Dancing Dead

Nicole, Liz, Isabelle and the band have been on the road for three weeks and have finally gotten comfortable around one another. - As comfortable as you can get in an old van with the seats removed from the back so the equipment can fit. It basically means they finally feel comfortable enough around each other that they don't give a damn where/how they sleep, or who they sleep on.

The girls are there to do merch, navigate, and help with set up and breakdown of equipment. Simply put, they would be lost without those girls.

Nicole Floyd is 19, 5ft6 with deep brown eyes, blonde hair, and a playful smile. Nicole has known both the guys and Isabelle almost all her life. Nicole had moved to California from Mississippi during the last year of high school, which is when she met Liz, Isabelle and the guys.

Isabelle Stewart is also 19, 5ft7 with hazel eyes, brown hair, and almost always looks like she's up to something with that smirk of hers. Isabelle is mute, but does not let that stop her with anything she does. She has known Brian, Matt and Jimmy the longest.

Liz Ford is 19, 5ft8 with bright blue eyes, dirty-blonde and as Jimmy says, nearly as crazy as he is. They are always running around together goofing around, but she does know when to be serious when she has to be. Liz moved from Chicago to Huntington Beach during the summer before senior year.

Jimmy and Liz are the only ones awake in the van tonight. Jimmy is driving while Liz navigates to the next venue. They were slotted to play at a large club tomorrow night and needed to get there asap to rest before they needed to set up and play. The others are all huddled together in the back fast asleep next to the equipment.

They try to be relatively quiet so the others can keep sleeping, but if they need to they whisper to one another.

“Jim did you see that?” Liz tries to whisper as she looks at him wide-eyed while she points off into the distance. She thought she saw a figure staggering in the woods near by.

“I didn't see anything, I think you might just be tired. How much farther until we reach the next town? We need to fuel up.” Jimmy looks at his friend briefly with a raised eyebrow.

“About ten more minutes, do you want me to drive for a while afterward?”

“Sure, I can take over the navigation for a while.” He smiles while keeping his eyes on the road.

About ten minutes later Liz switches over to the drivers seat while Jimmy fills up the van and buys some snack food for everyone when they wake up. She notices rustling in the bushes next to the building but chalks it up to being an animal looking for food.

“Liz you look like you've seen a ghost, do you really want to drive?” Jimmy yawns when he hops back into the van and buckles up, putting the bag of food down by his feet.

“It's nothing.” She smiles a little, taking a deep breath and turning the key to bring the engine to life. “How much farther to the club Jim?”

They make it to the club a little before 2AM and park around the back. Jimmy is already asleep in the passenger’s seat so Liz tries her best to sleep where she is, without hitting the wheel. At 6:30 everyone is up and getting their equipment around and ready to bring into the building at 7 when the owner lets them in.

“I don't see how you two could have so much damn energy after a couple hours of sleep. Where are your batteries?” Matt chuckles as he watches Liz and Jimmy check his drums and make sure they don't need to replace anything for tonight.

“Mattie, do you really want to know where my batteries are?” Liz looks up at her friend with a mischievous grin. Matt is at a loss for words.

'She is such a horn dog.' Isabelle rolls her eyes and signs to Johnny while they go through his equipment together, making Johnny chuckle.

“Guys, the owner is here. We can take our stuff in and set up. We'll be playing from seven to eight tonight and then Chainsaw will be playing after you.” Nicole walks over to them and leans on Zacky.

For the next couple of hours they walk around town and look around. Liz keeps getting a strange feeling while they walk around, as if they are being watched. She also notices a lot of people looking incredibly sick.

During their set the guys thought things were going ok, not great but ok. It seemed like people were into their music but they were just lazing about. Matt thought a couple of them were walking around kind of funny but didn't think too much into it.

“Did you see the way the drummer of Chainsaw was checking out your girlfriend? I thought her clothing was going to disintegrate.” Jimmy pokes fun at Zacky while they pack everything back into the van after the show.

“Shut up.” Zacky just glares at the lanky drummer as they continue to load up. Zacky is extremely protective over Nicole.

Chainsaw has already taken the stage, but not before some of the members slapping Nicole, Izzy and Liz on their butts and running off. Real mature musicians they are, that Chainsaw.

The girls are busy cleaning up in the club's bathroom as they do after every show since they can't clean up in the van. When they come out the guys have finished and are sitting around planning their next drive. When they get everything they need situated, Nicole and Zacky stay up front while the others try and get comfortable in back.

For a while they play the car spotting game on the highway, where if you see an interesting car you have to yell out “ANAL!” and whatever the model of the car is after it. It was amusing for the first half hour, until they switched to poker. Isabelle participated in the poker game while Liz scooted up between her two best friends.

“How's it going?” She asks nobody in particular as she rests her one arm on each seat.

“Nicole keeps seeing things, I think you two have hung out too much.” Zacky remarks still keeping his eyes on the road ahead. He's only joking.

“Baby! I saw what I saw. The guy was walking around, well, he was stumbling around and he was green. Green!” Nicole insists as she shivers.

“Maybe he was in a car accident.” Zacky tries to reason as they hit what looks to be a traffic jam.

“It wasn't.” Nicole insists.

“Hey, are those cars on fire up there? Why isn't anyone doing anything to help them?” Liz's eyes bug out as she points to the row of cars ablaze in flames.

“Holy shit.” Zacky looks on in awe.

“What are those guys doing? Are they helping?” Nicole asks as she watches with them as they inch a bit closer.

“I don't think they are helping them Nic.” Liz looks to her friend in horror. They had all just witnessed what looked to be people being dragged away from the vehicles and beaten... No, make that eaten.

“Fuck.” Zacky nudges the door lock with his elbow to make sure its down. “Guys make sure the door is locked back there, don't look out the windows. Y'know, just stay the fuck down until I tell you otherwise.” He orders quickly looking for an escape route around the massacre.

“Wha..”

“Nicole go back there with the others. Liz, take her. GO!” He orders when the girls don't move quickly enough for his liking, giving absolutely no room to budge.

Poor Nicole was trembling like a leaf as Liz made her come to the back of the van and sit with the others that were asking what the deal was.

“Just fucking do it. Make sure the door won't open and stay the hell down.” Zacky takes charge once again as he slowly pushes the van forward, weaving between the abandoned cars.

The guys do as they were told and make sure the back door was locked up tight before hunkering down below the windows, knowing better than to tell their friend no. Brian grabs Izzy and cuddles with her while Matt and Jimmy cuddle up with Liz and Nicole, trying to keep them calm since they know the two girls saw what was going on. Johnny just lies there confused by himself.

“What happened? It sounds like some kind of riot outside.” Johnny asks when they hear a particularly loud scream next to the van as they pass.

“These people, these things, were forcing people out of their cars and eating them. We thought they might be beating them up at first but t-t-they are eating them. It's like they were zombies or something. Some of them were slightly green and bloody, decayed even.” Nicole shivers as she explains, causing Jimmy to hold her tighter.

There is a collective gasp from the guys. “So I guess this means Liz and Nicole weren't seeing things earlier.” Jimmy tries to lighten the mood.

“What are we going to do?” Brian finally speaks as he rubs Izzy's arms softly.

“We are going to get to the next town, fuel up and go from there.” Zacky grumbles.

Matt mumbles his agreement and shifts to check his phone, growling when there is absolutely no signal. “Does anyone have a signal?” The rest of them immediately check their phones and groan when nobody else has a signal either.

“The radio isn't working either.” Zacky calls to the back.

“I call Aqua!” Jimmy shouts, getting a loud “NO!” From everyone else.

“But...”

“No. No way. I'll throw that bitch out the window.” Matt grumbles, even though it is HIS cd. The other night when Jimmy had been driving he played it over and over. “Besides Jim, I think we should draw as little attention to ourselves as possible right now.”

'Matt is right. The less noise the better.' Isabelle pokes Brian to make him look at her while she signs.