They kept running. There was no escaping them. They were everywhere. Axel looked back, Rocky was close behind offering protection from the back. There wasn't much they could do, they were both down to their last clip of ammo and they were running out of places to hide. It seemed like there was no one left alive in town but the two of them. They had been trapped inside the city, quarantined to stop the spread of the disease. They were running down a main street in a residential area that seemed pretty deserted when they heard the scream of a young woman from the direction of an alleyway between two apartment buildings. "We can't leave anybody behind! If there are survivors, we gotta help 'em!" Rocky said, as he paused a moment to catch his breath. Axel was afraid, "If she's screaming, they probably already got her!! He was close to tears. "I can't take this anymore! Everyone we've tried to help so far has gotten killed! Jared... he was only eight years old..." Rocky put a hand on Axel's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ax, but there was nothing we could do for them. It hurts me too but we have to keep going. If there's someone in need, we need to do something. We can't leave them to die like everyone else." Rocky turned and proceeded down the alley. Axel sighed. Rocky's kind heart was one of the reasons why he loved him but he was afraid that this time it would get him killed. Just then he heard a sickening thud coming from down the alley. He ran as fast as he could to see if Rocky was alright.

At the end of the alleyway, Rocky knelt beside the corpse of a woman. Her delicate face had a vacant expression, her eyes were wide, her lips slightly parted. As Axel approached, Rocky stood and faced him. "They never even got her. she jumped from the top floor." Rocky's exhaustion and sadness flowed with the forlorn tone of his voice. "There wasn't anything I could do. Maybe we should just give up, it's hopeless." Axel could see Rocky's degradation right before his eyes. For the first tiime he saw Rocky begin to fall apart, he was never one to give up. He decided this was not the best time for an 'I told you so.'

Just then there was a bang from one of the doors at the end of the alley. Both heads shot a glance in it's direction. The door burst open and hordes of undead poured out, separating the two of them. Rocky took aim and fired off a few rounds into the heads of a few zombies. Axel froze up. Tears flowed from his eyes as he pressed a trembling hand to his mouth. Rocky was in trouble and he felt like there was nothing he could do. Rocky managed to take out quite a few zombies. The body behind him twitched. The girl that Rocky had presumed dead and uninfected rose. She came up behind him, taking a bite out of his shoulder. With a cry of pain, Rocky tried to shake her off but she held on tight as the remaining five undead closed in, clawing and biting. With all of them on top of him, he collapsed under their force. Rocky's bloodcurdling screams of terror and pain filled the air as the flesh was being torn from his body.

Rocky's pain filled shriek snapped Axel from his state of shock and helped him remember he was holding a gun of his own. "ROCKY!!!" In a rage, Axel pumped round after round into the reanimated corpses, hoping to save his beloved. His clip now emptied, all of the zombies were finished. He fell to his knees beside Rocky who was just barely alive. He had been bitten in the neck among other places and was losing blood at an alarming rate. Blood was even coming from his mouth, there was no hope anymore. His face displayed a dismal expression of agony and depression. Axel propped Rocky's head up. "Rocky, I'm so sorry I-" Rocky's voice was barely audible, "I could never blame you... Axel... I..." his voice trailed off. The sparkle in his eyes Axel always loved dimmed, his eyes still partially open. Rocky never needed to finish his sentence, He already knew what he wanted to say. "I love you too..." Axel gently closed Rocky's eyes. He stood and started to leave. He couldn't help but turn and look back. It felt so wrong just leaving Rocky there. Without him, what could he possibly do? He was his strength, his reason for trying to survive this hell. Now he was alone, unarmed and useless.

For a moment he stood and stared. His happiness gone. Rocky's corpse twitched. For some reason deep down in Axel's heart, he felt a dim glimmer of hope as if he foolishly believed Rocky wasn't dead. He knew better though. He knew he was going to see the saddest thing he'd never want to see in his entire life but he couldn't help but watch. On unsteady legs, Rocky's body rose. It was odd because for a moment, he looked into Axel's eyes with the same pained expression he had before he passed. He reached out toward Axel as if telling him to go. No sooner had it happened, his face went blank. He started toward Axel with his arms outstretched. He was faster than most of them and actually still knew how to run. Axel had nothing more he wanted to do. He cast his empty gun aside, clenched his eyes tight and tried to remember Rocky's cheerful smile as he braced for the end. "It's okay, Rocky. I know this isn't you. I've made my decision. I'll be back by your side soon."

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I thought I'd try my hand at writing a dramatic short story to go with my picture for my unsuccessful 'Zombie Meme.' I thought I did a good job. I actually drew this picture first and then came up with the meme idea but it didn't go anywhere.
Don't worry. Rocky's not actually dead. Just for the record, I took his same outfit from 'Smashed and Randy' as if the rave scene played out a little differently...