Birds of a Feather (Apocalypse AU)

Chapter 6 - dudududu (Stella)

TW: blood, gore, injury

Stella and Carly ran down the street, glancing over their shoulder as more zombies joined the chase. Their frantic eyes scanned the silent street for danger, their strained breathing and pounding shoes as the counters to the moaning and shuffling of the undead.

Turning a corner, they passed aisles of carefully groomed lawns with towering trees and picket fences. Carly barely had the energy to turn and look at the houses of the people she had known for most of her life, feet thumping dully on the ground. The clouds only emphasized the dark red stains on the grass, the bodies lying motionless in their driveways, and the dull shine of the many cars abandoned in the middle of the road. The agony of death and guilt of surviving stung Carly in the chest, making her breath hitch. She stumbled and quickly righted herself, gasping as she continued to run besides Stella.

Only a few minutes later, Stella was beginning to get tired. She had been on her feet for hours, and despite her shoes, her hands and arms were still burning from sliding down the building to reach Carly. Looking over at Carly, she wasn't faring much better. Her brown hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and her pace was beginning to slow. The slight breeze was doing little to cool them down, and they couldn't afford to stop.

Not good not good not good not good, Stella thought frantically. They needed to find a place to hide for the night, or a faster and easier way to get out of the city. Stella's eyes scanned the street, jumping over the red and gray that seemed to dominate the landscape. She looked over to Carly again, nodding at the cars on the side of the road and trying to imply that they needed to find a faster way to move than running.

Passing through an intersection that still had smoking cars, they peeked down the main road to see a mob of zombies loitering in the middle of the cars, searching for any survivors who may have survived the traffic and rushed to escape. They picked up the pace silently, jumping over the crosswalk and avoiding the attention of those dead eyes.

Stella took a deep breath, readying herself for another few minutes of running, when she spotted a rack of bikes next to a car. Evidently, the family had tried to escape, trying to pack their bikes onto their car when they had been interrupted. Stella poked Carly, and they slowed to a stop, both huffing and leaning over their knees. They hadn't seen any zombies while approaching the house, and they were confident that the family had moved elsewhere.

Stella pointed silently at the bikes, and Carly nodded back with tired eyes. They had no desire to speak and waste their energy when they could just point and grunt to get the point across. Following a minute of recovering and shaking out their legs and feet, they slowly began moving towards the bikes. Carly went first, grabbing a blue bike with a gray body. She lifted it out of the pile, clanging it against the other bikes and the side of the car. Stella winced as she pulled it out triumphantly, setting it down quietly on the road.

Stella decided to pick a green bike with shiny gold handles. Also banging the car and the remaining bikes, she carried the bike to the road, where she motioned Carly to get on. Bikes are a much faster method of transportation than on foot, and they are quieter than cars and other gas-powered means of moving around.

Stella nodded at Carly, who grinned mischievously and pointed at her head, which had a glaring lack of a helmet. Stella snickered, and both of them mounted their bikes. Although they had done their best to avoid making noise, metal clanging is surprisingly loud, and zombies from the main road had started to appear around the corner, their gray limbs only matching the gray streets and misty sky.

They began pedaling through the streets, the gray scenery passing them in a blur. Although they were looking around for any signs of movement or survivors, Stella and Carly see nothing but lanky individuals standing still, staring blankly at them as they pass.

Stella's hands stung as she clung tightly to the handles of the bike, her lacerations only leaking more blood with the movement. Biting her lip, she knew that they would need to find a place to stop so she could clean her hands and wrists. Unfortunately, they were still in the middle of the residential neighborhood, and had at least an hour to go before being able to stop.

Stella looked over at Carly, who was grimly observing the homes, occasionally looking away when they passed certain homes. She knew that both of them had lost everyone here.

She stood in the gym as her class' dodgeball game stopped suddenly as a stream of screaming students lunged through the doors. Stella backed away, still holding a ball in her hands, as the students passed by the class, some friends pulling others with them. Stella turned to watch the group run out of the gym, but quickly shifted as she heard someone slam against the doors. Confused, her gym teacher moved to open the door, but only screamed and fell over as she was tackled by another student. As the student began biting her teacher's neck, Stella was startled that she recognized her. But she looked so different, gray skin and rabid teeth. Backing away, Stella ran out of the gym as more students stumbled through the open door, some falling on the teacher and others walking towards the remaining students. Stella slammed the door-

Stella pushed her memories away, they wouldn't help her now. She needed to get north to find Kor and the rest of her family. Carly didn't have anyone left, and her entire family lived in North Carolina. If they moved north, they would be able to find other pockets of survivors and potentially reunite with Stella's family, if they had survived. There was nothing for them here. Only guilt, sadness, and danger.

Stella and Carly turned at the next street, rushing past the gray figures on the lawn as the clouds began to burn away in the gentle wind. A breeze blew in their face as they began to bike North, the sun shining brightly over them.