Dead

One

"All around me are familiar faces. Worn out places. Worn out faces. Bright and early for the daily races. Going no where. Going no where. Their tears are filling up their glasses. No expression. No expression. Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow. No tomorrow. No tomorrow. And I find it kind of funny. I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had. I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take. When people run in circles it's a very, very mad world. Mad world."

-Mad World by Gary Jules (song)

"Several citizens in the area have been complaining about severe fevers, aches, and pains in their bodies. Calls have been coming in almost non-stop all night and it's making the doctors hope that the epidemic does not become more serious. Not only are the doctors not quite sure what it is, but it seems to be spreading at an alarmingly fast pace. So make sure you wash your hands and stay healthy! If you develop any symptoms, be sure to call the doctor."

Roxanne Ritchi made the cut-off motion with her hand and then grinned at her camera man, Hal. His short red hair seemed to glow in the dark of the evening.

The evening seemed normal other than the streets being unnaturally quiet and still while Metro City was normally buzzing with activity.

"Nice job Roxie!" Hal said as he gave her a thumbs up and began packing away his equipment.

Roxanne grinned at him. "Thanks Hal. Unless you need help putting everything back in the van I'm going to head off. I need to get back home and write on a report I'm supposed to be giving in a couple days."

"Okay Rox, but hold on," Hal said, making Roxanne turn back around and look at him curiously. "Be careful alright? You know what tomorrow is right?"

Roxanne thought for a moment, biting her lip, and then she remembered. Rolling her eyes she said, "Yes, I remember. It's my kidnapping day. Don't worry about it, Megamind is harmless."

"Harmless?" Hal asked as though she'd gone mad. "Roxanne, he's a villain. A criminal."

"I know, but he's never hurt me before so why should he now," Roxanne reasoned. "Relax, you're not even the one that's going to be kidnapped within the next twenty-four hours."

"It's actually a little strange how calm you're being about this," Hal said with slumped shoulders and a cocked brow.

Roxanne smiled at him and turned back around. With a small wave over her shoulder she said, "Goodnight Hal!"

"'Night Roxie!" she heard him call back as she stepped into her car.

After waving to the doorman and grabbing a Styrofoam cup of coffee from the lobby, Roxanne was back up in her apartment, sitting at her laptop. She stayed up typing away for hours before sitting back and rubbing her eyes. When she went to take another sip of coffee, she noticed it was empty. All she got was a cold left-over drip. Roxanne placed the cup back on the desk and decided to pack it in for the night.

Once in bed, she thought for a short moment about Megamind and what his plan was for her tomorrow. Normally, the thought of being kidnapped brought terror to people. For Roxanne, this thought made her smile as she fell asleep.

The steady beeping of the alarm clock awoke Roxanne the next morning at five o'clock. Sitting up and stretching she looked out the window where it was only a little dark out since it was the end of spring. Walking into the kitchen, she started making coffee and turned on the television at the same time. She enjoyed listening to her own channel in the morning before she arrived there to report.

As she scooped spoonfuls of coffee grounds into the maker, she listened to the television; but what she heard made her stop and look at the television screen from over her counter.

The screen showed a strange alert symbol and was setting off a monotone voice over again. The voice continued saying:

"Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic."

Roxanne furrowed her eyebrows and placed the spoon on the counter. Was this because of something Megamind had done to the city? But…he hadn't even kidnapped her. And it couldn't be the weather, it looked fine. No strong winds, rain, or anything.

Roxanne tried switching the channel but every single one had the same thing. Finally, she couldn't stand the sound of the voice anymore and she turned it off. So, this meant no work she supposed?

/\\\

"Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not-"

A hard kick to the radio made the mono-tone voice leave the speakers and be replaced with soft static. It now lay on its side as a pair of six-inch, tied, black leather boots walked past.

"Honestly!" Megamind said, aggravated. He walked slowly along a brick wall wearing a black t-shirt and dark grey jeans. It was far from his normal attire but it was far too hot out to wear his usual leather and it was far too difficult to move about in during recent events. He continued talking in an aggravated tone as he held his hand gun in front of him, "If I hear that moono-tone voice speak anywhere else I'm going to-"

"It's mono-tone sir," Minion corrected as he walked behind the blue alien.

"What?" he asked, lowering his gun and staring back at his fishy friend.

"It's mono-tone, not moono-tone," Minion said again.

Megamind glared at him and said, "Really Minion, in spite of recent events I would have figured you to have dropped this correcting thing."

Minion was going to say more but a gargling breath cut him short. The fish's eyes went wide for a moment before Megamind whipped around and looked at the woman. Or at least...what was left of her. It was easy to tell that at one time she'd been a woman but now she was a walking monster. A zombie.

Half of its hair was hanging from a flap of skin that still clung to its head but was peeled off the skull, exposing red mush underneath. Its eyes contained no pupils, just a dirty yellow and white mixture. Its bottom lip hung from its mouth, exposing the bottom row of teeth. Blood still dripped down its face from the severe head wound. It snarled as it spotted them and took a step forward.

"She looks freshly turned," Megamind said as he watched the woman eye them hungrily.

Minion winced and looked a tad greener than usual as he saw the terrible injury to her head. The zombie took in a rattling wet breath and opened its mouth in a hungry grunting roar. Just as she started to charge at them, Megamind held up his gun and shot it with a loud bang.

The bullet went right in the middle of its forehead and it let out a final grunt as the tiny projectile hit its skull. It then fell to the ground with a thud, its limbs sprawled on the road and its mouth open.

Minion, still wincing, looked at the zombie on the ground. "I'm going to have to be less squeamish if this is going to keep happening."

Megamind didn't respond to this comment but instead said to his friend, "Remember, keep your eyes peeled for any more. The gun shot could have attracted others."

Minion nodded in response and they continued walking through the empty, rubble-covered streets.

/\\\

Roxanne placed the phone back on the receiver and crossed her arms. For the past five minutes she'd been calling her work and no one was answering. She had dressed in her work clothes already - a dress with a loose blue top and tight grey bottom. After a few moments of sitting on the bed, waiting to be called back, she took out her cell phone and tried again.

After a few rings, she thought no one would pick up again. Just when she started to get exasperated though, a quivering voice said, "H-hello?"

Roxanne cocked up a brow and said, "Hello? This is Roxanne."

"Roxanne Ritchi?" the voice asked. She didn't recognize the voice but whoever it was sounded scared and upset.

"Yes," Roxanne answered uncertainly. "Who is this? Are you alright?"

"Where are you?" the voice asked, it sounded female. "Are you with any police officers or anyone that could help?"

This alarmed Roxanne and her eyes widened. She stood up from the bed immediately and paced. "What? Help with what? Are you alright?"

"Please tell me you're with someone that can help me!" the woman said in a tear-stained voice.

"I'm not with anyone but I'll call the police-" Roxanne said urgently. She was fearful for this woman, she had no clue what had happened to her.

"There's no use doing that. They won't answer," she said and then gasped.

"What? What is it?" Roxanne asked.

"Oh, oh no...there's one here!" the woman whispered into the phone.

"One what?" Roxanne asked. "Ma'am? Hello?"

"There's more! Please, please help me-" the woman cried.

Roxanne was about to answer but what she heard next sent intense shivers up her spine. The pleading and then blood curdling scream caused Roxanne to almost drop her cell phone. Roxanne stood unmoving as the woman's screams were in a mix with loud snarling. The line then went dead and a steady beep could be heard.

Roxanne dropped the phone and backed away as though whatever had attacked the woman on the other end would crawl out and get her too. Her breathing fast and heart thudding in her chest, she backed against the window on the other side of the room. Then she noticed something and she stopped breathing so she could listen harder.

There was no noise. The usual sound of cars from the street was nonexistant. Roxanne turned around to look out the window and her eyes widened at what she saw.

Cars turned on their sides, papers floating down the street in the wind, the shop that was across the street from her's window was broken.

Roxanne's mouth was agape as she stared. What happened? A tornado? That didn't even seem to be possible, tornados didn't happen where they were.

Roxanne stared down at the street for a little bit longer before her nosy reporter skills kicked in. Grabbing her cell phone from the floor, she walked out her bedroom door and grabbed her apartment key from a kitchen drawer. She turned the heat off of her coffee machine and left the half-full pot untouched.

As soon as she opened the door and walked out into the hallway she stopped in midstep. There were two arm chairs turned upside down in the middle of the hallway and almost all of the doors to the other apartments stood ajar. Once she started walking again, her eyes widened at a bloody hand print that appeared to have dragged along the wall.

There was an awful smell all throughout the hallway and she plugged her nose. What was going on?

Roxanne soon stopped walking again as she heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone eating messily. She looked through one room but saw nothing but a messy apartment. No people were inside. Then, looking in the apartment to her left she paused with her hand on the door frame.

With furrowed brows, she tried to decipher what the noise was. It was definitely coming from the room she was leaning in, though she couldn't see anyone. Her eyes then trailed over to the floor about ten feet in front of her and she felt herself tremble. A large, dark red blood stain was on the floor right beside the sofa. The television was turned on with the same monotone voice repeating: "Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes. Do not panic. Stay safe in your homes."

Roxanne's nosy reporter skills kicked in again and she walked into the room slowly. The sloppy sound was louder now and she looked around again to try and find what it was. Once in the middle of the apartment, she turned to the right and saw someone crouched on the ground over a bloody body.

The sight made Roxanne gasp and back into the wall with a hard thud. The sound seemed to distract whatever the person was doing because he sat up and turned around. This man, however, was not normal by any stretch.

His skin had a grey tint and his eyes were sunk into his head. The color of his eyes were a mix of grey, yellow, and red. His hands and clothes were covered in blood and he appeared to be smacking loudly. His mouth, inside and out, was covered with blood.

In Roxanne's shocked mind, she then realized that this man, or whatever it was, had been eating the dead body on the ground. The bloodied man stared at her and opened his mouth wide and let out a snarling roar. Some of the flesh in his mouth fell out and sprayed on the carpet in front of him.

Then he charged.

Screaming, Roxanne ran out of the apartment and down the hall. She ran past the tipped over arm chairs and turned the corner toward the elevator. The sound of clumsy, fast footsteps could be heard behind her as she pressed the elevator button wildly.

"Come on, come on!" she cried with clenched teeth. The arrow button wasn't lighting up though so she gave up just as the crazed man came around the corner.

Roxanne opened the door to the stairwell and ran down the steps faster than she ever thought she could. The man ran into the closed door, running into it right after it latched.

Roxanne had tears rolling down her face as she burst out of her apartment building. Roxanne looked up and down the street, wondering frantically where to go. It was then that she felt something grip her ankle and she screamed and looked down to see a woman with long brown hair. Her lips were missing, leaving her teeth bared, and her eyes were a dirty yellow with pupils that stared wildly up at her.

This wasn't the most shocking however. Her lower half was missing. All that was there was her bloody spine that issued from her lower back.

Roxanne screamed again as she fought her ankle out of the woman's grip. Once she pulled free, she took off running down the street. She wasn't sure where she was going to go, just anywhere but there.

As she ran around the corner, sobbing and tears falling freely down her face, she didn't see the trash can in the middle of the street and she tripped over it. Her arm became cut badly from large piece of broken glass and she let out a yelp of pain. When she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of moccasins right in front of her face and she looked up to see who they belonged to. Staring down at her was a man with a bared, bloody mouth and no lips.

Roxanne stood up and started to run down the street but saw more of these people staring at her. After a moment of shocked silence, she took off running down the street and past the gory people. They immediately took off after her, some of them running and some fast-paced walking and making snarling and growling noises at her.

/\\\

The zombie dressed in a police uniform growled at him with dirty, bloody teeth before being shot in the head. The zombie fell to the ground, it's head hitting the curb with a painful sounding thunk.

"I do hope we find more survivors," Minion said as he looked around fearfully for any more zombies.

"I do too, Minion. I do too," Megamind agreed as they continued walking warily down the street. There was one thought that kept coming up in his mind that bothered him most among the wondering thought of how zombies managed to come about their city in the first place.

Roxanne. He wondered if she was still alive.

/\\\
Roxanne could still hear the hungry growls and grunts from the creatures behind her. More tears rolled down her face, blurring her vision and irritating her eyes. She ran past dead bodies that lay on the sidewalk and inside cars. When she turned a corner she ran straight into someone and she screamed and smacked whoever it was.

In the midst of her hard hitting and fear clouded mind, she heard a familiar voice, "Roxanne! Roxanne, it's me! Stop hitting me!"

Roxanne opened her eyes and stared into Megamind's beautiful emerald green ones. He then looked up and pulled her behind him with great force and held up a hand gun. The shots that rang out were loud over the zombie's growling and snarling. Each bullet hit the zombies that were chasing her in the head. Roxanne watched in horror as one of the bullets hit the top left side of one of the zombie's skulls and a shower of blood exploded out.

With the zombies now lying slain, the street was quiet and Megamind lowered his gun and placed it in his pocket. He then turned to Roxanne who was shaking and gripped her shoulders.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Were you bit?" he asked urgently with a look of...was that concern?

"I-I fell on some glass and..." Roxanne's voice trailed off as she looked down at her bleeding arm and then back up into Megamind's face. Whatever he was going to do to treat her wound, she didn't know or care. She was just happy to see him and to be away from those things.

Roxanne let out a sob and wrapped her arms around him and began crying harder than she'd ever cried before into his shoulder. Megamind's eyes grew wide and he lifted up his hands, unsure of what to do with them. He just let her cry into him, her tears soaking his shirt.

"Sir! Are you alright? I heard gunshots and-" Minion said as he ran out of a store carrying a backpack. He then stopped and stared at the scene that was taking place in the street. "Where'd Miss. Ritchi come from?" he then asked.

/\\\

The picture I use for my cover is from AMC's The Walking Dead.