Chapter Text
"Dan, wake up," a muffled voice demands. "Dan, wake up, man. Wake the fuck up!"
"A-Arin," he replied weakly, his throat dry.
"Thank fucking god, dude. We thought you were dead or something."
"W-what happened? What do you mean? What's going on?"
Dan looked at the gore and muck all over his fanmade Def Leppard t-shirt and hands. He shuddered, hands trembling and breath hitching. The memories had all come flooding back. He hugged his bony knees to his chest and fought back tears.
They were in a car when they saw the first dead body walking. The day started off so normally. It was quiet and pretty uneventful. That was, until Arin hit something with his car.
"I think it was a deer or something," he shrugged.
"We should at least check and see if we can help it," Dan insisted, craning his neck out the window. "It looks like it's hurt pretty badly."
"Alright, hang tight."
Arin unbuckled his seatbelt and slid out of the car, walking around to the front of it and kneeling down next to the body.
"Dude, this is so fucked," Arin gasped, standing up almost immediately.
"What? Is it dead?"
Arin rushed back to the car and slammed the door, his hands shaking as he tried to grip the steering wheel. He stared straight ahead, breathing heavily in the silence of the vehicle. He revved up the engine, his grip tightening on the wheel.
"Dude-"
"It was a person," Arin croaked, pulling off the side of the road. "Rotting and shit, man, it was crazy. The skin was all gray and-"
"Stop fucking with me," Dan scoffed. "That's not funny-"
"I'm serious, Dan! I fucking saw-"
"Arin, watch the road!"
And everything happened so fast. There was a person in the middle of the road, just walking. Arin turned the steering wheel to avoid hitting what he thought was a bystander.The car swerved off the road and down into the nearby ditch. Dazed, Arin stayed still, trying to get a grip on himself before looking over to Dan. His best friend gritted his teeth and tried to wriggle his long legs out from under dashboard. Arin breathed a sigh of relief as Dan finially kicked free.
"You alright," he panted, running his hands through his curly hair.
"Yeah, I'm good. You?"
"I-I think I'm fine. What the fuck was that thing in the road?"
"I think it was a-wait, shh. Be quiet and don't move."
They heard loud groans and the sounds of creaking bones. A zombie had trudged by the overturned car, followed by several others. The zombie groaned loudly, as if trying to communicate with...something. It was still terribly human. Both men were frozen in fear until Arin's eye caught sight of double-barrel shotgun next to the passenger side door. It lay in the grass next to a pool a blood. It was obvious that someone was put out of their misery. Or at least they tried. The body was gone, most likely wandering aimlessly as part of the undead uprising.
"Danny, there's a gun over there," Arin whispered.
"I can't move, man. I can't-"
"Dan, just open the door and pull it in. It could give us a way out of here. Come on. You can do it."
Dan shook as he unbuckled his seatbelt and slowly opened the car door. His breathing continued to increase in speed as his hands trembled and picked up the shotgun. He slid it from his sweaty palms to Arin's, who sat silently as he thought of a plan. He furrowed his eyebrows as he watched the herds of zombies lurch by.
"Is your side clear," he whispered.
"Y-yeah, all clear."
"Make as little noise as possible. We can sneak out on your side and get to safety. Can you walk?"
"I-I think so...my ankle's just a little numb."
He groaned quietly, kicking open the door and shimmied outside to the best of his ability. Arin waited only seconds after to follow Dan out of the car with the newly acquired weapon in his shaky grip. When they were both resting on the wet grass, Arin held the gun and gestured for Dan to listen closely.
"Look at them walking around...it's like something out of a slasher flick," Arin choked. "This is so fucked up..."
"Where do we go from here? There are tons of them everywhere...how is that even possible...? What the fuck is going on?"
"I don't know, but what I do know is that you and I both have somewhere to be and we're not gonna let whatever the fuck is happening get us down. We're getting out of this. Trust me on this, Dan. I got your back."
"A-alright, I trust you."
"The Grump Space should be only a few blocks from here, I think? We can head straight up. Come on."
Dan nodded and slowly stood on his shaking legs, following after Arin as he shot his way down the road and to the Grump Space. As they climbed out of the ditch, their clothes were covered in gore and mud. The smell was absolutely horrid. Dan felt his stomach lurch each time a zombie came near him. The chase died down after the duo were covered in muck and guts. Dan limped behind him to the best of his ability, swallowing his fear. He felt tears stinging in his eyes as Arin unlocked the door and shut it as quickly as he could, barring it with two chairs.
"Guys, what the hell happened," Barry demanded, looking them both over. "We tried calling you like, a hundred times."
"Have you seen the fuckin'-" Arin panted, dropping the rifle on the floor and sitting down.
"Yeah, we saw. Tell us what happened! We were worried as fuck-"
"Car crash," Dan managed to say before collapsing on the floor.
"Dan, wake up," a muffled voice demands. "Dan, wake up, man. Wake the fuck up!"
"A-Arin," he replied weakly, his throat dry.
"Thank fucking god, dude. We thought you were dead or something."
"W-what happened? What's going on?"
Dan looked at the blood and bits of organs all over his fanmade Def Leppard t-shirt and hands. He shuddered, hands trembling and breath hitching. The memories had all come flooding back. He hugged his bony knees to his chest and fought back tears.
"It's all real, then," he breathed, tensely running his fingers through his wild, curly hair.
"Yeah, man, it's real. We pretty much boarded up all the windows and shit."
Everyone surrounded Dan. Suzy, Ross, Arin, Barry, Kevin, and even Mark had been locked in with them. Ross paced in the back impatiently, holding his phone to his ear. His expression wasn't the usual smirk or grin, but terrified or angry now. He muttered something, nervously twisting his wedding ring around his finger. Dan immediately dug around in the pockets of his grungy jeans and grabbed his own phone.
"I need to call my parents."
Arin nodded as if he understood, gesturing for everyone to give Dan the space he needed. The 34 year old held the phone in his trembling hand, hugging his knees to his chest and waiting patiently.
"Ehhh, hello?" A familiar voice answered, forcing a smile onto Dan's face. "Daaan, is that you?"
"H-hey, Avi, yeah. It's me," Dan chuckled, wiping away tears. "What's goin' on over there? Stuff's pretty bad on this end..."
"We took your sister to Isreal to see the Qumran Caves," Avi said cheerfully. "Wish you were here, though. You haven't been to the caves in a long time-"
"Avi, I love you. I just...things are really bad here and we don't know what's happening. In case things go wrong, I just want you to know I love you and Dana and Debby so much..."
"Dan, is everything alright? You sound ehhh, upset-"
"Just....you guys should stay in Isreal a little while longer, okay? Stuff's really bad here...I promise I'll call when I have more information."
"Take care of yourself, okay, Dan?"
"I'll try, Avi. I love you."
"I love you too!"
Dan hung up the phone, staring down at the black screen for a moment. He walked to the window, peeking out. The air was filled with the dense sounds of the dead roaming about. He turned to the rest of the group, forcing a smile onto his sheet-white face.
"So, what's the plan?"