I don't do AN's often but today is a special occasion.
Today, December 12th, is this story's 1 year anniversary.
To celebrate, I'm giving you all this special side story.
A yawn escaped me as I locked my apartment door and headed for the worn ugly dark green stairs of my building.
I wonder if the bakery across the street is still open? I'm feeling like donuts for dinner.
I rounded the first of many corners and used the railing to swing around onto the 3rd floor steps.
Mmm, I'm not sure donuts are worth 4 flights of stairs though...maybe I should get take out too. Chinese and donuts? Yeah. I wonder what soy sauce on donuts taste like?
I jumped the last 4 steps onto the second floor and watched the creepy guy in apartment 2 look over from his door.
I blinked as I watched him shuffle inside, never taking his eyes off me —or more precisely my chest— until he was looking through just a crack in the door.
Does he think I can't still see him there?
I've gotta find a new place, somewhere where the neighbors aren't so...creepy.
Turning, I hurried down the stairs, swinging around the corner to the final set before the ground floor.
That guy makes my skin crawl.
"Um, Hi"
I looked over, and gave a friendly smile to the pizza delivery boy coming up the steps.
"You wouldn't happen to know which floor apartment..." he looked at a piece of paper in his hand. "9, is on, would you?"
9? Oh um...3rd floor? Let's see, 4 apartments to a floor— yeah 3rd floor.
I held up 3 fingers and he smiled.
"Thanks—"
The glass doors of the building shattered in a rain of shards, scattering across the ground floor and my arms instinctively came up to protect my face.
My ears rang as screaming erupted from the bottom of the steps.
Hazard lights blinked in rapid flashes from the doorway, adding panicked yellow flashes to the fight taking place on the ground.
"Ahhh! Hel—!" The man on the ground's screaming was cut short by the vicious gurgling of blood filling his throat while the woman on top of him sank her teeth into his neck.
My eyes grew dry from not blinking but I couldn't bring myself to blink more than twice even though they're starting to sting.
That woman's hand is hanging from the tendon, and I don't think that's a necklace dangling outta her stomach.
The man's screaming drown in his throat but the absence only brought the chaos from outside to my attention.
I'd heard there were riots happening all over the city, but I didn't know it was happening so close.
My breath caught in my throat as more than bloodshot, milk-white eyes fixed on me.
Oh my God...
Her mouth is gone.
Her bone is exposed all the way up to her nose. Her tongue is hanging through her throat, hitting her collarbone.
What I can only describe as a growl made her tongue vibrate as she reached towards us.
Intestine spilled out of her gut, dragging on the ground as she stumbled to her feet.
"Go" I grabbed the pizza boy's arm without thinking and the boxes clattered to the ground as I pulled him up the stairs.
The wet growling behind us grew with a crash, and I glanced over my shoulder as I pushed the pizza boy ahead of me.
The woman now covered in pizza sauce, and collapsed on the steps, but the man from before stood up.
His eyes fixed on me, and a growl much like woman's tore from his chest as he staggered forwards, spewing blood everywhere.
What in Merlin's name…
I took the steps two at a time, grabbing pizza boy and spurring him forward, flight after flight.
My steps thundered steps in time with my rapid heart. My lungs heaved, wracking my chest with every dry pant.
My boot finally slammed onto the 4th floor and I raced for my door, glancing to make sure the pizza boy was still following.
I pulled the keys outta my pocket and struggled to fit them into the lock.
Screams erupted down the stairs; it sounds like 's voice.
"What the Hell was that? What's happening!?" the pizza boy's rapid breaths beside me, picked up with his panic.
I heard doors slamming, footsteps, shouting, and most prominently the growling.
The key finally turned and I stumbled through the doorway, pulling him behind me.
I slammed the door shut behind us, locking the 3 deadbolts faster than I ever have in my life.
I backed away, staring at the door.
My dry mouth finally came to my attention as I swallowed, my thundering heart in my ears as I looked at the other person in my apartment.
The pizza boy took off his baseball cap, pushing his shaking hands through his hair.
"Agh, what the Hell— what was that? That lady she— and then he got up and—" I watched him pace frantically in my living room.
Believe me, Ace, if I had an answer I wouldn't be keeping it to myself.
We need information— we need to know what the flapjack's going on. But how? How the Hell are we supposed to figure this out—
The TV remote on my couch caught the corner of my eye.
I don't know if that's the quickest way to find out but I've gotta start somewhere.
I snatched the remote off the couch and turned the TV on, flipping to the only news channel I've got.
" —news. Riots and brutal attacks continue in the streets of Atlanta and nearly every major city world-wide. All off-duty law enforcement have been called in to deal with the chaos, including military personal."
A piercing scream outside ripped my attention away from the TV.
The pizza boy looked at me and I went towards the door, cautiously.
I looked the peephole, not getting close enough to touch the door but close enough to see outside.
The door across the hall was wide-open and even from here I can see blood.
Something flew through the opposite living room and shattered against the wall.
I jolted back, backpedaling from the door so fast I almost ran smack into the guy behind me.
I glanced around before tossing the remote on the coffee table and went around the back of the couch.
I motioned for him to help before I pushed it towards the door. He rushed around me and pushed on the other side until the couch back was against the door; effectively barring it shut.
"—president has declared a state of national emergency." The tv cut out and I whacked it in several places until it clicked back on.
Percussive maintenance is just about the only thing that works on this thing.
"—ment urging people to stay in their homes. Avoid all contact with the infected. " The picture came back to a cameraman on the street.
People are running in every corner of the screen. Screaming and incoherent shouting echoed from the speakers, cars on fire in the streets.
Rampant vandalism and looting raged in the background unhindered by everything except other rioters.
I've been in a riot before. They're chaotic, violent, and more than dangerous. But I've never seen anything of this magnitude, and I've never heard of cannibalism happening in one before.
A window shattered to the side of the cameraman, and two people tumbled out into the street; tackled like a football player.
The man's head snapped up, teeth pulling the flesh of the person under him like stubborn taffy until it snapped.
Bulged yellowing eyes fixed on the camera and my breath hitched in my dry burning throat.
The cameraman turned away from it to record the military gunning people down in the streets with assault rifles and my stomach coiled into knots that haven't been this tight since I was a teenager.
I felt my blood run the other direction. A cold anxious sweat broke on my neck, and set every hair on my body to stand on end.
I know it isn't a movie but it doesn't feel real, and I knew what was coming. My guts twisted, just knowing there's nothing I can possibly do to stop it.
The camera crashed to the ground without warning, filming nothing but struggling feet.
A blood curdling scream and the most chilling growl I've ever heard boomed through my speakers as blood ran across the ground.
The camera switched back to the news anchor but she looked just as horrified as the pizza boy next to me. Her hand covering her mouth, eyes fixed on her own screen inside the studio.
It was deathly silent for an agonizing time until her hand finally dropped.
I watched her throat bob as she swallowed and weakly cleared her throat, licking her red lips.
"We— We're now showing you feed from above, as the military is taking action in the streets."
The news feed switched to a helicopter shot, and it was nothing but a bunch of grey-ish squares breaking up rivers of black chaos. The screen looked like it had been taken over by ants, swarming around the fires dotted around the streets on screen.
Without warning, the TV shut off along with the lights, leaving us in silence.
The dim orange light of the sun fading over the horizon, ludicrously cinematical.
Heavy panicked breaths beside me drew me back to the delivery boy at my side.
"What do we do?" His lost eyes searched mine for direction.
Something beside my innards twisted in my chest. Something that hasn't been stirred in a long time, and my jaw set.
I thought this part of me was gone, but I guess childhood conditioning isn't something that ever leaves. I honestly don't know whether or not I should be grateful for it right now.
I went to my bedroom and straight to the closet, pulling out two backpacks. One, my Swiss Gear, I haven't used or needed since I got my first place when I was 18.
I swore to myself not to ever be in a position where I'd be using it like that again, but it seems I'll be needing it.
Going back into the other room, I handed the other bag to the delivery boy on my way to the kitchen.
I opened the fridge, setting my backpack on the counter as I did so.
Pack everything that'll last, eat the perishables first.
I pulled the bacon and yogurt outta my fridge and tossed them on the counter.
"What're you doing?"
I grabbed the 4 water bottles from the door shelves and motioned at him.
He came closer and I put two bottles in his backpack before going to the cupboards and pulling out all the canned goods I've got.
"Put those in the bags." I left him in the kitchen and went to the bathroom, plugged the bathtub and turned on the hot water.
The heat will make sure it's pure enough to drink but with the power out, the water likely isn't far behind.
I don't know how long we're gonna be here, but I'm not taking the chance we get stuck here for days without water.
I dug out the small simple first aid kit, as well as grabbing some sanitary items like mouthwash, toothbrush, dental floss, a few washcloths, a bar of soap, cotton balls, and the rubbing alcohol.
My hair tickled my shoulder and I backed up to grab a couple hair ties as well.
A lot of these things have multiple uses, especially the rubbing alcohol.
I grabbed all the medicine I could find and piled everything on the coffee table.
I went around my house, collecting everything and anything I saw a use for. Matches, my lighter, spare clothes, gloves, socks. I even found a needle and thread and stuffed them in the first aid kit. They may not be surgical tools but they'll do in a pinch; I've done it before.
I grabbed two of my 3 sleeping bags from the hall closet and a tent I got for my 22nd which has been sitting, untouched, since the day I got it.
Coming back into the living room, I stopped to watch the delivery boy leaning against the counter, eyes trained on the ground. I can see his arms shaking from here.
"What's your name?" I walked towards him.
He looked at me and blinked several times before answering, "Glenn"
"Glenn. I know how you're feeling right now, believe me. But even if you start to panic, you need to keep your head."
"But did you see that? She ate that guy alive—"
"Whatever that was, whatever this is. It's happening. That's all we need to know. Right now, all that matters is surviving."
"But how are we supposed to— we don't even know what's going on."
"Look, this boils down to two things no matter how you look at it. We either prepare for the worst, or get caught off guard. Now I hope to Merlin's high heaven this is some sort a prank, or psychotic breaks brought on by the riots, but you saw the same thing I did downstairs. I don't know about you, but I don't think we'll get that luxury surprise this time."
He finally looked at me, blowing a slow breath out his mouth. Good, he's calming down.
"How do you expect us to survive—...this?"
"Same way humans have for entire existence. By being smart. Thinking before we act, and doing everything we can to get through. No matter how unorthodox or uncomfortable it may be. Starting with these." I lifted my backpack.
Continuation coming Christmas Day
