Miraculous: New Beginnings

Call of the Dead

Percy sat in front of his TV, channel hopping. His father wasn't expected to be home for a couple of hours. He didn't feel like doing homework right now. Could you blame him?

He absentmindedly flicked through some channels, surprised at how many were broadcasting news reports.

"With these vicious attacks on the rise, some people are wondering if..."
".♪Could life ever be sane again?♪"
"The government are ordering people to stay in their homes, and not to..."
"♪Run down to the safety of the town, but there's panic on the streets of♪"
"Paris, with unconfirmed sources calling it the 'end of days'"

Wait. Did that just form a sentence or two? He must've been imagining it. The chances of that happening must've been a million to one.

His idling was interrupted by someone bursting into his apartment. It was his father. He was home rather early. It looked like he had been sweating, too.

"Percy!" His father, Emile, called out to him as he bolted the door shut. "Close those curtains. It's like hell out there... Paris is going to hell!"

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Percy asked him as he closed the curtains. "I just thought all of that commotion was traffic... I mean, it is traffic, isn't it?"

"Half of it is," shrugged Emile. "I had to ditch the car to get back here. They were trying to keep us in the news station to broadcast news... but once I saw what our reporters were sending in, I decided to bail."

"What did they manage to find out?" Percy questioned him further and flicked the TV to a news channel. "It looks like everyone is just broadcasting the same stuff."

"Well, for one, it's contained within Paris. It started here," Emile explained, "The graveyards are the most dangerous place to be right now... although, there's a weird beacon coming from one of them. It's noticeable when you get close."

Percy gasped. A beacon? "Did they say which graveyard has the beacon?" He probed him further. This could come in handy.

"No... I got out of there before that," Emile sighed as he grabbed a nearby kitchen knife. "Hm. Kinda wish we had a gun or two... a knife will have to do."

"I-I'll go and grab my baseball bat," Percy stuttered, "And, you know, keep an eye out. Just in case. Don't disturb me or anything." He planned to transform before his father locked the windows and doors. Now, to locate his kwami...

——

On the other hand, Kobe's father, Tom, was more concerned about his own safety than his son's. He was carrying his hunting rifle and was planning to shoot anyone that came to the door. Zombie or not.

"Well?" Tom called out to Kobe, "How long do you think we can last on what we have? How long before we have to go outside?"

"U-Um, a lot of what we have needs to be cooked, or goes out of date soon, father," Kobe explained, putting an expired yogurt aside. "We won't last a week, especially if the power goes off... b-but we shouldn't raid other people's houses because of it!"

Tom didn't respond. He looked out of the window and shot a zombie (hopefully) from a distance. "They're getting closer," he finally responded, "There's some fresh ones in the distance... like they haven't been dead for long. They seem to be able to jog, too. Just what we need."

"You'll just draw their attention if you keep shooting like that," Kobe warned him, "Don't make this worse than it already is..."