Chapter Text
<p>Gosh, that put a damper on my former fantasies of the zombie apocalypse. I had been expecting something a bit more... glamourous perhaps? But fear not, I was most definitely not staring into Archie's eyes while my thoughts bumbled around in my brain, roughly pushing past each other as my eyes were glazing over, taking the bit of his exposed collarbone in. Perhaps I did.
However, I did manage to contain myself and blame it on my previous state of unconsciousness. "Zombies, huh?" I whispered in no particular direction, but in my mind I knew the only response I awaited was his. Softly, as though speaking at a regular volume would reduce either me or the world to shards of glass, as if tenderness itself was a word that could not convey what it was created for, he spoke to me,
"Seems to be about it, do you want some water?"
I blushed, or whatever happens to us darker-skinned people, I don't blush at my reflection, so there is no way of finding out at this point, and nodded. Of course I wanted what he was to offer me, especially when it came to sustenance. But as much priority as I was giving to this interaction, I could not prevent the way my hands shook every time I heard a shriek from the hallways— even the rustling of a single footstep. He had handed me the water by now, and the others had turned to panicking while in their various stations around the room.
One boy in the corner— freshman, I assumed —was hyperventilating. My friend Nala had lain on the floor, and her closest companion within 20 feet, Shania Felicity, was desperately flapping her arms around over her head. Most of the others were either huddled around the class computer or a personal laptop, desperately trying to find some sort of emergency rescue.
I knew that would not happen. If this truly marked the beginning of the apocalypse, the government would not give a flying fuck about a few high schoolers amongst the millions— especially since they would be occupied with escorting the elite to their doomsday bunkers. Most of us, the normal people were trapped. Most of us had nowhere to go. Most of us had a future sealed in rapid decomposition. This really was going to mark a new age.