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FIGHT OR FLIGHT: CHAPTER THREE—of guns and giant junkyards.

❝tell me all the ways to stay away... and stay away.❞

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HAS YOUR LIFE ever flashed before your eyes? Have you ever had that sudden jolt, the feeling of your heart in your throat, your pulse so rapid you can feel it from your fingers down to your toes?

Maybe you've experienced that doing something dangerous, but protected. Skydiving. Bungee jumping. Cliff diving.

Or maybe you experienced that during something unexpected. Car crashes. Tripping down the stairs. Running from a ten-foot tall monster that's trying to kill you.

Either way, it's terrifying. Surreal. Dangerous.

Let this be a lesson: there is no way to avoid this. Sooner or later, you will be an inch from death. It's inevitable. Unavoidable. And it will happen.

Just like it happened to our lovely protagonists. Just like it will happen over, and over, and over, until they all succumb to their untimely deaths.

Because they will die. It's just a matter of when.

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Miraculously, Zane wasn't dead. Surprise!

They couldn't say the same of the zombie, though.

The creature was slumped on top of him. Pluto yelled his name and rushed to his side, pushing the corpse off him.

The creature was dead. The two could hardly believe it.

Pluto and Zane stood and stared at it. A small hole protruded from the crown of the creature's head, greasy hair clinging to the sticky blood dripping from it. The blood was so red, it looked black.

It was dead.

"Wait," Pluto said, looking at Zane.

Both their eyes widened as they came to the same realization: who had killed the zombie?

"Where did the shot come from?" Zane asked, looking around at the empty streets.

Pluto looked startled, but tried to disguise it. "Oh yeah, I definitely know where the shot came from. I was definitely inspecting rooftops and looking through windows as you were getting attacked by a slimy undead monster."

Zane smirked at them. "Aw, so you were worried about me? And here I thought you hated me."

"I wasn't—ugh. Stop it, this is serious," Pluto responded, gently hitting him on the shoulder.

Behind them, they heard yelling. Voices, coming from the junkyard. They could just barely pick out the words: "Viktoria! What the fuck!" "You had a gun this whole time?!" "So that's where you went!" "Why didn't you tell us? That could've been helpful!"

Pluto recognized one of the voices. "Wait a minute..." she said under her breath. Then, louder: "That's Toby!" They ran towards the junkyard.

"Wait!" Zane said, running after her.

Pluto tugged at the door, which budged eventually (but not without some effort, of course. It's a heavy, big, metal door. Perfect for hiding from zombies, in my expert opinion).

"Toby? Is that you?" Pluto called, running towards where they heard the voices. She looked across the junkyard—old car, cardboard, rusty grill—there! Next to the wall, a trio of people staring up at someone who had climbed the chain-link attached to the wall and was perched at the top.

Obviously, they ran towards the people, Zane not far behind.

"Toby?" Pluto called, still running. A girl of short stature with black hair turned—and upon seeing her friend, her eyes widened.

"Pluto?" Toby asked, smiling, then frowning again as they realize that Pluto had been near whatever Viktoria shot at.

Viktoria climbed down from the wall, gun in hand, as Pluto and Toby hugged. Zane stood back aways, arms crossed.

Emery turned towards Viktoria, thinking of lecturing her, then thought better of it. They would lecture Viktoria later.

After Pluto pulled away from Toby, Zane approaches her. He offered a hand to shake, saying, "Nice to see you again, Tessa."

Toby crosses their arms, frowning. She looks down at Zane's extended hand, but doesn't shake it. Why would they?

After a moment of awkward silence and no handshakes, Zane clears their throat and offers a small smirk. "Uh, thanks for saving us, by the way," he says to Viktoria.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Pluto adds.

"No problem," Viktoria says, placing their gun in some hidden holster that's now quite obvious. How had the others not noticed before?

"Saving them from what? A zombie?" the curly-haired boy standing near Viktoria asks.

"Yep," Viktoria says at the same time as Zane says "an ugly one," and Pluto says "what else would it be?"

"I dunno, an axe murderer?" Kai says. "By the way, what are you guys' names? I'm Kai."

"Zane."

"I'm Pluto."

"Pluto? That's a cool name," Kai said, bouncing on the balls of his toes, fidgeting with his hands.

"Thanks." Pluto smiled, then looked around, noticing the fading sunlight. "So... do you guys have a place to stay here? It's getting dark, so?"

Toby smirked. "Oh, yeah, it's right over here." She pointed across the junkyard, and Pluto and Zane follow her hand with their eyes. There, in all its glory, is a bright yellow run-down school-bus.

Guess that's THEIR NEW HOME.

raven speaks.

0.8k words.

hello ! sorry this chapter's a little late, but here it is! more of a filler chapter for all the characters to meet each other, but i promise it'll stay nice and exciting throughout the next few chapters. we have to have them running for their lives sometimes, right?

hope you liked it !