Trigger Warnings: Minor instances of blood and vomit.
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Nick paced back and forth as he waited for his friend Jasper to return. Anxiously waiting as his friend was taking longer than usual. He contemplated going out to search for Jasper, but there wouldn’t be a reason for him to get lost in their apartment complex. He peaked out the door to see if Jasper was walking down the hall from the elevator, but all he saw was his neighbors lingering as they gossiped about the problems of the settlement. Sighing, he closed the door, perhaps he’ll try the radio again to contact floor 2. He walked from the door to a desk in the corner, once littered with college studies from a time of the past, all that remained was a hulking radio that they used to contact different floors. He sat on the chair and turned on the radio, then tuned it to the frequency that should be for floor 2. “This is Nick from floor 7, Paul, do you read me?” Paul was the apartments supplier, he’d trade for goods such as food or other odds so the apartment could survive. Jasper had gone down to pick up their rations for the week, a process that usually doesn’t take more than twenty minutes but is now getting close to an hour. Nick patiently waited for a response, but it seemed there was no one there to pick it up. It was slightly concerning that nobody picked up considering how important floor 2 is, usually someone would be available to respond.
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Nick fiddled with the radio, turning the knobs ever so precisely to make sure he had the right frequency. As he retuned the radio he accidentally slipped into the emergency line, he was shocked to hear a message play. It was pre record by Paul, repeating “Floor 2 has been breached, please lock down and follow precautionary measures.” For how serious the message was supposed to be Paul was surprisingly nonchalant when recording it, though he probably never expected there to be a breach. Nick started sweating bullets, he had to inform the 7th floor immediately of the current situation. He quickly got up from his chair and scrambled to the door, slamming it right open. “Lock down!” he began to yell in the hall before beginning to bang on the walls doors, trying to urgently catch everyone's attention. The hallway was suddenly alive with panic, his neighbors scrambling to their rooms or to the elevator. Frantically they tried to call the elevator, but the buttons soon flickered and went out, most likely shut off to prevent infected stragglers from reaching higher floors. Nick ran to the stairwell, in case of a lock down they installed large barricades in every stairwell that can be easily dropped when needed too. All he needed to do was disconnect the weight that kept it up, so even if the zombies made it to their floor they would be able to slow them for the floors above. He knew that Jasper most likely didn’t survive, so there would be no point in holding off dropping the barricade.
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As he began to fiddle with the chains that were connected to the weight, he heard a familiar voice behind him. “N-Nick!” he turned around to see who called him, only to see a bloodied and battered Jasper, limping up each step. “Jasper! Wait right there!” he was flabbergasted, how did Jasper survive? “I know what you’re going to ask, no Nick, I’m not infected!” Jasper looked at Nick, his gray eyes swelling with tears yet full of hope that he would believe him. “Show me, quickly!” Nick was still unsure, and letting a possible infected person onto their floor would be absolutely foolish. Even if he had to leave Jasper behind, he couldn’t make exceptions. Jasper rolled up his pants and took off his shirt, his body was covered in cuts and gashes, but most importantly a bite mark on his left shoulder. They both looked at each other, Nick’s heart sunk as he stared deep into Jasper’s eyes, “Jasp… I can’t let you through.” It pained him to say. Jasper looked at the bite mark and began full on balling, the tears gushed out as fast as the blood that flowed from his wounds. He took a step forward up the stairs and looked back up at Nick, “Plea-please! We-we can just amputate it right? Nick please! I…I don’t want to die!” Jasper desperately pleaded, but all Nick could do is look down at him in dismay. Nick turned back and began swiftly undoing the chains, he could hear Jasper scrambling up the stairs to reach him before he dropped the barricade.
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Jasper wasn’t quick enough, and as Nick got the chain finally detached the barrier dropped right in front of him. “NICKKKKK!” He wailed from the other side, banging and scratching on the barricade. “I’m sorry!” Nick yelled back, his voice chokey from the sorrow that seeped into his soul. “Please! Please… don’t leave me!” Jasper begged, “I don’t want to die alone, not like this!” Nick was supposed to return to his room as soon as he dropped the barrier, but he couldn’t leave his friend. They’ve been together even before the outbreak, once acquaintances turned college roommates, Jasper is like a brother to him. He would never forgive himself if he left Jasper to die letting him know that the only person he had left abandoned him. Nick walked over and slid his back down the barrier, plopping on the ground. “I’m here Jasper, I’m here…” he softly spoke to Jasper, to at least comfort him in some way. Jasper calmed down a little and stopped violently thrashing the door, “You-you really will stay with me?” he asked, “Yeah Jasp… I’ll stay with you.” Nick responded. He could hear Jasper sit down on the other side, “Thank god… I thought you were going to leave me…” Even though he tried to sound relieved that Nick stayed with him, he could hear the pain in his voice. “No Jasp, I got you. I’ll stay as long as you want, I promise.”
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Nick knew that it probably wouldn’t take long for Jasper to turn, most who are infected turn after two hours and It’s already been a little over an hour. “Thanks…I’m sorry for lying to you.” he said, voice slightly quivering. “No no, it’s okay, I understand why you lied.” Nick responded. “I’ve always been a bad liar haven’t I? You always seem to sniff me out.” Jasper chuckled slightly, reminiscing at all the times Nick would catch him in a lie. Nick faintly smiled, “Remember the time I caught you using a private line to talk to that girl on floor 8? You kept assuring me that you were talking to Paul, but in your rush to explain you accidentally left the radio on and she screamed “My names not Paul it’s Maria!” Jasper started laughing, coughing in between. “She has never been happy with me since!” He wheezed. Nick joined him in his laughter, just trying to enjoy the last moments he had left with Jasper as he wiped the tears off his face. “Wait wait, you forgot the part her dad got on the line and cussed me out!” Jasper tacked on, “The insults that guy flung at me were crazy!” Nick thought back to all the things that man said, “Yeah that was pretty bizarre, dude you looked mortified.” Jasper was still laughing, and said, “I was!”
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Both were delightfully laughing, until Jasper suddenly stopped. Nick recoiled from the barrier when he heard the splatter of what he assumed was vomit, putting his hands over his mouth and nose. He could smell the bile mixing together with blood, the vile stench seeped through his fingers and into his nose, making him gag. On the other side, Jasper dry heaved as he vomited even more. “Jasper? Are you okay?” Nick’s voice muffled from his hands covering his mouth. “It burns… my whole body… it burns!” Jasper yelled. The stairwell suddenly went quiet, Nick who was still sitting on the floor, was completely and utterly confused at what just happened. “Jasp…er?” He cautiously asked, worried that the time had come already. As soon as he called Jasper's name, snarls and scratching started on the other side of the door. Jasper's voice distorted and gurgled, he screeched and hissed at Nick through the barrier. Scratching his torn up and bloodied nails against the welded metal to claw his way through to Nick. Nick stood up, defeated after being powerless to do anything to save his friend, and walked to the door they led back to the apartment rooms. “Goodbye Jasper.” He issued his friend one last goodbye before shutting the door, knowing that at least Jasper didn’t die alone.
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