Chapter 5

"Jules!? Jules, answer me!" called Max into her phone, but went quiet as another scream chimed through the building. Lucky for her, it didn't come closer and was soon followed by a male cry, which died only seconds later… Another victim! Additionally, the connection was already lost again.

"I need to get to her!" announced the young brunette, but received only a sternly arched eyebrow by Brooke.

"You don't even know where she is. Let alone that we're trapped in this room. Or do you already have a plan to bail us out here?"

"No," was Max's sadly whiffed answer. She then walked back to the couch and let herself fall onto it. Brooke did the same and both sat there in silence for some time, until the Asian girl spoke up again.

"I know that you two are together… Well, I think after last night everybody here knows. But we need to stay focused and think rationally!" This rather embarrassing, dry comment let Max look at her friend with wide open eyes and an intense blush, which – in return – let Brooke just sigh and roll with her eyes. "Oh c'mon, Max. You two moaned each other's names through the entire building, half of the night. Though I must say, it turned me more on than hearing Victoria's disgusting grunts."

Now entirely ashamed, Max just groaned and covered her face with her hands and mumbled through them "Didn't you just say that we need to focus on this shitty mess?"

"Right," was Brooke's then spoken reply as she shifted her focus from her friend to the window. "At first, we should try to find out how those zombies tick."

Cautiously, the Asian girl approached the window in a crouched position and spied outside. Some of the creatures were still feasting on the corpses that hadn't risen, some others had vanished. A shriek, accompanied by the typical eerie scream chimed from somewhere close-by. All the creatures outside jumped up and screamed as well before sprinting towards the source.

"Attracted by sound," whispered Brooke, making a mental note. Whereas Max added "But not all of 'em," signing towards two other creatures that were still busy eating one of the students a few yards away.

"Hmm…strange…" mentioned the raven-haired girl and pinched her chin while thinking.

"Maybe they have an action-radius? Like in a videogame."

With a suspicious frown, Brooke gazed at Max, who simply shrugged. Though this idea seemed unlikely to her, Brooke took it into consideration, lacking any other explanation. Then, she gave her friend a very soft bump with her elbow in order to get her attention.

"Max, look! Samuel and…"

Right away, Brooke went silent as she gulped and tried to hold down some tears as she saw that Stella, one of her few close friends, was now one of the creatures. She had to witness how the once skinny, timid girl stumbled away from the building with insecure steps and then began to munch on the first body that was crossing her – assumingly – random path.

With a sniff, she turned around and walked back to couch where she sat down. Max followed her on the spot and took her into a soothing hug, whispering "I'm so sorry!"

"Why?" hissed the Asian girl furiously and jumped up. "Why the fuck didn't she stay in her room? Why did she do that? She was smart enough. Otherwise I would never have let her fuck me! Fuckdammit!"

Upon this outbreak, paired with a surprising revelation, Max blinked at Brooke with wide open eyes. Both kept on staring at each other for a minute, until the black-haired girl let out a deep sigh and slumped back down on the couch.

"Nobody knows," she eventually spoke. "It was just one night, but…I somehow wanted it to be more. Stella…was unsure."

"But…didn't you crush on Warren?" asked Max in return and got a loud cynical scoff as an answer.

"Not after I learned about the numerous notches on his bedpost, Max." Once more, Max was taken aback as she heard the uncomfortable truth about her best friend and former crush. "Stella warned me about him. A year ago she had something with that ass. Before her, it was Alyssa. And before her some other chick. He was very good at gaining a girl's trust with his geeky side… I mean, who would think that a nerd like him would be a womanizer? And after he got bored, he would sneak his way out of a firm relationship. Gosh, you should be glad that you turned gay before he got you!"

"I-I actually am," stammered the freckled girl, still busy coping what she had just learned. Internally, she already planned on ripping Warren a new one – If he was still alive, anyway.

After a few minutes, Brooke took a deep breath and got serious again. "Okay…enough of Blackwell-drama. Let's get real again! What do we know about those zombies?"

"We shouldn't call them zombies, Brooke!" mentioned Max, earning another frown by her friend.

"Why not?!"

"Because this stupid word is just outdated and doesn't fit their behavior."

"Fine. But how should we call them? Any ideas?"

"How about Infected."

"Ugh, boooring! Let alone that we aren't even sure if it's some kinda pathogen."

"Okay, Miss Smartass. Any better ideas?" snipped Max back, crossing her arms. And as much as Brooke wanted to reply with a snarky answer, no idea came into her mind.

Only as they heard another scream in the distance, both looked at each other and said in unison "Screamers!" followed by a grin.

"Screamer does really sound cool!" concurred Max, yet her gaze dropped as she added with a sigh "And what now? We know that they're attracted by sound, are murderous and infectious, that's it."

"Since phones and internet aren't working and you have no TV…" said Brooke and made her way to Max's stereo. She turned it on – being careful that the volume was low – and switched it into radio-mode.

"…-ergency broadcast. Please standby for further information… This is the emergency broadcast. Please standby for…"

"Dammit! Local radio station seems to be down. Let's try Portland radio. Maybe the Screamers aren't there yet." mentioned Brooke and switched to another frequency, until a female, not artificial voice chimed.

"…-throughout the entire westcoast. People are recommended to stay at home and avoid public until the situation got cleared by the authorities. The National Guard is… Wait, I just received some new info…"

For a moment, the voice had gone silent. Both, Max and Brooke were now in front of the radio, instinctively holding each other's hand. Then, the moderator continued with a shivering tone.

"Cases of the infection have also been reported in Florida, New York, Washington D.C. and Maine. The President has been evacuated and declared a total lockdown as well as martial law for the entire United States. We…"

Screams could be heard in the background, which got louder and were soon accompanied by gunshots. Now the moderator's voice was not only shivering, but also dripping with fear and panic.

"Oh my god, they're here! M-mom…Dad…Nicky…I love you guys…I…AAAAHHH…NOOO! AAAAHH! HELP ME! HEL-arrrrrgh…"

"This is the emergency broadcast. Please standby for further information… This is the emerg-…"

"Fuck!" cussed Brooke and turned off the stereo. She and Max were still holding each other, silently mourning the poor radio moderator who had just become another victim.

"Brooke, we need to do something!"

Scoffing without any amusement, Brooke just gave Max a frown. "Max, be reasonable! As soon as we take a step outside this room, we'll be dead. You heard the dead chick on the radio. We should stay put here until the military has dealt with this shit."

"The military?!" blurted Max back unintentionally, feeling a bit panicky upon the recent events. "Brooke, they just overran the radio station, which had probably been guarded by the police. And even if they could handle it, how long do you think it would take until they free such a hickhole, like Arcadia Bay? Days? Weeks? Months? No matter how long it takes, but we need food and water at least to survive this. So,…"

"We need to go outside anyways," completed Brooke Max's swell of words and sighed in defeat. "Okay, so we need to get food and water. The closest possibility would be the cafeteria… Which is probably crowded with Screamers since it's morning and most people went for a breakfast."

"Then we need to be sneaky! No sounds, no talking! And as soon as we got our supplies, we're gonna find Juliet."

"Whoa, stop it right there, Max! I agree that we need supplies, but searching for Juliet is just insane!" chided Brooke angrily, yet gulped down to go all ballistic on her friend. "Listen, I understand why you wanna do this. But we don't even know where to look for her and every further second we stay out there, increases the chances to get caught by those fuckers exponentially!"

Seeing Max's former strong demeanor falter and the coming up tears in the corner of her eyes, the Asian girl took another deep inhale to calm herself down and added soothingly "Hey! Juliet is a tough girl. She'll find a safe place and as soon as this shit is over, you two will be back together in no time. Promise!"

"But what if not?" asked Max with a brittle voice and as reaction received a soothing smile by the raven-haired girl.

"Well, then we'd at least still have each other, and I promise that no matter what, I'll stay at your side!"

Of course, Max was happy to have Brooke at her side, and not only because she had saved her life, but also because she had someone to trust and rely on in this crisis.