Back To School - Blood Orange Flavor Binge, with Cherry and Chopped Nuts - Kings and Queens

[crooked_loss]

Author: askingxalice 
Title: Kings and Queens
Summary: We were the phantoms of ourselves.
Story: Phase
Timeline: May 2015 to 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

Comments

[ninablues]

Bravo! An amazingly composed flavour binge. Seeing as zombies are my favourite creatures in the world to write/read/watch films/etc about, I knew the instant I saw the words zombie!AU that I HAD to read this. And you definitely didn't disappoint-- it must have been fun to plunge your characters into this creepy post-apoc world.

I was totally heartbroken in Andy's first piece, when he was talking about how he drew everywhere to brighten up the dead city... and the losing an arm thing was awful but well done, of course!

The idea of the survivors turning savage is a well-worn but always very interesting one, and in your case it seems to all have been thought out very thoroughly. I'm glad that it turns out well in the end (rarely happens in other zombie-type scenarios) although it's not all hunky-dory. You can't really have a zombiefic without casualties though, sadly. XD

Well done-!

[crooked_loss]

It was definitely fun. While I was writing it, all I did was read The Walking Dead and watch a few different zombie films. I wanted to stay in that zone as much as possible to try and get it written with as much - seriousness? As possible. Zombies are oddly hard to make serious without going overboard, or falling short.

I think making Andy lose an arm was more painful that having Damian or Angie die. I mean, death is death. You can't do much after that. But having to learn how to do everything after you lose a limb? I tried seeing how much stuff I could get done with one hand earlier, and it was hard as hell.

Thanks so much for reading!

[bookblather]

I don't usually like zombie stories, because they're too funny, or they're pointlessly horrific, or the zombies don't seem real. This story avoids all nd pitfalls. The horror is absolutely, completely necessary, all the realities of life under a zombie invasion are taken into account (the bit about the doctors saving them in particular, that really struck home), and the zombies are treated like real foes. This made me choke up a couple of times. Very well done.

[crooked_loss]

I don't even know how they would have survived without Zach and Adri. And the fact that those two survived is a bit of luck. Neither of them were in a high zombie area, so they were able to get out before the hospital was overrun. I mean, nobody was bringing their bitten kid to the pediatrician, and the bodies never had time to make it to the morgue, which is the only reason Zach survived.

I'm really glad to hear that the emotions I wanted to come through came through. As horrible as it sounds, I never wanted there to be hope, because by this point, they've lost their hope, and they've adapted to the new reality of things. Even when it gets better, there isn't any hope, because it can never go back to how it was before.

TL;DR, I love writing non happy things, apparently.

Thanks for reading! <3

[smoothiegarten]

...I really don't blame you for not wanting to get Julia involved, holy CRAP.

I like how thought-out this is, and I like that the things each of them talk about reflect their personalities. Kind of like a written documentary of what they went through. I could see it being the basis for a movie someone makes years later. The details are terrifying, though, and Angie's death is somehow MORE tragic to me here than it is in canon. And Damian nooooo :(

Really well done overall though.

[crooked_loss]

This entire idea came from rereading World War Z, which is basically a written documentary of people's accounts through the 'zombie war'. They're actually making a movie about it now! I can't wait.

Honestly, I feel even worse for Angie in this canon. Not only did she die from cancer, she died from cancer with no medication whatsoever. D:

Thanks for reading!

[sonechko_td]

I really REALLY like this.

Put me in the camp of people who aren't really into zombie stories. But this one was really well thought out. I like how each character had their own voice, but yet they were all telling the same story.

[crooked_loss]

Thank you! And thanks for reading! :D