Experiment: Apocalypse (Reddit Crew AU)

chapter 7

(I've decided I'm gonna keep writing. I have way too many ideas for this to go to waste. Thank u boys for reading and voting and all that jazz. It keeps me writing honestly.)

Day 2.

Aksel woke with a start, shooting to sit upright. Something was thumping on the door, and it didn't sound like the other half of his group. He stood up from the floor, wincing at the aches in his body.

He had taken the worst position, with one pillow and no blanket, whereas Kwite and Hoover had taken the bed and Alex had a blanket and pillow on the floor.

Speaking off, Alex begun waking up. He blinked sleepily, furrowing his eyebrows as his eyes focused to the chipped floor he layed on. He sat up, yawning, and met eyes with Aksel whom was only a few feet away.

Alex jumped when the door thumped again, louder this time, and the distinct sound of wood cracking came from behind him.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't know!" Aksel replied, voice rising in fear. They jumped once more as the wood cracked loudly again, this time rising to their feet.

"What...?" Kwite mumbled, eyes barely open.

"Wake up Hoover, quickly." Aksel responded, his voice urgent. Kwite's eyes snapped open and he sat up, observing the room for a moment. He had slept facing the broken window, keeping to his side of the bed and trying not to disturb Hoover. As he looked around the bleak room, he heard the cracking noise of breaking wood.

"Hoover, get up." Kwite said, somewhat loudly, as he shook his shoulder. Hoover let out a groan, opening his eyes. He winced at the sunlight in the room; it was way too bright.

Finally, the wood gave way, and a fist appeared through the door. A snarling sound could now be heard as the zombie scratched and punched at the door.

"Holy shit..." Kwite muttered as he stepped off the bed, Hoover following his actions.

In the other room, Ani raised her head as she heard a muffled banging. She blinked a couple times, sitting up with furrowed eyebrows.

"Guys, get up!" She said in a hush tone, standing to shake Henry. He woke up, eyes filled with sleep.

"What?" He asked drowsily.

"Do you hear that?" She asked. Henry sat up, straining to hear. At first, he couldn't hear anything. The unnerving silence of no cars moving outside was a painful reminder that they were completely alone and this wasn't real. And then he heard the thumping. It sent a shiver down his spine.

He grabbed his socks which he had removed in the night, slipping them on and climbing down from the top bunk.

"Brandon, Diesel, get up!" Henry whisper shouted, kneeling on the floor in between them. Brandon sat up immediately, eyes alert. He hadn't slept well at all- the fear of something getting him in his sleep nagged his mind.

Diesel opened his eyes, rolling onto his back and staring upwards at the ceiling for a moment. It was clearly morning, the sky was a dusky grey and the room filled with light.

Just as Ani was about to tell them, they heard a loud snap and a sharp scream.

"I think we should help." She said. "There's something after them."

"If it's the same thing as yesterday, I don't think distracting it will work." Henry mused, directing his glance at Ani.

"We should go on the offence, then." Diesel said. He pulled the blanket off him, standing up. There wasn't much in the room, let alone a weapon. His gaze landed on the desk in the corner, with metal screwed legs. "We could use those." He walked over with a sense of urgency, kneeling down at the desk and peering up to see it was screwed in with 5 small screws and a metal disk.

"We should hurry." Brandon muttered, now stood behind Diesel's shoulder peering down at the desk.

"I need something to get the screws out," Diesel said. Henry looked around the room, stepping over to the dresser which they had previously moved to block the door. Ani joined him as they begun to check each drawer. Their hopes begun to dwindle as they went down each drawer, until the very last one. Henry let out a gasp as he saw a black and yellow toolkit  sitting at the bottom. He grabbed it, pulling it over to Diesel.

He began shifting through, throwing the screws out and finally finding the screwdriver. He worked quickly, unscrewing the table leg as fast as possible.

"We should move the dresser," Brandon said, moving away from Diesel and turning to Ani and Henry. "How's your leg?"

"Fine today. I can help." She nodded back at him. The three of them went around the dresser and started half lifting, half dragging it away from the door.

The loud bang of the zombie finally getting through the door startled the group of four.

"Shit. How's it coming along?" Henry asked. Diesel responded by pulling out the leg and handing it to Henry. "Oh."

He glanced around, quickly realising he was the one who was going to do it. Holding the metal pole in his dominant hand, he then swung open the door with his other. The other three followed close behind as he crept into the doorway. He could see the zombie now, creeping it's way towards the other group, who were pushed against the back wall trying to stay back. Henry stepped forward, gripping the pole with both hands and slammed it down on the zombies head. A metallic sound went off as if bounced off its head. The zombie faltered, its legs wobbling. Henry didn't hesitate as he brought the pole down again. And again. And again. The zombie crumpled to the ground and he hit it one more time, just to make sure.

He hadn't realised, but his breath was ragged. The end of the pole was now covered in an oddly coloured blood, and some of it splattered onto his hands.

He dropped the pole with a thud onto the floor, a dark look in his eyes. He stared, fixated at the body, til his vision went blurry with tears and his bottom lip trembled.