Chapter Text
It started with one weird story on the news, about a man that fell ill after a returning from a business trip over seas. He died shortly after admitting himself to the hospital, his skin 'clammy and peeling' was one of the main reports the doctors wrote on his medical sheets.
But, it didn't take long for him to wake back up.
The sound of a gun going off made his ears ring, the acrid smell of smoke and bodily fluids clogging his throat. The city was in flames, smoke pluming up like a mushroom cloud and blocking out the sky, the sun a hazy circle of dull light hanging low, soon to obscured by tall buildings. Pezzy held the wrench tight in his hands, sweaty palms slackening his grip every time his arms knocked against his leg.
Three weeks ago, if you’d told him he’d be running through the streets of Dallas with a blood crusted wrench, two of his neighbors—and best friends— trying to escape the falling debris and suffocating smoke along with other random groups of fleeing survivors he’d of called you crazy. The day he’d seen hoards of police cars blazing through the streets, speakers blaring about a plague and to stay inside he’d finally noticed something was wrong.
Normally, he wouldn’t watch the news, finding it boring and at the worst of times; depressing. But he’d all but ran to the living room, skidding on the floor as he stopped and snatched the remote from Droids hand, ignoring his indignant comments and switching the station to the news.
“Breaking news, local hospitals are being overrun by citizens all over the country, ill with the same symptoms. No one’s come forward with any comments about a name, or a cure, many speculating it might be a brand new disease.”
“We urge you to stay indoors, stock up on nonperishables, and look out for the following symptoms in you, or your loved ones:
Shortness of breath
Fever
Hallucinations
Vomiting
Paleness of skin
Violent tendencies
Rotting gums.”
“If you or your loved ones show even the slightest bit of any of these symptoms reach out to local law enforcement, for they may be ill and could potentially get you ill. We need to work together, as a community, to deal with this outbreak just like we did for the global epidemic, Covid19, not three years ago. May god be with you all.”
He clicked the TV off, allowing Droid to pull the remote from his hand and set it down on the coffee table. “What the fuck dude?” He said, voice unsure.
Pezzy turned back to him, clenching his fists. “There’s police all over the city telling people to stay in their houses until further notice, did you not hear the sirens earlier?” He asked, falling back into the couch.
Droid shook his head, pulling out his phone. “Nope, but I’ve been seeing shit all over my feed for the past week. People are posting videos with people like.. foaming at the mouth and attacking anything that makes noise. I thought it was fake at first, honestly, but then more and more kept popping up. And now, all this stuff on the news? It’s like a modern day zombie apocalypse.” If only they’d known how right he was.
A couple days later, he’d been on call with some of his friends over discord. Apparently, things were pretty much the same everywhere else.
“Yeah, they’ve started shutting down roads over here.” Smii7y was saying, his voice betraying his frayed nerves as he leaned back in his chair, still watching the screen. “Hospitals are full, they’ve started opening clinics out of the schools and some office buildings for the downtown areas.”
“Washington’s closed down too, the news has been all over talking about how it’s the Covid lockdown all over again. People are already going stir crazy, tried going to the store to pick up some things and the shelves were fuckin bare. Nothing was left, I swear to god. Not even the organic stuff, and no one touches that shit on good days.” Kryoz said. He was leaning forward towards his monitor, a shiny layer of sweat covered his forehead.
Pezzy was quiet, staring off into his monitor, lost in thought. He came back when he heard muffled snapped and a few different voices calling his name. Grizzy had his fingers up close to his mic, and Droid was obnoxiously chewing on his mic, trying to say Pezzy’s name. “What the fuck?” He chuckled, clicking the unmute button on the call.
“Yo, Pezzy, what’s up? Why are you staring at the screen like that?” Grizzy asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
Pezzy just shrugged, taking a minute to formulate a response. “Dunno, I just- y’know how Puffers on a trip right now?” Droid nodded, leaning forward a bit. “Oh shit, yeah. He was going to see his family wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, he was. What about him, Pezzy?” Grizzy asked.
“Well, aren’t you worried? I mean, with all this illness stuff happening and all. He hasn’t been answering any of my texts.”
“I’m sure he’s fine dude, he’s with his family right now, that’s probably why he isn’t answering any texts.” Smii7y chimed in, the little ding of the mike unmuting in discord sounding too loud in Pezzy’s ears.
“I guess.. but you’d think he’d at least look at them, right? Like, he isn’t even leaving me on read he’s just not answering.”
It was Blargs turn to shrug, adding his own input to the conversation. “It is a little weird, but I’m sure everything’s fine.”
Yeah, everything was perfect. A shout from behind him made him flinch, stumbling to a stop and turning around. Droid had tripped over a chunk of fallen scaffolding that had tumbled into the road. He made his way over, breathing heavily as he yanked the scarf down from over his face. “You okay?” He wheezed, turning his head away to cough into his hand. The smoke was getting worse, they needed to leave.
Droid shook his head, hissing through his teeth. “My fucking leg!” He shouted, hands clutching at a too large gash in his calf. The metal must’ve gouged a chunk out of his leg when he fell.
“Shit..” Pezzy muttered, looking up at Grizzy. He had an equal look of worry, hands hovering over Droids as he tried to figure out what to do. “We’ve gotta move, the fire and smoke is getting worse, if we stay here any longer we’ll suffocate.” Pezzy wiped a hand over his sweaty brow, looking around at the fleeing people. There weren’t nearly as many anymore, but there were a few stragglers still making their way towards the untouched part of the city.
“Help! Someone, please stop. We need help here!” He shouted, waving his hand at the closest people around him. Most of them shot him a look, hesitating before they kept moving, but a group of four stumbled over to them, two holding up another man between them both by his shoulders and the fourth falling to her knees beside them. “Please.” Pezzy said again, not sure what else to say.
The woman looked at him, flicking her eyes over his face before she looked down at Droid, reaching out to pull his hands away from the wound. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as she prodded at the edges. Droid all but whimpered, clenching his hands into his pant leg. The woman glanced at him briefly, yanking her eyes away to tear a strip from the bottom of her shirt and wrap it around his leg.
“Come on, we gotta get out of here before one of these buildings collapse.” She said, grabbing onto Droids arm and hauling him to his feet, shooting a look to Pezzy and Grizzy before shoving him at them. Grizzy caught him as he stumbled, looping his arm around his back and starting to walk after the other group that had already started off. Pezzy watched after them for a second before he turned and grabbed Droid under his arm and taking some of his weight.