"OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Aurelie almost squealed, grinning happily. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She relaxed into her seat, excited yet nervous at the same time. 

“Rumors of the undead have been circulating, and there have been several sightings. Disfigured beings have been seen around various Secronom corps. Is it an elaborate hoax, or humanity's very worst nightmare?” came from the radio. 

Aurelie blinked at the mention of the undead, her mind recalling the words of the girls from earlier.  A dreaded premonition began to build inside her heart, but she pushed it away, only focused on the events to come. Her heart leapt a few feet when she realized that they had arrived. She quickly paid the driver and got out of the cab. Scanning the area, she made a face at the desolation. Usually whenever she was here, there was at least one person outside sitting on the benches or just a homeless person sleeping on the streets. Oh well, it's not like I'm here everyday so I don't know what goes on.

"Let's go, Azi!" Without waiting for a response, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the building.

Once inside, the receptionist smiled at the sight of the familiar girl. "Aurelie! Long time no see! Are you here to collect the rent again?"

The brunette nodded and smiled at the elderly lady, letting go of Azi's hand to cross her arms behind her back.  "Of course! You know I'll be here at least once a month without fail."

The lady smiled, "Such a diligent child. Well I won't keep you any longer, you go and have fun now. And do hurry to return home before it gets dark. I've been hearing rumors about the undead and I'd hate to have anything happen to you." Her eyes were filled with worry as she smiled weakly.

Aurelie's heart almost broke at the sight of the poor lady and she placed both of her hands on the woman's shoulders in a gesture of comfort. "Of course I'll hurry! But you don't have to worry, I have Azi here to protect me!"

The woman smiled. "Oh my, what a dashing young man! Is he your Prince Charming?"

Aurelie felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Not that she liked Azi or anything. To her, Azi was like the older brother she never had. It was just the thought of having a Prince Charming that made her flustered. Embarr*censored*ed, she shook her head, waving her hands in front of her in denial, "N-no, it's not anything like that! We're just friends, right Azi?!" She looked up at him, waiting for a response to help her out of this embarr*censored*ing situation.

"Hey!" Aurelie protested, struggling to get out of the headlock. "I'm not a midget! I'm a normal height, you're just freakishly tall!"

She successfully pulled herself out of his grasp and huffed as she straightened her hair, glaring at him, "Ok, we're wasting time, let's go before it gets dark."

She quickly rushed away without waiting for a response. Hearing footsteps behind her, Aurelie continued towards the stairs and ascended to the third floor. Her eyes scanned the room numbers, mentally counting until she reached her destination: Room 308.

"Well this is it." She murmured as she pulled her food package out of her brown bag, tightening her grip on it. "Are you ready?"

Azi nodded beside her. "Yeah."

Aurelie nodded and took a deep breath as she knocked quietly on the door. Footsteps resounded behind the door, getting louder with each one, signalling the approaching boy. Aurelie's heart thumped louder with each beat and she became more nervous as the seconds p*censored*ed. When she heard the click of the door unlocking, her heart stopped completely. The door swung open, revealing the masked boy.

Silence.

The boy stood in the doorway, waiting for her to say something however, she couldn't even open her mouth. Why am I even this nervous? I'm always helping people, right? So why is this so hard?! She jumped when she felt Azi nudge her and cleared her throat.

"Uh, h-hi...You might know me as the rent collector..." She laughed nervously, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks. Oh god, why did she have to sound more awkward than usual. "B-but uh, I'm Aurelie Faustere, the daughter of the owners of this building...And this is Azi van der Woodsen, my friend. Uh...we're here to say hi...I guess...and offer you this food."

She quickly held out her package of food.

"I mean, since you're living alone, I thought you didn't have anyone to cook for you so I made you this food......U-um...Do you wanna...uhh...have a chat with us or something...?" She shut her eyes in embarr*censored*ment.

Oh my god, what the heck am I saying.

 Drago Wheeler

“Sure, why not?” Drago smiled widely in relief. He noticed the girl glance at her watch and it vaguely occurred to him that she wanted to be rid of his presence. Before he could further explore that thought, she continued speaking. “Tomorrow afternoon, 2 pm, the Starbucks near the big park. Here's my number if anything.” Drago nodded in a daze, hanging blindly on her ever word. Today was the best day ever! A pretty girl agreed to go on a date—at least, that's what he considered it to be—with him, and he even got her number to boot.

She handed him her number and rushed out of the grocery store before he could process a single legible thought. He waved dumbly at her retreating back before making his way home.

Drago was on cloud nine the entire day, and his mood was infectious. His friends and parents teased him, poking and prodding his side, and making snide remarks about his love life. He just grinned and winked, unwilling to give into their goading. His mother was exceptionally happy, nearly bouncing in joy on her hospital bed. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if it was just a meeting of the minds, or a meeting of potential lovers, and he didn't want to get his or his loved ones' hopes up.

He tossed and turned in his bed that night, unable to get a wink of sleep. He ran possible scenarios through his head—embarra.ssing ones, ones where he saved the day, ones where he charmed his date into a puddle of goo. The hours pa.ssed like minutes when he fantasized. Drago pulled his pillow into his embrace and buried his head in the fluffy down pillow. Taking deep breaths, he gazed up at the ceiling, trying to clear his mind.

Stupid brain, he thought, pouting in frustration. I need to sleep or else I'll have bags under my eyes tomorrow. It wasn't until an hour later when he fell asleep. He tried to focus on the girl's face so he could dream about her, but his mind had a different idea. His dreams were filled with the presence of the undead and their incessant moaning. He dreamed of the infected ripping flesh from bone, sinking their broken teeth into warm flesh, and digging their rotting fingers into brains. Their thirst for human blood was unquenchable, their hunger for brains insatiable. These creatures became hungrier with every meal. Even as the undead were gorging upon human parts, they were starving to death. In his mind's eye, he saw the living dead devour all mankind.

The morning light filtered through the curtain, pillars of light shining upon his eyelids. Drago raised his arms in a stretch and yawned, his nightmares dissipating with the rising of the sun. Rolling out of his bed and onto the floor, he slowly made his way to the bathroom, scratching his head groggily. He considered going back to sleep, then he remembered he was meeting the pretty girl at Starbucks today. He was instantly wide awake, taking a shower and brushing his teeth at record speed. Several minutes later, he was found standing in front of his wardrobe, holding his chin between his thumb and forefinger.

He sifted through his collection of clothing, wondering what he should wear for his date. He turned his eyes towards his digital clock—11 o' clock. That gave him plenty of time to try out everything in his wardrobe and pick the best outfit. Preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice his dad open his bedroom door and look at him with fond amusement apparent in his eyes.

“Hey, kiddo. You've been in front of that mirror for over an hour now. Going on a date?”

Drago's heart leaped with surprise. “Dad! You scared me. And no, I'm not. I'm just meeting a friend,” he denied, heat rising in his cheeks.

“Whatever you say. I know you never spend that much time looking for something to wear.” His dad grinned at him, not wanting to pry into his son's life and embarra.ss. further. “Come down for lunch soon, hm? And don't let that date of yours go to your head. Make sure to visit your mom.”

“It's not a date!” Drago insisted, but his father had already left.

He trotted down the stairs two hours later, having chosen a black v-neck sweater rolled up at the arms and form-fitting dark jeans. Slipping on white Lacoste shoes, he called out a goodbye to his dad and made his way to Starbucks.

Drago hummed a broken tune, a sloppy grin slapped his face like usual. The wind ran its playful fingers through his hair and golden leaves danced around him. Fresh air filled his lungs and he thanked the gods above for gracing him with such a wonderful life.

He soon found himself in front of the cafe, 30 minutes before the predestined time. He checked his hair in the window, making sure that every spike was in place. Winking at his reflection—pa.sserbys must have thought he was crazy—Drago practically burst into Starbucks, ignoring the curious looks he got from the customers. He scanned the shop for any signs of the girl, not expecting to see her as he was much too early for their date. To his surprise, he found her working behind the counters.

Drago's face broke into a bright smile. “Hey! I'm here!” He called, waving his arms above his head. He bounced to the end of the line, glancing at the girl whenever possible and grinning at her when they made eye contact.

((You mean the posts that dont get eated...right? ><

Uhg.))

Life isnt fair.

Of course, Jericho had known that her whole life, but now, as she kicked a can along the street in some childish game, she was certain of it. The television and papers were riddled with reports of the undead, and at the same time, contact with her sister was cut off. She wasnt sure it was a coincidence.

The can bounced over her foot and some ways away, Jericho had to lunge for it. It may have been childish, but she wanted to do it, so she did. Totally logical. No ones oppinion on the state of her mentality mattered. Made perfect sense to her. Thats all that mattered.

But what was she doing here? Jericho stopped and looked over her new surroundings, not quite sure where her thoughtfilled meanderings had taken her.

((Sorry. Im a little brain dead...pardon the pun))