Claustrophobic | Skephalo

Fish In A Bucket

thank you so much for 3k reads, all the love on this story means the world to me <3

also skeppy is streaming for the first time in 2 weeks as i'm uploading this so yay!

•••

Darryl

Darryl was awoken the next morning by a million kisses to the side of his face.

"Zak? What are you doing?" He mumbles, struggling to open his tired eyes.

Zak's voice could be heard from the kitchen. "Huh? Oh— Rocco! Come here, boy!"

The tapping of the large dog's feet got progressively quieter as Darryl comes to his senses. He stands up, instantly overwhelmed with whatever Zak was trying to put together. The kitchen smelled like a fire just waiting to start, even though the ovens didn't work.

"I'm not the best chef," Zak rubs the back of his neck while tossing Rocco a piece of food.

"You're making breakfast? Lucky me."

"More like lunch. It's past noon, you slept late."

"Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't realize how tired I was."

"It's totally fine. I took Rocco out for a walk along the stream in the backyard just to see it, and it's huge! It's more like a river than a stream! I mean, I don't know if there's fish or anything in there but if there is then we never even have to leave the neighborhood." Zak hands him a paper plate with a mixture of different foods on top. "Here, you don't have to eat it if you don't like it but I figured you were hungry."

Darryl takes the plate. "Thanks, Zak."

"Anytime," Zak replies, food already being shoved into his mouth. "So, what do you want to do today?"

What do I want to do today? Wow, I don't think I've been asked that question since before I killed my first zombie.

"I... Have no idea. I've never really had the safety or security to just relax, I guess."

"Then you're lucky I'm here! I've been so bored for so long, I swear I've invented the craziest games to play."

Of course you did, Zak.

"Well, let's at least make use of daylight before we play any games. You said something about fish in the stream, I think we should check it out."

"Okay, that could be fun!" Zak exclaims, throwing his plate in the trash can.

Darryl rolls his eyes sarcastically and suppresses a laugh. "Whatever. Let's go."

Rocco trails behind the two boys as they walk to the stream together. Darryl brought a bucket and Zak brought a knife, both wanting to catch any fish that might be there in different ways. The sun was high in the sky, and it was pretty hot outside, enough for Darryl to break a sweat, at least.

Upon approaching the stream, Darryl watched as Rocco jumped straight in to the deeper section. He panicked at first, but let out a sigh of relief when the dog resurfaced with his paws paddling like crazy.

"He's always liked to swim," Zak explains, taking his shoes off and wading a little into a shallow part. Darryl does the same, following close behind.

"That's awesome. I used to have a dog, but he didn't like to do anything, except chew my shoes."

"What kind of dog?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I just called him a rat." Darryl smiles to himself, remembering the little white fluffy dog that lived with him before the apocalypse. His smile fades when he remembers how his dog got infected rather quickly and tried to kill him and Vincent.

His thoughts are interrupted by Zak tripping and falling face first into the water, completely soaking Darryl by accident.

What the—

Zak emerged hysterically laughing, trying to re-balance himself using Darryl's arm.

It's so hard to keep a straight face around him.

Darryl glances down at his wet clothes and pushes Zak back into the stream. "You got me all wet!" He joins in the laughter.

"Hey—!" Zak shouts, pulling Darryl down with him as he fell.

They were both soaked now, laughing like two little kids.

The water wasn't deep where they were, only up to Darryl's thighs, so he just remained in the shallow area, sitting with his knees to his chest. Zak was more sprawled out, with his legs completely outstretched and arms splashing Darryl.

"Stop, you muffin!" Darryl spit out water that had ended up in his mouth, coughing lightly. Zak stopped splashing him, and once it was quiet they both turned their heads towards a different sound coming from down the stream.

"Do you think it's a fish?" Zak asks.

Darryl grabs his bucket. "Probably. I'll go find out."

"Should I come with?"

"Just stay here. It's not like there's anything dangerous around."

"When you say it like that it's scary."

"Just... Stay with your dog, you muffin." He trudges out of the stream, walking along the side towards the sound he heard the fish. Turning back to look at Zak and Rocco for a second, he couldn't help smiling to himself as he watched Zak throw a stick for Rocco to fetch.

Okay. Now where is this fish? I think I heard it over here...

Darryl huffs in frustration when he sees a large log floating in the water.

I bet that's what made the noise. I better go tell Zak it was a fluke.

Throwing a rock at the log, Darryl swung his bucket as he walked back to the spot Zak was playing with Rocco at.

Only he returned to Rocco running around and barking like crazy, and Zak gone.

•••

Vincent

I wasn't trying to knock him out, honestly! It was a mistake. I just wanted to approach Zak calmly, but that dog caught me completely off guard...

Vincent paced around Zak's unconscious body that he had dragged into the woods surrounding the house.

He had arrived not long ago after taking a straight shot from the building with the zombie family inside.

His bicep was bleeding, having been cut by Zak's fishing knife. Vincent wasn't used to being injured, and he didn't like it one bit.

He's smaller than me, but he sure put up a fight.

Vincent examines the cut on the side of Zak's head from where he hit the other boy with the handle of his crossbow. He only had it drawn because of Rocco, not knowing if he was violent or not. Vincent was used to small dogs like Darryl's rat, but bigger dogs like Rocco were a whole new concept.

So what do I do now? I just kidnapped Darryl's only friend. He won't believe me if I told him it was an accident since I tried to kill them.

You know? This could work out. Maybe Zak won't even know what hit him. Zombies can swim, right? Or maybe a mutant fish could have attacked him. No, that just sounds stupid.

I should have planned this out better.

To be continued...