Chapter Text
It’s not that Louis sees himself as introvert. Not really. Actually, Louis thinks that he for one actually enjoys others company, quite often really. Louis is not one to lie to get out of spending time with people (unless they are annoying or root for the wrong footie team because then yeah, Louis would very much like to skip spending time with them). Honestly, Louis pictures himself as good with people. He can smile, he can laugh at jokes even though they aren’t remotely funny just because he knows that it’s expected of him and he is really good at making friends.
It’s just that Louis really doesn’t like being forced upon people.
He didn’t know when it started, but it was probably when there was that one incident at Uni when he got tangled up in a web of lies with some classmates, and suddenly Louis really didn’t know anymore who he could trust and who he should stay away from. It was funny, because before ending up in the middle of what turned out to be a catastrophe, Louis thought he was really good at reading people. But then those people had used him and making a complete mess, and even though Louis was pretty much over it, not even being hurt by how they outed him in front of everyone in a kind of sick way, he had been keeping a lot more to himself after that.
Well, to himself and with Zayn of course.
Zayn Malik was a good friend. Great friend, even. Louis didn’t know how they had made it through their first year without even speaking to each other, but then Zayn had bumped into Louis after one lecture one afternoon. Louis had been cranky and spilling his tea all over Zayn’s books, jeans and by the looks of it, expensive school bag. Zayn had cursed using words Louis didn’t even know existed and Louis had apologized, trying to come up with something that could make the situation better. Then, to Louis surprise, Zayn had picked up his books, looked at Louis and then asked if he wanted to hang out some day.
Well, Zayn was kind of weird when Louis thought of it.
They fought over sports, how to best drink your tea and when it was necessary to stay in studying and not go out having drinks at the local pub, and Louis loved every second of it. He could talk to Zayn about everything and Zayn didn’t even care about all the previous drama. Zayn just pretty much cared about things that mattered to him and he explained it perfectly, that rumors and asshats didn’t really spark his interest anyway. Zayn laughed at his jokes, they could talk for hours about the most ridiculous stuff but that for some reason made sense talking about right then.
But apart from Zayn, Louis didn’t really meet people anymore. Well, not counting when you had to meet them, Louis didn’t go out like he used to. It wasn’t at all that bad. Louis didn’t really complain, he was just kind of pleased with having at least one voice to listen to except for his own, and Zayn could really talk, even if Louis didn’t do anything to keep the conversation going.
Talk, spend too much time in front of the mirror and smoke sitting by the window even though it was forbidden to do so. That was a few of Zayn’s qualities.
Louis really doesn't mind any of it.
---
“… not knowing how it’s spreading, authorities are telling residents of the London area to…”
Louis wakes up abruptly to the sound of a radio news station, sounding like it had really bad reception. He blinks, the sudden light being too harsh on his eyes and then he notices Zayn hooded over his laptop, where the sound is coming from.
“Zayn.” Louis grunts, tempted to throw a pillow at the bloke. “It’s too early for radio. Too early for sounds whatsoever, actually. What are you doing?”
Zayn hushes him; only turning briefly to look at Louis who is tangled up in the sheets in the bed and then he turns his attention to the laptop again. Even though it was briefly and Louis wasn’t that awake yet, he can still see that Zayn looks rather pale to be Zayn.
“… comments from… army will intervene if… safe zones are…”
“Stupid piece of shit!” Zayn curses and hits the laptop. Louis sits up.
“Hey, that’s my precious Asus you’re hitting there. Be careful, cost me a small fortune of my student loan.”
“Honest to god, Louis.” Zayn snaps. “How bad is your wifi connection in here?”
“I don’t know?” Louis asks and rubs his eyes, trying to wake up some more, but feeling the need for tea building up. “What’s so important anyway, you wanna watch streamed movies now?”
“Louis.” Zayn says, and his voice is serious as he’s still turned to the laptop, not looking at Louis. “Something is going on.”
“What?” Louis asks, and he is tempted to add something about Zayn kidding or that he should quit the act, but it is something in Zayn’s voice that seems trembling and real, and suddenly Louis doesn’t feel like asking if it is a joke. Instead Louis feels a bit scared and it is not a pleasant feeling. Zayn rubs his eyes like he can’t really feel awake either, and then he continues to tap on Louis’ laptop, like he is trying to find a new stream.
“I don’t know.” He says and his voice is cold and short, complete opposite to what it usually sounds like. “Really, I don’t know. It’s something weird. People are freaking out. Talking about a virus.”
“A virus?” Louis stands up and walks over to Zayn, reading over his shoulder. “What, like swine flu or something?”
“No, not like swine flu.” Zayn says through gritted teeth and flips through online newspapers.
“Then like what?”
“Louis!” Zayn almost shouts and he looks really annoyed as he looks over his shoulder to watch Louis. “I don’t know. I have to find a good news station, something, I need more information. It’s crazy out there.”
“It is?” Louis walks over to the window, the only window in the dorm he had for himself as he was waiting for a new roommate and moves the curtains so that he can see outside.
First, it looks like the normal campus, nothing special.
Then Louis realizes how quiet it is, and that there are spilled Starbucks cups everywhere like people had left in a hurry, and then how there is literally no people. And even though yes, it is kind of early it still isn’t too early and people should start heading to classes and study groups by now. Louis looks back at Zayn, who is still on the laptop.
“Shit, I can’t get this to work!” Zayn says and he looks so frustrated that he might even cry when he runs one hand through his hair, lips trembling. “Fuck sake, Lou.”
Louis is just about to reply when he catches a glimpse out of the window again and notices one person actually making their way across the campus. It is slow and it looks like every step hurts, but the person is walking forward nonetheless.
“Zayn, someone is out there!” Louis says, not really understanding why he thinks he has to share this, but then again considering campus looked deserted except for himself and Zayn, it seemed like big news at the moment. Zayn looks up and frowns, just when Louis takes a closer look at the person.
“He…” Louis decides it must be a he; it looks like a he anyway. “He looks hurt. Should we go out there?”
“No!” Zayn rushes forward and pulls back the curtains so that Louis can’t look outside anymore. Louis looks at his friend, suddenly wondering what in hell is going on.
“Zayn…?” He asks, feeling more confused than he wants to let on. “What is going on?”
The last part comes out harsh and demanding but Louis doesn’t care, right now it is obvious that Zayn is hiding something from him and now Louis really wants to know what it is.
Zayn is even paler now, and he is sweating too, his forehead filled with sweat drops. He swallows.
“Louis, you have to believe me, it’s not a joke.”
“What isn’t a joke?” Louis grabs Zayn’s shoulders to hold his eyes steady on him. Zayn swallows again.
“Like, really. You have to believe I’m not shitting you or anything because…”
“Zayn!” Louis yells, tempting to shake some sense into his friend. “Just tell me.”
Zayn sighs and then he opens his mouth.
“The virus, it’s… god, Louis. It’s like… they eat you.”
“Zayn, you’re not making any sense whatsoever.” Louis says and now he can feel his voice getting squeaky, and he shakes his head, trying to calm down. “Eats you?”
Zayn nods and it looks like he is about to start crying out of sheer panic now.
“You die quickly, but you don’t stay dead.” He says, like that would explain everything to Louis. It doesn’t. Louis doesn’t understand a thing and he really doesn’t like how Zayn is making no sense.
“Okay, did you smoke something else besides your cigarettes because Zayn we talked about that and…”
Zayn lets out a frustrated groan.
“Louis, it’s zombies. It’s fucking real.”
Louis stares at Zayn, tempted to laugh.
“Okay, no. What are you even on about, I…”
“Louis, I swear. The virus. It’s…”
“Zayn, shut up, there’s no such thing as zombies. Now please, could you stop joking around and really just tell me what’s…”
Zayn grabs Louis’ glasses from his bed stand and gives them to Louis.
“Here. Put them on. And then look outside again.”
Louis doesn’t know why his hands are trembling when he puts on the glasses, but they are, and when he turns around to face the window again, he feels his whole body shaking. This is ridiculous. Zayn grabs the curtain and pulls it to the side again.
“Look again.” He says slowly and Louis looks outside. It is still empty, it still looks like everyone has abandon campus except for Zayn and him. And then there is the person.
“He still looks hurt.” Louis comments and glances over at Zayn, whose face is now more similar to a rock. “Maybe we should…”
“Louis.” Zayn says, without letting the person go with his eyes. “Look.”
Louis sighs and looks closer. And that’s when he notices how half of the person’s face is gone. Louis can see bones and veins and oh god, so much blood and teeth. Just when he thinks he is about to be sick he notices a hole in the person’s body, just above the waist. And Louis can see more intestines than he knew were in a human being.
Louis covers his mouth with his hand, feeling sick to his gut, and Zayn pulls back the curtain again, the world outside disappearing again.
“It’s a joke.” Louis stumbles away from the window, tempted to throw away his glasses, that had helped him see this, hoping that it would make him un-see it. “I… it’s a joke.”
“Louis, it’s a zombie.”
“Then it’s one of those zombie walk things!” Louis screams and his voice is loud and squeaky and he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care because he is scared out of his fucking mind and Zayn is just standing there, acting like it doesn’t affect him at all. Okay, that might not be true because Zayn is still pale, still sweating but he still manages to look calmer than Louis feels and it is so annoying.
Zayn shakes his head and grabs Louis’s shoulder.
“We have to get out of here.”
“Zayn, you can’t honestly believe that this is real, it’s a prank, we live in the real world, there’s no such thing as zombies here, we can’t…” Louis grabs Zayn’s arm, desperately wanting him to tell him that it is in fact a joke, that he is being punk’d, that it is a hidden camera somewhere, just something. Even Zayn admitting that he, Louis, is having a mental breakdown and seeing things that isn’t actually there seems like a good idea, a better idea than this.
Zayn doesn’t say anything of that though; instead he turns to Louis’ computer again.
“I think connections got worse somewhere in the morning. It must have happened really quick, everything was fine last night, but this must be the center, where it started, I heard some broadcast telling people to stay away, they are evacuating and…”
Louis hids his face in his hands, wanting Zayn to shut up, wanting the world to disappear because this is insane, he doesn’t even know why he is still listening to the madness coming out of Zayn’s mouth.
“Zayn, zombies only exists in games and stories and books and tv-shows. This is real life. This can’t be happening.”
“Well it bloody well is happening!” Zayn shouts and Louis stumbles back and sits down on the bed because Zayn almost looks hostile. “Sorry.” Zayn’s expression softens and then he turns to the computer again. “But Louis, we can’t freak out now. It’s happening. And we need to get out of here. I can’t have you freaking out of me. We won’t survive if you’re freaking out.”
“This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.” Louis mumbles, rocking back and forth on the bed and that’s when Zayn walks over and slaps him.
Louis whimpers and his hand fly up to the part of his chin that Zayn had hit. Zayn breathes in and out, heavily and stares at Louis.
“I’m sorry.” He says and then he reaches out to hug Louis. “God, Lou, I’m sorry, but I… We can’t freak out. I need you with me, okay? I can’t leave without you.”
“Where are we going?” Louis whispers, feeling tears in his eyes because the slap had hurt, he would probably get a bruise and he did not like the way Zayn handled it.
Zayn looks around in the room and spots a bag, one that Louis takes the gym the occasional times he visits it. Zayn grabs it and pour out the clothes and water bottles that were in it on the floor and then tosses it over to Louis.
“Pack.” He demands. “Only what you need, but just bring something. And get dressed.”
Louis gets up from the bed and walks over to the closet. Half way there he is tempted to ask Zayn what exactly you do pack when you’re leaving for a zombie apocalypse but Zayn would probably slap him again and even if he didn’t think he would, Louis feels too weak from all the shock to even open his mouth. Not really understanding what he is doing or why he is doing it, he picks a few trousers and some shirts and a sweatshirt, shoving it down the bag. He picks the jeans he had worn last night, one simple white t-shirt and a hoodie and put them on, while Zayn apparently gives up on the computer. Instead he reaches for his own bag that Louis hadn’t noticed until now and swings it over his shoulder.
“Do you have any weapons?” He asks, and Louis couldn’t help but let out a laugh, stopping immediately when he notices how serious Zayn is.
“No!” He says and zips the bag closed. “I don’t have any weapons Zayn, I’m a student, not some kind of crime lord.”
Zayn sighs.
“Do you have anything, anything at all?”
“Uhm…” Louis walks over to his desk and gazes over the piles of papers and books until he finds what he had been looking for: a letter opener. “I have this?”
Zayn sighs and rolls his eyes, but he takes it nonetheless.
“This will have to do. Are you ready to leave?”
“No.”
Zayn stares at him. “Louis…”
“Look, I really have a problem with believing this is actually happening, okay?” Louis says, feeling a bit desperate over the fact that Zayn doesn’t seem to understand him. When did he become so okay with the thought of heading into a possible apocalypse without even questioning whether it’s a dream or not anyway? “I mean, I don’t believe in zombies. I think you should give me a break.”
“Well, I think you better start believing quickly.” Zayn says and walks over to the door. “Because we’re gonna have to make it past a lot of them probably to get to the car. Let’s go, Lou.”
Lou grabs his wallet and keys out of old habits and puts them in his pockets and swings the bag over his shoulder, making sure he won’t drop it. It isn’t that heavy considering he’s only bringing clothes, but since he also feels like he is carrying all the anxiety feelings about this whole situation, it feels like he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Zayn.” He says just when Zayn puts his hand on the door handle. “Just how bad is it out there?”
Zayn sighs and then turns to Louis, his eyes looking watery and scared. For the first time Louis can actually feel that this is affecting him to. Zayn isn’t a rock, a mountain that can’t be moved, without feelings. Zayn is maybe just as scared as Louis is, even if he is better at hiding it.
For some reason it makes Louis feel a bit better. Like he isn’t alone in this.
“It’s the same like what you just saw.” He says and his voice is quiet. “But we can get out, okay? Just follow me and stay close.”
“Okay.” Louis nods and Zayn pushes the door open.
---
Louis should have died three times just heading outside.
First he was too occupied being shocked about the fact that everything looked just like in those bad apocalypse movies, that he didn’t notice that in one of the rooms one of the zombies (Louis was still by that time not even sure they were real) just noticed that something living was moving outside. Thank god Zayn was there though and he managed to slam the door shut before the zombie could get to Louis.
The next time Louis tripped after being shocked by the sight of a bloody arm lying in the middle of the stairs, and he fell down one flight of stairs before managing to stop himself and Zayn could help him out. He should have broken both his legs in the tumble down the stairs but thank god he didn’t. Zayn sighed though and told him to be careful, and Louis felt ashamed for being clumsy and foolish.
The third time was just when they were heading towards Zayn’s car, and Louis was relaxing without realizing it, feeling like the worst most be over, when three zombies that he almost recognized as students in his year came growling over the campus area, and just when Louis thought that he was finished, feeling the foul stench from the rotten flesh, Zayn had managed to get the car doors open and the engine to start, and thank god the car was fast enough to outrun all of them.
“That wasn’t so difficult.” Zayn breaths out as he put on his seat belt and then nods to Louis to do the same. Louis gives him a dark look.
“No, not at all. This was fine.”
“We have to stick together.” Zayn says, and Louis can feel just the slightest bit of panic in his voice. “It will be okay as long as we stick together.”
---
It takes two weeks before Louis is finally accepting the fact that the zombies are real, that they are in so much trouble and that Zayn can be a freaking killing machine when he wants to be. Louis has of course killed a zombie or two himself, mostly when there’s no other way out but Zayn, Zayn is crazy. Or amazing. Or extremely skilled, Louis hasn’t decided yet. He only knows that he is extremely lucky to have Zayn as a friend because if he didn’t have Zayn, he probably would have been dead ages ago.
They have been driving around in Zayn’s car since they started the journey, trying to find something that will tell them that they are not alone in the world. London looks like a war zone though; it’s scary how empty it is. First couple of days travelling Louis and Zayn actually now and then ran into other people, alive people, but they seem to be gone now all of them. Zayn has been trying to find out about safe zones or secret areas, and if the virus is spread to more places than England, but it’s difficult to find any kind of communication. Phones and internet are both out. Louis’ cellphone is dead even if they would be able to make a call, and Zayn dropped his while trying to get away from a hoard of zombies lurking outside a grocery shop where they tried to find some food.
It feels kind of lonely.
“We should try to leave London.” Zayn says as he stops the car in front of a gas station, carefully checking for zombies nearby before stepping outside. “To the countryside. Maybe it’s better there. There’s nothing here anyway.”
“Are you sure?” Louis says, and reaches for his rifle in the backseat before he steps outside. Yes, he as a rifle now. How crazy is that. Zayn shakes his head and head over to the gas, sighing with relief when he sees that it works and that he is able to put gas into the car.
“I don’t know Louis, I don’t know. But we have to do something. I don’t think it can be worse than London anyway, or anything we have seen so far.”
“I’m not sure.” Louis says, and truth to be told he’s actually quite scared because leaving would mean that they leave a lot of things that makes Louis feel safe, despite the fact that it’s pretty unsafe right now. He’s not sure he can handle that.
Zayn finishes putting gas in the car and looks inside the gas station.
“Maybe we should see if they have some water or something.” He says and tries to see if it looks like there are zombies inside. He can’t see any though, and Louis can’t either. “I don’t know when we’ll be able to get to a store again.
Louis agrees, and both of them armed, they head for the door.
At first it all looks perfectly safe. Louis is even surprised because this must be one of the first stores they enter that looks almost like it must have looked like on a regular basis. Before this happened. The shelves are in order, it looks like the freezers are still working and everything just looks so normal.
Zayn grabs some water bottles, a couple of soda cans and then shoves them down his bag. Louis grabs a couple of chocolate bars even though Zayn rolls his eyes as he manages to get a few packages with paracetamol. Louis rolls his eyes back at him though when Zayn reaches for a pack of cigarettes just as Louis finds his favorite chocolate hidden on one of the shelves.
Zayn is heading back to Louis when they hear the growl.
Louis turns his head in horror and watches a bloody hand grabbing the counter.
“Fuck, it’s the clerk.” Zayn shouts as the zombie pulls itself up, watching Zayn and Louis with hungry, dead eyes. Louis feels his heart racing and he heads for the door.
“Hurry!” He shouts back at Zayn.
“Louis, look out!” Zayn screams and only then does Louis realize that maybe five zombies are currently circling their car, the only getaway they have right now.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Zayn curses and grabs Louis’ arm. “Let’s run.”
“Run where?” Louis feels the panic in Zayn’s voice.
“Anywhere but here, let’s just go!”
And they start running. Louis feels his chest burning and his legs hurt but Zayn is running ahead of him, and he can’t lose him. Suddenly he hears an unfamiliar voice, with an accent he can’t place.
“Look out, you!”
Zayn and Louis lower their heads and then they hear gunfire. Louis hears the thump of bodies falling to the ground and when the gunfire stops, he finally dares to look up.
On the hood of an abandon truck there are two guys standing. One of them has a shaved head, he looks buff and really athletic, and he’s the one holding the gun, aiming for the now dead-again zombies behind Louis and Zayn. The other one is bleached blonde, tinier than the other guy and they both look at Zayn and Louis with worried eyes.
The buff guy lowers his gun and they both jump down on the ground at the same time, heading over to Louis and Zayn.
“Thanks.” Zayn breaths out and leans over, putting his hands on his knees as he catches his breath. “Thought it was over.”
“No problem.” The blonde guy says and Louis is a bit ashamed that he doesn’t recognize the accent. Scottish? No. And not American. Maybe Australian. “It was nice to see some people not after our intestines for once, actually.”
Irish. Louis is actually quite pleased that he finally is able to place it. He clears his throat.
“You’re the first people, alive people, we see in weeks actually. Where have you been?”
The buff guy snorts a bit, but he’s smiling.
“Being safe. I’m Liam, by the way. This is Niall.”
Niall waves.
“I’m Zayn and this is Louis.” Zayn says and stands up straight again. “Pleasure to meet you. Or something.”
Zayn looks back at the dead zombies and Louis can see why he has that questioning look on his face. Meeting in the middle of a blood bath maybe isn’t the nicest way to meet new people.
“We should move away from here.” Niall says and looks at Liam. “We can be found. Maybe we should take Louis and Zayn with us.”
“Take us where?” Louis asks, but he doubts it can be worse than it is here. Liam smiles a little.
“We have safe place. You just have to convince Harry you’re good enough to be let in. let’s go.”
Zayn raises his eyebrows at Louis as they follow Liam and Niall. Louis shrugs. He doesn’t understand either.
---
Liam and Niall leads Zayn and Louis down a street, the houses look nice but a bit old almost, but Louis doesn’t know if they are actually old or just worn out by this thing just like they are. As the buildings grow taller they head into an alley, and that’s when Niall waves to a person standing guard, almost. Louis thinks that this must be the person they had been talking about. Louis and Zayn follow nervously as they walk towards him.
The guy is special. Louis doesn’t even know why he wants to use that word, but he can’t come up with anything better. His hair is curly, feathery even and just light brown. He’s got big eyes that look a bit innocent, like they don’t belong in a world like this. His body is tall and slender, and he is covered in cut and bruises, and his clothes looks torn, complete the opposite to Liam and Niall’s clothing, which actually look new. Louis’ heart skips a beat.
“We ran into them outside.” Liam explains to the curly haired guy, apparently named Harry since that was the name Liam mentioned earlier, and looks almost nervous. “We were just out to see if there are… well. We were out. And then they came running.”
“Zombies everywhere.” Niall says and the Irish brogue is really thick, Louis notices. “You came from the gas station, didn’t you?” Niall turns to Louis and Zayn, with an encouraging nod, telling them to tell their story.
“Yes.” Louis says and looks nervously at Harry who still hasn’t said anything, he is just staring at Louis and Zayn like he is trying to decide if they are actually real people. “We headed inside to get supplies.”
“And we we’re just getting some water and I grabbed a couple packs of cigarettes when…” Zayn starts to fill in, but he is interrupted by Harry who gives Zayn an almost evil glare.
“You smoke?”
The voice is harsh and Louis is somewhat surprised because Harry, he looks so sweet and innocent despite all the torn clothes and cuts and bruises. Not the kind of bloke to have a harsh, cold voice like that. Zayn looks a bit taken a back.
“Uhm, yeah, I…”
“You brought a smoker?” Now Harry turns to Liam and Niall, who looks a bit shifting in their positions, like they would rather be somewhere else. Louis wonders if the three of them knew each other before this, wonders if they always had this kind of hierarchy. Harry the leader, and the other two doing what he wants them to do. Another thing that doesn’t really feel right, Harry doesn’t feel like the one to take charge. Louis doesn’t know why, he just doesn’t.
“I’m old enough to smoke.” Zayn says, and tries to stare back at Harry with the same, strong eyes that Harry is staring at them with. Harry snorts.
“Sure you are. But you know, smoking isn’t really a good thing in this world that’s all.”
“Why not?” Zayn asks and Louis is almost impressed with how Zayn is handling all this. He himself is almost scared out of his mind and not at all comfortable in this situation, Harry looks at them like he is crawling under their skin and it makes Louis uncomfortable. But Zayn, Zayn looks ready to go into battle with this guy. “Cancer isn’t really my biggest problem right now.”
Harry opens his mouth as to give Zayn an explanation just why smoking is so bad for him right now, but he doesn’t get the chance to because they are interrupted by distant growls.
“Fucking cunts.” Niall hisses under his breath. “Let’s get inside, come on Harry.”
Harry looks at Louis and Zayn, likes he questioning himself whether or not he should let them bring Louis and Zayn inside. Then he sighs.
“Fine, I can’t watch you get eaten. Let’s get inside then, quickly.”
Louis wonders what inside is, but he hears the growls coming closer and he decides that it is probably not a good idea for questions.