Craig of the Dead

1. Hot Pockets and Ramens

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well you just came back, and we thought you'd died or something. Something like a supply run shouldn't take that long. What did you even get?"

"Some Hot Pockets and bottles of water. Oh," I fished around in my pockets until I grabbed ahold of the crinkly bag. "I almost forgot. Ramen noodles for you Clyde." I tossed him the bag, which he dropped and had to pick up from the ground, brushing the dirt off it.

"Thanks man." He said with a dopy grin.

"Yeah, it's like beef or something, I dunno." I handed my bat to Token, he'd know where to put it. I had been carrying it for so long that my arm had begun to grow sore. You never knew when a walker would creep up on you. Normally one good blow to the head would solve the problem, but it was the times you were taken off guard that killed you. Kind of like this whole thing, if I'm going to be honest. Just no one was prepared, how could we be? One day, just meandering around the playground, hearing rumors of a doomsday coming, like there was every year. Everyone took the claims with a grain of salt, including myself. Now, with my makeshift zombie protection bunker and hurried runs to the store to get Hot Pockets while armed with a baseball bat, the harsh reality was staring me in the face.

"Hey Craig, we should probably get inside the protected area." Token said, pointing towards the entrance. He was right, we should get back where it was safe. The three of us headed to the front door, which had gotten more messily installed locks and was barricaded on the inside. There was even a tiny window peep hole in the door. Not big enough for a zombie arm to smash through, we weren't idiots, but just big enough to see who wanted to enter. I couldn't remember who was on duty right now, but we had made up a password just to make sure there were no screw ups. I knocked on the door, three long raps, and then two short. There was a pause, and then the sound of all the locks being undone, and then the door swung open.

"Hey fellas! Oh, and hey Craig! I was getting worried sick about you being gone so long."

"No, you need to ask for the verbal password too. You screwed up Butters." Of course it was Butters. Who else would forget this detail that we had rehashed a million and one times. The only person would be Butters, and maybe Clyde, but Clyde just gets distracted easily.

"Oh, well. I'm sorry about that. Uh, um, right. State the verbal password."

"Nevermind Butters. It's good to see you too though." I said, walking past him into the dimly lit house. Butters secured the door once the three of us were in, and we dropped off our supplies in the supply room. A.k.a, the playroom. There were so many old toys strewn about when we first got here. Then we had just cleared out the space to use for ourselves. There was no car in the driveway, and this was apocalypse, so we had basically commandeered the house for ourselves. Now, in those quiet moments in between the madness, I sometimes would think about who had lived here before. Most of my friends' houses I would recognize, but this simple house didn't ring any bells.

"So, have Kyle and Shelly gotten back from Search yet?"

"Yeah, and they found Karen and Kevin--"

"Wait, McCormick?"

"Well, yeah. But I know what you're thinking, so don't get your hopes up too high. Kenny wasn't with them. It was just the two of them alone."

"Yeah Craig, that's why we were all freaking out." Token said. Clyde had already left the room to start on his Ramen's, but Token was still sorting through the supplies. "It was hard to get anything out of Kevin, he's not too bright if you know what I mean. But, according to Karen, Kenny left to go on a supply run too. Karen said that she had a headache, and Kenny left in the middle of the night, leaving them a note in the mud, saying that he was going to get Karen some headache medicine. Well, it's been days and Karen said he never came back."

"Yeah okay, I get it. So who else did they find? Was that it?" I asked, waiting for my long awaited answer.

"No, nobody else. I'm sorry Craig." Butters said, patting my back. Okay, so not today.

"Look, Craig. If you really care about him so much, then just go look for him. He's got to be in South Park somewhere, we know that for sure." Yeah, we do. They had barracadied South Park completely. No one gets in, no one gets out. Basiclaly, they wanted to make sure the virus stayed in South Park, even if it meant killing everyone else who already lived there.

"Besides, it's better than you asking 'Anyone else?' everyday and then getting this hurt puppy look on your face when the answer is always no." Token pointed out.

"I mean, what did you think I was doing all that time? Selecting specialized Hot Pockets? The grocery store I was raiding was in the general area of the coffee shop, so I went to check it out."

"And?" Butters asked.

"Not a person in sight. I figured if he'd be anywhere he'd be hiding out there." I had promised Tweek that the rumors were just that. Rumors to be ignored and laughed at. Still, Tweek had been on edge that entire day. He had just finished his fifth cup of coffee and told me that he wanted me to go to the bathroom with him, so that in case something awful happened, we would be there for each other. I had said something like 'That's gay dude.' so he tentatively went by himself. As luck would have it, that was also when the first hoard of walkers had made it to the school yard. In the chaos that had ensued afterwards, I just bolted away from that place as fast as I could. Clyde had followed my lead. A couple of minutes later we had caught up with Token. Now, looking back on it, I should have just gone with Tweek to the stupid bathroom. Now, it was too late.