ZA RP

Humble Beginnings

Chapter 1: Part 1/2
        Reaching the door to her house, Emily fumbled with her key, trying to put it in the door. (Come on hands, work!) “Any day now would be great Emily!” Levi released an empty clip and slammed in his last full magazine, turning to shoot the walking figures that were drawing closer. After missing the lock twice, she finally connected the key with the lock. Without thinking, she cranked it, and the door stood wide open.
“It’s open!” she yelled, turning around to look at him.
        Before she could yell at him to run inside, one of the figures grabbed him, biting into his neck with a ravenous hunger. “Levi!” she screamed, knowing it was already too late for him. Resisting every urge she had to rush to his aid, she ripped the pistol from her holster and fired two rounds, causing Levi's assassin to fall over, and lay unmoving on the ground.
“Just go…” he looked at her now, knowing what his fate would be. “It’s over for me…” With one final look at her, he turned his pistol on himself, and fired. His body crumpled to the ground, laying next to the zombie.
        Feeling tears slide down her cheeks, she ran inside the house, slamming the door shut and locking it. Before anything else, she slide down the door, her back to it now, and cried. “Levi…” she could barely even manage a whisper at this point. A crash from the kitchen brought her back to reality. Clutching her pistol, she stood up and called out. “Hello…? Is someone there?”
        Not getting an answer, she moved slowly towards the kitchen. “Mom…Dad?” she called again. The only answer she got was another crash, the sound of pots and pans scattering on the floor. Carefully, she wandered over, moving past overturned chairs. She was almost to the doorway, when something grabbed her leg and pulled her to the floor. She gasped in terror, seeing a pair of glassed over white eyes staring at her. She tried to scream for help, but no one would hear. She kicked and fought the icy cold hand. The zombie pulled itself up to her face now. All she could do was watch in terror as the zombie readied itself, and then snapped forward, its head racing towards her neck. She screamed and everything went dark.
        Beep…Beep…Beep…
        She opened her eyes and shot up straight up in bed. Breathing hard, she turned and looked around her room, the sun outside was already high in the sky. Taking another glance around her room, she sighed. (It seemed so real…) she thought to herself. She relaxed her tense muscles, her head falling back onto her pillow. For another minute, she stared at the ceiling, until her alarm clock went off for the second time.
        Beep…Beep…Beep…
        “Yeah, yeah.” she said, hitting the button to turn the alarm off. Getting up, she walked over to the bathroom. Walking to the sink, she turned the faucet, and splashed her face with a handful of cold water. (It was just a dream Emily…calm yourself.) Looking into the mirror, she laughed. (You know, I must look pretty stupid, standing here worrying about zombies when I should be worried about showing the new girl around school today.)
        It was that time of year again. A week before her school let in, it was the jobs of the graduating students to show the incoming freshman around the school. (And I hope I get one that doesn’t hate me too much…) remembering her experience as the incoming freshman. (I still don’t know to this day how a person could have seven study hall periods.) She laughed again. (They won’t be bad, call it a feeling I get, she should be nice.)
        Going about her normal routine, she heard her name being called as she was finished getting dressed. “Emily! Emily!” A figure appeared at her door. “Allan, what’s wrong?” she looked at him curiously, his eyes wide and his tone serious. He was carrying his rifle, the very one she had helped purchase for him as a Christmas present a couple years back. “The news stations are going crazy right now about some sickness that seems to be spreading to everyone. Maybe you shouldn’t go to class today…” He tried persuading her.
        (And leave an incoming freshman to the dogs? I’m sorry Allan, I can’t do that.) “I’ll be okay Allan, I promise. You know, I still have that pocket knife you bought me. Pulling it out of her jeans pocket, she opened it, playing around. “If anyone too sick gets near me, I’ll drive them away with this!” she laughed, joking at Allan.
“Haha…very funny.” He took a step back, as she stabbed in his direction playfully. “Easy there killer.” He smiled at her. “You know, you’ve grown up so much since you’ve been here. You really have flowered into a beautiful young lady. Why I remember when you were first brought to us…” He trailed off, reminiscing.
        She hugged him. “And it’s all thanks to you really.” she said, smiling at him. (If you hadn’t taken me in, I would have grown up completely on the streets…) she thought back to her early childhood days of trying to live off the land. (It taught me one thing, stay in school. Sure, being able to do whatever I wanted was fun…but, once you get to see the town fifty million times…it gets boring.) “I’ll see you after class today, okay?” she walked past him, seeing him nod.
        Getting downstairs, she grabbed her bag and headed for the kitchen. Breakfast was already on the table, and most of the other kids were already eating. It wasn’t long after she got in the room when she heard a voice from across the table.
“Emily!” she looked up and smiled.
“Good morning Annie!” she called back, walking over to her now. “Are you keeping you brother in line?” Emily joked with her.
“I’m trying, Jack’s just been his normal grumpy self.” she teased him.
“I hardly consider my need for rational thinking time to coincide with the emotion of anger or frustration. Quite on the contrary truly. Without my time to contrast the theories behind human sentiment and coherent thinking, I could not conclude whether or not you were insulting me from the period at which you started conversing with me to the moment that we are presently in now.” Jack finished his short speech.
        Emily stared at Jack for a moment. (Oh Jack…if I could ever understand anything you were trying to tell me.) Moving a hand through her hair, she looked at the two of them. “Well, I really don’t have time to sit and chat today…” she trailed off, finding the clock. “If I don’t get moving here soon, the bus will leave without me! Have a good day guys and I’ll see you in a few hours!” she yelled back to them, rushing out the door.
        Making sure the door was shut, she hurried down the short staircase and ran past the sign reading, ‘Allen’s Home for the Homeless’ without a second glance. She down the block, praying all the while she wouldn’t be late. (God...bad first impression that would set…)
        Seeing an individual limping onto the sidewalk in front of her, she quickly sidestepped behind him, nearly running right into him. Never stopping, she kept running, now only less than block to go. “Sorry about that!” she yelled back at him, disappearing around a corner. The man stood where he had been, almost completely oblivious to her passing by. He turned his head slowly, looking in the direction that Emily had run off in. He started shuffling slowly in that direction, moaning, as though in pain.
        Out of breath by this point, she stopped at a four way intersection, and leaned against a tall fence at one of the corners. “I…made…it.” she managed between breaths. Putting her hands on her knees, she tried to catch her breath. She never even noticed that another person had walked up to the bus stop, standing there, watching her curiously. Finally able to breathe through her nose, she looked up, and almost fell backwards in surprise.
        “Oh…hi there!” Emily smiled at the girl. She was suddenly aware that she must look like a train wreck, having run two blocks to get here. Dropping her bag, she tried her best to straighten her hair again.
        “Hi.” The girl said in a small voice.
        “Sorry about this…” she said, finally giving up on her hair. “I’m Emily.” she smiled extending her hand to the girl. “You must be one of the new incoming freshman this year!”
        The girl took her hand and shook it. “My name’s Madeline. But…” she avoided looking Emily directly in the eyes, “I’m not a freshman at all. I was told to come here to learn the layout of the school. I just moved here a couple days ago.” she explained, looking around at the scenery.
        “Okay, well, that makes sense too, I guess.” Emily ran through her mind, trying to think why they would schedule a transfer student to come in with all the new freshman to tour the school. “Well,” she smiled at Madeline, “I can show you around if you want.” hoping that Madeline would take her up on the offer. (At least she’s nice…)
        “Sure, why not?” Madeline smiled at her now. Seeing the bus coming up to the intersection she looked back at Emily. “It’s almost here.” Emily saw a look of fear on Madeline’s face.
        “Hey, it’s okay.” Emily put a hand on Madeline’s shoulder, trying to reassure her. “I think you’ll come to like this little town.” Seeing Madeline still looking terrified, she continued. “You know, you can sit by me on the bus if you’d like.”
        Madeline’s frown soon disappeared and was replaced by a shy smile. “Sure, sounds good to me.”
        As the bus pulled up, Emily noticed a man and what appeared to be his friend walk into their front yard. Normally, she wouldn’t have even bothered watching, but they were acting strange. The one man, stumbled up to his porch and tripped up the stairs. His friend, not even seeming to notice, stood in the middle of the lawn, not moving. The sprinkler system that was installed to water the lawn came on, spraying the man with a jet of water. He continued to stand there, as if nothing were happening.
        “Weird…” Emily said to herself as Madeline and she made their way onto the bus.
        Now on the bus, Emily moved down the aisle, smiling at all the familiar faces. Continuing to move back on the bus, she stopped, and awkwardly smiled at one of the other students. “Levi.”
        Levi moved his bag off the seat and smirked at her, as he did every morning. “Saved your seat as usual.” He waited for her to sit down, as he took notice of the other girl behind her.
        “I’m sorry Levi…but…today I’m going to sit with Madeline. She just transferred her, and I’m going to show her around today. I promise tomorrow I’ll sit with you!” she said, avoiding his gaze, now continuing her march to the back of the bus. Madeline followed her, shifting uncomfortably, seeing that she had already caused a problem and they hadn’t even made it to the school yet.
        “No worries.” Levi moved his bag back onto the seat and gazed out the window.

Chapter 1: Part 2/2
“You just got stood up Levi!” Levi looked over to see one of his old friends, Brandon, trying to get his attention.
“I didn’t get stood up Brandon.” he replied cooly, leaning against the window now. “She is showing that girl around school today. Might as well give them time to get to know each other a little, right?”
        Brandon shook his head, disappointed with Levi. “Dude…that’s how it starts. First they make one excuse, then another. Soon, you’ll find that she has a boyfriend, and she’ll be gone, just like that!” he snapped his fingers with the last bit, trying to add emphasis to it.
        Levi sighed. “Look, if I’m not worried about it, you shouldn’t be either. Besides, controlling your friends is what drives them away.” Brandon squinted at Levi now, catching onto where he was going with this. “Besides, isn’t that way Kerri left you?” he smirked at his own joke.
        Brandon stood up quickly. “Levi, I thought we promised to never speak of that…” He cracked his knuckles, rage building now.
        Levi continued to sit there, unintimidated by Brandon. “Brandon, you’re doing it again…” Brandon took a step closer. “And you wonder why I say you need anger management…” He saw his words did nothing to stop Brandon’s advance. “Last warning man, sit down before you make a fool of yourself.” Another student screamed, causing them to pause the dispute.
        “Look! It’s a crime scene or something!” It was Quincy that spoke now.
        As if it were a fight at school, every eye on the bus was suddenly peering out the windows on the right side, trying to see what was going on. Levi heard a voice from the back of the bus. Turning, he looked back, trying to listen in on what they were saying.
        “Can you see Emily?” It was Madeline that spoke, obviously worried.
        “It’s nothing…I…hope…” her answer wasn’t very comforting.
        Levi, deciding to get a look himself, pushed Brandon aside and looked out. Outside the bus, there were cop cars parked in a semicircle, forming a perimeter around a house. On the lawn, there was a man, hunched over another person. Levi watched as the man slowly turned around, now facing the cop that had approached him from behind. (What in the hell…)
        The man was clearly insane. Upon turning, now noticing the cop, he had blood running down his cheeks. However, the blood didn’t appear to be his own. The body that was still lying on the ground, had huge gashes in its stomach, revealing internal organs and other grotesque features.
        The man started shuffling towards the cop, staring at him through glassed over eyes. (Damn…never heard of a disease that does that…) Levi’s mind was racing, as he continued to watch on. The cop, having told the man to halt twice, gave up shouting commands and fired once into the man’s leg. Although Levi couldn’t see it, he could tell the look on the cops face was that of complete confusion. The man, instead of dropping, simply flinched from the impact of the round passing through his leg. He continued his advance on the cop, now closing the distance.
        “Why didn’t he drop!?” the cop was yelling as his partner. Seeing him shrug, the officer tried again, shooting two rounds into the man’s left leg. The man didn’t even seem to notice the bullets. Now that the distance between the cop and the man was only an arm’s length, the man lunged at the officer, tackling him to the ground, biting hard into his neck. The officer’s partner, seeing that the man was hostile, fired two rounds into the back of the man’s head, causing him to drop, not moving now. Getting up the officer held his neck. “That b@stard bit me!” He continued to stare in disbelief.
        Before they could watch anymore of the scene, the bus lurched forward, taking them away from the horrific scene. Seeing the show was over, Levi casually moved back into his seat, and leaned against the window, thinking. (Drugs? Maybe this is the latest thing now…but even so, why wouldn’t a bullet cause him pain…) Frustrated that he didn’t have any answers, he felt the bus lurch to a stop again. (Now what…?)
        He overheard the bus driver curse and then shout. “Get the hell outta the road before I run you over!” Levi moved up to the first seat, to have a better look at the scene. “That’s it.” the bus driver unhooked his seatbelt, and opened the doors. “I’ll be right back.” Levi looked at him, frowning. (You really think that’s a good idea…?) Thinking about the scene they had just witnessed.
        “Hey, are you even listening to anything I’m saying?” The bus driver approached the individual. Getting no answer, he put a hand on the woman’s shoulder and forced her to look at him. “Look ma’am, I have a bus full of students –“he cut himself off, seeing half of her face was missing. “Holy –“He backed away, seeing her advance towards him now. “Stay back…” He tried using a hollow threat, not knowing what else to do.
        Turning around, content with the idea of just running her over, he started making his way back to the bus. However, by this point, three other people had appeared from nearby houses, now blocking his path back. They all looked at him with an endless stare, determined to reach him by any means necessary. Cursing, he backed up, seeing no way out. He pulled out a pocket knife now. “Stay back, I’m warning you!” he waved the small knife in the direction of the woman.
        Once she was close enough, she lunged at him, tackling him in the same manner as the man had tackled the cop earlier. She bit down hard on his cheek, and soon the other individuals were knelt over biting him in various spots. With a scream that turned into a gurgling noise, the driver died.
        “Houston, we have a problem…” Levi was now standing, running and shutting the doors as more people came out from the nearby houses. He watched in horror as the people surrounded the bus, trying to reach the people inside.
        “We’re all gonna die!” Brandon screamed seeing the bus surrounded. “The driver isn’t coming back for us, and we’re gonna starve to death in here!” He was having a minor panic attack in the middle of the aisle.
        (Well, I could try driving this thing…) His train of thought broke when Emily had rushed up to the front of the bus. “Em…what are you doing?” Levi asked her cautiously, seeing her sit down in the driver’s seat of the bus.
        “I can handle this, trust me.” she flashed a quick smile at him, taking the bus out or park.
        “Em…this isn’t like driving a car.” He felt he was stating the obvious.
        “Levi…there are some things about me that I haven’t told you about…” her eyes were now on the road, as she stepped on the gas.
        “Is now the time to flirt you two!?” Brandon looked as though he was trying to fight back tears.
        Sighing, Levi nodded, looking back at Emily. “I suppose there are more important things right now. Do you think you can get us to the school from here?” He didn’t really want to go to school, he just didn’t know where else to take everyone. (There will be someone there that knows what’s going on, I hope…) His thoughts trailed off hearing an excited shout from behind him.
        “This is the coolest thing ever, it’s just like my video game!” Quincy shouted in glee, seeing Emily driving the bus. “This is the part with the giant explosion coming next!” He waited patiently, expecting something to blow up soon.
        “I should be okay, as long as I don’t take it above 25 going around those corners leading up to the school.” she tried to reassure Levi, hitting a few people, causing them to roll up onto the hood and over the bus. “I’ll try to keep that to a minimum…” her eyes filled with fear and dread.
        After a few minutes, and a dozen or so more bodies, Emily threw the bus into park, now less than a block from the school. “My god…” she stared at the sight. Following her gaze, Levi looked out through the windshield. The area outside the school was crawling with… (With zombies…? Never saw this coming when I woke up this morning…)
He was starting to lose hope when he saw a man with a crossbow, fighting the zombies, trying to get inside the school. “Come on everyone, we’re running for it.” He was determined to move quickly, so that he might ask the man if he knew what was going on. (He has to be alive for me to do that though…) Emily opened the bus doors, looking back at everyone.
Levi moved back the aisle first, grabbing his bag. After searching for a few seconds, he drew his prized possession from it. “Alright, I’ll lead us there, just follow behind!” Levi steadied his hands, checking the pistol’s magazine to make sure it was loaded. He clicked the safety off.
“Why in the hell do you have a gun Levi!?” Brandon was freaking out at the sight.
“Because I always go straight from school to the shooting range. Look, there isn’t time to go into specifics…” He trailed off, seeing the man fighting for his life, “Just be glad I have a weapon right now! Everyone, let’s go!” He ran off the bus first, making sure the coast was clear. “It’s a straight shot inside!” He waited outside for the others.
Quincy ran off the bus, skipping happily. “I feel like I’m in an action movie! Today is the best day ever!”
“Right behind you Quincy!” Emily shouted after him, dragging Madeline with her. When they were off the bus, she looked back at Madeline. “Just stay near me, and you’ll be okay.” she smiled, trying to make her feel safer. Not getting any answer, she pulled Madeline after Quincy.
Brandon stepped off the bus now. “I’m not gonna let these goddamn vampires beat me…”
Levi, resisting the urge to facepalm, “They’re zombies Brandon!”
“Whatever.” Brandon rolled his eyes, following the others.
Running after them now, Levi hurried over to the man, shooting the zombie closest to him in the head. “Need a hand?” Levi smirked, aiming at another one and shooting.
“Who are you?” the man aimed his crossbow at Levi.
“Is now the time for this?” Levi looked annoyed at him, shooting a zombie that was coming up behind the man.
“Right, name’s Darren.”
“Levi. Let’s hurry up.” He ran up to the door, which Emily was holding for him.
Once they were all inside, she slammed the door shut.