Eventually We Find Our Way (1/3)
Pairing: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson slight Liam/Zayn
Characters: All the boys and others.
Rating: NC-17 I suppose for violence and language
Summary: Harry wakes up post infection/zombie apocalypse and Louis is nowhere to be found.
Word count: This chapter 5, 358
++ the italics are flashbacks by the way
Day 2
Harry wakes up, feeling groggier than he normally would. He tries to part his lips to let out a tired groan but his mouth is much too dry. He blinks his eyes several times but each blink brings him no closer to seeing light. “Turn the light on you morons” he calls out, his voice scratchy and he has never felt this thirsty before in his whole life. No one replies and he strains his ears to hear anything in this dark room. He hears distant screaming. Must be the fans he thinks and opens his mouth again to call out for one of the boys to turn the damn light on. That is when he feels a clammy hand fasten around his mouth and a hard object hitting his head, knocking him out before he can even struggle.
Day 5
The screaming has stopped but the darkness remains. Harry is no longer certain he is amongst his friends and is sitting as still as he possibly can, hardly daring to breath with his arms wrapped tightly around his head. He has worried himself sick trying to think about what could possibly be going on but nothing rational comes to mind. He refuses to think about where anyone else is and focuses solely on catching his own breath. I just want a fucking drink, one drink.
He hears a sudden movement to his left and clenches his whole body until he feels as stiff as a board. He curses at his own hands as they begin to tremble.
Such big hands Harry, I could find good use for them
“Harry?”
Harry is sure the second voice is also a flashback and remains silent.
“Harry?” the voice hisses again, piercing the air, the sound louder to Harry now than any thunder storm he has ever endured. It is familiar, an Irish voice, a friendly voice now riddled with fear.
“Niall?” Harry dares to reply and hears a tremendous sigh of relief and what sounds and feels like a body slumping next to him.
“Thank God, I was starting to worry that thump I gave you actually killed you” he hears Niall trying to joke but his tone falls flat, his worry clear even in the dark.
“That was you?” Harry whispers incredulously. He feels Niall cringe into himself.
“Sorry but I thought you were going to panic and draw attention to us, I had no other choice”
Draw attention? When has that ever been a bad thing for them? What the hell is going on?
“Niall, what-“
He feels Niall’s hand over his mouth and stops short, listens as a sudden thump echoes around them. Harry’s sure his heartbeat is louder than the thumping, coming from up above them. It stops after a few minutes and seems to move off into the distance. Harry turns to look at Niall but the place is still so fucking dark.
He hears a scratching noise and suddenly the distance between Harry and Niall is lit by a tiny match in Niall’s hand. Niall looks awful; Harry almost reels back at the shock of seeing him. His skin is smeared with dirt, he looks ten years older, worry etched all across his usually glowing face. Niall moves his hand across the room, lighting it up and checking each corner hurriedly. When he is certain the coast is clear he reaches for something at his feet and switches on a large torch, lighting most of the room.
Afraid to speak, Harry takes in his surroundings. He is in what appears to be a shelter of some sort. The wall in front of him is covered with large shelves with various items scattered across each one. There is a variety of tinned food and tools, things useful for such events as a bomb scare or a bad storm.
“Niall what is going on?” Harry finally asks, watching as Niall pours Harry a flask of water with shaking hands.
Niall hands it to him and Harry drinks it ravishingly, feeling blissful as the water sooths his chapped lips.
“You’re not going to find this easy to believe but just- just bear with me ok?” Niall starts, looking extremely tired but not tired enough where he would willingly fall asleep. Harry nods his head sharply and shakes the last remaining bit of water in his flask.
“Around five or six days ago, we were just finishing our tour as you know, when all over the news there was some kind of epidemic happening up in Scotland. Some disease was spreading more rapidly than anything doctors anywhere in the world had seen. This disease had affected over a million people in under 24 hours. There was no time for hospitals in the UK to prepare for such an influx of patients. So the ones who were refused access were left to roam the streets, the police tried to contain them but, they went, well they went crazy. They started attacking the police, like biting them, fucking eating them. They are savages, some say they are zombies. I don’t know anymore, the media has been down since the second day. I have no idea what is going on, all I know is we need to stay as far away from the Infected as possible. We were all ushered away when we found out, Paul didn’t tell us what was happening, he was just pushing us, that is when you fell and hit your head, which is why you woke up in this hell hole” Niall stops telling his story and waits patiently for Harry’s response.
Harry is sitting on his hunches, unable to process this shocking information. He shakes his head numerous times and waits for Niall to burst out laughing or that Ashton Kutcher asshole to jump out and scream “PUNK’D” in his face. But he knows deep down that nobody would go this far for a joke, not even Louis.
Wait. Louis.
“Where are the others?” Harry stands up, now suddenly aware of the small space and it being only him and Niall. Niall stand up too and places his hands on Harry’s shoulders, immediately recognising Harry’s panic.
“Zayn and Liam are in a bunker nearby; I’ve being going over and back to check on them, they are fine”
He pauses and his eyes dart around the room, trying to find anything to focus on that isn’t Harry’s wild eyes.
Harry raises his eyebrows, the nerves in his stomach stopping him from asking the question.
“I um, I don’t know where Louis is”
There is a harrowing silence in the bunker following Niall’s short and nervous statement. Harry feels like crumbling to the floor, feels like shoving Niall against the wall for telling him all this. Instead, he just gently lifts Niall’s hands off his shoulders and paces the room. His hands are shaking so much he feels like he is going to have a fit. Niall watches him like a hawk, unable to say anything to comfort Harry, feeling just as bad as him but trying to remain level headed.
“When is the last time you saw him?” Harry finally asks, his back to Niall and his face inches from the wall. He can almost hear the kegs of Niall’s brain moving.
“Before we were ushered into the bunkers, he was helping carry you into this one. When they closed the door he was not with us, I tried to get out to get him Harry, I did”
Harry raises his hand to shush him and tries to stop his mind filling up with images of Louis being grabbed and mauled by some zombie like creature. He fights back the waves of nausea but it is all way too much to handle and he falls to the ground before Niall can catch him.
Day 6
“I’m fucking sick of waking up in the dark” Harry mumbles and waits for Niall’s response. When it doesn’t come Harry reaches out to his left and his hand grasps air instead of the arm of his friend. He remembers everything Niall told him and sits up. He nearly screams out Niall’s name but remembers that he will only draw unwanted attention. He scrambles around for the torch but cannot find it, instead his hands land on a long steel object. A crowbar maybe. He grips it like it is his life and huddles in the corner, his eyes focused on what he hopes is the door.
He tries to distract himself by humming. Quietly of course.
My least favourite thing Harry does? Humming, he never shuts up, sometimes I just want to tape his mouth shut and get a lie in in the morning.
Harry immediately stops humming and sits in silence for what feels like hours.
He hears footsteps overhead and swallows, gripping the crowbar tightly. The door to the bunker opens and Harry’s eyes squint against the light, he feels terrified as his vision is useless to him now so he swings out wildly with the bar.
“Jaysus what are you trying to do to me?” he hears Niall yelp and withdraws his arm.
“Sorry” he grumbles and his eyes thankfully become adjusted to the blinding light outside.
“Liam says you need to go outside for a while or else you will get sick, so come on, quick” Niall says and grabs Harry by the arm to help him up.
Harry stars to feel anxious, afraid of what he is going to see outside but follows Niall’s retreating figure. He feels the cold English air hit his face as soon as he steps out and almost smiles. He takes in his surroundings. They seem to be situated in the middle of nowhere but the harder Harry looks, he spots a city skyline in the distance. He wants to run towards it, to not feel so alone anymore. Niall is kicking some dirt around at the door of what looks like another bunker. Harry notices how little grass there is around them, no trees, nothing except dirt and stone.
“What happened to the trees?” he asks, noticing a stump a few feet to his right.
“The Infected thought they were food I suppose” Niall shrugs and clutches his stomach. “Speaking of food”
Harry then realises with a sharp pang to his stomach that he cannot remember the last time he ate and is hit with a sudden wave of hunger.
“Come on we get something in Liam and Zayn’s bunker, their shelves are way more loaded up than ours” Niall offers and heads off to another bunker sticking out of the dirt. Harry eyes the door that Niall was kicking dirt around with an uneasy feeling in his heart but follows Niall, ignoring anything his brain is trying to scream at him.
Niall lifts open the rusty bunker door and Harry almost cheers when he sees Zayn and Liam sitting together over a torch. They jump up and hug him tightly, clapping him on the back and talking over each other, telling him things that Harry does not even pay attention to. He is just so glad to see them safe. He ignores the gnawing feeling in his stomach when he thinks that Louis should be with them and sits down to a tin of tuna and peaches with the other boys.
Day 7
Warehouses are not a safe place to be during a zombie apocalypse Louis decides when, for the sixth time, he finds himself nesting in the rafters as a group of ravenous teenager’s storm in looking for food.
“I’d eat anything now, I’d even eat a human” one of them groans as they toss empty packets of food away in their search.
“Do not tempt me” another shouts out and they all laugh, finally realising that there is nothing here and leaving again.
Louis waits until he is certain they are well gone before he climbs back down to the ground. He removes the numerous cardboard boxes and reveals his new ‘abode’ as he likes to call it. He looks warily at the tiny amount of food he has left and settles down into his bubble-wrapped box for another restless night’s sleep.
He is about to drift off when he hears what he first thinks is a cat meowing outside. As he listens closer, he realises that it is in fact a girl crying. He sighs and hopes she will shut up soon as it is dark and she is likely to bring a hoard of Infected upon the warehouse. After a few minutes he can still hear the low sobs and grumbles angrily as he hops out of his box to go shut this girl up. He picks up the baseball bat he had plucked from dead body only days ago and slowly makes his way over to the door. He pokes his head out and checks that the coast is clear before flitting out and backing himself against the wall.
“Hello?” he hisses and hears the girl’s sobs grow quieter.
“Hello, answer me for fuck sake” he hisses again and hears a hiccup from behind a rock in front of him. He slowly walks over to it and looks around. His heart sinks when he sees a little girl of no more than six years of age clutching her knees and wiping away tears.
He wants to leave her there and almost does but she turns up to face him and he almost gasps when she meets his eyes.
I hate my eyes Louis, they are too big and green and urgh, I wish I had your eyes.
“Are you ok?” he whispers and lowers his baseball bat which she is eyeing warily. She shakes her head and clutches what looks like a tiny bear in her hand, wiping her eyes with it. Louis goes down onto his knees and looks at her. She is wearing dungarees that Niall would love and under them a purple top, her blonde hair is in pigtails which Louis fights the urge to tug.
“What’s that then?” he asks, pointing at her hand. She clutches it even tighter and scowls at Louis.
“You’ll only make fun of me” she pouts and crosses her arms. Louis nearly laughs at the sight of this tiny girl and her tear stained face scowling at him.
“I won’t, I promise” he assures her and after a moment she unfolds her arms and unclenches her fist. In her palm is a tiny teddy bear, a blue one that has a fake smile and beady eyes.
“His name is Clyde” she announces and looks at Louis as if challenging him to say something.
“Hello Clyde” Louis says and the girl smiles and seems to relax more.
“And who are you little madam?” he asks.
The girl pauses and looks at Louis, judging him, trying to decide whether to trust him or not.
“Ellie”
“I’m Louis”
She is about to respond when there is a loud banging noise not too far from their location. Louis picks her up and thankfully she does not protest and he rushes inside the warehouse, not looking back once.
Day 8
Harry is with Liam in Liam and Zayn’s bunker whilst Niall and Zayn are out patrolling the area. Liam is fiddling with a radio, his tongue sticking out in concentration and a small spanner resting behind his ear. Harry regards him fondly and asks Liam if he needs help.
“I’m fine, I just to fix the wires and hopefully I will have it up and running soon” Liam mutters, not taking his eyes off the radio.
After a few moments silence Harry starts fidgeting with his hair.
“I am sure he is fine” Liam says quietly and Harry looks at him but Liam’s eyes are still on the radio.
“How can you be so sure?” Harry whispers, suddenly anxious for Liam’s wise words.
Liam stops fixing the radio and places his tool on the floor and grabs Harry’s hand out of his hair. He fixes his eyes on Harry’s and stares at him.
“I would feel it, we all would” he says and when Harry nods shortly, Liam releases him and returns to the radio. Harry does not touch his hair again and tries to catch some sleep.
He is roused from his sleep by the door suddenly banging open and Niall and Zayn thundering into the bunker. They are both short of breath and Niall is clutching his eye and moaning. Liam drops his tools and Harry sits up, pointing the torch at Niall.
“What happened?” Liam asks Zayn as he removes Niall’s hand from his eye. His eye has a scratch running from the end of his eyebrow to just under his bottom eyelid. There are beads of blood dripping down his cheek.
“We were about to return to the bunker when that random door in between our two bunkers opened and this guy just ran at us with a knife in his hand. He cut Niall before I grabbed him and ran. He is still out there” Zayn says having finally caught his breath. They all listen and hear footsteps above them.
Niall lets out a stifled moan as Liam presses down on the cut.
“Grab me that first aid kit” he barks at Harry who searches the shelf and spots the little green box. He hands it to Liam who rips it open and rifles through it. He finds an antiseptic wipe and a bandage and does his best to clean Niall up. After a while Niall has a bandage covering his left eye and looks oddly pleased with himself. “War wounds” he grins at Harry who snorts and kicks his foot.
The footsteps of his attacker have stopped sounding throughout the bunker and they are trying to decide what to do.
“I think we should kill him” Zayn replies for the seventh time.
“We get it Zayn and nobody is killing anyone today” Liam says and Zayn huffs in the corner.
“We should just let him die off, be more careful when we are outside, keep an eye on his door” Harry suggests and Liam nods his head.
“I also have another suggestion” Harry announces. They all look up at him. “I want to go find Louis”
There is a heavy silence in the bunker as the boys look at each other uneasily.
“What??” Harry snaps, suddenly feeling defensive.
“It is not a good idea Harry” Liam says quietly, avoiding Harry’s burning stare.
“And why not?” Harry asks.
“We have no idea what is out there, Louis is probably safe somewhere and we will find him when all this calms down” Liam answers.
Harry scoffs in disbelief.
“And what if he is trying to find us? How do you think he feels right now? We are just going to sit here like a bunch of fucking cowards?” Harry tries not to shout but fails.
They flinch at his words but remain quiet, refusing to meet Harry’s glare.
“Well I am going after him” he snaps and stands up. Liam stands up and blocks the way to the door.
“Please Harry, we will find him, just wait a couple of days, please” he almost begs, his eyes softening as Harry’s own fill with angry tears.
“Fine” Harry agrees and sits back down. They settle down for the night, none of them actually sleeping, every mind thinking about their missing friend.
Day 9
Harry wakes before the rest of them and sits up wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He listens for any noises outside and relaxes when he hears nothing. He stands up to go outside and hears Niall stir in his corner. He lifts his head and Harry fights back a smile at Niall’s bandaged eye.
“Where are you going?” he asks Harry in a low tone so as not to wake Liam or Zayn.
“Just over to our bunker, I’m sick of peaches and I know we have some beans in our one” Harry tells him and Niall nods, satisfied that Harry will be safe and nestles back down. Harry opens the door quietly and slips outside.
He tiptoes past the door Niall’s attacker might be resting in and lets out a breath when he makes it past safely. He throws open the door to his own bunker and jumps when a moth flies out. He slips inside but leaves the door open, sick of the constant suffocating darkness.
He opens a tin of beans and dives into it. He eyes the room and spots various items he could find useful. He hears Liam’s voice resonating in his head, begging him to wait a few more days to go find Louis. Harry’s fingers fidget around the tin and he stands up and looks out the door toward Zayn and Liam’s bunker. Fuck it.
Fuck it for Chris is the saddest line in any TV show ever Harry and do not tell me I am wrong.
Fuck it.
Harry rushes around his bunker and grabs the empty bag lying on the ground and stuffs it with the remaining tins of food on the shelf. He spots a box of matches, a rope and a small knife and they join the food in his bag.
He fights his feelings of guilt as he leaves his bunker and shuts the door. Once again he tiptoes past the door and pauses outside Zayn and Liam’s bunker.
“Sorry” he whispers and tries not to think of their reactions when they realise he is gone. He faces the city in the distance and takes in a long breath and sets off.
~~
“So what you are saying is you hate me and want me to leave you here to die?” Louis spits out at Ellie who is standing her ground in his ‘abode’.
“Precisely” she snaps and turns her back on him. He raises his eyes to heaven dramatically and makes a face at her behind her back.
“Ellie, we have to leave, we have no more food and I can’t keep hiding in the rafters twice a day” he sighs.
“And how are we going to find food out there?” she turns around and points out the window, looking out with fear in her green eyes.
He shuffles uncomfortably and shrugs, meeting her glare with one of his own.
“Come on” he says and grabs his baseball bat and last tin of sweet corn. She looks around the warehouse and shivers before taking his hand and letting him lead her outside.
They walk down the deserted road in silence.
“We need to get off the road” Louis mutters, eying the turn in the road warily, gripping the baseball bat in his left hand and Ellie’s hand in his right. She nods her head but they have to continue down the road until they can duck off it and into the woods. They walk around the turn in the road without meeting any nasty surprises along the way.
“We are near the city” Ellie whispers, pointing at a nearby skyscraper. Louis looks at it and snorts.
“That is one place we will try and avid at all costs. The city will be crawling with the Infected.”
Ellie sighs and nods her head again and points suddenly at a wall at the side of the road. “Let’s climb over that then and find somewhere in the woods”
Louis walks over to the wall and looks over it, there is a small drop to the grass on the other side.
“Grass means water” he mutters to himself and gestures at Ellie to join him. He helps her onto the wall before hopping over it himself. He lifts her off it and down onto the grass.
“Let’s go” he winks at her and they set off in search for some water and hopefully some food.
~~
Harry has been walking for what he assumes has been most of the day when his stomach starts growling. He feels frustrated with the city skyline still far in the distance but sits down in the middle of the wasteland. He lifts out a tin of peas and eats them, gagging as the cold mush slides down his throat. Listening out for any sign of company he is satisfied to rest when he hears nothing.
After an hour of sleep Harry hears a rustling next to him. He covers his mouth with his hand before he shouts out of fright. He looks to his side and sees a small lizard next to him.
“A lizard in England, what the fuck?” he whispers and eyes it, slowly reaching in his bag for his knife. The lizard sits on a small stone, watching Harry as he moves toward it slowly. Harry feels suddenly guilty as he raises his hand but fights the feeling, craving some substantial food and jams the knife down into the lizard’s head. It lets out a small squeak and a spurt of blood leaks out onto Harry’s little finger. Harry closes his eyes until the lizard stops moving and tugs his knife back out when it is still. He gathers some dry wood and lights it with one of the matches and holds his arm over his nose as he cooks the lizard over the wood. It is growing dark and Harry is pretty sure the lizard is not properly cooked but he puts the fire out and eats the small amount of meat, pretending it is his Mum’s Sunday dinner.
He had asked Niall one of the nights about their families and Niall had shrugged and told him that before Paul left them, he had told Niall that their families were safe. Hoping Paul had been telling the truth; Harry clung to the idea that they are safe and put them at the back of his mind.
As the night falls dark, Harry huddles into himself and tries to sleep but wakes every half hour, paranoid and worried. He thinks about the boys back at the bunker and wishes to whoever can hear him that they remain safe.
Day 10
Louis is sitting on a mound of dirt, watching Ellie as she splashes around in the small river they had come across.
“Do you ever let go of that bat?” she calls over to him and Louis does not even notice that he has yet to let go of the weapon in his hand.
“Do you ever let go of Clyde?” he retorts and she smirks at him and he sees as she clenches her fist tight.
“Come on out now, this is not a safe place to stay” he calls and lets out a frustrated breath as she purposefully ignores him.
“Come on in Louis, it’s nice” she finally speaks and smiles over at him.
Look at this smile Louis, how can you resist this smile? ….Ouch, that hurt.
Unwillingly, Louis drops his bat and walks to the water’s edge, scanning the shore line on each side before wading in to Ellie.
“Your dungarees are all wet” he points out where she was unable to roll them up high enough.
“My dungarees are the least of my worries right now” she says and he snorts before kicking water at her.
They end up splashing around in the water for an hour, forgetting about the shadow of worry around them for just one moment. Louis impresses both himself and Ellie when he catches a fish in his hand but after minutes of begging and crying Ellie convinces him to let it go.
“That would have been a lovely supper” Louis groans and splashes his face with water.
“Stop moaning will-“ Ellie stops short and Louis raises his head and sees her wide eyes looking behind him into the wood. The skin on the back of his neck raises and he turns around slowly. Thick black smoke is rising in a twisting pattern from the centre of the wood and there are shouts coming closer and closer towards them.
“The trees are on fire” Ellie whispers.
“Fuck the trees, there are people in there” Louis says and rushes out of the water and grabs his bat before bending down. “Get on my back, right now” he says and Ellie runs out of the water before hopping up on Louis’ back.
“Oi!” he hears someone shout behind him. Not knowing if it is directed at them or not, he puts the bat in Ellie’s hand before clutching onto her legs and sprinting at full speed towards the city. They make it to the edge of the wood but Louis does not stop running.
“WAIT!” Ellie screams in his ear and he stops out of shock.
“What?” he snaps and Ellie wriggles free from his grip and jumps off his back.
“I dropped Clyde!” she says, her face drained of its entire colour and she runs back towards the smoking wood.
“For fuck sake, forget Clyde” he shouts before running after her and grabbing her arm.
“NO” she shouts, her eyes filling with tears and she rips her arm from his grip. “Clyde is all I have!” she shouts before turning on her heel.
“You have me!” he says desperately trying to get her to forget the fucking teddy. She stops and looks at Louis.
“I mean from my family” she shouts, audibly fighting back the lump in her throat.
Louis can hear the people in the distance and shouts every curse word he knows in his head before ducking down to Ellie’s level.
“Where did you drop him?”
“Just after we started running, he is probably beside the last tree we ran past” she says, her large green eyes gleaming hopefully.
“Hide behind that rock and do not make a single sound, if you are not here when I get back I will kill you” he says, guiding her towards a rock beside the river. She touches his cheek before running over and ducking behind the rock. Louis curses again, this time out loud, before turning back.
He remains bent over but runs back, watching out for places where his feet marked the ground. He gulps nervously as he hears the voices grow closer and the smell of smoke fills his nostrils.
“Fucking Clyde where are you, you asshole” he mutters and nearly does a somersault when he spots a flicker of blue in his peripheral vision. He rushes over and sees Clyde smiling up at him from a spot in the ground under a tall fir tree.
He picks him up and pockets him, breathing out a sigh of relief. He is about to run back toward Ellie when he hears a rustle of leaves behind him. He ducks behind the tree Clyde was sitting under.
“I can smell something” he hears a familiar voice say. He pokes his head around the trunk of the tree and sees the teenagers from the warehouse jogging along the riverbank.
“Meat” another grins and they jog past Louis in his hiding place and up towards Ellie. Louis clutches his bat and glances around him, making sure the three teenagers are the only people out here. He follows them silently, trying to stay as hidden as possible.
He starts to tremble as they grow closer to the rock Ellie is behind.
“What do we have here then?” he hears one of them say smugly as they gather around the rock.
“Fuck” Louis hisses and runs up behind them, at least ten foot away.
“Hey!” he shouts and immediately regrets it when he notices that they are actually gathering around a small mouse just in front of the rock.
The teenagers turn rapidly and look shocked to see Louis standing there. The main teenager beams at his friends and clenches his fists. He starts to run towards Louis, a bloodthirsty glint in his eye. Louis braces himself and his palms start to sweat as he grips the bat, licking his lips but not moving an inch.
Move Louis or I will run you over with this golf cart. Move Louis…Louis I am not joking….LOUIS MOVE.
//
part two
Characters: All the boys and others.
Rating: NC-17 I suppose for violence and language
Summary: Harry wakes up post infection/zombie apocalypse and Louis is nowhere to be found.
Word count: This chapter 5, 358
++ the italics are flashbacks by the way
Day 2
Harry wakes up, feeling groggier than he normally would. He tries to part his lips to let out a tired groan but his mouth is much too dry. He blinks his eyes several times but each blink brings him no closer to seeing light. “Turn the light on you morons” he calls out, his voice scratchy and he has never felt this thirsty before in his whole life. No one replies and he strains his ears to hear anything in this dark room. He hears distant screaming. Must be the fans he thinks and opens his mouth again to call out for one of the boys to turn the damn light on. That is when he feels a clammy hand fasten around his mouth and a hard object hitting his head, knocking him out before he can even struggle.
Day 5
The screaming has stopped but the darkness remains. Harry is no longer certain he is amongst his friends and is sitting as still as he possibly can, hardly daring to breath with his arms wrapped tightly around his head. He has worried himself sick trying to think about what could possibly be going on but nothing rational comes to mind. He refuses to think about where anyone else is and focuses solely on catching his own breath. I just want a fucking drink, one drink.
He hears a sudden movement to his left and clenches his whole body until he feels as stiff as a board. He curses at his own hands as they begin to tremble.
Such big hands Harry, I could find good use for them
“Harry?”
Harry is sure the second voice is also a flashback and remains silent.
“Harry?” the voice hisses again, piercing the air, the sound louder to Harry now than any thunder storm he has ever endured. It is familiar, an Irish voice, a friendly voice now riddled with fear.
“Niall?” Harry dares to reply and hears a tremendous sigh of relief and what sounds and feels like a body slumping next to him.
“Thank God, I was starting to worry that thump I gave you actually killed you” he hears Niall trying to joke but his tone falls flat, his worry clear even in the dark.
“That was you?” Harry whispers incredulously. He feels Niall cringe into himself.
“Sorry but I thought you were going to panic and draw attention to us, I had no other choice”
Draw attention? When has that ever been a bad thing for them? What the hell is going on?
“Niall, what-“
He feels Niall’s hand over his mouth and stops short, listens as a sudden thump echoes around them. Harry’s sure his heartbeat is louder than the thumping, coming from up above them. It stops after a few minutes and seems to move off into the distance. Harry turns to look at Niall but the place is still so fucking dark.
He hears a scratching noise and suddenly the distance between Harry and Niall is lit by a tiny match in Niall’s hand. Niall looks awful; Harry almost reels back at the shock of seeing him. His skin is smeared with dirt, he looks ten years older, worry etched all across his usually glowing face. Niall moves his hand across the room, lighting it up and checking each corner hurriedly. When he is certain the coast is clear he reaches for something at his feet and switches on a large torch, lighting most of the room.
Afraid to speak, Harry takes in his surroundings. He is in what appears to be a shelter of some sort. The wall in front of him is covered with large shelves with various items scattered across each one. There is a variety of tinned food and tools, things useful for such events as a bomb scare or a bad storm.
“Niall what is going on?” Harry finally asks, watching as Niall pours Harry a flask of water with shaking hands.
Niall hands it to him and Harry drinks it ravishingly, feeling blissful as the water sooths his chapped lips.
“You’re not going to find this easy to believe but just- just bear with me ok?” Niall starts, looking extremely tired but not tired enough where he would willingly fall asleep. Harry nods his head sharply and shakes the last remaining bit of water in his flask.
“Around five or six days ago, we were just finishing our tour as you know, when all over the news there was some kind of epidemic happening up in Scotland. Some disease was spreading more rapidly than anything doctors anywhere in the world had seen. This disease had affected over a million people in under 24 hours. There was no time for hospitals in the UK to prepare for such an influx of patients. So the ones who were refused access were left to roam the streets, the police tried to contain them but, they went, well they went crazy. They started attacking the police, like biting them, fucking eating them. They are savages, some say they are zombies. I don’t know anymore, the media has been down since the second day. I have no idea what is going on, all I know is we need to stay as far away from the Infected as possible. We were all ushered away when we found out, Paul didn’t tell us what was happening, he was just pushing us, that is when you fell and hit your head, which is why you woke up in this hell hole” Niall stops telling his story and waits patiently for Harry’s response.
Harry is sitting on his hunches, unable to process this shocking information. He shakes his head numerous times and waits for Niall to burst out laughing or that Ashton Kutcher asshole to jump out and scream “PUNK’D” in his face. But he knows deep down that nobody would go this far for a joke, not even Louis.
Wait. Louis.
“Where are the others?” Harry stands up, now suddenly aware of the small space and it being only him and Niall. Niall stand up too and places his hands on Harry’s shoulders, immediately recognising Harry’s panic.
“Zayn and Liam are in a bunker nearby; I’ve being going over and back to check on them, they are fine”
He pauses and his eyes dart around the room, trying to find anything to focus on that isn’t Harry’s wild eyes.
Harry raises his eyebrows, the nerves in his stomach stopping him from asking the question.
“I um, I don’t know where Louis is”
There is a harrowing silence in the bunker following Niall’s short and nervous statement. Harry feels like crumbling to the floor, feels like shoving Niall against the wall for telling him all this. Instead, he just gently lifts Niall’s hands off his shoulders and paces the room. His hands are shaking so much he feels like he is going to have a fit. Niall watches him like a hawk, unable to say anything to comfort Harry, feeling just as bad as him but trying to remain level headed.
“When is the last time you saw him?” Harry finally asks, his back to Niall and his face inches from the wall. He can almost hear the kegs of Niall’s brain moving.
“Before we were ushered into the bunkers, he was helping carry you into this one. When they closed the door he was not with us, I tried to get out to get him Harry, I did”
Harry raises his hand to shush him and tries to stop his mind filling up with images of Louis being grabbed and mauled by some zombie like creature. He fights back the waves of nausea but it is all way too much to handle and he falls to the ground before Niall can catch him.
Day 6
“I’m fucking sick of waking up in the dark” Harry mumbles and waits for Niall’s response. When it doesn’t come Harry reaches out to his left and his hand grasps air instead of the arm of his friend. He remembers everything Niall told him and sits up. He nearly screams out Niall’s name but remembers that he will only draw unwanted attention. He scrambles around for the torch but cannot find it, instead his hands land on a long steel object. A crowbar maybe. He grips it like it is his life and huddles in the corner, his eyes focused on what he hopes is the door.
He tries to distract himself by humming. Quietly of course.
My least favourite thing Harry does? Humming, he never shuts up, sometimes I just want to tape his mouth shut and get a lie in in the morning.
Harry immediately stops humming and sits in silence for what feels like hours.
He hears footsteps overhead and swallows, gripping the crowbar tightly. The door to the bunker opens and Harry’s eyes squint against the light, he feels terrified as his vision is useless to him now so he swings out wildly with the bar.
“Jaysus what are you trying to do to me?” he hears Niall yelp and withdraws his arm.
“Sorry” he grumbles and his eyes thankfully become adjusted to the blinding light outside.
“Liam says you need to go outside for a while or else you will get sick, so come on, quick” Niall says and grabs Harry by the arm to help him up.
Harry stars to feel anxious, afraid of what he is going to see outside but follows Niall’s retreating figure. He feels the cold English air hit his face as soon as he steps out and almost smiles. He takes in his surroundings. They seem to be situated in the middle of nowhere but the harder Harry looks, he spots a city skyline in the distance. He wants to run towards it, to not feel so alone anymore. Niall is kicking some dirt around at the door of what looks like another bunker. Harry notices how little grass there is around them, no trees, nothing except dirt and stone.
“What happened to the trees?” he asks, noticing a stump a few feet to his right.
“The Infected thought they were food I suppose” Niall shrugs and clutches his stomach. “Speaking of food”
Harry then realises with a sharp pang to his stomach that he cannot remember the last time he ate and is hit with a sudden wave of hunger.
“Come on we get something in Liam and Zayn’s bunker, their shelves are way more loaded up than ours” Niall offers and heads off to another bunker sticking out of the dirt. Harry eyes the door that Niall was kicking dirt around with an uneasy feeling in his heart but follows Niall, ignoring anything his brain is trying to scream at him.
Niall lifts open the rusty bunker door and Harry almost cheers when he sees Zayn and Liam sitting together over a torch. They jump up and hug him tightly, clapping him on the back and talking over each other, telling him things that Harry does not even pay attention to. He is just so glad to see them safe. He ignores the gnawing feeling in his stomach when he thinks that Louis should be with them and sits down to a tin of tuna and peaches with the other boys.
Day 7
Warehouses are not a safe place to be during a zombie apocalypse Louis decides when, for the sixth time, he finds himself nesting in the rafters as a group of ravenous teenager’s storm in looking for food.
“I’d eat anything now, I’d even eat a human” one of them groans as they toss empty packets of food away in their search.
“Do not tempt me” another shouts out and they all laugh, finally realising that there is nothing here and leaving again.
Louis waits until he is certain they are well gone before he climbs back down to the ground. He removes the numerous cardboard boxes and reveals his new ‘abode’ as he likes to call it. He looks warily at the tiny amount of food he has left and settles down into his bubble-wrapped box for another restless night’s sleep.
He is about to drift off when he hears what he first thinks is a cat meowing outside. As he listens closer, he realises that it is in fact a girl crying. He sighs and hopes she will shut up soon as it is dark and she is likely to bring a hoard of Infected upon the warehouse. After a few minutes he can still hear the low sobs and grumbles angrily as he hops out of his box to go shut this girl up. He picks up the baseball bat he had plucked from dead body only days ago and slowly makes his way over to the door. He pokes his head out and checks that the coast is clear before flitting out and backing himself against the wall.
“Hello?” he hisses and hears the girl’s sobs grow quieter.
“Hello, answer me for fuck sake” he hisses again and hears a hiccup from behind a rock in front of him. He slowly walks over to it and looks around. His heart sinks when he sees a little girl of no more than six years of age clutching her knees and wiping away tears.
He wants to leave her there and almost does but she turns up to face him and he almost gasps when she meets his eyes.
I hate my eyes Louis, they are too big and green and urgh, I wish I had your eyes.
“Are you ok?” he whispers and lowers his baseball bat which she is eyeing warily. She shakes her head and clutches what looks like a tiny bear in her hand, wiping her eyes with it. Louis goes down onto his knees and looks at her. She is wearing dungarees that Niall would love and under them a purple top, her blonde hair is in pigtails which Louis fights the urge to tug.
“What’s that then?” he asks, pointing at her hand. She clutches it even tighter and scowls at Louis.
“You’ll only make fun of me” she pouts and crosses her arms. Louis nearly laughs at the sight of this tiny girl and her tear stained face scowling at him.
“I won’t, I promise” he assures her and after a moment she unfolds her arms and unclenches her fist. In her palm is a tiny teddy bear, a blue one that has a fake smile and beady eyes.
“His name is Clyde” she announces and looks at Louis as if challenging him to say something.
“Hello Clyde” Louis says and the girl smiles and seems to relax more.
“And who are you little madam?” he asks.
The girl pauses and looks at Louis, judging him, trying to decide whether to trust him or not.
“Ellie”
“I’m Louis”
She is about to respond when there is a loud banging noise not too far from their location. Louis picks her up and thankfully she does not protest and he rushes inside the warehouse, not looking back once.
Day 8
Harry is with Liam in Liam and Zayn’s bunker whilst Niall and Zayn are out patrolling the area. Liam is fiddling with a radio, his tongue sticking out in concentration and a small spanner resting behind his ear. Harry regards him fondly and asks Liam if he needs help.
“I’m fine, I just to fix the wires and hopefully I will have it up and running soon” Liam mutters, not taking his eyes off the radio.
After a few moments silence Harry starts fidgeting with his hair.
“I am sure he is fine” Liam says quietly and Harry looks at him but Liam’s eyes are still on the radio.
“How can you be so sure?” Harry whispers, suddenly anxious for Liam’s wise words.
Liam stops fixing the radio and places his tool on the floor and grabs Harry’s hand out of his hair. He fixes his eyes on Harry’s and stares at him.
“I would feel it, we all would” he says and when Harry nods shortly, Liam releases him and returns to the radio. Harry does not touch his hair again and tries to catch some sleep.
He is roused from his sleep by the door suddenly banging open and Niall and Zayn thundering into the bunker. They are both short of breath and Niall is clutching his eye and moaning. Liam drops his tools and Harry sits up, pointing the torch at Niall.
“What happened?” Liam asks Zayn as he removes Niall’s hand from his eye. His eye has a scratch running from the end of his eyebrow to just under his bottom eyelid. There are beads of blood dripping down his cheek.
“We were about to return to the bunker when that random door in between our two bunkers opened and this guy just ran at us with a knife in his hand. He cut Niall before I grabbed him and ran. He is still out there” Zayn says having finally caught his breath. They all listen and hear footsteps above them.
Niall lets out a stifled moan as Liam presses down on the cut.
“Grab me that first aid kit” he barks at Harry who searches the shelf and spots the little green box. He hands it to Liam who rips it open and rifles through it. He finds an antiseptic wipe and a bandage and does his best to clean Niall up. After a while Niall has a bandage covering his left eye and looks oddly pleased with himself. “War wounds” he grins at Harry who snorts and kicks his foot.
The footsteps of his attacker have stopped sounding throughout the bunker and they are trying to decide what to do.
“I think we should kill him” Zayn replies for the seventh time.
“We get it Zayn and nobody is killing anyone today” Liam says and Zayn huffs in the corner.
“We should just let him die off, be more careful when we are outside, keep an eye on his door” Harry suggests and Liam nods his head.
“I also have another suggestion” Harry announces. They all look up at him. “I want to go find Louis”
There is a heavy silence in the bunker as the boys look at each other uneasily.
“What??” Harry snaps, suddenly feeling defensive.
“It is not a good idea Harry” Liam says quietly, avoiding Harry’s burning stare.
“And why not?” Harry asks.
“We have no idea what is out there, Louis is probably safe somewhere and we will find him when all this calms down” Liam answers.
Harry scoffs in disbelief.
“And what if he is trying to find us? How do you think he feels right now? We are just going to sit here like a bunch of fucking cowards?” Harry tries not to shout but fails.
They flinch at his words but remain quiet, refusing to meet Harry’s glare.
“Well I am going after him” he snaps and stands up. Liam stands up and blocks the way to the door.
“Please Harry, we will find him, just wait a couple of days, please” he almost begs, his eyes softening as Harry’s own fill with angry tears.
“Fine” Harry agrees and sits back down. They settle down for the night, none of them actually sleeping, every mind thinking about their missing friend.
Day 9
Harry wakes before the rest of them and sits up wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He listens for any noises outside and relaxes when he hears nothing. He stands up to go outside and hears Niall stir in his corner. He lifts his head and Harry fights back a smile at Niall’s bandaged eye.
“Where are you going?” he asks Harry in a low tone so as not to wake Liam or Zayn.
“Just over to our bunker, I’m sick of peaches and I know we have some beans in our one” Harry tells him and Niall nods, satisfied that Harry will be safe and nestles back down. Harry opens the door quietly and slips outside.
He tiptoes past the door Niall’s attacker might be resting in and lets out a breath when he makes it past safely. He throws open the door to his own bunker and jumps when a moth flies out. He slips inside but leaves the door open, sick of the constant suffocating darkness.
He opens a tin of beans and dives into it. He eyes the room and spots various items he could find useful. He hears Liam’s voice resonating in his head, begging him to wait a few more days to go find Louis. Harry’s fingers fidget around the tin and he stands up and looks out the door toward Zayn and Liam’s bunker. Fuck it.
Fuck it for Chris is the saddest line in any TV show ever Harry and do not tell me I am wrong.
Fuck it.
Harry rushes around his bunker and grabs the empty bag lying on the ground and stuffs it with the remaining tins of food on the shelf. He spots a box of matches, a rope and a small knife and they join the food in his bag.
He fights his feelings of guilt as he leaves his bunker and shuts the door. Once again he tiptoes past the door and pauses outside Zayn and Liam’s bunker.
“Sorry” he whispers and tries not to think of their reactions when they realise he is gone. He faces the city in the distance and takes in a long breath and sets off.
~~
“So what you are saying is you hate me and want me to leave you here to die?” Louis spits out at Ellie who is standing her ground in his ‘abode’.
“Precisely” she snaps and turns her back on him. He raises his eyes to heaven dramatically and makes a face at her behind her back.
“Ellie, we have to leave, we have no more food and I can’t keep hiding in the rafters twice a day” he sighs.
“And how are we going to find food out there?” she turns around and points out the window, looking out with fear in her green eyes.
He shuffles uncomfortably and shrugs, meeting her glare with one of his own.
“Come on” he says and grabs his baseball bat and last tin of sweet corn. She looks around the warehouse and shivers before taking his hand and letting him lead her outside.
They walk down the deserted road in silence.
“We need to get off the road” Louis mutters, eying the turn in the road warily, gripping the baseball bat in his left hand and Ellie’s hand in his right. She nods her head but they have to continue down the road until they can duck off it and into the woods. They walk around the turn in the road without meeting any nasty surprises along the way.
“We are near the city” Ellie whispers, pointing at a nearby skyscraper. Louis looks at it and snorts.
“That is one place we will try and avid at all costs. The city will be crawling with the Infected.”
Ellie sighs and nods her head again and points suddenly at a wall at the side of the road. “Let’s climb over that then and find somewhere in the woods”
Louis walks over to the wall and looks over it, there is a small drop to the grass on the other side.
“Grass means water” he mutters to himself and gestures at Ellie to join him. He helps her onto the wall before hopping over it himself. He lifts her off it and down onto the grass.
“Let’s go” he winks at her and they set off in search for some water and hopefully some food.
~~
Harry has been walking for what he assumes has been most of the day when his stomach starts growling. He feels frustrated with the city skyline still far in the distance but sits down in the middle of the wasteland. He lifts out a tin of peas and eats them, gagging as the cold mush slides down his throat. Listening out for any sign of company he is satisfied to rest when he hears nothing.
After an hour of sleep Harry hears a rustling next to him. He covers his mouth with his hand before he shouts out of fright. He looks to his side and sees a small lizard next to him.
“A lizard in England, what the fuck?” he whispers and eyes it, slowly reaching in his bag for his knife. The lizard sits on a small stone, watching Harry as he moves toward it slowly. Harry feels suddenly guilty as he raises his hand but fights the feeling, craving some substantial food and jams the knife down into the lizard’s head. It lets out a small squeak and a spurt of blood leaks out onto Harry’s little finger. Harry closes his eyes until the lizard stops moving and tugs his knife back out when it is still. He gathers some dry wood and lights it with one of the matches and holds his arm over his nose as he cooks the lizard over the wood. It is growing dark and Harry is pretty sure the lizard is not properly cooked but he puts the fire out and eats the small amount of meat, pretending it is his Mum’s Sunday dinner.
He had asked Niall one of the nights about their families and Niall had shrugged and told him that before Paul left them, he had told Niall that their families were safe. Hoping Paul had been telling the truth; Harry clung to the idea that they are safe and put them at the back of his mind.
As the night falls dark, Harry huddles into himself and tries to sleep but wakes every half hour, paranoid and worried. He thinks about the boys back at the bunker and wishes to whoever can hear him that they remain safe.
Day 10
Louis is sitting on a mound of dirt, watching Ellie as she splashes around in the small river they had come across.
“Do you ever let go of that bat?” she calls over to him and Louis does not even notice that he has yet to let go of the weapon in his hand.
“Do you ever let go of Clyde?” he retorts and she smirks at him and he sees as she clenches her fist tight.
“Come on out now, this is not a safe place to stay” he calls and lets out a frustrated breath as she purposefully ignores him.
“Come on in Louis, it’s nice” she finally speaks and smiles over at him.
Look at this smile Louis, how can you resist this smile? ….Ouch, that hurt.
Unwillingly, Louis drops his bat and walks to the water’s edge, scanning the shore line on each side before wading in to Ellie.
“Your dungarees are all wet” he points out where she was unable to roll them up high enough.
“My dungarees are the least of my worries right now” she says and he snorts before kicking water at her.
They end up splashing around in the water for an hour, forgetting about the shadow of worry around them for just one moment. Louis impresses both himself and Ellie when he catches a fish in his hand but after minutes of begging and crying Ellie convinces him to let it go.
“That would have been a lovely supper” Louis groans and splashes his face with water.
“Stop moaning will-“ Ellie stops short and Louis raises his head and sees her wide eyes looking behind him into the wood. The skin on the back of his neck raises and he turns around slowly. Thick black smoke is rising in a twisting pattern from the centre of the wood and there are shouts coming closer and closer towards them.
“The trees are on fire” Ellie whispers.
“Fuck the trees, there are people in there” Louis says and rushes out of the water and grabs his bat before bending down. “Get on my back, right now” he says and Ellie runs out of the water before hopping up on Louis’ back.
“Oi!” he hears someone shout behind him. Not knowing if it is directed at them or not, he puts the bat in Ellie’s hand before clutching onto her legs and sprinting at full speed towards the city. They make it to the edge of the wood but Louis does not stop running.
“WAIT!” Ellie screams in his ear and he stops out of shock.
“What?” he snaps and Ellie wriggles free from his grip and jumps off his back.
“I dropped Clyde!” she says, her face drained of its entire colour and she runs back towards the smoking wood.
“For fuck sake, forget Clyde” he shouts before running after her and grabbing her arm.
“NO” she shouts, her eyes filling with tears and she rips her arm from his grip. “Clyde is all I have!” she shouts before turning on her heel.
“You have me!” he says desperately trying to get her to forget the fucking teddy. She stops and looks at Louis.
“I mean from my family” she shouts, audibly fighting back the lump in her throat.
Louis can hear the people in the distance and shouts every curse word he knows in his head before ducking down to Ellie’s level.
“Where did you drop him?”
“Just after we started running, he is probably beside the last tree we ran past” she says, her large green eyes gleaming hopefully.
“Hide behind that rock and do not make a single sound, if you are not here when I get back I will kill you” he says, guiding her towards a rock beside the river. She touches his cheek before running over and ducking behind the rock. Louis curses again, this time out loud, before turning back.
He remains bent over but runs back, watching out for places where his feet marked the ground. He gulps nervously as he hears the voices grow closer and the smell of smoke fills his nostrils.
“Fucking Clyde where are you, you asshole” he mutters and nearly does a somersault when he spots a flicker of blue in his peripheral vision. He rushes over and sees Clyde smiling up at him from a spot in the ground under a tall fir tree.
He picks him up and pockets him, breathing out a sigh of relief. He is about to run back toward Ellie when he hears a rustle of leaves behind him. He ducks behind the tree Clyde was sitting under.
“I can smell something” he hears a familiar voice say. He pokes his head around the trunk of the tree and sees the teenagers from the warehouse jogging along the riverbank.
“Meat” another grins and they jog past Louis in his hiding place and up towards Ellie. Louis clutches his bat and glances around him, making sure the three teenagers are the only people out here. He follows them silently, trying to stay as hidden as possible.
He starts to tremble as they grow closer to the rock Ellie is behind.
“What do we have here then?” he hears one of them say smugly as they gather around the rock.
“Fuck” Louis hisses and runs up behind them, at least ten foot away.
“Hey!” he shouts and immediately regrets it when he notices that they are actually gathering around a small mouse just in front of the rock.
The teenagers turn rapidly and look shocked to see Louis standing there. The main teenager beams at his friends and clenches his fists. He starts to run towards Louis, a bloodthirsty glint in his eye. Louis braces himself and his palms start to sweat as he grips the bat, licking his lips but not moving an inch.
Move Louis or I will run you over with this golf cart. Move Louis…Louis I am not joking….LOUIS MOVE.
//
part two