Try this trick and spin it
James is going to kill himself. What is the point of living when everything is pointless now? His black hair sticks to his forehead as he stands on the field out of breath. They should have rescheduled the game if half the team wasn't going to show up. No offense to his teammates, but most of them are the backups and aren't as good as the usual lineup. How was it possible that almost half of the team was out sick? Not only are they sick, but several of the players who did show up were also sick. All they needed to do was win this game and they would have gone all the way to the finals. This is the farthest this team has ever made it. James doesn't want to brag or anything, but this team would have never gotten this far without him. All of his teammates were capable players, sure, but they were unorganized and didn't know how to work together. Now though? They work together amazingly and are like one machine that James put together, piece by piece. Strangely enough, several of the players from the other team were also out sick. James hopes that this weird bug passes through quickly because he's already cooking up plays and lineups that he wants to test out.
Football is James' life; losing to a team that wasn't even at their best is just absolutely crushing him. He might as well put in his two-week notice right then and there. In the locker room, he is sat in the corner rethinking his career choices, he's lost in thought; he completely misses how his teammate next to him is doing. The player next to him was one of his teammates who showed up while sick. Usually, he is a capable player, not the best on the team but with more practice, James can see this young man getting to greatness. Today though, he looked like shit. Throughout the game, he had gotten worse and had to sit out about halfway through being replaced by one of the backups. Now, he's covered in sweat and is extremely pale, he looks somewhat dead. James is brought out of his rapid thoughts when the player collapses right next to him.
"Shit!" James jumps down beside his teammate. He shakes his shoulders and shouts his name. He gets zero response. James quickly checks his pulse and his blood feels like ice in his veins. His teammate had no pulse, he died. He looks frantically around, several of his other teammates have also either fallen over or look like they are about to. James quickly gets everyone's attention, "Someone, call 999 now!"
He takes a quick look around the room, four of his teammates have somehow died right on the spot. While all of his teammates look at him terrified and want him to tell them what to do he notices that while they don't look as bad as the ones who have died, are looking worse every second. One of the men who has passed begins to move. James is hopeful that he was wrong and that everyone is okay. That is until he grabs ahold of a nearby teammate and sinks his teeth into his leg, tearing a chunk out and letting out a low, hungry growl. James stands there staring in horror as one of his teammates sinks their teeth into another's leg, tearing it apart. The man screams so loud and in such agony that James is sure that that sound will follow him for the rest of his life. So preoccupied with the horrific scene in front of him, James doesn't immediately notice the teammate next to him stirring. His arm twitches and low rumbling groans escape his mouth. James freezes. His gaze slowly falls onto his—who he previously thought was dead—moving teammate. Its eyes open quickly and James throws his bag over his shoulder. Without looking back, James sprints out of the locker room and down the long hall.
With panicked, shaking hands, James manages to pull out the keys to his car and quickly climbs inside, locking the doors once inside. He searches his bag for his phone, and his heart sinks. Did he leave it behind in the locker? There's no way he's going back in there for something as trivial as a phone, but he also needs to be sure his parents are okay. And what about Peter? He was in the stadium watching his game. If this bug that has been going around is what caused this, then there are bound to be people who are also turning into those things in the seats. In James' pocket, he feels something vibrating. He quickly realizes that he put his phone in his pocket and didn't leave it in the locker. He fishes it out and hastily turns it on. He has about a dozen missed calls from several different people. Immediately he calls his mother, and it rings for a long time before going to her voice mail. He tries several times but she doesn't answer. He tries calling his father as well, but the same as with his mother, nothing. The image of his parents sitting in his childhood home flashes in his mind. He can see them keeling over like his teammates did and coming back as mindless monsters that sink their teeth into you. James looks back to where he ran from. He left his teammates behind. He saw the first bit of danger and ran away. What if they are all dead now? He pushes the guilt away, but the images of his parents mindlessly wandering their home are burned into his mind instead.
His mind racing he calls the next person who is the most important to him. The phone rings several times before he hears the voice of his best friend.
"James? James, are you there?" Sirius says frantically, loud sounds coming through the phone.
"Sirius! What the hell is going on?" He asks. Looking out of his windshield he can see dozens of people running away from the stadium.
"I have no idea, everything here is chaos, the military is here and they are shooting at almost everything that moves." Sirius responds out of breath, another loud sound comes from his end, "Shit! Look James, Remus and I are barely surviving getting shot, and my phone is almost dead is there any way you can come get us?"
"No, Peter and I are in Brighton right now, I had a game remember?"
"Right, of course, I completely forgot about that. Well fuck, we'll figure something out. We are going to find my brother and then go to your parents, yeah?" James explains how his parents aren't answering their phones and tells Sirius about his worries that something has happened to them, "Are you kidding? Do you think some stupid cold could take out your mom? The woman is untouchable, literally never been sick the entire time I've known you. I'm sure they're okay." James can hear Remus shout something and another loud bang can be heard.
"I hope you're right, I need to go find Pete. Let me know when you get there, yeah?" Sirius says something but James can't quite make out what he said. All he could hear was Sirius' younger brother's name, Regulus, "Sirius? What did you say?" Suddenly the line goes dead, "Shit!" James stares at the screen. Sirius had said his phone was almost dead, that's probably what happened, his phone just died. James tries to convince himself that his best friends are okay. He tries calling Remus but the man doesn't answer. After several tries, he changes gears and calls Peter.
"Come on Pete, pick up." He drums his fingers on the steering wheel when Peter answers, "Peter! Where are you?"
"I've only just left the stadium, where are you?" He says.
"I'm in my car, I've just talked with Sirius, and he says that whatever is happening here is also happening in London but worse. He and Remus are going to go to my parent's house."
"You called Sirius?" Peter pauses, "Right, good, I'm glad they are okay. I don't know if you have had the chance to see this, but everyone out here is going mad. Just as your team left the field, all hell broke loose. People started attacking others, tearing them apart. I barely made it out without being trampled." James explains everything that happened in the locker room and how several of his teammates were acting the same. He tells Peter that all the people who are attacking others are actually dead, "How is that possible? If they are dead then how the hell are they coming back and attacking others?"
"I don't know, but whatever is happening, it's not safe. Meet me at our spot, yeah? We can figure out a plan from there." He says. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see someone staggering around the cars, walking slowly.
"Downtown? Are you sure that's the best idea, where I am right now isn't great, but if London is completely gone, then going where most of the people are is a horrible idea." Peter says. He has a point. The more people, the more likely that there are more of those...things.
"Okay, yeah you're right, what's your location I can come pick you up." James starts the engine as Peter tells him the name of some shop he's hiding in. He ends the call and starts pulling out when someone slams themselves into the side of his car. They mindlessly claw at the window and try to bite through the glass. James looks down at the man's clothes and realizes this is one of the people from the team they just played. His eyes are completely lifeless and he's uncoordinated. Quickly backing out of his parking spot, the man drags across the window and James can hear a gruesome crunch under his front tire, leaves behind the player, and speeds out of the parking lot.
Speeding down the roads of Brighton, James has to swerve around frantic people and other cars. Everywhere he looks he sees people either sprinting away from one of those monsters, or someone getting torn apart by several of them. There is blood everywhere, it's nauseating. James does everything he can to not vomit while he's driving but it's proving extremely difficult. He has to make countless detours due to cars that are either wrecked or swerving erratically. Several cars have slammed straight into buildings and in a few places, James can see small fires. If Peter wasn't counting on James to come to get him, James would probably be breaking down right now, this is completely insane. He's just watched someone dig their hands into another person's body, pull out their intestines, and then eat them. Eat them. How the hell did this happen?
He screeches to a stop outside the shop Peter told him he was in and the blond quickly climbs in throwing his stuff into the back seat.
"Drive!" Peter shouts. James is about to say some smart-ass remark when several of those things climb out of the broken glass of the shop towards the car. He doesn't hesitate to slam his foot on the gas pedal, the smell of burning rubber following them as they speed out of Brighton just as several helicopters fly overhead into the city.
***
They thought that once they got out of the city they could drive straight up and around London by taking the M25, but as they got closer to it they saw hundreds of cars sitting at a complete standstill. Car horns are blaring loudly, trying to get the cars in front of them to move, but it's useless. James doesn't even think they could get on the M25, let alone get anywhere. Peter uses his phone to look at maps of roads. He finds some side roads they can take to avoid the more common roads. It adds almost two days to their trip but it avoids any major cities so in theory, it should be safer. If whatever is happening is happening everywhere, then they need to go around every major city. They sit in almost complete silence, the radio is turned low and is playing some popular song that James honestly wasn't much of a fan of. It's a distraction though. Without it, his mind would wander to his parents and his friends who are probably still in London. Peter has been fidgety ever since they left Brighton, jumping in his seat at the sound of every car horn. He was sure that the blond saw what he saw in that locker room and on the streets. Hell, James can't shake what he saw.
He's known Peter practically his whole life, known him longer than not. Peter does not do well with stress. Never has. When they were in school exam season was awful, eventually James and the rest of their friends learned to leave Peter alone until the exams were finished. After that, they got their cheerful friend back. Right now though, his eyes are wide and he's not even here.
"What were your plans after my game, Pete?" James asks, hoping that maybe they can pretend that this isn't happening. Peter was still staring at the windshield completely zoned out, "Peter?"
He jumps, "I- sorry what?" He finally peels his eyes away from the road and looks at James.
"I said what were your plans after my game? I was just going to go home, probably start that new show that aired today." They pass by a car pulled over on the side of the road with their emergency lights on. It's a woman and James thinks he sees a car seat in the back. She's covered in blood and looks hysterical. It takes everything in James to keep driving. What if leaving her is killing her? Peter seems to see the inner fight in James' eyes.
"Keep going, we can't risk stopping for anyone, especially someone we don't know. Keep driving." He doesn't seem super happy about the idea. His eyes track the woman in the side mirror as they drive away, "I had a date."
"What?" The response completely caught James off guard, he'd completely forgotten the question he asked his friend.
"I had a date after your game, we were going to meet up after I had said goodbye to you." He says he looks out the passenger side window trying to avoid James' eyes.
"A date? Peter you ladies man! Do I know her?" James knows what Peter is trying to do, he's trying to get his mind away from the woman. James doesn't know what he would do without him. Peter gives a small smile at the question.
"You remember Sybill Trelawney, from school?" He says. James honestly has to think pretty hard to remember who he's talking about, there were a lot of kids in their year. Then a tall girl with large glasses and wild hair comes to mind. From what James remembered she was fairly quiet and seemed like she would have rather be out in the woods somewhere than at school. James didn't blame her.
"I didn't know you knew her? I never saw you guys talk in school." James grins at Peter. The blond's face is red but his small smile is still on his face.
"I didn't really. We recently bumped into each other in a shop a few weeks back. She's great." He has this faraway look that turns gloomy, "She hasn't responded to any of my calls or texts."
"I'm sure she's okay. Maybe her phone is dead, Sirius' is, she probably just needs to charge it." If James is being completely honest with himself he doesn't think his friend will get a response from Sybill, he just doesn't want to say it out loud. If he admits that her not responding could mean something happened means that his parents not answering could mean the same thing and James doesn't think he could handle that. They both stay silent for a long time, just listening to the sounds on the radio, another song James doesn't recognize. Then the music stops. And a loud ear-piercing alarm plays.
"Warning! Warning! The United Kingdom has issued a civil warning, this is not a drill and this is not a test. Four days ago a viral outbreak was reported throughout several cities that has continually started to spread quickly through the country. At first, it appeared to be another strain of the flu and was being treated as such but quickly it has become apparent that this was not the case. It is a fast-acting viral strain that infects the host immediately. Upon getting sick the infected will become locked with coughs, sweat profusely, and shivering with chills with a temperature that rises up to 40 degrees Celsius. The infection typically takes only a few hours to go through the body before the host expires. However, shortly after the host dies they will begin to move again, but there will be no pulse or any other form of life and the infected will instantly become extremely aggressive and attack any non-infected living thing in an attempt to pass on the disease. All citizens are advised to remain in their homes and to not leave under any circumstances at all. Armed forces are currently deployed, and all local Law Enforcement are tasked with taking down any aggressive infected they come across. This is not a drill and this is not a test." The alarm plays again and then the radio goes silent. The car is silent other than the sound of the road under the tires.
"Holy shit, this is all real." Peter says, "This...This is actually happening." His face is pale and he looks at James with a terrified look. James feels like his heart is in his throat, and he can hear it in his ears. This virus turns you into this monster, and then you attack others.
***
The duo pulls into a gas station to fill back up on gas and to get supplies. Since they are going around London and avoiding the M25 they will be in the car for a long time. James quickly swings next to a pump and hops out of the car.
"James you go inside, I'll stay here and fill the car up, I need to stretch my legs," Peter says, he's regained some of his color but these are some of the first words he's said since the radio broadcast.
"Okay, is there anything you want me to get? I'm going to grab some water and probably some type of crisps."
"No water is good for me, thanks." James nods and goes into the gas station. There are a lot of people, and a lot of the food and drinks are gone, he hopes that there will still be water left. All around him people are pushing and shoving to get to different items. He sighs in relief when he sees a few water bottles left, there are about half a dozen left. James is tempted to just grab them all but he doesn't want to take them from someone else who may need them, so he grabs three of them and strolls down the snack aisle. There isn't much left so he grabs what's left and goes to check out. A bunch of the people are getting loud, James tries to ignore them but they seem to be shouting at anyone who gets anywhere near the beer. They are a frightening bunch, all look like they work out and could snap the average person in half. The group is mostly men, save for two women, who James has to guess are girlfriends. Idiots. James thinks to himself. Near the checkout, he catches a glimpse of tools. The section is thinned but not completely picked over, there are tools like screwdrivers and crowbars, and there are even some batteries left. He quickly grabs a crowbar, a couple of screwdrivers, a few packs of batteries, a little handheld radio, and a pocket knife. All of the stations in his car are completely silent, but he hopes that there is a chance that there is somewhere still running. He hopes that he doesn't have to use the crowbar but the emergency alert is still playing in his head. He saw it firsthand, those people who get this virus come back dangerous, he doesn't want to kill anyone but he needs to keep himself and Peter safe. The people in the back are making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end,—they are now shouting at a poor woman and her son—people do crazy things when they are scared, and he doesn't know that he won't need to protect himself from another person who isn't infected.
He exits the building and runs back to the car quickly, throwing the items in the back of the car. Peter gives him a look when he sees the items that weren't on the list, but he doesn't say anything and climbs back into the car. James is about to follow when he hears shouting. He looks around the pumps and sees a couple who are having an argument. They both look exhausted, and the man looks about ready to hit something. With the man getting more aggressive, James can see the girl he's with getting frightened and backing away. Without even thinking James steps over putting himself between the man and the woman. He hears Peter calling his name but he ignores him.
"Hey miss, are you okay?" he asks, she shakes her head keeping her eyes on the man in front of them, "Okay, listen dude I think you need to take a walk, you're scaring her, and everyone around you."
"I don't need you to tell me what to do, get the hell out of here, this is none of your business asshole." The man steps right up into James' face trying to intimidate him. It's actually embarrassingly effective, but he keeps his ground. He's dealt with bigger scarier guys out on a football field, this guy is nothing.
"Look I'm just trying to help, everyone is stressed right now and you're not helping, why don't you take a second and breathe, yeah?" He says.
"Oh yeah? Breathe, sounds pretty useful. And what if I don't, huh? What are you going to do about it." He scoffs, "Mary, come on, we're leaving." The woman, Mary, doesn't move, she just glares down at the man, "Mary! I said come on!" Mary tells the man to fuck off, "Fine bitch, see if I fucking care." He climbs into his car, "Have fun getting killed by one of those things." He quickly speeds out of the gas station and up the road, in the opposite direction that James and Peter had just come from, leaving Mary behind.
"Thank you," She says, "You didn't have to do that."
"It's no problem at all, I'm just glad you're okay." Peter comes running over.
"What the hell was that?" He asks, "James, we need to go." He looks into the gas station, the aggressive men are getting louder, and physical.
"In a minute, Pete, we can spare a few minutes. Sorry about him, he's not usually this rude." James turns to Mary and holds out his hand, "James, James Potter."
Tanking his hand and with a firm grip, she shakes his hand, "Mary McDonald. Again, thank you. I was worried things were going to escalate if you didn't step in. That is my boyfriend, or rather was my boyfriend, sure as hell not anymore." People around the parking lot are still staring at them and James doesn't like some of the looks that they are getting.
"Say, do you have anyone else you can call? Parents, siblings, friends?" James asks Mary shakes her head, and she explains that her boyfriend was the only one who she could get into contact with. He said that he knew a place out of the way, a cabin one of his mates owned. Mary didn't like the idea of being isolated from everyone but didn't have any other options.
"The piece of shit could have at least taken my stuff out of the car, I had some important stuff in there." She looks around, her eyes linger on the onlookers.
"Say, I know you don't know us, but would you like a ride somewhere? I don't know if you heard the broadcast they played earlier, but this thing is really serious." James asks, Peter immediately steps up.
"No way, James we don't know her, for all we know this whole thing with her boyfriend is an act, they could be trying to rob us." Mary seems offended but doesn't say anything. Peter is right, they don't know her, but everything in James is telling him he can't just leave her alone in some random gas station, especially with everything going on.
"Oh, I don't want to put you out of your way, and your friend is right, you don't know me, and frankly the same can be said for me. No offense but I'm not super excited about the idea of getting into a car with two men I don't know." She says, eyeing the two of them wearily.
"Look... yeah I get that, but everywhere is crazy. This virus, it's dangerous, like it infects you, and in a few hours, you're dead. Then you come back a monster. I wouldn't want to get in a car with total strangers either, but those things won't just be in the cities, they'll leave to find more people, and a gas station is the perfect place to find them. I’m not going to pressure you, but I want you to know what is going on out there. Not to mention that normal people do dangerous things when everything is going to hell." He tells Peter to pull up their map and shows her the route, "This is where we are going, at any point you want we will drop you off somewhere, but it's just not safe to travel alone right now." She considers his points, she seems like she will say no still but she looks around again and at the end of the pumps she sees a woman who is extremely pale and sweaty. The woman tries to cough quickly into her shoulder, but Mary just sees her wipe blood from her mouth.
"Fine, I will go with you, but if you try anything," She points at him with well-manicured hands, her nails are sharp, "I will not hesitate to stab these into both of your eyes, as well as other places that would not be pleasant for either of us." James laughs and shows her to his car. Looking around Mary thinks she has made the right decision, the men inside the gas station are making their way outside and have been eyeing her from the inside of the building since her fight started. She doesn't want to imagine what she may have to deal with if she stayed. The new trio climbs into the car and checks and makes sure they have everything, " Well I don't have everything but that's not your fault."
"Is there anything you want to get?" James offers but she just shakes her head. She just wants to get the hell out of the gas station. The woman is worse and is practically lying on the ground. As well as the scary group who are now sitting around their cars downing several cans of beer, as well as lighting some cigarettes. Peter is quiet, he's not pleased that Mary is coming with them, but James ignores him. Finally pulling out of the gas station they drive for a few minutes in silence.
"There were sick people there, at the gas station," Peter says, "They looked like the people back in Brighton." Mary tells them about the woman at the end of the pumps, "I'm just glad to be back on the road." Suddenly there is a loud explosion behind them.
"What the hell was that?" James yells, keeping his eyes on the road, hands turning white around the steering wheel. Mary turns in her seat in the back.
"Holy shit." She turns back eyes wide, "That was the gas station." Peter looks at Mary and back at where the smoke is coming from. A large black cloud of smoke is billowing out from what was once the gas station.
"Good thing we left when we did then," He turns back in his seat, facing the road, "All three of us." James glances over at Peter, the blond avoids his eye, staying on the road but James is thankful for the words nonetheless. With their new supplies, a new passenger in the car, and a full tank of gas, the three of them go north. James just prays that they will be able to get to his parent's house. He also secretly prays that they are still alive, he hates that this is something that he's worried about. They just have to get there, then James will figure it out from there.