Riverdale One Shots

VI

Existing is not living

Our story is about a town. A small town, and the people who live in the town. From a distance, it presents itself like so many other small towns all over the world. Empty. Threatening. Deadly. Get closer though... and you start seeing the survivors underneath. The name of our town is Riverdale. And it's one of the only places which still contains life on this planet.

***

"Cheryl! Get back here! What are you doing?" Toni hissed desperately from her position, crouched behind a tossed over car. Trying to keep her voice low but assertive all at once and only appearing panicked instead. Cheryl on the other hand, had moved across the seemingly desolate street. Her normally perfectly curled red hair pulled up into a somewhat messy and ragged ponytail to keep it out of her face. Her features were hardened from months of rationed food and fighting for her life, she was tired but not weak. Her toned stomach and arms had only gotten stronger in desperate attempts to escape the dangers that had attacked them. "Cheryl please," Toni begged quickly glancing at the girl at the side of her, another pretty poison, they'd all desperately stayed together in the safety of thistle house basement since D-day. The girl, peaches n cream or just peaches as she'd become known, met Toni's eye briefly before darting across the road and grabbing Cheryl, pulling her down behind a car on the other side so the redhead was no longer out in the open.

Toni sighed in relief, motioning for the two girls across from her to go into the store behind them in search of food. They were running low and competing against the serpents constantly wasn't exactly helping. Since the end of everything the two gangs had both gained the remaining survivors, all protecting each other. Only problem was, there wasn't enough food for both gangs and with radiated soil and barely any wildlife left they were running low on options.

Toni kept herself alert, her eyes glancing around the street, carefully observing everything. She had dark circles under her eyes and her pink hair had long since faded back to brown and blonde. She didn't hear anything, it was all quiet, way too quiet and that worried her. She focused on the door of the shop across the street from her, her tanned hands tightening around the handle of the bloodied baseball bat.
"Hurry up Cher," She murmured quietly, glancing up the street briefly. The cracked, pavements with grass and weeds bursting out of them. Dirt, grime and blood splattered across every wall and door. Cars abandoned or worse, tossed over and crushed into pieces. Shattered windows with glass littering the cold concrete floor like tiny stars. This is what their world has become.

Toni's head snapped back to the shop across the street the second she heard the bang. He heart pounding in her chest, Peaches and Cheryl were still inside. "Jesus," she hissed quietly, carefully analysing the street before darting across and ducking into the dark store. Dust covered every surface, dark, looming shelves hovered over her like imposing mountains. She looked between the empty racks nervously, it had gone eerily silent. She strained her ears to try and pick up anything, her grip tightening around the bat in her hand so much that her knuckles turned ghostly white. "Cher?" She hissed quietly, desperately looking around once more. She could smell it before anything else, the foul, sickening scent of rotting flesh. She wanted to gag but resisted the urge as she spun around and cane face to face with one of those monster.

She swung the bat at the zombies misshapen, bloody and damaged skull. Only for it to stumble but still come back, it's dead, lifeless eyes were staring into her soul and it's thin, bony fingers reached out towards her desperately. Toni swung again but hit lower than needed, the bat colliding with its shoulder with a sickening crunch. The greenish figure had her trapped, there was a shelf to her left and a wall to her right. She used the end of the bat to try and shove it back again, her heart was pounding so loud in her own chest that it was all she could hear. The zombie managed to lower it head and get it close to her, it's skin peeling off and yellowing teeth visible behind thin lips. Toni struggled against it, trying to push it back enough so that she had room to try and swing for its head in the close quarters. She managed to raise her knee to collide with its stomach, causing it to stumble giving her a small chance to use all her strength to shove it back. It stumbled backwards before suddenly falling forwards towards Toni. Toni pulled herself back to the things body didn't hit her. She glanced down and sighed with relief at the red arrow sticking out of its head, she leaned down to pull the arrow out, brownish ooze following it out, rotted blood.

Toni looked up at Cheryl and Peaches who were stood across from her,
"You okay TT?"  Cheryl asked worriedly, resting her bow across her back with a small sigh. Toni nodded, stepping around the body before handing the arrow back to Cheryl who put it away. Supplies were limited, they made an effort to retrieve all of Cheryl's arrows.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Toni sighed, glancing back down at the body. "They were familiar." She admitted slowly, sadness lacing her tone. Cheryl nodded slowly, gently resting her hand on Toni's arm.

Peaches glanced around carefully before looking back at the couple, "guys we should go, it's not just the zombies we have to look out for remember, the serpents could be anywhere." She reminded them seriously, slipping a blood stained pocket knife into her pocket. The three of them quickly went out of the shop and carefully walked down the road, keeping an eye on every direction before they reached an alley that had two motorbikes in it. Peaches getting on one whilst Toni got on the other, Cheryl smiling a little as she slipped her arms around her girlfriends waist. Covertly pressing a small kiss the the shorter girls cheek. They were quick to drive out of Riverdale and towards thistle house, most of the zombies resides in the town whilst the serpents were down by the river so up here it was just them.

Just those three and a few others that were camping out in the mansion. The serpents were just as low in numbers, after the death of their king and queen they'd struggled but sweet pea had stepped up. Toni's heart felt heavy from all the friends they'd lost, people they'd cared about that were no longer alive. It's better to smash a zombies head instead of letting it barely live in that terrible existence. She'd accepted that, she'd even asked Cheryl to make sure that if there was ever a circumstance Toni was bitten or scratched, Cheryl would put her out of her misery. Once and for all.

Word Count
1193

Date Posted
Monday 27th May 2019