Chapter Text
Math was probably Abes least favorite subject. He either didn't get it or did get it after they had already moved on to a different unit.
So he had given up for the day and decided to doodle in his notebook. He drew quite a few things, a tree, a lighthouse, him as a lighthouse, Topher as a lighthouse, his old car, Topher and him in his old car, Topher without his hat, Topher smiling, him and Topher, him and Topher kis-
He quickly scribbled that one out, and slammed his head into his desk in embarrassment. Topher would probably think he was a creep drawing him all the time.
This class was boring him he couldn't follow along and frankly didn't want to, so he started to dooz off but was quickly startled awake by kids yelling at the windows. He looked up to find everyone huddled around the windows staring outside.
"OMG! What is he doing!"
"Holy shit someone call the police!"
"I needa throw up! Wheres the trash can!?!?"
What was going on? Why were people being so loud? Was there a fight?
He quickly got up and made his way over to the window, but nothing could've prepared him for what he was about to see.
He easily saw over the much shorter other students and what met his gaze was a man ripping open and eating another man.
Abe covered his mouth feeling sick, as he watched the man tear into the body. He could even see his ribs.
the deranged man was wearing torn and bloody clothes. his skin was clearly a grayish almost green color and he didn't seem to care who saw him as he ripped into his prey right in the open street.
"Alright everyone get away from the window!" The teacher tried to get everyone back to their seats but no one listened. Except for Abe who couldn't bear to look anymore.
He felt like if he watched for a moment longer he was going to faint. That's when he heard screams coming from down the hall.
No one else seemed to hear it so Abe took it upon on himself to go check it out. He was still a little shaken up over what he just witnessed but if the scream was another person being eaten he had to do something.
He popped his head out of the room but saw nothing so decided to make his way towards the sound. He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for leaving class.
He didn't have to walk far before he saw it. A girl he didn't know with straight black hair had her guts spilled all over the floor while Catherine the great grabbed fistfuls and stuffed her mouth.
Abe was speachless his blood ran cold and he slowly started backing away, he could hear his heart beat and he felt like puking.
He couldn't take his eyes off what was in front of him and ended up tripping over his own feet. He fell to the ground with a thud and a grunt. That's when Catherine noticed him.
His heart stopped and he felt tears threaten to break through. He couldn't move, she was coming towards him and he couldn't move. She was going to kill him he needs to move. He needs to move. He. Needs. To. Move!
Abe didn't move. He couldn't. He was on the verge of breaking down crying when he heard a familiar voice.
"Dumbass! Get off the floor! She's far away and moving slowly you can get up!" It was Topher he was yelling at him from the other end of the hall.
He looked back at Catherine and realized she was quite a distance away and was barely shambling towards him. He felt a little stupid for not having moved earlier.
He quickly scrambled up off the floor and ran up to topher.
"Do you know what's going on?!?! Why are people eating other people!?!" Abe frantically asked taking glances back at Catherine just to make sure she wasn't getting too close.
"Abe! These are obviously zombies! I mean the pale greenish skin! The eating people! These are zombies!" Topher exclaimed, was he excited about this? Why was he smiling like that.
Abe brushed it off as just him seeing things or topher being nervous, "no way dude! Zombies aren't real!"
"Abe look at that... thing, and tell me that's not a zombie"
Abe looked back at Catherine who had barely made it a couple feet towards them, "okay maybe your right. But what are we supposed to do now?!"
Suddenly the speakers blared to life, "attention clone high students! This is your principal talking! Please head to the gym! We are going into lockdown! This is not a drill!"
Abe and Topher looked at each other before running towards the gym. Though they had to stop a couple times just because topher was so unathletic.
Eventually they did make it to the gym and found most of the school huddled in there. Abe carefully shifted through the crowd looking for his friends, he only found Harriet, Confucius and JFK sitting together by the bleachers.
"Hey guys!!! Do you know what's going on?" Abe said while dragging Topher along with him to go talk to them.
"I'm not er uh sure! but it probably has something to do with the uh cannibal guys!" JFK responded stating the obvious.
Harriet chimed in, both her and Confucius had leg injuries it seemed, "I'm not sure either, me and Confucius were attacked before coming here so we didn't really have time to figure things out"
Confucius didn't even respond and was just streaming, "hey guys! It's your boy Confucius! Me and my gf just got attacked by a vicious cannibal but I was able to hold him off! But my schools gone in to lockdown so we're hiding in the one and only! Clone High HighSchool gym!"
"Look!" Topher said while abruptly shoving his phone in between the five of them.
His phone was broadcasting the news and a news reporter seemed to be very distressed, "-one must stay in doors! Do not engage with these creatures! They seem to be zombies as they eat any living person and when you are bit you turn into them! If you encounter one do not hesitate to take out the head! They are no longer human and should be killed on si-"
The reporter was suddenly cut short as cell service went down. "Fuck!" Both Topher and Confucius yelled in unison immediately messing with there phones to try and bring in any connection.
"Fucking er uh zombies!?!?" JFK yelled, "I wanted to er uh have so much more sex before I uh died!" He curled into a ball and started to cry on the floor.
"What are we gonna do!!?!" Abe grabbed Topher and started shaking him while crying.
Topher was taken aback but quickly regained his composure and grabbed Abe to steady him and himself, "Abe its going to be fine! This is real life, the government will handle all of this! Plus I can always protect you! I know all about zombies!"
Abe sniffs, he's got snot and tears plastered all over his face, "really? You'd protect me?"
"uh y-yeah! Don't worry I'm basically a pro!" Topher isn't too sure about what he's promising here but he needs to calm Abe down.
Abe stops crying and smiles at Topher before pulling him into a hug, Topher just hovers his hands a bit before patting Abe on the shoulder.
Their hug is broken up by the speakers turning on and an announcement being made.
"Hello everyone! This is your principal speaking! Now I may have accidentally messed up an experiment that may or may not have caused these zombies! But we can't blame people for their mistakes and I've got everything under control just stay in the gym until everything is wrapped up! Bah bye!"
Everybody looks at each other for a moment before Harriet speaks up, "so we're just supposed to stay here? What about our family's and how long do we have to stay here?"
"I as a straight white male ally respect your voice and questions as a woman of color and wish not to put them down, but! What else are we supposed to do? It's not like we can leave" Topher asks going over the top to not offend anyone.
"I'm just saying staying here isn't a good long term solution, it's not even that safe"
"This gym is perfectly safe! Plus we have the safety of numbers! We can't get hurt if we stay as a group in an enclosed area" Topher rebuts crossing his arms and smirking feeling as though he's already won.
Abe agrees and decides to back up Topher, "yeah! We're safe here! Plus it's worse out there!"
Harriet huffs and crosses her arms, "whatever, this place just doesn't feel that safe I mean the doors don't even lock!"
"So? Zombies can't open doors! Their dumb!" Topher gets more smug by the second.
"It's a push door! All they have to do is lean enough into it and their in!" Harriet throws her hands up in anger before realizing what she just said, "holy shit they could get in at any moment"
All of the teens faces drop as they turn to look at the doors, which if on cue are pushed open and multiple zombies topple in before a flood of them start pouring into the gym.
"Everybody run!" Someone in the crowd yells before everyone starts screaming and scrambling to get to the doors on the other side of the gym.
Abe is pushed down and tries to get back up but everyone's pushing and shoving so he can barely get his head over the crowd despite his height.
"Topher! JFK! Harriet! Confucius! Where are you guys!" Abe tries to yell out but he can barely hear his own voice over all the screaming
That's when he feels something grabs him, at first he thinks it's a zombie but he finds it's Topher, "thank God! Let's get out of here!" Abe grabs his hand and starts practically dragging him to the other set of doors.
But they where slow and a zombie manages to catch up to them. It grabs at Topher and Abe whips his head around when he feels Topher's hand leave his. He sees Topher trying to push it away from him.
"Abe! Help!" Topher screams while trying his best to keep its mouth away from him.
Luckily it seems it used to be one of the shorter clones, so Abe doesn't have much trouble punching it off topher before grabbing his hand again and fleeing with him.
Somehow they got turned around and are inside the school again. Abe looks around frantically for a place to hide before topher chimes up, "Abe over there! The janitors closet!"
They run to it and hide inside sitting opposite of each other, both panting from having run so much.
"Fuck that was intense! We almost didn't make it out of there! Do you think the others are okay? What if they didn't make it!? Should we try to look-" Abe is stumbling over his words, it's all too much to process but Topher cuts him off.
"Abe!" Topher looks pained and is covering his arm with his hand. He let's go and reveals a bloody bite mark, "I was bit"
Abes heart drops. This can't be happening. No no no no.
"You know what happens when you get bit. Open the door, I'll leave, you'll be safe" Topher starts to get up but Abe shoves him back down.
"No! Your not going anywhere! How do we know the news reporter was right! Maybe your different! You could heal!" Abes crying.
"Abe I won't heal, I'm going to turn and if I don't leave then I'll end up biting you"
"Please don't go! I can't do this without you!Here!" Abe grabs a scarf from the lost and found bin next to him and ties it around Topher's bite wound.
"Abe this won't work"
"shut up! You don't know anything!"
Topher doesn't respond. He doesn't know what to say. He rummages through his pockets and pulls out an already used piece of paper and a pencil.
"What are you doing?" Abe asks still crying though not as much.
"I'm writing something... I want you to read this after I die"
"Your not going to die!"
"... whenever I die read this"
Topher hands him the folded up note before moving over to sit right next to abe.
"I always hated myself and I wanted to die so bad. But now that it's happening... I'm scared Abe. I'm really fucking scared" Topher's eyes start to well up with tears and he ducks his head into his knees and wraps his arms around them too.
Abe starts crying too and puts his hand on Topher's back before leaning into him.
"I thought that I would do good in a zombie apocalypse. I thought I could be smarter. But I'm just a fucking idiot" Abe could barely hear Topher speak through his knees, "I couldn't do anything, you had to drag me out of there and I still got bit"
He's not sure how much time has passed but eventually Topher isn't moving or breathing anymore.
"Topher? Topher come on say something!" Abe shakes Topher, but he only falls over.
"Topher!" Abe gets up to help him back up but Topher moves on his own.
"Oh thank God I thought you... uh Topher?" Topher suddenly lunges at Abe, his eyes have rolled back in his skull and his skin has gone cold and gray, or grayer.
"Topher stop!" Abe knows it's pointless he knows Topher's a zombie now but he doesn't want to fight back.
Topher groans above him trying desperately to sink his teeth into Abe. But Abe's much bigger and stronger than Topher so he easily pushes him onto the floor and holds him down as he scans to room for anything he can use.
He rummages through the lost and found bin and pulls out another, much thicker, scarf. He quickly rolls it up and shoves it into Topher's mouth tieing it at the back of his head.
Even gagged topher still is trying to attack him. So he grabs a charging cable and ties him to some pipes sticking out of the wall.
Topher growls and strains against the restraints. Abe sits down exhausted, tears come back to his eyes and he starts sobbing.
He cries and cries before remembering the note Topher gave him. With shaking hands he carefully opens it
Abe I know I haven't been the best friend and I know I can be an asshole, how you put up with me is a mystery to me. I wanted to say thank you for being my friend you were the best one I ever had. and I know I could never say this to your face so you only get to know now that I've died. Abe I like you. I've liked you for awhile and it took me along time to come to terms with that. I'm sorry for everything.
Abes shaking and he scrunches up the note unconsciously, "I like you too, I like you too..
" he wishes he had told Topher sooner.
He cries and even with topher there he feels so alone.