‹ Prequel: White Noise
Status: Active

Static Screams

Celebrate

I woke at three am the next morning. I couldn’t remember my nightmares, but I knew I had them. It wasn’t my turn for watch, but as I was awake permanently now, I took over for Peter. He was grateful and passed out quickly. Within two hours of my waking up, Logan and Holland were awake and sitting in the hallway with me on the floor. We played with a ball Holland had found in the corridor, tossing it back and forth as we sat silently.

At some point Cosmic appeared, rubbing her eyes as she woke up. “How long have y’all been awake? It’s just now seven.”

“Three.” I mumbled.

“Four thirty.” Holland and Logan chorused.

Cosmic rolled her eyes and came to sit next to me. After a few moments of silence, and her joining in on the game, she looked at me curiously. “Did you know today Seven turns into Eight?”

I looked at her in shock, missing the ball Holland threw, which hit me in the face. “Fuck.” I picked it up and launched it at him. He caught it with a laugh, and moved on to tossing it with Logan, who seemed to be still half asleep. Glancing back at Cosmic, I shook my head. “It can’t already be January, we missed Christmas?”

She nodded. “Today is January second.” She held up her hands for the ball, which Logan tossed her way. She caught it and then lobbed it back towards Holland.

“Shit. The least we can do is celebrate the kids birthday.” Holland spoke up, reaching an arm out to catch the ball that had gone far left.

Cosmic hmm’d and haw’d for a moment before speaking again. “What if we celebrated every single birthday today? Get them all out today and not have to celebrate them every time they come around?”

I glanced over at Holland and Logan, waiting for a response from them. Holland shrugged and nodded. He didn’t care. Logan smiled. She liked the idea. “We were going to hang out here for two days anyways.” She pointed out. “Might as well make the best of it.”

Cosmic grinned. “Yes!” She fist bumped Logan and climbed up from the ground. “Seven!” She shouted. We shushed her. “Sorry!” She whispered, then dashed inside to tell the boy.

Logan scooted over until she was next to me, ball between her legs, game on pause. “What if we split up into three groups, one stays here with the babies, one goes to scavenge that grocery store, and one goes to the party store across the street.”

Holland grunted as he stood up and stretched. “Sounds good to me. Lila, Nat, and Cosmic can stay with the babies and Seven. Eight? Uh, they can stay here.”

I pulled myself up into a squat and then stood. “Logan, Wren, Darren, and I will go to the grocery store.” I did not want to go shopping for party supplies in the apocalypse. It felt ridiculous.

“Damn it.” Holland sighed. “I guess that leaves Peter, Sawyer, and I to go to the party store.”

“I’m coming.” Cosmic appeared in the doorway. “I want to come. I have ideas!” Her hands were on her hips, she was coming with whether we wanted her to or not.

Holland rubbed a hand on his head. “Okay, fine, but you have to listen to what I say.” She nodded enthusiastically and dashed back inside.

---

Twenty minutes later, everyone was geared up, had eaten some granola bars for breakfast, and those staying were settled in with the quietest babies in the world. Holland kissed the tops of their heads, and then Lila’s cheek, though he didn’t think anyone saw that. Logan and Sawyer did their secret handshake, and then we were off. It was starting to snow, but it didn’t seem like anything to worry about, so we just went on, albeit bundled up.

The party store was about half a mile from the hotel, and the grocery store was a mile in the other direction, according to the road signs scattered around. The town was fairly small, and we assumed that the horde we fought when we got in would be the only one around. Which was a good assumption. We made it to the grocery store, a Kroger, in under ten minutes, without a single run in with a zomb.

Wren and Darren stacked up on the left side of the door, Logan and I on the right. Logan and Wren opened the doors, Darren and I moved inside. My bow was on my back, I had a machete in my hands. Logan moved inside, bow in hand, Wren behind her with her axe. Darren had two large daggers, one in each hand.

Darren waited until we indicated we were ready, and then he let out a long high pitched whistle. We waited a few beats, and right as we thought it was clear, a screech tore through the silence. Around the corner of the closest aisle, came a zombie too speedy for it being this cold. A thought passed through my head, but I was the closest one to the creature, so I pushed the thought aside and held up the machete.

The zombie ran at me full speed. It’s head was hanging halfway off its body, held on by some flesh and its spine. That didn’t stop it from moving faster than I’d seen in a long time.

“Scarlett.” Darren warned.

“I know.” I replied, pulling back the machete, and swinging it at the remaining neck of the lady in front of us. She collapsed into a headless pile, before two more screeches bounced around the store. “Spread out a little, keep Logan and I in the back.” I switched out for my bow, falling behind Darren, making sure I had an arrow ready to go as quickly as possible. Logan followed after me, standing behind Wren, who had proved to be capable as a fighter and friend.

From the other side of the store, a group of four came charging down the main aisle. Two were faster than the others and made it across the store in a few seconds.

“Why are some so fast today?” Wren shouted, though her scientist brain was probably trying to solve that question within itself.

“Question for later!” I yelled, releasing an arrow into the eye socket of a woman that used to be curvier, but now was skeletal and dragging. “Duck!” I yelled at Darren, but since I didn’t specify, all three of them ducked down. “Fuck!” I screamed, as one of the faster zombies was suddenly upon us. I let an arrow fly, but the zombie lunged for Wren at the same time so the arrow hit the shelf behind them.

“Back up!” I screeched at Wren. She tried to dodge, but the zombie grabbed her arm. She screamed in fear, but it was caught in her throat part way out as Logan chopped off the zombies arm. In one fluid motion she got the arm off, and cut off its head. I didn’t have time to be impressed though. The second fast one was on us now.

Despite my words before we left, against using guns here today, I was in panic mode. I pulled out my pistol, and rapidly shot the speeding zombie, and then the one behind it.

As they hit the floor, we all finally took a few shaky breaths. “Fuck!” I shouted. “What the fuck was that!”

“Why are they so f-” Wren was cut off by a scream. We all stood up straight, waiting for the next attack. But the scream came a second time. And it didn’t sound like any zombie we’d ever heard. “Is that...is that a human?” Wren muttered, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Help!” A voice screamed from the back of the store, past the deli sign.

We stood still for a second, blinking at each other, before Darren cursed and took off running. Grabbing our arrows from the shots we’d made, Logan and I bolted after him, with Wren at our heels. We rounded the far corner, the direction the dead had come from, and found the person screaming.

A woman was inside the glass meat case, she was trying to hold the door to it closed with her hands, while at least three zombies clawed at the glass. “Help me, please someone!” She screeched desperately.

“Hey! Stupid!” Darren shouted at the dead. They all looked up from the case, and two of them forgot about the woman and moved towards us.

“Go around!” I shouted at Wren. “Go around and get her out while he has those!” Nodding, Wren moved to take the long way around the glass case. I held up my bow, took a breath, and shot an arrow at the decaying body that stayed by the case. Direct hit in the eye, it dropped to the ground. Wren moved to open the case, then saw something that made her stop and slam it shut on the woman. “Wren! Let her out!”

She shook her head furiously. “She’s bit!”

“Shit.”
♠ ♠ ♠
WC; 1554

Hi! It's Autyy! I know Scarlett was the last chapter, but I'm writing three in a row, because my lovely best friend was struggling with inspiration and I was hit with a burst. So this chapter, last chapter, and the next chapter are all in Scarlett's POV. Enjoy!!

xoxo
autyy