NEET vs Zombies

chapter 01

⁃ this story is a work of fiction -

Red hair blazed through the empty cinema, the once vibrant theatre now dipped in black-ish red bloodstains, struggling handprints being seen on the once shiny floor of the ticket booth. He looked at the dusty popcorn machine, the stench of rotting corn emitting from it, making him scrunch his nose in disgust. He then rummaged through the shelves of the snack booth, hastily, greedily shoving some unopened candy bars inside of his backpack before opening the empty fridge in hopes of finding some leftover sodas, his stomach growling at the thought of devouring these candy bars for dinner back home.

He never thought that he would crave candy bars before 4 months. His family is well off after all, he could just buy some candy bars and sodas from the local convenience store whenever he wanted to. Well, his family was well off. He couldn't say for sure that they were now, given the circumstances.

His movements were fast and agile, an ear pressed against each door before opening it, watching out for the signature groaning and moaning he had grown sick of after some time. It was funny, really, how his opinions changed over the months of hearing that sound pretty much everywhere; at first, it was traumatising, horrific to see these noises being woven alongside the cries of help and the sound of tearing flesh. After that, the sound made him boil with anger, the drive for revenge filling his tainted soul whenever he heard it, his weapon of choice, a crow bar at the time,  tightening around his fist. And now, after the screams died down, after growing numb of the heart wrenching feeling of losing a dear comrade, the noise just peeved him. It really was a rather unpleasant sound after all, since their vocal cords were all yanked up.

He continued taking down door after door, seeing nothing but empty dark rooms and cinema halls, no zombies or corpses in sight. Which was rather strange, considering how many people frequented the cinemas before the outbreak. But nothing. It seemed like all the bloodshed already happened, leaving only a silent cemetery left, in a place once filled with anything but that, except from the once shown on screen.

He once heard that everything happening in film could happen in reality as well, he remembers one of his „friends" saying that, if he could call him that, judging from the fact that his eyes and friendliness was only ever directed at his black card. He remembered scoffing at that, telling him to stop saying such bullshit, but now, he guessed that he could be right.

He eventually pressed  his ear against the final door, the biggest cinema hall in the building, and after contemplating wether or not to go through another entrance, he softly opened the door. His leader said that these monsters were sensitive to sound, after all. But even in the biggest hall, there was nothing. No zombies that is. But what he did find was even weirder, if that was even possible. What he noticed first was the blinding light that shined on his eyes, not accustomed to seeing particularly bright screens anymore, since all the mobile devices were pretty much useless, except the radio, maybe. The big screen illuminated the room, showing a „thank you for watching at Megabox!" message on the screen, usually being played after a movie rolled its credits, he guessed. He never stayed long enough to check that claim. He also noticed spotlights being tilted towards the stage in front of the screen, illuminating the dried blood on the light wooden floor.

And a corpse laying directly in the middle of it.

He sighed. He didn't need to see corpses, it made him feel even more hopeless for his survival. He turns around, wanting to set out for his return to his base. His little brat of a teammate was probably done with his search as well (he hoped that he had found some more food). He turned, just about to step out, when a sound breached his ears. Not the moaning and groaning of an infected he has more or less grown accustomed to, no. It was the sound of something being thrown. Something a zombie couldn't do, with their lacking competence.

He turned around swiftly, his eyes widening as he sees something flying through the air, before changing his course during mid flight and returning to it's wielder. A boomerang was thrown in the empty cinema from the „corpse" that was now standing, holding the toy in it's hand.

At the sight of her, his eyes almost popped out. She was rather tall, and had a rather lean build, shuffling around a bit in her ridiculously tall, chunky high heels, her long legs wrapped in some bizarre stockings that would make his ex jealous. A bloodied apron was clad over the black mini skirt, and just then did he realise what this mess of a kitchen attire and girly, bloodied frills and white bows was; she was wearing a maid costume. His eyes raked over her form, to her head, where she had a bunny ear headband on, floppy ears bouncing with each motions, which doesn't suprise him anymore, considering the rest of her outfit during a freaking apocalypse. He was almost hesitant to speak up to her because of that, just carefully stepping forward before clearing his voice, his grip on the crowbar in his hand tightening on instinct, a habit he picked up whenever he interacted with someone that didn't belong to his little survivor community, zombie or not.

„Wh.." he starts, not really knowing what words to use next. What were you doing here? What are you wearing? Why are you walking around in a cosplay costume? Where did you come from? He sighed, looking at her, his eyes sharpening a bit. He finally settled on a question, and he took a breath.

„Who are you?"

...silence. He was too far away to see her amber eyes widening, freezing at the tone of his voice. He couldn't blame her, really. It was probably a long time since she had heard a human voice. She was frozen still for a few more moments, seemingly slowly registering what was happening, before her head stagnantly turned around, her movements similar to a puppet whose joints were a bit rusty. Just then, he could make out her face.

She had porcelain skin, skin so white that he was certain that she has never seen the light of day, making her deep eyebags even more prominent. She just stared at him, eyes wide like saucers, and he could make out a bit of trembling. He does not know how long this went on, by far the strangest staring match he had in his life, before he could see how she mouthed some words, her lips dry and shaky. He raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with her? With her appearance she could honestly pass as an infected, but upon further inspection, her skin was crystal clear of any bite marks or wounds. She seemed untouched and weirdly clean, which was...almost impossible in this apocalypse. If she was able to survive this long, she had to have fought zombies..right? He stepped closer in order to hear her voice better, stepping right in front of the stage before her. He cleared his voice, and just now did he realise that their eyes were pretty similar, a pool of amber hues clashing against another sea of golden spots. But just as he opened his mouth again, a raspy voice interrupts him. It seems like she hasn't talked in quite some time.

„ah-...igh- uhn.."

She stuttered, now full on trembling. And before he knows it, her form fell limp, the sound of her head hitting the wooden floor echoing through the cinema hall, ripping him out of his trance. He couldn't even register the door being pushed open, a few strands of blonde hair peeking out from the hood shielding his head, an annoyed shout being heard from him, saying that he should hurry up and what was taking so long. He stood there, frozen in front of the stage, like he had just witnessed the biggest plot twist in a bizarre, shake spear-ish play. There she was, a bizarre girl, coming straight out of one of these anime porno's weird shut in's watch, passed out on the stage in an illuminated, theatrical cemetery.

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