A/N: Part two of Anamnesis. A majority will take place in S6, but will contain flashback of all seasons (1-5) in italics. You don't need to have read Words I Never Said, to read this. If you like, leave a review, thanks, Spitfire47
The partly clouded sky was laminated by the back splash of the magenta, yellowy sky. The shadows that pushed behind the clouds deepened the sky's colour indicating the coming of evening.
Sparks shot into the air like a bullet from a gun. A different light flickered through the air accompanied with the harsh zap of burning metal against metal. The spackle of molten metal jumped around the welder, onto the floor, onto the boots and onto the clothes. However the welder was used to the sharp pain, it didn't last long anyway – only a couple moments and then it would go away leaving behind a dot of red.
The gun was taken away and the welder flipped the helmet up. Intelligent light eyes studied the scalding piece before dumping it in the cooling bin. It bubbled violently as it gave a satisfying crack. After a few minutes the piece was pulled out and set on the metal slatted work table.
Lyra examined the piece, running her rough slender fingers over the still hot work piece. But she was used to the heat, actually preferred it to the cool metal it once was. The welder looked up at the old tractor and held up the piece, closing one eye she lined the piece up to where it would be tacked and finally welded in place.
A buzz caught her attention and Lyra walked over across the room where her phone was lying on carved wooden table. The light vanished as soon as she reached it. Lyra punched in the passcode and watched as another message came up bringing the text count to five.
"What the…."
Lyra read through the texts.
Stranger things have happened….
Shit's going down in downtown!
Can't find my brother, anyone know where he is?
Police issued lockdown.
Lyra, where are you?
The last one was from a high school friend that Lyra had stayed in contact with through college. She texted back that she was at her house. Once the reply went through, Lyra scrolled through another text that came through confirming the police lockdown.
"Damn…."
Lyra looked at the time: 7:26pm. Her dad was usually home by now. Lyra looked at her phone again seeing no new messages from her father.
Maybe he's out drinking with his friends.
But the police lockdown would prevent that especially if it was in the downtown area.
Lyra walked out of the barn and looked out in the direction of the city of Atlanta. There was no movement. She looked around knowing where her neighbours were and saw nothing through the dim light the sky still had to offer.
"Where are you?" Lyra whispered into the air. There was no response and Lyra let out a small sigh. She walked back in the barn and flicked off the welding generator.
XXXXXX
Inside the house Lyra was upstairs going through her books. Her employer was reluctant to sign off on some which irritated the apprentice to no end. With a low sigh Lyra set the books off to the side when her phone buzzed angrily.
10:58pm
Where are you?
It was from her dad.
10:59pm
At home.
10:59pm
Meet me outside.
Lyra threw off the blankets and got to her feet . She opened the door and went through slowly sensing the distress that was in all the texts she had received.
What was going on? A police lockdown has never occurred some reports have even suggested the government was getting involved causing the message boards to go nuts with comments, theories and backlash.
Lyra was at the top of the staircase when a sudden thud echoed through the empty house. The teen instinctively flinched when it echoed from downstairs. Slowly Lyra walked down, her head slowly pivoting this way and that trying to see what made the noise. A shadow raced across the window and Lyra's head snapped that way, her eyes narrowed.
She walked into the kitchen and turned on the lights. Her jaw dropped at the scene in front of her.
The window was covered with blood, chips of bone and what looked like pieces of a face. The sheets of skin and muscle glued to the window. Flies were already buzzing around the mess. Their wings were audible through the cracked glass.
Lyra placed a hand to her mouth, silencing herself from the scream that had caught in her throat. Her weak knees slowly forced her away from the scene, her hand dragging on the wall as a guide as her eyes were still glued to the window.
When she was in the living room, Lyra was able to breathe however not easily. Her breaths were ragged and heavy as she gasped for whatever oxygen she could have without throwing up. Lyra looked up and turned the porch light on. There was nothing outside. However she wasn't going to trust what her eyes were telling her, something was out there – something did that.
Lyra remembered her father's handgun upstairs in his room. Quickly slipping on her work boots, she scrambled back up the stairs and into his room. Her fingers shaking as she struggled to get a proper hold of the key to open the drawer. But it failed as her nerves were too shaken up.
"Fuck this!"
A steel toed boot broke through the polished oak wood easily like a pencil going through paper. Lyra flung the pieces out of her way and grabbed the standard P9P gun and bullet box. She took the items to the bed and quickly placed twelve bullets into the magazine before snapping it shut with a heavy clack! Lyra pulled undid the safety and opened the chamber allowing a bullet to enter. Lyra raised it eye level before turning.
Running back down the hallway and the stairs (avoiding the kitchen), Lyra positioned herself on the wall and slowly opened the glass door. Nothing.
Slowly Lyra stepped out and walked with the gun in front of her. She looked around to see nothing, she saw a body where the face had being blown onto the window. Lyra swallowed and forced herself to move towards the barn.
"Dad?" Lyra called.
There was no answer. Lyra inched closer and closer to the barn.
"Dad?"
A figure stumbled out of the barn. Blood dribbled from its lips and onto the ground. Lyra lowered the gun and walked towards him.
"Dad!"
The man's head snapped up with such force that Lyra thought he had snapped his neck. But within a split second, Lyra realized it wasn't her father. Quickly she raised the gun.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice slightly shaky.
The man let out a low growl and moved towards her.
"Stay back…."
The thing continued towards her.
"Plea-," BANG! The shot burst through the man's chest sending him back onto the ground. Lyra let out a shaky breath.
"Oh my god," she whispered, her eyes wide. She had just killed a man.
Fuck…! Lyra thought gripping her head with one hand, the gun shaking in the other. Oh my god, oh my god, oh m- what the fuck?!
"Hurr….rraaa-."
The man got to his feet and stared at the girl who had blasted him. A gapping whole through his chest, right where his heart should have being. The man lunged at Lyra who fired off another shot. The bullet passed through his eye and out the back of his skull. The man dropped like a stone and didn't move. Lyra's mouth was agape sucking in air. A sudden noise came from inside the barn and instinctively Lyra leveled the gun and moved in.
Inside blood was splattered on the ground. Grunts echoed through the small barn as Lyra saw three people bent over, their hands dug deep into something as they stuffed their face. One turned to see the single audience stare in horror at the sight before her.
Its haunting groan told the others that living flesh was near. The other two slowly raised their head and let out an equal set of groans.
"…Darren…?"
Lyra raised the gun and levelled it with the first one's head.
"Suppose the guy out there was with you huh?" Lyra looked past the slowly approaching Darren. "That better not be my dad."
She shot Darren through the head and then killed the others.
"Eric….Vanessa…."
Lyra lowered the gun after a few beats knowing that they weren't getting up – ever. She walked over to see the body was a neighbour. Lyra let out a small sigh, she was happy that it wasn't her father but the victim was a long-time friend of the family even when her mother was around.
"Sorry."
"Lyra!"
The girl turned around with her gun raised but immediately dropped it when she saw her dad. His front was splattered with blood and guts, in his hand was a crowbar. When he saw the bodies, he looked up at Lyra who turned away unable to look at her father.
Without hesitation, he walked up and pulled her into a tight embrace. After a few seconds, Lyra hugged back, holding on to her dad – the only thing that was anchoring her to the world.
"We'll get through this," he whispered, "together."
Lyra felt tears stream down her face as she tried to speak but nothing came out. Every breath she inhaled had the taste of blood as if the air was now permanently stained with it.
Her father pulled back.
"Grab as much as you can from the barn. We need to get going," he instructed heading back to the house. "Meet me at the truck."
Lyra nodded and ran back into the slaughter. But she didn't care about the bodies. She grabbed her welding bag and stuffed it with small metal plates, a welding hammer, a striker, and pliers along with anything else that she could think of. Once she was done Lyra switched out of her shoes for her work boots knowing it'd give her better support and protection.
Lyra ran from the barn and towards the truck in time to see her father coming out of the house with a single bag filled with necessities. He ran to the driver's seat and jumped in while Lyra took the passenger seat.
"What are they saying?" Lyra asked slamming the door.
"That there's some sort of infection going around, highly contagious through fluids and shit even some say it's airborne."
"What?!"
The father ran a hand through his hair. "I know it's fucked up, listen we can't go into the city. That's where all the action is and I don't wanna be in it. We have to get out of here somehow. We need to lay low until shit can be figured out."
"The highways are going to be packed with people."
"I know that's why we're going to use the back roads."
The father pushed the vehicle into drive and the truck shot out of the drive way.
XXXXXX
The two drove for a little while trying their best to stay away from the main roads. Sirens wailed from the streets as Lyra watched emergency vehicles whip pass them. She looked over at her father who was muttering incoherent words to himself as he looked this way and that trying to find a way to get to safety without getting caught in a road block.
"Shit," Lyra hissed looking at the incoming text messages. "The military is up on patrol."
Her father let loose a string of curses.
"There's another way to get onto the highway," Lyra said.
"Those bastards will be on the back roads, trying to stop people from fleeing who are infected. Check in the glove compartment, there should be a map."
Lyra opened the compartment and took the out the map, she looked up in time to see her father clip an infected as he zoomed by.
"Jesus…!" Lyra gasped holding onto the dashboard as blood splattered onto the front window.
"There's no room on these backroads, I had to."
Lyra ran a shaky hand through her hair.
"We need to-."
BANG!
The gunshot blasted the side mirror off Lyra's side. Her father slammed on the brake as the headlights shone on a man with an assault rifle. Before either could react, the doors were retched open and both were dragged out onto the muddy road. The butt of the gun slammed against Lyra's head dazing her. She tried to get to her feet to protect her dad when the barrel of the gun scraped against her cheek making her cough blood.
"Stay down," a harsh voice growled. Lyra looked up to see a young man aiming a double barrel shotgun at her head.
With his other hand he rummaged through the truck and tossed her welding bag to the ground. Lyra waited until the man was turned before quickly reaching in and took out her welding hammer. She tucked it under her chest and remained down. Lyra listened as the man rummaged through her things.
"She's got nothing but metal pieces and welding gear."
The other man, older, gave a low grunt and looked through their supply bag, his gun aimed at the father's head.
"Get the girl in the truck, she's coming with us."
"No!"
Lyra flinched as she heard a sickening crunch as the gun smacked painfully against her father's side.
"Crazy old fuck!"
Lyra jumped to her feet and grabbed the young man by the back of the collar, yanking him back with adrenaline-born muscles. Tightening her grip on the hammer and slammed it into her attacker's throat cutting off his screams before driving it deep into his skull. The other attacker looked over in time to see his son go down to a nineteen year old.
"You little bitch…argh."
The raider clutched his broken leg and Lyra's father didn't hesitate, stomping hard on the man's face until his brains spilled from the cracked skull.
Lyra turned to see the woman standing there. She was shocked that she hadn't realized it before but when the woman moved, Lyra immediately she stepped forward with the bloodied hammer when she stopped. The apprentice noticed the woman's legs shaking and the gun tremored hard in her hands.
"Please…," she whispered. Slowly she raised her hands and backed away. "It wasn't my idea…plea- urk."
The woman's head snapped violently to the side as the gunshot pushed through her head. Lyra flinched as some of the warm blood sprayed her face.
"Down here! They're down here!"
"Shit, get in Lyra!"
The apprentice didn't need to be told twice as she scampered into the jeep and closed it shut as another shot rang through the air. Lyra looked up to see some militants coming down the hill after them. Her father stomped on the gas pedal making the truck shoot out of the space leaving the soldiers in the dust.
XXXXXX
The sun was just peaked through the trees when the father parked the vehicle. Lyra was looking out the window, at the large black clouds that billowed into the air. She opened her phone to see no new messages so Lyra thought the worst. A small nudge to her shoulder brought her back to Earth.
"Here…." Her father passed her a cloth.
Lyra took it with a blood and dirt stained hand. She looked down to see her father's posture slightly off indicating broken ribs. Lyra turned feeling a pang of guilt as she gently wiped where the blood had splattered her face. Then she gently cleaned the cut where she was pistol whipped. A wince escaped her parted lips as she scraped the deepest portion of the wound. She looked over at her father who gave her a solemn look.
"Together," he whispered; it echoed.
Lyra re-gripped her bloodied welding hammer.