Chapter Text
Sharon Carter stared at the calender on her wall, counting the stars she had drawn on once each day was over. In total it had been one thousand four hundred and sixty days since the world went to hell. When life became a horror movie. When the heroes and villains united to feast on the living. Four whole years without hope. In other words, it's her wedding anniversary.
It was supposed to have been the happiest day of her whole life. And at first it had been, when she was in the church in her wedding dress. When her father Sam had walked her down the aisle and she saw Clark there, looking so handsome in his suit. Despite what she had heard and expected she didn't feel any fear or worry, just happiness that this was happening. That she was going to be Sharon Carter-Kent. That this was the start of a whole new chapter in their lives and no matter what struggles they face, whether normal or superhero related, they had the promise that they could depend on each other for strength and support.
They didn't have a big wedding, just family and close friends. Well, in truth it was her very large family and his very small group of trusted friends from the Legion. She was sad she never got to meet Clark's parents, and wonders if she measures up to what Joseph and Sarah Kent wanted their son's wife to be like. She knows they probably expected a more traditional housewife, but she hoped that they would still have liked her. Or at least liked her better than her father liked Clark, which could barely be called tolerant.
Her happily future was destroyed once they had left the church, laughing and smiling with joy. The were supposed to get into the limo and be driven to the reception, except for some reason Captain Marvel was there, looking around like he was dazed and confused. Sharon had never been that close to the Hero, but she instantly became worried when she saw the blood on his chest.
"Sergeant Marvel? Are you ok?" Clark had questioned with a serious and focused tone, and Sharon didn't care how professional and calm he looked to everyone who didn't know what was happening. Something horrible had happened, and she understood Clark needed to find out what. For all she knew, Sergeant Marvel might have fought his way through an army of aliens from Thanoseid's Parademon Order, and Sharon didn't think the world couldn't survive something like that happening again. The Avenging Legion had been practically cut down to half its members before the Apokalyptian War so Earth wouldn't have enough protectors to survive. Even if they did, they would likely end up without any heroes left and the world would be much worse.
"Please." Sergeant Marvel practically whispered, looking like he was in pain. "Everyone please. Run away."
"What do you mean? What's wrong?" asked Dinah Barton, while her husband Clint Archer and son Connor stood behind them. The rest of Clark's friends looked at each other with worry as they observed Sergeant Marvel, with Jubilation Lee looking the most frightened. It was only then that Sharon noticed something odd, and something that frightened her. What looked like a bite of the sergeant's wrist, which looked rotten and disgusting. And wasn't bleeding at all.
Apparently they had all taken too long to make a decision, because one second Sergeant Marvel had been standing there and the next he had pushed Clark to the ground and was on top good him, chewing and biting at his coworker's neck. No one did anything for a few seconds, just stared in horror at what had just happened. Then one of Sharon's cousins screamed and Connor began crying which woke everyone up, things then went to hell.
Sharon honestly can't remember what happened next that clearly. All she could think about was Clark, dressed in such a nice suit, on the ground an evening murdered by a fellow costumed hero. What she did know was that Jubilee had been handed Connor and dragged Sharon away to safety with the intention of returning to help her fellow heroes to subdue their fellow hero. Then she had found out what was going on with the news, about the reports of some kind of infection and how everyone had been transformed into what was quickly accepted to be zombies, though nobody ever figured out what caused it. Heroes, villains and civilians alike were transformed into undead monsters that were starved for the flesh of the living.
Thankfully not everyone had been infected and four years later humanity was still surviving somehow. It turned out SHIELD had created many plans for this exact scenario and after the first five failed they went for the underground bunkers and while it was difficult they had found a way to escape being completely slaughtered. The heroes and villains who were lucky to not be infected put aside old rivalries and worked together to protect everyone they could, with the goal being to kill as many zombies as possible and try to wait them out to see if they will die of hunger.
"Sharon? Are you hungry?" Jubilee asked as she walked up to her, Sharon having noticed her come into their room, a plate with six slices of bread in one hand and a bowl of soup in the other. She sat on the bed opposite to her and placed everything on the table between them, smiling warmly at her friend. "How are you doing? I know what, you know, today means for you."
"I'll be fine Jubilee." Sharon answered as she returned the smile, taking a slice of bread an breaking it apart before dipping it in the soup. "Where's Connor?"
It didn't take long for Sharon and Jubilee to learn that Clint and Dinah had been infected, presumably by Sergeant Marvel, meaning that Connor was their responsibility from then on. And while it was difficult for the two of them to raise a orphaned child in this nightmare of a world, she was starting to think they were getting the hang of it. The ten year old was pretty much the only thing that kept Sharon going, as without him she wouldn't have anything to fight for. Connor still had nightmares, and for good reasons, and at times he seemed a little too withdrawn and quiet than what Sharon thinks a ten year old should be, but he was the sweetest and most caring boy she has ever met.
"I'm here." answered the kid himself as he practically ran up to them after closing the door behind him, and after Sharon gave him some room he squeezed past her and the table to sit on his bed which was at the wall near Sharon's and Jubilee's beds. "Sorry, I was helping Mr Castle and Mr Snart with some things."
"Connor! We've told you before, you have to stay away from those two." Jubilee practically hissed and Sharon couldn't really blame her. Like Sharon, Jubilee only found the strength to get up every morning so she can look after Connor. So the last thing either of them want is for Connor to spend time with a psychopath with a death wish and an insane mercenary who believes they're characters in a fanfiction written by a loser with no future and is afraid of being decapitated like someone called Headpool.
"They needed help moving some stuff. It wasn't like they were teaching me how to use a gun." Connor responded with a tone that could almost be considered disrespectful and rebellious, something Connor has never had. Sharon shared a look with Jubilee who almost looked scared, though she nodded to show she wasn't leaving. They both knew a day like this would come eventually, when he would want to become more independent. They just thought it would happen much later.
"Look I know you probably think we're being unfair Connor. But we just want to protect you. We've told you before that you're too young to-" Sharon began, but suddenly Connor interrupted her.
"I'm not too young. Billy is nine and his parents let him use a gun as long as he is with them. Sally's parents are teaching her about how to load a gun and are letting her carry around a knife." Connor argued, his voice getting a little more loud with each word.
"Connor, don't speak to us like that!" Jubilee responded, looking as outages as Sharon felt.
"No! I'm not a kid. There are monsters in the world and you won't let me help!" Connor shouted, and Sharon was so grateful for the fact that the three of them were given their own room, because if they had been unlucky they would be getting a lot of stares right now.
"Our job is to look after you. Your parents would want you to be safe." Jubilee replied angrily.
"You don't know what they would want! They're dead, and neither of you are them! You're just the people who got stuck with me!" Connor practically screamed, before standing up and before anyone could react, he had got past them and had left their room.
Sharon and Jubilee just sat there staring at the door, neither having to look at the other to know what they were feeling. What Connor had said had grit more than either had expected. They knew Connor missed Dinah and Clint it was only natural, and Jubilee and Sharon have never claimed to be his parents. So they had no right to be hurt when he just spoke the truth. But at the end of the day they have been raising him for four years and somewhere along the line he became the son neither of the two women had.
"He doesn't mean that." Jubilee finally said, an dthe two looked at each other. "I mean, he means it now but he will feel sorry. He cares about us and he only said that because he's a kid."
"I know." Sharon replied simply as she dunked a piece of bread in the soup.
It was a few hours later when it happened. She was in the main hall of the bunker, helping with cleaning out the guns, when along with everyone else she heard tells echo from the corridors. Everyone paused what they were doing, from those handing out lunch rations to the kids playing with toys. Then the alarm went off, an alarm that caused everyone to freeze in feast before dashing into action.
The alarm meant the dead had found them.
Sharon grabbed a pistol for herself before happening to hand all the soldiers necessarily rifles and machine guns. Meanwhile she saw their few superhuman dash through, from heroes like Skulk to villains like Terra-X and even supernatural monsters like Speed Demon. Jubilee was among the superhumans, but Sharon was confused when she ran up to her.
"Sharon! Have you seen Connor?" Jubilee asked and Sharon felt as if her heart stopped while all the air in her lungs vanished.
"What do you mean?" she responded in terror. "He should be with the rest of the kids."
"Nobody's seen him since this morning. Do you have any idea where he is?"
"He..God, shit I don't know!" Sharon said as she began to panicking, before an idea entered her mind. "The archery range. You know he goes down there to practice."
"That's it!" Jubilee yelled happily. "I'll go get him."
"No you're needed with the rest at the front. That's the most likely place they'll be coming from. I'll get Connor." Sharon said firmly and while she could see how much she wanted to Jubilee didn't disagree. Instead she nodded and looked at her with eyes that spoke the simple message of begging her to come back with Connor, before she joined everyone leaving down the corridor. After Sharon had told her coworker what was happening she set off towards the archery range and prayed to God that Connor was there. Eventually she reached the archery range and pushed the double doors open, letting them slam forwards with a bang.
"Connor! Are you here!?" Sharon asked as she held the pistol tightly in her hands. She looked around widely, her heart beating faster in fear when she saw his bow on the ground with a pile of arrows. For a second she heard nothing, then she saw a shadow moving out from behind some boxes. "Thank God, you're here. Connor we have to-"
Sharon stopped in horror when the figure emerged from behind the boxes, one hand clasped tightly around Connor's arm. He had changed from the suit into his costume. Many of the heroes and the villains were in their costumes. Before he died, killing himself before the infection took him completely, Niles Cable had theorized that the majority of them might purposely wear their costumes as a sort of coping mechanism in order to process what they had done. Personally, Sharon had always thought it was a way of mocking humanity. For putting so much faith in the idea that people in tights could protect them from the horrors of the world.
"Sharon? Is that you?" Clark asked, and despite show horrifying he looked Sharon could hear hints of hope and joy in his voice. Meanwhile Connor was lowered to the ground, but he clearly couldn't break free from Clark's grasp. "My God, it is you! When I dug into here to get a meal first, I don't think you would be here. I'm so happy to see you!"
"Clark. Please don't do anything." Sharon finally said as she aimed her gun at Clark, who somehow showed surprise on his decaying face.
"Sharon, you won't hurt me." he responded confidently, and once that might have been true. But not anymore.
"That boy you have. That's Clint's and Dinah's son." Sharon began, and she was heartbroken when he saw him smile and show his rotten teeth at Connor.
"Really? Wow, he has grown hasn't he? I wish Clint and Dinah were alive to see this. They never stopped talking about you Connor after they were turned. Wanted to make you like them so the three of you could be together forever."
"I will kill you if you don't let him go." Sharon continued as she ignore the years in Connor's eyes while Clark looked at her in confusion. "Because Connor is the closest I'm ever going to have to a son, and I would sooner kill everyone here before I would let anything hurt him."
"Sharon come on. You know bullets don't hurt me." Clark replied.
"When Strangefate was turned he lost the ability to do magic which was why we were able to kill him so quickly. We captured Shatterstarfire once and we found we could be cut her with a butter knife. So I know that a bullet in the head will kill you like anyone else."
"Please Sharon, just think about this. Let me turn you. We can be together and in love from now to the end of time. We can even have Connor join us." Clark told her as he gently let go of Connor's arm, though before the boy could run anywhere Clark had put a firm hand on his shoulder. "We can be a family."
Sharon has spent the last four years practising with firearms. Before she died Susan Storm has said that in a different life she would have made a great agent for SHIELD. So when she pulled the trigger she knew it was pinpoint accurate. Sadly she had been hoping on the idea that the transformations into one of the undead had affected his powers more.
"I can't believe you would actually do that." Clark practically growled in anger, as he crushed her gun with his hand while shoving her forward. She was sent flying into the wall and she yelled in pain as she slumped to the ground, before suddenly Clark was lifting her off the ground by her throat.
"Clark...please..." Sharon begged as she struggled for breath.
"Please Sharon don't struggle. Everything will be alright. I'll just take a quick bite and then everything will be alright. Well, one or two bites." Clark said with a small smile before opening his mouth wide. Sharon kept struggling, determined not to scream while also hoping that Connor was taking the chance to run.
She glared at Clark as he mouth came ever closer to her face, when suddenly Clark froze after she heard a swift noise similar to a knock on a wall. Sharon stared in confusion as Clark went limp, let go off her and fell forward for his head to crash face first into the wall beside her. Sharon watched as her husband's finally dead corpse slumped to the ground with an arrow at the back of her head. Tearing her eyes away from the painful sight, she turned to see Connor who was slowly lowering his arm which held his bow. When she saw the tears in his eyes and look of horror on his face, she instantly forgot about Clark and was on her knees and hugging Connor in a matter of seconds.
"It's ok, it's ok. You're ok." Sharon told him as she hugged him tightly.
"I-I thought..." Connor said as he struggled through his tears as he tried to remain calm. "I thought it would be easy to kill them. I thought I was ready. But I'm not."
"It's ok. I know it isn't." Sharon said as she pulled back and smiled at him reassuringly.
"I know who that was. I know he's your husband." Connor said sadly, looking down at his feet like he thought she was going to be angry with him.
"No it wasn't. That was just a monster. My husband has been dead for four years." Sharon told him. "You shouldn't feel guilty. You saved my life."
She told him this because it was true. While she had at first hoped some part of the good man she married still lived on inside the monster. But now she knows the truth after seeing this. He died that day when Sergeant Marvel attacked him.
"Really?" Connor asked hesitantly, becoming less worried when he saw how genuine she was.
"Really." she told him, before realising how long it's been. "Come on, we have to get you with everyone else. It's been awhile so since we haven't heard anymore alarms, things might not be as bad as we feared. Let's go find Jubilee."
Connor nodded and taking hold of his hand, though she let him carry his bow, Sharon led him back to the main hall. And for the first time, despite everything that had just happened, feeling that things might not be as bad as she thought. For the first time, she had hope in the future and that Connor will be alright after she is gone.