Tik Tok (OPEN)

[Simon Ryan]

There was only so much one teenager could do in a world where there was more people undead than alive. Simon wanted to be out there, helping people that were quite possibly getting their bodies ripped apart and eaten by the other infected that were all over the world by now. It wasn’t just New York ,or America, or the North.. It was everywhere. The whole world was experiencing the same outbreak.

Since he was pretty much stuck in the Manhattan Mall, Simon did a lot of studying. He had the recourses to be doing more, but he didn’t know what to do. So, he found himself a copy of the Zombie Survival Guide and he read it, over and over again. Being one of the geeky kids in his school, he had a lot of time for himself. He played hockey just so he could make a name for himself, and he actually ended up being quite good at it. But half the school still thought he was a geek. They did know him since Elementary, most of them. He dressed like a geek, acted like a geek, and he just always did the geekiest things. But at least he was somewhat cute and didn’t wear glasses that made him look like he was coming out of Hogwarts. Although it was saying things like that which made everyone suspicious.

For some strange reason, every time Simon took a book to read at the cook store, he always put it right back where he got it once he was done reading it. He didn’t know why, in fact, he didn’t even notice that he did that. So, sometimes he didn’t stray to far. Noticing there was bean bag chair right at the end of the fiction section, today he decided to just strolled over and take a seat. Usually he would head over to the department store to read in the chair that reminded him of the one back home, but today he just couldn’t be bothered.

Obviously, Simon had a small problem with letting go.

As he took the book in hand and started to read, he made himself mental notes along the way. Mainly it was just for the important things he thought he might want to remember. What every day appliances made the best weapons, Best ways to disguise yourself so infected can’t recognize you, or the best way to bandage yourself after getting hurt. It were the little things that were going to help them in the end.

[Simon Ryan]

As Simon continued to read along his survival guide to the new world around him, he then realized he was forgetting something that could be potentially important. “I almost forgot…” He muttered to himself. He stood up and laid the book on the bean bag chair and he ran out to the department store. Although he wasn’t planning on going back there, he totally forgot that he left his iPhone there while he was making himself a nail gun as his new primary weapon. He was attacking wood to it, making it more stable and appeared more like a rifle made of wood. His phone might not have much service, but he still had his police scanner that he could hear in case somebody tried to call out for help.

He finally got back to the department store and found his iPhone just laying there where he left it. He picked up and saw that the police scanning app was still going on, but there was not so much as a whisper at the moment. He never did finish loading up the nail gun, so he figured he’d get it done and over with in case he might need at spur the moment.

He loaded it and smirked. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He said with a grin wide on his face. Now he was going to be able to shoot these long metal nails right at the infected, and if he got a clear enough shot, he’d be able to take them out right in the head. He took his gun and laid it against his shoulder as he strolled out, trying to look all cool. Of course he knew nobody was probably going to see him. Hopefully nobody saw him. Usually everyone stuck around the roof to watch out or take up some target practice at infected individuals that liked to linger around outside the mall. As he walked back to the bookstore, he heard something. "..H..hello?.." He looked around curiously. He knew he heard a voice, but for some reason thought it was coming from behind him. It was an unfamiliar voice, like a young girl. Definitely not his sister. So, he ignored it and kept walking again.

"..Is anyone there?" He stopped again and looked around, then looked down at the iPhone, it was his police scanner app! “Oh, shit!” He said as he brought it up to his face listened. "Please..if you can hear me, I'm stuck in..a cop car...by the NY Public Library...You know, the one by campus..it's...uh..it's by....Wood Tobe-Coburn School?...I really hope someone can hear me...or else I'm just...crazy and talking to myself..." He smiled successfully, finally something he did wasn’t a total waste of time. He can finally prove his sister wrong. Well, he can later, because he needed to get this girl! He started running for the entrance of the mall as he talked into the phone. “Hey, I can hear you! I’m at the Manhattan Mall, not that far away from the Library… I’m coming for you now, just stay in the car until I get there… over!”

He then raced right out of the mall without a word. He put his iPhone away in his pocket as he saw the infected just waiting for him once he exited the building. He brought the nail gun up to aim and started to shoot. It took him a few tried but he eventually nailed them all in the head and started running down the street. Oh, Anna was going to kill him if she could see him right now.

The Library wasn’t too far from the Mall, on a street or two away. Pretty lucky for the girl he was able to run on foot. He looked around as she ran, trying to be quiet. He was lucky that he didn’t have a gun that he was shooting, because that just made an echoing noise that would just attract all the infected right to him. But no, he made himself a much quieter weapon to shoot the bastards with. It took a real geek to come up with something like this. Apparently the Zombie Survival Guide was starting to pay off after all. He found himself a survivor on his own and had a custom weapon. Yeah, I guess you could say Simon was feeling pretty proud of himself. But he knew this was no time t get cocky, at least not until he saved this girl.

He just kept shooting the infected as he made his way down the Library.

Once he finally made it there, he spotted the police car in question and ran over to it, waving his hand for her to spot. He then saw a infected in the dissonance that caught sight of him, so he stopped, aimed, and shot, hitting it right in the head. He smirked as he ran over and helped her out of the car. “Hey, are you okay!? You’re not.. Bitten or anything.. Right?” He asked her, knowing if she got bitten than she was already screwed.

[Simon Ryan]

Simon was starting to feel pretty heroic, here he was sneaking away from the mall to go on his own little solo mission. He knew it wasn’t the smartest thing, but it wasn’t like there wasn’t a very good reason for putting himself in undead’s way. There was somebody in trouble, who needed his help, and that wasn’t exactly something that happened on a daily bases. Especially nowadays. Since he was one of the youngest in the group, youngest one who could defend himself, he wasn’t as much of a help besides just being an errand boy. Anna was over protective when it came to Simon I this apocalypse. Leaving the Mall just wasn’t safe, and he kept wondering what she was thinking.. How bad she must have been freaking out. Well, if the infected didn’t kill him then she was sure going to.

"...Okay..okay..I'll stay right here...thank you..." Simon smirked, it was nice to be wanted for once, to mean something, to do something that was actually important for once. Like it was previously stated, he never got the chance to do anything important but run around to fetch water or keep an eye on his brother when things were going wrong. It was about time he did something worth while.

Lucky for Simon he had his new custom made weapon that didn’t attract much attention.

It didn’t take to long to find the girl and help her out of the police car. She got out of the car with a rifle. Simon furrowed his brows at it as she started to load up the gun. Apparently she wasn’t in very much distress considering she knew how to load a gun. She was very pretty, but she also gave off that touch girl vibe that her was certainly not to be messed with. He wasn’t surprised that she did call for help, because in this new world they were living in, even the most bad ass of people needed some help. This was the end of the world, after all. Every man for himself, as some said. It was instructed by the zombie survival guide said that if you wanted to survive no questions asked then you had to take care of yourself and break all emotional ties. But that was just one option. The other option was to help and form your own team of survivors.. Helping each other to survive using teamwork.

"...No, No bites..No scratches...though a flock of birds, did try to peck me to death.." Simon looked around, now he was going to have to worry about crazy flocks of birds coming down to peck him to death, did that mean animals were getting infected, too? Now there’s a crazy thought. “Well, as long as you’re not hurt… that makes thing a bit easier. At least I know you won’t be turning into one of them..” He explained, smirking slightly. Not many people knew that getting bit killed you and brought you back as one of the infected. Simon and his group at the mall knew, but God knows who else figured it out by now.

"I like your weapon...it's very..cool.." Simon smirked with a nod as he lifted his super powered nail gun and got a better look of it. “Thanks, took me all day to make. And just in the nick of time!” He said, considering he made it just before she contacted him.

"We should go, those things..they follow sound pretty well and I'm certain that I've already drawn enough attention to myself on the way over here. Lead the way.." Simon nodded, he wasn’t worried about creating much attention himself because his nail gun was a soft shooting weapon, no load echoing sounds that the infected could hear and track from. Although that didn’t mean that she couldn’t muster enough noise before he got there that they could have been tracking. “Okay, we can go back to the mall… My sister a and a few other survivors are taking refuse there. It’s pretty safe.” He explained. Hopefully bringing back another survivor like them would make up for Simon running off without a word. By now Anna or somebody else must have noticed that he was gone. Which meant by now Anna was freaking out. It was best he hurries back.

"...I'm Charlie.." He smiled back at her and bowed slightly. “Name’s Simon. Nice to meet another survivor… I was starting to think that my group were the only one’s left.. Are there any other’s with you running around?” He asked curiously. There must have been some reason that she made it this far, perhaps she was with her own group.. Although she could have been the last one standing. Simon had his stable group, of course that was only because they stayed together and didn’t leave the mall.. Which is exactly what Simon just did. Hopefully he wouldn’t regret it later.

Suddenly a flock of birds showed up and swooped down, so they quickly ducked down.

After the birds flew away again, Simon looked down the road and his eyes widened. The infected were charging for him, some were staggering but others were running right towards them. He reloaded his nail launcher with the nails he had in his pocket and was ready to kill some more infected.. But apparently Charlie didn’t think so. Suddenly, she panicked. "..Run.." She cried as she took his hand and then he was dragged off with her, running away. Looking back, there was a lot of infected, so perhaps this was the best bet. He held his nail gun tight as he rand. He was blushing slightly at first as the older girl held his hand and they ran down the street. It was true, he was a geek, and he had never held hands with anyone. So finally getting to hold a pretty girl’s hand running away from infected was almost.. Nice.

As they went down the street, Simon spotted his old high school down the way. That’s where he was when the breakout first occurred, He was at school and made his way out as fast as he could so he could make it home. But that’s where it all started for him.. At home. “Hey, there’s my school!” He shouted as they ran for the building. God only knows how many infected could still be lingering there.