Chapter 1: Behind closed doors

"JESSIE!" Caitlin yelled up the stairs, it was almost 8am and her niece was going to be late for school, yet again.

"I'm almost done! Just fixing my hair." she replied, slamming her bedroom door shut. Over a year ago Caitlin and Jessie had moved over to Atlanta from the UK; she had brought her thirteen year old niece with her after her father had fallen into alcoholism and started getting violent. Caitlin was only twenty two but she couldn't leave her behind so offered her a way out; a new start. There were days the two of them would argue constantly but Caitlin never regretted her decision for a moment; Jessie was more like her little sister and she loved her to bits.

She placed some ham sandwiches into Jessie's school bag and carried it to the front door to find her stood staring at her watch.

"Great. Now I'm definitely going to be late." she said with a smirk on her face. Caitlin tapped her across the head and pushed her out the front door, smiling along with her. The street was much busier than usual; people scattered about, rushing around.

"Looks like everybody is running late this morning." Jessie said, sliding herself into the passenger seat.

"Well, we need to knock this on the head. I don't want to get in trouble with your school, I've got enough on my plate with that manager of mine."

"You won't get in trouble, they don't care. They have hundreds of kids in that school, being late doesn't affect my work."

"Good. Swear to God Jessie you better keep your head down in that school. I brought you here so you can make something of yourself, okay?" Caitlin nagged, starting up the car. Jessie sighed and flicked the radio on, the news reporter was explaining about a mysterious disease that had taken hold of a local hospital, Jessie switched the station over and started dancing along to Katy Perry.

"Hey, I was listening to that!"

"You can put it back on when I get to school, there's only ever bad stuff on the news. I don't want to be depressed first thing in the morning."

Caitlin didn't have the energy to argue with her; she had also got up late this morning and had an eight hour shift with Queen Bitch, so it was safe to say she wasn't in the best of moods. She pulled into the school car park; Jessie reached over and gave her Auntie a cuddle and a peck on the cheek.

"See you later Cate, have a good day with the lovely Michelle." Jessie said, flashing her a cheeky smile and climbing out the car. Caitlin watched her approach her group of friends, then set off to work. The traffic had built up within the five minutes she had been at the school, there were cars queued up for miles so Caitlin drove off into a little side street in the hopes of finding a short cut. As she turned into another street she noticed a body lay on the lawn in front of one of the houses; she slammed on the breaks and jumped out of the car. The man was holding his neck, there was blood everywhere; it was oozing through his fingers.

"Oh God. What happened? I'll call 911." Caitlin said, frantically searching for her mobile. The man stared up at her; trying to reach out, his eyes were bloodshot and his skin was beginning to turn blue.

"I-It's.. my wife. She- she's inside. She's ill." he whispered, then began choking on his own blood. Caitlin managed to sit him up and dialled 911, once she knew they were on the way she made her way towards the house.

"Don't worry, I'll find your wife. I'll make sure she's okay!"

"N- No."

Caitlin pushed the door open and stepped over the pool of blood that was in the hallway; the house was deadly silent which made her feel a little uneasy. She tiptoed into the front room; the furniture had been turned over, almost as if there had been a chase, there was also spatters of blood along the wall. A sickening smell floated through the air; burning her nostrils and suffocating her lungs. She wasn't sure she wanted to carry on looking throughout the house and yet she found herself wandering into the kitchen. A young woman was crouched in the corner of the room, there was blood pouring onto the ground. Caitlin stepped back, becoming a little bit overwhelmed by the situation, she bumped into one of the dining chairs and the woman turned towards her. Caitlin froze as the woman dropped a dead cat to the ground, it had been devoured by this lady who had the evidence all over her face. She snarled, her teeth were black.

"I-I'm sorry. I just came to see if you were-" before she had the chance to finish the woman lunged towards her, Caitlin screamed and darted towards the door. She slipped on the pool of blood; the woman clambered on top of her clawing at her body, she struggled to keep the woman's face away from her own. All of a sudden a loud explosion echoed throughout her ears; a bullet pierced through the skull of the woman and she slumped to the ground.