apocalypse | rewind au  

an AU in which the ending of Rewind wasn't so pleasant. Instead, the gang deal with the growling of the undead walking among them and horrible, permanent losses. (yes this is a zombie apocalypse au)

The abandoned grocery store was near silent, with only the sound of quiet shuffling footsteps and the low, soft growls of the undead echoing throughout. It was dark, but not so that it was too hard to see. Some lights were flickering while others were completely off, making our vision uneven to the store before is. A horrific smell of rotting corpses drifted through the market and stuffed itself up our noses, I'm pretty sure I've heard AJ and Xavier gag more than five times so far.

"Oh Christ," Landon grimaces quietly, his face scrunched up in disfust as he, Jay, Xav, Emma, AJ, and I quietly raid the large grocery store for supplies, "it smells just like Xavier in here."

I hear AJ softly laugh to herself as Xavier shoots a glare at Landon. I bite my lip to keep on letting out a snicker and shoot Landon a wink. Even Emma and Jay crack a smile.

Landon grins in satisfaction and continues to lead us down the many stocked isles of the store. We all carry heavily cramped baskets of food and water and toiletries. They're practically overflowing with supplies. We hit an extremely rare jackpot.

Usually, whenever we go on supply runs we either hit a store that's already completely raided or already completely raided except there's still three boxes of Mac n' Cheese left.

I open my mouth to add on to Landon's amazing observation before his hand suddenly shoots up, silencing us as he stops walking.

We all freeze as the happy mood is silenced, like a noisy TV abruptly unplugged. Landon peeks around the shelves surrounding us and nudges his chin to around the right one. Walkers.

We wait as Landon quickly counts how many there are before holding up eight fingers. I exhale and close my eyes, turning my head up to the ceiling and shaking my head.

Emma notices my actions and nudges me softly, "We got this," she says under her breath to me with a timid smile. I try my best to return it.

Then, I notice Jay slowly but surely set his baskets down and tries his best to make no noise before he places his palm on his gun and knife. We follow in pursuit.

Landon signals our moves and begins walking again. I unsheath my knife with Jay, AJ, and Xavier while Emma and Landon take out their guns.

Together, we move in a sluggish clump towards the walkers. Our footsteps are agonizingly slow but we know it's the best way to stay cautious. I push a falling strand from my ponytail away from my face as I scan the aisles in front of us with focused eyes.

A small part of me gets that feeling everytime we do something like this. It's a small piece of fear that comes with every supply run or move we do. Throughout the months, it's dialed down lower and lower but no matter how hard I try, it always grows back up again and eats all hopefulness and courage that are required during these types of runs.

Once we spin towards the otherside of the aisle we were hiding behind, all eight of them come into view and they immediately come hurtling towards us. Some walk, some crawl, some run.

From the corner of my eye, I see AJ and Landon run and divert two walkers from it's small herd.

I shake my head and exhale worriedly as I watch them run away. You're not supposed to leave the freaking clump!

One comes up to me, it's filthy shredded clothes hanging limpy from its scrawny body and the smell of it fills my nose. I try not to gag as I kick it down then stab my knife into it. Brown blood splatters all over my blue shirt and I grimace as I yank my blade from its skull.

There's puddles of dark blood on the ground and the sick sound of blades connecting with dead flesh fill my ears around me. I hear monotonous groans, suprised yelps, and dull thuds.

Then as Jay shoves his knife into the last one's head, we hear AJ's faint, fearful cry from the back of the store, "Shoot it!"

The rest of us kick away the limp bodies and go sprinting toward where the Landon and AJ ran off. Our shoes fly across the tiles, squeaks and footsteps the only sounds other than AJ's distant cries.

We arrive only to find AJ on her back, scrambling away from a limping walker and blubbering uselessly. I look at the other dead walker only feet away and see that her knife is plunged into it's head. Apart of me wants to hit AJ in the head for only bringing a knife with her—now here she is with nothing to defend herself with.

Landon, behind the walking corpse, yells at it and it turns around as it's lifeless eyes fix on him. He lifts his gun and aims it at him, but as he tries pulls the trigger we realize it seems to be out of ammo. More attempts pass as he repeatedly tries to shoot but the only thing he can get out are sharp, useless clicks. He lets out a yell of frustration before throwing the gun aside and reaching for the knife at his belt.

But he's too late. We're all too late as the walker grabs hold of Landon's broad shoulders and viciously sinks it's broken teeth into his skin. I scream and Emma screams as I pull my own gun from it's holster anf clumsily shoot the walker in the head before it does anything else. The loud sound of a gunshot echoes throughout the market and our ears, making me wince.

Landon drops to his knees as the walker falls limply beside him. We rush to him and see that his face has splatters of blood on it prior my headshot, his gray shirt is ripped and already has blood soaking it. It looks as if a chunk was taken out of his shoulder and it was currently gushing blood slowly. The bite wasn't that big, but it doesn't matter when you're dealing with them. It could be hours until he turns... maybe a few days if we're lucky.

"Oh God," Emma's voice is cracking and was in the middle of stifling her sobs. Her face is already streaked with tears as she places Landon's head in her lap and strokes his hair from his forehead.

Xavier takes off his jacket and wraps it around Landon's shoulder, before sitting back with a expressionless face. I can only imagine what he's thinking right now.

I turn to Jay and he stands up, "I had a first aid kit in my basket," he tells us briskly before running away. I catch a glimpse of his face before he turns and I see that his eyebrows are furrowed while his blue eyes are dull with shakey terror. He's seen someone get bit before, we all have. But whenever it happens, the person to take it the hardest is always Jay.

The rest of us watch devastatingly as Landon winces and groans at the pain, "I'll be fine," he says with a non-convincing smile that soon turns into a sharp expression of pain.

"Landon," I whisper softly as gradual tears begin to roll down my cheeks. I'm quick to wipe them away but Landon sees them and shakes his head with an attempt of a gentle smile.

Jay comes rushing back with the medical supplies and begins working on Landon's arm. We watch in terror as Landon hisses and sucks on his teeth to cope with the pain.

Shaking his head, Jay wraps bandages around Landon's shoulder, "We'll have to get you back to the camp. Nancy has other supplies there that could help—"

"No," Landon says, his breathing uneven, "you guys can't risk taking me back to everyone. I could turn during the drive back or at night and—"

Landon's hand shoots up to his shoulder and groans in pain. His hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat and his face was growing paler by the second, he looked miserable. I close my eyes to keep more tears from dropping and suck in a nervous breath.

"Stop this," Emma says in protest, her face now soaked with silent tears, "we have to get you back to Sarah."

Emma's normal solid and calm voice was wavering. She was stuttering and stumbling over her words and her voice cracked every now and then.

Landon shakes his head in response but doesn't say anything as he closes his eyes, breathing softly with his right hand still resting on his left shoulder.

"Aqueela," Jay says in a hard voice, "you and AJ get the car. Xav and I will help Emma with Landon. We'll put him in the back of the truck, alright? I saw a couple more walkers on the way here and that gunshot may or may not have called even more towards us. Be quick."

Jay stuffes his hands into the pockets of his pants and pulls out the keys to the truck, holding them out to me.

I meet his stare and nod before grabbing the keys and rush out of the store, AJ following behind me in speed.

We run as fast as we can to the vehicle but a part of me feels that horrible feeling again: fear. It starts eating away my hope until the back of my mind starts saying the same thing over and over again, like a horrific and torturous subconscious that only comes out in the worst times and it's only there to help you feel even more horrible. It's the most horrid reoccurring nightmare I've ever had.

He won't make it.

-

"He has a pretty high fever and didn't loose as much blood as I expected when you guys arrived. Emma, Xavier, and Sarah are in there with him now," Nancy tells us wearily as she shuts the door behind her to Landon and Sarah's room. She brushes strands of her brown hair from her face and sits down beside Grey on one of the old red couches; in front an identical dusty one with Jay and I sitting atop it.

The house we were all staying in is furnished enough to hold our amount of people. With a manageable-sized kitchen in the corner, three large couches in the space to the left of it, and a spacious dining table to the right of it. There were six—exceptionally small—rooms in which a pair got one while Laiken, Kyle, and Zac slept on the couches.

I watch as Nancy buries her head in her hands and exhales. She's been working herself hard as our doctor around here, even with Jay helping her as much as he can.

It's quiet in the large room, nobody making a sound and nobody moving. Only the loud silence of unwanted questions: Who's next? Do we add Landon's body to our ever growing graveyard? What'll Sarah do once he's gone?

Bells, who was sitting by the counter with Max, Laiken, Kyle, Zac, Benley, and AJ, timidly asks, "When do you think he's gonna..." she says, trailing off in a soft voice. I shake my head at the question and a part of me strains at her tone.

Bells and Max haven't been themselves since everything happened (I mean, who has). With having no idea where they're triplets had gone and how many people we've lost, they've been quiet and distant.

I've never seen the two of them so... blank. I mean, one night Bells and Max got into an arguement loud enough for the whole house to here and she stormed into one of the bathrooms and stayed in there for three hours. She didn't make a sound.

Then, hours later, when the door finally opened, her beautiful long brown hair had been chopped to her shoulders. I remember seeing Max's expression when she came out, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Grey shakes his head at bell, his dark shaggy hair (which he refuses to cut) moving with it, "I don't think we should be thinking about that right now."

"We've already lost so many people," Benley says, shaking his head as he runs a palm through his hair AJ scoots closer to him and hugs his arm close to her as she shuts her eyes and breathes softly. My chest tightens at the action, I hate this feeling.

I turn to look at Jay to see how he's taking it, but I find Jay's eyes already looking at me with a blank expression. My eyebrows furrow and I tilt my head at him in a silent question.

Jay shakes his head in response as he looks away, he places his palm on my hand next to him before exhaling tiredly.

I frown and stand up slowly, noticing Jay's eyes following my movements curiosly, "Jay and I are going in our room, tell us if there's any news about Landon," I interrupt the silence and pull Jay towards our room.

Once I close the door behind us, I watch as Jay lays on the full-sized bed and rubs his palms over his facing, sighing.

"What's wrong?" I ask him, walking across our small room until I'm beside him atop the bed.

What a stupid question.

He lays on his back with his eyes closed. I place my hand on his chest and trace circles with my thumb while Jay doesn't say anything. After a some time, he reaches up and holds my hand to his chest.

"Jay?"

He shakes his head again, "You heard Benley," he tells me in toneless whisper, "we've already lost so many."

I soften my expression, his chest moving up and down against my palm with each breath, "Jay..."

Suddenly, Jay sits upright and wraps his hands behind his head. My hand falls from his stomach and my frown deepens, "No—really, Aqueela. I mean, who's next? It could he any of us. Me or you or Grey—"

"Jay," I whisper timidly, not wanting to hear this, "stop it."

He lets out a shakey breath but keeps going,"So many of our friends—the people we love have been taken... what's the point anymore?"

My heart breaks at his words. He's right. We've lost so many and it does nothing but put a dent in our mental state. I close my eyes and think back to the loved ones we've lost.

We were at the park when Ryan, Troy and Mia were bit.

It was in the beginning, when we had no idea what was going on. We were hanging out after a race when four walkers came up from behind us and bit them. Mia was first, then as Ryan started shouting he got bit next.

Troy was the last one that day to get bit. As we were running from these monsters we knew nothing about, a walker came out of nowhere and snatched his leg, biting a whole chunk off of it.

I sometimes hear Bell's screams of terror in my head when the rest of the walkers piled up onto him, blood spraying everywhere as Troy's own screeching died down into the disgusting sound of flesh tearing apart.

Traumatized, we drove back to Jay's house in a hurry to watch the news or do something to give us a slight idea what the hell was happening.

But once we opened the door, we found the Dung Beatles limping around the house growling with gray faces and blood-splattered mouths. We watched in horror as they came limping towards us. I remember seeing Jam's guts practically hanging out of his stomach.

I remember being so horrified I had screamed and cried, confused with what was happening. I remember Bells and Emma throwing up at the sight. I remember having to run away and leaving behind my home and life.

No one knows what happened to Bell and Max's kids. When everything happened, they were with Bell's parents and when all of us ran back to Max and Bells', the house was raided and abandoned and the kids were gone.

Max and Bells' had cried and shrieked and protested that they should stay back and look for them but Jay said Bell's parents must have evacuated with the babies, considering how empty the house was when we got there.

Although, the most heartbreaking death for all of us was Lucy.

Three months passed of us moving from place to place and getting used to our new way of living. By then, we had a camp set up ourside of the city and had been staying there for a week. We managed with food and water, for there was a lake nearby.

It happened when we were sitting around a crackling fire, reminiscing and laughing and smiling. I'm pretty sure Xavier was telling a story about Landon when a hoard of walkers, maybe twenty, came walking towards us.

With little to no ammo, we were shooting, kicking, and stabbing the damned walking corpses until the sunrise. Their bodies were falling to the ground and they were soon scattered across our once neat camp. We were getting rid of the last of them when one came up from behind and bit Lucy's arm.

Laiken didn't want to let her turn so we buried her in our old campsite. I remember him sitting at her grave after the burying for hours, his head down and quiet as a fox. He doesn't talk as much now, just one-worded answers and sometimes if we're lucky: a sentence.

As for everyone else, we don't know what happened to Simo, Dylan, Blubber, Uncle Jefferey, or my grandparents.

Now, with a large house in the middle of nowhere, we only walk out the door for supplies, we stay in the house everyday, and we alwaysstay together. Unfortunately, we had to learn that the hard way.

-

The pale gray sky is looming above our small backyard, bare of any clouds and with only the sun shining dimly across the shallow grave we all made laying before us.

It's as if the world knows exactly what's going on today.

Sharp, cold air breezes by past alll of us and nips at my cheeks. I hug Jay closer to me for both warmth and comfort. His arm is tiredly wound around my waist as he stares at the brown soil at our feet stolidly.

Everyone—in a circle—surrounding the grave is silent. We're all stuffed in puffy jackets and long, thick pants as we look down at another one of our friends—now gone.

My gaze timidly shifts to Sarah and find that she's rotating her engagement ring on her ring finger back and forth with an expressionless look on her tear-streaked face. Her once neat blonde hair is now in a messy ponytail tied behind her head while her eyes are viciously red-rimmed.

I myself think I ran out of tears yesterday. For the weeks leading up to the funeral, I was crying almost everyday. This morning, everyone was silently droning about the house and slowly getting ready to head outside for the small funeral. My eyes were now puffy and I'm still sniffling as I stand next to my friend's corpse.

We hadn't had anyone gone in a while. We were happy and hopeful until that damned "jackpot" supply run where everything went to hell. There isn't a small part of me (or any of is for that matter) that doesn't regret coming along or bringing Landon.

I'm full of despair. It feels like my body weighs tons, making me want to curl up into a ball in bed and ignore everyone. I want to cry, I want to scream, I want to throw something, but I can't. I can't because as much sadness is pulling me down into darkness, I have to be there for my remaining friends and make the best of what we have.

Emma, standing across from me, is standing completely still and staring at the grave with no expression on her face. The bags under her empty eyes are dark, her cheeks were looking hollow and her once bright, voluminous red hair is now hanging limp from her scalp. Her and Sarah are clutching hands now and my heart clenches at the action.

As I stare at the simple grave we made for Landon, I bit my lip to keep from letting out a strangled noise of sadness.

A large patch of soil shaped in a dull rectangle was created at our feet. Then, courtesy of Bells, a piece of wood—a sign—stabbed into the dirt with black Sharpie written across it in neat handwriting that said 'Ruthless'.