What Keeps You Alive (Walking Dead cross w/bands)

Prologue

--------Prologue----

Everybody has bad days. These are the days where it seems that nothing ever goes right, and today, it was just not Andy's day.

Besides the fact that the whole town had been in a riot due to some kind of outbreak of some sort of disease (or well, that's what the government and the news were calling it), Andy and the rest of the Black Veil Brides were now stuck backstage at their venue with nowhere to go.

As Ashley continued to tap on the table mindlessly, Andy wondered if they were ever going to actually manage to make it out, as no-one had come by to tell them anything within the last hour or so, leaving them there with no idea of what was going on.

CC looked to Ashley in annoyance, clearly becoming frustrated with his constant tapping, but didn't say anything, as all of them were on edge as it was, and an argument between them now wouldn't be the best idea.

"Think someone'll come by any time soon?" Jake asked, breaking the silence and making Ashley cease the tapping.

Andy shrugged and looked down at his phone which had been sitting on the table in front of him for the past thirty-minutes. Checking the time, and seeing that it was just after eleven that night, he shrugged again, switching his gaze to Jake who was watching him expectantly.

"I dunno," was the answer he received; Andy knew about as much as any of them.

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Halfway across town resided another band that had been in town this week, known to many people, but not enough, as Pierce the Veil. Vic paced back and forth as he thought and worried, the other three sitting on the sofa and watching the news for any new information on what was going on.

What a time to choose to come to Georgia, Vic thought with a shake of his head.

They'd been here on tour with a few other bands, which Vic suspected, were also holed up in their hotel rooms, as it seemed now that the streets were no longer safe. The news had been repeats for the past few hours; nothing new at all.  Mike glanced over at his brother, but continued to watch the news, hoping that something new would happen and they'd be told what to do to get out of the city.

"You need to calm down man," Tony said from his position on the sofa next to Jaime, who just nodded in agreement as he kept his attention on the television screen in front of him.

Vic came to a halt and looked between his three fellow band members, all of them returning the look.

"How am I meant to calm down, Tone?" he said, annoyance touching his tone as he addressed his guitarist. "We're stuck in here with no idea of what's going on and where we're meant to go! So tell me, how do you suggest I calm down, hmm?"

Tony just held his hands up in his defence and went back to watching the repeat of the latest news report, which was now at least a day old. Vic began pacing again, trying to figure out a way to find out what was happening beyond the walls of the hotel.

A few doors down from the worrying rockers, resided yet another band, which at the moment, were most likely the only people in the world who weren't in the least bit concerned about what was happening to society. Ronnie Radke and his fellow band members didn't have a care in the world at the moment.

"We're so fucked," Ryan said with a laugh as he opened another can of beer and drank half of it in one go.

The others laughed as well, clearly unfazed about the end of the world. Ronnie sat back and watched as the other four drank themselves senseless; he wasn't really in the mood to get wasted right now - maybe once all this'd blown over he'd have a celebratory drink or two. But right now, he was thinking.

The reporters hadn't said anything or had any updates for over a day now, which meant that something serious was going on, and the rest of Falling in Reverse were clearly oblivious to the dangers that could be lurking outside.

Ronnie stood up, placing his hands behind his back and walking over to them, coming to a halt next to Ryan. The four members looked to him as he looked around at them all. They were clearly all almost wasted by now, which meant that no matter what he said, Ronnie would have to repeat himself in the morning once they'd sobered up a bit.

"Gentlemen," Ronnie addressed the four men. "It's probably best if we call the drinking quits for one night and maybe get a bit of sleep. We're leaving in the morning."

"Where're we goin' man?" Jacky slurred, leaning against him as Ronnie switched his gaze to his drunken guitarist.

"Outta town," was all Ronnie said before he walked off and went back to sitting on the sofa.

The last band that was in town was about two blocks away from where Black Veil Brides were currently residing. These five men were already planning on survival and how to get out of town without catching whatever had caused this outbreak.

Arin had already come to the conclusion that the virus was a zombie virus, otherwise why else would all of this be happening? The signs were all clear and in his mind, it all pointed to zombies. The news was calling it an 'outbreak', which it clearly was, but they weren't very specific on what the outbreak actually was.

Matt crouched down with the other four members of Avenged Sevenfold and placed something down in the middle of the circle they'd formed. He looked around at them all, taking his time before he began speaking.

"Any ideas what we're dealing with?" he asked, keeping his voice down in case there was something outside that was attracted to noise; they only had one light on too.

Synyster Gates, Avenged Sevenfold's lead guitarist looked at Arin who nodded. Gates switched his gaze back to Matt.

"We've come to the conclusion it's gotta be a walker virus," he said, using the name they'd all decided on, as saying the word 'zombie' just didn't feel real.

Matt nodded. "So zombies it is then."

He unfolded the piece of paper he'd brought, the brochure now taking up the whole inside of the circle between them. He began pointing out areas as he spoke about them.

"This' the map of the town," he said, the other four following his gaze. "Managed to find one downstairs this morning at reception, so hopefully it'll all be up to date."

Arin was the one to speak up.

"So what're we gonna do exactly?" he asked, looking directly at Matt. "If it's what we think it is, we've all got a real problem to deal with."

Matt looked at him for a bit, contemplating whether or not to answer that question or just continue on. After a few minutes of silence between the band members, Matt spoke once again.

"This' where we are right now," he said, pointing to an area on the map. He moved his finger and pointed to another area. "And this' where we need to be."

The band sat there and studied the area, trying to figure out the best way to get out of town in one piece, all the while the thought of being eaten alive nagging them all, right in the back of their minds.

A/N:

Well, you can tell how long ago it was that I wrote this if Arin's in it...

I think I first wrote this in 2014 seeing as I only listened to 1/4 bands in here before 2014. Maybe it was 3/4 since a (once) close friend introduced me to FIR and PTV which means it may have been 2013 I started listening to them (whatever year Fashionably Late came out; 2013, right?) A7X I started listening to in 2011, and BVB 2014, so it must've been early 2014 I first wrote this.

Oh well.

By the way, thanks to anyone re-reading this or reading it for the first time (I hope you enjoy it). It's (somehow) over 4K reads and at exactly 200 votes (to date 12/07/16) which is awesome. I have a heap more to write for the sequel and the one after that.

Happy reading :)