Beth leaned over, "yeah we have. Quite stupid to ask when you're being chased in my mind."
She continued. "Ever since we've been to a shit ton of places. Our favorite spot is a huge abandoned radar base."
Amber perked, "the one you wanted to take me to?"
Beth nodded.
"I love that place," Kayla mused.
"You're starting to worry me Ms. I hate everything." Ian poked fun of as he crawled over to his backpack for his water bottle. "I have a short list of loved stuff," she defended, using her finger and thumb to show just how small the list was. It was very, very short.
"Are you talking about the base way up in the mountains in Vermont?" Francis gazed at Beth.
"Uh-huh."
"Alright," he turned back to the road. "Yeah they dragged me out there a couple summers ago during a road trip. And then you guys left me in the dust on the hike!" He exclaimed, slanting his eyes looking at Beth again.
"We were excited! You weren't alone our aunt was with you."
Zoey giggled. "A radar base in the mountains away from everything. Huh. You know, that actually sounds like an awesome holdout from these zombies."
Francis and Beth shifted in their seats. "Eh…" both replied, "it...would be, but there's a lot of problems with that. It's been sitting there unused for almost sixty years." Francis explained. "That's the gist."
"You like it," Beth teased. "Meh."
She poked him with her toe repeatedly, "come on, you didn't hate it."
"I hated how steep that mountain is." He recalled. "It is a cool place though. The view from the tallest tower is insane."
Amber slouched against the wall. "Now I really wish we could go. But no, the world had to end." She crossed her arms grudgingly.
Beth moved closer to see them better. "I know! We were planning to take you too, remember?"
"We were."
Francis tsked. "Amber, if you guys did you'd have to put tracking devices on 'em. Let these two go in the wilderness and they're gone." He snapped his fingers after 'they're', earning a giggle from everyone in the truck.
"I'm not kidding. They'll take off like Bats outta hell and I'm left wondering, 'where the fuck did they go?'" He chuckled as well during the explanation, staring out the windshield.
"Last summer I tried climbing up one of the ladders on the tallest tower." Kayla placed a hand on her bandaged ear through her hood. "But the wind was too much and I froze half-way. Plus Amy, Kansas and Francis were hollering at me from below to get off. Which scared me more."
"Maybe because we didn't want you to die?" He scoffed, peering at the rearview mirror thinking of the moment while Amber and Jordan looked at her frightened.
"'No! The answer is no! Seriously get the hell down!'" She mimicked their yelling in a semi- hushed tone.
Jordan leaned back against the pile of bags. "Well shit even I wouldn't do that. I'm in the same boat as you Amber, I was looking forward to seeing it too."
She rested her head back with a disappointed noise wafting from her lips.
"There's an old farmhouse down the road from our school we found." Beth said, then she listed many other sites she, her sister and Keirstan had gone to.
"Damn," Zoey breathed, "you've been everywhere. I'm jealous I've just been to houses and this theme park called holy land usa in Connecticut with my cousins. We almost got caught in that place; we could hear police yelling somewhere in the park so we took cover in some underbrush and army crawled away. Until we found a path and booked it for our jeep."
Keirstan shrugged a shoulder from her seat. "It's somewhere."
"How close were they?" Louis eyed her.
Zoey gazed around thoughtfully. "Not exactly sure. Not too far but not close either. In the middle I guess."
The conversation went on as Bill pulled out a packet of skittles and chewed on them quietly. He gazed out the window, spotting ruined little shacks and run down houses they passed every once in a short while. The veteran eventually gave them an questioning glance when Kayla spoke up again about a different experience.
"I drove home from work pantless once. Another time, Keirstan and mom were with us, I was stung by a Wasp multiple times when taking Beth to work."
Keirstan's eyes widened. "She was driving and all of a sudden she's yelling that something was biting her." She explained dramatically, "we were going almost sixty miles an hour down all these hills, and their mom and I see these big thick legs sticking out from under her thigh. She pulled over safely thankfully, and jumped out. That was a big fucking Wasp." Keirstan looked over at her friend.
"It hurt so bad." Kayla sobbed with a pained expression, "mark's are still there but they're fading."
Beth tucked her lips in and Francis shook in laughter as Louis asked the next question. "And you drove home pantless because…?"
"Eighty-five degrees, it was hot."
"Ok," Louis nodded.
The biker finally lost it. "That doesn't happen to anyone." He squeaked, shaking his head referring to the Wasp. "It just doesn't."
"A lot of the shit that's happened to us doesn't happen to anyone."
Zoey was laughing silently with her eyes squeezed shut and head thrown back, as Bill looked out the window with a half-smirk. "I know," Francis agreed strongly. "Both of you have lived through lots of...of really crazy stuff." He said the last words breathlessly.
"Now look what we're in." Beth held a hand out towards the windshield. "And everything that's happened so far."
The whole group reacted differently at the statement, listing off what they've gone through since the epidemic started. Until the awful panic in the beginning was mentioned. At once, the horrific memories invaded their heads. How unfortunate souls must have hurried to grab whatever supplies they needed, pushing and shoving through one another in the messy markets and stores they scavenged. Those who were killed by people who went mad or were simply frightened, or by the infected. The absolute chaos in the streets the news broadcasted, the survivors remembered vividly what those reports viewed and what they witnessed in person. Dark black smoke filling the air in thick streams from multiple buildings, people running down streets in masses and being chased, or getting driven into the ground by the crazed sick and bludgeoned to death beyond any recognition at all. There had been several huge vehicle crashes where they smashed into each other or something else, sometimes even sliding down roads and murdering victims who couldn't get out of the way in time. They thought of soldiers shooting and killing infected. Streets filling with dark crimson and gore. Buildings crumbling down. The explosions. The screams…
At the end of it all, everyone else who lived were either most likely dead or infected themselves.
They became hushed as they went over it. Until all were silent completely.
And Francis swore, he could hear the echoes of screams he heard that day haunting the cold air outside.
"We can't dwell on the past," Bill broke the quiet. "As hard as that is, we need to keep it behind us. Because it'll cause distractions which will interfere with our survival."
"Right." Keirstan muttered. Being the only one to reply.
The truck began to slow as a shape of a sign appeared in front. "Kay Bill which way?" Francis mumbled, glancing down the next street numbly.
He read the sign. Route 607, and looked at the map. He felt breathing down his neck as he placed a finger against his chin. Bill turned finding Ian staring intensely at the directions a little too closely, he pushed the young man away by the face. "Take another left."
The group wafted back into mixed conversations steadily as they traveled until Francis pulled over. "Gotta piss, anyone else have to go 'cause I ain't stopping till we get there."
Louis' face tightened and he abruptly burst the back door open; leaping out into the icy wind. He left it open half way to not be locked out while Francis slammed his door behind him. Calling out to the analyst in his gruff voice as he walked off.
Beth leaned forward watching him vanish from sight, she threw herself into the driver's seat and scrambled in the right position. Jordan huffed and she looked at him. "He said I could drive." She chirped.
"I know, just don't crash."
She lidded her eyes and stuck her top lip out as the truck rumbled where it sat. "Hey Zoey, you like Pokemon right?" Keirstan asked while crossing her legs in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I do.~" She replied in a sing-song voice.
"Well, the senpais and I do this with people a lot. What Pokemon types do you think fit well with everybody here?"
Zoey took a look at everyone and rested on her hands. "Um...I'd say you're a...uh…" she squinted an eye and raised a brow thinking carefully. "Normal...fairy type. Maybe water…"
"No triples." Keirstan pointed a finger.
"Yes triples! This is the real world we can do that." Beth lunged from her seat and Keirstan made a devastated expression. "Pokemon." Bill muttered as he kept his eyes outside. "Isn't that an anime?"
He received a number of answers ranging from the show, a series of games and merchandise. He looked back at the youngins. "Move your fuckin' legs!" Kayla exclaimed in mid-conversation, kicking away Jordan's limbs after he sprawled them in her space just to annoy her.
"Beth, I think you'd be a-" Zoey stared at her for some seconds as she made a dorky face. "Water, ghost or psychic type. Or all three. I can't decide."
"I can have all three."
Keirstan held her hands up partly "that doesn't make sense!"
"You don't make sense!"
"Senpai!"
Zoey grinned. "Well there you go. Kayla's easy as fuck 'cause I can see it clearly." The older survivor cast a glance at her. "A ghost-dark-dragon type."
"Shit yeah," she fist pumped proudly.
Zoey continued. "Bill in my eyes is definitely fighting. Francis...I don't know. Fire-steel? Or steel-ground. Maybe ground. Maybe. Louis, either water-flying or just water. Jordan's certainly fire-dark. Yeah?"
"Yeah." He smirked.
She raised her hands, "pause. What am I?"
"What are your favorites?" Amber asked.
"Poison, ice, electric, ghost, fire, bug..."
Bill cleared his throat. "Are you making these guesses based on personality?"
"Uh yeah, and just for fun." Keirstan shrugged a shoulder. "Ok, Zoey to me you're probably a poison...poison, uh...hm." Beth rubbed her chin. "...Ground and probably electric?"
She thought about it and pursed a lip. "Eh."
"Don't 'eh' me!" Beth cried.
Zoey continued, "poison I agree with. And probably fire too? I have no idea."
"What about me?" Ian sat on his knees.
Keirstan looked at him. "Electric. To me you're a normal-electric. I think Amber is either water-flying or grass-dark-flying."
"I like water-flying." Amber said.
They went on with more type guesses as Bill held his hands together. "This is a long piss br-"
A tapping on the window interrupted him. Beth looked at and rolled it down, and Francis watched her calmly as he folded his arms on the frame. "What?" She mewed "you said yes."
A light smile crossed his face for a moment before he walked over to the passenger side. She followed him with her eyes. "What I thought!" She held out and clapped her hands once.
"Where's Louis?" Ian gazed around.
"I'm coming!" He shouted right on cue outside. Francis shut the door and looked out back, "go, go, go Beth!" He grinned. "Hold on! What gear?"
"Oh right." Francis showed her as Louis sprinted on the road, one arm pumping the other stretched out. Beth drove the truck back on the snowy pavement and sped off.
"WWWAAAIIITTT!"
"Bye Louie!" Francis hollered over everyone's reactions. Keirstan slammed the door shut to his horror, and the group laughed in unison while his panicking form showed in the review mirror chasing after the truck. "Come on now, this is just mean." Amber chortled dryly. Francis then explained to his sister how to properly drive the vehicle, when Bill stepped in, correcting some wrong directions. The two started arguing over one another how to use what as Beth pressed a button. "Like this?" Cleaner fluid sprayed all over the windshield as the rest loudly encouraged Louis to keep running. "Nope." She flipped on the wipers.
"Stop the truck!"
"No, you don't have to use the clutch for that!"
"Yes you do!"
"I believe in you Louis!"
"Something's gonna jump out of the woods! STOP!"
"You need to watch out for black ice, it's shiny but sometimes hard to spot."
"Ok."
"If ya hit ice, don't slam on the break. Carefully steer the truck until it's back where you want to go."
"You-"
"Bill I got this! You're breaking her concentration!"
"Gotcha." Beth nodded.
"Always, always," Jordan rose between them "hit speed bumps as hard as you can."
Beth started to scream-laugh. "Yes!"
"Potholes too. You want your soul to leave your body upon impact."
Francis partly squinted his eyes at him from over his shoulder as Louis continued to scream in the distance. He laid his gaze back on Bill and argued about another feature.
"Can we let him in now?" Amber called worryingly, "he's gonna die."
The biker sighed, "fine." So Beth slammed on the brakes a little too hard, jerking the team where they sat at the same time Louis slipped on a piece of ice. The analyst snapped forward and everybody heard a thump against the door.
"Sorry," Beth flinched.
"You're alright." Francis comforted.
The door was slid open. Ian and Keirstan poked their heads out finding him laying in the snow. "Get yo ass back in here!" Keirstan ordered, motioning with her eyes. "All of your screaming and sobbing must've attracted every zombie in a mile radius!"
Louis groaned as he stiffly sat up and dragged himself inside. Ian shut the door again and they continued on. "Beth!" Zoey cried, "the proper way to drive is Ace Ventura style!"
A mixed orchestra of nos and yeses erupted among them including more laughter. Someone mimicked the actor's yodel. "I can try!" Beth shrilled enthusiastically, she pretended to jerk the wheel as Francis chortled a 'no' while reaching towards her.
The truck rolled through the cold terrain. In a far distance silhouettes of crumbled buildings stood eerily against the empty sky; Beth practiced for a while longer until she became more comfortable with it and switched off with Zoey. Bill resumed reading off the directions as they took turns driving while the trip progressed. They didn't realize how far they were from Riverside, but they would get there. They had eventually quiet down a little with lingering small talk, while most minded themselves by staring out at the scenery. Snow and ice flecked away from the glass as water dotted the vehicle's surface.
Francis pulled out a bottle, unscrewed the cap and took sips of water. He eyed the bottle and jiggled it around some; the liquid inside swished until he took another swig glancing outside. They were going to have to find more soon. He twisted the cap back on and pulled out a pop tart, as much as he hated these pastries, it would keep him a little full for now. His chewing slowed as he thought of the CEDA messages written on the walls around that office. He stopped completely, staring at the floor when he remembered Beth's question about the safe zone.
"What if it's not?"
It had to be. It had to. As much as Francis hated the military, they were their only salvation. The old man told him, they weren't going to CEDA. They were heading for the army he quickly reminded himself. Where else was there to go?
"One rainy night I was coming back to campus from a drive." He heard Kayla start another story to pass time. "It was around finals week, so everyone was stressing out about it. Some were even going nuts. As I'm walking back to the building I lived in, I hear a riot of yelling in the distance. But I couldn't see what was happening. What I did see though, was a friend of Beth's crawling around on her hands and feet cackling like a Jockey."
Louis squinted his eyes and raised a hand. "Why?"
"Gettin' there. I went up to her, I was like, 'what are you doing?' She looked at me wildly with a freakish smile and answers excitedly, 'I'm looking for earthworms!'" She reenacted her confused expression at the time. "'Why?'" Kayla then cupped her hands together. "She shoves a whole handful of 'em in my face. 'To eat them!'...I'm like, 'alright…'" she continued, leaning away from everyone. "Then she runs off into the darkness laughing hysterically as I watched her go. I was like, '...ok, bye!'" She waved.
"I remember you asking me if she was on anything." Beth chortled.
Keirstan laughed. "Did she really eat them?"
Beth's sister shrugged. "I don't know. But the yelling out back was still going on, but since it was raining I went inside. A few days later, I was told some guy was runnin' around naked all over the place and pub safe was chasing him. Which was what the shouting was about." She exhaled, "they caught 'im. He went even more crazy and chucked a bible at another officer's head in the office. Don't ask me where the bible came from. He got away again and they chased him to a covered bridge. But they caught him there too."
"Sounds like he may have been on angel dust." Zoey guessed. Kayla nodded, "probably. I guess he was alright afterwards."
"The Worm part though." Ian huffed lightly.
She continued. "During finals week, a real bad wind storm came through 'cause we were outside a tornado warning. Took out the power, ripped down trees, part of a wall to one of the residence buildings, Beth saw a ghost by our room-our campus is haunted-a tree destroyed some guy's truck...then we had to evacuate the building we were in. Since the alarm went off, so did an automatic voice saying there was a fire. We were trapped outside in that disaster till an officer came and shut it off, and let us back in. Someone lost a bra outside in the storm..."
Amber casually thought of the night as her friend told it. She calmly nodded at the experience.
"Your college is haunted?" Zoey asked curiously.
The older survivor uttered a noise as a 'yes'.
"Kayla and I dormed together last year. One time we woke up from a nap, looked outside and saw a bus had burst in fire in the middle of the courtyard. Already, firefighters were taking care of it. We just went right back to sleep." Beth shared a quick memory.
"For fuck's sake!" Louis cried as Zoey listened in astonishment, her face contorted in bewilderment and wonder. "Never mind this apocalypse, your school was one."
Keirstan spoke up. "It was."
Francis tried to smile, but his mind was in a cloud. He noticed they were now surrounded by trees. He scratched an itch around his eye and shook his feeling of uneasiness away. Determined not to be bothered by it. "We're going to have to find gas soon," Jordan announced from the front. Causing the biker to look up at the same time Amber turned his way, unexpectedly meeting her eyes. He watched her face turn into worry, "you ok?"
He must've had the stupidest look on his face for her to ask. He fully returned to reality, blinking his eyes hearing her question. "Um...yeah, I'm alright. Just a little tired."
"What's that up ahead?" Francis heard Bill ask.
The analyst turned his attention on the men up front. Soon the truck started to slow once more, a shape between the trees emerged in sight above them. Jordan rolled towards a hidden path he noticed. Gravel crunched under the tires until the vehicle came to a stop with a soft squeak. There was a chain link gate with a tall fence stretching out into the woods. Beyond the gate was a line of telephone poles and wires leading up a hill where a building sat on. A single dim light shimmered through the tree's branches. Jordan leaned closer to the window, trying to make out anything else as he contemplated on what the structure could be. Louis and Bill did the same from beside him. Finally, Louis spoke up.
"Guys, I think this is a lighthouse."
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A/N:
Me: *Listening joyfully to Breaking Benjamin's newest album.*
Zoey: *Batter rams my door down and marches in breathing heavily in a mess. She stares at me as I wave.* Do you not hear what's going on out there?!
Me: For once I want to stay away from destruction.
Zoey: Wow, what a shock!
Me: I know!
Were any of the stories here true? Zoey's was not, although it happened to her haha. The urban exploring stories, Kayla's last few and the Wasp are true. OH MY LORD THAT HURT SO. DAMN. MUCH. Also, dumb poll but what Pokemon types does everyone think fit well with each survivor in this story? That'd be neat to hear in reviews. Just no flames please! No one likes flames.