Back To School - Blood Orange Flavor Binge, with Cherry and Chopped Nuts - Kings and Queens
Title: Kings and Queens
Summary: We were the phantoms of ourselves.
Timeline: May 2015 - May 2019 - Zombie!AU - Adrianna and Sarah are 26, Rayne is 27, Angie is 28, Oz is 29, Andy is 31, Sunset, Zach, and Damian are 33.
Challenge: Blood Orange (flavor binge)
Toppings/Extras: Chopped Nuts, Cherry (Various first person POVs)
Word Count: 4,003
Rating: PG-13
Notes: This starts about a year after zombies started appearing. Julia, Sunset and Damian’s daughter, doesn’t exist in this AU. Mostly because I already felt guilty enough for all the bad things that happened in this canon. I don’t think I could have handled thrusting a four year old in Zombieland.
This is for the Back To School Challenge - Chopped Nuts, 2.5k+ words.
1. lest we forget
Adrianna
No one is really sure where it started. No one knows where the first bite happened, or what even caused this entire thing. But the hospitals were where it accumulated. Bitten people went there to get better, and instead they turned a place of healing into a veritable breeding ground for infection. The nurses didn’t even have time to get the bodies down to the morgue before they reanimated. They had a minute, maybe less, before the body that was supposed to be dead sat up and reached for whoever was closest.
Once the bite happens, there’s only a limited amount of time to do anything. Back then, no one knew what was going on. They treated it like any other bite. Once it got infected, they treated it like any other infection. But this wasn’t any other infection. Even now, a year later, nobody knows what exactly is causing this. Even if we had the labs and the supplies to run tests with, we don’t have the electricity. Slides and a microscope can only tell you so much.
After we holed up in one of the many abandoned skyscrapers that New York City had to offer, Zachery lured one in and tied it down in the basement. Research, he had said. He wanted to see if he could find out what made them tick. As a coroner, I guess he had a fascination about what made the dead start walking. He did a full autopsy with that thing tied down and gagged, and it never died. He took out its heart, its lungs... everything. It didn’t do anything other but wiggle around and try and escape.
Then he took out the brain, and that was that. It wasn’t any surprise that killing the brain killed the zombie. But the fact that it survived everything else... The fact that it still tried to get up and eat us even after its entire torso was emptied... That seemed to make every sink in.
Zombies. Actual zombies. It hasn’t been the same since then.
2. no mans land
Rayne
I never thought I’d see New York like this. I didn’t come here until after I was twenty, but that never stopped me from realizing that New York had its own version of beauty that was built out of brick and mortar and neon lights. And now, it’s nothing but filth, with dead and undead bodies littering the streets and blood everywhere. The smell from Before is nothing compared to how it is Now. Now, when the only sound you hear are zombies and wind, and maybe gunshots.
It’s more zombies and less gunshots, compared to last week. If this keeps up, we’ll be the only survivors left.
3. the fallen
Angie
It’s really bullshit, you know. How much the living and those undead fuckers have in common now. Before, it was obvious who the bad guys were. It was easy to shoot at the guy covered in blood who was biting people. But after a year of no running water, and having to fight tooth and nail for supplies, it’s becoming harder and harder. Everyone’s filthy. Everyone has that half crazed, starved look on their face. Everyone does what they have to do to survive.
It isn’t just the zombies you had to look out for anymore. Sure, zombies would try and eat you, the sick fucks. But people... people can do so much worse. There are some places we can’t even go to anymore. Not because of the walking dead, but because of the tribes, or gangs, or whatever you want to fucking call it.
Once it all went to hell, a lot of people went Lord of the Flies. They’d get in fights over supplies, shelter, what have you. Some really smart jackass nearly burnt the city down once, when they lit an apartment building on fire. I guess they didn’t realize that without firefighters or running water, it wouldn’t stop burning until it burnt out. Fucking jackasses. We all got lucky with that one. Grace of God, maybe, or just dumb luck that it only burnt down a few buildings.
So, you have your idiots, but then you have the real evil fuckers. The people you want to get eaten. The people who tried to set up rape camps, and kill people over a can of green beans. The ones where you can see evil on their face, as clear as goddamn day. Those bastards. I’m not saying I’m a fucking saint, here... I especially am not a saint. But I’m not like that.
Even still, when I see them in trouble... When I see that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew when it comes to scavenging, and they’re surrounded? I stay around and watch. I don’t have the balls to kill them myself, but I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t want to stick around and make sure they get what they deserve.
Like I said. The worst zombies can do is eat you.
4. bugle call
Oz
Used to, back when there were more of us, we’d see candles on top of other buildings. You could really only see them once night fell, if you were looking out at the more residential districts and not at the skyscrapers. That was when people had hope... Back when people thought that the government or Army or something could still help us. It took us a while to figure out what they meant, since it’s not like a few candles are going to be visible from flyovers looking for survivors, or whatever.
They were for the dead. Not the risen, but survivors that other groups had lost. Once the zombies realized that candles led to fresh food, we didn’t see them anymore. People had to wise up. People had to learn the hard way that you can’t act the way you could before. Candlelight vigils might have been an okay idea before the world went to hell. But now, when your biggest worry is that a scrape could turn into a staph infection, honoring the dead gets pushed into the back of your mind. Surviving is first.
Surviving is always first.
5. row on row
Zachery
Science basically says that once something dies, that’s it. It’s over. Once this happened, I could regretfully say for the first time that science, for once, was full of shit. Even still, there were some bits of scientific knowledge that still applied to these creatures, these... impossibilities. Anyone with an inkling of pop culture knowledge would have known that damage to the brain or the cervical vertebrae would kill it, which is true to all creatures. They may not feel the pain, but the damage is still done.
What people never seemed to realize before is that injuries to the head or neck are not the only things available to stop these creatures, and God only knows why. If you shoot something in the knee, it’s a gunshot wound to the knee, whether it can feel it or not. The leg becomes useless, either throwing the creature off-balance or possibly stopping it’s movement all together if it’s decayed enough. And then, there are the natural elements to consider.
Heat. Cold. Pests. Decay. Like any other corpse, they’re affected by everyday things. The heat causes them to bloat, and eventually their abdomen will burst. The cold freezes them in place, and cells expand and explode once they thaw. Flies use them as feeding and breeding grounds, and the maggots quite possibly do more damage than a misaimed ‘headshot’ ever could. Once they eat past the eye, and get to the brain, it’s only a matter of time before the larvae kill the corpse for good. As for decay... That should be an obvious one. While bodies underground take a long time to decompose, a corpse that is exposed to the elements, day after day, hour after hour, doesn’t stand a chance in the long term of things. The skin will go, the flesh will go, and eventually, the ligaments and tendons will go. They’ll be unable to walk, to crawl, to bite. They’ll be useless lumps of rotting flesh until something comes along and kills them.
People expected the government to save us, that they would send rows of soldiers to shoot these things down. They are just as brainless as the creatures we have killed. If anything saves it, it will be time and science.
6. call to arms
Sunset
It’s amazing what people left behind, and what looters didn’t even look at. Once something like this happened, once people realized that help wasn’t coming and it was everyone for themselves, you’d think the gun stores would be stripped and the food would be the first thing to go. I guess people just lose their brains when panic sets in.
The first grocery store we broke into was a mess. The perishables were nearly gone, and all the cold stuff had gone bad. The smell of bad meat and produce alone was enough to make you gag. But the canned stuff, the stuff that would last you a long time? That was everywhere. Scattered on the floor, still stacked on the shelves, and plenty of it in the back rooms.
I saw a lot of places back then that sold TVs and stuff. Broken into, and looted for all the things that had been prized before society went to hell. The big TVs, the ultimate DVD collection, all of that. Like any of it even mattered once the electricity went out. But the hardware stores, the places with the camping gear and everything like that? Barely touched. We got a lot of supplies from those places. Wind up radios, wind up flashlights, wood, nails, batteries, sleeping bags. Everything we needed once we had to find new shelter.
That was over a year ago. We’ll still find places with food, places where the survivors were unable to fend the zombies off. Every once in a while, we’ll find a little hole-in-the-wall convenience store that hasn’t been touched. We’ll still find gun stores that have ammo, though we try not to use that much anymore. It’s not like someone is out there making bullets. The hospitals surprisingly still have plenty of medical supplies, though we can’t get into a few of them.
If Zachery is right, all we have to do is wait. Wait for them to die off on their own, wait for nature to take it’s course. Wait for the humans to outnumber the zombies. And that sounds like a good plan, but eventually, it’s going to be impossible to wait anymore. You can’t live on patience. Patience doesn’t feed you or give you a safe place to sleep.
In all honestly, the day that we don’t have to wait anymore? Scares me more than the zombies ever did.
7. Fireweed
Andy
Back then they probably would have called it graffiti, but there isn’t exactly any law enforcement any more, and a few drawings on the side of a building or two is the least of anyone’s worries. The only real problem is that charcoal comes off of concrete and brick pretty easy. One good rain is all it takes.
But the city is filled with the living dead, and the living who are merely trying to survive it all, and this is pretty much the only thing I can do anymore. Sure, it’s just charcoal drawings on walls and sidewalks, and the occasional piece of plaster, but its art. It’s beauty. It’s not like there’s much of that left anywhere. Really, it’s about the only thing I can do anymore.
It’s not like you need two arms to draw.
8. scorched ground
Rayne
Suffice to say, if people had been smarter, there would be more survivors. You see so many buildings that would have been good shelter. Thick walls, minimum windows, strong doors, and multiple floors. But people were dumbasses in the beginning, and the doors are broke down, the windows smashed. Looters had taken anyway they could into a building, to steal things that would be worthless in mere weeks, and ruined so many things for the rest of us.
People always said ‘If zombies ever happen...’. People supposedly had plans, supposedly knew what to do from reading so many comics, watching so many movies, reading so many books. People didn’t know shit. People never accounted for panic. Panic ruined shelters and sent people out onto the streets. Panic trapped people in their cars, with no place to go and no way to defend themselves.
Panic killed as many people as the zombies did.
9. war grave
Damian
It was one of those things people always joked about before, sort of. You know, if there was coworker or a boss or someone you just didn’t like, you’d say... Well, you know. That you wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire and stuff. You’d just wish they’d go away forever. But in a world like this, where you have to protect you and your own, there’s a chance that might come true. There’s a chance that you actually will have to kill somebody you know.
I couldn’t imagine having to shoot Sunset, or Zach, or anyone else in our group if they were bit and we couldn’t save them. In all honesty, I don’t think I could. But it’s different. They’re my wife. My brother. My friends. I’ve seen old coworker, bosses, acquaintances, all dead, all zombies, all trying to eat us. I try and tell myself that it’s not really them anymore. That I’m not killing people I know. They were dead long before that.
Of course, that doesn’t make it any easier.
10. the living and the dead
Adrianna
There are signs that it’s getting better. Zombies don’t literally mean the ending of the world, even if it seemed like it for so long. But people band together, and survive. People learn to scavenge and forage, and live off the remains. People fall in love, and have sex, and reproduce.
I’ve had two pregnant patients in the last few months. I can’t do as much as I could like for them. I can’t give them ultrasounds or do tests to see if their babies will be born with any disorders or deformities. But I can listen and hear strong heartbeats, and a few other simple things. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve grown too reliant on technology, considering childbirth has happened since the beginning of time.
The parents take comfort in those words. Children haven’t been born in a world like this before, but they have been born without epidurals, without a truly sterile room, without hospitals for centuries. They also take comfort in Zachery’s words. Their baby won’t grow up afraid. Zombies will be normal to them. They won’t have a Before to remember. They won’t miss something they never knew.
11. unknown soldier
Sarah
We got lucky. We got extremely lucky. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who really realizes that. I don’t know how many doctors are left in the city, but if Adri and Zach are to be believed, then there may not be many. If this got worse in the hospitals, then I can imagine that a lot of those things out there were wearing scrubs and white jackets at one point or another.
Anyway, like I was saying. Luck. Sheer, dumb luck, or maybe just a lot of really good luck. But either way, we’ve got two doctors that know what they’re doing, and that’s saved us. That’s really saved us. I know that we’ve got prime real estate under our asses, since we’ve gotten pretty damn good at keeping the building secure over the last year. We learn from our mistakes. Once the first barrier broke, we built a second, and then a third, and a fourth. The fifth seems to be working fine. The fifth has been up for more than a few months now, and it hasn’t broken.
I keep getting off track. Luck. Doctors. It wasn’t just the fact that they’re doctors that’s saved us. I mean, yeah, it’s helped. We’ve done good with no infections and stitches and all that. Even with what happened to Andy... The surgery might have nearly killed him, but at least it would have been the surgery and not a fucking bite. But once word got out that we had doctors, that we had medical supplies... People started showing up. Not for food, not for shelter, but for medical attention. Of course, Adri couldn’t turn them away.
And I think that’s what’s really saved us. Not from zombies, but from other groups. The hostile groups. They could move in on our territory and try and kill us, and take the building. But the fact is, no one knows how many doctors are actually out there. No one knows how many other people can actually stich up gashes or actually save someone from being bit, if they can be saved.
So, yeah, we’ve been lucky. We’ve been real lucky. I only hope our luck keeps up, and we keep finding medical supplies. If we ever run out, we’re screwed. We’re really screwed.
12. medal of honor
Oz
You do what you can to amuse yourself. It’s not like video games exist anymore, and there’s only a limited supply of board games and books and what have you. Sex never gets boring, but you can’t do that 24/7 either. You couldn’t even do that Before, because bodies have their limits, and even my impressive amount of stamina can run out eventually.
So you adapt, and make up your own games. You make games out of zombies. Different points for different shots, finding zombie celebrity look alikes, even seeing if you can make a real life version of Lemmings with zombies. (Turns out you can, though it loses its appeal after a while.)
Apparently, it’s an automatic win for punching a zombie in the face, though I wasn’t trying to win anything at the time. Fucker was just too close for me to use my gun, and it was a last resort move.
Adri was pissed afterwards, but it’s not like I punched in the mouth. I’m not that stupid.
13. casualties of war
Adrianna
I remember thinking afterwards that it was such a stupid risk. It was such a stupid risk. Amputating a limb Before was risky enough, and it’s not like I decided to become a surgeon. Pediatrics doesn’t call for removing an arm. But Andy was bitten, and it wasn’t a fatal bite. The teeth managed to avoid all of the major blood vessels, and I remember thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could beat the infection.
It was a decision made out of terror. Terror for Andy, terror at the thought of losing my brother, terror at the thought that he might become one of them. But nobody argued the decision, and did everything I said. In the end, it was Zach that had to finish the surgery and cauterize the stump that was left. Even after all of that, we nearly lost him.
Amputating a limb Before was risky enough, but Before had blood transfusions. Before had sterile environments. Before didn’t resort to burning the remains of someone’s shoulder with a hot skillet to force clotting and stop the blood loss. Before had anesthesia.
Before, Andy wouldn’t have passed out from the pain. Before, he wouldn’t have woken up screaming when Zachery burned him. This would have never happened in Before.
14. shell-shocked
Zachery
I found her afterwards, staring down at the street and the impossibilities that shuffled or crawled along, looking for anything to eat. She didn’t say anything for a long time, and I didn’t break her silence. When she did speak, she didn’t look away from the street.
“Will he live?”
I hated the fact that I had to tell her the truth. “I don’t know.”
15. battle scars
Angie
It does really suck what happened to Andy. As much as the giant and I don’t get along, no one deserves to have their fucking arm cut off. I mean, I know it’s better than being one the undead fuckers, but how much? It’s not like he can scavenge or fight, or really shoot a gun with just one hand. I’m not trying to sound heartless, here. I mean, I’m not saying that we abandon him for dead, or whatever. We did what we had to, to save him, and that’s all fine and dandy.
But it still makes me wonder, what if we can’t save someone? What if one of us gets bitten and we have to kill them? Who’s going to have the balls to do that?
16. unmarked grave
Sunset
Eventually, the dead pile up. Eventually, you have to do something with them. We can’t bury them, and we sure as hell can’t leave them. If it were any other time, there would be a memorial service of some sort, some kind words.
But we can’t afford that risk. In the end, we take what we can from them, pile them up, and burn them.
17. pounding guns
Damian
We ran out of bullets long before it ended. Not us as a group, but the city as a whole. Luckily, people realized a long time ago that you don’t need bullets to kill one of them. Hammers, strong pieces of wood, a good knife... Even your bare hands, if you’re determined enough. Lord knows I saw Rayne snap enough necks after Angie died. Most people grieved. She just got pissed.
18. war engine
Rayne
I didn’t feel like being around anyone after Angie died. So I got my gun, got my bullets. Went to the roof. Shot until I ran out of bullets.
I don’t know how long I stayed up there. I didn’t really care. I just took my time with the shots. The zombies weren’t in any hurry. Why should I have been?
19. peace treaty
Oz
It sounded like suicide at first. The less hostile groups wanted to band together, take care of the real nasty survivors, and then take care of all the zombies. Find the other survivors in the city. Even in a place like New York City, which was small after the disaster, it was still huge. We found so many groups of people that were half starved and willing to do anything for a bite of food or a bloody band-aid. Of course, we all were at that point.
Somehow, it worked. We had enough weapons, enough people that just wanted it over. It grew out of our hands, and left the city, went across the state. I don’t think anyone expected to find as many survivors as they did. I don’t think anyone expected it all to be done with.
No one knew how to act when we weren’t living in fear. Except Zach. He was just pissed that his ‘science and time’ theory hadn’t quite worked out.
20. ceasefire
Sarah
People still talk about it. Where they were when it started, where they were when it ended. What it was like in their town, their house, what their group was like when it started actually getting better, when people formed actual armies to take the bastards down. They talk about the living.
No one wants to talk about the dead. No one wants to really talk about what we left behind. No one wants to talk about how things could be different if this had never happened.
What could have been. Andy might have both of his arms. Angie might not have died from that fucking cancer. Damian wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself so the rest of us could live. The rest of us wouldn’t be broken.
Honestly? I don’t want to talk to anyone about shit.
Summary: We were the phantoms of ourselves.
Timeline: May 2015 - May 2019 - Zombie!AU - Adrianna and Sarah are 26, Rayne is 27, Angie is 28, Oz is 29, Andy is 31, Sunset, Zach, and Damian are 33.
Challenge: Blood Orange (flavor binge)
Toppings/Extras: Chopped Nuts, Cherry (Various first person POVs)
Word Count: 4,003
Rating: PG-13
Notes: This starts about a year after zombies started appearing. Julia, Sunset and Damian’s daughter, doesn’t exist in this AU. Mostly because I already felt guilty enough for all the bad things that happened in this canon. I don’t think I could have handled thrusting a four year old in Zombieland.
This is for the Back To School Challenge - Chopped Nuts, 2.5k+ words.
1. lest we forget
Adrianna
No one is really sure where it started. No one knows where the first bite happened, or what even caused this entire thing. But the hospitals were where it accumulated. Bitten people went there to get better, and instead they turned a place of healing into a veritable breeding ground for infection. The nurses didn’t even have time to get the bodies down to the morgue before they reanimated. They had a minute, maybe less, before the body that was supposed to be dead sat up and reached for whoever was closest.
Once the bite happens, there’s only a limited amount of time to do anything. Back then, no one knew what was going on. They treated it like any other bite. Once it got infected, they treated it like any other infection. But this wasn’t any other infection. Even now, a year later, nobody knows what exactly is causing this. Even if we had the labs and the supplies to run tests with, we don’t have the electricity. Slides and a microscope can only tell you so much.
After we holed up in one of the many abandoned skyscrapers that New York City had to offer, Zachery lured one in and tied it down in the basement. Research, he had said. He wanted to see if he could find out what made them tick. As a coroner, I guess he had a fascination about what made the dead start walking. He did a full autopsy with that thing tied down and gagged, and it never died. He took out its heart, its lungs... everything. It didn’t do anything other but wiggle around and try and escape.
Then he took out the brain, and that was that. It wasn’t any surprise that killing the brain killed the zombie. But the fact that it survived everything else... The fact that it still tried to get up and eat us even after its entire torso was emptied... That seemed to make every sink in.
Zombies. Actual zombies. It hasn’t been the same since then.
2. no mans land
Rayne
I never thought I’d see New York like this. I didn’t come here until after I was twenty, but that never stopped me from realizing that New York had its own version of beauty that was built out of brick and mortar and neon lights. And now, it’s nothing but filth, with dead and undead bodies littering the streets and blood everywhere. The smell from Before is nothing compared to how it is Now. Now, when the only sound you hear are zombies and wind, and maybe gunshots.
It’s more zombies and less gunshots, compared to last week. If this keeps up, we’ll be the only survivors left.
3. the fallen
Angie
It’s really bullshit, you know. How much the living and those undead fuckers have in common now. Before, it was obvious who the bad guys were. It was easy to shoot at the guy covered in blood who was biting people. But after a year of no running water, and having to fight tooth and nail for supplies, it’s becoming harder and harder. Everyone’s filthy. Everyone has that half crazed, starved look on their face. Everyone does what they have to do to survive.
It isn’t just the zombies you had to look out for anymore. Sure, zombies would try and eat you, the sick fucks. But people... people can do so much worse. There are some places we can’t even go to anymore. Not because of the walking dead, but because of the tribes, or gangs, or whatever you want to fucking call it.
Once it all went to hell, a lot of people went Lord of the Flies. They’d get in fights over supplies, shelter, what have you. Some really smart jackass nearly burnt the city down once, when they lit an apartment building on fire. I guess they didn’t realize that without firefighters or running water, it wouldn’t stop burning until it burnt out. Fucking jackasses. We all got lucky with that one. Grace of God, maybe, or just dumb luck that it only burnt down a few buildings.
So, you have your idiots, but then you have the real evil fuckers. The people you want to get eaten. The people who tried to set up rape camps, and kill people over a can of green beans. The ones where you can see evil on their face, as clear as goddamn day. Those bastards. I’m not saying I’m a fucking saint, here... I especially am not a saint. But I’m not like that.
Even still, when I see them in trouble... When I see that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew when it comes to scavenging, and they’re surrounded? I stay around and watch. I don’t have the balls to kill them myself, but I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t want to stick around and make sure they get what they deserve.
Like I said. The worst zombies can do is eat you.
4. bugle call
Oz
Used to, back when there were more of us, we’d see candles on top of other buildings. You could really only see them once night fell, if you were looking out at the more residential districts and not at the skyscrapers. That was when people had hope... Back when people thought that the government or Army or something could still help us. It took us a while to figure out what they meant, since it’s not like a few candles are going to be visible from flyovers looking for survivors, or whatever.
They were for the dead. Not the risen, but survivors that other groups had lost. Once the zombies realized that candles led to fresh food, we didn’t see them anymore. People had to wise up. People had to learn the hard way that you can’t act the way you could before. Candlelight vigils might have been an okay idea before the world went to hell. But now, when your biggest worry is that a scrape could turn into a staph infection, honoring the dead gets pushed into the back of your mind. Surviving is first.
Surviving is always first.
5. row on row
Zachery
Science basically says that once something dies, that’s it. It’s over. Once this happened, I could regretfully say for the first time that science, for once, was full of shit. Even still, there were some bits of scientific knowledge that still applied to these creatures, these... impossibilities. Anyone with an inkling of pop culture knowledge would have known that damage to the brain or the cervical vertebrae would kill it, which is true to all creatures. They may not feel the pain, but the damage is still done.
What people never seemed to realize before is that injuries to the head or neck are not the only things available to stop these creatures, and God only knows why. If you shoot something in the knee, it’s a gunshot wound to the knee, whether it can feel it or not. The leg becomes useless, either throwing the creature off-balance or possibly stopping it’s movement all together if it’s decayed enough. And then, there are the natural elements to consider.
Heat. Cold. Pests. Decay. Like any other corpse, they’re affected by everyday things. The heat causes them to bloat, and eventually their abdomen will burst. The cold freezes them in place, and cells expand and explode once they thaw. Flies use them as feeding and breeding grounds, and the maggots quite possibly do more damage than a misaimed ‘headshot’ ever could. Once they eat past the eye, and get to the brain, it’s only a matter of time before the larvae kill the corpse for good. As for decay... That should be an obvious one. While bodies underground take a long time to decompose, a corpse that is exposed to the elements, day after day, hour after hour, doesn’t stand a chance in the long term of things. The skin will go, the flesh will go, and eventually, the ligaments and tendons will go. They’ll be unable to walk, to crawl, to bite. They’ll be useless lumps of rotting flesh until something comes along and kills them.
People expected the government to save us, that they would send rows of soldiers to shoot these things down. They are just as brainless as the creatures we have killed. If anything saves it, it will be time and science.
6. call to arms
Sunset
It’s amazing what people left behind, and what looters didn’t even look at. Once something like this happened, once people realized that help wasn’t coming and it was everyone for themselves, you’d think the gun stores would be stripped and the food would be the first thing to go. I guess people just lose their brains when panic sets in.
The first grocery store we broke into was a mess. The perishables were nearly gone, and all the cold stuff had gone bad. The smell of bad meat and produce alone was enough to make you gag. But the canned stuff, the stuff that would last you a long time? That was everywhere. Scattered on the floor, still stacked on the shelves, and plenty of it in the back rooms.
I saw a lot of places back then that sold TVs and stuff. Broken into, and looted for all the things that had been prized before society went to hell. The big TVs, the ultimate DVD collection, all of that. Like any of it even mattered once the electricity went out. But the hardware stores, the places with the camping gear and everything like that? Barely touched. We got a lot of supplies from those places. Wind up radios, wind up flashlights, wood, nails, batteries, sleeping bags. Everything we needed once we had to find new shelter.
That was over a year ago. We’ll still find places with food, places where the survivors were unable to fend the zombies off. Every once in a while, we’ll find a little hole-in-the-wall convenience store that hasn’t been touched. We’ll still find gun stores that have ammo, though we try not to use that much anymore. It’s not like someone is out there making bullets. The hospitals surprisingly still have plenty of medical supplies, though we can’t get into a few of them.
If Zachery is right, all we have to do is wait. Wait for them to die off on their own, wait for nature to take it’s course. Wait for the humans to outnumber the zombies. And that sounds like a good plan, but eventually, it’s going to be impossible to wait anymore. You can’t live on patience. Patience doesn’t feed you or give you a safe place to sleep.
In all honestly, the day that we don’t have to wait anymore? Scares me more than the zombies ever did.
7. Fireweed
Andy
Back then they probably would have called it graffiti, but there isn’t exactly any law enforcement any more, and a few drawings on the side of a building or two is the least of anyone’s worries. The only real problem is that charcoal comes off of concrete and brick pretty easy. One good rain is all it takes.
But the city is filled with the living dead, and the living who are merely trying to survive it all, and this is pretty much the only thing I can do anymore. Sure, it’s just charcoal drawings on walls and sidewalks, and the occasional piece of plaster, but its art. It’s beauty. It’s not like there’s much of that left anywhere. Really, it’s about the only thing I can do anymore.
It’s not like you need two arms to draw.
8. scorched ground
Rayne
Suffice to say, if people had been smarter, there would be more survivors. You see so many buildings that would have been good shelter. Thick walls, minimum windows, strong doors, and multiple floors. But people were dumbasses in the beginning, and the doors are broke down, the windows smashed. Looters had taken anyway they could into a building, to steal things that would be worthless in mere weeks, and ruined so many things for the rest of us.
People always said ‘If zombies ever happen...’. People supposedly had plans, supposedly knew what to do from reading so many comics, watching so many movies, reading so many books. People didn’t know shit. People never accounted for panic. Panic ruined shelters and sent people out onto the streets. Panic trapped people in their cars, with no place to go and no way to defend themselves.
Panic killed as many people as the zombies did.
9. war grave
Damian
It was one of those things people always joked about before, sort of. You know, if there was coworker or a boss or someone you just didn’t like, you’d say... Well, you know. That you wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire and stuff. You’d just wish they’d go away forever. But in a world like this, where you have to protect you and your own, there’s a chance that might come true. There’s a chance that you actually will have to kill somebody you know.
I couldn’t imagine having to shoot Sunset, or Zach, or anyone else in our group if they were bit and we couldn’t save them. In all honesty, I don’t think I could. But it’s different. They’re my wife. My brother. My friends. I’ve seen old coworker, bosses, acquaintances, all dead, all zombies, all trying to eat us. I try and tell myself that it’s not really them anymore. That I’m not killing people I know. They were dead long before that.
Of course, that doesn’t make it any easier.
10. the living and the dead
Adrianna
There are signs that it’s getting better. Zombies don’t literally mean the ending of the world, even if it seemed like it for so long. But people band together, and survive. People learn to scavenge and forage, and live off the remains. People fall in love, and have sex, and reproduce.
I’ve had two pregnant patients in the last few months. I can’t do as much as I could like for them. I can’t give them ultrasounds or do tests to see if their babies will be born with any disorders or deformities. But I can listen and hear strong heartbeats, and a few other simple things. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve grown too reliant on technology, considering childbirth has happened since the beginning of time.
The parents take comfort in those words. Children haven’t been born in a world like this before, but they have been born without epidurals, without a truly sterile room, without hospitals for centuries. They also take comfort in Zachery’s words. Their baby won’t grow up afraid. Zombies will be normal to them. They won’t have a Before to remember. They won’t miss something they never knew.
11. unknown soldier
Sarah
We got lucky. We got extremely lucky. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who really realizes that. I don’t know how many doctors are left in the city, but if Adri and Zach are to be believed, then there may not be many. If this got worse in the hospitals, then I can imagine that a lot of those things out there were wearing scrubs and white jackets at one point or another.
Anyway, like I was saying. Luck. Sheer, dumb luck, or maybe just a lot of really good luck. But either way, we’ve got two doctors that know what they’re doing, and that’s saved us. That’s really saved us. I know that we’ve got prime real estate under our asses, since we’ve gotten pretty damn good at keeping the building secure over the last year. We learn from our mistakes. Once the first barrier broke, we built a second, and then a third, and a fourth. The fifth seems to be working fine. The fifth has been up for more than a few months now, and it hasn’t broken.
I keep getting off track. Luck. Doctors. It wasn’t just the fact that they’re doctors that’s saved us. I mean, yeah, it’s helped. We’ve done good with no infections and stitches and all that. Even with what happened to Andy... The surgery might have nearly killed him, but at least it would have been the surgery and not a fucking bite. But once word got out that we had doctors, that we had medical supplies... People started showing up. Not for food, not for shelter, but for medical attention. Of course, Adri couldn’t turn them away.
And I think that’s what’s really saved us. Not from zombies, but from other groups. The hostile groups. They could move in on our territory and try and kill us, and take the building. But the fact is, no one knows how many doctors are actually out there. No one knows how many other people can actually stich up gashes or actually save someone from being bit, if they can be saved.
So, yeah, we’ve been lucky. We’ve been real lucky. I only hope our luck keeps up, and we keep finding medical supplies. If we ever run out, we’re screwed. We’re really screwed.
12. medal of honor
Oz
You do what you can to amuse yourself. It’s not like video games exist anymore, and there’s only a limited supply of board games and books and what have you. Sex never gets boring, but you can’t do that 24/7 either. You couldn’t even do that Before, because bodies have their limits, and even my impressive amount of stamina can run out eventually.
So you adapt, and make up your own games. You make games out of zombies. Different points for different shots, finding zombie celebrity look alikes, even seeing if you can make a real life version of Lemmings with zombies. (Turns out you can, though it loses its appeal after a while.)
Apparently, it’s an automatic win for punching a zombie in the face, though I wasn’t trying to win anything at the time. Fucker was just too close for me to use my gun, and it was a last resort move.
Adri was pissed afterwards, but it’s not like I punched in the mouth. I’m not that stupid.
13. casualties of war
Adrianna
I remember thinking afterwards that it was such a stupid risk. It was such a stupid risk. Amputating a limb Before was risky enough, and it’s not like I decided to become a surgeon. Pediatrics doesn’t call for removing an arm. But Andy was bitten, and it wasn’t a fatal bite. The teeth managed to avoid all of the major blood vessels, and I remember thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could beat the infection.
It was a decision made out of terror. Terror for Andy, terror at the thought of losing my brother, terror at the thought that he might become one of them. But nobody argued the decision, and did everything I said. In the end, it was Zach that had to finish the surgery and cauterize the stump that was left. Even after all of that, we nearly lost him.
Amputating a limb Before was risky enough, but Before had blood transfusions. Before had sterile environments. Before didn’t resort to burning the remains of someone’s shoulder with a hot skillet to force clotting and stop the blood loss. Before had anesthesia.
Before, Andy wouldn’t have passed out from the pain. Before, he wouldn’t have woken up screaming when Zachery burned him. This would have never happened in Before.
14. shell-shocked
Zachery
I found her afterwards, staring down at the street and the impossibilities that shuffled or crawled along, looking for anything to eat. She didn’t say anything for a long time, and I didn’t break her silence. When she did speak, she didn’t look away from the street.
“Will he live?”
I hated the fact that I had to tell her the truth. “I don’t know.”
15. battle scars
Angie
It does really suck what happened to Andy. As much as the giant and I don’t get along, no one deserves to have their fucking arm cut off. I mean, I know it’s better than being one the undead fuckers, but how much? It’s not like he can scavenge or fight, or really shoot a gun with just one hand. I’m not trying to sound heartless, here. I mean, I’m not saying that we abandon him for dead, or whatever. We did what we had to, to save him, and that’s all fine and dandy.
But it still makes me wonder, what if we can’t save someone? What if one of us gets bitten and we have to kill them? Who’s going to have the balls to do that?
16. unmarked grave
Sunset
Eventually, the dead pile up. Eventually, you have to do something with them. We can’t bury them, and we sure as hell can’t leave them. If it were any other time, there would be a memorial service of some sort, some kind words.
But we can’t afford that risk. In the end, we take what we can from them, pile them up, and burn them.
17. pounding guns
Damian
We ran out of bullets long before it ended. Not us as a group, but the city as a whole. Luckily, people realized a long time ago that you don’t need bullets to kill one of them. Hammers, strong pieces of wood, a good knife... Even your bare hands, if you’re determined enough. Lord knows I saw Rayne snap enough necks after Angie died. Most people grieved. She just got pissed.
18. war engine
Rayne
I didn’t feel like being around anyone after Angie died. So I got my gun, got my bullets. Went to the roof. Shot until I ran out of bullets.
I don’t know how long I stayed up there. I didn’t really care. I just took my time with the shots. The zombies weren’t in any hurry. Why should I have been?
19. peace treaty
Oz
It sounded like suicide at first. The less hostile groups wanted to band together, take care of the real nasty survivors, and then take care of all the zombies. Find the other survivors in the city. Even in a place like New York City, which was small after the disaster, it was still huge. We found so many groups of people that were half starved and willing to do anything for a bite of food or a bloody band-aid. Of course, we all were at that point.
Somehow, it worked. We had enough weapons, enough people that just wanted it over. It grew out of our hands, and left the city, went across the state. I don’t think anyone expected to find as many survivors as they did. I don’t think anyone expected it all to be done with.
No one knew how to act when we weren’t living in fear. Except Zach. He was just pissed that his ‘science and time’ theory hadn’t quite worked out.
20. ceasefire
Sarah
People still talk about it. Where they were when it started, where they were when it ended. What it was like in their town, their house, what their group was like when it started actually getting better, when people formed actual armies to take the bastards down. They talk about the living.
No one wants to talk about the dead. No one wants to really talk about what we left behind. No one wants to talk about how things could be different if this had never happened.
What could have been. Andy might have both of his arms. Angie might not have died from that fucking cancer. Damian wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself so the rest of us could live. The rest of us wouldn’t be broken.
Honestly? I don’t want to talk to anyone about shit.