Licensed Apocalypse

*three* nightmares

"LUCIS!" Oliver yelled. "WHERE ARE YOU?" Still, nothing. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY LUCIS!" Oliver screamed. Oliver turned, remembered the bags were gone, and turned back around. "FINE! I DON'T NEED YOU ANYWAY!" Oliver stormed down the hill.

"Oliver, OLIVER! WAKE UP!"

Oliver's eyes opened. Lucis was kneeling over him.

"Are you okay?" Lucis asked. "You were yelling. You were yelling to me, asking me where I was." "LUCIS! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I had a bad dream." Oliver said. "It's all right, I'm fine."

"That's good." Lucis said, panic ebbing away. Oliver sat up and looked around, taking note that the bags were still there. The sun had already rose in the sky and the sunrise was about to die away. Oliver got up and stretched.

"When did you get up?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

Lucis followed Oliver's gaze to the now fully blue sky.

"I haven't seen any zombies yet." Lucis answered Oliver's unspoken question. "I saw one down the street but it didn't see us."

"We have to get a move on." Oliver said. "We can't stay in one spot for long when we're outside." Lucis stepped over and picked up some bags.

"Ready?"

**

Oliver and Lucis trugged forward. They had entered a somewhat muddy area and the mud was sticking to their shoes, making it hard to walk. The weight of the bags wasn't helping. Not to mention, there was nothing in this area. All zombies had to do was walk to the edge of it and the friends were in clear view. This was ideal but they had to get across at some point. Oliver almost fell a couple times but caught himself just in time. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the two found the sanctuary of a forest. All mud, gone. The two friends collapsed onto the ground.

"We'll never do that again." Oliver said.

"Agreed." Lucis panted.

**

There was a mountain, just above the trees. It lummed ominous into the crawling wispy white clouds. It's top was jagid and it was all covered in rocks. Oliver could see the adventerous glint in Lucis' eyes.

"We're not going up there." Oliver said, pounding the words back into Lucis' mouth.

"Please?" Lucis pleaded. "Just this once?"

"We can't!" Oliver said. "What if there's a bunch of zombies?"

"We'll deal with them!" Lucis said. "Just this once." At his friend's face he said; "Pleeeeeaaaaassssseeeeeee Oliver. Just. This. Once."

"Fine." Oliver said, finally giving in. "But just this once. And once we get to the top, we won't stay for long." Lucis was beaming ear to ear.

**

"What is that."

Lucis and Oliver had finally reached the top of the mountain. Now, they stood, mouths gaping, at a huge metal building.

"I have no idea."

Lucis readied his gun and stepped forward. Oliver gripped the ax and followed him.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Not really."

Oliver found the door first. There was a keypad. Oliver raised the ax.

"Wait!" Lucis said, hand flying up to stop his friend. "What if it doesn't work? Let's try the keypad first."

"Be my guest." Oliver said, gestering for Lucis to walk over to the keypad. Lucis studied the keypad.

"We have to figure out what this place is first." Lucis said.

"Maybe it's some type of lab?" Oliver suggested. There was a beep as a gloved hand pressed a button. "Trial 1 commencing. Starting in 3...2..."

"Could be." Lucis said, looking up to the top of the building. The sound of moving gadgets filled the room. Something fizzed and broke."What's going on? What happened?" Lucis began typing in combinations, but one after the other, none of them worked. Meanwhile, Oliver's head was crained up, searching the building. It was plain, some electric stuff and some other stuff but that was it. Lucis cursed as another one of his attempted passwords hadn't work. "I'm running out of ideas." He said, looking back at Oliver.

"Try zombie." Oliver suggested.

"Why zombie?" Lucis asked.

"Maybe this place has the answer to what started the apocalypse." Oliver said. The gas reached someone, making them collapse to their knees, gasping and coughing. Their hands clutched their throat which felt like it was closing up. Their pupils dilated and red rimmed their eyes. A green color spread out from the red. Their hands became more claw-like and their teeth sharpened. They gasped, taking their last human breaths. Lucis nodded and turned back to the keypad. The keypad glowed green and the door slid open. Oliver followed Lucis into a hallway. A very long hallway.

**

Lucis gripped his gun, nervously walking forward. Oliver was behind him, gripping the still bloody double-bladed ax. Lucis adjusted his mask and looked back at Oliver. Oliver's eyes couldn't be seen through the dark eyeholes of his mask. Oliver gave a short nod to Oliver and took the lead. Rooms began branching out through the hallway along with more corridors. Finally the hallway turned a sharp left and led the two to a pair of double doors. The cracks were boarded up and the door was locked.

"What happened here?" Lucis asked.

"You don't want to know."

The two wiped around to see a man in a white lab coat standing behind them.

"What year is it?" He asked.

"2097." Oliver said.

"It's been that long?" The man said.

"How long?" Lucis asked.

"The last time I knew the year it was 2022."