F*ck It, It's The Apocalypse

Chapter Three: Luck? Or Skill?

WE DECIDE THAT the best approach would be climb up the stairs to the fire escape to avoid all the zombies inside. If we’re lucky then there will be zero to very little zombies in Ko’s classroom, but with my luck… the zombies are probably hosting their own rave in there. I wouldn't even be surprised if the zombies have a better social life than me. 

    "Oooooh look what I found..." Katerina says as she picks a fire extinguisher off the ground. She examines it in her hands and smiles. "Perfect."

    "Are you sure that isn't too bulky for you to swing around?" I ask. I'm not trying to say she's weak or anything, I swear. I just think that it would be difficult to maneuver because of it's awkward shape. 

    She glares at me but then suddenly smirks. "Trust me, I've swung around much bulkier things before..." she says in a low voice.

    This girl is going to give me a heart attack at nineteen years old...

    I look around the building to try to figure out why a random fire extinguisher was laying out her. The fire extinguisher is in almost perfect condition, just a few scratches on it. As I stare at the large brick building in front of us, I notice that there is an eerily silence around us. I can still hear distant screams so I know that the monsters, or zombies, are definitely still around. 

    Maybe the chaos started here? 

    There is shattered glass on the ground around where Katerina picked up the fire extinguisher. Judging from the massive jagged hole in one of the windows, I think it's safe to say that someone used it to break the window to escape. There is what looks like fresh blood dripping down the jagged pieces onto the brick wall. The broken window is on the first floor so it's possible that most of the zombies followed whoever escaped through the window. Maybe we really will be lucky enough to not run into any zombies while saving Ko.

    We go up the stairs of the fire escape slowly, trying not to make any noise. As we get closer to the third floor I hear low moans from inside.

    Please just be some freaky ass people fucking...

    We crouch below the window and I peek inside. As sick as it sounds, I'm disappointed that I don't see anyone f*****g inside... because I see two zombies hobbling around instead. I study their movements for a moment. They seem to be wondering around aimlessly and they don't seem to since my presence as that zombie could before. 

    I turn around and press my back against the wall. I hold two fingers up towards Katerina and she seems to understand what I'm indicating. I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone to text Ko.

    I'm here. Run to the fire escape when I tell you to.

    She immediately replies back.

    Okay.

    I turn to Katerina and mouth, "Break the window." 

    She nods and we both stand up. We exchange looks with each other momentarily and swing our weapons into the glass. Our weapons immediately through the glass and now we have an entrance. The zombies immediately notice the window breaking and they begin to creep towards us. Lucky for us, they seem to have damage to their legs that makes them slower than the zombies I've seen before. I quickly glide my bat over the jagged edges of the window so to keep us from receiving too many cuts as we pass through. 

    I step through the window and immediately run towards the larger zombie on the left.

    This motherfucker must have been a linebacker...

    I swing my bat towards his head and, my god, does this asshole have reflexes. He might have been slow with his legs but it's almost like he can predict my next moves. Am I being too predictable? How the f**k does he even have a conscience to figure what I'm going to do? What are the odds that I end up with the woke zombie of the apocalypse.... With every swing I attempt he blocks with his very broken forearms. He snarls at me and suddenly lunges, but fortunately I have quick reflexes as well and I dodge his grasp.

    Maybe I should do something unexpected...

    I swing my bat and take out that motherfuckers ankles. My bat breaks right through one of his ankles and causes the big bastard to fall backwards. As I'm about to give the final blow to his skull, I feel something bump into my foot. I take a peek at the object before finishing asshole off. A fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher. 

    I quickly glance over to Katerina and I'm horrified. I'm not sure how it happened because of how consumed I was with my own battle, but somehow the zombie has managed to pin Katerina to the ground. It ferociously snaps at her face as she tries to hold it back with one hand on its throat and the other hand on its forehead. f**k, that thing is so mangled that I can't even tell if it's a guy or girl. f**k, I didn't tell Katerina to immediately go for the head to kill zombies... She must have just been beating the f**k out of it. 

    I glance between my zombie and hers in panic, trying to figure out what to do. In the last glance I give her, Katerina's eyes meet mine. Those pale green eyes are filled with fear as they stare back at me, and I realize that I'm staring into the eyes of someone who is afraid to die. 

    Suddenly I'm swept off my feet by linebacker zombie who yanks me down by ankle. My elbows shoot sharp pains up my arms as I land on them on the hard floor, causing me to drop my bat. 

    "Get... the fuck... off me!" I yell as I repeatedly kick at his face. His grip on my ankle loosens as my final kick breaks his neck, though I know that won't kill him. 

    I quickly turn to my side and reach for my bat and the fire extinguisher. My eyes meet with with Katerina's once more before I bang the two objects together. Their collision causes a high pitched ring to echo throughout the room. Both zombies immediately stop what they are doing and roll around attempting to cover their ears with their arms. 

    Katerina and I spring to our feet, and I go to her. I scan her body searching for any bite wounds and I don't see any. Her eyes are wide and she seems visibly shaken. She's clearly not as fearless as she claims to be. I don't think she will be able to kill her zombie from the fear that still fills her eyes. The zombies seem to be already recovering from the ringing as they stop rolling around and try to orient themselves.

    I grab my bat and hand it to Katerina. She gives me a bewildered look but takes it into her shaking hands. I arm myself with the fire extinguisher and face towards the zombies who begin to crawl their way towards us.

    "Katerina, go!" I bark. She looks between me and the zombies, but ultimately turns around and climbs out the window. "Okay, Ko, run!"

    Almost immediately after I yelled for her, Ko leaps out of the closet and runs towards the window. She hesitates before going through. She looks back at me with big, concerned eyes.

    "Go, Ko! Now!" I scream. "My car is just outside." I toss the keys to her.

    She catches them and hesitates once more, but then goes through the window. Now it's just me and two zombies. Just exactly what I thought I would be doing during finals...not. 

    Katerina's zombie is mangled as f**k, but that doesn't mean it can't stand up. It stands and begins to creep towards me, while my linebacker zombie resumes its slow crawl towards me as well. I decide that it would be better to deal with Katerina's zombie first since it was faster. I adjust the fire extinguisher in my hands and charge at the zombie. I use the butt of the fire extinguisher and crash it into the zombie's face, knocking it on its back. I waste no time and immediately bash its head in with the fire extinguisher.

    I turn my attention to my zombie who is only a couple feet away now. I don't bother to waste any time with him either and immediately bash his skull in as well. I'm full of adrenaline, but I'm still exhausted. I'm also covered in blood and probably brains. And it is not an appealing smell. 

    I climb through the window and see that several zombies must have heard the commotion up as they head towards the fire escape, blocking my exit. I glance over to my car and see Katerina crouching in the passenger seat, but I can't see Ko anywhere. Hopefully she's just hiding in the back somewhere. I see that I can't simply run down the stairs as three zombies are literally climbing their way up with five more not far behind them. I mean I think I've been doing pretty well so far in the apocalypse, but there's no way in f**k I'm ready to take on eight zombies at once. 

    I could try hitting the fire extinguisher on the railing to temporarily incapacitate them, but I don't think it would disorient them long enough for me to get past them. Right now all I think about is how royally f****d I am. I could try running back inside and go out the normal way, but I have no idea how many zombies are left inside. I begin to feel utterly hopeless, especially when I see Katerina slide over to the driver's seat. She can tell how f****d I am. She's doing the smart thing and getting the hell out of there while she still can. I feel even more hopeless when she starts the engine. I feel absolutely sick to my stomach.

    This is it... She's really leaving me here.

    But she doesn't. She rolls down the window halfway and screams, "Run! f*****g run, you i***t!"

    Huh?

    I look down at the zombies and see that the car starting captured their attention. They begin to slowly descend down the stairs, probably because the car is closer to them than I am. I take the opportunity to slide down the railing on my ass, and it was a lot faster ride than I thought it would be. When I reach where the stairs change direction, there's a sharp turn in the railing. f**k, I think I'm going to fly right off this thing and break my neck. I abruptly tighten my grip on the rail right before the turn and come to a hard stop. Unfortunately, the three zombies are right by this corner and don't hesitate to try to grab me. I whack the absolute f**k out of one of them, and then Katerina hits the horn on the car to distract the other two. I quickly slide down the rest of the railing and run to the passenger side of the car and hop.

    "Drive! f*****g drive!" I scream at Katerina as she did to me before. She immediately puts the car in reverse and zooms the hell out of there. 

    "Where am I going?" she ask.

    I sigh as I see the zombies shrink in the rear view mirror. "Just get us the hell out of campus..." I say.

    She nods. After a few moments she gives a small smile and says, "You might want to check on princess back there..."

    Oh s**t, I forgot about Ko. I climb into the back and search for her. I don't see her around any of the seats which confuses the hell out of me. Is she under the seats or something? I mean Ko is small, but not that f*****g small. 

    "Ko, where the hell are you?" I ask. She peeks her head over the very back row of seats. "Why are you in the trunk?"

    She doesn't say anything. She just gives me a terrified look with her wide, dark eyes. She seems to be literally shaking in fear. Is she scared of me? Maybe it's the blood. Ko has always been scared of any kind of violence, so I'm not exactly sure how she'll do in the apocalypse.

     I lift the hem of my shirt and wipe the blood and sweat off my face. I turn to her again and say softly, "It's me, Ko. I'm okay... I didn't get bit..."

    "Chance...!" she sobs. She suddenly leaps out from behind the seat and wraps her arms around me. "I thought you were dead! I-I can't believe what's happening!" 

    She cries into my chest and I stroke her hair. She suddenly sits up and kisses me passionately. At first I freeze, unsure of what to do. It's been so long since we kissed... I mean only like a month but you get the idea. I feel my resentment towards her come to my subconscious, but I push it down. Even though I don't want to be with Ko right now, I definitely don't mind getting lost in her kiss for a while and forgetting about everything outside. I deepen the kiss further and return her passion, much to her surprise. She releases a sigh and I truly do forget about everything else for a moment. 

    But we are interrupted when Katerina makes a sudden sharp turn and Ko is thrown back against the seat. "I thought you said we were saving your ex-girlfriend, Chancey..." she said. I notice a touch of venom in her voice.

    Ko looks at Katerina quizzically and looks back at me. "Chance, who is this?" she ask.

    I look between the two. "What? You guys didn't introduce yourselves while I was fighting a mob of zombies?" I ask. 

    Katerina laughs. "Uh no, your girlfriend threw the keys at me and dived into the trunk the second she made it out."

    Ko glares at Katerina, but her eyes turn to confusion. She suddenly looks at me with tears in her eyes. "Chance, why is she wearing your clothes? Are you hooking up with her?" she asks.

    Katerina snorts.

    "Ummmm...." I struggle to find the words to explain the situation.   

    Tears fall down Ko's face as she waits for me to explain, but Katerina giggles. "Yeah I don't usually hook up with guys who wear outer space cat underwear." she says.

    I grimace at Katerina. "You know, I'm not exactly ugly..." I say.

    Katerina smiles. "Oh I know..." she says as she gives me a quick wink.

    I feel an intense blush creep onto my cheeks. 

    God, this girl....

    "So you hook up with a lot of guys then?" Ko asks suddenly. She's no longer crying, but she looks absolutely pissed. She must be asking this to belittle Katerina.

    I was about to defend Katerina, but of course she doesn't need any help from me.

    "Bold of you to assume that I only hook up with guys..." Katerina says with another wink towards Ko.

    Oh. My. f*****g. God.

    Ko gasps and averts her eyes to the floor. I can see her blush intensely. Good, now she can understand what it feels like being in the unbearable s****l tension that is Katerina. 

    "My name is Katerina Akulov..." Katerina says, "And I already know you're Ko." She Ko's name as if it has a bitter taste.

    "Actually it's Kotoko Williams," Ko says with tense knuckles. "And you can call me Kotoko."

    Oh fuck...

    Ko only tells people to call her 'Kotoko' if she absolutely despises them. This is going to be a long apocalypse.

    Katerina suddenly giggles. "Look at that i***t dangling up on the light pole..." she says pointing to our right. 

    I give a small chuckle as well, but Ko gives a loud gasp. 

    "Chance," she says, "that's Brexton!"

    "Stop the car!" I command and Katerina brakes immediately. 

    I look closer through the window and see my best friend, indeed dangling from a light pole, right above a dozen zombies...