grr. argh. ( open. )

[oliver damon quaid.]

Oliver stared confusedly at the row of books just above his head, snapping once every second or so with little sparks flying and dying in the air. In the immediate section, there were two books on wolves, ten on various animals, four on big cats, three on sharks (obviously the reason he was there), a few on urban animals, five on bugs, one on mice, and one that said ZOMBIES in big, red letters. This was the source of his confusion. He had no sort of OCD or anything, but why was a book about zombies with the books about animals? Weren't libraries supposed to be all organized? He hadn't seen it there before, so either zombies were now considered animals, or some kid just put the book there. The second option was more likely. He was guilty of it. Practically anyone was.

After a few moments of staring, he grabbed the book and one of the ones on sharks. It was new, he hadn't read it yet. But it probably didn't have much that he didn't already know. Anything there was to know on the selachimorpha species; There was about ninety percent of it in his head. It was the only area where Oliver was particularly brainy.

He took the books to the nearest table in the large, empty room. There was only he and the Librarian, who was focused intently on whatever was on her computer screen. You think it being after school, there'd be more people around. Oh well, he shrugged and got comfortable in the wooden chair, flipping open ZOMBIES. "Oh, pictures," he said with a grin and a ten year old tone. Books hardly held his attention when they weren't about his favorite animal and had hardly any illustrations. His attention span just wasn't that large. These bloody, corpsey drawings pulled him right in though.

_{title courtesy of the mutant enemy logo's awesomeness.}

[hatcher]

He wasn't sure if libraries stocked comic books, but Dewey was keen to find out.

To anyone that knew his fondness for the particular literary publications of Marvel and DC, it was a mystery how the lanky teenager had managed to keep reading them for so long since he brought his limited collection with him to the Academy after the summer break. Most people would assume that it just took him some time to read them all, but in actual fact he had just been circulating over the same issues over and over again. Dewey couldn't remember where his history classroom was, but he could recite the stories of Spider-Man and Superman by issue.

Still, even for the simple needs of the simple boy, reading the same stories was quickly becoming dull. He didn't know if there was a store that sold comic books in St. Michaels, and he didn't like to break rules by going out there, so he had meandered down to the library to try his luck there. He had also asked six different passing students for directions on his way.

Now, about an hour after leaving his last class, he had finally found it; the largest room in the Academy. He stood quite dumbfounded by the sheer number of books for a moment, staring up at the countless volumes stacked on shelves that loomed high over even his own precariously balanced head. He had never been a big fan of that reading thing, but Dewey had to admit, they did look impressive, all stacked up like that. Wondering briefly if all the authors of all these books knew each other, he continued on into the room.

Not one for frequenting libraries on a regular basis, Dewey had no idea what to look for. He had been hoping for a sign post of some description, but so far, no luck.

Passing into a central area where several tables had been positioned together in the center of the space, Dewey didn't even notice this. He was still too busy staring up at the bookshelves that he only discovered the tables were there when he bumped into them, making a heavy 'thud' noise in the silence.

"Oops." He said, not bothering to lower his voice. A lady at a desk looked at him with a frowny-face, and he waved back to her to let her know he was okay. She shook her head and went back to looking at her screen.

Looking back round at the desks, Dewey found that there was another kid sat there on his own, reading a book. At first glance, he thought he recognized the boy's face, but there were so many people at the Academy that he found it impossible to draw names.
"Hi!" He said brightly, still oblivious to the unwritten rule of silence in the library, "Is that a comic book?" He asked, pointing to the book he was reading. If he'd found one already, he could show Dewey where they were.

[oliver damon quaid.]

Once Oliver got all comfortable in his seat, he noticed a flickering in the corner behind him. He turned around to see what it was - a light. He hadn't noticed it before. It was all the way across the library room, and couldn't even catch your eye unless you were looking in it's direction. He felt every sporadic flick, from the weakest to the strongest. It was going to annoy him if he kept paying attention to it, so he turned back around, back to zombies.

It was written in journal form, different from.... nearly any book he'd read. 'On January 7th, the first signs were "breaking news reports that people all over the world were getting sick. According to news reports, major cities have been hit the hardest. Military units were mobilized to help, but of course there's no reason why soldiers would be any more immune to the illness than civilians. Breathing filtration systems have not been helping. There is no help. When casualties vastly outweigh medical personnel - when treatments are, so far, ineffective - fear spreads even faster than disease. At first the reports of "attacks" weren't clearly,' there was some scribbled out words after that, obviously supposed to be there. As part of the experience, or whatever. Ollie squinted at that, bringing the book closer to try and figure out what that scribbled writing was.

Someone entered the library, someone large he could tell. He didn't bother looking up, close to giving up on the scribbles and moving on with the story. Did he see a W? Or... an I? Or a T? He was pretty sure there was an E in there.

'Thud' "Oops." Oliver finally looked up when the massive kid bumped into the tables. He was glad it wasn't the one he was sitting at that was hit. It looked like it moved a good few inches. It didn't take a second for him to recognize the giant (because who can forget someone like that - just for sheer height). They'd only officially ran into each other once or twice before. He could tell the librarian was not going to like this guy, given the dirty looks she gave him when he neglected to lower his voice.

"Hey," he nodded in reply, sitting up a little in his seat. This guy was freakishly tall. "Comic book? No..." He looked back at the zombie book. "This is just a book." He looked back up. "You came to a library looking for a comic book?" He couldn't help asking that, even though he thought he'd seen one in the shelves somewhere.

[hatcher]

Dewey couldn't suppress a disappointed "Oh." when it was put to him that the boy hadn't found a comic book, just a regular one. Just books, Dewey found, were almost always boring and hard to read. He decided that the boy must be quite clever, since he was in the library reading a real book when he could be outside. It was a nice day and everything, if a little cold. It didn't make sense that he was on his own though. Surely such a boring past time as reading books would be more fun with friends. Maybe clever people didn't have friends. If that was the case, Dewey considered himself lucky that he wasn't all that smart.

"You came to a library looking for a comic book?" The boy asked, snapping Dewey away from his slowly digressing train of thought. He looked to him with a blank expression.
"Yah." He replied, "I figured that 'comic books' has 'books' in the name, so the library might have some." He paused to check the immediate area around him, to no avail. "'Cause libraries have books." He added, looking back to the familiar boy just to make sure he was making himself clear.

From his height, Dewey could see that the book he was reading did, indeed, contain blocks of text, but he also spied a picture, which he supposed went some way to making the reading task more fun. Intrigued, he plodded his way around the table until he was stood beside the boy's seat, looming over him like some gormless specter.
"What'sit about?" He inquired curiously, referring to the book he was reading, though he noticed that there was also another book on the desk with a photograph of a big fish on it.

[oliver damon quaid.]

The tall guy's reasoning on comic books and libraries seemed rather fool proof. It made perfect sense, but normal people did not usually go into a library for comics. ...Then again, who was normal in an Academy full of kids who would be freak shows anywhere else? That's not the point though... The point was people do not go into libraries expecting comics. At least not anyone that Oliver knew, until this guy came along. "Makes sense," he nodded, looking around, suppressing the slightest of laughs at the seriousness of the explanation. "I think... I did see one though... Over... there?" He pointed at an aisle not too far away. "Star Trek or something." He'd seen it just briefly, and not even this same day. It was about a week ago, and when he discovered it, he looked at the title, flipped through the pages, and put it back on the self. When he was there that time, it was for research, not recreation.

He had to totally tilt his head up when curiosity got the better of Duane and he walked around the table to stand next to him. It almost made Ollie want to stand up. He felt like an ant! He held up the book to show him the cover, careful not to lose his page, and pointed at the bold, made to look eroded letter. "Zombies," he said in the best 'scary' voice he could muster. "It's like from the point of view of this scientist who's keeping a journal on what he's experiencing after an infection turning most of the world into zombies." That sounded like the plot to anything that involved zombies. It pretty much was. There was always a virus, and it always caught most of the world nearly overnight. Yes, fourteen year old Oliver had seen his fair share of these things, even before he came to Power's Academy two years before. He had his brother to thank for that.

Pausing for a second, he glanced at the book again and then back up, figuring an itroduction can't hurt anything. "I'm Oliver, by the way."

[hatcher]

Dewey stared at the book and listened intently to the explanation of it he was given. Then his eyes widened slightly, and he took an unconscious step backward, a look of sheer horror growing steadily on his face as he began to realize the concept of what the boy was telling him.

"The... the rest of the world outside..." He gasped, finally at a volume level fitting of a library, "Is zombies?!"
He began to breathe heavily, and his eyes darted about the room as if suddenly on the lookout for lurking walking corpses. How could this other student be so calm? Did the Academy have some kind of defense system set up against the zombies? Dewey had seen zombie films before, and he most definitely did not want to turn into one of these creatures. He never thought for a second that he'd have to worry about that! He'd been spending all his time worrying about aliens, that he'd totally neglected to worry about turning into a zombie! Oh cruel world!

Suddenly in a panic, he clasped a large hand to his open mouth and wondered how much time they had left. He looked about the room, at the shelves, the tables, and the windows; the cogs in his brain ticking almost visibly away.

He seemed to come to a decision, and slumped to his knees so that he was nearer the boy's height and he could talk to him face-to-face. When he spoke, it was in a tense whisper, with a look of absolute deadly seriousness.
"We have to tell the teachers." He warned, "They'll know what to do." That was right - the teachers, he was certain, knew everything. They'd be exactly sure of what to do under these pressing circumstances, but they needed to get the boy's discovery of the scientist journal to them as fast as possible.

[oliver damon quaid.]

Oliver was completely taken off guard by the reaction. Not realizing at first that the explanation was taken seriously - literally. He nodded at the question and just watched the horror and shock and surprise on his face. Geez, this guy really didn't like zombies, did he? A typical response would've been an 'awesome!' or an 'okay, then, whatever' wouldn't it? His head pulled back a little and his eyebrows pulled together. He never thought he'd actually consciously think about how odd he found someone.

Oliver never thought that, being such a people person. He'd been around them all his life, practically growing up in Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific where his mom worked. It trained him to see anyone, talk to anyone, and pretty much like anyone. Millions of people went through there. He could strike up a conversation with anyone and find something he thought was cool about them. He continued to show that attitude here at the school, though no real close friendships have so far stemmed from it. This guy though, he was a card.

"We have to tell the teachers. They'll know what to do." A blank stare washed over Oliver's face. Was he kidding? He searched for the joke in his all too serious expression. One problem, he couldn't find it. He was silent for a good several seconds. "Are... Are you serious?" He continued staring with that blank and almost dumbfounded face. Was he seriously thinking that he meant it literally? "You really... want to... What? You're kidding."

[hatcher]

"I have never been... not being kidding... so much... in my life." Dewey responded, his words slow and careful, his tone kept low and cautious. He stared into the boy's eyes with as much intensity as he could muster, which wasn't much.

Then he sprang back up to his feet and turned to face the direction of the door he had come in by, as if imagining the journey they were to go on.
"Should we go to Miss Headmistress first? She's the leader of the teachers." He asked himself, though he was loud enough now to be heard by both the boy at the desk and by the librarian, "Or Mister X? Mister X can disappear when he wants, so he can disappear us all to a safe place where the zombies can't bite us and turn us into more zombies..." His words trailed off into nothing as another thought seemed to occur to him, and then he turned back to look down to the boy again.

"What about my Mom and Dad? We have to get them first and save them first too. We have to." He crossed his arms and gave a defiant expression, clearly expecting the boy to protest against this course of action. "I am putting my case down." He told him, firmly. "And my sister." He added. "And my other sister. We have to rescue them too. From the zombies."

He knew the boy would want to save his own family too, but Dewey would help him with that after he knew his own were safe and sound, at wherever the non-zombie place was that Mr. X was going to take them.

[oliver damon quaid.]

Oliver's eyebrows pulled together, he never looking away from the guy. He tapped his teeth together a few times, to keep from becoming a little slack jawed, as he listened to the dramatic dialogue.

"Uhm... Okay, dude..." He turned back to the table, closed ZOMBIES, and put it under the book about sharks. "I didn't mean it's real... It's a story book." He turned back to him, smiling. "Zombie's aren't real, man. Well, unless there's a power that can reanimate dead people. But that's not the point." He quickly shook his head, having nearly gone of in a completely different line of conversation about powers and dead people. Because if there was someone that could do that, then zombies would be real. But they'd be different zombies, not virus infected, turn-you-into-zombies zombies. "Your parents and sisters are safe. And all of us, and the rest of the world."

He heard a stifled laugh from the librarian. Even though it seemed like she hadn't glanced at them much, Oliver figured she was paying attention. How could she not? He was speaking loud enough for anyone in the place to hear him.

Watching him, he hoped the tall guy would relax, and realize the absurdity. "Besides," he said after a second, "I don't think Mr. X could teleport us all out of here. Even if he did it to like one or two of us at a time, I'm sure it'll tire him out or something. And I don't think that would be good."

[hatcher]

At first Dewey continued to stare at Oliver with the same fixed expression of panic, so that it was impossible to tell if the younger student's words were sinking in at all, or if they were going in one ear and straight out the other. He remained in silence as Oliver finished his explanation, and then stayed still for a few more moments as his brain worked to digest the new information.

"Oh." He said then. It wasn't an embarrassed, 'what-a-fool-I've-made-of-myself' oh. It wasn't even a mistaken oh. It was more like a pleasantly surprised, nevermind oh.
"I'm Dewey." He told him, apparently completely happy to jump free of the topic of zombies now that he knew they weren't real after all. Later, he would lie awake and ponder the new knowledge that Mr. X couldn't save the whole school if the need arose, and his brain would pound away at trying to form a new escape plan for the event of an apocalypse, before he would get tired and go to sleep. By the morning he would have forgotten the entire thing.

For now though, his look of sudden fear was replaced with his happy-go-lucky grin. He pulled up the chair next to Oliver's and fell into it. It creaked worryingly.
"Are you studying for class?" He asked with the inquisitive tone of a child. That was the only valid reason he could fathom that warranted staying indoors when it was such a fair day outside. It didn't seem to occur to him that there wasn't a single class at Power's Academy in which both zombies and sharks could come up in lesson.

[oliver damon quaid.]

As Dewey stared at Oliver, Oliver stared right on back. Watched his face, almost afraid due to the fact that it looked like Ollie's words might have gone completely over his head. At the silence, which didn't help at all, the electropath became so much more aware of the clock counting seconds and the flickering light in the corner. Then that moment passed, and if one wasn't paying any attention, it might have seemed like all that confusion never took place.

His initial impulse was to hold his hand out for a shake after Dewey told him his name. It was the proper thing to do, after all, as his parents taught him before he came to the Academy. That had always led to the involuntary revealing of his powers once they appeared, though, always giving the other person a good, startling shock whenever their hands made contact. He wasn't in the mood to have to apologize and explain himself away, so he just gave him a nod and a smile. That should suffice just fine. Plus, who knew if the kid would freak out or not.

"Nah," Ollie answered, watching the chair for a second or two due to the interesting sound it made. If he was studying for class, studying sharks would be the easiest project ever for the freshman. "I don't have anything better to be doing, though. Homework's all finished and I can't play video games, so I might as well read." He shrugged, only sounding the least bit discontented (because he was still coming to terms with the video game thing), and grabbed the book on the beastly fish, flipping it open to a random page in the center of it. Taking up the top half of that page was a picture taken from the underbelly of a Great White shark, showcasing an obvious reason as to where it got its name, its white stomach. In Oliver's opinion, Great Whites were much too commonly seen. They were the shark in Jaws and what people generally imagine when they hear the word 'shark.' He idly flipped to the next page. On it was Blacktip Reef shark, another obviously named fish and one the boy approved of much it. It actually was probably his favorite species of shark for its appearance, the black lining the fins.

[hatcher]

The SUN is SHINING DOWN and

There’s no-one else
around now

-*-*-*-

Dewey listened and watched attentively as Oliver turned the pages and looked at some large fish. They all looked the same to Dewey, who had once been fishing with his father, though he mainly remembered the trip because he fell into the water. Looking back now, he pondered if they had caught any of the fish in this book while they were there.

"Don't you want to go outside and play? It's sunny and - No - wait--" He stopped, deciding on a better question to ask, "Why can't you play video games?"
His first guess was that he had lost his games console, as he himself had. Then he wondered if perhaps he had had it confiscated by his parents... but that was silly, his parents weren't here to tell him off anyway. A teacher, then? He had known students to have their phones confiscated, so perhaps a games console wouldn't be so much of a stretch?

Or maybe he was coming at the problem from completely the wrong direction. Maybe when Oliver said he 'can't' play video games, he actually meant... that he was no good at them.

"I bet we can find one you're good at though." He said, "There are tons of easy games for kids, if you can't do any good on the tough ones. I like to play the one with the dogs in it, where you have to look after them and feed them and stuff. It's real easy. But maybe we can find you a fishing game!" He hoped Oliver would be impressed that he made the link that he liked things to do with fish. Dewey, for his part, was quite satisfied with himself. He was putting out fires all over the place today. Already he had managed to stop a zombie invasion, and now he was helping a poor kid find a suitable video game to play.

-*-*-*-

I wish you were HERE to
HEAR ME SAY

This is gunna be MY GREATEST DAY

Character/s used: Duane Robert Hatcher (click)
Word count: 255
Lyrics credit: Bowling for Soup – ‘Greatest Day’ (click)
Tagged: -
Character outfit: T-shirt, shorts, sneakers
Notes: The other day I was in a book store and I saw the zombie book. It totally threw me off XD