Chapter 4: Trouble Awaits

Chuckie Finster

"So what do we do now?" Asked a deflated Howard Deville. Howard always had a high-pitched, whiney voice that brought out the innermost anger in you. His frazzled dark hair and weary eyes showed how visibly beaten the man was.

"We have to find them." Answered Didi. She had spent the past three or so hours sobbing uncontrollably. She's losing it, and it's completely understandable, Chuckie thought. How Chuckie had kept his cool this long surprised everyone, himself most of all. Phil and Lil's search for Tommy and Kimi has so far been unsuccessful, meaning either they are still looking or...

Chuckie was interrupted from his horrifying thoughts with more arguing, except this time he heard his name called. "Huh", Chuckie asked. He didn't even know who said his name.

Whether Stu said it first or not, he did this time. "How are you holding up there Chuckie?"

"I'm okay".

"How can you be okay?" Asked his father, Chaz. Why wouldn't I be okay? When all hope is lost there's no reason to lose your shit. Just let it happen and get it over with, and maybe have some fun along the way. It was a strange way of looking at things, Chuckie knew. But seven adults with no food, and no way of getting food. The four strongest members of our group have left us, and how can I blame them? It's every man for himself now.

"I just know we'll get through this." Chuckie lied. He knew the opposite.

"You're stronger than we knew," said his stepmother with a smile, "but the rest of us our more concerned."

"That's right," said Betty, talking for the first time in minutes, possibly a record for the loudmouthed mother. "We need food. There's a stream for water here, but the shelter is weak. And most importantly we have no way to protect ourselves." They all knew that if a pack of zombies strolled through their makeshift camp it would be the end for them all.

"Well I have a pocket knife" said Stu.

"So do I." Said Chaz. "And it has other things, like a can opener and a nail file."

"Sounds great," said Betty, "if we ever find food we can use that. Until then we have to catch our own."

"Yeah let's just sneak up on our prey with our three inch knives." Stu let out a sickening laugh. "We're done here guys. The kids saw it when they were with us. They led us here, and they knew we were holding them back. It's survival of the fittest now, and that's certainly not us." A sad silence followed his speech. A silence that screamed 'you're completely right'.

Chuckie took this time to look to the earth for answers, and he found something crawling close to him. About the size of the fingernail on his thumb, Chuckie picked up the best looking beetle he'd ever seen. There was a lot going on through his mind during this time in his life, a lot going on in the new world around him, and a lot of memories of his friends that had left him...and still a little bit of beetle guts stuck in his teeth.

Phil Deville

"Run!" Yelled Lil, as they ran full speed.

"They're fucking cougars! We can't outrun them!" Phil yelled back.

"Just do it!"

"They're everywhere, just let them kill us!"

"No!" A voice yelled. But it wasn't Lil's. It was Tommy's. Phil turned just in time to see Tommy get mauled by a cougar. Phil began to cry, and he stopped running and fell on the ground in the fetal position.

"Phil," Lil asked, "Are you okay?"

"Tommy's dead." He said, still crying.

"Tommy? How do you know where Tommy is?" What? Didn't she just see him die too? "Phil, are you okay? Phil?" And that's when Phil woke up. "Phil?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Lil. Bad dream, I guess." He said, as he struggled to get to his feet. "Is there any rabbit left?"

"Nope. Ate it all last night. Man, that was good. So you dreamt of Tommy?"

"Nope." He lied.

"It's okay. I dreamed about Kimi and Dil last night. It was us three and they made me watch a scary movie. You know, one of those alien movies that Dil likes. And it was scary so Kimi was into it. But we were at Tommy's house, in the basement. And when I started watching the movie I started seeing monsters coming from all the dark crevices of the basement. And when I went to tell Dil and Kimi they were zombies and were coming after me. That's when I woke up and heard you moaning."

"That sucks. I just dreamed that Tommy and I were hanging out."

"Phil, you said Tommy's dead and started whimpering." She always saw through me.

"Okay we were being chased by cougars. I had a nightmare, are you happy?"

"It sure helps," She said with a smile and punched his arm.

Today would be a long day, Phil knew. A long trek through the woods while trying to find food and water. Hopefully they could find a town or at least some people. Maybe even a girl, Phil hoped. They picked up their handmade spears, their knives, and their packs and headed out into the wilderness. "Think we'll find them today?" Phil asked.

"No." She said with a sad smile.

They walked for hours without finding a soul before anything interesting happened. In between two trees was a handmade hammock made of strewn twigs and branches, covered with leaves. It didn't take long to realize that this wasn't some survival bed, but instead it was made before the world ended by some bored hiker. They decided to take they break here, and even tried laying in the hammock together. That plan failed miserably, as the hammock broke. Roughly an hour later they found a small spring below the shade of the trees. They drank and half-heartedly bathed themselves before moving on. Food was scarce for the two on this day so far. They saw no rabbits, nor any squirrels or other potential lunches. So they trekked on and on, until they reached a road that came in between the forest. It was nearly dark, but they found a car sitting quietly at the side of the road less than a football field away from them to the north. "Should we look at it?" Lil asked him with a cracking voice. They hadn't talked much, as they tried to keep as quiet as possible for safety purposes. So talking for the first time in eight hours had done something to her usual beautiful voice.

"Yeah." Replied Phil.

"Are you sure?"

"No. But there could be food. Or people that need help."

"Or it could be a trap."

"Please, this is zombies versus humans, not humans versus humans anymore."

"What? You watch The Walking Dead. And you've played The Last of Us."

"This isn't a T.V. show or video game, Lillian. Let's go." And so they went. Each had a spear in one hand, knife in the other, ready for any attack of zombie or man. They got to the car. Lil looked in the window and let out a small scream, and Phil heard a small scream from inside the car as well. Phil reared up ready to fight, but Lil laughed as the door opened and a girl came out and hugged Lil. Who is that and why is she hugging Lil? Wait a second, that's a girl. A Girl!.

"Hey Emily, I'm so glad to see you. Phil, this is Emily. We played against each other in soccer every year and became somewhat friends."

"Well, I wouldn't say friends." She said with a laugh. "More like rivals." Then they both laughed.

Phil tried to join them, but he just made it awkward. "Nice to meet you," he said. Nice to meet you? No usual Phil charm? He quickly realized he wasn't himself around this girl. She was different. She had short, dark hair that complimented her dark, brown eyes. She wore a jacket with yoga pants, with bright orange Nike's. She was very pretty in the face, and her build was very athletic. Although when she turned to pick up a piece of bread to give them, he realized he liked her backside just as much as her front. Her personality was interesting as well, Phil thought. She was peppy, extremely nice on first glance, and was not afraid to make fun of Phil even though they had never met. During their quick conversation she called him awkward, gay, and playfully called him a stud.

Phil quickly tried to end the conversation, however, "We need to get off the road. Is your car okay?"

"Yeah", she said, "I was jut sitting here in the middle of the road waiting for you two to come." Sarcasm, eh? I like that.

"So we'll leave it. Bring all you can. We can fill our packs too. What do you have?"

"Just some bread and water. Oh and I stole two pistols, a compound bow, and an axe from my dad." She could apparently sense the concern in their eyes. "Oh, don't worry, he died." Oh, that's better. They loaded up. She gave Phil the axe, and gave both Deville's the guns. Phil gave her his spears in return for the axe. "The bow is mine, though. Ever touch it, I will kill you." They looked at each other and laughed, but she broke it, "I'm serious."

"Uh yeah, we get it. Let's go find our friends." Phil said, Before you kill us both.

Tommy Pickles

It was completely dark when they reached the outskirts of the next town, nearly fifty yards from the edge of the forest. Their hope had been that the zombies hadn't reached this place yet, but after barely even glancing at it they realized that wasn't possible. They could see windows smashed in cars and houses and businesses, as well as doors completely taken off. Zombies lined the streets like they were in the middle of a parade, although they didn't keep formation. Strange creatures, Tommy thought, they kind of just stand there. Move a little bit every couple minutes. Wait for noises or sights that will make them search for food. Go back to just standing there. "They're kinda lazy, ya know?" Tommy asked Kimi, who had a look of boredom as they watched them from behind a large tree.

"What?" Kimi asked.

Tommy laughed. "Never mind. We can't go into town, obviously. But I'm starving." He couldn't remember the last time they'd eaten.

"I bet our parents and friends aren't hungry." She said angrily. She had been in a bad mood for a while now.

"I bet they are. They need to feed each other. We need to feed just us two." He looked at her for a moment, and really looked into her eyes. Beautiful things they were, dark just like her hair; and intense, just like Kimi. She averted his gaze and started walking towards the town. "Hey what are you doing?"

"Sneaking into town to try and find food." She said nonchalantly.

"Well were you going to ask me?" He said, his voice becoming angrier every time he spoke.

"No." She replied. He reached out to grab her, but she quickly slapped him away. "You didn't give me a choice to come here, so I'm not giving you one."

"You didn't have to follow me here, you know." He said.

"And you don't have to follow me." She said, and as she walked away he could have swore she gave him a playful smile. Although it was dark, it may have been an evil grin. Touché Kimster, touché.

"Fine. But we have to be fast. And quiet." And before he could say anything else she was stealthily running towards the first building she saw, an abandoned gas station. She was fast, too. He had a real hard time keeping up, especially since he was trying his hardest to remain quiet. And boy was she quiet. She moved like a shadow in the dark night. She quickly was across the street and past the gas pumps, and finally beside the front door. Tommy finally caught up. "Timeout, timeout," Tommy said, exhausted.

Kimi let out an angry sigh, "Fine, but hurry."

"Alright, I'm good. How do we get in?"

"Um, the front door." Kimi said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"Okay okay, no need to be mean about it."

"You're right Tommy, I'm sorry for being mean. Oh by the way, how is your best friend Chuckie doing?"

"Ouch. Fine, be mean. Just go." She climbed through the broken glass, and Tommy followed. They realized that while the store had been looted there was still some stuff they could use. They filled their backs as best they could. Each took several bottles of Mountain Dew and Pepsi, as all the water and alcohol was taken. There was no hot food available, so they each took several granola bars, packs of crackers, and Snickers bars. "This looks good for now. Let's get out of here before something happens to.." But before Tommy could finished he saw it. He looked to Kimi, but her eyes were already on it, and her jaw was on the floor. "Do you see what I-"

"Yes!" She squealed, and ran full speed for the pizza sitting behind the cash register. That's weird, a full, uneaten pizza behind a cash register. And cracked open just so we can see it. This could only mean.. Kimi no!" Tommy shouted, but it was too late. Four large men wearing all black came out from behind the counter. The first was white, very tall, perhaps 6'4", with dirty blond hair and evil blue eyes. Following him were two even larger black men. Very similar looking, they each looked like they could block for an NFL running back. Finally, the fourth man was old and small. He was completely bald and was smoking a cigar. "Get them." He cried as the blonde thug grabbed Kimi and took her. She fought and kicked, but it made no matter. Tommy attempted to help her but the other two grabbed Tommy and took him in the same direction as Kimi. When they got to the back they went through the door, where a van was waiting for them. The three men stripped Tommy and Kimi of everything except for their clothes, and through them in the back of the van, while the old, bald man went to the front seat and started the van. The others jumped in the back of the van as he pulled out and went on their way.

It wasn't a long drive to their destination. Tommy and Kimi passed the time by sleeping. They hadn't slept well in days, and they wouldn't now either. A short nap was all it was before the men dragged them out of the van and into and old, beaten down house that was surrounded by woods on all sides. The old man led them through the front door, down one hallway and into a door on the left. When he opened the door he moved aside as the two black men shoved Tommy and Kimi down the steps that led to what seemed to be a normal basement. After a long and painful fall down the steps, the two kids each groaned as the old man at the top of the steps let out a laugh and closed the door.

As soon as the door shut Kimi leaped into Tommy's arms. "It's okay, it's okay." Tommy said, caressing his friend, before they heard a shrill, heart piercing voice from right behind them.

"You really don't know where you are now, do you?"