y/n tossed and turned, unable to dispel the grim thoughts that circled their mind. Finally; they gave up, opening their eyes and staring at the ceiling in silence. It was peaceful, but before y/n could fall back into slumber, a piercing buzz rang through the room, causing them to shoot up, grabbing their chest in surprise.
There was an eerie static coming from the TV downstairs, lighting up the previously dark room. y/n grabbed their phone and headed downstairs, looking at the TV with caution. As soon as they entered the room, the channel switched to an emergency news broadcast.
"HORDE OF ZOMBIES ATTACK THE CAPITOL" The scrolling words along the bottom said. The same two reporters were on screen again, but they looked much more perturbed now. "A giant horde of zombies, as the public is calling them, have gathered outside of the capitol building," The first one started. "The zombies have spread all over the city. It is advised to leave as soon as possible,"
y/n saw Mira staring out of a window by the front door, hackles raised ever so slightly. "Mira, c'mon. Let's go," y/n urged, reaching out to tap Mira's back, though before they could do so, Mira turned around, hissing aggressively before turning back towards the window. "Mira-!" y/n stopped in their tracks when they noticed a set of eyes in the underbrush. The feline continued to glare through the window, growling lowly. y/n's hands twitched, remembering the night before. They turned to grab their still stained coat from the night before, which was neatly hung up by the door. Slipping it on and grabbing a broom from the corner, y/n left the house to take care of whatever was in the bushes.
When they got to the underbrush, the eyes were already turned towards y/n, though it made no move to jump out and attack them. Carefully pulling the branches away, y/n revealed the pink body of the creature. Inhaling sharply, they prepared to ram the broom into its face, but was stopped when the creature made no move to attack or flee. They poked at it with the end of the broom, cringing at the spongy feeling that no longer felt like flesh. The creature showed no signs of discomfort, only staring back at y/n with empty eyes. Slowly, y/n pushed it away, watching it roll back into the woods without protest.
The sound of Mira's meowing brought y/n back to reality. Turning around to stroke her head, y/n struggled to think of what to do next. They knew they should leave for somewhere safer, but where? Everyone they knew lived here in Paradise City. Eventually, y/n decided to try and visit Katerine, in hopes she had more ideas.
The sun peeked over the horizon of the city steeped in chaos. Reanimated corpses drug themselves all over the streets, ignoring traffic and other pedestrians. They all seemed to be headed somewhere, save for a few that were chasing civilians. Looking in the direction they were going towards, y/n recognized it as the old historical site where the first city hall was built. They remembered going on a field trip there once in middle school, but that didn't answer the question of why they were going there. Ignoring the pull of curiosity, y/n continued on their way to Katerine's house, which was in the triangle district.
y/n eyed the large apartment building, squinting at the buzzer, trying to remember their friend's room number. Eventually punching it in, they pressed the button, releasing a harsh buzz. After a few seconds, footsteps could be heard. Thinking that Katerine was waiting for y/n to speak, they started talking. "Katerine, it's me. y/n," They started shakily. "Can I come in?" y/n asked. All that came from the other line was silence, before more footsteps were heard, this time, faster. "Katerine?-" y/n was cut off by a loud buzzing, signaling that the call was ended. y/n, now concerned for their friend, fumbled with their keyring before pulling out a spare Katerine had given them, unlocking the door and rushing up the steps to Katerine's room.
"KAT!?" y/n burst through the door to their friend's apartment, desperately looking around the room for any sign of the girl, but no one was there. Pulling out their phone, they frantically punched in their friend's number, waiting anxiously as the phone rang. "Hey, I'm not here right now-" y/n frustratedly ended the call when it went to voicemail, anxiously pulling on the hem of their jacket. Without knowing where their friend was, y/n refused to leave the city, in fear of leaving their friend to rot. They needed to find Katerine, before something else did.
The sound of thudding footsteps pulled y/n from their thoughts. Turning around to be met face to face with a set of empty eyes. "AAHH!" y/n fell backwards in surprise, looking at the zombie that stood over them. Looking closely, y/n recognized the face that hovered just above them. Its hair was greasy, and its skin was tainted an unnatural pink, but y/n recognized them. "Lucy..?" It was y/n's coworker from the bookstore. It seemed that she didn't make it home like y/n had. "Oh my god..." y/n felt horrible seeing their coworker like this, hunched over and dead eyed. Suddenly, Lucy whipped around, shambling towards the door. "W-Wait!" y/n sprang up, running after their coworker.
They had followed Lucy all the way out of the building and onto the streets. It seemed that she was going the same way that all the others were, to the old historical site. y/n's heart was racing. Why hadn't anything attacked them yet? What had changed from last night? They fiddled with the ends of their stained jacket, anxiety silently eating away at their mind. Eventually, Lucy merged into a huge crowd of other zombies, causing y/n to lose sight of her. Now they were all alone— or as alone as one could be while surrounded by walking corpses—and frightened. They tried to back away from the mob, only to be pushed forward by a group standing behind them.
They all seemed to be grouped around the old city hall, staring at the old walls that were covered in rot. They all stood there in silence before a menacing rumble shook the ground. It shook with such vigor that y/n had to steady themself on a nearby rock. Before they could straighten their back, dozens of tendrils erupted from the ground, swinging around wildly. y/n had to rub their eyes to confirm what they were seeing was real. The tendrils whipped and crashed around, grabbing zombies from the horde that were gathered around, picking them off one by one. y/n noticed a tendril racing towards Lucy, and without thinking, they ran over to tackle her out of the way. The sudden gust of wind pushed their hood back, causing all the remaining zombies to stop and turn towards y/n.
y/n stopped breathing. Too focused on the many pairs of eyes that stared them down. Lucy was still in their grip, also looking up at them. Suddenly, she began to thrash and howl. Spitting and hissing angrily. This caused all the others to follow in a chain reaction. They all started barreling towards y/n, with the intention to kill, but before anything could happen, one of the tentacles from before crashed down and scooped the horde into the hole it came from.
Hundreds of zombies were still coming towards y/n and their coworker, creating a cacophony of shrieks and howls. y/n's pupils shrank, and their breathing grew shallow. Adrenaline rushed through their veins as they hopped to their feet, still holding Lucy, who was still thrashing around. At some point, Lucy's sharp claws had scratched y/n's face, causing a steady trickle of blood down their chin. They ignored it for now. There were more important issues at hand.
y/n ran frantically, their heart pumping what felt like gallons of blood through their veins, until they tripped over Lucy's dragging feet. Lucy had managed to scramble free from y/n's grasp as they landed on their hands. Knowing what was coming next, y/n prepared for the onslaught of bodies and claws, curling up on the ground with their hands covering their face. Nothing happened for a few moments, and y/n wondered if the adrenaline numbed the pain of hundreds of claws digging into their back, before a huge blast shook the earth once more. Hesitantly, y/n turned around, coming face-to-face with a gloved hand. "Wh...Who..?" they stopped, catching their breath while the owner of the hand spoke. "My name's Tess. I'm here to stop the second uprising,"
Short chapter this time, but you guys met Tess! Wonder where Terris and the others are...
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Disguises || REWRITE
Action"The Uprising" is a term that will send shivers down anyone's spine. Several hundred years ago, the dead rose from their graves, and stormed Paradise City. Old, mangled corpses with no sense of direction spread all over the country, bringing plague...
