This chapter is unedited so anyone wants to try beta it, send me a pm. This chapter will be the closes thing you get to a zombie apocalypse from me. I am not good writing zombie stuff nor do I watch them much but this chapter is asking for it. Also I don't know but my motivation is a record low to write. SnowxHope fandom is on it's dead bed right now and I am considering retiring writing SnowxHope or just fanfics in general. I do have a few more ideas I want to get out, but like I say, the motivation isn't there.

Aaaanyways, enough with my problems. Here is chapter 13. Enjoy!

Chapter 13: A World Desire Death

It sounded almost like a bomb. Then panic-stricken cries of concerns and worries echoed in their ears afterward, the pleas of frightening people coming from outside the building walls.

"What was that?" Snow asked in hurry, looking around frantically before rushing out of the door to a distraught crowd of frightening civilians with Bartholomew and the soldier. People, who were loitering in the streets, stopped and stood staring transfixed with a mixed of a worried and concerned expression at a huge cloud of smoke while whispering to themselves, questioning the unexpected explosion.

"It look like the explosion came from near the housing site." A man said among the crowds.

"What happened?" Bartholomew demanded and all civilians flocked toward the three men, bombarding them with questions from a concerned woman asking 'Is everyone okay?' to another 'Are we being attack?' from a frightening old man.

"Everyone, please remain calm and return to your home. There is nothing to be worried about, I assure you." Bartholomew said reassuringly as the people slowly began to calm down, but his eyes remained pensive to smoke brewing to the sky. He then turned to Snow and the Guardian Corp soldier. "Let's go!" He ordered and the trio made their way down the street and towards the construction site, passing more civilians who also remained in the streets, staring at the large pile of smoke building in the sky.

Arriving at the construction site left a strange and bubbling sensation inside Snow's stomach. The air was sick, a foul stench lingered heavily. A mass of people were gathered in front of a decimated building which was now a heap of pile rubbles. Bartholomew quickly broke into the crowd, assessing the situation and trying to get answers of what really happened.

"Snow." A familiar female voice called out.

Snow turned to direction of the voice and saw Serah among the curious and confused crowd, looking at him. Lightning's sister broke away from the clamour and approached him. "What happened here?" He asked his ex-fiancee.

Serah gave the rubbles a look and shifted her confused expression back to the blond. "I don't know. We heard an explosion."

"Stay here." Snow said before he pushed through the crowd, stepping forward and getting a closer look at the condition of the building. The house was recently erected a few days ago, but now it was nothing but rubbles. Did someone left the gas running or was there some overload stripes that were overlook? From the look of confusion and unsettling whispers among the faces, it appeared that nobody really didn't know the reason of the building's condition which was now a pile of debris. His hard and blue eyes scanned every niche of the debris once more and froze out of fear as they slowly widened when his eyes spotted something sticking out from the rubble. It was a human finger. He quickly rushed forward, digging through the large chuck of debris.

A young female soldier also noticed the limb and began assisting him. Strangely the air seemed to be becoming worse and worse with the stench of rotten, decayed flesh not of burnt corpse. The smell was becoming repulsive making his nose twitched as he continued to dig through the debris with his bare hands, ignoring the fact that he was getting dirt under his fingernails. He probably will get a scolding from Hope for that later, but right now a person life was at stake. First they saw a hand, a shoulder, and then finally a body but it was already too late. Snow and the female soldier then stopped digging. The body lying motionless under all of that waste belonged what looked to be a thirty aged old man.

"Is he-" Bartholomew paused. He couldn't finish his question.

Snow nodded and stood up with the female soldier as everyone fell into a respectful silent, taking a moment to mourn the loss. Their priority right now was to identify who this figure was and what really happened.

Slowly taking a step from the corpse, Snow felt something latch onto his right ankle, making him lost his balance, falling to the ground. He then heard a short intake of breath coming from the woman beside him who stumbled on the floor, backing away to the crowds. His ears deciphered something with ragged breathing behind him. There were gasps of horror in the air from the people standing before him, especially Serah's voice calling his name. He could feel the chills in the winds, making the hairs at the back of his neck stand up and his throat dry. His heart was pounding, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He looked back, sensing something moving behind him. A pair of bright blue eyes turned round out of fear when they saw the dead figure beneath the debris crawling out towards him. The man's eyes were feral and the skin was pasty white where he could see the green veins clearly. This man was in the same condition like those people had found deep in the Mah'habara.

"No!" Snow whispered dreadfully. This wasn't happening again. Not here. Not in Oerba.

"Snow!" Serah cried out.

Serah's scream triggered back his senses as the undead lurched at him, howling with it's mouth open wide. Snow's reactions, sharpened from his previous journey, acted based on instinct and backhanded the body away with his right elbow, knocking the body on the ground. Snow quickly scurried on his feet to the crowd, distance himself from the undead human which gradually limped back on it's feet, groaning heavily. "Shoot it." He yelled to the soldiers who stood immobilized by fear from the scene like everyone else among the crowds. He growled harshly. This wasn't the time for sightseeing. He grabbed a gun from a nearby soldier's hollister and turned around. Two deafening gunshots disrupted the air as the undead body wobbled two steps back, two bullet holes drilled through it's chest. People looked on as the human's head snapped upward before charging once again to him. Snow muttered a curse word under his breath when he suddenly realized again that bullets didn't harm these people. Thinking of another solution quickly, he charged forward, embuing ice element around his hand and grabbing the head before slamming it on the ground. The cranium cracked on contact as blood splattered around the ground. The corpse went still and Snow then stepped back, his heart still pumping from the short adrenaline and exhilaration.

"What happened to it?" A soldier asked after seeing the situation relief itself.

"Something unnatural." Snow commented, gaining a set of suspicious look from the crowd. He stared at the lifeless body on the floor. "That man doesn't belong to the world of the living anymore but yet acts alive."

"An undead." Bartholomew answered the blond who nodded.

"What do you mean 'undead'?" A frantic man who was trying to control himself from shaken terribly asked but then a loud demonic screech abruptly split the air in a distance which send chills down every soul's neck. Out of fear, eyes quickly looked around apprehensively when daylight was gradually turning grey. Dark, black clouds were slowly starting to cover the sky, blocking out the light. There was something eerie about this situation and everyone's instinct was telling them that something wasn't right.

"What's happening?" Bartholomew asked out of fear.

"Ahh!" A young woman's cries broke through the crowd. Everyone turned to young girl who was staring up head. Then they saw it; more corpses like the one lying motionless on the floor beside Snow's feet, wobbling and groaning towards them. They were all dressed in casual clothes like the Cocoon's civilian. The crowd of people backed away in fear while some stood, staring transfixed at the sight.

"T-They are c-coming this w-way." Another man stammered, backing away.

"Fall back to the village." Bartholomew ordered to the people as they began distancing themselves from the army of corpses walking towards them.

"What about the others beyond the overpass?" Serah questionably added.

Bartholomew muttered a swear word under his breath. He turned to the nearest soldier. "You! Mr. Katzroy is with some of the other officers pass the overhead bridge conducting project. Go and inform him of our situation quickly and that a state of emergency is declared." He ordered and the soldier saluted before running off.

"It's my Jacob." A civilian woman gasped. Snow as with the some of people turned their gaze to the middle-aged woman, whose face was completely blanketed with surprise and happiness, was slowly walking to group of the undead. Snow gritted his teeth and ran back when he saw the same walking corpse the woman was looking at made a run for her with it's mouth opened wide. The woman flinched in terror and covered her face with her arms as a reflex but Snow was quick enough to deliver a harsh punch, knocking the undead to the floor before it could touch the woman. He grabbed the woman by her wrist and tried to distance themselves from the rest of the walking corpses.

"But that's my son." She pleaded.

Snow glanced over his shoulder at the groaning figure on the floor trying to get back on it's feet. It was a young man, probably in his early twenties, dressed in Sanctum official attires which were torn and ripped around legs and arms. Like the other undead, it's skin was pasty white and rotten like the others. "No. He is not. Not anymore." He said sadly. Then something with hungry eyes lunged at him from his peripheral vision. He was too opened to attack and didn't have the time to react from the oncoming body. However, two gunshots rang through the air and the corpse fell on the floor with a bullet hole through it's legs.

"What are you doing standing there, Hero? Get a move on." A voice snapped harshly.

Snow turned to the deep voice and saw Gadot with rifle in his hand, taking aim. He quickly caught up to the group moving into Oerba and left the woman under the care of some soldiers.

"What should we do?" A Guardian Corp soldier called out.

"We fight of course." Snow said, gaining some frightful look amongst the soldiers.

"Yeah. That's easy said than done." A soldier retorted.

"They are slow, so target their legs. We just have to outsmart them." Snow rallied the men who weren't looking too optimistic about laying down their lives for the protection for the human race.

"Bartholomew!" A soldier burst through the crowd, panting heavily. "We are been attacked."

"I am aware of that." Bartholomew grunted in response.

"No! At the entrance." The soldier pleaded hysterically. "There are people attacking us at the entrance."

"There are more of them." Bartholomew said dreadfully.

"Damn it!" Snow cursed, clenching his fingers into a fist. They were being cornered and Snow didn't have the men defend against an army of undead. Lightning better get her ass back here from Cocoon as fast as possible.

"Where are they all coming from?" Bartholomew inquired.

"I think I have an idea." Gadot said, walking through to the crowd of people before grabbing Snow by the collar.

"Gadot? What are you doing?" Snow asked, surprised at the heated glare his friend was giving him.

"What are you doing here? That abomination thing is here." Gadot said harshly.

"You mean?" Bartholomew trailed of.

"The Necromancer is here." Gadot spat at the blond, letting go of the blond's collar roughly. "And you know what that mean?"

Snow's eyes slowly widened in realization as a dreadful terror casted over him. "Hope." He barely whispered the word audible.

Hope was gradually waking up from the clamour coming outside the building. His senses were too dull and somewhat tired to be bothered with to wake up, but the reality cruelly kept pulling me. His eyes snapped open as his heart nearly jumped out from his chest when he heard a sinister screech broke through the air. His body gasped up quickly and looked around the empty and almost pale room, wincing at the sudden numbness at the front of his cranium from the sudden movement. The screeching cry stopped and the world fell into silent in his room, swirling around him. Waking up had seldom been harder or painful. His head spun, nausea had his stomach rolling. Then cries and gunshots filled the air outside his house. Hope rolled out of bed hastily and struggled with weak and trembling steps to window, only to see a hazy, grey world of panic and chaos spurring in the streets. People were rampaging through the streets. It was pure pandemonium.

"What's going on?" He looked around confused and afraid. His acute eyes zoned into the terror ensuing on the streets and saw that the people attacking civilians were similar to mindless people in the mines. "It's-" Hope stopped or more precisely, froze on spot all of a suddenly. There was something else that send a dreadful sensation climbing up his spine to his neck, making the end hair at the back of neck stand up. He straightened up, feeling something watching him, moving unseen, lurking in the shadow. A pair of sea-green orbs squinted to the left corner of his vision when he felt another presence than himself in the room. He knew this strange power already. He had felt it before; deep in the Mah'habara and in a quiet room on Lindblum. He gulped down nervously and reluctantly turned around. His eyes widened in terror as his heart beat frantically when he saw a patch of darkness spewing at the corner of his room. Something strange and terrifying was lurking inside the darkness. Hope stood in place and watched with wide eyes at the growing shadows. Then a hand reached out from the darkness and he bolted down the stairs frantically and out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Hey kid, watch out!" A soldier yelled at him.

Hope turned to the soldier and saw three undead human limping with ragged breaths towards him. His breathing hitched and he backed closer to door. However, the three undead fell to the ground when two bullet wounds embedded in each of their foot.

"Now is your chance kid!" The same soldier called out.

Hope looked around before sprinting off, running around the three undead and leaped over a hand which tried to grab his legs. He looked back at the three human on the floor and to a group of undead making its way to the entrance. Then something silver caught within vision. His feet suddenly slowed down, coming to a stop not too far away from the three undead groaning on the floor. The chaos around him disappeared as he stood staring at the silver-haired woman dressed in an ivory sweater, slightly torn around the sleeves, and white capris wobbling amongst the pack. His eyes widened in disbelief when an image of his mother falling to her death flashed through his mind. It couldn't be?

Hope took a step closer to the group of undead, his eyes only focused on the silver-haired woman. "Mom?" He said weakly. Even though it had been over months, Hope was absolutely certain. He could heard the same soldier calling him again to run away, but he ignored him. He stared heartbreakingly at what used to look like his mother. The glow that his mother's face once carried was gone and her eyes were yellow like the others. "Mom!" Hope called out again, taking a step forward but a hand was placed on his right shoulder. Hope tensed automatically as his heart suddenly stop when he felt that unnatural magic spurring beside him.

"Is she someone special to you?" A voice suddenly said beside him.

That voice. Hope stiffened at first, but relaxed a bit when he didn't feel any hostility coming from the Necromancer beside of him. The world grew somewhat silent as the soldiers paused from shooting the walking corpses whom suddenly stopped walking and stood where they were. He slowly turned to the Necromancer who was cloaked from head to toe in a brown robe. He could only see the face, skin as white as wax and a pair of red eyes staring mildly curious at the silvery hair corpse. Hope clenched his fingers into a fist and bowed his head. "She's my mother. Well... not anymore." He said softly. He heard the Necromancer hummed in acknowledgement.

"She doesn't have be like that. I can bring her soul back." The Necromancer spoke.

"You... can?" Hope gave the Necromancer a look of total disbelief.

The Necromancer leaned forward, seeing the teen take a step backward with a fearful look on his face. He brought his face closer to the teen's and placed a hand under the silverette's chin. "I am conjurer of the dead. Say the word and I'll bring her back. Just come with me, that's all I ask." The Necromancer offered.

Hope contemplated for a moment before stepping away from the Necromancer. "I don't believe you." His mother was long dead. There was nothing in this world that could bring her back again. When someone died, they stayed dead. There was no way around that. The Necromancer passed him an interested look and a wicked smile appeared on his face.

"You don't take my word for it?" The Necromancer asked and the silverette shook his head. The Necromancer's smile turned amused. "Maybe a demonstration will change your mind."

Hope watched as the Necromancer raised a hand causing the wearily soldiers to raise their guns towards the Necromancer. The hand began to glow a strange blue which evoked a weird marking to appear at the feet of his undead mother. The marking glowed around his mother and Hope watched in enthrallment as the silver-haired undead slowly straightened and walked towards them. The warm glow slowly returned back to his mother's face as her eyes, feral and yellow, turned back to their once warm and gentle green as if life suddenly coursed into her being. Hope's heart was beating rapidly at the point, gazing with wide eyes at the familiar green eyes which were looking around the surrounding confusingly before meeting his round and stun green eyes.

"Hope."

Hope's breathing hitched when he heard his mother calling his name. His mother's tender and bewildered voice send a wave of wishfulness through him which came crashing around him in a instant. There was nothing unusual or wrong with her. Everything about his mother's profile was there. "M-mom?" He called out hesitantly, feeling his throat becoming dry. His mother returned a familiar warm and soft smile at him and something constricted in his heart.

"Hope!" Snow's voiced boomed behind of him. Hope and the Necromancer turned around and saw Snow and his fiery haired friend breaking through the crowd of soldiers and civilians looking at them.

"Hope, get away from him?" Snow yelled, stopping in front of the crowd of people behind of him. He glared heatedly at the figure in cloak standing beside his lover before perceiving another shiny gray haired figure within his field of vision. His blues eyes slowly widened in disbelief as he peered at Nora Estheim standing, in the flesh, a few feet behind Hope. "Nora?" Snow called out skeptically.

"Snow, she's-" Hope astonishingly said but stopped when he turned back to his gaze to his mother and saw a blue glow siphoned off his mother. His eyes widened as she returned to her mindless and undead state. "No! What happened?" He turned to the Necromancer who looked remarkably depleted.

"My power hasn't fully returned as yet." The Necromancer muttered hoarsely.

"Hope!" Snow called out, approaching the teen.

"Snow stop!" Hope yelled out desperately, causing the blond flinched from his high voice and stopped in place. Snow looked at him cautiously before he turned his gaze back to the Necromancer. "If your power returns, can you really bring her back?" He asked softly.

"Hope, No! He is just coiling with your feelings." Snow shouted, not liking where this was going. He saw Hope's mildly perplexed and shocking expression when the teen saw his mother alive before his eyes and knew clearly what Hope was going with this.

"If you come with me, I'll bring her back." The Necromancer bargained before summoning a bright red light around him and the undead.

Once again Hope contemplated on his offer. He knew that he couldn't trust the Necromancer but the chance to see his mother was an offer he didn't want to slip by. "Okay, I'll go." Hope stated and stepped into the strange light.

"No!" Snow yelled out in disbelief, running forward.

"Don't worry. I'll be alright." Hope reassured to Snow.

"There is nothing alright about this." Snow growled and reached a hand out but he was a second too late. Just like the weird disappearance trick on the Lindblum, the Necromancer, the undead, and Hope were gone before his eyes.

To be Continued...