AFTERLIFE :: Riverdale

VIII: World War Z

We thought it was a small endeavor. Turns out, after a week, that's when shit gets real.

Packing a couple bags pulled around my shoulder like backpacks and a wood-cutting knife in hand, I exited Pop's. The sign still laid before the door, but I was able to climb over it with relative ease. I expected to have a journey the same way—easy. However, I was greeted with crowds of zombies moving through the streets like there was a festival, it was lunchtime, and everyone was rushing to get in line for all the booths, except the booths were people. If that made any sense.

I darted between groups, unnoticed. I headed on the path where the pharmacy lied. A half a block through, I spotted a couple of Serpent zombies gnawing on bones beside a dead girl. She had blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her body was too mutilated to tell who it was. She had seven bullet holes in her head; I could barely see that it was a face. Someone must have really wanted her to not come back to life.

Taking the back alleyway seemed to be a better idea, so I went around Pop's. Behind the restaurant, there was an inlet where Sweetwater River ran. I had to be careful not to fall in. Also, I had to be wary of stragglers who might have wandered away from the main group.

Across the way, I could see some of the dead peeking in-between trees in the forest area around the river. It made me wonder if this epidemic had truly spread beyond Riverdale. Maybe it was all over Ohio. Toledo... was it affected? It crossed my mind to try and escape to my mother and sister, but now I began to think they might not have even survived.

Then, behind one of the trees in the forest, I caught a glimpse of red hair. There was only one person I knew with red hair like that besides the Blossom's.

I cupped my hands over my mouth, shouting, "ARCHIE!" I crossed my arms and awaited a reply, or a wave at least. Nothing happened, and in fact, from a glance, it almost looked like the guy with red hair was actually one of the walking dead. I crossed my fingers, hoping that it wasn't Archie as I had previously thought.

Though I walked away and down the path, I still felt the piercing gaze the zombie was giving me. It almost felt like I was being stalked.

To get my mind off of the negative things, I sung "Mad World" to myself to lift my spirits. The original version, of course, much happier that way. I marched to the beat of my on voice.

Shiftily, my eyes darted over to a zombie who must have heard my discordant singing as he ambled towards me. I tripped backwards, landing on my back, heart beating in my ears, and breath suddenly gone. Its lopsided eyes caught mine, and soon I could smell the rotting stench wafting from its body. The corpse leaned over me, too close for comfort. What confused me—and I'd be lying if I said it didn't utterly terrify me—was that it did absolutely nothing. It just remained there. Brains splattered all over my face, and the zombie fell off of me and onto the gravel.

I rose to a sitting position and tried to wipe the bloody mess off with my sleeve. I squinted, for, the figure in front of me was surrounded by sunlight.

"You want to explain to me what you're doing alone out here?" It was a girl's voice.

I held up a finger for pause; my stomach growled. I removed a frozen patty from one of the bags around my shoulders and began chewing on it. It was just as bad as I imagined it to be, not that I was any kind of food connoisseur. I would rather have gotten out a Twinkie as bad as they were, but Archie ate most of them, and Betty still had the rest in the bag she carried when she became lost.

The girl strutted towards me, hips swaying with power. She crouched down, arms on her knees and glaring at my lackadaisical action. "You just got sprayed with internal organs and you're eating?"