So then, I have no idea how well this is going to go over since I've never done a Walking Dead fanfic (haven't done ANY fanfic in years), thus I have no idea how open people are to paralell stories with all original characters. But here goes nothing I guess, I hope it does well.
Chapter 1: Outbreak
Mark shook the hand of the car dealer with one hand and took the keys to the brand new truck he had just bought with the other. "Thank you for your buisness Mr. Taylor, enjoy your new Sierra" the salesman said with a big, cheesy smile.
"I will" Mark replied with a forced smile. The truck was exactly what he wanted, a stealth blue GMC Sierra, crew cab, six and a half foot bed and four wheel drive paired with the big 6.2 liter V8. It was a beautiful mid-line model, but Mark wasn't thrilled about agreeing to pay over thirty-five thousand dollars for it. It didn't take long however, for the price to dissipate into memory as he sat in the drivers seat, turned the key and heard the roar of over four-hundred horsepower come to life. He shifted into gear and stepped on the gas, this time his smile was genuine "I think I'll take the long way home."
By long way, he meant completely out of his way. He drove north on Pyramid Way, took a left onto Highland Ranch Parkway, went south down Sun Valley Drive, took a right onto Pandini Boulevard, followed it to route 395, took a left and drove south through downtown Reno all the way to route 659 just south of the airport and followed it back into Sparks. It was unseasonably warm for the time of year, enough that Mark could have opened the windows, but an odd and rather unpleasant odor made him opt not to. "They open a new landfill or something?" Mark asked himself out loud, dismissing the faint stench as an anomoly, he distracted himself with the new car smell.
Upon arriving home, Mark noticed his parents silver Ford Fusion in the driveway, he wasn't expecting a visit from them today, but sensed it as an opportunity to show off his new vehicle. He entered his house and quickly noticed his parents were not the only visitors, their next door neighbors Jacob and Karen Shawnee were also among the unexpected guests. "Hey guys, how ya'll doing?" Mark asked as he took his jacket off. He got no response, puzzled, he noticed both of his parents, his wife Marina, Jacob and Karen were all glued to the TV. Growing more confused he took a few steps into the family room to get a better view of the TV, it appeared the news was on.
"We continue to follow this breaking news out of Tahoe Pacific Hospital..." The female reporter said as the screen showed what appeared to be the main entrance to the hospital he was referring to. Dozens of police cars lined the parking lot as well as at least two SWAT trucks. "We're not sure exactly what is happening but we have heard gunshots coming from inside the building, police are refusing to comment so we're left to wonder but judging by the massive police presence and the gunshots we're thinking there is an active shooter or shooters within the hospital engaging with police..."
Mark immediately shook his head, "mass shooters aren't looking for a fight they're looking for a body count, what's going on?" He asked out loud.
Mark's quip got the attention of Jacob. "Mark, when did you get home?"
"Just now" Mark replied, "what's going on?"
Jacob shrugged, "we don't know, but it's big."
Mark's father turned his head to see his son at the edge of the room. "Mark! Thank God, where have you been?" Richard Taylor asked his son.
"Just picked up my new truck, took it for a ride, I miss something?" Mark replied.
"You didn't go by Tahoe Pacific did you?" Richard asked, a deep sense of concern evident in his voice.
"I went down 395, no closer than that, when did this start happening? I didn't notice anything when I went by" Mark asked, his confusion growing by the minute.
"About fifteen minutes ago, they were saying..." Richard was interupted by a pounding at the front door.
Mark turned to the door then back to his father, Richard gestured for Mark to answer as a voice could be heard from the other side "hey, open up, we got to go!" it was the voice of Brian Hoffman, the friendly neighborhood conspiracy theorist. Mark rolled his eyes opened the door, before he could even say anything Brian started talking. "Come on, we got to go now, the shit's happening let's go."
Mark was already enduring the conversation. "Go where?" He dared to ask, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Fernley Sink, I got a cabin out there with everything we'll need" Brian said. "Grab your guns and your kids, we don't have time to screw around."
Mark was ready to just close the door when he noticed Brian's truck, and old beige Ford F150 loaded with various boxes in the bed and pulling a white cargo trailer. Mark then realized something was definitly going on, Brian may be a paranoid tin foil hat type, but he wasn't stupid nor did he jump on a hair trigger, he wouldn't mobilize like this unless he knew something solid. "What's going on?" Mark asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but Danielle just called me, we need to get out of the city now, so get the necessities and let's go, you've got five minutes" Brian said just before turning to return to his truck.
Mark turned to his father, his confusion has become concern. "Get mom, get in your car and wait for us" Mark said.
"Why?" Richard demanded.
"Danielle is Brian's girlfriend, she's a nurse at Tahoe Pacific."
Before Richard could reply, Jacob could he heard in the family room "What the hell?" The two men quickly returned their attention to the TV which showed a hideously deformed man walking out of the main door of the hospital.
"There appears to be a severely injured man coming out of the hospital do-" The reporter was cut off by a hail of gunfire from police, she could be seen ducking down as the camera shook hard from the cameraman trying to duck in cover himself. Even with the unclear picture everybody could tell the police were shooting at the deformed man. As the gunfire settled, the cameraman gathered the courage to return to filming just in time to see one officer approach the deformed man, who was now laying on the ground, and shoot him point blank in the head execution style. This caused gasps from the three women in the room.
"Did he just...?" Richard began, not being able to bring himself to finish.
"Yes he did" Jacob finished in disbelief.
Mark touched his father's shoulder. "Dad, get mom and get in your car now, we'll be out in a couple minutes."
Richard nodded and Mark walked over to Jacob "Jake, go home and pack some clothes and food in your car, we're all leaving... Where are your kids?"
Jacob straightened up and turned to leave. "Sarah and Michael are upstairs with Jack and Melanie."
"I'll take care of them, you go get what you need" Mark said, moving to his Wife. "Marina... Honey..." He began, she was clearly in shock. He shook her shoulder gently, snapping her out of her trance.
"Mark! Where have you been?" She gasped.
"You need to listen to me very carefully..." Mark began, ignoring the question. "Go upstairs, get the kids and get all the clothes you can carry and bring them out to my truck."
"What's going on?" Marina asked.
"I'll explain everything once we're ready to go, but for now, I need you to do what I tell you, Jack and Melanie are upstairs with the Shawnee's, get them and grab all our clothes and go out to my truck, I'll be out in a few minutes." Marina nodded and got Karen's attention, the two mothers went upstairs as Mark's mother and father were walking out the door with Jacob. Mark went into the kitchen, picking up a handful of trash bags and then into the garage, straight to his gun safe.
Mark enjoyed various types of hunting, from rifle to shotgun to bow, unlike most hunters he prefered to mix it up rather than choose a single weapon. He began putting a couple guns in each bag. His Remington 700 and Benelli Vinci in one bag, his Stoeger side by side shotgun and Marlin 1894 lever action in another. He filled another two bags with ammunition and put his compound bow and all his arrows in the last bag. Finally, he reached for the pride and joy of his collection, his AR-15. This was a beautiful Larue Tactical Predetar 5.56 equipped with an angled foregrip, Surefire weapon light and laser, fold-down backup iron sights and a Trijicon ACOG with 4x magnification attached to a quick-release mount. He slung this rifle over his back closed his safe, making sure it was locked securely before returning to the kitchen, struggling to carry the five trash bags of various weapons and ammo. As Mark got outside he found Marina and the four kids looking around. "Marina!" Mark yelled.
Marina turned quickly. "Mark, where is your truck?" She asked with her slight Russian accent.
"Right there, in the driveway, I bought a new one remember?" Mark knew his wife was under signifigant stress and it was affecting her ability to think. The kids, ranging in age from six to ten, weren't much help, but at least they were able to carry things. "Throw all that stuff in the back of the truck kids" Mark instructed. Luckily the kids were composed and were able to comply, Mark put the trash bags of weapons into the bed of the truck as well, but kept his AR-15 on his person. His truck came with a soft, roll-up tonneau cover, which he secured to make sure the cargo in the bed stayed in the bed. "Jack, Mel, get in" Mark said as he opened the drivers side back door of his truck, he noticed Jacob and Karen were pulling their Dodge Durango out of their driveway, "Sarah, Mikey, go with your parents" he said, pointing at the backing up SUV.
As mark closed the back door of his truck Brian came over and gave him a walkie talkie. "Tune it to channel four, your folks and the Shawnee's each have one themselves" he said.
Mark nodded, "lead the way."
With everybody in their vehicles, the group formed a convoy, Brian leading the way, Richard and Emily Taylor second in line, Mark, Marina and their kids third and the Shawnee's bringing up the rear. They made their way to Interstate 80 and headed east. No sooner did they get on the highway, which was surprisingly empty, did they see three Blackhawk helicopters flying towards downtown Reno. "Containment squad no doubt" Brian said over the radio.
"Brian, what the hell is going on?" Mark asked through the radio.
After a long pause, Brian came back on, "there's a spot to pull over in about a mile, we'll stop there."
Mark looked at his wife with a dire expression. "Remember I said I was going to explain everything? I'll let Brian do it." Marina swallowed, that was not a good sign.
The convoy pulled over as planned. Brian, Mark, Richard, Marina, Jacob and Karen all huddled behind Brian's trailer. "Alright, I hope you're all ready to have your minds bent..." Brian began, "You know that zombie apolcalypse we NRA guys always talk about?" he waited for that to sink in, "well, it's happening." As expected, the reaction was silence and looks of doubt. "Come on over here, I'll show you." Brian began walking towards his truck, he opened the door and turned on the radio.
"... Scientists have no explanation for the widespread epidemic concerning what they are calling DRS, deceased reanimation syndrom, the only thing we know is that for an unknown reason, persons confirmed to be deceased have somehow returned to life, we are getting reports of this phenomenon from all over the world, as the President said just a few minutes ago, people are to stay in their homes, lock their doors and windows and close thier curtains, everywhere is considered to be on lock-down until the DRS can be contained..." Brian turned the radio off.
"If you need a little more convincing, turn around" Brian said. The group turned to see a man across the road walking in a slightly uncoordinated manner towards them, they also noticed this man had the appearance of a badly decomposed body.
"What... The..." Jacob said, at a loss for words.
Mark shouldered his rifle and slowly aimed, but Brian stopped him. "Hold on, we might want to do this quietly until we know exactly what we're dealing with..."
Mark lowered his weapon. "Well, it's coming towards us, what do you suggest?" He said in a slightly panicked voice.
"This" Brian shouldered a crossbow and fired, hitting the man in the head, it dropped instantly. "Now then, who's coming with me?" He asked as he slung the crossbow over his back.
Mark was the only one who wasn't in a state of shock. "We're all coming with you Brian, that's why we're all here following you."
Brian was attaching a holster with an FNX-9 handgun in it to his belt. "No, I mean who's coming with me to get Danielle?"
Mark was not expecting that. "Brian uh..."
"If you think she's dead then fine, stay here and wait for me, I'll go alone." No sooner did Brian get the words out of his mouth than large explosions could be heard in the distance. Everybody quickly turned in the direction of the sound, seeing that it was coming from the city. Mark was the first to turn back to Brian. "You coming or what?" Brian demanded. Mark paused, having no idea what to say. "If anybody is going to survive that it's my Dani..." Brian declared as he opened the back of his trailer, revealing a green Polaris Ranger off road vehicle.
Mark attempted to be the voice of reason, "Brian... do you even know where to start looking?"
"Of course!" Brian quickly claimed, "you think I'd go in there blind? Now for the last time who's coming?"
Mark realized they weren't going anywhere until Brian got his way, "alright... Fine, I'll go, you cant be going in there by yourself."
"You're out of your mind" Jacob quipped.
"Jake, I... I need you to bare with me-" Mark was cut short.
"Mark, you're insane if you're going back there, after what we just saw, after what we just heard... It's suicide."
Brian chipped in, "not if you know what you're doing, give us four hours, we'll be back."
"And what are we supposed to do? Just sit here in the open?" Jacob demanded.
"Go up a few more miles and get off at Canyon Road, wait for us under the bridge" Brian suggested.
Jacob shook his head in disbelief. "Stupid, absolutely insane..."
Brian unloaded the Ranger, then handed Mark a couple ammunition magazines for his rifle, Mark already had several magazines, but he silently accepted the gifts. Brian gave Jacob, Marina and Richard each a Mossberg 500 shotgun with ammo, but told them not to use them unless they absolutely had to.
With Brian driving, he and Mark headed back towards Reno and the rest of the group headed further east towards Canyon Road.
So then there you have it, I'll see how well this does via feedback and if it's positive I'll continue it.