Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pretty sure it was the end of the world.
Everything was so peaceful. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming. Then BOOM! An apocalypse started.

In zombie movies, the Main Character finds a cure, then fixes the world. This is NOT a zombie movie. The Main Character does not know HOW to find the CURE.

The day it all started feels like yesterday…

Here’s a thing—they *weren’t* exactly ‘zombies’. More like ghosts, or something like that. They won’t be visible for a long time, but they are still dangerous. One bite and you’re gone. I mean infected.

Sal, one of the last survivors, swore to herself that she’ll save the world. Or that’s at least what she thinks.
Shirls, on the other hand, just wanted to play her guitar (peacefully), so this apocalypse better ends soon.

~~~~

Sal is a teenager. A 15 YEARS OLD TEENAGER. Heck, older people with some cool-ass skills would obviously be better. She didn't choose to be a ghost hunter—this job chose her instead! Sal grumbled (quietly) as she turned back to look at her twin–Shirls.

Shirley–Shirls for short. Same birthdate, age, number of brain cells and address as Sal, completely ignoring the laws of physics, as if she cares about such things.

She replied with a slight shrug–clearly not wanting to be involved in this unwanted mess.

Shirls is not really into ghosts or spiritual beings either, just a random person who (accidentally) plays along with people (who are still alive) and ends up in the middle of a battlefield (which is not her intention at the beginning).

Currently, they were hiding in a random dark corner of a building. They got chased earlier and ran for god knows how long

“I fucking knew it, they were after my guitar…”

“Sounds fair enough, who on earth would bring a guitar on a search for supplies???”

Shirls groaned, hands still holding her ‘precious baby guitar’. They began to sneak around like criminals to find FOOD.

Then, a nearby crash startled them.

“SHIT—oh, it’s just something falling.”

“Nah. We are going over there to investigate.”

“Heck yeah, I don’t wanna wander around for food like psychopaths.” Shirls cheered silently.

Following the sound, they found themselves facing the most horrible scene ever. A bunch of ghost corpses with a giant billboard on top, and a person covered in blood.

She seemed horrified (although she’s the creator of the utterly horrific scene), and when looking back, she found two uninvited guests staring at her.

An awkward silence…

She then proceeded to shoot with her revolver, panic showing visibly on her face. Luckily, it seemed like she’s not so skilled, so they managed to dodge. The bullet missed them, only by an inch.

The twins froze, this thing has surely gotten a lot worse.

“Woah woah woah,” Sal raised both of her arms. “Chill out.”

“Dumbs ways to die—” Shirls played some notes on her guitar, humming quietly along with the rhythm. “Dude shut up. She has a FREAKING GUN!!”

“Calm down, mate. She has a gun, and we have the power to fuck almost everything up, including her next shot, if she does.”

The mysterious figure stood there, confused about the siblings’ bickering, she tried to appeal calm, but the panic wasn't letting her. She then let out a deep sigh, and turned away.

“Children shouldn't be wandering around outside these days, go home with your parents.”

It hit them hard. This IS offensive.

“Watch your words, stranger, we’re TALLER than you.” Shirls protested, eyes fixed on the mysterious figure. She has never wanted to punch someone so bad in her life. “Additionally, we AREN’T wandering. Our fridge ran out of food, so we are searching for some.” Sal added, sounding equally frustrated.

The stranger–who was losing her temper–finally turned back, hands already laid on her gun. Things have just gotten more and more complicated.

A glance exchanged, and both of them got into action. Sal charged right into the figure, distracting her from Shirls–the one who’s quietly approaching from behind. Only in a split second, Shirls kicked the gun from her hand–quickly and decisively, not giving the opponent a chance to react. The gun was professionally catched and reloaded by Sal, aimed directly at the bloody stranger whom they have just met.

The stranger’s eyes narrowed, hands instinctively going up instead. “You—”

“—Put that down, now. Before you shoot yourself.”

“Excuse me?!” Shirls gasped in offense “Are you tired of breathing? I can help you end your suffering.”

“And who the fuck are you… stranger? Try to mind your own business, or we should end this once and for all.” Sal added, her dominant hand still holding the revolver, aiming straight at the stranger’s head–which is clearly a threat.

The figure’s arms slowly raised, still shaky after the sudden attack, indicating surrenderness. Seeing that, Sal finally lowered the gun, and nodded at Shirls–who was already at her limit, hands holding the guitar tight, ready to slam it into the stranger’s head at any possible moment.

“Are you guys hunting these… ghostlike creatures?” Asked the person. “Ghost hunters, aren’t you?”

This left the twins dumbfounded. They were sure that this girl over here is no longer a threat, but didn’t think that she’d ask questions god knows the answer to.

“Uhh.” One of them replied confusingly, “Yea— I mean no..?”

“Then how do you know how to use a gun like that?” She pointed accusingly at Sal, then turned to Shirls–who was right behind “And those fighting skills?”

Sweating, eyes twitching. Hell no. They do not know HOW to answer this question, not because they didn’t know the answer, but because the truth is kinda weird.

“Do you, by any chance, know how to play dodge ball?” Shirls, whose hands still holding her guitar tight, awkwardly asked. “We… did some practice… with guns.”

And that was a shit answer.

“Uhm! Our father! Uh—” Words were stuck in Sal’s throat. She doesn’t even remember her dad, or maybe she has amnesia. Who knows?

Sal gathered her remaining confidence and gulped nervously.
“Our dad is… in the military?? Haha..?”

That was another shit answer.

They exchanged looks, eyes screaming “We’re so fucking cooked.”

The person standing there looked at both of them as if they were aliens from area 51, which is totally understandable.

She sighed, hands waving tiredly, but her eyes sparked with interest. “Rose Miller, you guys are…?”

There was a pause, this thing sure is getting hella personal.

“Asking someone whom you’ve just attempted to kill for their name is a bit rude, don’t you think?” Sal asked back jokingly “Anyways, Sally and Shirley Meadows. Hope we won’t meet again.”

She then tossed the revolver back to Rose—who easily catches it, her gaze fixated on the weird duo.

Bad for her, they weren’t looking for trouble, and were clearly uninterested in being the hero of the world by hunting down ghosts, so they attempted to leave the scene.

“Wait!” Rose called out, managing to get the twins’ attention. “You guys should go with me.”

“What.” They both turned back with a terrified look on their faces. Seriously? They were just looking for food because their fridge was empty. But instead of finding food, they encountered a bloody person in the process, who asked them to go with her. Does this count as kidnapping?

…Maybe. But it's like... the end of the world so crimes are no more illegal! I mean, we can kill thousands and still wander around freely without being sentenced to jail.

So Sal responded intelligently—

“Yup! Okaay!” (Sal you're so gullible)

“Wait, do you guys mind a fourth-wheel?” Shirls then pointed to the corner of the room “There is a guest over there.”

It caused both Sal and Rose to turn their heads, it happened so fast that she can even hear their neck snapped. And right where she was pointing, they saw a mysterious figure, unseen in the pitch–black darkness of the room. They hesitated, and took a step back.

As moonlight filled the room, the figure finally appeared in sight. It was neither a friend, or another ghost–hunter. Anything… but a FREAKING GHOST.

They trusted their instincts, and started to run like ishowspeed.

“Wait, this is the guy from earlier.” Shirls turned over to Sal, who was running right next to her “Joret Colarine, remember? I happened to see his ID card.”

“What’s the point of knowing his name??” Rose, who was behind them, shouted, voice interrupted by her own panting “Do something!!”

Sal thinked for a while, then exclaimed:

“Oh, that guy was in the military. He knows how to use weapons… WAIT THIS IS NOT SO GOOD, WE BETTER CUT HIM OFF OR—”

“–we’ll die. Simple equation, simple answer.” Shirls chimed in. “Now, stranger, toss me the fucking revolver.” She looked back at Rose, voice urging.

Hearing that, Sal smirked, she knew what her twin was trying to do.

“What for? Do you understand how bad the situation is–” Rose continued the argument, sounding annoyed and deeply frustrated.

“Just do it, let her cook.” Sal said, her voice mixed with tiredness and humor, eyes laid on the revolver on Rose’s hand.

Still not getting the gun she needed, Shirls let out a sigh. “You are wasting my time…”

The figure takes out their weapon, which is a wooden crossbow with arrows as sharp as a spear, ready to shoot and any possible moment. Seeing that, Shirls quickly snatches the revolver from Rose’s hand. She eventually stopped running, her left hand gripping the gun tight, and–

BANG!

In a split second, the bullet was fired, aimed directly at the fancy-looking chandeliers above, which caused a chain reaction: they crashed altogether, killing the ghost right on spot.

The floor was now stained with the disgusting reddish color of blood, which slowly spread across the cold, empty room. They could sense the familiar smell of iron, which always came along with a haunting scene, like the one from earlier.

This could be painful to watch for those who don’t like seeing blood–including Rose–who was already trembling behind them.

“Horrific…” She whispered to herself, eyes glued to the blood–stained remains of the chandelier.

In the meantime, Sal and Shirls were trying to figure out how to lift the whole thing up. They flipped it aside, and were able to examine the corpse.

“A crossbow, eh? This should be useful.” Sal muttered as she picked up the bloody weapon. “It’s brand new.”

She showed it to Shirls—who was searching for something edible on the lifeless body, her hands covered in blood. Some of which splattered on her face when she did the shot, making her look like a cold-blooded serial killer, except for the fact that she was humming a random melody and playing with some kind of trinket found in the man’s jacket.

“This Joret guy seemed to be quite rich,” Shirls opened his blood-soaked wallet and pulled out a driving licence “he owns a freaking van.”

“A van?! Oh, I have the COOLEST idea EVER.” Sal beamed, eyes sparked with excitement.

Hearing that, Shirls smirked, her left hand picked up the key and tossed it to Sal–who caught it without any difficulties.

They both stood up, clothing stained red, looking as if they had just returned from WW2. Rose shivered slightly, but then caught up with their echoing footsteps to the garage.

The black van was in perfect condition, windows were crystal clear, you can’t even point out any dust on the outer layer and not even a single stain could be seen. They eventually hopped on, with Sal as their “experienced and trusted” driver.

Rose hesitated for a while, she frowned, looking at Sal with doubting eyes.

“How did you learn to drive at 15? Isn’t it illegal?”

Sal paused for a moment.

“Well, laws went kaboom right after when the apocalypse started, and we happened to steal a Land Rover?” She answered awkwardly, then added, “By the way, you shouldn’t let Shirls drive, unless you want a trip to hell. For the record, she didn’t practise much.”

“I can hear you dude. It’s not slacking off, I’m just looking for a navy blue BMW four series to learn, y’know.” Shirls argued, hands lifting the white guitar to check for stains or scratches.

After she had made sure that it was fine, Shirls turned to Rose–who was sitting in the back row, doubt written all over her face.

“What do you mean by ‘come with me’?” She started, her voice mixed with suspicion and annoyance. “It better not be something pointless, or I’ll end this fucking story right here.”

“Let’s talk somewhere else.” Rose replied curtly, as if it was none of her business. She crossed her arms and legs, looking at them with a complicated and somewhat nostalgic expression–which is not what you often get to see at a normal teenager, but rather in an experienced adult.

“Are you ignoring us?” Sal questioned as she glanced at the rearview mirror, observing the person behind with eyes full of doubt–she knows that Rose is DEFINITELY hiding something from them, at least from now.

Shirls choose to stay quiet, she wasn’t even paying attention to the surroundings anymore, if Sal somehow drove them to China, she wouldn’t notice a single thing.

And they all fled the place with a stolen van, and somehow a new friend.

Chapter Text

Heeyyyy guys..!!!! Ahaahah…..
Sorry for the slow update!! Me & my friends are currently struggling with exams right now AND i kinda forgot how to write plus 99% of the plot (no, im not kidding. My memory’s getting bad) this fic might be on hold for a long time:’) (even though theres only one chapter.. SHUSH. Being a schoolgirl is hard) ill drop sneak peaks sometimes tho:D

Also, i have some news to share! There are both good and bad. The good news is I’ve now known what extreme pain feels like! Our writing could be more detailed! But the bad thing is one of my finger is broken, so my spelling’s worse (i keep checking cause i mispell so much oh my heavens)

Maybe the ao3 author curse is real… lets hope the world wont end and we wont become the survivors who save the world or smt im too young for that shit!!!! screw life and school

sorry for making you sit through this:’]… heres a small part as a (VERY BAD) apology…
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Not long after, they were where they wanted to be–home. It’s a small flat on the street, with 3 floors and an overly large backyard. It still looked normal though, until Rose found out that they even have a freaking basement for playing “dodge bullet” (a Sal&Shirls version of dodgeball).

“Ah, home sweet home!” Sal let out a relieved sigh as she threw herself on the couch. The supplies they collected were stored “neatly” in the fridge and cupboards. Thankfully, the apocalypse didn’t affect them much, they still have solar panels installed on the roof, and Shirls somehow managed to hack the government’s site to enable radio waves for calling and texting.

“I really like this house ‘cause it’s sound-proof. Whatever those things were can’t hear us if we SCREEEAAM!!!”

“Pretty helpful for practising with guns or uhhh mines and bombs,” Shirls added as she knocked on the sound-proof wall, which is now kinda useless. No one’s gonna care if they threw nukes at The great wall of China or whatsoever.
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Alright gang… ill disappear now… see you next chapter… hehe…
(i should try to animate sal..!)

- A_MoosenS (or just S)