Licensed Apocalypse

*four* 2022

"2022?" Lucis said in disbelief. "How are you still alive?"

"I don't know." The man said.

"What happened here?" Oliver demanded.

"You don't know?" The man said. "I thought it would be all over the news. But I'm also not surprised."

"What happened here?" Oliver asked.

"You don't want to know." The man repeated himself.

"Please tell us!" Lucis said. "It could help us with the zombies!"

"Zombies?" The man said, his eyes widened. "There are more of them?"

"What would you expect?!" Oliver said, voice loud. "This is the frickin' zombie apocalypse for cryin' out loud!"

"So Carol got out..."

"Who's Carol?"

"The first zombie."

**

"Run! We have to get out of here! We can't let Carol out!"

The door to the lab slid closed, blocking the zombie and the gas behind it.

"Go! We have to get out of here!"

"The doors locked!"

"Well, get it open!"

"I can't, security protocol!"

"Who can open it?"

"Carol." 

Pale faces glanced between each other.

"We have to hide. There can't be any more zombies."

Alarms sounded and the hallway began to flicker red.

"She's gotten to the alarm system! She can get out of the room now!"

"EVERYONE HIDE! NOW! HURRY!"

People ran everywhere. Everywhere except towards the lab.

**

"You were doing an experiment?" Lucis said incredulously.

"It failed." The man reminded him. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"No." Lucis shook his head.

"Carol must have gotten to them." The man said sadly. "They must be zombies."

"If there are still zombies in here we need to be alert." Oliver said, gripping his ax.

"Oh there aren't any zombies here." The man said, voice suddenly dark. "If there were, I'd be one of them."

"We still have to check." Oliver said. "Usual zombies have the IQ of a 10 year old. These are scientist zombies. They might have the IQ of young Einstein."

"True." Lucis said, eyes flitting around the room.

"We have to find the others!" The man gasped.

"They are probably zombies!" Lucis said.

"We look for zombies remember?" Oliver said. "Let's go." The man followed the two as they walked down the hallway.

"Aren't you both too young to be doing this?" He asked.

"No one's to young to do this these days." Oliver said. Lucis' eyes trailed the hallway. The man stopped.

"What is it?" Lucis asked.

"We're going towards the lab." He said.

"Carol's probably already out." Oliver said. "We've got this." 

"Oh I'm not sure you do." The man muttered. Oliver and Lucis didn't hear him.

**

Silence. Nothing. Everyone waited in silence in their collective hiding spots. They didn't hear Carol attack her victims. They didn't know Carol got out. After a while, Carol was satisfied. She didn't remember any more scientists to attack. She didn't remember the man. Thankfully.

**

The lab door had been broken, shattered glass littered the floor how it had fallen. Lucis opened the door and walked forward. He and Oliver tensed as they creeped deeper into the room. The scientist didn't dare enter. He stood shivering in the doorway. His eyes were wide and non blinking. The room looked exactly how he had left it. But the only thing that was different, there was no zombie. And the door was broken. Don't break down. The man thought to himself. Don't show weakness.

"There's nothing in here!" Lucis yelled to Oliver. "Just some boring science stuff!"

"The broken door said that!" Oliver yelled back.

"Let's go." The man said loudly. "There's nothing here we need." There's nothing here you need. The two followed him out. "How'd you get in?" He asked them. "How'd you get the code for the keypad?"

"Everything's about zombies these days." Oliver said, eyes fixed ahead.

"But... we didn't set it to zombies." The man said. "We set it as Oliver, one of my co-worker's grandson's soon to be son's name." Oliver stopped.

"My great great grandfather's name was Oliver." He said, voice flat. "I was named after him."

"Your related to Jozy?"

"I guess so."

"That means..." The man began but stopped.

"What does it mean?" Oliver asked angrily, whipping around.

"It mean's your related to Carol. The first zombie."