Chapter 1: Hiccup
It was hot. No like your typical, Michigan summer hot, either. Oh, no. It was hot. Like surface of the sun hot. Like falling in the campfire by accident hot. Like house turned inferno hot.
Hiccup coughed and hacked, his lungs trying desperately to empty themselves of the smoke that had been invading his lungs for the past ten minutes. Shit, shit, shit. What'd they always said in elementary school? Stop, drop, and roll, right? Well shit ton of good that did him now. He wasn't the one on fire, the house was. And he couldn't very well stop, drop, or roll a house. As he stumbled through his own home set ablaze, his mind raced, jumping from one thing to another, trying to sort through all the facts and information in his head to find what was important: What the hell were you supposed to do in a fire?
All he could come up with was that you were supposed to crawl below the ceiling of smoke that would build up right around waist height. But he couldn't do that. That would slow him down and he had to grab his supplies, find Toothless, and get out. He didn't have time to army crawl everywhere.
Hiccup staggered into his room, the stinging in his eyes from the smoke and flames making him tear up. The water in his eyes did nothing except blur his vision, making it twice as hard to see anything through the smoke and ash. Hiccup stumbled around his room until he managed to find his bed. He grabbed his backpack that he'd left there and did his best to feel his way around until he found his duffle bag a few feet away on the floor. Thank Odin's beard he'd already packed.
Hiccup hauled his luggage out of his room and into the hall. He staggered and slid down with his shoulder against the wall, hacking and sputtering all the way tot he ground. His throat was raw, his lungs were burning. He knew that in a fire, it wasn't the flames that you had to worry about, it was the smoke. If he didn't hurry up, he'd suffocate before he even made it to the door.
Fire was everywhere and the heat was building, the temperature only proving to strangle Hiccup in addition to all the smoke and ash. It felt like it he was the one on fire, not the house, his hair and clothes already soaked through with sweat. He could feel the skin of his left leg start to burn as the metal of his prosthetic leg continued to heat up. Gods, it felt like he was roasting alive. That stupid hellfire song from a movie he used to watch as a child kept playing in his head.
There was a high-pitched screech from overhead and a crash as a cross beam fell and landed a good eight feet off to his right, sending up a shower of flames and sparks. Damn it, Dad. He'd tried to tell him. Hiccup knew building a house, "the good old fashioned way," completely out of wood, had been a bad idea. Hiccup suddenly heard barking off to his left.
"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted, struggling to see were the sound was coming from through dense veil of smoke and fire. He heard the barking again, louder this time. Hiccup managed to get back on his feet, the smoke still attacking him from all sides as the temperature continued to climb.
"Toothless!" he yelled before lapsing into another fit of coughing. He could hear the barking clearly now as a black form came bounding through the smoke screen. He pounced on Hiccup, nearly toppling him over again.
"There you are, Bud," Hiccup said, the sight of his best friend providing the only relief in this seventh level of hell of fire and wood. Toothless continued to bark and licked at his master's face, tail wagging ecstatically at having found him alive.
"Good boy, good boy," Hiccup managed to talk the dog down. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Hiccup trudged to the top of the stairs, backpack, duffle, and now dog, all in tow as the fire continued to roar around them.
"Oh, no," Hiccup muttered as he looked down at the foot of the stairs. It was engulfed in a wall of flames that reached half-way up the stair case. There was no way they'd get through that safely. Hiccup began to panic. If they didn't find a way our of here soon, he and Toothless were both going to trapped in this cage of flame and death.
"Come on, Bud," Hiccup commanded as he turned away from the stairs. He started making his way back towards his room. Two steps in, he fell, collapsing in another fit of coughing. Toothless licked at his face, a concerned whine coming from his throat. Shit, Hiccup thought. He could barely breath. They had to hurry, or else he wasn't going to make it.
Hiccup pushed Toothless off and they managed to make it back to Hiccup's room. As soon as they passed through the doorway, there was a loud screech, and another ceiling beam came down, right outside the door, blocking them in. Embers and ashes scattered everywhere. Hiccup's room was completely aflame. Toothless was barking. Everything was chaos. Hiccup looked at the doorway, now nothing but a wall of flame. This better work, he thought. If it didn't, then it looked like they were going down with the house.
Hiccup dropped his bags next to one of his bedroom windows, the constant coughing making everything that had to do with physical exertion all the more difficult. He ripped open the duffle and rummaged around until he found a baseball bat. Without hesitation, he swung it at the window, letting out a crack! as a spiderweb spread across the glass. Hiccup wasn't one known for his strength, so it took him a couple of tries before he managed to finally break the window, the explosion of shattered glass creating a glittering shower that rained down below. Hiccup gasped at the clean air, his lungs thankful for the relief. The relief didn't last long as smoke rushed past him to open air, swallowing his head.
Hacking and coughing once more, Hiccup reached down and hauled both bags out the window. He swung a leg over the windowsill and glanced at the two-story drop below. It wasn't a long fall, he knew, but he still couldn't help the feeling of vertigo that washed over him. As he pulled his other leg over, Hiccup heard another crash and felt the house moan as its structure weakened. Damn it. They were running out of time. He held his breath and shut his eyes as he pushed himself off the edge.
Hiccup let out a yelp as his right leg twisted under him when he hit the ground. Great, now he was down to two bum legs. He rolled onto his side, coughing and hacking. He threw up, lungs on fire as the poison from the smoke still festered in his lungs. After his fit, Hiccup managed stand up, testing his right leg to see if he could still walk. A pain shot up his side, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He found both of his bags and dragged them away from the burning house.
At the sound of barking, Hiccup turned around to find that his canine companion wasn't behind him. He could've sworn he felt the Earth fall out beneath him. Toothless hadn't followed him out the window. Hiccup stumbled as he ran back to the house, searching the windows as the sound of barking still echoed from upstairs. He soon found the right window, a black form at the ledge as the barking became more frantic and scared.
"Toothless," Hiccup screamed with all that was left of his sore lungs. The barking grew louder. "Toothless, come here boy! You have to jump!"
The barking continued. Hiccup could see his dog paw at the window ledge, the barks interrupted by nervous whining. Shit.This wasn't good. Toothless was too scared to jump. Hiccup's heart was racing, his mind had gone numb. He'd already lost his dad, he couldn't loose his best friend, too. A helplessness worked its way into his chest.
"Come on, you useless canine!" Hiccup called, the tears in his throat not making it any easier to shout. "Jump!"
There was one last bark and then Toothless jumped. "Yeah, baby!" Hiccup shouted, his face lighting up with relief. The jump was perfect. Toothless flew through the air almost as if he were built for it. He came down to land in Hiccup's arms, his momentum bringing them both to the ground. In a small moment of panic, Hiccup managed to pat down some black fur that had caught fire. The flame went out in seconds, leaving Hiccup room to laugh, the relief of his friend safe and in his arms overwhelming as the black lab covered his face with sloppy dog kisses, tail wagging.
Unfortunately, their reunion had to be broken short. They were only a few feet from a raging inferno, after all. Hiccup managed to wriggle out from under his friend to stand up. The two of them made it to the other side of the lawn, where Hiccup had left the bags.
The yard was a large one. Standing at the edge, Toothless and Hiccup were more than thirty feet away from the flaming house. They were in the non-so-suburban part of Michigan, somewhere far enough away from most crowds. The space gave room for a larger distance between neighbors than was normal, as well as extra acres of land that allowed for large yards and log houses.
When the two reached the bags, Hiccup collapsed. He was exhausted. His right leg ached as what was left of his left leg stung, his prosthetic still hot to the touch. His lungs were burning, he was covered in soot, and he had blisters running up and down his arms. He let himself fall on his but, back up against his bags as he looked at the remains of his home. The fire was still raging. The roof was sagging from loss of infrastructure and the first story windows had blown out from the building pressure of the heat. Though they were some distance from the house, they could still feel the heat of the fire, roaring as it continued to tear through wood and memories.
Hiccup sat and panted, trying to control his breathing and heart-rate, as he watched as his childhood home burned. He remembered when his dad had first decided to build it, over ten years ago, not long after his mother had left.
"It'll be a thing o' beauty," he'd said, contemplating a plot of land amidst a newly growing neighborhood. A tiny Hiccup was right at his side as they stood at the edge of the empty lot.
"Because it'll be something we made it together," his father had said. He suddenly reached down, catching an unsuspecting Hiccup by surprise. Hiccup squealed with laughter as he was lifted high and swung atop his father's shoulders.
"It'll be our new home, huh, Dad?" he'd asked.
"Got that right. For the two of us, just you and me."
"The two of us forever," Hiccup agreed as he hugged his father's head and that deep, rumbling laugh his dad had always had came from below. Just the two of them. Forever. Turned out forever was a lot shorter than either of them had thought.
Hiccup heard a whine to his right. He looked over to find Toothless nosing his way under Hiccup's arm to rest his head in his lap. Large green eyes looked up at their master. Hiccup gave a small smile as he felt a stinging in his eyes that had nothing to do with the smoke.
"I know, Bud, I miss him, too," he said as he ruffled the lab's furry head.
Hiccup had never gotten along with his father as well as he would've liked. They both had their differences that had them clashing heads most times, but still. They were a family. A small one, granted, but still family. Hiccup felt tears run down his face as he turned back to watch the house his father had poured his heart and soul into burn.
"I know we couldn't save him," Hiccup told Toothless, unable to stop his voice form cracking. "He was already sick, but I just—"
Hiccup's words were cut off with a sob. Toothless wriggled further under Hiccup's arm as he reached up to lick his master's face. Hiccup gave a week laugh at the attempts of his friend and pulled Toothless close to burry his face in the familiar fur. The two stayed like that for a while, tears soaking into black fur as dog whines filled the silence between the two. The fire had consumed most of the house by the time they stood up again.
Hiccup wiped a his face dry and did his best to stash away his feelings. They'd spent enough time out in the open was it was. They had to get moving before anyone that was infected saw them. Hiccup picked up his two bags and gave a whistle, telling Toothless to follow.
The two started on their way down the street, the air eerily empty of any sound, safe for the roaring house-fed bon-fire down that continued to burn down the street. There were no sounds, no sirens or firetrucks or ambulances to be heard. It wasn't as if they were expected. The police and fire stations had shut down not long after the news stations. Hiccup hadn't heard a siren of any sort in over three months. Not even an ambulance. Those had been the first to stop, believe it or not. The hospitals had been overrun with hoards of the infected, people grasping at those last strands of hope that they could be cured or healed. That'd been before anyone had known what the virus really was. Not just some cold or H1N1. Oh, no. They soon found that it was something much bigger than that. It was only in the last few weeks. The last few weeks of a functioning world, with its failing governments and silent ambulances. The last few weeks of humanity. It was then they finally figured out what the virus really was. But by that point, they'd already run out of time.
Hiccup reached around into his backpack as they walked. He brought his hand back holding a small picture of a woman with brown hair that was greying and hazel eyes that were just like Hiccup's. Hiccup didn't know the woman of the picture too well, but the face was all too familiar. He flipped the picture over to look at the back and found a scrawled handwriting.
Washington, D.C. Come find me when you're ready.
Be brave, my little viking.
It was seven-hundred and nine miles from Michigan to D.C., close to a twelve hour drive. There was no saying how long it'd take on foot.
Hiccup let out a sigh, folded the picture in half, and tucked it away in his pants' pocket. He looked down at Toothless, trotting happily beside him.
"How ya feeling, Bud? Up for a bit of a walk?"
A cheerful bark came way of response. Despite everything, Hiccup couldn't help but smile.
"Good, 'cause we've got one hell of a trip ahead of us."
And with that, the two continued down the street, boy and dog, side by side. Just the two of them.
A/N: hey, surprise, surprise, it's a new story...instead of an update on anything that already have up... -.- Anyways, felt like writing, but not about anything I already had going, so I made a new story! ^.^ tehe I've seen a lot of zombie!AU fanart of these guys before, but not too many fics, so I decided to make a contribution. And, you know, the whole zombie thing is kinda cool. First fic with Frozen characters, so feel free to bash it and anyone that's ooc. Not based on any other franchise (INCLUDING the walking dead). Also, ran into a little creative block while planning. I'm not entirely sure if there'll be any ships in this fic. And if there is, I'm just at a loss as to who to ship, especially since I'm planning to include EVERYONE in the story. Usually, I can pick a ship and just roll with it, but ever since the Jelsa ship, it's been messin' with my HiJack OTP and I've always been a fan of Hicstrid and Mericup, so now my feels are all a mess and I don't even know who I want to end up together anymore. So, it's all lead me to this: open voting. If you have an idea of who you want to end up together, make a comment about it. Or if you don't want any ship sailing on these zombie waters, comment that, too. It's whatever, vote what you want and I'll do my best to include the top voted. But yeah, sorry for the long author's note and happy voting!