A/N: Here is chapter 2. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who still loves 28 Days Later... But so what?! It's a classic! A classic I do not own =(
Before everything she knew had turned to chaos, she never appreciated showers or having the luxury of clean clothes on a daily bases. She reminisced about all the food she once ate, it was a tragedy for her to think of all the times she wasted much of it. Sitting on a crate and munching on a sugary energy bar, she let out a sigh. A crowbar rested on her lap. All she ever ate now were sugary things. She was always jittery and had a terrible time sleeping, but that didn't matter. It wasn't like she would have been able to sleep well even if she hadn't been on her sugar rush diet.
She was sure at one point, as a child, eating nothing but sugar and drinking soda would have been her dream. Now it made her sick to her stomach even looking at a Pepsi can, but it wasn't like clean water was easy to find now.
Looking around the tight space made her feel claustrophobic. Once upon a time, the underground station had bustled with life and she was sure the convince store she sat in constantly had people in it. Now it was her temporary hiding spot, away from the dangerous world above.
Most of the shelves had been knocked down long ago. The floor was littered with cans of soda, chips and other junk foods. She noticed some money by the closed cash register. It almost made her laugh when she thought back to how much that money would have meant to her before. Money no longer had value. Nothing but supplies had value now.
The door busted open, causing the young woman to almost choke on her poorly chewed energy bar. She let out a cough, lightly pounding on her chest to bring it back up.
"Sorry 'bout that princess." A man, wearing a gas mask and goggles, walked over to her and grabbed her can of unopened soda. She frowned as she watched him open it; take off his mask and down it in a few gulps.
"Good to see you too Mark." She flatly spoke, lightly kicking her backpack that laid by her feet.
"Come on now, we just risked our lived out there while you sat in here doing nothing. Least you can do is let me have your pop. There's a bunch on the floor."
"I volunteered to go out with you guys."
Mark flopped down beside her, grinning. "Now, now, we couldn't risk that pretty face of yours." She rolled her eyes, shoving him.
"Who's he?" she questioned rudely, suddenly aware of another male in the room. A male she did not know.
"That's what we're about to figure out." Another woman spoke, looping a thick chain around the door handles and locking the padlock. She walked over in long strides towards Mark and sat in a red chair. She lifted the goggles she was wearing and let them rest on the top of her head. Her skin was flawlessly brown and her lips perfect and full.
"Maybe he's a doctor." Mark spoke thoughtfully, observing the man's minty blue scrubs.
"No, he was a patient." The dark skinned woman eyed the man with her dark brown, distrusting eyes.
"Well I'm Mark, she's Selena," he nodded his head over to her. "And this is Katie."
"Congratulations." Katie cheered unenthused. "You're now a member of our club. Welcome." She took another bite of her energy bar.
"I… What's going on here? Those people, why were they after me like that? Where is every one?" the man walked over to a corner and slid down the wall, holding his head in his hands. Katie could tell at one point the left side of his head had been shaven bold. It grew back, but not enough to hide a large scar. The right side of his hair was longer, just touching past his ear.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Jim."
"Well that's a boring name Jim." Katie taunted, smirking at him with her full pink lips.
"Don't tease him Katie. He's been through enough today. He doesn't need your banter on top of that." Mark said.
Katie frowned, but nodded. "Fine."
"Now what about my questions." Jim asked, fiddling with a sloppily wrapped bandage on his forearm.
"The world's ended, can't you tell." Katie dully spoke, stretching her slender legs out in front of her. Mark frowned.
"You'll have to excuse Katie, she's very moody when she doesn't have booze coursing through her poor veins. Surprise the lady made it this far without a drink."
"Oh, piss off Mark."
"Stop it you two." Selena's hair had been wrapped up to keep it from her face. It seemed to Katie no matter what Selena would wear, she always looked good. "You're not helping. He needs our help, not your bickering."
"Fine." Katie immaturely crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, all we have to offer you is bad news."
"It started off as riots, but even from the beginning, we knew something was different. First in small villages, marketing towns… And then it wasn't on tv anymore. It was on the streets. It was coming through your window. It was a virus, an infection. You didn't need a doctor to tell you that." She paused for a moment, as if letting what she said sink in. "They tried to evacuate the cities, but it was too late. The infection was everywhere. The army blockades were overrun, and that's when the exodus started. The day before the TV and radio stopped broadcasting, there were reports of infection in Paris and New York. You didn't hear anything more after that."
"A… Virus?"
"They call it the rage virus." Katie spoke, looking into his stunningly blue eyes. They reminded her of a picture she had seen years ago of a body of crystal clear water. It was so clear that the sand at the bottom of the water, even the colorful fishes, she could see clearly. He was tall, taller than her, and thin. His body was nothing remarkable or Greek God like. His lips were full on top and thin at the bottom, almost hidden by his light brown beard. She concluded at that moment that she thought he was handsome.
"I don't understand." He admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, almost embarrassed by how stupid he was sure he sounded. Mark offered him a friendly smile.
"It makes people mad." Katie explained. "In a matter of seconds, the infected becomes psychotic. They are no longer the person they once were. All they want to do is dig their pretty little teeth into you. Once the virus got out, it went around quickly. And here you stand in the aftermath."
Jim nodded, letting the information sink in. He wanted to say he totally understood, he wanted to be as calm and cool and the three people before him, but he was scared. What happened to his parents? What about everyone he knew?
Jim awkwardly cleared his throat before speaking. "What about the government? What are they doing?" he asked. Selena smirked, letting her head roll back against the plush chair. Katie laughed a little, but it lacked real humor.
"There is no government." Katie sang, almost mockingly.
"There can't be no government! There is always a government! They're… They're in a bunker or a plane!"
"There isn't!" Katie hissed, slightly annoyed. "There isn't a such thing as a government anymore. No one is gonna swoop us out of here and ta-da, life goes back to normal."
Mark frowned. "She's right. There's no army, no police. No TV, no radio, no electricity. You're the first uninfected person we've seen in six days.
"What about your families?"
"Dead. So is Selena and Katie's families."
"And yours will be too." Selena darkly spoke.
Jim shook his head disbelievingly. "I have to go find my parents." He stood up and walked towards the locked doors.
"Whoa, you want to what now?" Mark stood up. "That's not a good idea, I'm telling you."
"I need to find them. It's not far, I can walk it. I'll go alone." He started to yank on the doors, in a desperate attempt to get out. He knew the door was locked, but he had to try.
"Go alone and you'll die." Katie sang again, playing with her straight brown hair. Jim frowned at her. He really wanted to throw something at her face, just to shut her up.
"You just don't have an off switch do you." Mark mumbled before turning his attention back to Jim. "Look, I know you want to find your parents, but if you go back out there…"
"I can go alone."
Mark sighed. "Lesson one, no one goes out alone, unless you've got no choice. We travel in groups. It's safer that way. And lesson two, we travel during the day, unless you've got no choice."
"Our group used to be larger. Some decided to look for loved ones alone and they didn't come back. If you leave here alone, you won't come back. The infected will get you." Selena warned.
"I need to go… I have to see if their alright. If there's even a chance that they survived, I have to know. I have no idea what's going on…" Katie frowned, feeling sympathetic for the man.
"Selena, come on. The bloke just wants some closure. It's not too bad in the morning you know. We could make it." Mark nodded in agreement.
"We should go with him in the morning, just so he can find his dead parents." Selena sighed, but nodded.
"Fine, but you know the rules. If you fall behind, you get left. No if, and's, or but's."
"What happened to you anyway?" Mark asked, throwing Jim a shitty energy bar. "Eat."
Jim eyed the bar, frowning. He hated this brand. "I was a bicycle delivery man." He heard a light laugh. His eyes landed on Katie, covering her mouth. Her body shook with her laughter and it made Jim want to throw the energy bar at her face.
"They still do that? Picture that, a grown man riding around London on a bike."
"Katie, leave him alone. Let him finish." Selena ordered, rolling her eyes at Katie.
"Anyway, I got hit by a car." He put the energy bar down. He was hungry, starving actually, but he was not going to eat it. "Guess I been in a coma."
"Sucks for you. Waking up and finding everyone dead I mean."
"Shut up Katie."