"Don't call me sweet, Chuck," she chided. "Have you seen the news?"
"Not recently...why? Has something happened?"
"Yeah, there was another...attack. A few cities here on the east coast got hit with a virus that makes people attack each other."
"Like, an actual terrorist attack? Jesus. Let me see what the chatter on the Net's saying." The cell phone was silent for a few minutes, as the clacking of keyboard keys and the clicking of a mouse could be heard. Finally, he came back onto the phone. "It's nationwide, Andrea. There were attacks in Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Detroit. Projected deaths are in the low thousands." He sounded on the verge of crying, or throwing up.
"Listen, Chuck, keep an ear out for an attack on Lawndale, or if there are reports of violence here. If anything comes up, get your ass down here to the PayDay and we'll button up until it all blows over."
"Sure thing, sweets." Worry was in his voice this time, not affection, and Andrea didn't think to chastise him. She closed the cell phone and looked over the parking lot, empty save for her car and Kevin's jeep. It was entirely dark now, so the parking lot was being lit by the light poles placed evenly throughout it. Traffic was light; she couldn't hear anything denoting an emergency.
She looked over to Kevin, who was standing awkwardly a few feet away. It suddenly occured to Andrea that he wasn't wearing his football uniform. He looked small without it.
"So. Uh. Kevin."
"Yeah?" he said, perking up.
"Did you...want to stay here or something?" she asked.
"No...I better get home to mom and dad. They might get worried," he said, a frown on his face.
"Well, okay. If you need anything, though, feel free to swing by."
"Sure thing!" he said, now grinning. He waved as he went to his Jeep and started it up. She watched as he drove to the edge of the parking lot, then turned back to the doors.
She was jarred back around by the sound of crumpling, grinding metal. An SUV had plowed into Kevin's Jeep, flipping the vehicle onto its back. Andrea jogged over as fast as she could; by the time she had made it, Kevin had crawled out from the vehicle's wreck.
"Aw, man! Dad's gonna be pissed!" As Kevin bemoaned his wrecked auto, Andrea checked the driver of the SUV. The woman had torn clothing, an obvious bite on her shoulder, and judging by the way she clawed at the door's window, snarling and pressing her face against the glass, Andrea guessed that she had been infected in Baltimore and had succumbed to the virus (or whatever) on the road shortly before nearly killing Kevin. She whipped out her cell phone and dialed 911.
XXXX
As an EMT checked Kevin, several men wearing full body armor wrangled the woman out of the SUV, duct-taped her mouth, and zip-tied her hands and feet. The officer interviewing Andrea noticed the focus of her attention. "Yeah, word from HomeSec is to not let them bite you," he informed her. "Whatever that shit is, it's nasty as hell and spreads faster than melted butter. After we put this'un into holding, we'll be moving to Baltimore in full force to act as riot control. I heard they're already strip-searching people, making sure they don't have any bites or scratches."
The armored officers tossed the woman casually into the back of a squad car and piled back into their tactical police van. "Well, if we have any other questions, Ms. Hecuba, we'll call you," the officer told her. "You be safe now."
Andrea watched for the next ten minutes as the cop drove away, the ambulance (with Kevin inside) drove away, and a tow truck and a wrecker came and hauled the Jeep and the SUV away. She was now again alone in the middle of the well-lit parking lot.
Suddenly feeling like she was being watched, she jogged back to the Pay Day and let herself back in. Being inside comforted her.
XXXX
Her cell phone woke her up. Checking the time, she saw that it was 3 AM. "Andrea, let me in." It was Charles.
"What? Where are you?" she asked.
"Right outside. Damnit, Andrea, please let me in."
She yawned and stretched. She had sat on one of the leather couches, a big-screen TV on in front of her. She was watching the crisis unfold, when she decided to lie down, and...what had happened to the news? The TV was showing static.
She made her way to the front of the store and let her boyfriend in. They embraced and kissed for a moment. "What did you find?" she asked him, locking the doors again.
"There was a wave of secondary attacks," he said. "Both regular and biological. The regular bombings targeted key hospitals in and near the affected cities; the bio attacks were concentrated on the first responders, emergency headquarters, and the like. Andrea...there isn't a Cedars of Lawndale any more."
