28 Hours Later
Author: Originally written for Livin4Jesus's "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" but decided to post it here instead.
Got the idea after watching 28 Days & 28 Weeks Later. Ty Livin4Jesus for allowing me to borrow FBJ. I don't own any of the
characters, movies mentioned, etc... Had way too much fun with this. R&R. And Happy (2 Months Early) Halloween.
"Ow..." Tony groaned, rolling over and burying his head against his arm. The ground where he had been laying was soft and warm but where he rolled over was chilly and crunchy from fallen leaves.
Wait... why was he on the ground?
Did he sleep outside?
A glance around told him that he had indeed fallen asleep outside. In fact he knew where he was.
Go him!
He was laid out on the ground of a ranch house his mother had bought years ago to escape to when she couldn't take the stress of being the wife of one of the biggest weapon's manufacturer in the US.
Correction: the biggest weapon's manufacturer in the world probably.
"Hey Clint... did we burn anything down? Destroy anything? Turn anyone into an animal?" he asked, glancing around.
No answer... not even a groan.
"Clint? Feather-butt? Katniss?" he called, sitting up.
Though the archer still didn't answer, a turkey strolled into view wearing a little black trench coat and carrying a bag of candy behind it. Actually... dragging a bag of candy.
"What the..." Tony whispered, watching FBJ continue to drag his bag of candy across the yard.
A long wild shriek erupted from the woods and the hair on the back of Tony's neck stood on end. A second shriek followed by mad laughter forced him to his feet. He reconized those sounds, having heard them while watching movies with Clint... while drinking and being stupid like always. "Oh shit... oh shit... oh shit..." he whispered, grabbing FBJ (and his bag of candy) before making a run for the house.
A pair of blood red eyes glittered hungerily and a hand snaked out from under the porch to grab a hold of Tony's ankle.
Tony yelped and kicked out at the hand around his ankle. There was a grunt behind him but the grip on his ankle didn't loosen. FBJ shrieked and ran through the hole in the screen door, still dragging his stash behind him. "Let me... the fuck... GO!" Tony shouted, glancing over his shoulder at his attacker as he went to kick out again.
Clint's face stared back at him, mouth covered in blood and eyes staring at him like he was next on the menu. Red eyes... blood red eyes... just like if he was infected with the Rage Virus. "Shit... shit... shit!" Tony screamed, kicking out wildly. Clint snarled when a kick connected with his shoulder and another with his wrist, forcing him to let his prey go. Tony ran like a bat out of hell into the house, slamming the door behind him and shoving a chair in front of it.
"We're gonna get you... not another peep." Clint's voice whispered in a sing-song tone, giving the door a shake as he leered at Tony.
Tony whimpered and bolted upstairs, not stopping until he had scrambled up the attic stairs and pulled the door shut. If an Infected got into the attic, he was probably as could as dead. Could the Infected climb? Or was that the ones from that show The Walking Dead. He couldn't remember.
Note to self: next time he was made to watch zombie movies and tv shows... BE SOBER!
"Jarvis call the other Avengers. Tell them how to get out here and warn them that Clint's infected with the Rage Virus." Tony whispered, fumbling with his phone.
"Of course sir." the AI said.
"Excuse me Captain Rogers, Thor, Dr. Banner, Agent Romanoff." Steve, Thor, Bruce and Tasha all looked up from their respective piles of candy and other Halloween treats when Jarvis's voice broke their quiet chatter.
"What is it Jarvis?" Tasha muttered, popping a piece of candy corn in her mouth.
"Mr. Stark has requested that all of the Avengers join him at his late mother's ranch as soon as possible. And be forewarned that Agent Barton appears to be infected with the Rage Virus."
"The what Virus?" Banner asked, biting into a popcorn ball.
"The Rage Virus. It appears to be a virus which infects cast members of the horror movies 28 Days and 28 Weeks Later, turning them into zombie like creatures."
"Damn it... I knew I reconized that name. Clint loves those movies... horror movies in general." Tasha groaned, shaking her head.
"What do we do?" Thor mumbled around the hunk of caramel apple in his mouth.
"Jarvis how long have Clint and Tony been at the ranch house?" she asked.
"28 hours ma'am."
"Damn it.. I should have known better than to ask." Tasha sighed, pulling out her cell phone.
Tony whimpered as more shrieks cut through the air, this time from the front porch. There were also sounds of breaking glass (windows?) and banging (Clint? Or some other infected?) He had hidden himself away in between crates with only the glow of his arc reactor and a couple of thin streams of sunlight filtering in through the boarding up window as light sources. He jumped at the sound of a particularly loud bang followed by wild laughter.
He was gonna have a heart attack at this rate, he decided as he let his head rest against the wall.
"Clint?" Steve asked, carefully approaching the archer who was pacing the front porch like an animal. Clint stopped pacing and turned to face them before vaulting over the porch rail to land on his hands and knees before them. His mouth, neck and the front of his shirt were all covered in blood. His normally grey-blue eyes were blood red and blood shot.
"Tony called the Tower and said you were very sick." Banner said as Steve raised his shield and Thor raised Mjolnir. Tasha, who had been so sure this was a hoax, look frightened and had a gun in hand.
"I am.. sick in the head. And I'm willing to bet my bow that Tony's somewhere in the house about ready to have a heart attack." Clint chuckled.
"How long were you planning this?" Tasha growled, pulling the trigger of her gun. The bullet barely missed Clint's temple as he looked up at her.
"A couple of weeks... mother. Had a hell of a time finding the contacts." he quipped, getting to his feet and pulling off his shirt to wipe the blood off his face and neck.
"Did you whip that stuff up in the Tower?" Steve asked.
"Nope. Bought it off an old friend. She does make-up for broad way." Clint told him.
"Did your "friend" help with the make up too?" Tasha asked, watching her boyfriend with disdain.
"Jealous Nat?" the archer asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. At any other time he would either run or begged her not to kill him. But having just terrified Tony and freaked out everyone else... he was feeling particularly brave.
"Shouldn't we go rescue Tony?" Bruce asked, glancing in the house.
"Can I keep the contacts in?" Clint asked.
"No." Steve and Tasha both said.
"But it was a fine joke." Thor protested.
"No!" the soldier and the red head both snapped. Clint looked up at Thor and shrugged.
"Tony!"
"Mr. Stark?"
Tony's head snapped up and he looked around. Why was he in an attic... wait... why had he been sleeping in an attic?
Oh wait... Clint covered in blood... Clint with blood red eyes... the screeching around the house.
"Stark?"
That was Steve. Tony scrambled towards the attic door and opened it, but didn't drop the ladder.
"Did you kill all the infected!" he shouted.
Steve glanced over his shoulder at Clint and said, "Yes Tony we killed all the infected. In fact we have Clint's body on the front porch if you'd like to say goodbye."
Clint grinned and pulled Thor off to the side, whispering in the God's ear. Whatever the idea, Thor agreed to it without hesitation.
It took about five minutes to coax Tony down from the attic and out onto the front porch. Once he was there he saw that, as Steve has said, Clint's body was laid out under Thor's cloak.
"Damn it Clint. Why'd you have to get infected? Why not Fury? Or Loki?" Tony whispered, crouching next to Clint's prone form.
Under the cloak Clint smiled but continued to hold his breath.
"I think my favorite time was when we made the holographic Hunger Games arena." Tony sighed.
"Before or after we realized it was a hologram and that we weren't trapped?" Clint giggled, sitting up.
Tony yelped and stumbled backwards, landing in the yard. "What the hell!" he shouted.
"Happy Halloween." Clint laughed, leaning forward to look down at him.
Tony growled and tackled Clint, attempting to smother the giggling archer with Thor's cloak.
A rustle from under the porch caught everyone's attention and Tony's eyes widened. FBJ crawled out from under the porch with his bag of candy in tow and looked up at all of them in surprise. In addition to wearing a little black trench coat, his face was painted white with black clown like markings. The turkey flapped his wings once then strutted off to the meet the figure walking up.
"What did those two idiots dress you up as?" Coulson asked as he approached, FBJ at his side.
"The Crow... City of Angels... you saw it with me." Clint laughed, trying to fend off Tony.
"Back in '96 if I remember right. It was a double feature." Phil agreed.
Clint laughed and began to hum the opening song to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
"Dressing FBJ up and sending him out to trick or treat was a great idea. He's got a nice sized haul." Tony chuckled, reaching for the bag. FBJ screeched and ran forward to defend his candy.
"And so was scaring the hell out of you." Clint agreed before Tony started to try to smother him again.
Author: Last minute add in was Clint quoting Evil Dead 2013: "We're going to get you. Not another peep."