As the wind passed by the set of timber near the roof, Ebony began to contemplate the bushiness and thorough shaking of an apple trees leaves from down below. Her hair was the color of orange, her eyes a perfect green hue. Silky and soft strands that danced beyond the wind so beautifully, she was well known in school. Her treasured beauty was not the only reason for this though, although it did bother her a little that her personality seemed to never get compliments especially since that was one of her favorite things about herself. Ebony was never scared to speak to kids that were quiet, deliquents, or just generally bad news. She saw the good in a lot of people, and she couldn't put it past her to let anyone sit alone at lunch. Well, that was until lately she had been facing some issues with the attention the displayed to people.
Rumors surfaced that she was a no good people pleaser and a fake, but these only really happened when she started dating Hugo. He was pretty well liked when it came to the looks department; these rumors surfaced because of envy. Ebony didn't really get it that much, but Hugo was really nice to her and always spent lunchtime asking her about herself. However, the things she thought about him have been changing lately after he had been showing clear red flags. Though, Ebony being Ebony did not want to believe her thoughts.
Suddenly, she heard a clatter pound from the staircase to her right by the roof. It was her significant other, Hugo. A boy with curly brown hair that looked soft to the touch and a mole to the left of his cheek showed up right next to her at the solid seating. "Ebony, I've been looking all over for you." The boy said to her as he pulled out his phone, raising a brow slowly. "You should really tell me when you go places, I mean I am your boyfriend. ." Before Ebony could reply, she noticed that he was pretty fixated on his phone. This gave her a small chuckle, but she still felt a bit uneasy. "Well, I did figure that going up to the rooftop wouldn't be a big deal. What next, are you going to monitor my friends?" She playfully joked, a humble laughter that escorted itself from her lips. She realized it wasn't really as funny when he didn't laugh back. A silence sat for a periodic time. Hugo, is something wrong?" She asked. "Nothing is wrong, really. But when you mention your friends, I have noticed that Cal was a little bit of a red flag." She sat with a disfigured expression; it was an abstract thought. Cal was her closest friend and always treated her kindly. Ebony had a puzzled fraction of disbelief to her face. "What do you mean?" She asked, about to get up and leave with a firm stepping to her feet. A small sound from the floor came from her standing up. "Ebony, it's just— I don't think you should hang out with her. She's bad news." He bit his lip vaguely "I'm saying this as your—-" Ebony stopped him right there as she turned around, positioning her body in a different direction from him. "I'm your girlfriend, not your friendlist. ." Her lips pierced, continuing. "Or I was, but someone who thinks the girl who has always been by my side is really the bad news." Before she could get up and leave, Hugo stood up too. "Ebony, I think you are acting a bit drastic. Talk to me later when you want to clear things up, especially when I'm just looking out for you." He said, leaving before she could. Ebony sat back down on the bench, leaning down. "I don't think I can forgive him anymore, he even told my friend Camilla that she should stay away from me." I said with a soft voice to myself, looking at the patterned clouds arranged in fluffy patterns that were calming to the eye. "Lately a lot of drama has been going down, even after quarantine and stuff things just haven't been the same. I thought things would change, but maybe he's the issue." Ebony spoke solemnly, but when she noticed her sulking session she quickly pounced up. Instead of laying down, she was now sitting straight. She lifted the palm of her hand and slapped herself across the cheek. "Don't say such stupid things, Ebony. I should try to look at the bright side." She said with an upbeat and lifting voice, she got up to the fence and with a smile looked at the roaming world of people. "All there smiling faces are pure, it's always been that way. Just because there is a problem doesn't mean I can't just fix it. I'll try cutting him off tomorrow and spending more time with Cammy and Cal!" She said satisfied with herself, until she noticed a clamoring disruption from down below. "Wait, that's weird. . why is that father trying to escape his car? I don't think he forgot his keys since he is driving . ." She said with a unusual look to her face, waiting for her question to answer itself. For a moment, she blinked and missed a sight of what was going on. He was across the road now, and he was attacking a group of children with their caretaker. 'Dude, that's messed up. .' she thought to herself, thinking it was just an abuser at first— however she then noticed a mob had crowded around the schools gate and tore it apart. She knew that was definitely not normal, and they seemed to have cannibalistic behaviors. "Am I imagining things, theres no way this could possibly happen." She had speculated she might of been mentally unwell, until she noticed an alarm from her phone. A vibration ran between her fingers as she picked her device up.The caption read 'NOTE: HAVOC AMONG NORTHERN SULLERDALE HAS BROKEN OUT. SEEK SAFETY AND HIDE UNTIL FURYHER NOTICE. For more information on this catastrophic matter stay updated television wise.' Ebony felt tears from her eyes trinkle; this stuff only showed up in movies. It was quite insufferable, as she lifted her hands up and wiped the burst of tears from her eyes. The devastation in the moment was drastic, but it would be better than sulking. . even though in a situation like this, you wouldn't really want to continue either. Her eyes darted to the ledge of the roof for just a brief moment, consulting with her options she realized all she could do was to keep going. She looked at the exit to the staircase, opened the tin door which made a quick thud; she heard the clatters and disrupted movements her feet made in a quick hurry.
Halfway down the hallway, her teeth had shuttered as she concentrated on walking steadily. She felt her heart pump at a steady rate, but before she could get to the end she felt a small and fragile hand pull her in. Her heart had popped out of it's place from fear, with a sudden twist the door was slammed shut. Ebony noticed a small, cheery little boy. Ebony's heart paced, but then she heard the roaring racing steps abrupt from the hall with a large clamorous thunder; she fell to the floor. The little boy smiled at Ebony and placed her hood down from coverage. He wore a bear onesie that covered his curly black hair. "Those things have been passing the hall very fastly, you could of gotten hurt!" The boy said with a raspy voice, innocently. Children were lucky to have such a warm and softness to the pureness of their soul. A girl stood beside a lamp, eyeing a glare at him before beginning to examine the object opposing the light more diligently. The luminous space was secluded along with her. Somehow it still grabbed her attention, maybe because the room was somewhat dark. "Why were you running out in the hall?" She softly spoke, her voice from beyond the blue. The voice caught Ebony off guard, not expecting a question for whatever reason— although it should of been expected. "I was looking for a friend, but I didn't think those— people? I don't really know, but I didn't think they would get in so fast." The girl looked over with a reluctance to her voice, although she knew well it was probably common courtesy to introduce herself. "Well, I'm Nesrin. That is my little brother Romeo. . we are seeking cover for now." Nesrin said calmly, still not making eye contact as she was focused at the moment. "I'm Ebony!" She said with a bright and wide smile, the warmness reflected the vicnity. Her thumb sprang up like the flowers amidst the arrival of spring. Leaving a thumbs up as a greeting. "It's nice to meet you! Let's enjoy our time together, okay?" She said to the girl, Nesrin. She looked a bit off guard, not used to such strong mannered people. She nodded her head "Yes, let's do that." She said softly, Romeo became an interruption as he lightly tugged the orange haired girls arm. "Miss?" He questioned as he looked up. "Yes, what is it?" Ebony asked, looking down at the circulation of a particular hue in his eyes. They beamed with joy. "You're very pretty!" He complimented with a smile, Ebony gave a soft grin. "Aww, you're so kind! You are very sweet." Ebony said with a waver in her voice. Nesrin moved her eyes in their direction, she was happy Romeo was smiling— he was pestering her earlier which led to bickering. They had lost his sister and she promised to find her after all of this happened. They did originally arrive together in a group, but she wandered off when they discovered the outbreak. Romeo was worried for quite a while so it's nice to see a sense of relief from him. That made Nesrin have a small smile. 'It's good to see him smile' she thought to herself silently, she finished wiping off the confiscated pocketknife from the desks cabinet that was currently under the light. A lot of times students brought knifes to school and they got held temporarily by the teachers. It was good to have one for self defense, though she would prefer something with more length that wouldn't make noise. "I'm bored, Nesrin. . are you almost done?" The small boy asked with anticipation in his eyes, they seemed to light up warmly looking as if the smallest disagreement could disrupt them. "I don't know when I'll be done, be patient." She said quietly placing the pocket knife and checking the other cabinets for any sort of resource. "But—" Nesrin placed her finger over his lips, distracting her from what she was doing. "No buts, we don't know whats going on right now and we have to act carefully. It was referred to as a catastrophe." She told him with a vague scold. Ebony looked over to Romeo, her height was much more significant to his. "Romeo, if you're bored we can play a game." Ebony said with benevolence. "Really?! What kind of game?" He asked with a hyper-like tone, clenching his fists from the exhilaration that could not be contained. "Oh, you must want to know huh? This is a very fun game. It's called tic-tac-toe and you don't need a lot to play. It's a fun time killer and you can go against eachother!" She said talking in a child-like manner to the boy, matching his energy. He jumped up, whimsically smiling with rosy cheeks. "Okay! Let's play!" He replied. Ebony pulled out a piece of paper from the notebook in her bookbag, and a pencil from her pouch. "Okay, I'll go first. Player X and Player O rival against eachother and do their best to win." she continued with a smile, meeting the boys eyes. "Look at the three rows, you place your chosen symbol in one of the boxes. Does that make sense?" Romeo looked at the chart, then up at the girl. "Yes, I think so . . but could you still go first?" He asked, he wanted a more clear example that was visible to the eye. "Yeah, I can go! That was the plan originally, anyways." She told him with a warmhearted smirk. She used her pencil and drew in the designated box she targeted; she chose to be circle. "Now you can go, Romeo. Here's a pencil!" She handed him it quietly, a gracious look to her face encouraged him. She was good with kids.
Later on, the young boy had fallen asleep after a few rounds of playing. Ebony had sat there for a while, giving a quiet yawn. She was pretty tired but she knew better than to fall asleep, it would be embarrassing in front of two strangers anyways. Ebony eyed the girl Nesrin; she had been working so hard on getting supplies for her little brother and making sure there wasn't anything on them. She might of had a drastic fear of germs or something, but she speculated wether or not to clean off almost every thing she picked up that she was going to use in the future. "Ebony. . do you know if the coast is clear? It seems about two hours have passed." She asked sheepishly, not really speaking too loudly as she wasn't good with new people. "Oh, Oh!!— Let me check. ." Ebony responded, her voice always caught her off guard. It's not that she was scary, it was just that she didn't talk a lot so it seemed scary when the in particular unfamiliar voice spoke out. Her brown eyes took a peak from the window, pulling out the ebony colored curtain. Much like her name. After seeing the left side, her face looked ghastly. It was blank but with dead bodies scattered in arrays. A disastrous and calamitously blood boiling sight. She started to gag as she quickly turned her head and closed her eyes. A prolonged pattern of seconds soon cut short as she grabbed the pieces of humanity she had left to stay collected with herself, she visited the right side of the window and saw a mangled creature. It looked distorted, and the color of skin was not very human. It looked like crusts of mold and pieces of clod embedded in the depths of the mutated skin."Well, it's not exactly. ." she tried to finish, still at a loss of words. A zombie plunged at her as it met the hopelessness and desperation in her eyes. The claws embarked with unusual skin aimed for the front of her face, she quickly reacted with a flinch and a palpitation in her heart. It found itself stuck in the window for a minute, and it started to climb through. "Come on, Nesrin— we need to go now!" She shouted loudly, her voice not usually as loud and strong as it was now. The fierce in her voice showed she was in no manner to take it slow. Nesrin opened one of the backdoors, giving Ebony a glare. "Carry my brother, try to wake him up when you can." She told her. Ebony picked him up by the feet, and as the monsters atrocious and malicious aura followed with it's agitated footsteps they slammed the door on it. "The quickest way to get out of here without attracting any zombies would be the gym. We just left the direction of the other two exits where they are mostly located." Nesrin said with an insistance, showing she was not ready to take any other options. "We can't break any windows, that would lure them in our direction." She said. "Oh, okay. . that sounds about right." Nesrin said with reticence. "Let's hurry though. . I don't want one of those things to touch any of us." Ebony said.
The two girls and the little boy made it to around the area near the courtyard. Nesrin watched Ebony follow her as she closed the gym door, squinting her eyes with a sudden flinch as it made a bashing sound due to it's metal properties. Zombies were stuck trampled on the opposite end of the fence, but the front was fine. As the two walked over, Nesrin stopped in her tracks. This caused Ebony to stop as well. "What are you doing?" She asked with a tad bit of confusion. "So, here's the plan. I'll put my brother on my back, as well as lift you up. When you get across I'll hand you my brother and then I'll go over." Nesrin said as she dusted off her jeans. "Does that sound okay?" Ebony nodded her head with a smile to signal mutual agreement. Ebony went across the fence, placing her feet as the steps made small noises. Her feet landed on the grass that the sunset purely reflected on. "Okay, okay. . take him." Nesrin said in a whisper as she handed her little brother over. Nesrin hopped up as well, feeling a steady thud on the ground as her feet felt pressure by the time she landed.
The three made it across, walking diligently as strands of grass popped back up from under their feet. A few hours happened to pass and the school site was out of view. Ebony's orange hair that looked like the color of a pure sunstone, opposite from her name for whatever reason. . meaning of the color black, but her smile was as bright as the wonders of day. She also had a pulchritudinous pitch of beauty that captured practically anyones eyes. Nesrin was more fitting, and a much more quiet girl. Nesrin had then stopped, looking over to Ebony. "This is our stop. We have to go after our sister and find her," Nesrin continued with a low voice as she turned her head "this means we will have to part, unless you'd like to tag along" Nesrin said. "Oh, I didn't know you lost your sister. . I'm so sorry." She said with a certain sadness that crept over. "It's all okay, it doesn't really concern you." Nesrin said with awkwardness, but deep down she was a little worried for her. Ebony pondered, giving a warm smile. But a hint of reluctance seemed to creep upon her right shoulder like a mini devil. She had two fathers at home, and she didn't want to worry them— but they always wanted her to take care of herself in catastrophic emergencies like this, they had even joked about the one time they watched an apocalypse movie if she had an opportunity to take cover with someones guidance that she should. She was sure she would find them along the way, but the gulp that severed down her throat made her worry. She still wanted to help them find their little sister though, so of course, she wanted to assist them. Feeling assured and passionate, she hyped herself up and clenched her fists in a ready manner. "Wait, I can really tag along?" Ebony asked with a firm look to her face, eventually giving in. It was bright as well. Gleaming with the light of the seven seas, she was as pure and pink as a rose quartz. Her aura that is, not quite literally. "Of course you can. . I mean, I asked." She said with a timid sound to her voice, not very confident in repeating herself. Ebony jumped up with excitement. "Yay, okay! I'll tag along. . but it's really—" Nesrin cut her off with a smile, then a shrug. "Of course, it's fine. I asked afterall."
The group headed off into the sunset setting sky, with the street lights looming over with a sudden flicker. The voices and sounds of eerieness and the components of ominous structures led them to have chills down their spines, but together they were sure they could do it. Romeo looked up above Ebony's shoulder, as he woke up with exhausted and fragile baby doll eyes. Soft and simple, just like his sisters. Deep down, he hoped they would find Rhea.
'Rhea, we are coming. . don't worry, okay?'
he thought to himself, letting his eyes doze off once more.