Jude's POV:
It's been over two and half years, since this all began.
I remember the day it began as if it was yesterday.
I had been awoken that morning by my phone ringing to signal a call from Connor. It had been a little over half a year since he had moved to Los Angeles to be with his mom, and during the intermittent period we had fought tooth and nail to remain in the relationship we'd both fought so hard to have. We would visit each other at least three times a month, and we would text, call, Facetime and Skype every day. It was hard… god it was so hard, but somehow against all odds we managed to make it work. Now that Connor was finally convinced that his dad was finally starting to get it, we saw each other a lot more, because he came to visit Adam more.
Jack was a big help, too.
When I stood there watching Callie give her speech to promote Fost and Found, and this random boy whispered to me asking if she was for real, I never could have guessed what we would become. After some initial bumps along the road, he became a good friend. Eventually, after a month he finally let his walls down around me and I saw the kid hiding inside. On the inside, he was a scared, lonely, tired boy who desperately craved companionship. When he tearily confessed to me that he had once considered suicide because of his treatment in foster care, he became my best friend. When the separation from Connor brought me to my knees, he would be right there to help me stand.
"He loves you, Jude." Jack had said, "You know he does. I know this is hard, but you'll get through it. You both will. You're strong like that."
Needless to say, if it weren't for Jack Downey, Connor and I would have fallen out or worse. Without him, our relationship would have sunk to the murky depths. Jack became the equivalent to a brother to me and Connor, and we both cared about him dearly.
Jack was one of the two people who helped me escape San Diego.
Like I said, I was awoken that morning to a call from Connor, and I answered it immediately like I always did.
"Hello?" I asked sleepily.
"JUDE? Thank god, I thought you weren't gonna answer! Are you okay? PLEASE SAY YOU'RE OKAY!"
The first thing I noticed was that he sounded frantic.
"Connor, I'm fine! Calm down and tell me what's wrong?" I asked, now wide awake.
"You need to get out of the city, now!" Connor pleaded desperately, and I could tell that he was in tears, "Do you hear me?! Get out of San Diego!"
"What's going on?"
"Turn on the news! Check the internet!"
I did, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The creatures in the pictures made my heart sink.
"Stay away from them!" Connor warned tearily, "They can only die I there head's are destroyed."
"What? Like a zombie?" I asked in shock.
"Don't confuse these things for zombies, Jude. They. Are. Worse." Connor warned, "I don't know what the hell they are now, but they used to be people. I saw… I saw my mom turn into one of them. She attacked me. I barely got out of it. She's g-gone, Jude."
"Are you at your house?" I asked him urgently.
"Yeah, I threw her body outside." He responded terrified, "I've got the doors all barricaded. The front gate is locked. Nothings getting in here unless I let it."
"Good, stay there. I'm coming to get you." I promised.
"NOO! Jude, please. STAY AWAY FROM L.A." Connor pleaded in terrified panic, "The city is a death trap! It's a war zone! You'll be torn to shreds! Get to safety! Leave me and GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!"
"Listen to me, Connor Stevens!" I argued back, "I am COMING TO GET YOU! Do NOT leave that house! I WILL be there soon!"
Silence greeted me, but it only lasted a minute.
"P-Please, Jude." Connor whimpered, "I can't lose you."
"You won't. I promise." I assured him, my heart breaking at the trembling in his voice, "I will be there soon. I'll bust open Mom's safe and take her Glock if I have to, or I'll grab a crowbar from the garage. I promise I'll get to you. I'll get you out of there."
"I love you, Jude. I love you so much." Connor croaked.
"I know…"
"No, you really don't." Connor interrupted, "You'll never know just how much you really mean to me, Judicorn."
The first tear fell from my eye at his pronouncement.
"I love you too, Connor. So m-much." I responded in a whimper.
"Be safe." He said, "I'll see you soon. Avoid those things at all costs, and DON'T TRAVEL AT NIGHT! They're more dangerous in the dark."
The call ended and I bolted from the room. I shot into Stef and Lena's room and typed in the code to the safe, and the Glock and its holster and ammo sat within, awaiting my command. I reached out and took it, remembering what Stef had said that day at the shooting range so long ago. I bit back the flinch as the memory of the night Connor got shot sprung to the forefront of my mind.
"Forget it, Jude." I scolded myself, "You have control this time, and it's not going to hurt you."
I put the holster on, and grabbed the three extra magazines. It was already loaded.
I had no idea where my family was, or if they were still alive. Lena was supposed to be at Anchor Beach for a meeting with the rest of the teachers. Stef went with Callie and Mariana to some meeting involving Fost and Found. Brandon and Jesus were supposed to be with AJ and Mike. I got to the bottom of the stairs, when I heard a struggle in the back yard.
I stepped onto the back porch and was met with the sight of one of the creatures trying to kill my best friend. Jack was having trouble dodging the creature's blows, and he was armed with a kitchen knife of all things. I drew the pistol and pulled the slide back to chamber a round, and gripped it the way Stef had taught me, exhaling softly before squeezing the trigger.
The 9mm round lanced across the short distance, burrowing deep into the creature's head. It dropped like an anvil dropped from a crane.
Jack whipped around to stare at me, his glasses crooked on his face and a panicked look. When he saw it was me, he lunged and grabbed me in a hug.
"Thank god, you're alright." He said hoarsely.
"We need to get to L.A." I told him without preamble, "Connor's still there. He called and it woke me up. He told me what was going on."
"So, you want to literally jump from the frying pan into the fire by leaving one hell just to dive into another one." Jack guessed, "Sounds legit."
A loud bang sounded from within the house, followed by a deep bellow.
"JUDE?!"
It was Adam. I ran back into the house, to be met with Connor's father, wielding a pump shotgun with a machete slung across his back. As soon as he saw me, he rushed forward and knelt in front of me, checking me for injuries.
"Are you okay?" He asked, breathing heavily.
"I'm fine." I assured him.
"Thank god." Adam said with a sigh of relief, "We need to get out of here. Fast. That gunshot will draw every seeker for miles."
"So he calls them Seekers?" I thought to myself.
"Connor called me." I said urgently, and he ground to a halt, "He's barricaded himself inside the house in L.A. He had to put down his mom. She turned. I told him I would come to get him. We need to get as far as we can before nightfall, and then take shelter. He said these things are more dangerous in the dark. Nighttime will be a deathtrap."
"We're taking the SUV." Adam said, "It's sturdy, it's got a full tank, and the back is full of gas cans that are all full. I'll run the bastards over if I have to. We're gonna have to avoid the Five freeway, though. Traffic will be at a standstill, it'll be a slaughterhouse."
We piled into the back of Adam's SUV, and true to his word we only stopped to refuel and backtrack. We were attack by Seekers about an hour north of San Diego, and ended up running for our lives, Adam stomping on the gas and speeding off as Jack and I cowered in terror in the back seat.
When we arrived in Los Angeles, it was three in the afternoon, and the front of the Suburban was coated with blood, guts, and the remains of Seekers that had gotten in our way. We pulled up in front of the house, and true to what Connor told us, the gate was closed. I barely remembered my shock when I discovered for the first time that Connor's mom's house was actually a small mansion in the hills with a metal fence and gate.
The SUV pulled up to the gate, and Adam and Jack got out and opened the gate. We pulled in, and they got out and shut the gate behind us. We pulled up and into the garage, which was opened. We got out of the SUV, and the first thing we noticed was a really bad smell. Adam found the source of the smell, and knelt beside the body.
"Amanda."
He stared at the open eyes of his deceased ex wife, and reached out and shut her eyes for her.
We tried the front door, and it was locked.
"He said he barricaded the doors." I reminded them, "He didn't block the upstairs windows."
Adam reversed the SUV out of the garage, and with his help, I climbed onto the top of the SUV. I climbed onto the roof of the garage and kicked a window, the glass shattering without making too loud of a noise.
I squeezed inside through the window, and my foot caught on the windowsill and I fell to the floor of the bathroom with a thump. I groaned and heaved myself to my feet. I opened the door and eased myself into the hallway, the Glock at the ready. I proceeded down the hallway to the stairs, and descended them slowly. It stared at the front door, feeling impressed.
When Connor said he had barricaded the doors, he wasn't kidding. All of the living room furniture, including the couches, chairs, the coffee table, the bookshelves, the TV stand and the flat screen had been stacked in front of it. Connor was not in the living room, and when I checked the kitchen, he wasn't there either. He wasn't in the basement, and the back door was barricaded as well. I opened the door that opened to the garage, allowing Jack and Adam into the house.
Adam whistled in appreciation at the barricaded front door.
"Did a good job blocking the door." He said quietly.
We made a quick sweep of the ground floor, and found nothing.
"He must be upstairs." Jack guessed, "He wouldn't leave. He's not that stupid."
We headed up the stairs, and searched from room to room. Jack and Adam checked the guestroom and Amanda's room, while I went to check Connor's room. Connor's room was the only room with the door closed. I turned the handle and pushed it open, and it thumped softly into something when it was only open a couple of inches. Connor had barricaded his room as well.
From within, I could hear scared sobbing.
Connor.
I banged lightly on the door, and I could hear a startled yelp from inside the room.
"Who's there?" A scared voice whimpered from inside.
My heart jumped.
"Connor, it's Jude." I said gently.
From within the room I heard a yelp and a loud thump. Connor must have been on the top bunk of his bed, and fell off. I heard frantic breathing, and a loud cacophonous bang as the shelve blocking the door was tipped over to allow the door to open fully. Connor appeared in the doorway, his hair a mess and his eyes wide and filled with tears. With a strangled yelp, he threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around me and bringing us both to the floor as he sobbed heavily into my shoulder.
Adam and Jack came careening into the hallway, and when they saw Connor laying on top of me their eyes widened.
"Connor!" Adam choked out.
Connor looked up and saw his dad and Jack standing there and launched himself to his feet and into his father's arms. Adam waved me forward to join the embrace, and I did without question.
"Y-You're okay…" Connor whimpered.
It took us an hour to calm Connor down. As soon as we pulled out of our three man embrace, he launched himself at me, pulling me into a steaming kiss that I returned desperately.
We spent the night inside, and we could hear the Seeker's screeching outside. Adam and Jack slept downstairs, while Connor and I curled up in his bed. He slept with his head lying on my chest, and he was still shaking.
"I'm so scared, Jude." Connor whispered.
"Me too, Connor." I said softly, "We'll get through this. I promise."
"How?" He asked softly.
"We'll figure it out." I said, "We've got Adam and Jack."
We escaped the city the next day. On the way out, we didn't see any living people.
"The world really is coming to an end." Jack mumbled in horror, and we couldn't help but agree.
It was a little over a year later, when we stumbled on an old store, and we finally learned why it was not wise to encounter a Seeker in the dark. We had been on the move constantly, and I knew we were somewhere in Kansas even though I couldn't tell you exactly where. It was a Wal-Mart, or it used to. We had parked in front of the store, and slowly inched across the parking lot. We had been staking out the store for a couple of days, and we had been putting off the sweep for as long as possible. Our food supply was dwindling, and we couldn't wait any longer. We were desperate, and we had not eaten in three and a half full days. Jack was feeling weaker by the day, and he had been giving his rations to Connor and I to keep us at our fullest possible strength. We protested and refused, sometimes forcing him to eat extra when he tried to refuse.
We got out of the Denali we had hotwired three states back, and we turned back to where Jack was struggling to stand up and get out of the car.
"Jack, stay with the car." I ordered gently, "Keep watch."
Jack nodded reluctantly, and sat back down in the back seat of the car and locked the doors. As we moved across the parking lot Adam looked up at the darkened store, which loomed over us menacingly. Half of the sign was missing, lying in heaps on the ground. Adam flinched as memories rushed in front of his eyes. He had shopped in places like this. We all had. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he shook his head to clear it.
"You okay, Adam?" I asked.
"Yeah, just old memories." He answered, "You okay, Jude? You're trembling."
I was.
"Yeah, just tired. Hungry." I said.
"Hopefully we'll get some food soon." Connor said hopefully, but you could hear the pessimism creeping into his voice.
The automatic doors stood, even after a year on non-use. Connor and Adam pried the doors open as far as they could before all three of us stepped inside.
"I hope there aren't any Seekers hiding in here." Connor whispered.
I cringed.
We hoped so too. Seekers were freakish things. They were humanoid, but they were hairless, had crimson red eyes, pale almost translucent skin, and they had razor sharp claws and vampire like fangs. We also knew that if one of them bit you, you would turn into one of them within hours. Like vampires, they ruled the darkness and made travelling at night an act of sheer idiocy. At night, their senses tripled. More than once we've been caught by them unaware just as the sun sets, and have had to barricade ourselves in an old house or an abandoned gas station if we couldn't get to the car. We also know that they do sleep, but it's not hard to wake them up.
We each grabbed a shopping cart, and took care to make sure that the wheels didn't squeak. Just in case.
Connor and I pushed our carts with one hand, our dominant hands on our weapons. Connor wielded an old katana that we'd found in an abandoned martial arts studio somewhere in Colorado. He still didn't trust firearms, the lingering mental trauma preventing him from using one without having flashbacks. I still wielded Stef's old Glock, which had served me well ever since the beginning. I had modified it a bit with Adam and Jack's help, attaching a silencer and a small flashlight. As a secondary weapon I wield a machete that I'd picked up before we even left California. Adam still used the same machete and pump action shotgun; although he had sawed the barrel and stock off to make it lighter and more portable. Jack had upgraded from his kitchen knife to a sword of his own. He used a rapier, but he was now too weak to really use it.
We looked down as we entered the store and saw a skeleton lying on the floor, still in its uniform and frozen in time. I felt a pang of sadness. We all cringed at the smell of rotting meat and rotting greens and fruits.
"You know the drill." Adam said, "Canned food, non perishables, water, and soda if you can find it. Watch your backs. At the first sign of trouble, you both get the hell out of here. One Seeker may not be bad enough to deal with, but where there's one there is plenty more. You kill one, any more will sense it if they're awake, and they'll all come swooping in. Like I said, one's nothing but ten can be a problem, and if they're asleep they won't be hard to wake up. I'll go after the water and soda. You two go after the food. Be careful, and be as quiet as you can. If you can make two trips, do it. The more we can get the better. Move out."
We had heard this same speech a hundred times, but it was almost comforting to hear it. We parted, and it only took us a few minutes to get to the aisle we needed. It looked nearly untouched, which immediately set my teeth on edge. We filled our carts as quietly as we could, and wheeled them out of the store. Jack's face lit up as he saw all the food we were returning with.
We repeated the process three more times, and it was on the final trip inside that things went wrong. Food runs were never this easy, and Connor and I were just starting to fill the carts again when we heard it.
A soft, malevolent growl and the slow shuffling of feet.
Connor and I turned to stare behind us, and a lone Seeker stood at the mouth of the aisle.
"Shit." I mumbled.
Connor lurched forward and covered my mouth.
"We need to leave." He whispered almost silently, "It hasn't seen us yet, but it will soon if we don't leave. It's too dark in here, and dad's right. Where there is one there are more."
He released me, and looked up. His eyes went wide with unrestrained horror.
I looked up, and was met with the source of his horror.
"Oh, fuck me sideways." I whimpered.
Hundreds of them. Hundreds of Seekers were hanging from the ceiling trusses. Connor squeezed himself up close to me, and cowered into my side.
"We're in a fucking hive, Jude."
We'd heard of hives before, but we'd never seen or been in one. Dark places where hundreds of Seekers gathered to hibernate, just waiting for fresh prey to stumble in unawares.
"They must be asleep or we'd be dead by now." Connor said quietly as we started to inch backward out of the aisle and leaving the carts, "We need to go. Now."
I didn't argue with him, and as soon as the Seeker was out of our line of sight, we ran for the door.
We only made it a couple of yards before we slid to a stop.
We had entered their feeding area.
Bones laid everywhere, some human and some animal. There was no blood, and a small cluster of Seekers stood in the middle. We both backed away slowly, and we thought we were gonna get away clean.
Until Connor backed into something.
The something turned out to be a small shelf stacked with candy, and it fell over with a deafening racket and our eyes widened simultaneously.
An ear shattering shriek filled the store.
They were awake.
"FOLLOW ME, STAY CLOSE!" I shouted and grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind me as we bolted down an aisle at full tilt.
We could hear shrieks and footfalls, and we knew that they were right behind us. We ran down the center aisle until we could see the front door. With one final surge of adrenaline, we ran for the exit, charging through the doors and we didn't stop running even when were outside.
"GET IT STARTED! IT'S A HIVE!" Connor screamed, "THEY'RE RIGHT BEHIND US!"
The Denali's engine roared to life and the passenger back door flew open. We sprinted for the SUV, and threw ourselves into the back seat. Connor wrenched the door shut not a second too soon and locked it. The Denali lurched forward with a roar, and Connor sighed in relief.
"That was way too close." Jack said weakly.
"At least you guys got all the food packed up." I said, breathing heavily and trying to calm down.
And so they did. It was enough food to hold us over for at least a week, and at most two and a half weeks if we rationed and were smart.
We're safe now, and it's been a year since the incident in the store. In that time, the three of us traversed the country, bouncing from ramshackle settlement to another until we finally found safe haven, in the walled of fortress that had once been downtown Washington D.C. Recon and search and rescue flights to the west coast had proved fruitful, one of which returned with a weary, starving, and exhausted Adams Foster family. They were all safe: Stef, Lena, Jesus, Mariana, Brandon, Callie, Mike and AJ. I was nearly crushed by the weight as they all rushed forward to hug me at once.
We've been in Washington for four months, and now Jack, Adam and I stood side by side, staring into one of the many quarantine rooms that had been constructed and fortified inside the hospital that served as ground zero for the development of the cure. I placed my palm against the glass, and barely restrained from recoiling as snapping jaws lunged at the glass, trying desperately to get at me.
It barely resembled its former self, and the sound it was making was like an injection of acid into my blood. It was no doubt in pain, as the winds and claws had been amputated in preparation for the cure that was finally completed.
I stared into the crimson eyes of the hairless creature that once was the boy I loved with all my heart. Eyes that used to be hazel.
It had happened on the approach to D.C. We had been caught out at night, and we were approaching the wall, and we were attacked. If we had been a minute quicker, the sun would have come up and we would have been marginally safer.
My heart sunk as I heard Connor scream in agony and anguish as the Seeker's fangs sunk into his arm.
Connor was bitten.
As soon as we were brought inside, he was quarantined. The look of fear, pain, and anguish on his face will forever haunt my nightmares. I promised him that everything would be okay, that they were gonna cure him somehow, and then I watched from behind safety glass as my beloved boyfriend turned into a bloodthirsty monster. As his hair fell out, and he collapsed to the ground with a scream and claws grew from his hands and fangs grew from his mouth. I could tell he was fighting it, but he lost. He looked into my eyes as his beautiful hazel eyes turned crimson, and I knew that that was when he lost the fight completely. I broke down into tears with Jack and Adam as he stared at me through crimson eyes for the first time, and tried to lunge through the glass.
I watched as the claws were amputated in preparation for the administration of the newly developed experimental cure.
Now I stood, watching in silent anguish as what he'd become thrashed about the padded room. It wasn't Connor anymore. Connor ceased to exist when he transformed, and I could only hope that this cure would be his resurrection. If it didn't work, I would have to fulfill the promise I made to Connor right before he changed.
I would have to put him out of his misery.
Jack put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.
"Is the cure ready?" I asked him quietly.
"They're getting ready to pump it through the vents into the room." Jack said softly.
"What if it doesn't work?" I whimpered, "What if it hurts him, or kills him?"
"It won't." Jack assured me, "They've tested it…"
"The injected form was tested. Not the gas form that you pump into the air."
"ATTENTION! PROCEDURE COMMENCING!" The loudspeaker announced, and we took a step back from the glass, "COMMENCING IN 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
A loud hissing noise from inside the cell signaled that the gas was being released into the room.
The creature's eyes widened as it inhaled the gas.
It dropped to its knees, and thrashed around on the floor.
"NO! CONNOR!" I screamed, and Jack grabbed me around the middle to stop me from getting closer, "NOOOOO!"
It twitched on the floor of the cell for a few minutes, and I continued to sob into Jack's shoulder. It barely registered that he was crying too.
"CURE DISPENSED, PROCEED WITH CAUTION." The loudspeaker spat.
I turned away from Jack and stepped toward the window. I kneeled in front of the glass, and I knew it sensed me kneeling, because it was crawling toward the glass, and I held my breath.
I placed my hand against the glass, waiting and fearing, expecting a violent assault on the glass. Instead, a shaky hand rose and placed itself to the glass, right where my hand was resting.
I shot to my feet and grabbed a gas mask from a hook on the wall. I put it on and grasped the door handle, wrenching it open with an almighty bang. I ran to it, kneeling on the floor, and rolled it over onto its back.
He was shaking, and breathing heavily. His skin was pale, but it was no longer the nearly translucent dead grey color it was before. It was white. His teeth had shrunk back to their normal size, the fangs now gone. I grabbed his hand in mine, and pulled him close to me. I placed my hand on the top of his head, and stroked it gently.
"Connor?" I asked tearfully, "C-Can you hear me, baby?"
His face twitched, and slowly, his eye lids fluttered and his eyes were revealed.
I stared into the hazel eyes I loved so much, and gasped out a sob.
We stared into each other's eyes, and he raised his hand weakly to stroke my cheek.
"J-j-j…" He croaked.
"Connor?" I asked hopefully.
"J-J… J-j-Ju-de." He whimpered, "J-J-Jude."
With a shriek of relief, I buried my face into the top of his bald head and began to sob.
"You're okay." I sobbed, "You're really okay!"
"D-Did I… h-h-hurt an-anybody?" He croaked softly.
"No, baby. You didn't hurt anybody." I sobbed with relief, "You're okay, you're gonna be okay! I love you, so much."
"L-Love you t-t-too."
It had worked. Connor was gonna be alright.
I stared into his eyes, and cried.
Slowly, he recovered. After four days of numerous tests, psychological evaluations, and many more things, he was released from the hospital. When I walked him out of the hospital and into the sunshine for the first time in months, he started crying again.
"Everything's g-gonna be o-okay." He stammered, still not used to speaking.
"Yeah. We're safe." I promised him, "The whole family is."
"W-What?"
"They've been sending search and rescue squads out west." I told him, "They found them, Connie. Moms, all my siblings, Mike and AJ. Everybody's alive. Everybody's okay."
Connor looked at me with wide eyes, and he turned and wrapped me in a gentle hug.
I sent a message ahead, to warn the family that Connor was okay and coming home.
No sooner were we through the front door, did Adam burst into hysterical sobs as he clutched his son to his chest.
I stood at the door with Jack and watched the scene unfurl.
"Everything really is going to be okay." I said.