Disclaimer - I own nothing that you recognise.
Chapter one - The road to Camp Chiquita
The car drove slowly through the abandoned street, the driver careful not to alert them. The buildings surrounding the car were all completely trashed. Some had smashed windows, some were partially burnt, some of the doors were unhinged and most buildings had a mixture of the above. Things had changed. Things were dangerous and Evelyn was going to take every precaution to keep her and her daughter safe. They always had to be aware. With one blink of the eye they could both be dead. Evelyn's number one priority was to keep her daughter alive, and to find her a place of salvation.
The car pulled up next to a gas pump and Evelyn looked around at their location warily. It was completely deserted, everything was quiet. Cars were randomly placed on the road that surrounded the gas station, doors swung open as if the passengers had been in a rush to run away. Evelyn spotted one green car which had blood trailing from the drivers seat, and on to the road into a puddle.
Evelyn's narrowed her eyes suspiciously, taking in every single inch of the area critically.
"Momma, why we stoppin'?" Evelyn's four year old daughter Daisy questioned innocently, yet obviously concern was laced through her voice. She bopped up and down on her seat, her blond pigtails bouncing with her.
Evelyn turned to face her daughter and her expression immediately softened. "We're just stopping to fill Ruby up, my love." Ruby was their GMC Sierra red truck. Evelyn usually preferred the classic vehicles, the ones with a history to them. But they had to abandon her beloved 62' Impala when they got ambushed.
Daisy nodded happily but continued to scan their surroundings. "Daisy no sure 'bout this mommy." She pointed out frantically as she turned back to her mother, tears forming in her eyes. She shook her head and closed her eyes.
"Honey, if we don't give Ruby her special food then she won't be able to drive us anywhere." Evelyn explained carefully.
Daisy wasn't convinced though. Her eyes widened causing her face to hold a frightened expression. "What if scary monsters get you?" She gripped on to her mother's arm and clung closely to her. "Don't leave." She whimpered, her bottom lip quivering.
Evelyn sighed and placed one of her hands against her daughter's cheek. "Dais', I'm just right outside the car. It'll take two minutes and then we can leave here. I promise I'll be okay and that I'll be right back." Reluctantly, Daisy let go of her mother's arm. Evelyn leant towards her daughter and pressed a kiss on to her forehead. "I'll be right back sweetheart."
Before Evelyn left the truck, she opened the compartment in front of her and pulled out her shot gun. She opened the truck door and stepped out on to the ground, looking around cautiously.
Daisy sat still in her car seat, keeping her eyes on her mother at all times. If something jumped out to try and hurt her mommy then she could shout to her in time and hopefully her mommy will be able to get rid of the scary creatures... the scary creatures which resembled them to a tee except from the fact that they were savage and beastly. They didn't speake like Daisy and her mother did, they yowled and they screeched. They howled and they growled. They were monsters and there were so many of them.
Daisy didn't really understand it all properly but she was definitely in tune with what was happening to the world around her. In the morning, she didn't hear the birds singing. She didn't see animals walking around. She didn't see people. It was quiet. The only person she did see frequently was her mother and, on the odd occasion, they would bump into other survivors. These suvivors had formed groups but Evelyn never wanted to stay with the ones that they had come across. The places that they were staying in didn't seem safe and she had her heart set on one place for her daughter. The one other thing that they saw a lot of was the creatures. In the beginning only a few people were infected but after a while it literally became an epidemic. Nobody was safe anymore and it was every man for themselves.
The number of infected people were getting higher and higher now and they couldn't even stop in just one town for long. As long as Daisy had her mother, she'd be okay and she knew it. The four year old felt safe with her mommy.
Evelyn starting pumping gas into her car almost immediately. She knew that they'd need a lot of gas because she was planning on driving until they got to Florida. She'd heard a radio broadcast which told of an old run down camp site called Camp Chitiqua, which a large group of people were vacating in. They had built it up with proper safety measures; Wired fences stretched around the whole land, tall and thin buildings at all corners of the site for guards to watch out for the infected. These people had weapons, they had food and they had safety. They also had doctors, nurses, people who had been in the army, strong minded and clever people who would be able to help them.
The broadcast was a little over two weeks ago. Evelyn knew that there was a chance that the infected could have broken into the camp and killed everyone. But she also knew that if she didn't take the risk to take her daughter to Detroit then they might not ever be fully safe.
A sudden clatter from behind Evelyn pulled her promptly from her thoughts. She spun around, shotgun raised. Everything was still deserted. But something had crept into the air and made Evelyn very uneasy. She spotted a little alleyway up ahead and saw a shadow from inside the alleyway.
"Help," A voice filled with desperation called out.
Evelyn was about to turn right around and get into the truck, getting her daughter away from the premises as soon as possible. But she just couldn't leave somebody suffering. She walked closer to the alleyway, keeping her eyes peeled.
"Mommy?" Daisy demanded, mouth wide open. "Don't!"
Evelyn turned around briefly. "I want you to duck down and hide. Stay in the car." She instructed firmly as she spun on her heel and walked closer to the alleyway.
"Help, please?" The voice called out again. With the voice came a shrill cry.
Daisy unbuckled her seatbelt and slid down beside the foot of her seat, grabbing the blanket that lay there and placing it over her. It was a safety precaution that Evelyn had established very early on. If Daisy hid then the chances were that they wouldn't be able to find her.
"Who's there?" Evelyn replied to the voice as she reached the alleyway. Her heart almost dropped when she did. The thin, short stretch of cement, placed between two buildings, was covered in blood, the bins were trashed all over the place and it looked as if there was a massive struggle.
"Help," Evelyn looked down to see a woman. Beside the woman was a moses basket. Something in the moses basket was crying and Evelyn could only guess that it was a baby. Her eyes were bugged out and completely bloodshot, her body was shaking and she could barely stay focused. These were all signs of transitioning into being infected. The lady picked up the moses basket and shoved it towards Evelyn. "Please, take him. TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!"
"What happened?" Evelyn kept her shotgun raised, ready to shoot at any moment.
The woman lifted her head to show Evelyn a deep cut on her shoulder. "They bled in me! I was so careful and they caught me and bled on me!" The woman began, pausing slightly to take a deep, constricted breath. "Please, I haven't got much time! Noah hasn't been bitten, I hid him in the dustbin. Please, take him out of here! Save my baby!"
Evelyn leant down beside the woman and grabbed on to the basket. She looked down at the baby to see that he was still crying, though he had calmed down a little bit. She gave him a quick once over and nodded sadly.
"I want you to shoot me!" The woman instructed before keeling over and letting out a howl that was similar to one of those who were infected.
Evelyn didn't want to shoot the woman but she knew what she had to do. If the woman turned suddeny then she was putting her daughter, the baby and herself at risk. There was nothing else she could do. She held up the shotgun and sighed sadly. "I'll look after him. I'm so sorry."
"Thank you." The woman sobbed.
In one swift movement, Evelyn cocked her gun and shot the woman in the head. Blood splattered against the wall behind her. Evelyn flinched and turned to walk away from the alley. The sound of the gun shot startled the baby and he broke out into a fit of sobs.
"MOMMY!" Daisy screamed out. Evelyn rushed out of the alley way to see an infected man trying to pull open Daisy's door. He was grunting and growling and using all of his strength to try and open the car. A few yards away, Evelyn saw a few more infected people, stumbling towards the truck. The infected man started violently punching the truck window, several times in a row.
Evelyn ran towards the car, at full speed, and shot the man in front of the truck in the head. He dropped to the ground, his body unmoving. The young baby in the basket started crying out again, his shrill scream echoing across the land. Evelyn ran to the drivers door and Daisy stumbled up from the foot of the passenger seat, unlocking the door. Evelyn jumped into the car, handing Daisy the basket with the little baby in it and started the truck.
"Mommy, who this?" Daisy looked down into the basket curiously. The crying baby certainly did confuse her. "Shh!" Daisy tried to hush the baby, stroking his cheek.
Evelyn was too focused on the task before her to answer her daughter straight away. She looked into the rear view mirror only to see the infected stumbling closer to them. "Shit." She muttered to herself as she pulled the truck out of its spot an spun it around.
"Mommy!" Daisy exclaimed, gasping dramatically. "Naughty word! Naughty word!"
Noah was wailing by this point and Evelyn could barely concentrate. The only exit was past the infected, and they didn't look as if they were going to give up without a fight. Evelyn locked the car doors again and narrowed her eyes. She briefly turned to her confused daughter. "Honey, place the basket on to the floor and buckle up." Daisy did as she was told immediately and placed the basket down in front of her feet, and then quickly buckled up her seatbelt. "Hold on tight." She instructed as she took a deep breath.
In one swift movement she slammed her foot down on to the pedal and gripped on to the steering wheel as the truck zoomed towards the group of infected. They still walked towards the truck, wanting to get their hands on more innocent victoms.
"Mommy, don't!" Daisy screamed out frantically when she saw that they were driving towards the things which she feared the most.
But Evelyn didn't listen. She kept her foot firmly on the pedal and the truck crashed through the crowd of infected, knocking some of them straight over. Others tried their best to cling on to the car. One of them crawled on to the bonnet and reached the front window of the car, pressing it's face up against it to snarl at Daisy. Daisy let out a shocked gasp and clenched her eyes shut.
Evelyn kept swerving the car, knocking all of the infected people off of it. But the one at the front of the car was left, determined not to give up. He bashed his head against the front window continuously, in a bid to get inside. "Oh, no you don't!" Evelyn snapped, as the truck swerved suddenly around in a circle. The infected man tried to hold on, his face etched in determination, but his fingers slipped and his body flew away from the car, landing in a heap on the floor a few metres away from them.
As soon as she had seen the infected man drop to the floor, Evelyn didn't hesitate. She drove the truck away from the gas station and right down the road. She didn't look back.
"Momma," Daisy whimpered, tears whelling up. She leant down to pick up the basket and peeked at the little baby boy, who was staring back up at her. He had stopped crying almost all together now and was actually very calm. His eyes were slightly drooped and he was tired from his huge protest a few moments before.
"He's called Noah," Evelyn began as her heart began to calm down a little bit. She turned to face her daughter briefly and her eyes widened when she saw a small crack in the window. They were used to frequent attacks now but never had the infected people been as smart as they were. As far as Evelyn knew they bled into other people to pass on the virus but they had never had the common sense to actually find an uninfected victim without seeing them. Were the rest of their senses heightened? Evelyn didn't know. She shook herself away from her thoughts and turned back to the road. "I found him in a dustbin. He's going to be staying with us until we get to Florida."
Daisy kept her eyes glued to the little baby and smiled slightly. "Where' Noah's Momma?"
Evelyn sighed sadly to herself. She'd killed the little baby's mother and by the looks of it he had no other family left at all. If he survived this pandemic disaster then he wouldn't have anybody to survive it with. Well, Evelyn was determined not to let that happen. She cleared her throat, tapping her finger tips against the steering wheel. "She wasn't there sweety."
Daisy was silent for a few moments. "I like Noah." She said finally, unaware of what had happened to his mother... unaware that he was now an orphan.
"Yeah, me too." Evelyn replied as she glanced at Noah. He had fallen to sleep now, curled up on his side peacefully. Sometimes Evelyn wished that life was that easy for her and Daisy, she wished that she could close her eyes and all of their troubles would melt away... even if it was just for a little while. But she knew that that wasn't going to happen.
They were on the run from the infected people which roamed left, right and centre. Every new day that dawned was a fight for their very survival and now there was another person for Evelyn to try and protect, and he was only a baby. There was only one escape that Evelyn clung on to; Camp Chiquita. It was the only place that would be safe for her child, Noah and herself.