Chapter 2 Step Two: Make friends

You know what, I've changed my mind. I'm starting to think people underestimated how effective a zombie apocalypse would be. It's called the apocalypse for a reason, people! It's the end times! There shouldn't even be any survivors-

Wooh! Nope! Not going down that road, remember step one. Just, take a few breaths. Okay, feeling much better. Sorry about that. I am just feeling a little discouraged. Maybe I should back up a bit.

…

"How can you not know what zombies are?" I shook my head in disbelief. "They're like classichorror monsters. That's like not knowing what a werewolf or a vampire is."

"Bull-" Justin was cut off from a glare from Danny, coughing slightly, as he made my story a little more pg. "Crap." He finished lamely. "I've never heard of them."

"How could you not have?" I repeated, bewilderedly. "The dead come back to life, they walk and wail and try to chomp down your brains, and if they chomp someone else, you turn into one of them, does none of this sound familiar?!"

"No." Justin repeated blankly, staring at me as if I was the crazy person, here. "Pretty sure I would have heard of that particular brand of nightmare before. You sure it's not some of the DnD s-" Que Danny's glare. "Stuff?"

"No, well." I thought about it. "Probably, but I've seen it outside that stuff all the time."

"Wait a second." Vince held up a hand, cutting Justin off before he even had the chance to argue. "If they bite you, you turn into one?"

"Uh, yeah." I nodded, blatantly ignoring the only white-collar criminal on the bus. "Why?"

"Wasn't the guard bitten?" Danny pointed out, worriedly, taking a few steps back away from the body in question.

Which is probably a good thing, considering it was starting to twitch. "Urrghh." The corpse grumbled, as if held under insufferable agony.

"Vince." I spoke calmly, quietly. The zombie-cop still caught it. "Shoot it." I requested.

Vince just started a little in horror, as the corpse began to rise. The shotgun nearly slipped from his fingers.

"Vince, shoot it." I repeated, backing up as the zombie began to hiss and growl. "Vince!" Yup, now it was definitely going for me. "Screw it." I sighed, whipping my Swiss army knife out, and switching in the blade, just as Officer Corpse Breath pounced on me.

Its body weight did most of the work, practically impaling itself on my knife. All I had to do was backup a little before I got trapped under a super dead body. Again.

Everyone just stared speechless, as I yanked my knife out of the dead cop's brain.

Then, as if I flicked a switch, all chaos let loose.

"JESUS!" Danny panicked, nearly pulling out some of his hair in his worry. "Just- what the fuck?!"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Justin let out, horrified.

"I- SHIT!" Vince nearly threw his shotgun as he barreled towards me, crashing down to one knee as he gripped my shoulders tightly. "Kid- Kevin, I am so sorry! It's just- it happened so fast, I just froze. Are you okay?! Did he get you?!"

"It's fine, I'm fine." I assured him, trying to pull myself away from his mother-henning. I sounded more my physical age at the moment than I have since the whole apocalypse began. "You're fine. Everything and everyone are fine!"

I glanced down at the second zombie that I personally killed. Feeling… pretty damn awesome.

"Except that guy." I amended

Kevin: 2, Apocalypse: Whole Bunch.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, staring intently at me, slightly mollified when his inspection turned up no bites or scratches.

"Yeah, I mean, he got pretty messed up-"

"Not the," He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in disbelief. "Not the zombie. Are you sure that you're okay? It's okay if you're not."

"Woah, I said I was fine." I reiterated, holding my hands up defensively.

"Fine is relative." Vince crossed his arms, narrowing his brow in assessment. "A girl who just got cheated on is fine. A guy with one arm and leg can be fine. I want to know if you're okay. Okay?"

"Okay." I breathed, letting out a little pressure. "Honestly, I could use a hot meal and a shower, but, other than that, I'm-" Well, maybe not okay. "I'm alright."

Vince said nothing for a minute, looking me over with a searching gaze, before finally letting up, and uncrossing his arms with a sigh. "Fine. Okay, if you say you're okay, then you're okay. But you let me know if that changes, alright?"

"Yeah, sure Vince." I nodded in agreement. "So, what now? We uh, we haven't really come up with a plan or anything. What are you guys thinking?"

"Well," Vince, thankfully, picked up on the change in subject. "We should probably find somewhere we can hold out for a while. Now, I don't know how long this is gonna go on, could be days, weeks, maybe even months. So, whatever we go with, it's gotta be secure."

"It's gotta be close too." Danny chimed in, from up front. When he got there, I got no freaking clue. "I'm checking the gauge, and I don't think she's got that much left in her. They must have planned to refuel at the prison."

Prison… huh, you know that's not a bad idea. If it's a place meant to keep people in, it's probably pretty good at keeping them out. Plus, you know how these for-profit prisons operate, they'd have enough food in storage for months, maybe even years.

I'd say it's too bad that's not really an option, you know, considering my current company, but these guys are really growing on me. I'm sure there's some place we could hunker down for a bit. If only we had a map… oh, right!

"It'd definitely help if we knew what our options were." Vince commented, resting up against a seat. "I guess, we can just keep driving for now. Until we get somewhere safe, at least. I don't think it's a good idea to stay out here in the open."

"We could probably find something on the way." Danny tried to be optimistic. "Maybe." 'Tried' being the operative word.

"Yeah, maybe." Vince frowned, trying to put on a smile for my sake.

As the boys continued to talk out their plan to wing-it, I quickly began ruffling through my backpack. Well, not my backpack, it's- you know what, no! It is my backpack now, finders keepers. Oldest law of the land.

I cheered in triumph when I pulled out my prized possession, a map of the state. Or the county. Okay, real talk, I've never been to Georgia before, I have no idea how big this place is. But at least it can tell us where we are relative to the map. Better than nothing.

"What?" Vince looked over at me, a small smirk on his face. "Found us a safehouse?"

"Found us a map!" I cheerfully corrected the would-be inmate. "Which can find us a safehouse. I hope." I added in after thought, as I unfurled the map for him to see. "Haven't gotten a good look at it, yet. But uh, we should find something, at least."

"Seriously?" He pulled the map closer to himself, his smirk turning into a grin as he got an eyeful of it. "Nice! Great work, kid!" Vince praised, ruffling my hair in appreciation.

I'm not going to shake off that whole 'kid' thing for a while, huh?

"Alright, I think we crossed 23rd street a while back. So, we should be on the 19th," Vince muttered, looking back from the map to the streets around him like a tourist. "Okay, we should be right uh, hey Danny, what mile marker are we at?"

"Hang on!" He called, looking back and forth from the road to some of the signs passing by us. "Looks like we're at-"

"I'm sorry, are we just-" Justin interrupted looking incredibly frustrated. "Are we just not going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

"I'd prefer we didn't." I happily denied. "You're all prisoners, or should be, anyways." Wait, that came out wrong. "Or shouldn't be! I don't judge. I'd just also really like to not think any less of you guys, so you know, the past is the past and all that-"

"The zombie, Kevin." Justin rolled his eyes. "I was talking about the zombie. Obviously."

"Oh." I blinked. Well, that's a little less awkward, and yet, a little more awkward too. "What about him? He's like, extra dead now. I don't think we have to worry about it." Unless a zombie can become a zombie of itself. But that's just crazy talk.

"Don't have to worry-" Justin made a sound between a scoff, and a choke, as he expressed his disbelief. "There are God knows how many of those things out there that can infect us with a bite, making us one of them, and you don't think we need to worry about it?"

"Oh, we definitely need to worry about it." I 'reassured' him. "We just don't have to worry about this one. I mean, we kind of do have to worry about the rest of them. Like, all the time. Until they're all perma-dead. But as long as we stay calm, and don't panic, we should be fine."

"How can we stay calm!?" Justin demanded, completely ignoring my advice.

"Well, you can start by taking a few deep breaths." I advise, taking a few careful steps back myself, cautiously putting Vince (the guy with a shotgun) in front of me. "Stressing yourself out isn't going to help with anything. Worst case scenario, we can handle it."

"How?" Justin asked, calming down and drooping back into his seat as the adrenaline wore out. "How are we supposed to handle this?"

"Well, they're a finite number." I shrugged. Hey, if people could survive in the Last of Us, we can make it through just fine, here. "They can only replenish their 'forces' by spreading the infection, so as long as we can stop people from getting bitten, we should be able to keep it under control."

I mean, you see it on television all the time. Some zombies will make a bunch of zombies, then like three to four people take them all down before they can even spread to the rest of town. We got this.

"The National Guard's probably already figured that out, so they'll toughen up, get some riot gear, whatever, and take them down city by city. And if we're lucky, they'll have a vaccine sometime soon so that the rest of us survivors won't get infected from a bite." I added on, when Justin seemed unconvinced.

"Yeah, yeah, okay." He breathed easier. "Maybe you're- no, you're right. It's- it's nothing to worry about. Thank you, and uh, sorry about all that." Justin apologized sheepishly.

"Hey, it's all good." I said, forgivingly. "When people are scared, they say stuff they don't really mean all the time. I just want you to know that these things," I cocked my head at the dead zombies. "Are nothing to be scared of."

I even kicked one, just to make the point clear.

"Look at them! You guys took one out when you were cuffed. I got one and I'm eight." I grinned. "Sure, they might look scary, they'll wail, and moan, and chomp, but that's about it. We can do way more. We can think, we can plan, and we can fight back. They aren't getting us. Not today. Not ever."

I didn't mean to make it a speech. Must be the writer in me. The others were giving me slack-jawed looks. But I think they seemed more impressed than lost. But uh, yeah, we could probably use another change in topic.

I coughed, clearing my throat slightly. "Anyways, we should probably toss out the bodies." I seamlessly transitioned. "They're starting to smell."

Vince blinked, still processing what I told him. I could almost picture the loading sign on his face right now. "Yeah, I'll uh, I'll get right on that." He shook his head, clearing his mind, before pulling out the cop. "He's a little heavier than he looks. Justin, could you give me a hand here."

"Sure, Vince" Justin said quietly, looking back and forth between me and Vince before getting up. "No problem."

I'd say it was funny watching two grown men try to carry a fat man a little over three feet just so they could chuck him out the bus, but I'd be lying. My sense of humor isn't that dark. Frankly, I was feeling a little less than helpful watching them do all the heavy lifting, so I went to move the second zombie.

This one was decked out in his own personal jumpsuit, which… had me a little confused. So, he bit the cop, right? Who bit him? How long did he last? Why didn't anyone notice the symptoms before he turned? He was obviously still breathing when got on the bus, so what happened?

Come to think of it…

"Where'd this one get bit?" I asked, checking the bare skin where I could find it for the bite wound. "I can't see any teeth marks. Is it under his shirt or something?" I frowned, pulling it up only to come up blank. "He had to have been bit, so where is it?"

"I don't think he was." Vince said, panting a little as he walked back.

"What?" I froze. "You don't think he was what?"

"I don't think he was bit." Vince explained, pausing upon seeing my posture. "It's- the guy behind him, the one with his head blown off, he was choking him. The guard came back here to break them up, but then he…"

"Blew his brains out." I finished for him, deadpanned. "Awesome, great to see our tax-dollars at hard work."

Justin smirked. "You pay taxes?"

"Everyone pays taxes." I scoffed. "There are taxes on everything, for everyone, for all time. The government loves taxes so much that they'll make us pay taxes after we're dead. Upsetting the natural order. For all we know, that's what caused this whole mess in the first place!"

Vince raised an eyebrow. "You good?"

"I'm better." I allowed, ranting about nonsense did help me to cheer me up from time to time. "So, what? The guy keels over one second, and the next he's got a bad skin condition and a hankering for human flesh?"

Justin hesitantly nodded. "Sounds about right."

"Then… fuck." I sat back, groaning to myself.

"Hey!" Danny calls from the front, giving me a fiery glare in the rearview mirror. "Language!"

"English!" I called back, routinely.

Danny rolled his eyes and muttered a spring of Spanish words together that Duolingo had not prepared me for. Well, that's what I get for only investing five minutes a day for fifty days in a row. But if he ever asks me what my name is, you know, in Spanish, I am so prepared!

"Hey!" Vince snapped his fingers in front of me, very rude by the way. I might be on eye level with a dog, but that doesn't mean I am one. "You want to tell me what your problem is?"

"My problem is our problem." I shot back, hoping I wasn't coming off as scathing. "Somehow the guy turned without being bitten. Which means he was already infected." I explained, connecting the dots. "And you guys are sure that you didn't see any warning signs? He wasn't running a fever, having trouble breathing, something?"

"Well, I wouldn't say he didn't have any trouble breathing." Justin joked, which was kind of funny, but in pretty poor taste, so I'm not going to laugh.

"Justin!" Vince glared, crossing his arms in disapproval.

"Right, too soon. Sorry." Justin cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "So, uh, what do you think that means?"

"It means that whatever he had was completely dormant until after he died." I emphasized, trying to show the significance of what that meant. "Meaning, how do we know that we don't have that too? That everyone doesn't!?"

Everyone paused for a moment, sitting in silence. Contemplating how utterly screwed we were. Only for that same silence to be broken a few seconds later by Justin who summed up our collective thoughts perfectly.

"Well… shit."

…

So… yeah, if I seem a little worried, that's why.

I mean, hell, forget how many numbers the zombies have right now, can you imagine how many they'll have in a week? In a day? Literally, not figuratively, literally over a hundred thousand people die every twenty four hours.

That's just the general estimate on a day-to-day basis!

Factor in a global apocalypse, where just a single tooth scrape can kill you faster, and that number can rocket into the millions, easily. Can you imagine how many people must be gone already? Turned into one of those things?

Every person holding onto a loved one as they laid on their deathbed. Every car accident with an unlucky turn. Every suicide, every murder, every auto erotic asphyxiation! It's all just made more of them, and the only way we know how to stop them is to destroy the brain.

And if unlucky prisoner inmate number two is any indication, it's also the only way to make sure you don't come back as one of them.

It's… I don't want to say hopeless, gotta stay positive. But, uh, yeah. It's not looking too good.

"Hey." Vince said softly, stirring me awake. Or so he thought. Truth is, I've been sleepless all night. "We're here." Sometime last night, we managed to settle on some Motor Inn we found on the map.

It made the most sense. Plenty of space to maneuver, but tight enough in some areas to keep it defensible. Plus, plenty of cars were left behind. If we're lucky, we can refuel the bus, so that if we need to, we can bail in a hurry.

And maybe if we stay lucky, we can find these guys a change of clothes too. Nothing against their current attire. I just don't think everyone will appreciate orange as the new black as much as I do.

"Come on." Vince smiled, reassuringly. "You'll be a lot warmer inside."

I sighed but nodded in agreement before following him off the bus. Hey, maybe he's right, I mean, it does look like these guys still got the lights on. Who knows? Maybe I can get that hot shower I was hoping for.

Then I can just… change back into what I'm wearing. Huh. You know, I don't think I realized just how many downsides there are to being a kid. Not being able to vote is one thing, but where am I gonna find clothes that fit me in the end-times?

"Oh God!" I heard a woman gasp, as Vince got off the bus. Utterly emasculating, the guy's at least three steps below me, and I still can't see over him. I can't wait till I'm six feet tall again. "Please, stay back! We don't have anything, I swear! Please!"

"Woah, easy. We're not here to start any trouble." Vince tried to calm her, placing his shotgun on the ground, dumb, and raising his hands in surrender, dumber. "We're just looking for some place to bunker down for a while."

"Exactly." Justin nodded along. "Everyone's cool here." He agreed, also raising his hands. "Let's just talk it out."

"It's alright." Danny tried too, and I got to give him credit, he was having the most success so far. Only two words, and I can already hear her panting slowing down. The guy wears his heart on his sleeve, and when you're a good guy, people can see that. "No one's gonna hurt you."

I tried peeking over Vince's shoulder, catching her attention in the process.

"You-" She paused, trying to get a glimpse of me around Vince, as her eyes widened. "You have a kid with you?" She said in wonder, maybe even in disbelief, as her posture finally relaxed. Weird, I don't usually have that effect on people.

"Yeah." Vince perked up, placing a hand on my shoulder, almost proudly. "This is Kevin, he's a tough little guy. We're looking out for him until all this-" He waves his hand, indicating basically everything. "Passes."

"Where are his parents?" She asked, far too sincere for it to be malicious.

"They're-" I hesitated, feeling an all too familiar clench.

"Oh." The woman gasped, kneeling down, trying to comfort me like I was a little kid, which, in all fairness, I guess I was. "I am so sorry."

"Me too." I sighed.

Vince cleared his throat, hoping to change the subject. "I'm Vince." He greeted, offering his hand for her to shake, which she hesitantly reciprocated.

"Irene." She returned, somewhat nervously, but far less panicked than before. "It's… nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Vince smiled, before cocking his head in Justin's direction. "That's Justin, and the guy over there is Danny."

"Hello." Justin waved, professionally, if a little exhausted.

"Hey." Danny smiled at her, far more casual.

"I know things are a little crazy right now." Vince said, catching Irene's attention, as she listened to him speak. "But we're all just trying to make it through this, now if it's okay, we'd like to stay in one of these rooms for a while, wait it all out. But only if it's okay with you."

"I- okay." Irene agreed, looking back and forth between me and Vince. "I- I think I can trust you." She sighed. "I should… check on my boyfriend. He's not feeling well."

"What's wrong with him?" Justin asked, cocking a brow.

"One of those… things, bit him. I think he might have an infection." Irene rubbed her arm worryingly, occasionally glancing at one of the doors "I should really get back to him. Feel free to-"

"Wait, hold on, he was bit?" Vince stopped her, looking far more serious. "Shit." He spat under his breath. "How long ago?" He grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving.

"I- I don't know." Irene widened her eyes, earlier panic remerging. "A few hours, I think." She answered, somewhat reluctantly, as she tried to pull away. "P-please let go."

"You can't go in there." Vince looked at her imploringly, shaking his head. "It's not safe." Though he did release his grip on the poor girl's arm, his words froze her in place.

"What do you mean?" She asked, well, more like demanded. "Why wouldn't it be safe? He's just a little sick! He'll be fine!"

"No, he won't." Vince said apologetically, and even I couldn't help feeling sympathetic. I'm not really a big fan of people, I'm actually a pretty big introvert, but nobody deserves this. "If you get bit, you turn. We've seen it happen."

"But-" Irene stuttered. "But maybe he's different! Or we'll find a cure, or-"

"Irene, I'm sorry. I am." Vince apologized, earnestly. "But there's nothing you can do for him. Look, I'll go in there, check on him. But you need to wait out here with the others, in case-"

A thump from the room made him freeze, it made us all freeze.

"Baby!" Irene ignored everything that was literally just said, like some teenager in a horror movie, and went sprinting to the door. "Are you okay?!" I flinched again at her lack of care for her volume. If the bus didn't get the zombies attention, her shrieks will do the job.

"Wait, stop!" Vince tried to hold her up, to no success. "Dammit!" He yelled, picking his shotgun off the floor, and charging in after her, kicking the door open as he did so. "Get back!" Her scream filled the night, seconds before a shotgun blast eclipsed her. But for one blissful moment after that, silence reigned.

And then that moment passed.

…

Authors Note

I'm back!

So, be honest, how many people thought this story was dead? And I mean dead-dead, not the type of dead that kinda dies, but later comes back to bite you. Whoops! Didn't mean to make it a walker analogy.

Or did I?

Now, I know everyone would like an explanation, but before we start on that, I have one serious question for all of you, and I really want this answered. Does anyone have a copy of Your Kids are Safe Now, by Night_Writer3 on Ao3?

I don't know when the story was deleted, some time in the last year for sure, and it really bums me out, because I can still see it when I google search it, but whenever I click on the link, it just says "The page you were looking for doesn't exist."

It was so good! It was basically a retelling of the Final Season, but with Clementine having more kids. You know, like Genevieve, that one Jane was pregnant with, and Javi and Kate's kid, not sure how Clem got her hands on that one, but it was still awesome!

But now it's gone and I'm so sad. If anyone can help me find it, please do!

Anyhow!

In all honesty, I was not sure about continuing this story. I told myself, something better would come along, that I wouldn't have to write, and I could just read the great works of somebody else. And yet, here we are, six months later, same damn spot.

Worse, actually, because somehow, my one chapter that was only ten pages long still has more follows, favorites, and reviews then some of the stuff that's been up there for years. It's a precarious situation!

Now there have been some decent updates to some really amazing works, hell, JohnLocke4 finished up a great arc only about three days ago! But I don't know, when I'm in the mood, I want it all. Not just a lot. So, back to the drawing board.

But that's not all! I've also done something I have literally never tried before. I wrote a chapter in advance. Which in hindsight doesn't sound like much. I was planning on writing about three more before I posted this. I've already gotten started on one of those three, but I'm just so pumped, you know?

Can't say how long the hype will last. But you know what, I bet some Follows, Favorites, and Reviews would help with the morale! So, go do that! I'll be posting in another two weeks, so you definitely got time for it!

Until next time!