The Survivors

One - Zombies

warnings: mild horror, death, some violence, gore and swearing

word count: 949

Carefully untying her pink ballet slipper, Richelle Anne Nolet let out an exhausted sigh. Although she loved dancing more than anything, doing it non-stop for 5 hours was hard work. She only sighed more when a certain brunette girl came rushing into the locker room - Summer.

Richelle opened her mouth to demand why Summer hadn't been at that day's rehearsal, but she was interrupted before she could even start.

"Not now Richelle," Summer told her quickly, "you won't believe what I've just seen."

• • • • • • • • •

"Look, I'm crazy about you.." Henry whisperered into his phone with a smile. He was calling his girlfriend, Amy - it was still early days but deep down he knew she was the one for him.

"Amy? You still there?" he asked, realising she hasn't spoken for a while. He remembered hearing her leave Shakes and Ladders about five minutes ago, moments before she completely stopped talking.

"Amy?" he said again. No reply - all Henry could hear was the distant traffic and some muffled yelling but it was enough to unsettle him. He couldn't stop the images of Amy being hit, punched and raped flashing through his mind and, fishing his car keys out of his pocket, he knew he'd have to do something.

• • • • • • • • •

"And you're sure they're, like.. zombies?" Piper asked for the hundredth time, a heavy feeling forming in the pit of her stomach as she whispered that last word. Ten minutes ago her and Noah overheard Richelle and Summer talking and couldn't help being curious. Now Summer was slowly nodding, a silent way of telling them it was the end of the world.

"Definitely," she said. "You could see that their skin was all chewed away and some of them had limbs missing.. it was awful." Piper was shivering in the hoodie Finn had lent her but Richelle looked unbothered, making her way towards the door.

"This is bullshit." she said simply, swinging the studio door open and closing it swiftly behind her.

Summer's eyes darted over to the door in horror. "Richelle, don-" She's suddenly cut off by Noah; Piper tensed up at his voice.

"She won't listen," he told the girls. "Look, does anyone have food with them? It doesn't look like we're leaving anytime soon."

• • • • • • • • •

Richelle stared at the horrifying scene in front of her, trying to ignore the unmistakable stench of blood. She knew Summer had been right - these things were anything but normal.

There was a brunette girl standing among the creatures and Richelle watched as the zombies tore her to pieces, wanting every last bit of flesh. Her legs were mangled and she's missing an ear; the girl knew she couldn't go on. Dropping to the floor in agony, she begged with her last fragments of humanity but there was no point. She was turning into something else and, as Richelle heard her last blood-curdling scream, she knew exactly what it was.

The blonde girl smoothed her hair, which had been blown in the wind for a while, and felt something tapping her shoulder. For a few seconds, Richelle's blood was colder than ice.

"Is that Jacquie?" a voice asked, right in her ear. Richelle rolled her eyes at Summer, who had just scared her to death, and fought the urge to scream; all that came out was a shrug as she mumbled, "Yeah, let's go."

• • • • • • • • •

This couldn't be real, Henry thought to himself as he slammed the radio's off button and peered through his car window in disbelief. Part of him wished the street lights were off, because the things he saw were horrifying.

Something inside of Henry told him to drive away now, before it was too late, but he couldn't help himself, and without really thinking he ended up driving closer to the zombies. He was still here for one reason: Amy. The boy needed to see his girlfriend and make sure she was okay.

But Henry could never anticipate what ran through his body when he finally saw his girlfriend, because as this whole mob of zombies was lurching towards his car, he noticed that one stuck out among the others.

He rubbed his eyes but nothing changed. This was Amy - one of them now.

Although Henry barely noticed, some of the undead creatures were slowly climbing up the hood his car. He was too focused on this zombie girl to care.

He could see that she only had one arm left and her body was already starting to rot but she was still the same girl Henry fell in love with. He couldn't lose her.

Amy wasn't like the other zombies - instead of carelessly wandering through the streets, she was heading in her boyfriend's direction and starting to smash the nearest window. Instantly he knew that he couldn't do this.

Henry's girlftiend was everything to him; he could never hurt her, no matter what she was doing to him. He couldn't win.

So, as Amy's razor-sharp nails dug into his skin like claws, Henry didn't move a muscle. She pummeled the boy with her fists countless time and he didn't flinch once. Henry wouldn't let himself cry, but he did speak as she hurt him.

"Amy, please, don't do this. I love you so fucking much, you know. Your smile, your laugh.. everything." Henry said but his words were ignored. The whispers didn't stop - though he knew it was too late, he was saying anything that might stop her. Henry's girlfriend gave him one last scratch across his stomach and he took a desperate look at her face, stained with blood from the weeping gash on her cheek.

Then, as his eyes flickered shut, everything around Henry suddenly went black.