~Chapter 1~

The End

Harley hung her head out of her battered old Jeep in an attempt to catch a breeze and to try see what the hell was the cause of the traffic jam she had been stuck in for the past twenty minutes. The air was no cooler outside of the Jeep than it was inside. All she could see was a long line of cars. Drivers were beeping constantly and she watched as some got out of their cars to walk up the road in search of information. She turned on the radio to pass the time and pulled her hair up into a ponytail to keep it off of her face and neck.

"... urge you to stay indoors. Care centers are currently being set up within the city. Do not leave your home without further notification. The National Guard will aid those who are not in their homes. There is no need to panic." The female news broadcaster signed off and an official-sounding man's voice took over warning civilians of those who had been "bitten".

"What the..." Harley frowned at the radio. Something big was going down. She leaned over to the glove compartment and took out the Smith & Wesson pistol that she always kept in there. She tucked the gun into the back of her jeans and got out of the Jeep.

On exiting the vehicle she noticed that some of the cars behind her had turned around and were now driving out of the city, taking up both sides of the road. The beeping had stopped. A middle-aged man traveling with his family was stopped in front of Harley. He stood at the side of their people carrier and looked at the line of cars that lay before him.

"Hey!" Harley hollered at the man to attract his attention. He turned around with a look on his face that made Harley's stomach drop. "Any idea what's going on here?"

He shook his head. "They're setting up refugee centers in the city. We were already on the road when this all started... We're from Texas... So we figured that would be our best bet." He looked as confused as Harley felt.

"When what started? I was on the road too, I'm supposed to be moving into an apartment in the city today. I just turned on the radio and heard some sort of emergency broadcast. What the hell is going on?"

"You haven't seen them?"

"Who?" she asked, getting a little impatient with the man.

"The dead people."

"What?!" This guy is batshit crazy, she thought.

"It's some disease or something. If you get bitten you get a fever and die. But then you come back. It's all over the news. Crazy people, dead people, walking around and attacking the living."

"Ugh okay, thanks." Harley locked her Jeep and headed further up the road to talk to someone who wasn't suffering from heat stroke.

"WATCH OUT!" Harley looked at the man who called out first and then at the woman he was yelling at. A man – a pale, blood covered man – took down the woman and Harley could have sworn that he bit a chunk of flesh off of her face. She let out a blood curdling scream that echoed through the streets. The man who had warned her ran up and shot her attacker in the head. Maybe that guy wasn't so crazy... That thing definitely looked dead...

Seconds later the woman who had been attacked stood up and started to pursue the man who tried to help her. He shot her right between the eyes just in time and she fell to the ground.

A bald man wearing a cap came running down the road shouting at people. When he got close enough Harley listened to what he was yelling. "Get out of the city! Get out of the city! They're everywhere! Those things are everywhere!"

People started panicking left right and center, debating the best course of action with their families or whoever else they had been traveling with. Fuck this, Harley thought as she got back into the Jeep and reversed up onto the sidewalk to make a u-turn out of the city.

AN: Sorry this chapter is so short and rushed guys, I wanted to briefly go through the start of the outbreak or whatever you wanna call it before jumping right into the story. I wasn't really planning on writing this fic but I couldn't resist! Please please please review if you're enjoying this story so far or if you're excited to see where it's going – I live for feedback!

Thanks for reading :) x