Summary: When the dead begin to walk the earth a small group of survivors fight for their lives. Amanda, Olivia and the others are left to find their way through a world now crawling with the undead. Is there a chance they can find some kind of safety and can two people really fall in love when it seems there isn't anything left in this world to live for? [AU Rolivia]

Rating: T for violence, gore, sexual themes and other issues

Pairing: Rolivia

Note: I've been wanting to write a zombie apocalypse story for a long time. I am not normally keen on writing AU for something that doesn't already have a fantasy background but I just couldn't shake the idea of this so here we go.

Video: Youtube/watch?v=-OdXtCWPLj4&feature=

Chapter 1

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
~ T.S Elliot

~()~

October in New York City meant coloured leaves on the trees It means late afternoon sunshine and early morning rain showers and midnight thunderstorms. It meant streets full of tourists and foreign languages on every street corner, all celebrating and admiring the American concept of Halloween. There was something about fall that made the city look and feel different. Perhaps it was the Jack O Lanterns with their creepy faces, sitting in shop windows and staring at innocent passers-by. Maybe it was the thought of winter soon drawing in, the nights becoming colder and darker with every passing day.

Crime didn't know the difference between seasons and for the detectives of the Special Victims Unit, this was most definitely true. They worked day in, day out and were faced with some of the horrors that human beings were capable off. Though there always appeared to be a spike in crime rates throughout the summer months and around the holidays, there was something about the approach of Halloween that filled even the most seasoned detectives with a sense of dread.

Sargent Olivia Benson looked around the SVU squad room. It was Friday afternoon, just after four o'clock, and she sensed the anticipation amongst the group of detectives looking forward to a rare weekend off. She clutched a piece of paper in her hand, wondering which member of her trusted team would be the one to face the latest call out and the possibility of seeing their weekend ruined.

Nick had plans. He'd mentioned spending time with daughter this weekend and Olivia couldn't find it in her heart to separate him from Zara. Her eyes continued to drift around the room and landed on Fin. He would be spending the weekend with his son and fiancé to celebrate his son's birthday. Olivia's eyes eventually came to a rest on Amanda and heaved a sigh.

"Rollins?" She called the southern blonde's name and the younger woman looked up.

A single look at Olivia's face said enough and Amanda groaned. "Really? On a Friday afternoon?"

"Sorry," Olivia said apologetically. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll come with."

Amanda stood up, grabbed her jacket of the back of her chair and threw it over her shoulders. "Where are we goin'?"

"Upper East Side," Olivia said as she double checked the address on the piece of paper. "Cleaning lady found the body of a woman. Melinda wants us there."

"Warner called it in?" Amanda arched an eyebrow.

"She didn't say why," Olivia added as she and Amanda walked out of the squad room and towards the elevator. She pressed the button and the doors slid open. She stepped inside and Amanda followed. Olivia's eyes met the blonde's blue. "But if she thinks she needs SUV she must have a good reason."

The sun was beginning to set behind the New York skyline as Olivia drove them across town to the crime scene. It would be dark in an hour and Olivia hoped they would at least have left the crime scene by then. The rush hour traffic trying to get back to the precinct would be an absolute nightmare and Olivia made a mental note to call Brian to let him know she wouldn't be home for dinner. It looked like she would be having yet another night of take-out.

The scene itself wasn't hard to find. Several police cars had pulled up outside an apartment building and yellow tape cordoned off half the block. Uniformed officers kept curious bystanders at bay and Olivia and Amanda flashed their badges before ducking underneath the tape and walking into the building. All they had to do was follow the sound of voices to find the apartment they were looking for.

When they entered the apartment the first thing Olivia noticed was the smell of iron. She knew what this meant and a sickening feeling settled in her stomach. She glanced at Amanda and noticed the blonde's nose wrinkle. She'd smelt it too.

"My God," Amanda whispered as they walked into what was the living room. "What the hell happened here?"

There was blood everywhere. It had sprayed up against the walls, the ceiling and covered the window. It was what caused the smell of iron. There were a pool of blood on the floor too and the two detectives shared a confused, slightly horrified look. Both women were trying to determine, in their heads, what kind of weapon could have caused such a cast off.

"In here," a familiar voice called from the kitchen and the two detectives followed the sound of Melinda Warner's voice.

They found the medical examiner on her knees next to the dining table and from where they stood Amanda and Olivia could only see the victim's legs. The skin was a shade of dull grey laced with purplish blue. She didn't wear any shoes and Olivia looked at the bright red nail polish on the toes. She then let her eyes drift further upwards as Melinda stood up and her hand shot up to her mouth, smothering the outcry of horror that would have escaped her.

Amanda turned away, overwhelmed by the sudden bile that rose up into the back of her throat. She heaved but managed to keep it down. She only stopped when she felt Olivia's hand on the small of her back and looked over her shoulder. Olivia's kind eyes met hers and she could see the older woman was as sickened as she was. The putrid smell of death began to find its way up her nose and added to the scene in front of her it made her feel weak.

"What happened?" Olivia managed to get the words out as she looked at Melinda. "What did this?"

The woman's body was, by lack of a better word, mangled. A large gaping hole on her shoulder was responsible for the blood everywhere. The blood had sprayed from the body up the walls and judging from the marks across the floor she had tried to escape her attacker. The colour of her eyes had faded into a cold, haunting shade of white. Dried blood clung to the side of her face, her neck and her chest. Her shirt had been ripped and her elegant yet simple black slacks torn.

"Someone with a real anger problem," Warner answered as she pointed at the bruising at the side of the head. "Blunt force trauma indicates she was knocked down."

"But the blood…" Amanda stammered.

"I know," Warner answered. "The rest of her injuries were sustained while she was still alive."

"And that?" Olivia pointed at the obvious piece of flesh missing along the woman's neck.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but the bite mark looks human."

"Human?!" Amanda echoed. "You mean another person did that to her?"

"Looks that way. I might be wrong and I won't know for sure until all tests are completed but I haven't seen any evidence of a dog living here, which would have been my first suggestion if there had been one," Warner answered. She shook her head. "My guess is that the perp got in, knocked her down, tried to rape her and in doing so somehow bit her. He must have hit the carotid artery and she bled out in minutes."

"This guy has some serious anger issues," Amanda said and she fought to suppress her gag reflex. She let her eyes wander around the kitchen. A chair had been knocked over and a vase lay shattered on the floor. The petals of the white lilies were stained with blood. The black and white photos on the wall showed their victim at a happier time.

"Her name is Louise Dennis," Olivia said as she checked her notebook. "She lives alone." She heaved a sigh and looked back over her shoulder at the door. Her gut instinct told her to get out of here and it wasn't often that she felt the need to leave. "I guess we'll go talk to the neighbours to see if anyone saw or heard anything."

"What's the time of death?" Amanda asked.

"No more than two hours ago," Warner answered and scribbled the information down on her notepad. "Perp must have only just left when the cleaning lady arrived."

"We should talk to her," Amanda suggested as she and Olivia turned away from Louise Dennis' mangled body. "The time window for the perp to have gotten away is small. Someone may have seen something. Maybe she did."

It turned out that nobody had.

The frustrating part about trying to solve a crime was trying to find the missing pieces and fit them together to form a whole picture. So far all they had were gaps in their timeline and no answers. It seemed most of Louise's neighbours had still been at work when she was attacked and the cleaning lady only came back because she had forgotten her purse earlier that morning. The woman was so distraught she could barely string a sentence together and Olivia sent her off with one of the paramedics to be treated for shock.

She and Amanda stood outside the front of the building. Darkness had fallen over the city and the distance the heard the sound of sirens wailing. Instinctively her eyes shot towards the end of the street. The sound of sirens was nothing new in New York but something about it sent a shiver down her spine. The sound continued, indicated that several emergency vehicles were on their way.

"Looks like something's cracking off," Amanda pointed out, having heard the sirens too.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with us getting home," Olivia sighed.

Her ears pricked up when she heard one of the police radios crackle and the uniformed officer leant into the car to answer the call. Olivia couldn't hear what dispatch told him but he turned around, summoned his partner and they jumped into their car. The tires squealed as they reversed and drove off into the direction where they'd heard the other sirens.

Olivia ran her fingers through her hair and looked at Olivia. She could tell the other woman was tired. "What do we do now?"

"Go back, finish off the necessary stuff for tonight and leave the rest till morning," Olivia answered. She jerked her head towards the apartment building. "Warner isn't going to do the autopsy till tomorrow morning so until then we've got a whole lot of nothing."

Amanda's attention shifted from Olivia to the sound of a helicopter flying over and she searched the sky, recognising one of NYPD's helicopters. She pushed her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she shuddered. "That must be some bad accident."

"Rush hour," Olivia groaned as she walked back to the car and fumbled with the keys. Her eyes darkened a little as she opened the door and looked at Amanda. "Bad things happen when people are trying to get home for the weekend."

Amanda didn't answer and climbed into the passenger seat. She leant back and waited for Olivia to start the engine. Just as they were about to leave the crime scene behind she noticed two more cop cars shooting past. Their sirens were on and they seemed to be in a hurry. She looked over her shoulder but the cars had already disappeared. A nervous feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

"You don't think it's something serious, do you?" she asked, fixing her eyes on Olivia.

Olivia pointed at the radio. "If it was we would have heard something by now."

She started the engine and managed to cut into the traffic, starting their route back to the precinct but by the time they had driven a couple of blocks they hit a large amount of traffic and Olivia slammed on the brakes when a large SUV unexpectedly appeared in front of her. She swore under her breath as her hand slammed against the horn but the driver seemed to ignore her.

"What the hell is going on?" Amanda wondered. "What's with all the traffic? I know it's rush hour but this isn't even moving!"

"All available units please respond to the nearest precinct." The woman's crackling voice came through over the radio. "I repeat, all available units please report to the nearest precinct."

Olivia's eyes met Amanda's and the blonde detective recognised the hint of fear.

"Which one's the nearest?" she asked breathlessly.

Olivia's eyes darted around. "The 21st, I think. It's a couple of blocks from here."

"What do you think happened?"

Olivia switched on the blue and red flashing light on the dashboard and hit the gas pedal. The car made an unexpected right turn. Amanda was slammed into her window with force and grabbed hold of the door to keep herself up. Her eyes snapped to Olivia as the brunette detective managed to cut herself a way through the ever increasing flow of traffic.

"I don't know but whatever it is, it isn't good."

It took them almost half an hour to get to the 21st precinct and when they pulled up outside the front of the building Olivia noticed they weren't the only unit to have responded to the call. Several other unmarked as well as marked cars had parked across the street, creating somewhat chaotic scenes.

She and Amanda got out and joined a small group of uniformed officers making their way inside the building. She could sense the fear and the anticipation and realised that most of these officers, like herself, had been around during 9/11. She knew the fear in their eyes. There had never been a day where she had been more frightened. The not knowing and the sense of danger hanging over their heads changed something inside of them. No cop in the city was ever the same again after that day.

The television in the downstairs reception area was on and the room was full of uniformed and plain clothed cops. All eyes were fixed on the screen and there was a deadly silence; the only sound came from the news reporter's voice explaining to them what it was they were seeing and Olivia's eyes narrowed the longer she looked at the screen.

"We are reporting to you from Brooklyn where an angry and out of control mob has taken to attacking unsuspecting bystanders," the male reporter said.

"My God," Amanda breathed as she stared up at the screen and took in the scenes.

There was police everywhere. Several buildings were on fire and the sound of gunfire was almost continuous. The air was thick with smoke but they could still see the bodies lying on the ground. Most people were running and their screams were filled with terror. From the clouds more figures appeared but these were walking slowly, their faces contorted into masks of anger.

"We don't know exactly what we're dealing with here but some reports say we may be looking at an outbreak of rabies that has spread to humans," the report said. "NYPD urges everyone to stay indoors. Do not go outside. If you live in Brooklyn the advice is to lock your doors and windows and stay inside. We will continue to supply you with information. The mayor has reported the city is now on lockdown."

Amanda turned to Olivia. "Lockdown? What on Earth is going on?"

Olivia swallowed hard. "I don't know but there is one thing I do know." She tore her eyes away from the screen and looked back over her shoulder. The door to the precinct was still wide open and it unsettled her. "This isn't rabies."

"Then what is it?"

"Something far, far worse."