The Zombie Apocalypse (Closed/Started)

Billy-Joe

'We got summun electrical ter be doin', if'n we c'n help some' I was thinking along the same simple lines as I scrubbed down in the freezing water. There was no electricity, which equalled no hot water and therefore no hot shower, something which had taken longer to process than it would for the average chimpanzee.
I clambered out of the shower, towelled off my body, and shook my head, dog-like, until every hair stood to attention. That done, I slipped back into my grimy attire and, sufficiently damp that the coming work would likely prove fatal, dragged my gangly self back down to where Richard had asked to meet.
He stood leaning against a wall, opposite a door with a large danger-of-death sign upon the front, just like the one on the substation I used to play in with my cousin Stevie.
"You ready?" Richard was blunt, and even I could tell he was aggravated. I nodded, allowing my head to rock back and forth as I did so. He wrenched the door open and flicked on a torch I hadn't even noticed, then ducked into the doorway and began to follow the spiralling downward staircase. I hesitated, then followed, smacking my head on the low frame as I did so.
"Darker'n a 'gater's guts down 'ere" I murmured and, tripping to prove a point, fell the last metre or so to land face-down on the hard stone floor. Richard eyed his disapproval, but stayed his tongue, and busied himself with prizing open the generator's insulating casing. Dazed, I watched from a prone position until his patience wore thin.
"Hey hillbilly, you want that drink? Get your lanky ass over here and help me!"

Desmond

My spirits were lifted when I had heard that we could get fresh supplies. Even though it was morning and we'd easily be able to see any zombies, I kept a hand on my gun and payed close attention, just in case.

"Wait- are you the person that sneaks out every night?" Alex asked Aubry.

Every night?! How could I have not noticed?! I thought incredulously. I took a deep breath as I felt myself getting angry again. Relax Desmond, this is a good thing. She's helping us.

"I don't sleep much, and I know the difference between a zombie moving and a human moving," she replied.

Good, I thought. but it's still not smart to go out alone and without any weapons.

I looked over at Alex, who was standing next to me, and noticed how badly she was shivering. All she had was a T-shirt. I paused for a second to remove my gun and then my leather jacket, causing Alex to look at me with raised eyebrows.

"Here," I said, laying my jacket over her shoulders before slinging my gun over my shoulder again. "You look like you need it more than me."

She blushed and tried to hand it back to me. "No, I can't take your jacket, you're cold too-"

I took it from her but only to help her back into it. "No, I'm fine. You need it."

She looked at me, the jacket seeming to swallow her. "Thanks."

I have her a small smile and a nod, ignoring the horrible chill of the wind on my exposed wounds.

"It's not far," Aubry said. "It's just behind the hill."

She jogged the rest of the way up the hill with us class behind her.

"There it is," she said, pointing at the house directly below.

My jaw nearly dropped. The house was HUGE. I mean, I'd heard her parents were doctors, but had never thought the house would be this big. It looked to be about 5000-6000 square feet, not including the walk-out basement.

"My God your house is big," I stammered. My dad, back when he was still in the Mafia, used to be pretty wealthy but even then I doubt he could've afforded a house like this.

Ryder

Richard storms out of the meeting, obviously irritated, and leaves the rest of us to slowly file out. I stay where I am, just watching everyone cluster together and leave. Sitting there, I cross my arms and shake my head.

"Yeah, I'll just stay here... hold up the fort. I bet no one's at watch," I murmur to myself. "Such a team I've involved myself in."

I stand and sling my bow over my shoulder, trudging to the gym without running into anyone. Sitting on the top of the bleachers, I have to do a double-take when I see Rick and another with some new guy.

Oh, great. Another person to not associate with.

Hesitating, I climb down the bleachers and toward the exit Rick would have used only to see him and the new guy come in.

"Who's this?" I ask, keeping my bow on my shoulder.

Spoiler

If I got something wrong, tell me and I'll fix it. I just wanted to get back into the swing of things and Ryder was kind of left...sitting where the meeting was...by himself. So... ^ Best I could do, seeing as the other group already left.

Aubry

I roll my eyes, not bothering to answer the question. Just because he made me bring him here doesn't mean that he has to know my whole history. I show them around to the back and punch the password code thingy into the steel door. Again it whispers open and I step back and let them all inside. Cliff shoots me a worried look before walking in. I shoot him a quick forced smile and walk in behind them. As the lights turn on Alex and Desmond stare at the wall full of weapons in shock.

Before they can say anything I run upstairs and leave them to taking whatever they need. When I get into my kitchen i feel a few tears running down my face. This was supposed to be my private little haven. All they do at school is shoot me dirty looks for not being able to fight. I sit on my couch and put my head in my hands. They're ruining my life. As I finish crying i hear somebody coming into the living room.

" Aubry...whats wrong?"

Rick:

Now that we had 2 more people, we split Billy and John into two stations. I was lucky enought to have John helping us set up the barriers here. Maybe I could even strike up a conversation with John to get to know him better. I gathered some of the wood we found and stated building up a fenceline for us to use as guidance for the rest of the barrier. Time began to pass, but eventually the fence was up around the school. Now came the tough part. As I began to go inside and grab more supplies, I said to John, "Hey, can you help me out some? I need to grab some more supplies and 2 people can make this alot more efficient."


John's POV:

We had finally finished the fencelining when Rick called me over. He asked if I could help out. I didn't see why not, after all it would be more efficient. As we went in I asked Rick how he got here and he elaborated on how he was gay, his family and BF died, and how he got the idea that the safest place to be located in the time of the apocalypse is a low populated area such as the school. I saw the reasoning in that, as it would make rationing out food alot simpler then in a large mall or anything else. Then he showed me his dual blades to show me how he was fighting them off, and I admitted I was quite impressed. We made our way back outside and started to strengthen the fencing for the barrier.

Richard: Technician Room

"Hey hillbilly, you want that drink? Get your lanky ass over here and help me!"

The yellow stained light flickered across the walls as I examined the fuse box's lock for a weak point, but nothing was found. It looked like smashing would be the only solution, but if we weren't careful, we'd end up with fried hillbilly, or worse, fried me. I examined the casing of the iron box- water could be used to cause oxidation, and rusty iron was easy to break... but there were electrics behind this door, so water would not help avoiding fatalities. I gazed down at my thigh, were the hunting knife that belonged once to my father sat in it's sheath. That wouldn't even dent the damn thing.

"Hey, what was your name? Erm, Billy? Yeah, do me a favour, go look for a fire extinguisher around here."

He nodded in dim understanding and ran back up the stairs, mumbling something to himself.

I rolled my eyes. Then found myself starting to reflect on everything that had happened over the past year. What had struck me as a miracle was that not even a single Tank had assaulted the school (but there was that one time at the pharmacy on a scouting mission), but it was time that the entire team woke up and smelled the roses; the fact that not one single Tank had appeared in the presence of the headquarters was merely a sign that later one would, and by then things had to be ready, which they currently weren't. I had hoped sincerely that the rest of the crew had started helping Arden with the barricades: the field was large and this operation would take at least a month should people put their backs into it.
The team was good for surviving the apocalypse for a year. Yay, happy days, whoopdy doo. But being 'good' didn't matter any more, what mattered was being efficient and well prepared, which they certainly weren't. As much I knew pessimism was something that came naturally to me, this was a time where reality spoke for itself- in this case the close shave with the horde yesterday. Yet, I found myself digressing quickly.

The electricity needed to come back online, and it wasn't going to happen unless we did something about it, even if the problem was much too complex for either Billy or I to solve. A heavy clanking sound, followed by an echo as it penetrated the darkness, rang into the room, and Billy-Joe had lugged two fire extinguishers with him.

"One would have been enough," I frowned, although seemingly irritated, I was actually quite happy that this redneck could follow simple orders.

"Y'know what t'ey say: two 'eds are better 'an one!" He said smartly, completely unaware that the phrase had nothing to do with the situation in hand.

"Yeah, whatever, just pass me one and start bashing this thing in."

I left Desmond to choosing the right weapons, seeing Aubry was upset I followed her up to the kitchen - hearing her crying.

"Aubry, what's wrong?"

I approached her causiously, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Nothing" She tried, but I knelt down in front of her and raised my eyebrows. "I just didn't want anyone to find out about this place, it was like - my place, my comfort zone"

I sighed, understanding. "Before I stumbled upon the highschool, I kept close to my home too - I lived a few miles away. My Dad dissapeared as soon as the zombies came, so I used to say in my room, looking after myself hoping that one day he would return" I told her.

"Did he?" She asked.

"No, I still don't know if he's out there or not" I replied. "I mean, nothing is actually stopping you from sneaking out at night still - no one can actually stop you. We just don't want you to get hurt" I said, with a tiny smile.

I stood up straight when Desmond appeared again with a pile of weapons. "You girls okay?" He asked, I wrapped his jacket around me tighter feeling the draft from the basement and nodded.

"Yeah, we're fine"

Billy-Joe

The metal gave way with a laboured shriek. I peered inside, and quickly concluded that I could offer no more. Richard would have to work his magic on the generator alone; I decided to stay within shouting distance if he needed me, but to otherwise stay out of the way.
I sat down across the room, away from the pool of light cast by the oil lamp by which Richard worked. Several minutes passed without incident, but as my eyes adapted to the gloom I began to make out several shapes toward the back of the room, against the cool concrete wall beneath the stairs. Keeping my back to the light so as not to loose the sharpness of my sight, I wandered slowly over to the indistinct shapes. With every step, the shadows coalesced into the shape of boxes stacked chest-high, chairs, tables and the appropriate high-school paraphernalia.
I sorted through the mess, pulling free a hockey stick snapped clean in two, a rubber hose missing a nozzle. It was clear that this was all broken equipment, the forgotten cast-offs of the education system. Not that it mattered now; most of the school was now as broken.
I brought a stack of chairs down with a crash as I tried to free a semi-deflated basketball from among the clutter, eliciting a sharp cry of surprise from Richard, who was still busy slaving to repair the generator. He stood, and stormed over to where I now stood sheepishly grinning in apology.
"What's this crap?" he looked underwhelmed. Perhaps, like me, he had hoped to find something of use. I credited the question with a shrug, kicking aside a coil of wire as I did so.
Richard bent down to collect the wire, winding it around his fingers as a smirk gradually graced his lips.
"I think I could use this to..." his muttering tailed off as he turned to look at the generator. From here, neither of us could see the exposed tangle of electrics, but he clearly could visualise better than I the needs of this complex machine.
"Yeah, I could definitely use this," his voice picked up with his own reassurance, "Thanks Billy."
I grinned, a toothless simian smile which failed to entail any vocal response. Richard got back to work, and I got back to digging in the junk pile with renewed vigour.

Richard: Technician's room

"Thanks Billy."

It had shocked me that the toothless (near as dammit) hick was even remotely resourceful without direct orders, but it appeared as if my assumptions were incorrect, or this was simply a matter of coincidence. Regardless, the wire he had handed across to me would indeed be useful; the spooled cables that hung from the box had been cut and frayed, meaning it would require some more copper wire to bind the ends of the three wires- it had disappointed me much, however, that we weren’t just dealing with roasted fuses.
I had remembered when my father told me that organisation was vital in critical situations, one such example being a zombie apocalypse, although this he never told me. Thoughts of both my father and brother had often sprung to mind, yet I was not saddened to the same extend as the death of Lola- my Dad was a strong man, and I had never doubted that the two may have survived- because she was gone, for definite, my hand had been forced by what she had said, begged, me to do.

You can save me... not from death... but from the agony.

And a year later I arrived here, completely indifferent to the fact that all those I knew may be dead- bereavement wore away months ago. But what struck me now was the concept of moving on, perhaps trying to develop a kind of relationship with someone on the team- but it could never be the same as what she and I had.

I snapped back to the situation, mental digression was something that had always plagued me. A pair of rubber gloves I pulled from my jeans, taken from the science lab to make sure I didn’t go up in smoke while dealing with the electrics. I snapped them on quickly, their pink colouring darkened by the dim lamplight, and seized the wire on the ground by my feet.

Cutting threads from the copper coil, I shaped them all into spirals and looped them around the frayed wiring inside the black rubber protective casing, and then, using some duct tape that Billy had found while rummaging, sealed the wires entirely. It took roughly ten minutes to complete the process, and thankfully I had suffered no greater than a bash to the elbow when I jumped from the first spark as the wires were repaired and struck my arm upon the broken casing of the fuse box. I smiled at my handy work and beckoned Billy to come over and do the honours of restarting the power.

He seemed delighted to be given the opportunity, but he deserved it: what would I have done without that wire he found? His mouth slipped into a smirk, one that once again revealed his tombstone teeth, which made me wince; it was lucky we managed to gain some toothbrushes early on in the apocalypse, or we’d all be suffering from gum disease like this guy.
“As the great Lor’ said- ‘Let ‘ere be light!’,” he shouted, flicking a switch upwards.

I sighed in disappointment and strolled to the other side of the room while he pondered the reason why the power had not returned. I located the lever upon the wall to the side of the light switch in the technician’s room, and yanked it up, and light flooded the room, basking us both in its golden embrace.
Still confused, I walked back over to Billy, huffing in humour, and patted him on the shoulder.
“Hey, we’re all done here. I think the guys’ll be happy when we show them what we managed to do,” I grinned, stronger than I’d ever since the start of this damn nightmare. Despite this- despite the fact the world was still shrouded in death and darkness- I started to laugh uncontrollably, and then so did Billy, and then it all turned in hysterics.

There may have been darkness in the world, but it was light here. Hope was here.

Billy-Joe

Having successfully restored power to the school building, Richard and I had gone our separate ways within the establishment; he on a righteous quest to alleviate our group from the threat of a zombie attack, and I to alleviate myself of all senses.
Richard found me again an hour later, bent over a toilet and singing a motivational sea-shanty as I stirred the contents.
"Mix it up, drink it up, heeey-ho, hey-ho. Drink it deep, fall asleep, heeey-ho, hey ho. Wake up thinking you're a horse, heee-ho, hey-"
"What are you doing?" Richard interjected as his patience snapped.
I turned and grinned up at him, my lips pulled wide to reveal blackened-teeth.
"Makin' moonshine."
Richard seemed to glaze over at the comment, sealing himself away from a world he no longer wanted any part of. When he spoke, it was with the deadpan demeanour of a broken spirit.
"Isn't there something better you could be doing?"
As if on queue, a terrible shriek ripped through the school, a collective scream of a hundred throats which shook the glass in the windows and made my teeth rattle uncomfortably. The pair of us exchanged alarmed glances, suddenly aware of the dark shadows cast by the toilet cubicles.
"Yeah, I t'ink there is" I ground the words out, denying the obvious truth.
The scream resonated again, close enough this time for me to pick out the individual voices in the horde's hellish cry. We bolted for the door, scrabbling over the smooth tiled floor like terrified vermin as we rushed to defend the school.