• -Prologue-


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    Skylar didn't expect this would be the way she would die. Fighting for her breath. Being in a place where she can't feel safe or comfortable.

    She can't speak, she can't scream... she can't even cry. This is those rare moments where fear takes over her.

    A school pool isn't exactly the best place to die, especially when it's filled with blood and guts of the very classmates you spent time with, the very classmates who laughed, fought and supported you. Added with probably a few zombies struggling to swim around.

    This was the place where they decided to deposit the bodies for the time being, and at the same time, a trap for zombies who lurked by. It smelled so bad and it was filled with dead carcasses, it was called the 'Corpse Pool'. It just so happened that there might've been an idiot that accidentally filled up the pool with water, and coincidentally pull off the pool's cover.

    It didn't help that she didn't know how to swim.

    Her muscles were going stiff at the amount of work she exerted just to keep her head above the water, and she knew... eventually she would sink.

    And she did.

    She sunk down, closing her eyes, feeling the blood and the guts and all the body particles, wriggling by. It was like putting your hand inside a dead animal. She felt sick, her sudden inner sadist gone for a split second.

    She was swimming in the pool which contained her dead friends. She was swimming in their blood, in their guts. It felt so wrong, and she wanted to get out of here. With her remaining strength, she rose up once again, gasping for air.

    Sink. Rise. Sink. Rise.

    Every damn time she rose, she wanted to scream, so loud, to anyone. She ran out of energy eventually, and sunk deeper, and deeper to her death.

    Finally, she opened her mouth, and tasted the metal tang of blood of the corpse pool. She screamed, all the names she could remember, all her friends.

    Jared. Elias. Mielle. Grisja.

    She felt the oxygen running out, she felt her lungs closing up on her. She merely closed her eyes, letting death enrapture her.

    A splash was heard, and she felt herself be pulled up. She didn't realize how good the air felt, moving through her lungs. Opening her eyes, she shook violently, embracing the figure that had saved her.

    Jared.

    ----


    Jared was particularly fond of jogging, running, or any kind of athletic exercise. He also didn't mind sweating, the usual cramps or any cons from working out.

    One thing Jared minded, however, was his sleeping time. First of all, this 'sorry' excuse of a 'simulated' zombie apocalypse plagued his class, dragging him along with it. He even thinks why he bothered attending class, he could've probably spared himself from this.

    He woke up because it blacked out, and most importantly, Keira's scream, followed by a bunch of other screams. He rushed, and his eyes widened, when he saw a hand reaching out from the corpse pool.

    Someone was drowning.

    He wanted to go to the Girl's Dorm and save Keira from something, be the flashy knight in shining armor. But, there was this drowning dope.

    As if on instinct, he jumped in. He wasn't the best at swimming, Lucille and Grisja could kick his a** at it, but he needed to save whoever was losing their breath.

    Red.

    Everything he saw was red. The ******** 'Corpse Pool' as everyone else said it, he closed his eyes, remembering how many have died in there. He hoisted up his arms around a small figure, and lifted them up as quickly as he could.

    He shuddered, and shook badly at the smell of decay. He was going to take a ******** shower after this, blackout or no blackout.

    He pushed the figure, probably female, towards the pool's edge, and lifted her up. Once she was on solid ground, he went up as well.

    He glanced at the girl. Black sweater and red shirt underneath. Black wavy hair that reached up to her shoulders.

    Skylar.

    Without hesitation, she embraced Jared, and sobbed on his shoulder, shaking violently. Jared, never seeing this side of Skylar, the cold, sadistic, brave Skylar who used to whack the guys who tried sneaking into the girl's bathroom senseless, crying. He got stiff at first, but then relaxed, and rubbed his hand on her back.

    Sweat formed on his forehead when he remembered Keira's scream however. She could be dead the moment he finished this very sentence.

    When Skylar had unattached herself from him, and seemed calm already, he stood up to leave. But, her small hands held tightly to his wrists.

    "Please." She mumbles, so quietly that he had to actually exert effort to hear her.

    "Don't leave. Not yet."

    And so he didn't.

    -----


    While they were hugging it out, Skylar shivered horribly in his arms. Jared held on tightly to her, rubbing small circles on her back. Hot, warm tears dripped on his shirt, and even if they were covered in guts and smelled like dead carcasses, she didn't mind.

    He stroked her hair gently as her small sobs turned into wails,

    They knew very well, however, that they couldn't stay like this forever. Not when there was a blackout going on, not when everyone is screaming. She could hear the distant moan of a zombie, and various screaming from the girl's room.

    Her heart was beating erratically, still not over the experience that she was so close and near to her death. If Jared hadn't been there, she had been a floating human corpse. She shivered at the thought of her own demise.

    Jared's hand gently cupping her cheek was enough to snap her out from her morbid thoughts. She sighed, his gesture calming her beating heart. She looked at him, her stormy gray orbs meeting his emerald ones. His hand drops from her cheek, and holds her hand.

    They stay like that, for a few minutes, then Jared stands up, and pulls her up as well. Skylar is amazed that he still has the momentum and energy to send his smirk at her, despite the situation at hand.

    "We need to get moving."

    He mumbles as he takes off his varsity jacket, and places it on her shoulders, to which Skylar is glad for. She pulls it closer, as the cool breeze of the evening chills both of them.

    "...Shall we?" Jared asks, extending a hand out to her, Skylar nods, and takes it, her other hand still gripping tightly at his varsity jacket.

    "Let's." She said, shooting him a look of determination, and a small smile playing on her pink lips. Jared glances at her, his smirk evolving into a grin as well.

    "Are we going to make it out alive?" Skylar asks him, and Jared smiles, uneasily, but shifts into a determined smirk.

    "If it's me and you? ******** yeah." He says, reassuringly, and Skylar smiles.

    He entwines their fingers together, and they start running, to wherever the hell they go. First move, to gather everyone, then switch on the generator, finish the zombies off, power on the security cameras again and return to slumber.

    Both of them know it's not going to be that simple, and it's going to be a hell lot complicated than it sounds, and they're not even sure that they'll make it out, or if there are going to be heavy casualties, but as long as they're together, it's going to be okay.

    They're going to be okay.

    While her thoughts are madly running, she reminisces the simple days of her high school life. Studying, looking out of windows, goofing around with Grisja, Mielle and Tanya. Back when life still made sense.

    Then College Guy just had to come and ruin the entire thing.

    Closing her eyes, she remembers that very day.

    That day when her world stopped making sense.