One Short Day (DD)

"One Short Day" is the first and debut episode of Season 1 of Dark Days. It is the first episode overall. It premiered on March 7, 2018.

Synopsis
"Words."

Plot
On a cloudy day, birds are chirping far off, before flying near a large building; the University of Alabama. The building is surrounded by large walls and one massive gate at the entryway, which spans off into an even larger courtyard that is also walled off with another gate. Standing at the gate of the courtyard, looking out into the cold, desolate, ghost-town of Tuscaloosa, is a college sophomore. He sighs and rubs the back of his head.

Warren Dotson.

"Jesus dude, you seriously wanna keep chillin' out here?" Another young man approaches; Raye Pence, Warren's best friend. "It's cold, quiet, empty-- I don't get it. I mean, it's not like you're puttin' the effort into guard duty."

Warren chuckles dryly and shakes his head. "Nah, man. Not at the moment, no. Can't say my head's in that place. All over, really."

"Don't get dreary." Raye leans against the wall with a smirk. "I don't like my Dreary Dotson."

"And I don't like a Gay Raye." Warren laughs. "I know it's been a year into this shit, but... ya know, you gotta wonder. What if there are people out there, ya know? More people. We've just imprisoned ourselves in here, and... it's weird to think so seriously about it. But, like... we can't be what's left, ya know?"

After a moment of silence, Raye shakes his head with another smirk. "If you say 'ya know' one more time, I'm gonna stab you with a pencil."

Warren snorts and walks away from the gate with his friend as they enter the large, dark, concealed school.

My name is Warren Dotson.

''I'm a college student. This is my second year. I'm studying to become a mechanic, an engineer, a real pro with cars. Any vehicle. You name it. Car, truck, van, RV-- a full on house on wheels. I can configure it. I can fix it. I can build it, it'll be ready to go!''

''But, like... my second year is nothing. During the summer of my transition into the second year, shit... shit hit the fan hard. That was when it happened; the whole undead outbreak.''

''... see, the beauty of a car is, it's the definition of freedom. You get in, and you can just drive. Drive wherever. Take it anywhere. Enjoy yourself. But when the dead came, they took all that... power... that freedom, and just destroyed it.''

''I've always been an optimist. I don't have much to be sad about. Do I miss my family? Yeah. Have I lost friends? Of course. But I have so much, still. I have a lot of friends, and I have my girlfriend too... I gotta swear to keep them safe.''

''But I'm holed up in this school. Safe from the unknown, but trapped in a giant prison meant to keep us safe from the lurkers out there. It was a unanimous decision, nobody is holding us back from leaving... but nobody wants to leave.''

''I want the freedom, but... I'm too scared to go anywhere.''

''I don't know. I don't... I don't know. I don't know what's out there, what to do, if I can even find my family...''

''I try not to think about our lives here. Cause if I keep in living without questioning life, I'll get through just fine.''

... I think, anyways.

Warren sets down his pencil and closes the diary, putting the book in the drawer of his dorm. He glances at the battery powered clock and sees it's almost dinner time. Blowing out the candle, he stands, stretches, and saunters out of the room.

Once he does, he bumps into a familiar face. A girl flashes a side smirk at him.

"We simply have to stop running into each other like this." She says. "Literally speaking."

Warren shakes his head with a chuckle. "Oh shut it, Dahlia. You know you love it."

Dahlia rolls her eyes. "I can't believe it took a year to stop getting lost in this place. We found that rumored "archer's haven". Turns out it's just the storage closet for all the sports crap, with tons of bows on display. So we've got a brand new arsenal of weapons."

"Seriously? Wow! Brand new weapons we won't use." Warren throws his hands up in mock amazement, and chuckles as Dahlia shoves him.

"It's for the 'just in case' scenarios, Warren. And besides, you didn't even notice that I picked up..." Dahlia suddenly pulls up a crossbow. "... this beauty."

"Oh shit." Warren steps back a bit. "First... super badass. But second... Principal Parker will take that and shoot you himself if he catches you just carrying a weapon around. He says we have to keep our weapons sheathed or deposited so nobody gets careless or any accidents happen."

"I know, I know. But there are things called secrets. And besides, if I happen to save a life with this thing, you never know. He just might let me keep it for good." Dahlia walks ahead of him.

Warren sighs and hurries after her. "Yes, cause you're gonna have so many opportunities to impress him with that..."

Meanwhile, two other people, a young man named Chad Zachary, and a young woman named Erika Monroe, are standing near a window, casually chatting, when two people show up sporting afros; student Oliver Blake, and teacher Virgil Black.

"Hey dudes, so uhhh... you gonna speed on down to dinner or what?" Oliver asks.

Chad sighs. "You're the ultimate mood killer, Oliver. I'm just trying to talk with my girlfriend."

Erika groans. "We'll go to dinner, okay? Just let us chat."

"Okay fine, cool, diss the dude just trying to shimmy on over and say hello. I get it." Oliver mocks agitation.

"We're just trying to see if you know that dinner's gonna be ready. We've already had too many people missing meals." Virgil says, smiling. "And we're well aware you two skip dinner often."

The couple is silent as the two walk away chuckling, before they slowly follow.

Meanwhile, also coming down the hall are two other girls, two friends since high school; Gina Lestrade and Monica Styles. They greet a few other students as they walk, such as Caroline, Jackson, and a few others, before resuming their own conversation.

"It's so nice to just get free dinners now." Gina sighs in relief. "No more days spent decking nerds in the face and making off with their money."

"No more days of gambling it at the casino and winning money for that new Porsche you wanted." Monica chuckles.

Gina turns. "That's why I wanna just get out of here and go find that Porsche! I can hotwire it and we can just drive it back here. Wouldn't that just be fucking awesome?"

"You had me at 'get out of here'. I'd kill for a sick new Corvette." Monica smiles. "Even if it's not practical these days. But when it's the end of the world, fuck practicality. As long as you can pull a trigger to blow a slow-ass deadhead's brains out, you can do whatever you want."

"First thing I wanna do is take a road trip to DC and spray paint the Washington monument. I wanna decorate that giant stone dildo and show this world who's boss." Gina pumps her fists, making Monica laugh.

When suddenly there's a series of large, angry, painful screams coming from the bottom floor. They're so loud everyone stops in their tracks.

"What the fuck?" Gina looks to her friend before one of the other students, a boy named Rocky Hartwell, sprints up the stairs and straight over to them.

"Gina, Monica, holy fuck, finally! There you two are!" He pants as he stops before them.

"Rocky, what-- what the fuck is going on? What are those screams?" Monica asks, several students moving past them and hurrying down the stairs.

"It's Vice Principal Timmons." Rocky replies. "He's fucking screaming and running through the hallways."

Everyone hurries downstairs, trying to find Vice Principal Timmons to see what the panic is all about. They finally spot the man being stopped in the lobby by Blaine Parker, the principal and headmaster of the whole university.

"Principal Parker!" Warren sprints over with Dahlia. "Principal Parker! Vice Principal Timmons! What the fuck is wrong?!"

"Everyone back up! We've got this!" Parker shouts, urging for students to back up. "Warren, please. Keep everyone back. Timmons, why are you shouting. What is wrong? You're disturbing everybody!"

The man known as Victor Timmons shakes and panics, mumbling words that nobody can make out. Then he shows off his bloody arm, and pulls up his shirt sleeve to reveal a bite mark on his arm.

"F-Fucking deadhead bit me... fuckers are inside... I'M FUCKING DEAD!" The man screams.

Students murmur in panic before a few scream. Everyone looks down the hall to see four walkers stumbling towards them. Dahlia springs into action, pushing past several students and shooting a crossbow bolt at one. It punctures the left eye and kills the leading walker instantly.

Parker follows suite, stepping in front of a few of the students and taking out a revolver. He shoots one of the stumbling deadheads square in the temple, sending it back and right to the floor.

The head nurse of the university, Pam Anderson, helps lay the trembling, terrified Timmons on the floor, resting his head on a pillow. "Hold on, Mr. Timmons. I-I promise, we'll deliver an antibiotic to slow the infection and numb the pain, and then we'll amputate. We can save you, j-just hold on."

"F-Fucking help me...!" Timmons winces in pain. "Fucking... f-fuhhh..."

He stops moving. Pam looks back over him and the man is entirely still, his face permanently petrified as his eyes roll up and look glazed.

"Oh shit..." Pam gets up and backs away from the dead man.

Gina runs past them all, Parker immediately shouting at her. "Ms. Lestrade! Get back here! Gina, that's an order!"

Gina ignores him and slides against the floor into one walker, kicking its ankles. She jumps back up just as it falls and then pulls out a knife, stabbing the walker in the back of its head.

However, the final walker grabs her.

"Gah!" She drops the knife and struggles with the undead beast before a bullet hits its head. The monster collapses and Gina pants, picking up her knife, as Parker holsters his gun and walks over.

"Gina, are you insane?! You could've been killed!" He shouts.

"I can handle myself, Parks, get off of my back!" Gina argues. "I was doing fine!"

"You were struggling to get that beast off of you after it disarmed you." Parker says. "And show a little bit of respect; it's Principal Parker. Not 'Parks'. I shouldn't have to keep telling you this."

"Whatever..." Gina brushes past him after sheathing her knife. She walks silently back over to the crowd, Parker following. He approaches the body and looks down in dismay.

"Christ... Timmons, you damn good man, you deserved so much better..." Parker nods solemnly. "... how did they even get in? Where did they come from? Did anyone even see them come in?"

Nobody says anything.

"Uh, I hate to break the silence but..." Dahlia pipes up. "He's gonna turn. We need to put him down."

"We can't just disrespect the Vice Principal's body that easily." Warren says. "We... we can't do that."

"Somebody has to make these decisions Warren. Are you doing to?" Dahlia looks up at him. He doesn't respond, and she huffs. "I'll--"

"I'll do it." A girl known as Kylie Washington says. "I'll just... I'll do it. Here."

"Good, take some initiative... it's sad he's gone but we need to make these decisions." Dahlia says, looking at everyone and holding her crossbow firmly.

Pam checks for a pulse when suddenly the corpse begins to faintly growl. Before it can do anything though, the reanimated Timmons has his head bludgeoned in with a metal thermos. Kylie swings the metal thermos down onto the temple twice, caving in Timmons' skull and putting him down.

Silence.

"... we urge everyone to retrieve dinner if they would still like it, and return to your dorms. We will hold a funeral tomorrow." Parker says to everyone.

After a moment, everyone dismisses, small conversations being spoken amongst each other.

Warren stares at the body is disbelief.

"Jesus... so much for one short day..."

Deaths

 * Victor Timmons

Trivia

 * First appearance of Warren Dotson.
 * First appearance of Raye Pence.
 * First appearance of Dahlia Dwelton.
 * First appearance of Chad Zachary.
 * First appearance of Erika Monroe.
 * First appearance of Oliver Blake.
 * First appearance of Virgil Black.
 * First appearance of Gina Lestrade.
 * First appearance of Monica Styles.
 * First appearance of Caroline.
 * First appearance of Jackson.
 * First appearance of Rocky Hartwell.
 * First appearance of Blaine Parker.
 * First appearance of Pam Anderson.
 * First appearance of Kylie Washington.
 * First appearance of Daniel Noire.
 * First appearance of Clark.
 * First appearance of Sandra.
 * First (and last) appearance of Victor Timmons.