Angelica Pickles
"Okay thank you, bye." Said nineteen year old Angelica to the campus police officer that let her pass. The campus had been put on lockdown, so anyone that wanted to enter or leave had to go through the inspection of the police department. And there had been far too many leaving. After waiting in the traffic for over two hours, Angelica could finally leave for home. Well, after another few hours of Los Angeles traffic that is. After cursing softly she turned up the radio and kicked back. This is going to be a long day, she thought.
This had been a very interesting freshman year of college for beautiful young woman. After her last few years of high school went far better than planned grade-wise, and a surprisingly excellent SAT score, Angelica was accepted into the University of Southern California. The money was never a problem, as expected, and she was ready to start her life anew. Away from all her friends and family by a couple of hours, Angelica was finally independent and free to do whatever she wanted and whenever she wanted. She partied often and made a few friends quickly, including a few guys she became fond of over her three month trip to college. She had not been back home since leaving in late August, not even for Thanksgiving a few weeks earlier. But these were desperate times. In the wake of the virus spreading across the United States, USC has become one of the last remaining universities to shut down shop, at least temporarily. For as much as Angelica loved her independence she did miss some of the people back home. Her parents a little bit, as they did love her and it was reciprocated, as much as they fought over the years. Her friends from school as well. And maybe she even missed her cousins and their weird friends a little bit as well. In a perfect world she could go home just long enough to have some fun, and then this whole 'epidemic' would be over and she could go back to her college life, which admittedly was the best time of her life.
And what a life it had been. Throughout the years she had changed, as everyone does. She had become nicer, but still had the ego and intensity that she always had. As hard as she tried, she would still occasionally snap on someone. Then she would immediately feel bad and apologize. Most people would let it go because she was trying, especially guys. Pretty girls like that could always get away with stuff, and pretty she was. Turning heads everywhere she went, Angelica fit right in with the beauty of Southern California. Her flowing blond hair matched with her bold blue eyes, eyes that had that perfect almond shape, kept her right in the game for nearly any guy she wanted.
The line of traffic moving sent her out of her many daydreams. It was finally moving at a steady pace, and before she knew it she was in the driveway of her parents house. Drew and Charlotte had hardly changed, always busy and never really having enough time for her. As she walked into the house her parents rose from the kitchen table and each gave her the saddest of hugs. This is why I'll be at Aunt Didi's most of my time here, she told herself. And after a few hours of talking she took the short walk over to her Aunt and Uncle's house.
As she walked up the driveway she noticed how very quiet and dark the Pickles' house was. "Well it is one in the morning." She said to herself, aloud. It took four rings of the doorbell before a presumably sleeping Stu opened the door. But as he saw her all his tiredness left him.
"Angelica!" He yelled, beaming with excitement. "Didi come see who's here!", and gave Angelica the biggest of hugs and led her into the kitchen. After getting another huge hug from her Aunt, they all sat down in the kitchen and had some hot chocolate. Didi was getting some cheese and crackers when Angelica asked about their two kids. Stu seemed a bit surprised that in the fifteen minutes of conversation Tommy or Dill hadn't come up, but answered anyway.
"Well beside being bored this past week they've been good. Both have been getting good grades as usual." He said that last part with an extra proud smile. "They're actually just up in their rooms right now asleep, we should wake them up."
"Oh well I wouldn't want them to go through all that trouble." Angelica said with a grin.
"Oh don't be silly, Angelica." Didi said. "I'll go get them now." She left after she sat down some cheese and crackers and refilled their mugs with hot cocoa.
"Their friends are staying over anyway. They're probably still awake, listening to us right now." Said Stu, and they both laughed. But they were not laughing any longer after hearing a loud scream from her red-headed Aunt upstairs.
Phil Deville
"Oh Tommy this is easily the best idea you've had in quite a while, my friend." Phil yelled, perhaps a bit too loud.
"Shut up Phillip!" Lil yell-whispered, "We need to be quiet, you never know what could be out here." She finished that last part with a wicked smile and glared at Chuckie.
"I keep telling you guys I'm not scared, no matter how hard you try." Chuckie used to be scared ridiculously, but he was surprisingly keeping his cool here. I don't like that, Phil told himself. Perhaps the biggest reason for that was that he actually was a bit scared. The graveyard could be a very creepy place sometimes, especially with the threat of the virus spreading around. The possibility of fighting zombies over graves sent shivers through him. But Phil couldn't play the scared one, his job was to be the careless funny one, so that's what he did.
"Alright guys I almost have my camera ready." Tommy said. It had been a long walk from Tommy's parents house to the graveyard, probably a half hour at least. Tommy had put his creativity to work yet again, as this plan may have been the best according to Phil. They would start at the graveyard, moving their way down into the town. As they went they would each go down one by one. They didn't have the effects or actors to pull off real zombies, but they could try something like this. Phil hoped it would turn Tommy into the star director he hoped to be one day. Of course he really doubted it.
"Okay so Chuckie you will be the first to die." Tommy told Chuckie. Then you can be the full time camera man.
"Sounds good to me, I'm a terrible actor." Chuckie said frowning.
"Well just make sure you're good enough to pull off dying. After that will be Lil, Dill, and then Phil. Then it'll be just me and Kimi." Of course he'd put those two last, Phil thought.
"Ah so it's a love story?" Said a smiling Lil. Dammit I'm the one who's supposed to make jokes and make people feel awkward. And that's exactly what it did to Tommy. But Kimi played it well.
"Haha Lil very funny. Are you done?" Lil nodded, still wearing that evil grin. "Okay so let's get this over with." Kimi had made her opinion felt strongly that she didn't want to do this at all. But when the group outnumbers you four to two you don't have much of a choice. Poor Finsters. The first scene went as planned. Six high school teenagers walking through a grave yard, gossiping their hearts out. They loved to pretend to be the popular kids that care about stuff like that in their films. When all of a sudden Phil made a sound like he thought a zombie might make. The girls screamed, and Chuckie pretended like he was being torn to shreds. The rest ran away and into the night. The scene ended with Chuckie pulling off a perfect crying scene as Tommy moved the camera to make it seem that something was eating him, before Chuckie died and the screen would go black.
As much fun as their one scene had been, it would be cut short by a phone call by a certain cousin of two of their members. Tommy answered. "Hello... uhh yeah I'm just at home, you know with the gang... yeah Chuckie, Dill, Phil, Lil, and Kimi... uhh yeah I guess so. Alright see you then." Tommy hung up and looked at his friends. "Looks like we're taking this film into town sooner than we thought." He was then pestered with 'Who was that', a 'What do you mean?' and a few others, but instead of answering each individually he set the scene. "Let's walk while I explain." They started to pack up and hurry along the dirt road, heading towards the town. "So that was Angelica. She's back in town." That was followed by several groans. "Calm down calm down. We haven't seen her all year. She wants to meet outside of The Java Lava."
"Oh fuck her" cried Phil. Perhaps a bit too harsh, Phil thought. But that was before the choir joined in.
"Yeah we're having fun." Said Kimi.
"It's probably some sadistic trick of hers anyway." Lil said.
"Guys calm down. She just misses us. Let's go, it could be fun." And after that they were off, and in no time they were in front of the Java Lava, along with six furious parents, and no Angelica.
Chuckie Finster
Oh just great, just what I needed. All of our parents staring at their lying children in public. Although it is about three in the morning, so there's just us. As if that will save us from our parents wrath. Just like usual Tommy gets us into trouble. And the worst part is that Kimi and I didn't even want to do this, and we'll get in the most trouble.
Chuckie was broken out of his thoughts when Betty Deville started. "How could you kids? We've been too scared to let you out of the house, let alone go through the woods when God knows what is out here."
Didi took the next turn. "We were worried sick about you kids!" There was no kindness in her voice.
"But-" Kimi tried saying, but was cut off by a livid Betty. Kimi had always been the cute member of the group. She could always sly her way out of trouble with her fake sweetness, especially when it came to her father, Chaz. But this was not Chaz. He was in the back of the group, and had obviously been crying recently. As a matter of fact, all of their parents were shying away in the back of the group. The mothers were leading the attack. Kira joined in, and finally after fifteen minutes of scolding they were allowed a moment to speak. It wouldn't be Kimi that they looked upon this time. Nor their leader Tommy, for some reason. Lil looked far too ashamed to speak. It actually seemed like Dill was in some other world, and Phil was actually snickering, and that was not the approach to go with when speaking to angry mothers. Instead they were looking at Chuckie. He took the hint.
"Look, it's not like we're bad kids. We never sneak out of the house like this." That lie was a good start, he thought. "But we have been so grounded here lately, and we couldn't stand it. Even I wanted to get out and do something that I shouldn't be doing. That alone should be enough to show how much we needed this." He could feel the argument shifting. But before he could continue, he felt something real. Something awful. An earthquake. It was pretty common here, but this was a bit different. As people lined into the streets and onto the sidewalks, everything seemed normal to Chuckie at first glance. Perhaps it was a worse earthquake than normal, but there was something else. A noise. Was that... screaming? Yes, definitely screaming. It was getting closer. A few more seconds before they could see objects moving towards them from down the street. They weren't moving fast, but the terror filled the group all the same. There wasn't one person on that street that was curious as to what was coming towards them. They had seen the news. From all over the east coast they had come, tearing apart families. As it spread across the USA they still would not believe it could reach them. But it has. Finally.
"Everyone inside!" yelled Betty.
"Wait!" Phil yelled. "Are we in trouble?" Oh even during a time like this Phil still couldn't help himself. Everyone piled in and Chaz shut and locked the doors and shut the blinds.
"Okay we need to stay perfectly quiet." Tommy said. The next series of events would traumatize even the most stone hearted human. Chuckie didn't know if it was fifteen seconds or fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity. They couldn't see what was unfolding outside, but they heard all that they could bear. Shrieks of humans and the sound of flesh being ripped out from the teeth of the dead. Children crying as their parents told them to run. Run where? Where is a child supposed to go in a situation like this. He just watched his mother get eaten alive. What could he possibly do? And then Chuckie realized the answer. The pounding at the door sent shivers down his spine and made his heart stop for a full second.
"Let him in!" yelled Kimi, before Kira grabbed her and held her down. Everyone glanced at each other sadly, but each knew what the answer was. They let him in and they're all dead meat. And that's just what happened to the boy as Chuckie's thoughts turned into tears. And he was not alone. After a few seconds each of the six kids was with one of their parents, crying the worst cries of their lives. The noise outside had not even died down before the knocks at the door came with more frequency. And it didn't take an expert to realize that they weren't coming from others like themselves. Shadows of the dead covered every inch of glass in front of the store.
"That won't last for long." Said Stu. "We need to move. Out the back door. Now!" Tommy and Phil led the way, followed by the girls, mothers, and finally the fathers. Only one remained. "Dill, now!" yelled Stu. But Dill was still seated on the floor, cross legged.
"No." Said Dill without looking up. He was as calm as a cucumber.
"Dill they're com-" Stu was cut off as the first zombie broke through the glass.
"Stu, we have to go!" yelled Chuckie. The rest of the group had left out the back door, waiting for the two pickles and the Finster boy.
"Not without my son"
"Dad, it's okay. It was meant to be this way. We aren't meant to fight it." And with that haunting remark Dillon Pickles walked into the walking buzz saw that was menacing the earth.
"Noooooo!" cried Stu. But it was too late. Chuckie grabbed Stu, who had fallen to his knees, and urged him along to the back room just in time. Phil and Lil were waiting and barred the door. It seemed as though the Pickles were about to embrace, but there was no time for that.
"We need to move." Said Betty. Everyone nodded and began their run. They ran three blocks down the road, no one even asking where they were going. Once a mob was shown in front of them they turned to the left, but saw a mob there as well. It didn't take Chuckie long to realize they were surrounded.
"So this is the end, huh?" Said Tommy, who actually churned out a hysterical laugh.
"Well," Said Phil, "Not quite Tommy." As he found a way to open up the sewer grate and hop down into the darkness, and the rest followed.