STOP THE WORLD | LUKE TWDG

[ ZERO ]

ZERO | A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.

˖ ݁𖥔.☁︎.𖥔 ݁ ˖

JULY | PRE APOCALYPSE

"Dammit!" Ezra hisses, kicking at the flat tire of his car. Angel stands to the side, head tilted as she considers the situation, eyes studying the BMW Ezra's parents had gotten him as a graduation gift. She had gotten a pink sparkly self defence keychain. Night had fallen over the suburban neighbourhood they had been driving through on their trip through the states, they had already driven from their small town in New York state to Florida. Tallahassee being one of the main pit stops along the way. A post high school grad trip before she went off to college in North Carolina and he went to...wherever Ezra would go, honestly.

"My uncles house isn't far from here. He's redneck, I'm sure he can help." Angel states chipperly, brushing her dark brown hair behind a triple-pierced ear as she looks around the suburban neighbourhood so different from the one she came from.

"Yeah...it's just a pain in my ass." Ezra mutters, pulling his phone out. Angel glances down at the popped tire, frowning. She starts to pull her own phone out in order to ring her uncle, pausing only as her eyes catch onto a stumbling figure illuminated only by a sparse streetlight. Her brows knit together slowly. "Ez..." she says, getting her friends attention. Ezra turns his head, looking over at the figure as he nods. He gives a dry chuckle.

"Been there. Probably just drunk" He hums dismissively, turning his attention back to his tire. As the figure nears closer, Angel can hear the despondent moans coming deep from its throat. A worried feeling forms in Angel's stomach, her dark brown eyes squint, trying to get a better look. In the darkness she starts to approach.

"Hey! Are you okay?" She calls to the figure, but is met only with another damp, throaty groan. "Do you need help?"

Another groan. She stands still, watching the figure, which she can now tell to be masculine and lanky, slowly hobbling over. It only makes throaty groans and moans, Angel feels herself tense up. Her hands reach for the sparkly pink pepper spray she kept on her keychain as she starts to slowly back away. The figure reaches a skinny arm out to her, grabbing for her.

"Hey!" She squeaks. She summons her courage, raising the pepper spray, she stumbles back as the man starts forcing himself forward on her, hand tight on her shoulder. They stumble into the light of the street lamp, and as she hits him with the pepper spray he does not recoil. He isn't even fazed. And in the yellow overhead light she can tell that the man isn't really a man at all. He smells of the rotting flesh on his face, his eyes are void and glazed over, jaws snap at her.

Angel lets out a little scream, feeling herself fall backwards, the dead weight of what had once been a person collapsing on top of her. Her hands push against its chest as it snaps its jaws at her with hungry growls.

"Ezra!" She yelps, fighting against the thing. In a second she hears the symphonic crack of the corpses head and squelching of flesh as its suddenly hit off of her, it rolls into the street. Ezra stands over her in a panic, the tire wrench in his hands as he shakes slightly.

"Fuck...oh my god...did I just kill someone?" He rasps, looking at the limp body of the creature in the streets. Angel shakes as she raises to her feet, a splatter of blood on her tan freckled face.

"I don't...I don't think that was a someone..." she swallows, staring at the body.

"What the fuck?" Is all Ezra can breathe in response. They both stand there for a moment, a chill of dread urging through them. It starts in their spines and crawls up their backs like a spider. They shiver and shake more so than they ever did during those cold winters they endured. There is silence, only the sound of their own heartbeats rabbiting out of their chests and their shaky breathing.