Look for the crows.
"AUGHHH" JJ hears as he's quickly woken up from his sleep, who wouldn't wake up with an ear bleeding scream like that? He gets up to see what the hell happened, not too worried, with a house filled with a 19 year old, 16 year old and 7 year old, screaming for no reason is pretty common, he hears his brother Arland get up as well to investigate the noise, "AR, JJ PLEASE GET IT OFF" they hear their sister Amelia scream again, Arland bolts to her room, screaming is normal but "get it off?" thats sure as hell not. "FUCK JJ GRAB ME A KNIFE OR SOMETHING OH MY GOD" JJ freezes for a second 'a knife? Why would he need..' "NOW JJ HURRY THE HELL UP" he's quickly brought out of his trance and his body goes on complete autopilot, running down the stairs to the kitchen and grabbing the biggest knife he can find, racing back up and going to give it to his brother. 'What the fuck..' he thinks to himself as he finally sees whats happening.. a zombie? Or a weird dead human thing? I mean JJ likes zombie apocalypse stuff just as much as the next person, twd, tlou stuff like that.. But.. it's just fiction right? Something like that couldn't actually happen right?? So how do you explain the thing in front of him taking a chunk out of his sister's face. God this has to be a prank they put together.. This isn't real? Things like this they don't ACTUALLY HAPPEN?!
JJ is taken out of his trance by his brother, stabbing whatever is in front of him in the head and tossing it to the side. "Shh Amy it's okay, your big brothers got you alright? I'm here kid, you're okay." Arland tries his best to comfort Amelia but how the hell do you console a small child whose face has been eaten off?
"God JJ you uh.. You don't think that was like a zombie or whatever right?.. I mean that shit can't be real" Arland says, voice shaky, he can hear him trying to hold back tears "Wouldn't that mean.. You'd have to stab he-'' JJ quickly gets cut off "STOP JJ. dont say that stuff please.. Not right now, I can't do that to Amelia, I just can't. God please don't make me do that to her" Arland cries into his unconscious sister's shoulder "Arland you have to back up.. You can't get close to her like that right now.. It's not safe" Arland hesitantly backs up, kneeling on the floor beside her, JJ joins him and kneels next to him, picking up the knife from earlier just in case.
"I'm sorry Amy, God I'm so sorry I was supposed to protect you, your big brother was supposed to keep you safe." Arland sobs beside her. JJ gives his shoulder a comforting grab still not fully processing the situation in front of him.
"That thing.. Did it bite you?" JJ asks his brother looking at a bite mark on his hand with wide eyes. "Fuck. I guess it did, I was so caught up trying to pull it off her I didn't even notice.." Arland says touching his wound and wincing JJ quickly put the back of his hand on his brother's head, assuming that if this was like the shows he would have a fever.. And he did. He wasn't just warm but hot to the touch. He then reached over and touched Amelia's head, it was hot too, way hotter. He then reaches two fingers down against Amelia's neck checking for a pulse, nothing, absolutely nothing, not any sign of life or breathing. He shakily pulls his hand away and Arland notices, reaching down to check her pulse too, crying even harder when he feels absolutely nothing. "Give me the knife JJ.." His brother asks, JJ slowly pulls up the knife and holds it in his brother's open hand "I'm sorry baby, Your brothers love you so much, we'll meet again i promise, and next time i won't let anything happen to you." Arland manages to choke out in between his sobs, bringing the knife and pressing the tip against his sister's temple, quickly pushing it into her head ensuring she wont turn out like the thing that did this to her.
After a few minutes of them crying into their sister, lots of "i love you" and "goodbye" they tuck their sister in with her favorite stuffed animals and toys. Arland stands up "Come on" he says gesturing JJ to follow him "Raid the house. Take everything you might need, and have this" he says handing him a lighter that was from their dead father. "Ar i can't.. Dad gave this to-" JJ says getting cut off mid sentence "I have to kill myself JJ, it bit me and just like amy its either gonna kill me or i turn into one of those.. things, I said take EVERYTHING you might need, gotta be able to make a fire, Find a nice group of people and survive. You will not die JJ do you understand me?" Arland says pushing the lighter into JJ's pocket. "Ar please you.. You cant die you're the only one who's taken care of me since mom left and dads fucking dead.. Please you can't, I need you Arland, I can't survive out there without you." JJ says sobbing as he clings onto his big brother "I know kid.. Im sorry, god i'm so fucking sorry I love you so much, but look at me" he says pulling JJ off him and making him look him in the eyes "you are strong. Way stronger than you think, there's an axe in the garage, you have your knives, take the food, the water and your clothes. You can and will survive out there kid." He says as JJ goes for another hug, squeezing his brother impossibly tight. "You gotta go now kid, i'm not feeling well and i won't let myself kill you, go grab the stuff and leave the house, look for the crows okay? You know that'll be me" His brother has always said that he'll be reincarnated as a crow, JJ didn't really understand his weird obsession with crows but now they mean more than ever. "I love you Arland please.." JJ says as Arland pushes him to the door "I'm the crows kid, I love you." Arland says as he shuts the door with a weak smile on his face, ignoring JJs pleas and bangs at the door, desperate attempts to open it. "ARLAND OPEN THE DOOR WE CAN FIGURE SOMETHING OUT" JJ says he knows he shouldn't scream he's gonna attract more.. things but what else can he do in this situation, he sits there sobbing against the door until he hears a thud, the sound of a knife falling "NO, NO ARLAND PLEASE" he screams again, throat going raw from straining his voice so much.
He sits there for god knows how long screaming and banging at the door till he's weak and all he can do is whisper. He finally gets up walking to his room and starting to pack his stuff 'grab everything you might need JJ' he hears his brothers words in his head, he grabs random items that might be of use, a map, the goggles he always wears, binoculars, some of his knives, his phone and charger might not be much use for it in the apocalypse but it won't hurt to try. He grabs his wallet and most importantly the crow necklace his brother gave him and a picture of him and his family, it's the only picture he had where they were all together, his dad died when he was around 12 ans after that his mom went completely off the deep end, pawning their stuff for drugs, in and out of jail until one day she left and just.. Never came back.
JJ cautiously heads to the kitchen after taking all he can think of from his room, checking every corner with a knife in hand. He grabs food and water, it's not a lot but it'll last him for a few days till he can figure everything else out, He goes to the garage and grabs the axe Arland told him to take, putting his knife away and wielding it instead. HE heads back to the kitchen and looks out the window, everything looks.. normal , just like any normal day except for his sister got her face eaten and his brother just killed himself. He decides the path is clear and walks down the street to find a different house, staying in a house with your dead family isn't exactly ideal.. He heads to a house that's on the same street as his, he's never really seen anyone there so he assumes no one really stays there anymore. He quickly runs inside and quietly closes the door, cautiously sweeping the house with axe in hand "who the hell are you?" he hears behind him, making him jump and swing the axe near the boys head "WOAH DUDE FUCK, you cant break into my house and then swing a fucking axe at me?" the boy says, looking around JJs age "oh my god i'm so sorry.. Um, some weird shit happened at my house and it's not safe. I need a place to stay. Just let me explain" Jj says lowering his axe "better be a damn good explanation considering you almost killed me" the boy says sitting down on the couch.
"So I don't really know uh.. My sister screamed and there was this thing that looked like a zombie and I know it sounds stupid but it literally ate her face off and me and my brother um.. Had to kill her.." JJ starts with tears in his eyes "a zombie dude? That shits not actually real i mean, maybe it was like some cannibal or something" the boy says in disbelief. "Well whatever it was mauled my sister to death and made my brother kill himself and it wasnt a fucking human." JJ says rudely, the disbelief is understandable but in a time like this? "Oh fuck man.. I'm sorry I mean shit, it could be a zombie right? I mean wasn't there some weird drug that basically turned people into zombies a few years ago?" the boy says "I don't know what it was but it killed the only family i had." JJ says his voice not much more than a whisper from the earlier screaming "What about like your mom and dad?" the boy asks "Dads dead and mom left." JJ replies with even more tears streaming down his face, at this point he was uncontrollably sobbing on a strangers couch. "I'm sorry dude but same, kinda? Mom died when i was born and dads barely even here, pretty much got the house to myself" the boy replies, not looking too happy to talk about it "I guess you can stay here for a while, shit we can fight the zombies together or something" the boy says attempting to lighten the mood a bit, earning a weak smile from JJ "My names JJ by the way, thanks for letting me stay here"
JJ says holding out his hand to greet his new friend "Im Lucas or Luca either one is fine," Luca replies grabbing JJs hand and giving it a firm shake.
authors noteeeee
i'm now realizing JJ should have called the police.... pretend police don't exist in this universe or something 😭
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