Chapter Text
Megan was this close to falling asleep, and she honestly would've if it weren't for her pride stopping her. I'm so bored.
She was quietly observing the students in the library— not in a creepy way of course.
...
Okay maybe it was a little creepy, but there wasn't much else for her to do.
There were students reading, others studying, and she even spotted one that was sound asleep. Nothing much changed since the last time she glanced over her desk— which was only two minutes ago.
Why did I even get this job? She almost let out a groan, but quickly stopped herself. The last time she made a sound, it resulted with angry glares and aggressive shushes being shot at her.
Being a librarian was far from a perfect fit for Megan, considering the fact that she's dyslexic and all, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice. This was the only job avaliable in this densely populated city.
Megan's attention shifted to the framed photo on her desk. Oh right, I did it to prove my independence to my parents. Megan dreamed big, she always had. She knew from a young age she wanted to get out of Hawaii and become a world famous dancer. Her parents supported her, but maybe too much. Megan wanted to prove she could achieve her dreams on her own. Megan loves her parents though. Her heart swells at the thought of her parents worrying over her, but that's the motivation that keep her going.
As she regained focus, her ears perked up. There was a strange sound coming from the back. She got up from her desk and followed that said-sound. Oh, it's just the staff room. Megan felt slightly annoyed. They're seriously being this chatty in a library? Megan opened the door. "Can you guys try to keep it dow-" Her voice got stuck in her throat when she saw the sight infront of her.
Megan quickly slammed the door shut. What the fuck was that? She wanted to believe what she saw wasn't true. Her eyesight is terrible after all. Though I'm wearing my contacts today...
Still, she wanted to believe her brain was just playing tricks on her. No matter how hard she tried, she knew her mind wouldn't be able to come up with something that gruesome on its own. What she saw will be engraved in her memories for the rest of her life.
What lies behind that door were two of her co-workers' corpses being torn apart and eaten by two hideous things she can only describe as zombies.
There's no time to be standing here thinking. She ran to the nearest fire alarm and pulled down the lever, hoping that everyone in the building would common sense and evacuate. She dashed towards the nearest exit herself right after.
"I'm not going crazy, I can't be. I'll get fired if I pulled the fire alarm for no reason. Those things were real." Megan kept repeating this to herself. She attempted to rationalize what she saw but there were no good excuses. Oh God, my co-workers. Megan wasn't necessarily friends with them, but they were the only people who Megan spoke to daily other than her parents. They were acquaintances at the very least. If this is anything like the movies, are they gonna turn into zombies? The thought of Megan reuniting with her co-workers when they're out to eat her sent shivers down her spines. I thought zombie were only in fiction, why the fuck were they in the library?
Megan scanned the area and felt her heart drop. Shit. Apparently the library wasn't the only place infected with the undead. They were coming from everywhere.
Megan began running once again, although she doesn't know where to. Her apartment was 30 minutes away by bus so running there wouldn't cut it. She kept running anyways. She needed to get away from those things. Megan turned the corner and crashed into someone, or maybe something.
Like an instinct, she closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. What are the chances of the thing I crashed into being zombie? If it was, she wanted to get this whole this over with quickly.
"Are you okay?"
The voice was too gentle to be a zombie. Megan took a peak from her fingers. There stood a girl that didn't look too far from Megan's age. A pretty girl. She had long black hair with bangs that layed messily on her forehead. She looks visibly concerned, shown through her slightly scrunched eyebrows and questioning eyes. Very pretty. Megan snapped out of it. Now wasn't the time to be gawking at her.
"I- yes. Wait n-no?" Megan stuttered. It was common courtesy to answer yes to a are you okay? question, but on the other hand, they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
There was a loud crash coming from the right of Megan. The girl and her witnessed a guy being ripped out of his own car and eaten alive. Not a good sight.
"Fuck." Said the girl. She grabbed Megan's hand, pulled her up, and ran towards the car. "Can you drive?" She asked as she maneuvered around the zombies, keeping a tight grip on Megan.
Megan nodded.
"Good." The girl snatched the car keys off the ground, not without the zombie noticing her first. She pushed the creature and threw the keys to Megan. "Get in."
Megan rushed into the driver's seat while the girl went in the passenger's side. She locked the door and immediately started the car, driving it to a nearby park to catch her breath. Luckily it looks empty. She doesn't know how long it would stay that way. She was panting hard, running has never suited her. A water bottle suddenly blocks her view.
"Need it?" The girl besides her asked. "I promise I'm not infected or anything."
Megan took the bottle and gave a quick thanks. There was a moment of silence that followed. "We... stole this guy's car."
"It was the only thing we can do. That place was swamped with zombies, we would die if we didn't." It sounded like the girl was trying to convince herself more than Megan. The uneasiness was noticeable on her face. "But if it makes you feel better, I'm the one who stole the car. I just dragged you with me."
"You're right— the first part I mean. There wss nothing else we could do and that guy couldn't have used it anyways. Thank you for saving me."
She shook her head. "You basically saved mine." She smiled. "The only driving I've done is in Mario kart and I'm always placing last.
The corners of Megan's lips tugged up. She's been voted the worst driver in her high school's yearbook, but she would rather get eaten alive by zombies than tell the girl that.
"We should probably turn on the radio so we can get an idea of what the hell is happening."
Megan nodded and reached for the radio.
"WARNING WARNING there has been an uprising of undead flesh-eating monsters all over California. The state is under lockdown from the rest of the country. This is NOT a joke. Special Military bases will be open to citizens for only one week. Then it will be sealed off and access will be denied under all circumstances."
The radio continued to relay the same message until Megan turned it off. "They're all over California?" Panic was evident in her voice. "It's impossible for us to be under a full lockdown. It'll spread to the other states eventually."
"Until the government figures out a way to stop this." The girl murmured. "A cure, full elimination of all the mutants, something.. anything."
They look at each other. Both are unconfident in that response.
Megan sighed. "They didn't even tell us the locations to the bases. Which bases are special?"
"They're giving us a lack of information on purpose. It's like survival of the fittest. The government only want to protect the most capable citizens." The stranger whispered in disbelief. "We'd have to search all over California to find them."
"That'll take a long time. I'm sure everyone is scrambling to find those bases. This is a mess." Megan rubbed her temples. "Are you going to call your family?"
"I called them earlier when I was running. They're in the Philippines visiting family right now. Luckily nothing seems out of the ordinary over there. Did you call yours?"
"I need to." Megan bit her lip, nervous for her family's safety. "They live in Hawaii, so I'm hoping they're safer over there, it being an island and all."
The girl nodded, understanding how scary it was being away from family in a crisis like this happening.
"I guess we should start searching now. We need to find the bases as soon as possible."
The girl seemed to be staring carefully at Megan. Did I overstep my boundaries?
"Only if you're comfortable! Um, we're strangers, so it might be hard to trust me. If you wanna split ways then that's okay too, well not really, but I mean, uh-" Megan was stuttering like crazy. "I'm new to the area and I don't have any friends." Megan admitted. "It's a little scary being alone." She whispered the last part.
"What's your name?"
"Huh? I'm Megan."
"I'm Sophia." She softly smiled. "Now we're not strangers, so let's trust each other and get out of this situation together, okay?" She reached out her hand.
Megan notices the faintest hesitation in Sophia's words. *She still has a bit of her guard up.* Megan takes her hand anyways, because despite the wary-ness, she was geniune.
There were sudden loud sounds of groaning coming from outside the car. Megan frowned, "Staying here isn't safe." She started the car. "Let's go to my apartment to grab some supplies first before we start our search. Unless you want to go to your place?"
Sophia's face darkened. "I came from my apartment. It's not safe over there. My roommate... I saw her, but it wasn't her. She was undead. I dashed out the door when she lunged towards me."
Megan felt bad for her. It was hard enough for Megan seeing her co-workers laying there dead. She couldn't imagine how it would feel like, seeing a roommate actually be one of the undead. She didn't know how to properly comfort the girl, so she just nodded, agreeing that her place was best for now. She started driving.
She tried being lighthearted. "This isn't what I imagined for the first time I take a girl home."
That earned a soft chuckle from the girl. "Oh yeah? This wasn't how I expected for my first time to be invited to a girl's apartment."
Oh thank goodness she didn't think I was an asshole.
They rode the rest of the way in a comforting silence.
Megan's apartment was only supposed to be half an hour away, but the ride ended up being longer due to all the safety hazards everywhere. The road was covered in blood and corpses. There were even a few zombies here and there. Megan was becoming desensitized at this rate.
She looks around to make sure they're in the clear before gesturing for Sophia to get out of the car.
Megan goes to unlock the door to her place before getting hit with a wave of embarrassment over how messy her apartment was. She quickly grabs Sophia's hand and drags her to her room which was thankfully much more put together. Her hand lingered on Sophia's longer than she realized and she quickly let go, hoping the Filipina didn't notice.
She took out a backpack and handed it to her. "You're in-charged of picking out our outfits for the next few days. We should be the same size." She looks up and down at Sophia.
"Checking me out?"
A faint shade of red meets Megan's cheeks. "N-no!" She clears her throat. "Take anything else that might be of importance— flashlights, first-aid kits, anything. I'll go to the kitchen and stock up on some food."
Sophia gave her a thumbs up and began raiding her closet.
Megan silently thanked herself as she was searching her kitchen. It was full of ready-made meals and non-perishable items. She had never been a good cook, so there weren't too many moments where she would buy bags of fresh groceries. This bad habit of hers paid off in the end.
She stopped ransacking her kitchen momentarily to look at her living room. It was simultaneously messy and bare. She never had time to make the place into a home, but she was still sad she had to leave. It was her first place after moving out of her parents' house. Her moment of brooding was interrupted with Sophia coming out of her room. She was wearing one of Megan's sweatshirts. It was an old, oversized one that Megan planned on throwing away, but she's grateful that she didn't. She looks good wearing my clothes.
"Are you finished?"
"Pretty much. I have some snacks and water bottles in here, but we could always raid a convenience store if we need more to eat."
"I wouldn't have taken you for the type of person who would break the law, but I guess I should've known when you were running those red lights earlier." Sophia teased.
"Oh cmon, I had to! My place is far." Megan whined. "And when the state of the country is like this, the rules don't really matter." She paused. "Speaking of that... pick your posion." Megan held a baseball bat in one hand and a butcher knife in the other. "This is the best I can do as far as protection goes."
Sophia reached for the knife. "I use butcher knives all the time for cooking, so I'm more familiar with this.
"That works with me. I've played baseball with my older brother a couple of times so I know how to swing a bat."
"That settles it. Should we get going then?"
"Lead the way."
"It's getting dark." Megan murmured, annoyed that the day was already ending. They've been driving for a few hours around the south ends of California. She's hoping they'll find safety soon, or else going to Central and North California would take even longer. If the car runs out of fuel then there's no guarantee there'll be functioning gas stations for refill.
"Let's take a break then. You, especially, need rest."
"Me? Sophia, I'm fine. You can sleep while I drive, but-"
"We're a team, Megan. I'm not going to be snoozing while you're both driving and being on the lookout. Just don't deny being sleepy when you've yawned five times in the last half an hour."
"Okay okay, maybe I'm just a little tired, but it's manageable. We don't have much time left."
"It's only the first day."
"But we only have a week, and society is crumbling by the minute. Wifi is out and last time I checked, everyone was in a frenzy."
Sophia shook her head. "Driving when you're drowsy won't do us any good. Pull over and sleep, even if it's just for a little while. This place is abandoned and I haven't seen any zombies in awhile. When is the next time we'll have the opportunity to sleep properly? Take advantage of this."
Megan wanted to argue against it, but it was difficult when her eyelids would occasionally droop more than she wanted. She knew Sophia was right. It wouldn't be safe for either of them if she kept pushing herself to keep going. She pulled all nighters when learning choreo and practicing her dance, but driving was a whole different thing. She pulled over to the side of the road. "Okay, just for a little while."
Sophia got out of the car and went over to Megan's side. She opened her door, earning a what are you doing? stare from Megan.
"Get in the backseat. There's more room for you to lay down and sleep back there."
"What about you? You don't want to sleep there yourself?"
Sophia shook her head. "I'll let you take the spot for tonight. Think of it as a thank you for letting me borrow your clothes." She pulled up the collar of her sweatshirt—well, Megan's sweatshirt— and smelled it. "It smells good. Smells like you."
Megan felt warmth go up to her ears. She's wonders if they're the same shade as her pink hair at this point. She quickly rushes out of the driver's seat and into the back before Sophia could notice, saying a quick thanks before getting in.
Megan lays there, trying to situate herself into a comfortable position. She listens to the rustles of Sophia trying to do the same in the passenger seat. She closes her eyes and finds herself drifting off.
"Megan?" Sophia whispered, not wanting to wake the younger if she was asleep, but wanting to check if she was still awake.
"Hm?" Megan sleepily hummed.
"Oh, you were asleep. Never-mind then."
"No no, tell me. I'm all ears." Megan reassured.
Sophia took in a breath. "I'm scared. Everything happened so fast, I can't process it all. My home isn't my home anymore. My friend... she's gone. I miss my family, oh my God I miss them so much. I'm in the middle of the Californian dessert with a stranger- not that you're horrible or anything! I just- I-"
"Hey hey breathe." Megan sat up. She dug through her pockets unti she felt the car keys. "Here." She tossed them to Sophia. "Now you're the one in power. You won't have to worry about waking up to me kidnapping you."
Sophia's eyes softened. "You're sweet."
Megan shrugged. "Like you said, we're a team. I can't make all of your anxiety go away, but I'll do my best to help ease them." She smiled. "What helps you calm down?"
Sophia whispered something that Megan couldn't catch.
"What was that?"
"I like signing." Sophia whispered, slightly louder this time, but still with the same amount of embarrassment plastered all over her face.
"Singing?"
Sophia covered her face with her hands. "Forget it. I've only ever sang infront of family. I bet I'm not even good-"
"Don't be embarrassed!" Megan tried hide the smile forming on her face. She's finding the older girl adorable. "You can sing. I don't mind."
Sophia hesitated.
"If it makes you feel better, I dance." Megan said softly. "When we get out of here I'll show you, so don't be shy to sing. If singing calms you then do it."
Sophia didn't reply. She only situated herself once again in the passenger seat.
Megan didn't push her further. She laid back down and closed her eyes. That's when she heard a small hum, soon to be followed by a sweet melody. She can't help but smile when hearing Sophia's voice. She felt her heart rate slowly ease, and suddenly she doesn't think she universe is so bad, not when it brought Sophia to her. She drifted off to the sound of her sweet voice, feeling content.