No Escape (luke hemmings au)

~part one~

        I felt a nudge on my shoulder and my eyes immediately shot open. I was on my feet before I took my first breath. Jess was pulling her hair back into a ponytail and smiling as I stood. I leaned my back against the wall that we had covered in stolen posters of bands we listened to before the outbreak.

                “Morning Dez,” she said, far too cheerfully. She was always in such a good mood despite the circumstances. I waved in response, my mouth still stuck shut with leftover sleep. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.

                “You should get some sleep,” I told Jess. She was up on watch duty for four hours, even though she looked like she had had a full night’s rest. For as long as I can remember Jess was always gifted with the ability to wake up looking like a Disney princess.

                Jess looked at me like I was crazy, as she usually does when I suggest something. “Please. I don’t need sleep,” she laughed. She swiveled on her heels and strutted to the door that was chained and barricaded shut, her hips swaying hypnotically. She wrapped her hands around the heavy shelf blocking the door and gestured for me to help move it. “I’m heading out to get some food so I figured I’d wake you up to postpone your inevitable demise.”

                “How generous,” I rolled my eyes and shuffled over to the shelf. I pressed my shoulder against the wood and pushed it against the grain of the carpeted floor, careful not to tip anything onto the ground. Jess hummed to herself as she unlocked and unwrapped the chains from around the store’s door handle.

                “Be back soon,” she winked and walked out into the mall. Most of the electricity had been lost near the beginning of the outbreak but a few generators throughout the city kept fighting. Lights flickered throughout the shopping centre. It was silent apart from the faint echo of Jess’s retreating footsteps. I knew exactly where she was going.

                A few weeks earlier, when we found the mall, Jess and I had stumbled upon an abandoned convenience store. After we managed to break the lock on the pathetic glass sliding door, we found the place was overflowing with packaged foods made to last for ages. One of the fridges still works sometimes, too, so if we’re lucky we can snag a cold bottle of water, but most of the time we’re stuck with room temperature Gatorade. We bring food back to our hideout in Sir Games A Lot sometimes, but only in small amounts. It’s nice to have something of a routine in this hellhole, even if it’s only walking around a corner and back once in a while.

                I slid the door closed after Jess had walked through it and I wandered around the aisles. Board games, bobble heads, comic books, and cards lay about the shelves. Jess and I had played through most of them by now. Everything in the store was excellent for our situation, but the best part by far were the weapons.

                When Jess and I had found the store, it was the weapons that made us stay. We were a couple of cold, unarmed teenagers with no one left in the world, so where else would we go? The walls were lined with authentic, sharpened swords from various fantasy games and book series. In the back, there were paint ball guns locked in glass cases and boxes of paint balls stacked on the ground. We’ve never touched the guns though. Mostly because we don’t know how to use them, but also because we’d seen enough movies to know that guns just make things worse more often than not.

                I flicked through a ratty manga I had read a thousand times when I heard the screams. I froze. It was Jess. Jess was screaming. Without a second thought I grabbed the nearest blade, threw the door open and raced down the hall. I heard the Sick before I saw them. I turned the corner and felt my heart drop into my stomach. There were dozens of Sick crowding around the convenience store, shuffling and fighting to get in, to get to Jess. I charged forward and beheaded the nearest body.