Summary: Toronto is infested with zombies, and the Degrassi kids—with a few surprise guests—hole up inside the high school to combat the hungry hordes. S10 full ensemble with focus on HJ, Fiona, Adam, Fitz, Jenna, Eli, & Clare.
Pairings: (the ones I can give away, at least) ElixClare, Holly JxSav, FionaxAdam, ZanexRiley.
Rating: T for dry humor, multiple innuendoes, badass Holly J, dirty mouths, and possible trips to the boiler room.
Notes: Simply for entertainment purposes. Don't expect Stephen Stohn to whip out a zombie-fied Degrassi storyline. In case you're wondering where this came from, I've been watching Resident Evil movies all weekend, and along with scaring myself shitless, this idea planted itself into my brain and morphed into this.
Time frame: After 'All Falls Down'. A few weeks into the 'Breaking Point'.
January twentieth, two thousand eleven, seven forty am.
Holly J
If Holly J wasn't a badass, or if she was a lesser woman, she would have let the beady eyed, ashen skinned monster take a chunk out of her perfectly manicured hand as she tried to slam her front door shut on its nasty face.
But she was a badass. She was Holly fucking J and the world followed her rules.
Holly J flicked her hair out of her face, and shoved her tiny shoulder against the door. The zombie—she wasn't quite sure what the thing was, but she'd sat through enough Milla Jovovich movies with her nerdy boyfriend to know that they weren't normal, or rather, human, so she'd dubbed the creature beating on her door a zombie—howled in outrage as it scratched at the door Holly J was currently using all of her force to keep in place.
A growl cut through the morning air, and Holly J laughed, "Oh yeah? Well, grr to you too!" she shouted at the abomination on the other side of the door. "Fuck this." she hissed to herself, slamming her back against the door.
The scratching subsided, as did the shoving against her door. Holly J's heart hammered in her chest, but she was too proud to admit to herself that she was terrified. The silence stretched, and for the first time that morning, she allowed herself to listen.
From outside, she could hear screams, muffled gunshots, and groaning. She gathered that those things were everywhere. Toronto would be a shit hole by the end of the day.
She allowed herself to relax, and just as her head lolled against the door, a body crashed through her front window.
A scream bubbled in Holly J's throat as the body unfolded, rising to its feet. She recognized it as the zombie that had been viciously attacking her door moments before, trying to get to her.
Holly J rolled to her feet unsteadily, her breathing heavy and uneven. The zombie was disgusting, not that anything dead was ever pretty, but seriously.
The zombie lurched forward, stumbling and growling in agitation as it tripped over its own feet. Its head lolled to the side as it studied her, its eyes rolling in a complete circle. Holly J decided it was female, judging from it's footwear. A lone heel was hanging off of the zombies left foot, and the other foot was bare, exposing sparkly pink painted toes. The thing was dirty, as if it'd been rolling in the gravel in her driveway.
Her eyes rose to its face, and she gagged in disgust. A chunk was torn out of its face, half of its cheek missing. Holly J could see the zombies teeth through the side of her head. She gagged again as the zombie drew closer and its foul smell finally reached her nose.
She shrunk against the wall, and the zombie stumbled again. The screams grew louder from outside, and she shook with fear. This was it, she was going to die.
Holly J's eyes darted frantically around the living room as she searched for something that could save her life. Her gaze settled on a fireplace poker. A vindictive smile graced her lips as she looked back at the monster advancing on her as she cowered against the wall.
A plan formed in her head as she pulled her hair back and tied it into a ponytail with the rubber band around her wrist. She crouched as the zombie took another step, reaching its disgusting hands out towards her.
She jumped up, darting around the zombie and diving for the poker as the thing growled and whipped around, tearing across the room after her.
Holly J rose to her feet, the steel rod secure in her hand. The zombie lurched towards her, and as its fingers reached her wrist, she swung the poker with as much strength as her tiny body could muster.
The poker connected with the zombies head, digging itself into its skin. She wrenched the poker free, sticky goo flying off the rod and covering her as she swung again, and again, and again. After the tenth swing, and the tenth dent made in the zombies head, the monster went down. It fell to its knees, gurgling heavily as blood dripped out of its mouth at a steady rate, spattering her carpet.
Holly J's poker stuck in its head, and she steeled herself as she put her bare foot on its shoulder, forcing the poker out of its grey flesh.
Holly J retracted her foot, and the zombie fell to the carpet, landing with a thud at her feet.
She stepped away from the body, dropping the poker on the ground. With shaking hands, she wiped the blood off of her pale face, rubbing at it as it dripped into her eyes. She stared at the creature, and the mess she'd made.
A car horn blared outside, and she jumped, grabbing the poker and swinging it up to rest on her shoulder like a baseball bat. She ducked against the fireplace, stepping over her intruders body, and peeked out the broken window.
"Oh my god." she whispered, awestruck. Her street was—literally—on fire. The car horn she'd heard belonged to her neighbors ugly jeep, which coincidently, had crashed into her mailbox, its engine smoking. The house across from her that belonged to a nice elderly couple was on fire, flames licking across the grass, scorching everything until it reached the sidewalk. The roof of the house was caved in, and with horror, she watched as the elderly female ran in terror from her front door towards the street, three zombies gaining on her.
Holly J found her voice, and she stood up, shouting, "Here! Over here!" she waved the poker, screaming for the woman. The woman raised her head, her eyes landing on Holly J. A hopeful look crossed her wrinkled face as she changed course and raced for Holly J's house.
"Thank god." Holly J breathed as two zombies fell off the woman's trail, choosing to chase something else. The woman's face was streaming with grateful tears as she raced up to Holly J's sidewalk. And then, a car squealed around the corner, driving along the sidewalk.
Holly J gasped and waved her arms, "No! Go back! The other way!" she shrieked at the old woman who hadn't seen the car driving straight toward her. The Nissan lurched, spewing smoke and bullets as its passengers shot at the zombies littering her street. The driver of the car slammed on his breaks, trying to stop as he caught sight of the woman running across the street.
But he was too late.
The Nissan slammed into the old woman's body, as well as the zombie that had been chasing her. The old woman's body crashed to the sidewalk, her head cracking against the cement. Holly J's eyes slammed shut, and shoved her fist into her mouth to fight the scream working its way up her throat.
She snapped her eyes open in time to see the Nissan slam into the car that had crashed into her mailbox. Instantaneously, the jeep burst into flames, the Nissan catching fire a second afterward.
Holly J ducked away from the window, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the blood she hadn't wiped away. "Oh my god." she whispered again and again, shaking and trying to block the screams and cries from outside.
On shaky legs, she stood, brushing the grime off of her pajama pants. She'd killed a zombie dressed in baby blue pajama bottoms covered in ducks and a tank top with her name scrawled across the bust. Well, that's a new level. she snorted mentally, eyeing the body a few feet away from her.
Holly J had seen movies like this. The post-apocalyptic kind where the hero—in this case her, the head bitch in charge—gathered her friends and any survivors to kill off the growing enemy—in this case, blood thirsty zombies—so they could all live to see another day.
Holly J covered her ears as the screams from outside grew louder, and she bolted for the stairs, dead set on barricading herself in her room. She raced up the stairs, and dove into her room, slamming the door shut and scrambling to pull her desk in front of the door for good measure.
Holly J huddled on her bed, jumping at every noise. Holly J avoided looking out her window, instead planting her eyes on a picture of her and Sav on her bedside table. She pulled the picture towards her, popping it out of the frame and cradling it in her hands. She ran her thumb over her boyfriends face, wishing that he was with her.
"If you want something done, you've gotta do it yourself, Holly J." her mother had always said. Holly J stiffened in realization, "I can't stay here." she breathed. But where else could she go? Where else would be safe enough?
She had to get Sav, and Fiona, and she had to get them somewhere safe. Knowing Fiona, the girl was probably scared out of her mind, and knocking back shots by the second. And Sav would probably be worrying over Alli, and wondering if his girlfriend was safe.
She ticked off places in Toronto that could be labeled as a safe haven. Everyone would go to the super market, so that was a no-no. And Wal-Mart would probably be infested with the nasty undead freaks. The correctional facility on the edge of town might work, but she didn't want to be surrounded by a bunch of convicts.
The only other place she could think of was Degrassi. Besides home, Degrassi was where she felt the safest.
She jumped up, dropping the picture on her bed and running towards her closet. She thumbed through her clothes, cursing her skirts and dresses. If she wanted to be the badass hero, she had to look the part.
She finally found the only pair of jeans she owned. Holly J stripped out of her duck pajama bottoms and shimmied into her dark jeans. She dropped to her knees and searched frantically for shoes that weren't flats or heels. Coincidently, the only pair she had were a set of combat boots from her sisters time in boot camp. "Damn you, Heather." she hissed, shoving her feet into the tacky boots.
Jumping to her feet, she grabbed a plain white t-shirt that she wore for bed and shoved it on over her tank top. She couldn't bare to part with the shirt. Fiona Coyne had made it for her, and Holly J knew very well that she might never see her best friend again. She kept it on, for memories sake.
As Holly J pulled a duffel bag off of the top shelf of her closet, a crash sounded through her house. She stopped moving, listening intently. Footsteps scrambled around downstairs and she realized that more of the zombies had probably broken through the glass, and were tearing the house apart in search of something to sink their nasty teeth into.
Her stomach turned, and she gagged as she remembered the feel of her fire poker slamming into the zombies head. Then, it hit her. She'd left the only weapon she had downstairs. She curled her hand into a fist, and slammed it into her closet door, shrieking in outrage at her stupidity.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it."
She tore through her clothes, shoving t-shirts, sweats, underwear, sports bras, socks, and her favorite skirt into the duffel bag before zipping it shut and tossing it onto her bed. Silently, she thanked god for whatever construction crew had built her house and had given her her own bathroom. She turned the tap on, shoving her toothpaste covered toothbrush under the water and brushing her teeth until her gums hurt. She was well aware that it could be the last time she ever had running water.
Grabbing her toothbrush, hairbrush, makeup—she was a materialistic girl, give her a break—and toiletries she raced out of the small bathroom and shoved her bathroom shit into the side pouch of the duffel bag.
Holly J looked around her room, searching for anything else she may have missed. With a start, she remembered the photo album her mother had made her for her birthday that year. Grabbing it off her bookshelf, she shoved it into the bag.
Perched on her bedside table was her cellphone. She gingerly held the device, hoping for a signal. Two bars was enough to make a call, she scrolled through her contacts, finding his number, "Degrassi. Now. Hurry. And bring your sister." she hung up before Sav had a chance to respond. She shoved into the pocket of her jeans, twirling the charger up and sticking it in her bag.
Her phone buzzed again and again, and she shut it off in agitation. What happened next would take all of her concentration. "Sorry, Sav." she muttered.
She stated at her room for a moment, memorizing it.
Grimacing, she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do. Holly J slowly pushed her desk away from her door, praying the idiots downstairs wouldn't be able to hear her. She grabbed the duffel bag, hoisting it up over her head, letting the weight of it fall against her hip.
Mentally, she ticked everything off: phone (check), pictures (check), clothes (check), weapon (negative). She cursed herself again for being stupid and leaving the poker downstairs.
Holly J faced her door, breathing heavily. Then, she leaped forward, yanking her door open and tearing down the hall.
She skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs, peering down. She counted two zombies that she could see, and she almost burst into tears because killing one had been bad enough.
One zombie hesitated as he walked in front of the stairway. She stopped breathing as he turned his head, his gaze locking with hers. He growled, and Holly J hissed, "Fuck this bitch." as the zombie tore its way up the stairs.
She backed up a few steps, turned her body to the left and planted her feet on the carpet. Heather had taught her a few things that she'd learned from boot camp, and Holly J thanked god for Heather.
The zombie reached the last step, his hands creeping dangerously towards her as he hunched over the last step. With a cry, she swung her leg up an arc, smashing her foot into the zombies face. She yanked her foot free, grabbing a hold of the walls on either side of her and leaping over the unresponsive zombie.
Hopefully, she'd killed it with her first well-executed roundhouse kick. "Heather, I fucking love you." she giggled madly as she surveyed the living room from the last step.
Another zombie was poking at the first one she had killed, and she wondered briefly if they could just eat each other and save her the trouble. The fire poker lay on the floor beside her first zombie kill.
Shaking her head, she stepped down into the living room, "Hey, big boy." she called, getting the zombies attention. The zombie looked at her, appraising the tiny girl. She gestured towards herself, "You hungry?"
Adam and Drew
"Drew, you're a dumbass." Adam snapped at his stepbrother. Drew scoffed, "Bro! I'm not kidding, this is just like Call Of Duty: World At War. You know? 'Cause of the zombies?"
Adam closed his eyes, resisting the urge to smack Drew. "Yes, I'm aware. Except if we die now, we don't respawn." he hissed at his brother, before looking back out the window.
Drew sobered up, dropping to his knees to look out the front window beside his brother. He looked away as his neighbor ran across the street, a zombie hot on her trails. She ran, only to come face to face with a small group of the ugly creatures.
She screamed as the zombies fell on her, already feeding. Adam looked away, wishing he could help her.
"We have to get out of here." Drew said levelly. The hysteria and terror from earlier was gone from his eyes, and he looked normal, composed even. Adam nodded in agreement, "I know. But how?" he paused, and as an afterthought he added, "And where would we go?"
Drew frowned, then snapped his fingers, "Mom and dad are still on that business trip, but mom left her car keys here. We take the Honda, and get the fuck out of here." he said.
Adam pursed his lips, and another scream rang through the air. Both boys closed their eyes, grimacing. Adam's eyes snapped open when the screaming ended, and he asked, "Where should we go?"
Drew thought for a moment, "The super market?" he asked, crouching lower as the shadow of a zombie passed the window.
Adam lowered his voice, grabbing Drew's arm and tugging his brother towards the kitchen, "No. It'll be too crowded." the boys huddled against the bottom cupboards, praying that their earlier conversation hadn't alerted the zombies to their presence.
"Degrassi!" Drew and Adam said at the same time. They nodded at each other, "What's the plan?" Drew asked, as another shadow passed the window.
"I'll get some food and shit ready, while you find the keys. And then-" a crash sounded from the garage.
"When you went out last night, did you remember to close the garage?" Adam hissed at his brother. Realization flickered across Drew's chocolate brown eyes, "Shit." he muttered.
"If they're in the garage," Adam began, "It's only a matter of time before they're in the house." Drew finished for him.
"What do we do?" Drew asked. Behind them, bodies slammed against the door leading from the garage into the house. "They know we're in here." he whispered, fear leaking into his voice.
Adam stood up, "Get the keys, the food, and anything else you can think of. I'll take care of them." he hoisted Drew up, hissing into his ear, "Don't do anything stupid."
Drew grinned, unfazed, "What do you think I am? An idiot?" he said, leaving Adam alone in the kitchen as he disappeared down the hall leading to their bedrooms.
Adam swallowed heavily as the scratching at the door grew louder. He looked around the kitchen, frantically searching for something he could use to get rid of those zombie bitches.
His mother's knife caddy was resting on the counter, sparkling clean. Adam stepped forward, selecting the biggest knife. He pulled it out of the caddy, squeezing the handle.
Adam rested his hand on the doorknob of the gashed door, and as if sensing his presence, the scratching, groaning, and slamming grew louder. The knife shifted in his hands, and he remembered everything his uncle had sight him about selfdefense a couple of years ago.
He turned the knife's blade flat against the underside of his arm, handle out. The cool metal chilled his sweaty, feverish skin.
His fingers curled around the knob, and he yanked the door open. Jumping backwards behind the door as it swung open, he held his breath, knowing the smallest inhale would alert them.
He heard the zombies groan in confusion, and judging by the sounds of them shuffling around, there were two. Adam lifted his arm, knife arced and ready to strike.
He slammed the door shut, pouncing onto the back of the first zombie. Adam's arm wrapped around the creatures neck, and he shoved the blade deep into the zombies head. The zombie howled, bucking Adam off of its back.
Adam crashed to the ground, and the zombie fell to its knees, then, it hit the ground with a thud. Adam scrambled up, wrenching the knife from the zombies head and leaping back against the door, preparing to take out the other one.
The kitchen was empty.
"Drew?" he whispered, "Drew?" he called louder. He stepped into the living room, knife poised. Suddenly, hands closed around his ankles yanking him down to the side of the couch.
He yelped, and a hand clamped over his mouth. "Shh! It's me." Drew hissed in his ear. Adam relaxed, shoving his brothers hand away. Drew held a finger to his lips before pointing across the room.
Adam peeked up over the couch's arm, inhaling sharply when he caught sight of the zombie. It was standing in front of the TV, eyeing its reflection with interest.
Drew took the knife from his brother, crouching low. "I got this one." he said quietly, his gaze locked on the creature.
He stood slowly, and Adam held his breath. Drew moved silently, swiftly, years of football paying off as he advanced on the zombie. The zombies eyes narrowed as it caught sight of Drew in the TV screen. It turned, launching itself at Drew.
The zombie and Drew crashed to the ground and Adam jumped up, shouting, "No!"
The garage door slammed open once again, but he didn't bother turning his head as he watched—frozen in terror—the zombie try to sink its teeth into Drew.
Drew was struggling, twisting away from the zombies mouth, "Adam!" he shouted helplessly. Adam snapped back into reality, leaping forward to help—an arm snagged around his waist, dragging him back, and tossing him onto the couch.
A gunshot went off, and Adam was familiar enough with the sound of guns to know that someone had just fired a shotgun in his living room.
The zombie fell off of Drew, and Drew stood shakily, jumping on his savior. "Oh my god, I'd kiss you if I was gay." he gasped out, clutching his heart.
Eli chuckled, shoving Drew away, "Yeah, yeah." he turned to Adam, shotgun resting on his shoulder. Adam breathed a sigh of relief.
Eli smirked easily, not seeming to notice—or care—that there was a body laying at his feet. Flipping his bangs aside, he nodded his head at Adam, "'Sup?"
There ya go :). What do you think? Should I bother continuing? Let me know if you catch any mistakes.
Also, a list of characters: Zane, Riley, Wesley, Holly J, Declan, Fiona, Adam, Eli, Clare, KC, Jenna, Fitz, Anya, Sav, Alli, Bianca, Owen, Drew, and possibly Peter. Pretty much every cast member from season 10 :). In case I forget anyone that's irrelevant.
You can probably deduce that Holly J is my favorite character, and Dolly J is my favorite couple, followed by Fadam. BUT I'M BRINGING BADASS HOLLY J BACK. Just so ya know ;).
As for the title, 'Trauma Tangent' can be loosely translated to (if you speak 'nerd') never ending hysteria.
And I'm well aware that Heather never went to 'boot camp' but for all intents and purposes of this story, she did. So there.