Thank you to minimateking30 and Powerpuff Girls Z Fan 24 for reviewing, and thank you for the favorite & follows! :)
To answer your questions: Bubbles is nineteen in this story and ironically enough, I've never seen 28 Days Later, but it's on my list of movies to check out, haha. The inspiration for this story came after watching a plethora of different horror game walkthroughs, movies, & reading manga/novels. I'm a huge horror nerd and I've had this plot in my head for months, I just never had the time to sit and write it all down. Even though I got inspired by lots of different works, I'm trying to make this story as original as I can. Not sure if it's working, but an FF author can try, right?
Thank you again for giving my story a chance! Hope you guys enjoy!
.: 3 :.
Bubbles didn't sleep very well that night, nor was she able to eat much of anything. She tried making herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but the thick, gooey jelly reminded her of the smears on that man's face and that was enough to kill her appetite. After covering the sandwich in saran-wrap and placing it in the fridge for later, she turned off all the lights and headed upstairs to the bedroom she shared with her sisters.
Seeing Blossom and Buttercup's beds was like a punch to the gut, but she tried to reassure herself that nothing had happened to them. It was likely that something had happened, but thinking negatively wouldn't do her any good. Maybe they were somewhere safe, maybe they'd been able to get away from whatever was happening in Townsville. If that were the case, she wondered why they didn't pick her up. Why was she all by herself? Did they have time to come back and pick her up, or had they been rushed out of the city? Did those creatures kill everyone off? So many questions wracked her brain and she began to feel a headache coming on.
She curled up on her bed and listened to the silence of the house. It reminded her of the few power outages she'd experienced; it was rare, but sometimes violent thunderstorms left parts of Townsville without electricity for a day or so. Bubbles never minded losing power but what bothered her most was laying in bed at night without white noise. She and her sisters always had a fan running and the gentle repetitive whirring sound soothed her. She wanted to put the fan on because she knew it would help her get to sleep—not that she could, after hearing all those terrifying roars—but she was paranoid of what could be lurking outside and decided to remain as quiet as possible, keeping the lights off and all sound muted.
The problem was that, without any sort of light or white noise, Bubbles' deepest fears began to crawl back up to the surface; she was always afraid of the dark even as a child and, although she was nineteen and definitely didn't believe there were monsters under her bed—they'd upgraded to taking over Townsville, it seemed—the inky blackness of night still made her uneasy even in adulthood. Anything could creep up on her and it was times like these that she wished she didn't humor Buttercup's knack for horror movies, games, and stories.
Every little sound caused Bubbles to become paranoid. The creaks and groans of the house were one of those creatures trying to find a way inside; the low hum of the fridge downstairs was them creeping around, waiting to burst in at any minute; the tree branches that tapped against her bedroom window was one of them clawing at the glass to get to her. Anything and everything set Bubbles' nerves on edge and it was enough to make her wish she wasn't alive to experience such a helpless feeling of fear.
And that was the core of it: Bubbles was helpless. The Professor didn't own any guns and even if he did, she didn't know how to shoot. It wasn't in her nature to hurt others or lift a violent finger against anyone or anything so if one of those discovered her scent, all she could think to do was hide and hope for the best.
She didn't realize she dozed off until a gentle sliver of sunlight streamed in through the curtains and landed across her face. She realized, with slight disgust, that she forgot to take off her makeup from yesterday and lazily sauntered into the bathroom to wash up. The hot water felt good on her skin and helped her feel a little better, but her mind was still reeling from yesterday's venture into Townsville. It all felt like a bad dream and she kept wondering when she would wake up, but the logical part of her brain refused to let her forget this situation was all-too real.
She looked at herself in the mirror and wasn't surprised to see dark circles under her eyes from last night's lack of sleep, plus her body was still slightly recovering from the flu, so it was probably for the best she remain home until she was back to feeling one-hundred percent. She knew it wasn't a good idea but when she felt better, she figured she should try to go back to Townsville and see if there was anything or anyone that could clue her into what had happened. For all she knew, there could be other people out there holed up from whatever was lurking around the city. Bubbles knew all about how bad situations could turn human beings into savages, but some folks managed to retain their compassion, and she hoped she could come across those types of people... If she came across any people at all, that is.
With that thought in mind, the blonde went downstairs and retrieved the sandwich she'd put away last night, ignoring the thoughts that compared strawberry jelly to bloody smears. She chewed thoughtfully and was delighted to hear a few birds singing outside. After peeking through the kitchen drapes, she noted that the neighborhood was still devoid of people or any of those sick-looking creatures, but at least the world wasn't completely silent. She wondered how she could spend her day since the news apps weren't updating and the cable was out, and it was then that she decided to sit down with her jewelry kit and make some new bracelets. Something was better than nothing, right? Plus, it was a quiet enough activity that she could keep herself busy while keeping an ear out for any unusual sounds outside.
Bubbles returned to her bedroom and pulled the box from under her bed, wrinkling her nose at the thick layer of dust that had accumulated on the lid. She carefully lifted it and moved it aside to view the various beads and strings before setting to work on a new bracelet.
Five bracelets and a necklace later, it was noon and Bubbles was sick of looking at beads and string. She tossed the trinkets into the box and shoved it back under the bed, huffing in frustration as she checked her phone for the umpteenth time that day. No new messages, no news updates, nothing. Fatigue and boredom made her eyelids droop and she thought it might do some good to take a nap, but she was sick of being in bed; she'd spent enough time laying around the house before Townsville began to resemble a zombie apocalypse.
It was only when Bubbles set her phone down and was about to turn over to catch up on sleep when a familiar cheery ringtone exploded into the quiet of the house. Bubbles practically dove for her phone and relief flooded through her at the sight of Buttercup's contact photo. She hastily accepted the call.
"Hello?"
"Bubbles? Bubbles, oh my God—" Her sister's voice was laced with a mix of panic and relief. "Bubbles, where are you? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine; what's going on? Where are you?"
"Listen, we're in one of the evacuation zones," Buttercup explained. "Are you at the house right now? Have you gone out at all?"
Evacuation zones? This really is like a zombie apocalypse scenario, the blonde mused.
"I'm home," Bubbles replied. "I tried going out earlier, but—"
"DON'T GO OUT!" The blonde jumped at her sister's harsh screech. "Stay inside, do not go back outside, whatever you do! We don't know what happened, but there's a whole bunch of people that got infected. They're not right in the head, Bubbles, they'll kill you as soon as they see you. They're aggressive and they'll tear anyone they see to pieces and holy shit they're nasty, Bubbles, and—"
A weird fumbling noise interrupted Buttercup's rant, followed by her indignant 'hey!'
"What Buttercup means to say," Blossom's gentle voice amended. "Is that earlier this week, about three days ago, some kind of infection spread throughout Citysville. They tried to contain it, but a few infected patients managed to infiltrate Townsville. Everyone was evacuated before the city was completely overrun."
"But I'm still here," Bubbles pointed out, feeling anguish over the fact that everyone else was evacuated yet she was left behind. "Why wasn't I evacuated? When I went out earlier, I didn't see any signs of people trying to leave the city, but I saw one of the infected and it didn't even look human. What's wrong with them?"
"We don't know," Blossom admitted. "No one knows what's wrong with them, but we know it's possible to become infected if you're bitten by one of them. And we did try to come pick you up but by the time we were able to find each other, the military arrived and escorted everyone out. We tried to tell them that you were still at home but they wouldn't listen. When everything was sorted out and we were assigned to a house, the Professor, Buttercup, and I reported you missing to a few of the officials running this zone and they're going to send out a few men to look for you along with any other survivors that might be out there. I think they're going to be dispatched tomorrow, but it may take a day or two for them to reach you. If you can, stay inside the house and try not to make any noise at night; the infected... strong... hearing..."
"What?" The blonde squinted, trying to make sense of the sudden static that battled with her sister's voice. "I'm sorry, Bloss, but you're breaking up. What did you say?"
"Fuck!" That was definitely Buttercup. "Bubbles, just stay put, we'll be there soon! We love you, okay? We love—"
Click!
Bubbles pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at Buttercup's blinking contact photo with disbelief. So this whole scenario was like a zombie apocalypse, only those things out there weren't quite the shambling monsters Hollywood liked to exploit. They weren't exactly dead and they weren't exactly human but they were definitely dangerous. Bubbles still had so many questions and so little answers, but at least she'd been able to speak to Blossom and Buttercup. It was a huge relief to know they were alive and safe even though she was all by herself in this scary new side of Townsville. And they said someone would be coming to bring her to the evacuation zone they were currently staying at, so at least there was hope she would be reunited with them. Just knowing her family was alive and well was enough for her to keep going, even if she was currently a sitting duck.
The blonde leaned against her bed and mused that it was a good thing her family was in one of the evacuation zones; the Professor was a genius and could probably whip up a cure for whatever infection caused those inhuman creatures to lose their humanity, or maybe he could create a vaccine that made people immune. Knowing her sisters, they were probably doing all they could to help their fellow survivors. If they could be brave and try to make the best of this, then she could, too.
She ran a hot bath and tried to relax, letting the water soothe her worries. The usual noises of the house still made her feel wary but she wasn't as paranoid as before, reasoning that she would be out of here soon; she just had to hold on for now.
When she was clean and felt much better, she toweled off and changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top before sliding into bed, her eyelids becoming heavy again from last night's lack of sleep. She was about to pull the covers over herself when a little blue light from her phone began blinking, temporarily lighting up the room every five seconds. Bubbles checked it and saw a text from Buttercup, swallowing thickly at the message.
'Don't go out, esp not at night. If they see you, hear you, or smell you, they'll kill you. Stay safe. Love you, C U soon.'
It was terrifying to think that her fear of the dark was now a very valid, very reasonable fear to possess. She tried to send a reply, but the messages wouldn't go through, so she set her phone back onto the night stand and settled under the covers. She wondered if pulling them over her head would be enough to protect her from whatever was out and about tonight. It was a childish thought, but Bubbles felt herself smile. Wouldn't it be nice if pulling the covers over your head kept the bad things away? If only that worked...
It didn't take long before she gave into her exhaustion and drifted into unconsciousness.
