Rom-Com Zombie Apocalypse

The store was just ahead, and inside… there were people. Actual, living, breathing people. Not zombies. Not monsters. People.

I quietly nudged Elliot and Alex, pointing toward the store. "Look," I whispered. "Survivors."

They followed my gaze, and sure enough, there were three figures standing inside the store. They were huddled together, quietly discussing something. From where we were standing, we could see them clearly, but they hadn't noticed us yet.

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "What do we do? Just walk in and say hi?"

"No, genius," I hissed. "We don't know if they're friendly. Let's just… observe for a second."

Alex nodded. "Mira's right. We need to be careful."

We crept closer, staying low and quiet. The store's door was slightly ajar, and we could hear bits of their conversation.

"—Ain't no tellin' how long we can hole up here," one of them was saying'."We'll figure it out," another replied. "We always do."

I rolled my eyes. "Great. They're optimists. Just what we need."

Elliot smirked. "Better than pessimists."

"Debatable," I muttered.

After a moment of hesitation, we decided to make our move. We slipped inside the store, moving as quietly as possible. The three survivors were still deep in conversation, their backs to us.

I cleared my throat. "Hello there."

All three of them jumped like they'd been electrocuted. One of them let out a yelp, and they spun around, weapons drawn. A crowbar, a windshield wiper (seriously, a wiper?), and… a sword.

Wait, a sword? Where the hell did they get a sword?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I said, holding up my hands. "We come in peace! We're not zombies. Calm down."

Alex stepped forward, her hands raised in a placating gesture. "We're just like you. Survivors. No need to stab us."

The three of them hesitated, their weapons still raised. Then, slowly, they lowered them.

"Sorry," the one with the crowbar said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You scared the crap out of us."

"Yeah, no kidding," the one with the wiper muttered.

The sword guy just nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

Now that they weren't trying to kill us, I took a moment to size them up.

First, there was Crowbar Guy. He was tall and lanky, with messy brown hair and glasses that kept sliding down his nose. He looked like the kind of guy who spent way too much time in the library. I mentally dubbed him "Nerd Alert."

Next was Wiper Girl. She was short, with bright pink hair tied up in a messy bun and a scowl that could curdle milk. She looked like she'd been through hell and back, and she wasn't in the mood for anyone's crap. I decided to call her "Pink Fury."

And then there was Sword Dude. He was… well, he was exactly what you'd expect from someone carrying a sword in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Tall, muscular, with a jawline that could cut glass and a serious case of resting brooding face. I mentally named him "Edgelord McSword."

Once everyone had calmed down, we introduced ourselves.

"I'm Mira," I said, gesturing to Elliot and Alex. "This is Elliot and Alex. We're from the high school."

"Folks call me Ben," Crowbar Guy, sorry, Nerd Alert, said.

"Lila," Pink Fury added, still looking like she wanted to hit someone with her wiper.

"And I'm… uh… Jake," Sword Dude said, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"Nice to meet you," Alex said, ever the diplomat. "We've been trying to find other survivors. It's good to know we're not alone."

"Yeah," Ben said, adjusting his glasses. "We've been holed up here a couple hours now—since yesterday, anyhow. Ain't got much of a clue what's goin' on, though. One minute, everythin' was normal—next thing ya know… zombies."

"Same here," Elliot said. "It was just a regular Tuesday, and then everything went to hell."

Lila snorted. "Tell me about it. I was at work when it all went down. One minute, I'm stockin' shelves, next thing I know, I'm fightin' off a damn zombie with a mop."

"A mop?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That's… creative."

She shrugged. "Weren't much else I could do, it was the closest thing I could grab."

Jake, sorry, Edgelord McSword, finally spoke up. "W-We've been tryin' to figure out what's going on, but… we don't got a lot of answers. Just… just more questions."

"Yeah," I said, crossing my arms. "Like, where did all the zombies go? And why do you have a sword?"

He looked down at the sword, like he'd forgotten he was holding it. "Oh. Uh… I took it f-from a... c-costume shop. Seemed useful."

"Fair enough," I said, nodding. "Swords are cool. I'll give you that."

We spent the next few minutes exchanging stories and comparing notes. Turns out, they were just as clueless as we were. Their Tuesday had gone from normal to nightmare in the blink of an eye, just like ours.

"So, what now?" Ben asked, looking at us.

I shrugged. "Now, we figure out how to survive. Together."

****

After the introductions, the first thing Elliot said was, "We're starving. You guys have any food?"

Ben gestured toward the shelves. "Help yourself. Ain't like the store owner's 'round to stop us."

That was all the encouragement we needed. The three of us—Me, Alex, and Elliot—immediately made a beeline for the fridge. We grabbed a carton of milk, some Kellogg's cereal from the shelf, and a few disposable cups. They joined us, and soon, we were all sitting on the floor of the store, eating cereal like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Well, as normal as eating cereal in an abandoned store during a zombie apocalypse could be.

As we ate, I couldn't help but notice that Lila—Pink Fury, as I'd mentally dubbed her—kept glancing at me. Like, a lot. At first, I thought maybe I had cereal on my face or something, but no. She was just… looking at me. It was weird.

I nudged Alex and whispered, "Why does Pink Fury keep staring at me? Do I have something on my face?"

Alex glanced at Lila and shrugged. "Maybe she's just curious. You are kind of hard to miss."

"Gee, thanks," I said, rolling my eyes.

Meanwhile, Jake—Edgelord McSword—was trying to make conversation, but it was… awkward. Like, painfully awkward. He kept stuttering over his words, and every time he tried to say something, it came out like he was reading from a script he hadn't rehearsed.

"So... uh... have you guys... been in the city long?" he asked, fumbling with his cereal cup.

Elliot smirked. "Long enough to know where the good cereal is."

Jake nodded, looking relieved that someone had answered. "Oh. Uh… cool. That's… cool."

I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. He reminded me of… well, me. Back when I was a socially awkward mess who couldn't string two words together without tripping over them. Thankfully, I'd improved since then. Mostly.

But sometimes teachers make me stutter.

"So, Jake," I said, trying to lighten the mood, "where'd you learn to swing that sword? YouTube tutorials?"

He blinked, looking surprised. "Uh… no. I just… thought it might be useful. You know, for… zombies."

"Fair point," I said, nodding. "Swords are definitely cooler than bats. No offense, Elliot."

Elliot held up his hands. "None taken. I'll stick with my trusty bat, thanks."

Ben, who had been quietly eating his cereal, suddenly spoke up. "So, what's the plan now? Can't just sit 'round here forever."

"True," Alex said, setting down her cup. "But we also can't just wander around aimlessly. We need to figure out what's going on and find a safe place to stay."

Lila, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke. "What 'bout the school? You said y'all came from there. Is it safe?"

"Safe-ish," I said. "We've got it barricaded, and there's food and water. But it's not exactly a five-star resort."

"Reckon it's better than nothin'," Ben said, shrugging.

As the conversation continued, I felt myself starting to relax. The tension that had been weighing me down since the zombies vanished was slowly fading away. It was nice, just sitting here, eating cereal, and talking to people who weren't trying to eat us.

At one point, Lila caught my eye again, and this time, she actually smiled. It was a small smile, but it was enough to make me feel a little less weird about her earlier staring.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Nothin'. You just… ya remind me of someone I used to know."

"Oh," I said, not sure how to respond. "Uh… thanks?"

She chuckled. "It's a compliment. Trust me."

I decided to take her word for it.

As for Jake, he seemed to be warming up a little. He even managed to tell a joke—sort of.

"So, uh… what do you call a zombie who can't stop talking?" he asked, looking around nervously.

"What?" Elliot said, playing along.

"A… uh… chatterbox," Jake said, his face turning red.

We all stared at him for a moment, and then, to my surprise, I actually laughed. It wasn't a great joke, but it was so bad that it was kind of endearing.

"Okay, that was terrible," I said, grinning. "But I'll give you points for effort."

Jake smiled, looking relieved. "Thanks. I, uh… tried."

For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt… normal. Not like I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but like I was just hanging out with friends. It was a nice change of pace.

But of course, it couldn't last—because just as I started to feel a flicker of hope, the sound of a beeping car and a guttural snarl echoed from outside.