Part Two: SURVIVAL

Chapter Two.


Robert headed up the stairs, his M4 in hand. He was met halfway up by Alexis. Her hair was a mess and she still looked like she could sleep for several more hours.

"Hey, Lex. Just getting ready to go to sleep," he greeted her with a wary smile, pausing on the steps to talk to her.

She just looked up at him and smoothed her hair out a little bit. "'Ello. . . ," she muttered, putting a hand up to her mouth and stifling a wide yawn. Her yawn turned into a quiet growl. "You mean going into the bathroom to hide in the tub."

He shot her a glare and she just gave him an apathetic gaze. He shook his head and waved his gun down stairs. "I don't want to move around. I move to my bed eventually," he snapped.

Alexis rolled her eyes and started to walk passed him. "I know," she said, stifling another yawn. "Just given you a hard time. What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you can find."

"Just like always. Have fun in the tub. I hope it's at least dry."

He waved his hand. "How long has it been since you've had fresh meat?" he asked, making sure there were at least five steps between him and the half-Infected.

She turned and narrowed her eyes. "You couldn't get a deer?" she assumed. "Or even a pigeon?"

"Now, I'm only one man and a dog," Robert replied. "You can find something, right? If worst comes to worst I'll just give you one of those rats I have downstairs again."

Alexis shuddered. "That thing was nasty. Sure, it was easy to kill, but it was all tough and stringy. . . ," she said, more to herself than to Robert.

"Beggars can't be choosers."

She rolled her eyes again and continued back downstairs. "If I don't eat some meat soon there will be no living with me."

"Don't I know it. I'll go fishing sometime if you can't find anything."

"Fish ain't meat. . . ," she muttered quietly.

They parted, Alexis going to the downstairs bathroom to run a brush through her hair and take care of other things. She didn't have to spend time to get pretty since she was going out at night and there would be no humans to deal with.

Robert went upstairs. He paused at the door where he had given Samantha a bath and the German Shepherd started to get back into the tub, but Robert called to her and they went instead up into his room.

The screeching started up several minutes later. Sam started to whine quietly, and no matter how much Robert assured her, she was restlessly walking around the room until finally Robert lead her back into the bathroom so they could lay in the tub. She quieted then.

"You are such a strange dog," he muttered quietly, hugging his precious M4 to his chest.

Suddenly, a vicious and angry snarl ripped through the other screeches, silencing them for several minutes before they started up again. However, they sounded farther away and a lot more cautious.

Robert shook his head but said nothing. He knew who had made that sound. It would have made him smile if he weren't so freaked out.

When the screeches had faded into the far distance, Robert slowly pulled himself up and out of the bathtub. Samantha leaped out of the tub and carefully picked her way back up the stairs to Robert's room and jumped onto the bed.

"Get some sleep," Robert said, changing into more comfortable clothes and crawling into the king-sized bed.

It took a few hours, but he did eventually get to sleep. He was plagued, however, by the memories of his past. . .

It was dark out. Night time. A row of black vehicles rode up the side of a nearly-abandoned neighborhood street. Out of the middle SUV came Robert Neville. His family walked out of the house, his wife and a little girl with a puppy.

"Robert? Robert what's going on? I keep calling but I all get is this recording!" his wife declared, scurrying toward her husband, her daughter in her arms and a puppy in her daughter's arms.

He ignored her initial question and lead her to the car he had jumped out of. A man in a military uniform climbed out of the other car walked over to Robert's. "We've got thirty minutes, Colonel."

Robert nodded. "Get in the car," he said, helping his wife into the front seat and strapping his daughter into the seat behind his wife's.

Once settled in, he started to follow the other military officer. Robert glanced at his wife. "Did you get all the money?" he asked, slowing down a little bit as they came to a stop sign.

"Yeah!"

"How much?"

His wife thought for a minute. "Six hundred dollars," she replied, sounding a little bit harried.

"That's not enough," Robert muttered, shaking his head. "Once you get across the bridge, I want you to get to an ATM and get as much money as you possibly can. Then head over to your sister's house. I'll meet you there in two weeks."

"Robert you said 'you're" going, not "we're" going."

"I don't want to go to Aunt Sara's," the little girl muttered to herself while Robert was talking to his wife. "We only go there in the summer. It's Christmas."

"They're quarantining the island," he said at last, finally answering his wife's question. Lights whizzed by his mirror and both he and his wife, Zoe, ignored their daughter's complaining.

"What island? This island? Jesus, Robert! Did it jump?" his wife demanded in a whisper.

"You left my presents in the closet," the little girl continued, petting the puppy in her lap. Her voice filled the silence while Robert ignored his wife.

"Is it airborne?" she asked, more urgently.

He took a breath. "We think so," he said guarded.

Zoe leaned back in her chair and shook her head. That was not the best news she'd ever heard.

"He's making the announcement now," he said, leaning forward and fiddling with the radio dial for a few seconds.

"It's Christmas!" their daughter complained again.

"Hush, now, Marley," Robert said, glancing back at his little girl.

She looked down at the dog, then looked back up and put her hands together. "Look, Mom, a butterfly!"

"Marley that's enough!" Zoe demanded. Marley, looking dejected, quieted.

A male voice that claimed to be the President was issuing a formal command to quarantine New York City. After a few seconds, he turned it back off.

"Robert, come with us," Zoe said, staring pleadingly at her husband.

"I can't leave. We have a small window and if we find something in the next two weeks we should be able to reverse the spread," he said, not looking away from the windshield.

She continued to look at him. "What are you doing?"

Looking confused, Robert glanced at his wife. "What am I doing? This is Ground Zero. This is my site. I'm not going to let this happen."

"Let this happen? Robert this--!"

Robert had stopped for a light and his wife was interrupted when a sick and bleeding man slammed into the window. Zoe and Marley started to scream and Robert hit the gas, driving away from the sight.

Robert woke up, staring up at the ceiling. Samantha sniffed, then started to lick at his face. The alarm on his wrist watch went off and he looked at it, turning it off. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

He got up to start his day by making some breakfast and opening all of the shutters. He turned around when the front door opened, but Alexis walked in with an oversized hooded sweatshirt. The hood was drawn close over her face to block the sunlight.

"Did you find anything to eat?" Robert asked, pulling open the windows by the door. His shoulder brushed Alexis' gently and she instantly recoiled from him, hissing.

"No, I didn't find anything, so don't come too close to me," she said, taking a breath.

Robert glanced at her and grimaced. "Alright, alright. I'll try to catch something today. Whether it be some fish or a deer. You'd prefer deer, though, right?" he asked.

Alexis nodded and stepped onto the stairs. "Yeah. Deer is better. Raw. If you do catch fish, it'll hold me off for a little bit."

"Alright. Where's the stuff you scavenged?"

"In my car. I was gonna bring the bag in, but I got up here in the house as quick as I could. My face was starting to burn."

Robert walked over to her. "Let me see."

She sighed and looked up. Robert gently took her chin in his hand and moved her head around, getting a good look. "Yeah. Looks like you've got some serious sunburn. Least you can't get cancer from it. Dr. Krippen did something right."

With a giggle, Alexis took another step up the stairs. "I'll be fine for the night. I'll just get some aloe and rub it in. It doesn't hurt that much."

"That's because your nerves die really easily."

"That makes me feel better," she muttered, rolling her eyes and sitting in the middle of the staircase. "Now what's for dinner?"

"I could make you some bacon?" Robert offered her. "That's the only meat stuff I have currently. I was just gonna eat some leftovers."

Alexis shrugged. "Just throw me the bacon. I don't need it cooked. Prefer it raw anyway." It was much better for her to eat raw meat. There was just something about it that sated her hunger more.

Robert chuckled and walked into the kitchen. He came out a few seconds later with a plate of bacon strips. It was just a few, as bacon was really hard to come by. He handed Alexis the plate of raw bacon and she immediately dove into it with a ravenous hunger.

Eyes wide, Robert walked quickly away. Samantha peeked around the corner and whimpered, then followed after her owner.

It was a full minute later that Alexis was done with the bacon strips. She sat there on the stairs, the only haven from the sunlight that flooded the downstairs, and waited.

"Alright! I've got some of my dinner from last night ready," Robert said, walking toward the stairs and swapping her empty plate with one filled with vegetables. "How do you feel now that you've had some meat?"

She nodded and swallowed a huge bite she had started to eat while Robert was talking. "Better. Though if you would have given me the whole thing I would be feeling a whole lot better," she said, giving him an accusatory look, stuffing more corn in her mouth.

He sighed and sat on the steps below her, eating his own breakfast. "I would have, but then what would have eaten a few weeks from now? I'm saving this bacon just for your little tantrums."

Sighing, Alexis nodded. "Yeah, yeah. . . I guess you're right. How many times has your rare bacon finds saved your delicious hide?"

He shot her a suspicious glare. "Are you being funny?"

"Apparently not," she muttered rolling her eyes and picking hungrily at her vegetables. "I hate these things. . . They don't taste good. . . I used to love corn. You know that?"

"You tell me every time I feed you," he chuckled.

"Oh yeah. Well, it still floors me. Anyway, I'm going to go finish this in my room. I'm starting to get a headache from this sunlight."

Robert nodded and got to his feet at the same time Alexis did. "Just bring your plate down when you wake up tonight," he said walking toward the kitchen to continue his meal. Alexis nodded and disappeared into the darkness of her room.

When he was done eating, he started to exercise. He had a room decked out with two treadmills and there was a pull-up bar attached to the top of the door. He started there first, then he and Samantha both ran on the treadmill for quite a while.

They had to stay in shape.

After his workout, Robert got into street clothes and headed back downstairs. Under the stairs sat a door to the basement. Samantha sat at the door and whimpered quietly, but Robert pushed her aside.

"Uh uh. You know better than that," he said, opening the door only big enough for him to get through. "I'll be right back."

Samantha whined, but she sat down and obediently waited for him to return.

He washed his hands thoroughly in a sink, a generator kicking up instantly, and then donned a lab coat. He walked over to an Apple computer and set up a wireless camera.

"September fifth 2009," he started, staring at the camera on top of his computer. "Switching to live feed."

Robert moved the camera to a pair of glasses he was wearing and walked over to a large fixture covered with a large tarp. He pulled the tarp to reveal a table stacked with small cages full of Infected Rats. As soon as the tarp was removed, the rats started to slam themselves against the cages and make unholy noises as they attempted to attack their captor.

However, there was a good majority of them that were dead. Robert shook his head and counted off the ones that were alive and then the ones that were dead, keeping track of what his attempt at an antivirus was doing.

He had just about lost hope until he caught sight of cage number seven. "Hang on. . . Number seven shows a change in aggressiveness. Partial pigmentation return. . . Partial reaction to light. We have a compound set for human testing. Hang in there, number seven," he announced as he tapped at the glass with one finger.

After he cleared everything up in the basement lab, he headed back upstairs. It was time to go out into the world again. He opened up armoire next to his front door and pulled on a jacket. Samantha stood next to him, waiting patiently to get her day started. He grabbed a bunch of assorted items, including an M4 rifle, some DVDs, and a set of keys out about 20.

With Sam in tow, Robert headed out to his Ford and climbed in the front seat, allowing his dog time to jump into the passenger's side. He threw on some music; Bob Marley's Three Little Birds, then pulled away from the curb and headed out.

The first stop on his agenda was a video store. The site of the mannequins standing at the front pulled on Robert's heart strings: he knew it probably wasn't healthy, but every time he saw them, he always jumped to think that maybe someone was out there. Renting videos. Instead of getting some supplies.

He parked the car in the middle of the street—no one was around to complain or even hit his car—and climbed out. He pulled out the keys and walked to the door, unlocking it.

"Oh, hey Fred! Marsha. What are you doing here so early?" he asked the dummies, turning to them as if he'd actually just saw them there. He paused to allow them time to "respond" and opened the door. Sam went running in first like she always did, and a few seconds later a bark was heard from inside the store, indicating that it was clear.

"See you guys inside. That's a nice sweater Fred! Don't set it down anywhere," he called as he walked into the video rental store. There was a man sitting at the check out desk, and there were a few other "customers" standing around. He'd stop and say good morning to them as he walked over to a shelf.

Taking out some DVDs from his pockets, he ran his fingers along the spine of the movies, then set his few DVDs back in their places. Glancing over his shoulder, he "noticed" a female standing by the adult video section. He grabbed another movie and started to read the back, glancing over at the woman, as if he was trying to come to a decision about something.

Should he go over and talk to her?

Inside, he knew he was a sad person. But he was lonely. He might have had Alexis to talk to every now and again, but he missed interacting with people on an hourly basis. Samantha and Alexis curved that craving slightly, but he needed more. . . He needed more friends to fill the void of the ones he had lost in the infection.

Making a choice, Robert walked away from the female mannequin and toward the desk. "Morning, Hank. Half way through the Gs," he announced, smiling at the male display dummy.

He fiddled with some stuff on the counters, then leaned toward Hank and glanced back at the mannequin again. "Hey, see that woman over there. . . ?"

Hank just sat there.

Robert shook his head. "Never mind. See you tomorrow." He put the DVDs back in his bag and headed out, locking the door behind him. Sam was already waiting back in the car like a good little dog. She tilted her head to the side and her tongue lolled from her mouth. She was always happy to see Robert.


Well, here's the second chapter. I'm going to be getting a few more of these chapters up at a time because it's kinda slow. I mean, you've seen the movie. Not much happens for a little while. So, I figure I should get a bit up here at a time so it doesn't take so long haha.