Chapter 3
A warm morning breeze was brushing over the bare skin of Max's feet, arm and face, while the soothing chirp of various birds was slowly waking up her senses. She took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh, slight salty air, feeling entirely relaxed and in peace.
Images of last night's events were now adding to her calm state and painted a soft smile on her face. Normally, the space beside her would be empty, but this morning someone was occupying it, which got confirmed as Max let her hand wander under the blanket and landed, accidently, on Juliet's pubic mount.
"Wanna go another round, already?" spoke the light-brunette girl with a smirk and a drowsy tone, gazing at her girlfriend with half-opened eyes. "Never thought you'd become such a sex-addict, babe."
"I-I don't know," answered Max shyly as she withdrew her hand and guided it towards Juliet's belly. "But I guess I'm still pretty exhausted from last night."
"Yeah, me too," scoffed Juliet, intertwined her fingers with Max's and gazed quietly at the ceiling. "Gosh, I still can't believe it actually happened. You and me…finally together."
As Max shuffled even closer and embraced Juliet tightly, she couldn't suppress a few tears of joy. "I'm so happy right now! You're the best thing that happened to me since…since…"
"I know," the other girl answered and planted a peck on her girlfriend's head, tightening the embrace. "And I'm glad that I make you happy. I just…I just wish we would've more time here together."
Surprisingly, Max got up out of a sudden and started to rummage through some stuff on her desk, eventually handing Juliet a letter.
"What's that?" she asked with a slight scoff, and while Max laid down beside her again, she started to read the words on those sheets of paper eagerly. With every read syllable, her eyes widened more and more, until she gazed at her in unbelief. "D-does this mean…? We…We're going to the same College?"
"Well, if you want to and I accept the offered place," added Max with a nod and out of happiness, Juliet couldn't do anything else than to kiss her girlfriend's lips and then say "I love you, Max!"
Though these were the words Max had always wished for, she couldn't do anything else than to break away a bit and look at her loved one in awe.
"I-I love you, too!" she then whispered, her voice almost failing, and then kissed Juliet once more, which quickly was about to turn into way more, hadn't Juliet's phone began to go off repeatedly.
"Mmh…fuck, that's…that's Dana's ringtone," mentioned the budding reporter as Max was already on her way to her nether region, but stopped immediately.
"Then you should take it. I-I don't mind," replied Max truthfully and shuffled aside to allow her girlfriend access to her clothes beside the bed.
With a cheeky smirk, she commented "Just gimme a minute and then you can eat breakfast!" which made Max blush intensively, and then took the call. "Hey Dana, 'sup?...What?!...Shit! Okay, I'll be right there!"
Immediately, Juliet jumped up and started to get dressed, which made Max look at her with a confused frown.
"What's wrong?"
"Some fucking hobo attacked Dana and Trevor. She's okay, just some scratches, but Trevor got it worse. I'm just gonna pick her up from the hospital and bring her here. And then we continue, promise!"
But Max actually didn't mind, because she knew that Juliet would be back and never leave her. She simply stood up and embraced the now dressed girl tightly, saying "Take care, Jules! I love you!"
Answering with a kiss and a whispered "I love you, too!" Juliet eventually parted the embrace with some reluctance and headed out of the room to help her friend in need.
Now being alone, Max thought about what she could do to bridge the time until her girlfriend would return. And as she let her sight wander around the room, a chilly breeze hit her still naked body.
'Brrr! I should put on some clothes before I catch a cold!' she told herself and put on one of Chloe's old over-sized band shirts and boxer shorts, a few memorabilia Max had kept to have at least a bit of her late best friend and love interest always at her side.
Feeling a bit hungry, yet not being in the mood to go to the cafeteria, Max brought forth her secret cookie stash, slumped down on her sofa and started to munch while reading one of the books she had borrowed from Dana.
However, since she hadn't had much sleep last night, Max quickly felt tired again and soon she couldn't even keep her eyes open anymore.
Icy winds were slapping the cold rain into her face while a thunderstorm raged right above her.
Max knew where she was.
She was on the small path that led to the Arcadia Bay lighthouse. And the storm was the same one, which had been supposed to destroy the entire town. But it never happened.
The last time she had this dream was now about 6 months ago. She knew it was the same dream, yet it felt different.
Defying the elements, Max made her way to the top of the cliffs, already expecting to see the vast hurricane. But instead, the weather cleared and the sun broke through the dark clouds.
The storm was gone and only a beautiful scenery of the bay with its town remained.
"What a fucking-A view! And all it took, was to sacrifice my sorry ass," chimed Chloe's voice suddenly beside Max, making the young girl to turn towards the source.
Close to her, stood a 15-year-old girl with long, strawberry-blond hair, wearing an Arcadia Bay-sweater and normal blue jeans.
Out of sadness and regret, Max could only bring forth a whispered and shaky spoken "Chloe… I…"
"You're sorry?!" interrupted the blonde angrily, giving her friend an evil glare. "Yeah, sure. Why would you? Everyone's safe and sound. You're almost done with school and will bail again. And on the top, you got yourself a bitch that licks your cunt. I'd be sorry, too…NOT!"
Hearing this coldness and cynicism regarding her feelings, Max started to cry hard and sunk to her knees. But to her surprise, she got pulled up again by Chloe, who was then brushing away her tears while speaking to her with a soothing voice.
"But don't ya worry, Max! Soon, this whole bullshit won't matter anymore. Because they're coming. Maybe you stopped the storm, but you can't defeat ancient evil. So, brace yourself, dude!"
A loud knock and a yelled "Courtney!" ripped Max out of her nightmare and let her shoot up with a loud gasp. Her heart was racing and her breathing was rapid, while her mind fought its way back from the nightmare to reality.
Once more, a loud knocking chimed, accompanied by Victoria Chase's furious voice.
"Goddammit Courtney, open this fucking door or your membership is over!"
"What the heck?" mumbled the brunette and made her way to the door with insecure steps. Still feeling drowsy, she paused for a short moment before opening it.
In the hallway stood a bunch of female students around Courtney Wagner's door, Victoria Chase, a tall blonde with pixie-cut hair and overprized clothes, standing in front of it, hammering with her fist against the wood.
"Wh-what's going on?" asked Max while rubbing some more sleep off her eyes, and immediately everyone turned towards her.
"None of your business, Caulfield. Now take a hike and fuck yourselfie!" spoke Victoria and shifted her attention back to the door.
Right on time, the metal door to the staircases swung open and the school's janitor, Samuel, as well as the chief if security, David Madsen, entered the vicinity.
"What the hell is goin' on here?!" blurted the head of Blackwell security, a tall man in a dark-blue security guard uniform, with short-cut black hair and a mustache in his face.
Unimpressed and confident, Victoria simply crossed her arms and returned "Courtney locked herself in her room and doesn't open up, though I told her to do so."
"And in what world is this a reason to call security?" now complained David angrily, but again, the arrogant blonde in front of him stayed unimpressed, even sighed on annoyance.
"Okay. Firstly, she still has my report which is due today. And secondly, she could be injured or something, so you must help and rescue her!"
After a few seconds he needed to recover from such a snarl, David Madsen eventually shook his head in defeat and knocked at Courtney's door.
"Miss, this is Blackwell security. Please open this door right now or we'll consider this an emergency and break it open!"
The answer from the other side was just a slight groan, nothing more. This single reaction gave David some worries and left him just one choice.
"Samuel, open this door!"
"Maybe she's just fucking herself," it suddenly chimed plainly in, which let everyone in the hall gaze at Brooke Scott, a petite Asian girl with glasses and black, partially red-dyed bound-up hair, who was leaning against the wall close by, playing with her Smartphone.
The reactions to that comment were very mixed. Max and Taylor – a tall, lanky blonde with long hair and dressed in rather cheap wannabe expansive clothes – blushed. Many other girls just giggled while Victoria rolled with her eyes. Samuel had anticipation glistening in his glare. And David simply sighed "Fucking kids," before ordering "Just open this door!"
"As you wish, Mr. Madsen!" responded Samuel with a strange smile and got to work on the lock.
Then, a shuffling could be heard from inside, followed by a click right before the door swung open and a pale-looking, entirely bunged up Courtney Wagner stood in the doorframe, blurting "Da fuck is wrong with you guys? Can't you see that I'm not well?" Her entire body was covered in sweat, making her pyjamas and black, partially dyed, shoulder-long hair stick to her skin.
"I'm very sorry, Miss. But you didn't respond and…" began David, but got interrupted by Victoria right away as she was pushing her way past the guard.
"Who cares?" she just said plainly, one hand at her hip. "Court, where's my report? I need it today!"
"Gosh, Vic. I was feelin' pretty bad and couldn't…I…"
Suddenly, Courtney lost her balance and collapsed, making the entire crowd gasp. Luckily, David jumped forward and caught her mid-air.
"Courtney!" called Max in shock and selflessly helped the security guard lifting the sick girl up again.
"I need an ambulance at the Prescott Dormitories, stat!" he called into his radio and then spoke to Max "Quick, let's get her back to bed!"
"10-4, chief!" it sounded in the meantime from the radio as a response.
Meanwhile, both had managed to carry the unconscious girl half-way to her bed as, out of a sudden, her body began to spasm violently, which caused Max and David to lose their grip. With a loud thud, Courtney hit the ground, keeping on flailing out.
Not wasting a second, David jumped onto her and tried to pin her down, yelling "Samuel…take her legs! Keep her down!"
"Ohh…yes…of course, Mr. Madsen," was the janitor's reply as he knelt down and took a hold on Courtney's legs, and though Max wasn't told to, she helped, getting kicked in the process a few times.
But if this scene hadn't been already horrifying enough, Courtney ripped open her bloodshot eyes and let out an eerie scream that let a shiver run down everybody's spine. What happened after that was like being first handedly cut out from a horror movie.
Courtney managed to throw off David, who stumbled against the closet behind him. Having her arms free now, the continuous shrieking girl sat up, grabbed Samuel by his clothes, tackled him to the ground and bit him right in the throat like a wild animal. As the insane girl then also started to bite out chunks of meat from the poor dying man, panic started to spread among the audience.
Some of the other students ran screaming away, while a few others vomited on the floor or filmed the terrifying event. Max, on the other hand, was too shocked to even move, just whispering "C-Courtney…?" and to her surprise, the insane girl even stopped her feast in an instant, only to look at the freckled brunette with an emotionless, feverish gaze. Max immediately knew that she would be the next victim, and the proof came merely a second later as Courtney jumped at her, pinning her to the ground.
Only by summoning all her strength she managed to keep the sharp teeth away from her body. But it was a lost cause, because with every passing second she got weaker and weaker. Desperation was flooding her mind and made her cry big tears, as out of nowhere, Brooke smashed a chair so hard against Courtney's head, that it sent her flying off Max.
Immediately, the Asian girl helped her friend to get up, but at the same time, Courtney was also back on her feet again and ready to kill her prey, announcing it with another loud scream. Only a deafening shot, paired with a bullet through its hip stopped the murderous creature in its doings for a moment as it collapsed once more.
"Miss, stay down or I'll shoot to kill. Last warning!" called out David, pointing the gun at the furious thing that once used to be Courtney Wagner. But it didn't care about the armed man's warning and wanted to attack again. Another shot blared, and this time it penetrated the creature's skull, painting the wall and floor behind it with blood and chunks of brain.
For a long moment, it felt like time had frozen again. Only Brooke's heavy breathing beside her, told Max that her former powers hadn't returned.
"Fuck!" cursed David with gritted teeth as he let his gaze wander around the bloody scenery. Slowly, he approached Courtney's corpse, gun still pointed at her head, and gave it a few bumps with his boot. But it showed no reaction whatsoever, telling him that she was gone for good. Still not averting his glare from the creature's bloodied, maniacal face, the tall man holstered his gun and said "You're okay?"
Just now, Max snapped out of her stupor and realized that she had her arms wrapped around Brooke and vice versa. But while the Asian girl wanted to break the embrace, Max pulled her in closer and let out a few sobs into her shoulder.
"Thank you!" she spoke weakly, seeing in her former rival the only person to hold on to – besides Juliet, who wasn't sadly present at the time. Everyone now would've thought that Brooke – for most students a cold-hearted loner – would push Max away and tell her to get a grip of herself. However, quite the opposite occurred as the raven-haired girl embraced her as well and petted her back for comfort.
"Edwards," barked David in his radio, "call the police and another ambulance! We got two bodies here."
"Can you repeat that, chief? Two bodies?!"
"Yes, Edwards. Two…fucking…bodies. Now get on that phone, kid and make the call!"
"I already tried, but I can't get through. Not even 9-1-1 works."
"Incompetent prick!" cursed the security guard with a sigh, but tried to hold his composure as he pushed the call-button once more. "Okay, listen! Move your ass to the dorms and take over! I'll try to contact authorities."
"Copy that, chief!"
Mumbling a few more curses, David rubbed his temple and eventually addressed the schoolgirls that were still around.
"Alright, listen up! Everyone get back to your rooms and stay there! If you have to go to the bathroom, do it now! Otherwise, stay put until the police arrives. You got that?"
With murmured confirmations, the remaining girls got back to their rooms or to the toilets.
"Max, you too!" added David, addressing the freckled girl, who answered with a simple nod.
"Brooke?" she then said to her friend. "Mind to give me some company? I don't wanna be alone right now."
"Sure thing!" the Asian girl answered and both walked back to Max's room, where they locked the door right away.
"Fuck!" Max then gasped and let herself drop onto the mattress, her eyes fixed on some random spot on the ceiling. "What the freakin' hell was that?"
Since that crazy week with Chloe, Max had learned the hard way that life can be merciless and brutal. Wrapping up in a cocoon and bawling like a baby in self-pity just won't help shit, once said crap had hit the fan. She had to learn it. Brooke, however, just was her pragmatic self as always.
"Zombie," she mentioned plainly with a shrug of her shoulders, slumping down beside her friend as well. "At least, she fulfilled a lotta clichés."
Not taking her answer seriously, Max simply scoffed. How could this be even possible? The flesh-eating undead?! An urban myth, spread by a cheap flick from the 70s, which had been revived by the remake of said movie in the early 2,000s. Sure, making a highly contagious pathogen the culprit of the phenomenon had given it some more plausibility, but still… Zombies?!
Feeling Max's doubt, Brooke brought forth her phone with a sigh, rummaged through the content and handed it to the brunette.
"Professional Zombie-Guide for Your Daily Survival," she read aloud the title of an eBook and then gave Brooke her phone back, before stating "Okay, if Courtney would've been a real zombie, shouldn't Samuel then have turned…"
Out of a sudden, another loud scream echoed through halls, followed by another female crying. Immediately, both girls jumped up, whereas Brooke gasped "Stella!" and wanted to sprint to her aid. But Max stopped her before she could even touch the handle, making her hiss "Lemme go!"
Knowing that Stella and Brooke were close friends and Max herself even was fond of that girl, it hurt her to do that. But she also knew that they both had won the fight with Courtney just because David had shot her. And she wasn't willing to let Brooke die a meaningless, gruesome death.
The crying got quieter over time, telling both girls that it was over now. With watery, fury-filled eyes, Brooke grabbed Max by her collar and pressed her hurtfully against the wood of the door.
"Why?" she asked with gritted teeth and got her answer as Stella screamed once again. But this time it wasn't human anymore. More unearthly screams chimed through the building and from outside, accompanied by desperate cries and gunshots, which were fading within seconds as well.
Overcoming her sadness and frustration, Brooke let go of Max and walked to the window, the latter one joining her stat.
"Oh my god!" exclaimed Max and covered her mouth as she saw the massacre outside the dorms. Some of her fellow classmates had already turned into those vicious creatures and were eating one of the security guards. Some other students were lying dead and half-eaten in their blood, rising with a deafening scream one by one to join the other creatures.
Brooke wasn't doing any better as Max evident by her agape mouth and her brain barely able to comprehend that the plot of The Walking Dead was happening outside this very room, right in front of her eyes.
Additionally, Max's phone began to ring, making both girls wince.
"Jules!" said the freckled girl with worry as she saw her girlfriend's picture on the display. And her worry increased infinitely as she heard a loud banging noise and Juliet's sobs on the other end of the line.