Chapter 1: Panic on the streets
Day 2 of outbreak
"Cmon!"
He held the phone up to his ear as the ringing of the call tone continued.
"Please pick up!"
No answer.
He quickly hung up the phone and called the same number.
"Pick up, pick up, pick up. Please answer god damn it!"
The call went to voicemail.
"Fuck it."
'Please leave your message after the beep.'
Beep
"Hello? Sandra right? It's Delmon, Clem's brother… There is some bad stuff happening right now, if you or Clementine are hearing this, stay inside, lock the door, and stay away from the windows! If anyone knocks on the door, don't answer. I'm on my way, I'm taking a car with my friends down there, I should be there by tomorrow. I'm trying to get in contact with my parents but the lines are backed up, I'm lucky I can even leave this message. Stay safe, I love you Clemen-"
Beep.
"God fucking damn it!" Delmon yelled almost throwing the phone angrily.
He had no idea what the hell was happening. He stormed through the door into the next room.
"Jesse! Is the car ready yet!"
"They're putting the last stuff in it right now." He paused for a second, "Did your family answer?"
"The answering machine picked up, and my parents aren't answering either."
"Dude, calm down, I'm sure they're fine…"
"Where the hell is Rey?"
"He's trying to call his family and girlfriend" Jesse said.
"We need to hurry."
"No shit. But we cant leave without stuff."
Reynaldo walked into the room and looked at Delmon, "They answer?" He asked.
"No… Your girlfriend okay?"
"She's with her mom, they're trying to get out of the city. I told her to ditch her car since there is so much traffic, they will be able to go faster on foot."
"Atlanta is more than likely screwed." Jesse said as he packed his bag.
Delmon nodded, "Hostiles are probably everywhere at this point. All the more reason to get out of here."
"Cmon, Owen and Richard are probably done packing the shit in the car." Reynaldo said as he grabbed his bag.
"Let's go then."
They walked outside with their stuff and watched as Richard closed the trunk. Owen opened the driver's side door and got in. They all had pistols and knives, except for Jesse, who had a assault rifle. Richard spotted them, "You guys ready!"
"Yeah, and keep your voice down, there could be hostiles nearby." Jesse said as he walked to the passenger door.
"Rich, you still got that walkie?" Delmon asked.
"Yeah."
"Give it to me."
"Sure." he said taking it out and handing it to him, "What do ya need it for?"
"My little sister always keeps her's with her, I'm going to try and use it once we get in range since cellphones are basically useless, and hope that it even works."
"Do you even know what channel she's on?" Reynaldo cut in.
"I'll try every single one if I have to."
"Well then, let's hurry up, we're wasting daylight." Richard said.
They all got in and buckled up, Owen started the car and began driving, as he did, he began fiddling with the car radio. It was silent until a voice came through.
'This is an emergency broadcast system, an outbreak of an unidentified virus has broken loose, it is requested that you stay inside until further notice. This message shall repeat.'
Owen shut off the radio, "So much for listening to tunes."
"Really man."
"What? It's gonna be a long drive."
...
Delmon opened his eyes, it was morning now, he was surprised that he was even able to sleep with all the stress. Jesse, Richard, and Reynaldo looked like they were still asleep in the back, he looked up at Owen, who was still driving, "You want switch man, I could drive for a while."
Owen slightly jumped at his voice, before turning to Delmon, "Don't worry Del, I can go for a little while longer."
"You look tired." He said looking at the bags under his eyes.
"Because I am."
"Then maybe you should get some rest." He said.
They were silent for a few seconds before Owen looked back at Delmon, "Yeah… yeah your right, the car is almost out of gas anyway." He said looking at the fuel gauge, "We have a gas can in the trunk right?"
"Pretty sure we have two."
"Good." He said as he slowly pulled the car over.
Delmon and Owen got out and walked over to the trunk.
"You see any other cars?" Delmon asked.
"One passed us a few hours ago, they probably escaped the city."
"Lucky for them." He said as he opened the trunk. He looked at what they had, about a weeks worth of food, an extra knife, , some rope, some medical supplies(Owen has medical knowledge), water, a few lighters, bullets, and two gas cans.
Delmon grabbed one of the gas cans, "You hungry?" He said motioning to the food.
"Naw, I'm good."
Delmon shut the trunk and walked over to the side of the car, he opened the cap and began to fill the car with gas, as he did he looked over to Owen, "You got any family? I've never asked you before, I would be fine if you wanted to go find them."
Owen shook his head, "Nope, I was an only child, and my mom passed away a few years ago, I never met my dad," He paused there for a few seconds, "You guys are the closest thing I have to family, so the least I can do is make sure you find yours."
"Thanks man…"
"When was the last time you saw them?" Owen asked.
"Christmas... So like, half a year ago. But I would try to call them every week or so…"
"We'll find them, don't wor-"
The sound of bushes being moved suprised them. They turned towards the sound, after a few seconds, a hostile(Which is what they started calling them) appeared from out of the shrubbery. They stared at it for a few seconds, "I got it." Delmon said.
"You sure?"
Delmon nodded.
"Okay, remember what we learned, go for the head."
"R-Right."
Delmon walked over to it, it's arms reached towards him, and he pulled out his knife. He grabbed it on the shoulder to keep it from biting him, and he stabbed the knife up right into the bottem of it's head. It went limp and fell to the ground, Delmon stared down at it for a few seconds.
"You okay man?" Owen asked.
"Yeah." Delmon looked to Owen, "Do… Do you think we'll get used to killing these things?"
"I don't know... I try not to think of them as people." Owen answered, putting the empty gas can back in the trunk and then closing it.
"Yeah... Cmon, let's go." Delmon said getting into drivers seat.
Owen got into the front seat as Delmon started the car.
"Get some sleep Owen… You're going to need it."
Owen nodded, he leaned against the window and closed his eyes as Delmon started driving.
...
About thirty minutes later, Delmon heard shuffling in the back, he looked in the rear view mirror. Jesse sat up and looked at Delmon before he sighed, "I was hoping it was just some shitty nightmare." He said.
There was a short pause.
"Well... Welcome back to reality I guess." Delmon said.
"How long have you been driving?"
"About thirty minutes, Owen drove all night"
Jesse looked to the sleeping figure of Owen and then back at Delmon, "How long before we reach Georgia?" He asked.
"We're already in Georgia, But it should be about an hour before we reach my house, and let's hope Reynaldo's girlfriend made it out of the city."
"Here's to hoping." Jesse said.
After about ten minutes of silence Delmon spotted something up ahead.
"Shit." He muttered.
"What?" Jesse asked.
"Look."
There was a car on the side of the road, not only a car, there were people too. One of those people were waving us down, "Should we stop?" Delmon asked, "They may need help."
"Yeah... Go ahead."
Delmon began slowing down and told Jesse to wake Richard and Reynaldo up. Jesse began shaking them, "Get up."
"What's happening? We there yet?" Reynaldo asked sitting up.
"Nope, there's people in the rode that might need our help." Jesse said as the car came to a stop.
Delmon was the first to get out, " You guys okay?!"
"Car is out of gas, someone already drove past us, I thought you would do the same." A man said.
"You escaped the city?" Jesse questioned as he got out of the car.
"Yeah. There so many of those things. What's your name?"
"I'm Jesse, This is Delmon." He said walking forward, "What's yours?"
"Seth." He said looking at Delmon's badge, "You a cop?"
"Yeah." Delmon answered.
"How many people you got with you?" Jesse asked.
"Four, Including myself." He stated, "There's me, my wife May, my daughter Melissa, and my friend Devin."
"We might be able to give you a ride." Delmon informed him, "But our car is an eight seater, so you will have to squeeze in to fit."
"That would be great, Where are you headed?" Seth asked.
"Close to Atlanta, we're looking for people."
"The city? There were a lot there, that's a bad I idea."
"We're going to try to not go into the city, just around it, like he said." Jesse told him.
The man thought for a moment, "I need to talk with them for a second." he said turning around and walking back to his car.
When he walked away, Jesse turned to Delmon, "Do you think this is a good idea?"
"It wouldn't be right to leave em out here."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said, "I'll go tell Rey, Rich, and Owen what the situation is."
"Yeah…"
A minute passed and Seth, along with his group got out of the car. The women, who he assumed was May, had short brown hair, brown eyes, and was kind of short. Their daughter Melissa, looked to be about fourteen, she had black hair like her father and brown eyes like her mother, she was wearing a grey jacket. Seth had black hair and blue eyes, and his friend devin had blond hair with blue eyes as well, but looked tired.
"Hello, I want to thank you for helping us." May said.
"It's no problem, we don't know far we can take you though." Delmon stated.
"That's fine." Seth said.
"Is he okay?" Delmon asked, looking over to Devin, who coughed a little.
"Yea, he just got bit by one of those things when we we're getting out of the city." Seth informed him.
"Is it infected? We might have some antibiotics." Delmon asked, now seeing the blood the seeped through Devin's shirt.
"He has a fever, so most likely." May stated.
"We can have Owen take a look at him. Cmon."
They walked towards the car, Delmon opened the door and saw Jesse sitting in the driver's seat, "You driving?" Delmon asked."
Yeah."
"Okay." He turned to Owen, "One of their guys got bitten by one of the hostiles, can you take a look at it."
"Sure." Owen Yawned, he motioned for Devin to come in.
Delmon walked over to the trunk and opened it, he grabbed the medkit and looked inside of it, he saw painkillers, bandages, peroxide, stitching needles and thread, and antibiotics. He closed it and brought it to Owen, "Here." He said.
Devin looked at Delmon, "Thank you for helping us."
"No problem…" Delmon looked over to the rest of them, "You guys ready? Have all your stuff?"
"Yes… thanks." Seth said.
Delmon nodded, "Jesse we still have about an hour to go."
"Yup" He said as he started the car and took it off of park, and started towards Atlanta.