Chapter Text
A cloud of grey slips through Calvin’s lips and stains the air around him with the scent of smoke. He’s supposed to be in his English class right now, but instead he finds himself sat in a dirty bathroom stall with a freshly lit cigarette. There’s someone else in the stall next to him. He can hear sniffling from the other person but he can’t bring himself to care. He has his own problems, why would he pay any mind to just another random dude who probably just got rejected by some chick? He exhales after taking another hit. He misses the way that it used to burn his lungs, he’s too used to it now.
Calvin remembers the first time he ever tried a cigarette. He was 15 and in the middle of the woods with Andre. They found a half empty box of Malboro’s dropped by the roots of a tree. Calvin was the one to notice it. Both him and Andre agreed that they should take them and try it out. Calvin always carried a lighter with him, so they were able to actually do it. It’s one of his most vivid memories. He remembers the way that he accidentally inhaled the smoke and Andre laughed at him. He remembers how Andre proceeded to choke too after doing that. He remembers the way that both of their faces turned a bright red as they coughed loud enough for everyone in the forest to hear.
“Jesus, Cal, you’re such a fucking idiot!” Andre laughs.
Calvin holds the front of his shirt, trying to ground himself as he continues to choke on the smoke he inhaled. He tries to cough out some type of insult but ends up hacking louder.
It only makes Andre laugh louder, the other boy starting to cough too from just how hard he was cackling.
It’s a fond memory to him, even if at the time it was embarrassing and he just wanted to forget it ever happened.
Sometimes all he can think about is old moments like that with Andre, moments before everything seemed to turn to shit. He knows that Andre probably doesn’t remember half the things that keep him up at night, but that doesn’t stop it from occurring.
After what feels like a second later, a scream of all things brings Calvin out of his reminiscencing. For a moment he thinks maybe it’s the dude that was in the stall next to him, the one who was busy crying his eyes out. It couldn’t be that though, when he leaned forward and glanced under the stall he didn’t see any more dirty Air Forces. He didn’t even notice that the other guy had left. Hopefully he didn’t go off to snitch about the smoke.
Another scream rings through his ears.
He still has no idea who the hell is even screaming and why they’re screaming. It’s only 10 in the morning for god's sake. Calvin put out the cigarette on his wrist, holding it in place to savor the burn before throwing it down into the toilet behind him.
He fumbled with the old lock of the stall before shoving his way out. As soon as he left the bathroom he immediately noticed how empty the hallways seemed. It wasn’t a passing period, but usually you could still see some people walking around.
More screams.
Each scream adds another layer of tension to Calvin. He could’ve assumed it was just some kid acting up at least the first few times, but these are different voices, different people.
While whatever the hell is happening is creeping him out, it excites him too. Adrenaline and the tension collide and he finds himself walking down the hallways and looking around for the source of the screams. Nobody seems to be around, what the hell happened?
For a moment he thinks maybe he’s sleeping, maybe he fell asleep in that bathroom stall. As hyped up as this is making him feel, he hopes it’s that. If not, everything would lead to fact that something fucking crazy must have happened. It doesn’t make sense, how did everyone manage to disappear within moments?
Calvin scoffs to himself, this feels like a shitty horror movie. Maybe there was just an assembly that he didn’t know of. Yeah, maybe everyone's in the gym and the screaming was a part of the assembly somehow. Surely that’s what it is. Either way, assemblies are bull shit and if that’s what’s up then he doesn’t want to go. He’d rather go wait out in the library.
He turns a corner to walk his way to the library before someone snatches him. It wasn’t just someone bumping into him, no, someone grabs him by the arm and throws him into the bathroom. His back thumps against the tiles of the wall and when he looks up he doesn’t see a stranger, he sees Andre.
He’s very confused to say the least.
“What the fuck was that about, dude?!”
Andre looks… shocked to say the least. His face looks paler than usual and there’s an evident shake in his hands. His eyes are wide and he honestly looks like he has seen a ghost. He stays silent, ignoring Calvin’s question. Instead he looks out the bathroom entrance for a good minute before slamming the door shut.
“Dude?! What the hell is going on?!” Calvin asks louder this time. He pushes himself up off the floor and walks over to Andre. He doesn’t understand what’s making Andre act all freaked out like this and it’s starting to freak him out too.
Andre squints his eyes. It looks like he’s trying to say something, but he hesitates. It only makes Calvin more tense.
He lightly shoves Andre, “C’mon, Andre, what’s going on?!”
“You-” Andre sighs, “You’re not gonna fucking believe me, dude.”
Yeah, that totally makes everything better.
“What do you mean? Just tell me already!”
“No, seriously, you won’t believe me.”
“Tell me!”
“Cal, I’m being fucking serious!”
“Just tell me for God's sake!”
“There’s zombies! Alright?! There’s genuine scary ass real fucking zombies!”
The room went silent for what felt like forever. Calvin didn’t really know how to respond to that. He didn’t believe it was real, obviously, but why would Andre lie about that anyways? Especially in the middle of a damn school day.
“…Really?”
“Yes, really! God- I know it’s like really fucking weird and crazy, and I know you don’t believe me, but you have no idea what the hell I saw out there!”
“Well… They’re like- really zombies? Like in the movies?”
“Kind of like in the movies.”
“But how did they get in here? And how did they like- exist? How did we not know zombies are real?!”
“I don’t know, Cal! I don’t know!”
“Are you sure it’s zombies? Like what if it was some kid who w-“
Andre grabs onto Calvin’s shoulders with a tight grip, “That was not just some kid. He was-“ Andre grimaces, “Oh it was so nasty, you have no idea.”
Calvin stares at Andre blankly for a few moments. He has no idea how he’s supposed to process all this. He’s supposed to believe theres zombies out there? Really? It’s real life and theres zombies? At the same time though, he wants to believe Andre. Not because he wants zombies to be real, but because it’s Andre. They don’t lie to each other.
Andre let go of Calvin and walked away, now pacing in circles.
“Well, what’re we gonna do then?” Calvin asked.
“Get the hell out of here, get to my house.”
Calvin nodded, “Mhm, yeah, okay, but how are we gonna get out of here if theres zombies?”
Andre shrugged and walked back over to Calvin, “Should we just book it?”
“Really? That doesn’t sound all that safe…”
“Yeah, nothing is safe anymore, shithead.”
“Okay, okay, we’ll book it-“
As soon as Calvin finished his sentence Andre grabbed onto his wrist and sprinted out the door, dragging the two of them through the halls. Calvin nearly tripped over himself probably 20 times and he isn’t really sure when Andre got so fast. He turned corners so quickly that it felt like a rollercoaster.
It started to seem more and more like Andre was being serious as they raced down the halls. There was blood splattered everywhere. It made Calvin’s stomach twist, made him think of how that’s what the school could have looked like after Zero Day. It looks like they might have to rethink their plans after all this. He’s not even sure if they’ll be able to do Zero Day still if everyone is already eaten by zombies. Shooting zombies is probably only fun in video games.
Calvin was getting pretty lost in his thoughts of shooting zombies and post-poning Zero Day but after what once again felt like 5 seconds something jumped at him. He stumbled forward and started really trying to book it.
“AndreAndreAndre- RUN OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT RUN!”
Andre didn’t respond, just kept running forward. Calvin was met with the horrible sight of the kid he sat next to in Physics everyday all bloodied and creepy-looking. He didn’t look green, and he didn’t really look like a zombie, but he 110 percent was one. He groaned and moved mindlessly, just trying to reach Calvin.
“We’re almost at the exit!”
“RUN FASTER DUDE COME ON!”
Calvin could swear he heard Andre scoff in annoyance at him. That wasn’t really his biggest problem right now though so he didn’t feel like paying any mind to it, for now.
As soon as Andre opened that exit door they both knew they needed to get to Andre’s car, and quick. They could see people around them running too, sprinting away from the building and surrounding areas. Luckily for them, the vehicle wasn’t that far. They ended up inside of it within a minute.
As Calvin finally sat down in the passenger seat he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Only a few minutes ago he was smoking in a bathroom stall skipping class and now he’s in a fucking zombie apocalypse apparently? Really? It doesn’t feel real, nothing feels real right now.
“‘Dre, am I high?”
“What?”
“Am I high? I feel high.”
Andre sighed, “I fucking wish we were just high.”
Calvin nodded in response and looked out the car window. Andre had started speeding off now and as they drove they passed by too many presumed zombies for Calvin’s liking. He wonders how this started. It didn’t start in the school, but how did it get in there? How did it start in general? When did it start? How long is this gonna last? How long will he and Andre last? They were gonna be dead soon either way, but he kind of hopes that they can beat tons of zombies off and be super badass.
…
“C’mon, let’s get inside.”
It didn’t look like there were any zombies near Andre’s house yet, but Calvin was still nervous to go outside from the comfort of the car. After all, maybe the zombies have secret stealth abilities and they’re just waiting to attack.
Either way they both ran to the front door.
Andre spent a good 10 seconds fumbling with the keys as Calvin screamed at him to open the door.
Once they were actually inside with the comfort of a locked door the tension slightly went down, emphasis on slightly. The school should’ve been locked up but, well, seems like it wasn’t. All of the relief he had just gained immediately disappeared once he realized that.
He was being dragged up to Andre’s room almost as soon as they had the front door double locked. Once they were in there Andre shoved a chair up against the door since that usually helps in the movies.
Calvin collapsed back onto Andre’s bed and sighed at the familiar comfort of the mattress. Andre came over and sat next to the laying boy. The two of them were both pretty horrified of whatever the hell just happened but they didn’t really know where to even start talking about it.
“…Do you think Rachel is alright?”
Andre groaned and slapped at Calvin’s wrist, “Oh god dude, don’t bring her up right now.”
Calvin chuckled and sat up, slightly leaning towards Andre, “What? I’m just showing concern for my friends, Andre. It’s a valid concern.”
Andre shoved Calvin back away from him, “Don’t act stupid, Cal! Don’t bring her up around me, she’s just a stupid bitch…”
Calvin shoved Andre back and within seconds it turned into play fighting. It was childish, but it distracted them from what was happening, so they just shoved each other around for a while. Calvin would push Andre back onto the bed, then Andre would push him back harder; repeat.
After a while they ended up getting a little too close and Calvin was nearly straddling Andre’s thighs. They didn’t notice for a little, until Andre lifted up his leg and suddenly they became hyper aware of the position. They froze for a few seconds before moving a little extra far from each other and trying to act like that didn’t happen.
“You’re so gay, Andre…”
“What?! Shut the fuck up!”