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likethetailofacomet · 6 years

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The End Is Here- Ch. 4- The Family We’ve Found

AN ENDLESS SUMMER ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE AU

This all started when @zaffrenotes sent me a prompt asking how Jake and Kara would meet in a zombie apocalypse au. So, thanks, D! Because now i’m obsessed with sweaty, bloody, dirty end of the world Jake and Kara. Ah, true love.

Warning: there will be violence, blood, death and adult relations in this series. this chapter also touches on sexuality/ coming out.

(happy to include this chapter for day 5- Craig and Zahra -with some Diego in there since I missed that sweet cinnamon roll’s day yesterday- of @brightpinkpeppercorn and @mysteli ES APPRECIATION WEEK)

Tagging: @sleepwalkingelite @ooo-barff-ooo @zaffrenotes @endlessly-searching-for-you @brightpinkpeppercorn @mind-reader1 @mysteli @agent-bossypants @endlesstaylormckenzie @indiacater @endlesshero1122 @akrenich @feartheendlesssummer @sophie-summer @beccasbadchoices @nekkidmolerat @cordoniantrash @choices-is-life @choiceslife @simmerbychoices @blackcatkita @edgydepressedchoicesthot this is an ongoing series so if you would like to join (or leave) the fray, let me know!

tunes: FOR EVERYONE but especially Jake and Kara- Wonderwall- cover by Ryan Adams

Backbeat the word was on the street

That the fire in your heart is out

And I'm sure you've heard it all before

But you never really had a doubt

I don't believe that anybody

Feels the way I do

About you now

Diego felt a weight lift from his shoulders as he looked over to where Kara and Jake sat and saw them tenderly twined together, Jake resting against Kara’s chest, her fingers trailing lightly along his arm, her lips pressed into his hair. They were tired and dirty, cold and hungry and Jake had seen far better days, but despite his brush with death, despite Kara almost losing him as she held him, they both radiated love and happiness. Diego let out a heavy sigh, relieved that his best friend wouldn’t have to suffer yet another devastating loss. He’d been there for her through losing Garrett and April; had barely been able to help her hold it together. He knew he’d have been hopeless in helping her through losing Jake. Their love was the dangerous kind- the kind that lights your life with so much MORE, but also the kind that grew so large and so infinite that it became impossible to live without. Diego was glad she wouldn’t have to try. Kara could do a lot of things. She was easily his most capable, confident, independent friend. She was smart, with sharp wit, and she protected her friends fiercely. There was nothing he thought Kara couldn’t do, except maybe get over losing Jake.

Diego knew how hard it was to lose someone suddenly. He’d lost his family that way, before the world had changed. It was a Thursday afternoon, he remembers, even though days of the week didn’t matter anymore. He’d finally talked himself into calling them and telling them the truth he’d only just admitted to himself; there was a particular guy in his Film Appreciation class, and Diego found himself letting his eyes wander a few desks over to watch him adjust his glasses, or tuck his pen behind his ear. He’d found that he’d taken to going to the library when he knew Adam would be there. He’d found himself unable to deny anymore what he’d known for a while. Kara, of course, had been supportive and hadn’t made a big thing about it, stating that he was her friend no matter who he chose to ogle. He’d never imagined his parents would react like they did. He never imagined that’s how he would lose them. He didn’t think of them anymore, didn’t wonder how they were faring in this new world; to him, his parents had died the day that they told him they had disowned him. He didn’t think of Adam anymore, either. Nothing had come of the two of them. Diego had never made a move. But he couldn’t think of him being chased by the undead, or starving in some cold abandoned motel room, or becoming one of those things. He couldn’t think of him tapping his pen on his notebook or munching on peanuts from his messenger bag, either, though, so he didn’t think of him at all. He only thought about the people he had in his life now, and how he could hold on to them.

He thought about the close calls he and Kara had before meeting up with Craig and Zahra and eventually Jake. He thought about how he’d had to learn, quickly, how to use weapons, how to defend himself, how to think on the fly. Kara had always been a quick thinker, but Diego was more introspective, took more time with his thoughts and his plans. This world left no time for wondering. He had to learn how to act. Kara had helped him learn and grow and accept himself and hold his head high. It was no surprise that she continued to help him learn and grow and accept even as the subject matter changed. He was more grateful for her friendship than most things in life, but he was starting to become even more grateful for the love that Jake was giving her; for the fact that his best friend who always looked after him had someone looking after her, too.

He’d noticed Kara and Jake falling for one another well before they were close to admitting it. He’d overhear them whispering late into the night when they thought everyone else was asleep, quiet snickering laughter sometimes punctuated with a snort coming from Jake, breathy, humming giggles slipping from Kara. He’d seen the way they started sleeping next to one another; how they’d gotten closer and closer until one chilly night when Jake saw her shiver, he reached over and pulled her to him, wrapping his arm around her and saying, “Come here, princess, I won’t bite ya.” She’d tentatively laid her head in the crook of his shoulder and let him keep her warm as she drifted off to sleep. Diego remembered how Jake had stayed awake a little longer, watching her sleep, softly stroking her hair, and he knew. He knew he was watching two people fight against the love that they were destined for, the love that would end up saving them both from this world by giving them something to hold on for.

He looked over to where Craig and Zahra were leaning against the wall beside him, Zahra tucked against her bear of a husband, his big strong arm draped around her shoulders. They might seem to some like a strange couple, but Diego saw deeper. He saw how they kept each other balanced, how they worked seamlessly not only as husband and wife, but as friends and partners. He remembered the night they all decided to share their stories- the stories of how they’d ended up sitting around that campfire in the woods of what used to be West Virginia on that crisp September night. Craig had shared that his parents and brother had been away, visiting family in Taiwan, when The Incident occurred. He had called them, before the lines went dead and the power went out. He’d told them not to come home, not to come back. He’d told them that he loved them and that he’d miss them and that he and Zahra would do anything they could to stay alive and hopefully see them again one day. It had been tough on Craig, but ultimately he was glad that he hadn’t had to worry about them the way he was sure they were worrying about him. At least his family had made it out, unlike Zahra’s.

Zahra and her father had been on to something fishy at R & P Corp. for years- the whole company was fishy, really. Everett Rourke and Silas Prescott were two of the most controversial figures in the modern world, and had spent years as rivals. The fact that they had suddenly decided to put decades of trying to run the other out of business aside raised red flags in the dark web community, and Zahra’s father had decided to do some digging into the company’s files- the redacted ones. Two weeks before The Incident Zahra had received a phone call from someone using a voice changing device, telling her that her father was dead and she was next if she didn’t give up her investigation into R & P Corp. She’d thrown the phone in a fit of rage- thrown it right through the window of their living room, the shattering glass calling Craig’s attention and sending him barreling down the stairs to find his wife kneeling on the floor, her face in her hands and broken glass all around her. And she was screaming, wailing like he’d never heard, like her soul was tearing itself to ribbons. Zahra’s father was her role model, her hero- less “Daddy’s little girl” and more “Daddy’s little rebel”, she felt her spirit break upon hearing that he was gone, taken from her, for doing the work that he’d taught her was so important; keeping an eye on the evil men of the world, stopping them from carrying out their plans. Farhad Namazi had tried to stop them, and Zahra had tried to help him. But in the end they couldn’t be stopped, and her father couldn’t be helped and she couldn’t be consoled. Craig had known better than to tell her it was alright. It wasn’t alright. Instead he silently held her, kneeling on the floor, surrounded by the shards of a life that had been irreversibly changed.

They were all each other had in the world, until they met up with Michelle- how, Diego was still uncertain as Michelle had been tight lipped about life before this, and none of them had pressed her about it. She was the type of woman who spoke when she wanted and not when she was asked, and Diego could see that she just wasn’t ready to share her story. He and Kara had joined their group not long after they’d met Michelle, and once they’d taken in Jake as well, they’d begun to feel as much like a family as Diego had ever really had.

He let his eyes wander to the spot below the window where Estela sat with her knees pulled tightly to herself, watching the way that Jake and Kara’s chests rose and fell in sync as the pair slipped off to sleep. Diego knew she was reeling from the gaping wound that losing Quinn had left in her heart. He stood, wiping his hands on his pants, and crossed the room to sit near her. He didn’t speak, didn’t extend a hand to take hers. He didn’t offer her a sympathetic glance, didn’t even raise his eyes to hers at all. Just sat down next to her, hoping that that small gesture would tell her that he understood what it was like to feel alone, to have had someone ripped so suddenly away, to feel unsure of how to carry on or if it was worth it or if it were even possible. She blinked at him for a couple beats before whispering, “Thank you.” The sun was setting in the narrow window above Estela and Diego’s heads throwing dim light into the already dark laundry room. They’d been holed up in there for the last eight hours or so when Michelle and Sean burst back in through the door, Sean ducking in behind her and closing the door quickly. Kara and Jake stirred awake as they came inside, Kara gently moving Jake off of her so she could see what was going on.

“We have to move,” Michelle stated urgently but calmly.

Craig, Estela, Zahra and Diego rose to their feet. “What’s going on, Meech?” Craig asked, his arm still protectively around Zahra.

“Traffickers,” she answered, a slight waver to her voice that Diego and Zahra seemed to notice, but probably went unchecked by the others. “Looks like the one that attacked Jake and Kara wasn’t alone. And…” she locked eyes with Sean, his full of concern. “And they’re using them… they…” she trailed off and looked to Sean again while Estela crouched back down and began packing all of the things they’d taken out of their various bags.

He cleared his throat. “They have a horde. Its…they’re herding them toward us…they’re hoping they’ll do their dirty work.”

Diego had wondered when something like this might happen. It hadn’t taken long for the Traffickers to start taking advantage of the lawless new hellscape. He wondered when people would realize that they could use the undead to their advantage, too. “How far away?” he asked.

“About 200 yards across the highway,” Sean answered. “We saw them just now…the Traffickers have a car or a truck…some kind of vehicle and they’re pushing them this way. They know we’re here.”

Kara had locked eyes with Jake the moment Michelle had said the word traffickers, finding their depths tainted with concern. She tore her eyes from him, heart racing with worry. “Michelle,” she gasped, “What about Jake? Can we move him like this?”

Michelle glanced over at her patient, triaging him perfunctorily before meeting Kara’s gaze again. “We have to, Kara.” It wasn’t really an answer to the question that Kara had asked and Michelle knew that, but she also knew that if they didn’t try to move him, he would be too easy a target where he was. Kara closed her eyes and felt her chest tighten as Diego moved to put his hand on her back.

“Hey, princess,” Jake called softly. “No tears for me, I’ll be alright. I told ya, you love me. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

She swallowed the tears that were threatening to burst through. When would they catch a break? When would they be able to rest for more than a few hours? When would they feel safe? Probably never again, Kara. She tried to steady her breathing which was starting to become ragged with the anxiety she felt about moving Jake as the Traffickers and the horde came closer. His words seemed only to make her fear worse, but she scrambled back to his side as the others readied themselves to leave the laundry room. Craig helped her lift Jake to his feet, leaning most of his weight on Kara. She wrapped her arm around him firmly, feeling her strength grow with the adrenaline. She could feel him trying to take some of his weight off of her, only to have his knees buckle and his weight fall back on her. “I’ve got you, Jake, it’s okay…lean on me, I got you, baby.” She always spoke quickly when she was nervous, and right now her words were spilling from her mouth.

“Just don’t wanna bring you down with me is all,” he answered, wincing. She noted that his brow was sweating again from the strain of standing, and wondered if he needed more medication.

She brushed some hair from his face and pressed a trembling kiss to his temple. “You could never bring me down, Jake. You’re the only thing keeping me standing most days.” She leaned her forehead against the side of his face, taking every moment that she could.

“What’s the plan?” Zahra asked. “It’s dark, we can’t go far.”

“Sean, we need to bring everyone back to our apartment,” Estela suggested. “It’s safe, they can’t reach us there, and we’ll have the high ground.”

Sean nodded. “We can pick them off from the balcony…with a few of us on the ground as their numbers dwindle…we,” he shot a glance to Michelle, to Craig and Zahra and Diego, to Kara and Jake. “We have a chance.”

“More than a chance. Let’s go,” Estela said, shouldering her bag and leading the way out the door. The other’s started filing after her.

Craig paused to pull Zahra into a tender kiss, caressing the side of her face, her whole cheek fitting in his palm. “Ready, Z?” he asked.

She grinned, rising on her toes to kiss him again. “Ready, player 2.” They both drew their weapons and followed the group.

Kara started pulling Jake towards the door. “Kara…” he said, “If anything happens, you don’t have your gun anymore. You’re outta bullets,” he let out a cough and her heart sunk at the realization that it was already getting harder for him to breathe and they’d barely taken three steps. Sean and Estela’s place was on the other side of the complex.

“I know,” she said, huffing as she pulled him along, trying not to fall too far behind the others.

“If anything happens, you gotta go, you gotta leave me and get to safety, you hear me?”

“Yeah, Top Gun, I hear you and it’s not happening so don’t waste your breath on something so stupid. I’ll never leave you, get that through your thick head.”

He exhaled, half a sigh, half a laugh. “Thick head, huh?” he tried to ask but ended up coughing again, and the cough drew out into a groan as the hand that was not around Kara’s shoulders flew to his abdomen. Kara huffed and picked up the pace, right behind Diego. She glanced down at Jake’s hand on his stomach and it came away bloody. He must have torn his stitches in the movement.

“Hang on, Jake,” she said, fighting the panic that was flooding her brain. Ahead she could see Estela climbing the rope to the balcony, Craig lifting Zahra up to climb next, with Diego at her heels. Jake groaned again and she could tell that he was trying not to, trying not to frighten her, which only scared her more.

“Give him to me,” Craig called, scooping Jake up against one shoulder. Jake let out a sharp breath as Craig adjusted his weight and began climbing the rope.

Kara’s eyes started to water as she kept them on his face. His eyes were closed tightly against the pain. Suddenly she was hit in the face with a wet drop. At first she blinked at the sky thinking it was rain. But another drop splattered on her cheek and she realized it was Jake’s blood, dripping from where his stitches were ripping. She wiped at her face and her fingers came away red, streaking the drop across her cheek. She whimpered at the sight of it.

“Come on, Kara, we have to move,” Sean urged her, nudging her to start climbing. She did and he was right behind her, the two of them reaching the top just minutes before the first round of the undead horde came rattling towards them, the blaring lights of the Traffickers’ truck casting eerie shadows from the trees and the mailboxes and the decaying limbs of the horde. Sean pulled the rope up the balcony and the two of them joined the others inside where Craig was laying Jake on the couch and Michelle was lifting his shirt to inspect the stitches. Kara felt her fingers trembling as she got as close as she could to Jake while Michelle worked, her eyes never leaving his. Sean and Estela were rummaging around the bedroom down the hall coming back with a quiver of arrows, a hunting bow, and a long spear before heading back out to the balcony. Craig and Zahra stood near the front door of the apartment- Estela had demolished the stairs in the foyer, but they wanted to have both entrances covered in case the Traffickers had a ladder or some other way of getting to them.

“How’s it…lookin’, Doc?” Jake asked Michelle, sucking in a breath.

“Not too bad, Jake, just have to re-do these stitches…” she was back in logical mode, separating herself from the situation and looking at it as just another problem to solve. She reached for her bag and started the process all over again.

Diego noticed the blood on Kara’s face and hurried to her side. “It’s fine, Diego, not my blood,” she choked out, and he relaxed, grabbing her hand and squeezing it, and the light pressure, along with Michelle’s assurance that it wasn’t that bad, let her breathe easier. When Michelle had finished her work and given Jake more medicine, she moved to slump into the cushions of the love seat, exhausted from the adrenaline dump of saving her friend’s life for the second time that day. The quiet hum of Sean’s arrows through the air followed by the soft thuds of the bodies of the undead hitting the frozen ground could be heard from the balcony. The truck seemed to be holding back, waiting to see what would happen once they ran out of arrows.

Kara fell to her knees beside Jake and reached for his hand. He gave it to her and brought his other hand up slowly to her face. He wiped the blood, his blood, from her cheek with his thumb. “Sorry I scared you, princess,” he whispered, shakily bringing her hand up to his lips, brushing a kiss to her knuckles.

“You should be sorry,” she said through her tears, not meaning it at all.

“Thank you,” he said, catching her off guard.

“For what?” she asked, laying her head against his arm.

“For savin’ me, Kara. You been savin’ me since we met.” The way his eyes softened with tenderness even in his pain took hold of her heart. “I’d be a goner without you, princess, and not just talkin’ about this,” he took their twined hands and gestured towards his wound. “You saved me from givin’ up, losin’ hope. Long as I have you, I have hope.”

Hope. It seemed an odd thing to hold on to or to look for. But it had found them when they had found each other. “Back at ya, Jake,” she whispered. “You’re all the hope I need.”

Diego looked around the room. Craig and Zahra were still huddled by the front door, weapons ready, eyes on one another, free hands linked. Estela and Sean were outside dispatching the horde below, and Michelle had her eyes closed and her hands on the sides of her face, rocking slightly as she tried to come down from the high of it all. It didn’t look like much, but this was his family. They might be bruised and bleeding, tired and afraid, but they had each other. It looked bleak but with them he had hope.

#esapw #es zombie au #endless summer au #Endless Summer #choices #endless summer fanfiction #jake x mc #jake x kara #jake mckenzie #diego soto #michelle nguyen #sean gayle #craig hsiao #zahra namazi #craig x zahra #ahhhh zombies #wonderwall

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