The Rules of Living with the Avengers

32. Playing Zombies isnt fun.

so my cousins made me play pretend that it's the zombie apocalypse so...here you go

I look round the empty living room, slightly scared. The TV's still on- Elsa is unmelting the kingdom- and popcorn is scattered everywhere. Also it's about midnight and I only just realised, after watching lots of Netflix. "Guys?" I call. "Tony? Bruce?" They're the ones usually awake.

I wander down to their shared lab, thinking that they'll be down there, making some new technological thing. The elevator doors open to an empty and dark room. "Tony? Bruce? Brucie? Stark?"

There's a clatter and I jump, looking wildly around. "Stark? Stark! To-AHHH!" I scream a a rotten faced thing comes hurtling towards me from the darkness. I leap back and hammer on the elevator buttons. The thing manages to get its hand through the door before the doors shut. "JARVIS!" I yell. "What the hell is happening?"

"Miss Potts, I-"

There was a bunch of static and then silence. I groan. "JARVIS, please don't die out on me." There's no answer but the elevator starts to move upwards. I go past the training rooms, the other labs and the living spaces and people's apartments then it stops. The doors open on to Steve's floor.

Thankfully the lights are all on but it's still scary as all hell. "Steve?" I whisper, my hands curling into fists as I tiptoe along the corridor. I want my gun. I really want my gun. "Ste-HOLY MOTHER OF A COW!" I almost fall over but Steve grabs my arm. "Can people stop jumping out at me!"

"Ellie, you have to be quiet," he whispers, "and who else has jumped out at you?"

"Some weird zombie creature thing," I whisper back. "I went down to the labs to see if Stark and Bruce were there and it was dark and then some thing came running out at me. I really want my gun," I add as a light flickers.

"Stick with me. I saw one of those creatures and threw my shield at it. I tried to contact Natasha through JARVIS but JARVIS has been shut down. The zombies seem to react to noise so I suggest we keep quiet at all times and-"

"CAPSICLE, I'M SCARED!" Clint's voice echoes through the corridor and it's followed by a slapping noise. "OWW! NATASHA!"

"For God's sake..." Steve says and looks at me. "If you see any of those zombies driven here by that idiot, run. Don't try to fight them, just run."

"I've seen plenty of zombie films. I know how to fight zombies. One of my favourite films is Zombieland. I'm definitely Emma Stone in that film. Y'know Emma Stone looks a lot like Peter's Gwen..."

"Peter?"

"Peter Parker. Spider-Man. The weird one who keeps breaking in here and pretending to be an Avenger."

"He does what?" Steve looks furious.

"I..I don't think I was meant to tell you that. Um, go find the idiot and the assassin and I'll fight off zombies if they come," I grin.

"No, you're going to run if...oh, what's the point. You never listen to me anyway. I'll be two minutes. Stay safe, okay?" Steve leans forward and before I can say something, he kisses me lightly on the forehead. "I'll see you soon, Ellie. I promise."

"I-um.." I stammer but he's running away quietly. What just happened. It's the middle of the night and there are zombies and JARVIS has shut down and I'm not even wearing any shoes.

I look down as something brushes over my feet. There's something on the floor beside my foot. It looks like a...I scream and leap backwards, trying to gain my balance but I'm falling over. I land on the floor, remembering too late Steve's advice. Stay quiet. And I just screamed.