A/N: Hi guys! This is my re-write of the same story, I finally found time again and the inspiration to work on it again. This story should only be available either here, or on Ao3.
Feedback and questions are always welcome! Some quick content warnings; Graphic Violence and Sexual content, Drugs use and mentions, Mentions of rape and possible scenes, Graphic deaths (including children), Mental illnesses, Suicide and all that comes with it, ...
I'll make sure to repeat warnings when dealing with sensitive subjects such as rape throughout the story.
"Mickey, snap out of it! Please!" she sobbed while pushing against his chest.
But the young man didn't listen. Instead he digs his fingers into her arms and unleashes a primal roar as his jaws snap at her. His eyes were unfocused and clouded, his once sun kissed skin a sickly grey. They continued to play this tug-o-war, inching closer and closer to her. All that was left of him now was the need to feed.
Roxanne tripped and fell to the kitchen floor, dragging Mickey with her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pleaded for someone to save her. She didn't want to die like this! Not by him, not like this! Her arms were getting tired and Mickey's chomping were getting more and more desperate.
Until all of the sudden something hit him across the head causing him to fall to the side and loosening his grip on the girl.
Roxanne took the opportunity to roll over to the side and crawl away with a whimper.
Looking up she saw it was Lucille that was now on top of Mickey; straddling across his torso the woman hit him again and again with the table lamp. Grunting with each blow she gave him, all the while Roxanne tried to stop her, reminding her who it was that she was trying to kill.
"Stop, please!" she cried.
Lucille couldn't stop. When she saw Mickey on top of her sister she lost it and grabbed the closest thing to her and smacked the object against his head. When she had rolled him over she noticed his condition, he was too far gone now.
"Damn," she cursed under her breath.
Lucille raised the lamp over her head before bringing it down against the man's skull, then again and again.
Roxanne threw herself at Lucille, hugging her from behind and resting her head against her shoulder. Crying and begging to stop hitting him.
"It's over, Ghost. Please just stop already. Please!" She understood why it had to be done but this was overkill.
Lucille let the lamp slip from her grasp when she felt the weight of her sister pressed against her back, snapping her back to reality.
The metal object hit the wooden floor with a thud. Her body trembled from the rush of adrenaline. Panting heavily she tried to calm herself down. And when she felt something warm and wet dripping on her shoulder, her bloodied hand reached for Roxanne, gently digging her fingers into the girl's brown hair.
"I'm sorry, baby girl. I'm so sorry but I had no choice...He was...He-"
Roxanne only sobbed and nodded against her shoulder while she rocked back and forth with Lucille.
Her dark curls were whipping wildly around her face as she stared down at the prom picture in her hand. She was still mourning Mickey's death. One moment he was fine and the next...She had known him for so long, practically grew up with him.
She traced a finger over his face, missing his crooked smile. With a sigh she lifted her gaze towards the open car window, watching the woodsy scenery while wiping her watery eyes with a finger. Roxanne tried not to smudge her make-up any more than it already had.
They have been on the road for a while now. His death seemed to have been the wake-up call that they needed.
At first it was just the major cities; New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London,… Then slowly but surely the infection spread to smaller cities and towns. Then remote places like theirs were probably hit last. Their town was situated near Chattahoochee forest, not much was going on except if you were a hunter or a tourist that liked hiking.
It was getting too dangerous; by the time Mickey died half the town had already been evacuated or turned, and those that didn't turn were probably looting, or hiding like they were.
The driver had her fingers pressed to her lips, pondering about the events that had transpired over the last couple of days and what their next move should be.
She glanced at Roxanne through her aviator glasses every now and then. Poor girl was still grieving over her boyfriend. Although she never liked the guy she still felt sorry for her sister. She couldn't figure out why she disliked him though, he seemed to be a good kid. Maybe it was 'cause he was datin' Roxy, the whole protective maternal thing or whatever they called it.
She dropped her hand from her lips and clutched the steering wheel while her other hand reached for Roxanne's, feeling awkward about how to approach this. So she gave her a reassuring squeeze without saying anything instead.
The stoic blonde wasn't much of a talker when it came to emotional topics. The two women were complete opposites of each other, you couldn't miss it.
Roxanne Perry was the social butterfly, she was always cheerful and optimistic. Nothing you could do or say could bring her mood down. She was the sensitive one but brave.
Lucille Wilder on the other hand was a 'lone wolf'. Mostly kept to herself. She had a harder time trusting people too which resulted in her not having many friends. She always speaks her mind and some took that as a sign of her being a bitch. But in a way, the girls complemented each other.
Roxanne looked over at Lucille, smiling sadly with a sniffle before looking back down at the tattooed hand holding hers and returned the squeeze. With a finger she quickly traced her mother's name inked in Sanskrit on the side of Lucille's hand, 'Avani'. How she wished she was here with them…
Lucille slowed the truck to a stop as they reached a stop sign taking the opportunity to turn in her seat and face Roxy, squeezing her hand again.
Her mirrored sunglasses were big on her, barely making her eyebrows visible as she tried to comfort her little sister. "We'll get through this," she said, trying to reassure her, "I promise."
Roxanne nodded at her, sighing at the mess they were in.
The sentimental moment passed when the engine turned itself off again. Lucille turned the key but the car wouldn't start; hearing the engine stutter.
Roxanne's eyes grew wide as she looked around the road before asking, "Are we out of gas again?"
Lucille gritted her teeth as she tried and tried again, "No, we ain't outta gas. It's just a…" she started to grunt and slam her fists against the wheel and dashboard in frustration before yelling, "...worthless, piece of shit!"
One more turn of the key and the motor started up again. The blonde took a few moments to calm down and glanced at Roxy, "She won't last long."
Roxanne looked worried, "Will we make it to the campgrounds at least?"
Lucille wondered that too. Not saying another word she continued their journey for as long as the truck would take them.
The roads were eerily empty with the occasional road block, heaps of cars piled together due to traffic jams and panic. Luckily for them they lived in a small town surrounded by wilderness and emptiness, so for now the roads won't be too jammed up.
They heard mentions of a refugee camp up in the mountains where the smaller communities were to gather until further notice. So that's where they were heading until a better plan comes up...
They drove in comfortable silence until Roxy stuffed the prom picture in the pocket of her dirty, blue, floral sundress.
Lucille always joked about her fashion style. She called it the cupcake look; cute and perky. But it fit her, she was more feminine than Lucille anyway.
Roxy turned in her seat to grab her bag and pulled out her camera and placed it in her lap for now. She rolled up the window first and then pulled down the sun visor, fixing her make-up and curly bob before pointing the camera at herself.
Roxy had Indian roots, from her mother's side. Her skin was a beautiful olive color without a blemish whatsoever. She was a bit on the voluptuous side when it came to her figure. And according to her late mother she had her father's eyes, jade green. The man died in a work accident when she was a baby, so Lucille was all she really had as a parental figure now.
Lucille glanced at her, smiling a bit and shook her head at the girl's vlogging habits. "Whatcha' doin'?" she asked in that typical southern accent of hers.
The girl just recently lost her home, her boyfriend and nearly got infected herself; and already she's plastered on that damn camera of hers. If this was any other day she would probably upload it to YouTube, just another video in between the ones about her fashion style and DIY projects.
Lucille smirked as she watched the road, she was kind of relieved to see Roxy getting back to her old self again.
Roxanne paused, opening and closing her mouth, searching for the right answer.
She then looked at Lucille with a serious expression. "For posterity," she said with a firm nod before she pressed the record button. "And to keep me sane. Like keeping a journal," she added.
Right now she needed to clear her thoughts and didn't care if Lucille was next to her to hear it.
Always the dramatic one…"Posterity? Yer makin' it sound like it's the end of the world," she chuckled.
Roxanne gave her a look that could only be described as 'duh'.
Lucille arched a brow and then cleared her throat. "It's just rabies, it'll blow over," she lied.
Part of her wanted to pretend that everything was fine, but it wasn't. They were dirty, hungry, tired, and scared. And still had a long ways to go for the campgrounds. What Lucille really wanted right now was a bath, and to wake up from this nightmare hoping she was having a bad trip from whatever she was smoking.
She stifled a yawn at the thought of her comfy bed, the image beckoning to her like an old lover. But then again, it'd be hard finding sleep with a dead guy in your kitchen.
There was another thing that bothered her. Two things even by the name of Dixon. No one who thought about that name did it with love in their hearts. Hell, even she couldn't call it love but she owed a lot to these men.
Roxanne wrinkled her nose in annoyance, "Really, rabies? After what we've seen you're goin' with rabies? I'm nineteen, Ghost! Not twelve, geez. I know what's happenin'…"
After all these years Lucille still treated her like a little kid. Always trying to sugarcoat things for her, which was funny considering how blunt she is with others.
"And I know you're worryin' about the Dixons," she said quietly before adding, "We're better off without them, they're nothin' but trouble."
Lucille kept her hands on the steering wheel, sucking on her teeth and sighing loudly. She couldn't say she was wrong, the boys are absolutely trouble. In fact they have been a bad influence on her but circumstances brought them together and she learned to care for them….to an extent.
Roxanne lifted the camera again and started recording, clearing her throat and began to talk about their journey so far.
"...He just wouldn't stop so we had to…" She didn't want to say the word 'kill', it wasn't like that. She looked at Lucille, "...It was self-defense. We just wanted him to stop." She was talking more to her sister now than the camera, somehow trying to appease the blonde's conscious for killing a man.
Lucille had never done that before, not even for self-defense. She always got out lucky during her shit years, or someone else took care of the problem for her.
Lucille briefly glanced at Roxy and grumbled for her to stop talking about it with a quick wave of her hand.
Roxanne looked back into the camera, continuing her story to the point where they were now on their way to the refugee camp. She then turned the camera on her sibling, "Say somethin', Ghost. How do -you- feel?" she asked her.
Roxy felt like Lucille needed to talk about this before she starts to bottle things up again. She always bottled things up until that ticking bomb would explode and she'd do something she regretted.
Lucille frowned at her, "How do I feel? ...I dunno..."
Roxanne paused the camera and tried to convince her. "Just...tell the people what you're thinkin' of right now, what's your opinion about all this? It's good to talk about these things." She pointed the camera again.
Lucille's inked and cheap bejeweled hands clutched the steering wheel nervously. She never liked people filming her, nor take a picture. Roxy never understood why though, it couldn't be because she was insecure. She'd seen the woman flaunt her body before, she couldn't care less about it.
According to Roxy, Lucille had that perfect hourglass shaped body, toned due to harsh living. She was taller than Roxy who was 5'2, Lucille was 5'4. She often reminded her of a Southern Belle that took a wrong turn in her life somewhere. Her dirty blond hair was dyed with highlights, and was partly braided and partly pinned up in a sloppy fashion.
And her eyes, Lucille found them odd but Roxanne loved her eyes, they were vibrant and people often argued which color they were. Lucille happened to suffer from heterochromia, dual-colored eyes. She had one blue and one green.
Lucille's style could best be described as 'bohemian' meets 'biker chick', an intimidating woman looking like disaster.
Jewelry was her weakness though, the more the better: a bunch of mismatched set of earrings and a ton of rings on her fingers.
Roxy on the other hand was more simple with jewelry, just a necklace of an owl and one ring with a floral design. She never wore earrings before since she dreads the thought of having her ears pierced with a needle.
Roxanne sighed when Lucille remained quiet and shut the camera off. Leaning back in her seat she looked out the window, watching the trees pass by until her eye catches a man crossing the road recklessly. She shot up straight, "Look out!" she screamed and grabbed hold of Lucille's arm in the hopes of getting her attention.
Lucille was distracted because she was fiddling with the car radio, trying to find a working station with some news about the outbreak. But all she could ever find was either static, a doomsday preacher who preached about sinners getting what they deserved, and the same pre-recorded message that they've been hearing since they left. She startled when Roxy started screaming and tugging on her arm.
With a gasp, she turned the wheel violently to the right, trying to avoid the jaywalker. But in doing so the truck swerved off the road and crashed into some trees.
...And then everything went black.
A/N: Dun-Dun-Duuuun... Until Next Time!
-Teaser for Next Chapter-
"Stop! Do not make me do this!" she pleaded one last time.
A bloodied hand grasped her boot.
"Fuck."
She pulled the trigger...