Chapter One - The Hunt Begins
Mavis Heather Piper Bennett. She always wondered why her mother had gone to the extravagance of giving her such an eccentric name. Her mother claimed that it was a family name. Her grandmother was Mary Bennett. Her great-grandmother was Jane Bennett, so where did Mavis Heather Piper Bennett add into her line of ordinary family names.
Compared to her younger brother, Torin Bartholomew Cassius Bennet, her name was very normal. That was her mother for you, always having to stand out from the crowd and give people the unusual and unexpected.
It was five months into the end of the world, and quite frankly, Mavis had had enough of it. She was stuck with her brother, who would not stop talking and seemed to complain about every little inconvenience. Although she was grateful, he was not roaming around as one of the dead, but at the same time, silence seemed very appealing.
"Do you think clouds have lives? Like they are moving all the time because they need to get to work or back home? See, when it rains is that because the clouds are angry or upset, they cry rain when they are sad. That's why they say England is such a depressing place because all the clouds are sad." Torin said as they walked along. Mavis glared at her brother - shooting daggers with her eyes.
"Why don't you go ask the clouds," Mavis shot back, picking up her pace so she could put some distance between her and her brother. It's not that she didn't love Torin - she adored him, he was her world, and she would protect him until her last dying breath, but sometimes he just got on her nerves as every little brother did.
Madison skipped up alongside Mavis, "He has a point, though," she said, and Torin laughed from behind. Mavis looked down at the little girl that had become her daughter over the past two years.
"Madie, do not fall to his level. You have more intelligence than that," Mavis laughed with a smile, and Madison giggled and looked back at Torin, who had an exaggerated pout on his face.
Madison was her boyfriend's daughter; he also had another son, Kaden. They were twins, but when the apocalypse happened, they got split up, and Mavis ended up with Torin and Madison and her boyfriend, Daryl was with Kaden, she hoped.
It was a Saturday. She had gone with her brother and Madison to visit her mother to help with some yard chores while Daryl had taken Kaden to run some errands in town.
"Daryl!" Mavis yelled, walking through to the small living room and jumping over the back of their rundown red two-seater couch and landing beside her boyfriend. She swung her legs over his lap, and he leaned back, putting his arm around her. "I'm taking Madie with me to see mum. She wants some flowers planted and the grass cut."
"Okay, love," Daryl said as he planted a quick kiss on her cheek and pulled her closer as he played with a loose strand of her light brown hair by her ear. They were having a moment before the twins ran through, their arms filled with toys which they dumped on the rug in front of the couch.
Mavis looked around the apartment. It wasn't much. Still, she and Daryl had put so much work into putting forward a deposit and paying the rent each much that it was good enough for them. It wasn't ideal; Mavis and Daryl slept in one bedroom while the twins were in another room on bunk beds. They all shared one bathroom between them that had a shower that only worked if turned the handle and specific angle, and the kitchen and living space was in one small open plan room.
Mavis met Daryl three years ago in the bar where she worked when she was eighteen. At that point, he was living with his junkie, waste of space brother in his forest cabin with his children. When Daryl was sixteen, he had a one night stand with a girl, resulting in her getting pregnant. Her initial action was to give them up for adoption, but at seventeen, Daryl took them in and became a father to two children with no support at all. He dropped out of school and got a job working at the local car mechanics in town to earn a living.
Daryl and Mavis got close really fast as they had very similar personalities, almost to the point where they were too similar, but it worked naturally between them.
After a bad incident with Merle and drugs where he was left alone with the twins, Daryl knew that it wasn't safe to raise children in that environment so at eleven o'clock at night, he packed their bags, got in the truck, and turned up to his girlfriend's house. It was the only other place where he could go, and she was the only other person he had. Her mother answered the door, and Mercedes was the most caring room in the world. She would never turn them away when they needed help, she knew how much they meant to Mavis, and she, herself, had grown fond of them.
Luckily, they had a spare bedroom in the house and Daryl and the twins moved in. The twins loved it as they adored Mavis, Torin loved playing with them, and Mercedes offered free child care. Daryl loved it too because it meant he could spend a lot more time with his girlfriend. A year later, they moved into their apartment. Fortunately for them, Merle had been arrested and was serving an eight-year sentence for drug possession with intent to sell.
"I'm gonna go into town with Kaiden, do some shopping," Daryl said as he watched Kaiden play with a truck as Madison tried to put one of her dolls in the driver's seat. He smiled at the scene, he never imagined himself as a father, let alone when he was so young, but now he could never imagine a life without them.
Mavis leaned over and kissed him on the lips, "Okay, get something for dinner tonight or do you wanna go to my mums," she asked, lifting herself off the couch.
"Grannies!" Kaiden and Madison cheered. They were aware that Mavis and her family were not their biological family, but both parties loved each other like they were related by blood, which was the most important thing. Mavis loved them more than their birth mother, and Mavis legally adopted them as her own as soon as she turned twenty-one, and they called her mum. Torin cared for them more than their biological uncle, so they saw him as their Uncle Torry. Mercedes saw them as her own grandchildren. She was more than happy when Mavis adopted them.
"I'll tell mum to throw something in the hot pot," Mavis said, leaning over her shoulder to Daryl. He nodded in response as she walked over to the door where all their shoes were and put on a pair of black combat boots, which she wore regularly. "I've got classes tomorrow, so I'll ask mum to take them to school, or will you drop them off?" she asked. Mavis was a part-time nursing student. She did most of the work from her laptop, but two days out of the week, she went to the small college in the next town to do her classes.
"Nah, I've got it, the shift ain't till ten," he said. He still worked at the same car garage. It was only him, the owner, Bill and another mechanic, Sammy.
Mavis rolled the sleeves up of the brown plaid shirt she had stolen from her boyfriend, something that happened more than once, but he actually didn't mind. It was kind of cute.
"Madie, ya ready to go?" Mavis called, and the seven-year-old girl jumped up and ran to the door and sat down on the floor and put on her grey sneakers and bounced back up again, and she opened the door and ran down out.
Daryl turned around, "Do ya want the keys?"
"Nah, we'll just walk, it's only ten minutes," Mavis replied, and she closed the door behind her, and she followed Madison down the concrete stairs leading down the side of the building. Little did she know that it would be the last time she would see her boyfriend and her son for five months as the world suddenly fell into chaos.
They walked the short distance to her mother's house in a small neighbourhood on the edge of the town. The town was nothing special, it was in the middle of Georgia, and most people knew it as a redneck town for its questionable reputation, which was mostly due to high crime rates, increased drug rates and troubled youth, but what they didn't know as that it was tough to get out of a town like this. It was like trying to climb up a wall without a ladder; you had no one offering you a hand to pull you up; instead, you had people pulling you back down.
Madison skipped up the stone path to the front door. She waited for Mavis to catch up with her, and Mavis gave a quick knock before walking into the house. She was quickly hit by a strong smell of incense that travelled through the whole house.
Madison ran through to the kitchen, where Mercedes was sitting at the table. Her light brown hair was thrown up into a messy bun held by a headscarf. Mercedes was a counsellor at the local high school. She leaned down and hugged her granddaughter with a smile on her face.
Mavis's attention was drawn to a door closing down the hallway. She saw her brother stumble out of his room, his light brown hair was messy, and he rubbed his face with his hand. He wore checkered bed pants and had a grey dressing-gown hanging loosely down on his shoulders.
"Seriously, Tor, it's almost eleven?" Mavis laughed, looking at her brother, who had just woken up.
Mercedes got up and stood in the doorway with Madison beside her, "Don't even bother, I gave up a long time ago."
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a morning person like you people," he grunted as he walked, and he noticed Madison, and a smile instantly appeared on his face, and he ran to pick her up. "Madie Boo!" he laughed, and Madison giggled as he spun her around the kitchen. Mercedes waved her hands around, telling the pair to settle down before they broke something. Torin placed Madison onto the kitchen countertop as he clicked on the kittle and began to make a cup of coffee.
"Do you want some bacon or eggs? Mercedes asked, holding a frying pan in her hand.
Torin scrunched his nose in contemplation, "Both?" he asked cautiously, and when he saw his mother staring at him with one hand on her hip and a stern look on her face, he instantly let a large, childish smile spread across his lips. He pulled his best puppy dog eyes.
Mercedes melted, "I can't deny my baby boy with that cute face," she cooed, and as she walked past to get to the fridge, she patted the side of his face. "Mavis, Mads, do you want anything?"
Madison and Mavis both declined the offer since Daryl had made french toast that morning, something he always made on Sundays. Mavis chatted with her mother as she cooked Torin's eggs and bacon. Madison was watching cartoons in the family room with Torin. She scooped the food onto a plate and called Torin through, and he sat down on the chair.
"Have you heard about this virus?" Mercedes asked as she sat down opposite Mavis. Torin munched down on a piece of bacon.
Mavis furrowed her brows, "You mean Ebola in Africa?" she asked.
"No, it was on the radio. They said it apparently affects people's brains or something," Mercedes said calmly with no alarm in her voice.
"That's weird," Mavis commented, thinking nothing of it, her first thought that it was something that would be on the headlines for a couple weeks a few people would run off to their doomsday bunkers, but it wouldn't last for very long.
Torin poked his fork through an egg, "Is it serious," he asked with a mouth full of eggs as some yolk dribbled from the corner of his mouth, which he whipped away with the back of his hand.
"I saw Chris in his yard this morning. He said it was just a bunch of left-wingers fear-mongering. Apparently, his nephew works for the CDC, and he said it wasn't serious," Mercedes said, shrugging her shoulders, "Make of it as you will."
"I dunno ma," Torin said, scraping egg whites onto his fork, "Chris is in his sixties and has dementia, for all you know, he could be talking about the common cold."
Mavis laughed, "He's got a point,"
"You know I don't believe in all that nonsense," Mercedes moaned as she walked over and picked Torin's plate up and placed it in the sink. "Anyways, instead of building a doomsday bunker can we get on with the yard work," she encouraged, waving both of her children out of the kitchen. Torin sulked off to the bathroom, and Mavis sat in the family room and watched the cartoon with Madison. When Torin had showered and changed, he came and sat down on the sofa beside Mavis until a moment later he tried to put his legs up on the couch on top of Mavis, and she kicked him off. Torin now sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa beside Madison.
"Alright, my lazy children get off your asses and get the mower out," Mercedes playfully demanded as she waved her hand in the air, "And my darling Madie let's go get the flowers from the shed," she said. Madison jumped up and followed her out through the back door and to the shed at the bottom of the garden.
"When your own mother has favourites?" Torin whined as Mavis followed him out to the garage, and he pulled the mower out as Mavis plugged the cable in.
They were thirty minutes into the gardening when their heads shot up as a woman came running down the street getting chased by another man. The woman ran over to them, and Mavis shouted for her mother to take Madison inside.
Torin and Mavis ran over to the woman when they knew something was wrong. She had blood pouring down her from a gaping wound on her neck. It looked like someone had bitten a chunk out of her neck. She collapsed at the front of the garden, and Torin and Mavis came to either side of her and tried to help up, but she was too weak.
"Back off," Mavis shouted as the man continued coming closer. He showed no sign of stopping, "Just fuck off!"
The man lunged forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. She struggled, but she lifted her knee to his stomach, and he doubled over as Torin rushed over and grabbed his sister. The man quickly stood up again, but he fell to the ground with a thump as a shot echoed through the air, and they turned to the door where Mercedes was standing with a shotgun. The two siblings looked at their mother like she was crazy.
"Ma, you just killed someone!" Torin yelled.
Mercedes ignored him, "Help her in," she commanded, and Mavis ran over, hitting Torin's arm. They picked the woman off the ground, placing her arms around each of their shoulders.
"Call 991," Mavis said, and her mother pulled her phone out of her cardigan pocket as she hurried them inside, but she quickly discovered that the phone lines were down. Her eyes widened in fear and confusion.
Mavis and Torin placed the woman down the couch. She writhed around in pain; neither of them knew what to do at this moment. Mavis thought back to all the nursing books she read, and she commanded Torin to get towels as she began to apply pressure to the wound with her bare hands.
"Can you keep your eyes open?" she frantically asked the woman. Her eyelids fluttered open. "That's good. Can you tell me your name?"
"Sharon," she coughed as blood spluttered from her mouth. Torin came running through, followed by his mother. He carried towels in his arms as Mercedes held a first aid box.
Mavis grabbed the towels and pressed them against the wound, "Where is Madie?"
"In the kitchen," Mercedes answered, opening the box and sifting through the context.
"Sharon, what happened? Who was that man?" Mavis inquired, pressing her lips together as blood covered her hands. Her jugular must be ruptured. Mavis knew that there was a very little chance she would survive an injury like this after losing so much blood.
She coughed again, "He… b-bit me,"
The others all looked at each other bewildered. What kind of mad man went around biting people, "Mum, when is the ambulance coming?" Torin asked, not aware that the phone lines were down.
"The lines are down. I couldn't get through!" Mercedes said hastily. She was consumed with guilt when she saw the woman coughing and spluttering, so near her death.
The two siblings looked towards their mother for answers. It was a child's first instinct to look towards their parental figures for answers and guidance. When they were young, she would tell them the boogeyman wasn't real, or there were no monsters under the bed. They wished for that now again.
Torin ran his hands through his hair, "We need to call someone! She is going to die!" he cried with fear and panic. Mercedes hated seeing her children with so much fear in their young eyes.
"Try my phone!" Mavis said, and Mercedes took the phone out of the back pocket of her jeans but once again, there was no reception.
"Fuck," she muttered, "It isn't working!"
Mavis looked back down at Sharon, and she knew the inevitable was near. She met her eyes with her own, and a tear fell down her face, a small smile appeared on the corners of Sharon's lips, and Mavis stopped putting pressure on the wound and leaned back. She ran her hand over Sharon's hair and told her quietly that it would be okay. She repeated this until Sharon's eyes closed and her chest no longer moved. She was dead.
Torin fell into his mother's arms and cried into her chest while Mavis kneeled by the couch with a blank expression on her face. She had seen two dead bodies today. Her baby brother had seen two dead bodies. They had seen their mother shoot someone.
They sat there in silence until they heard a high pitched scream. Mavis shot up and ran through the kitchen. She ran over to Madison, who had pushed herself up against the far wall as a man whom she recognized as their next-door neighbour, banged on the door. He had a dead look to his face, his eyes were sunken, and his skin paled. Mercedes and Torin appeared in the doorway, their faces struck with fear and confusion as they looked at the man known as Mr Rogers. Then simultaneously, a voice blared on the small vintage radio on top of the fridge.
"This is an emergency broadcast. I repeat emergency broadcast. This is a message from the Centre for Disease Control. We advise every citizen to make their way to their nearest city and immediately go to a temporary refuge centre. An unknown virus is making its way across the country. There is very little known about this virus, but once a person is infected, they have a sudden urge to consume human blood and tissue. Do not approach anyone who has pale or off coloured skin or has a significant wound appearing to be a bite mark. Go to the refuge centres!"
They fell into silence, and suddenly Mavis screamed. She was covered in the woman's blood. Her first thought was that she was infected now. She ran over to the sink and started viciously scrubbing the blood off her arms, and she pulled the shirt off, and it fell to the ground. Her mother ran over and helped her pull off her trousers as they too were covered in blood, and she was standing there in her underwear. Torin ran off to get her clothes. Madison stood in the corner with tears in her eye as she stared at the deranged man who was still banging on the window. Mercedes ran over and grabbed the keys out of the bowl on the counter and locked the patio doors as she looked at the face of her neighbour. He fit the description that the message said.
Torin reappeared with a plain black t-shirt and another one of Daryl's plaid shirts. He hoped it would calm her down, along with a pair of denim jeans that already had a belt attached. He tugged her arm, and Mavis moved away as her mother pulled the door handle just to be sure he wouldn't get in. He dried his sister's hands and arms and helped her into the t-shirt. She pulled the jeans up and fastened the belt. She placed her arms into the shirt which her brother held for her, and he pulled it over her shoulders from behind. She leaned down and fastened her black boots.
"Mum, what do we do!" Torin asked with rapid breaths, and he held onto his sister's hand for comfort.
Mercedes looked at her children and grandchild, "I don't know?" she said, then suddenly there was a low groan that echoed through from the living room. As they looked down the hallway, they didn't notice the man pick up a rock from the nearby flower bed, and they cowered back in fear as Sharon stumbled through with her teeth bared. Her skin colour had faded, and her eyes sunken, just like the man outside. She edged closer, slowly.
Suddenly the glass flew across the room as the rock fell to the floor, and Mr Rogers stepped into the small kitchen.
Mavis grabbed Madison and held her brother's hand tightly, and she reached for her mother, but before she could, Mercedes was captured by Mr Rogers, and before she could do anything, he sunk his face into her neck, ripping a large chunk out just like Sharon's wound. She fought back as she screamed. Mavis reached for the shotgun on the table, but there was no way she could shoot him without killing her mother, so instead, she lunged forward and sent the barrel into his face. He fell back into the wall, but by this time, Sharon was in the doorway, dangerously close to Madison, but Torin had put himself between them.
Mercedes stepped forward and pulled her son back, and in one last effort, she called out for them to run as she pushed Sharon into the hallway. Mr Rogers was beginning to regain his balance but taking one last look at her mother, who was lying on the ground on top of Sharon.
She grabbed her brother's wrist and pulled him and Madison out of the kitchen through the broken door and into the garden. Mr Rogers had stumbled into the hallway, and Mercedes stood no chance against the two of them. Her screams escaped outside and could be heard by Mavis, Torin and Madison as they ran to the front-drive.
Mavis was in no clear mind to comprehend what was happening, but she knew two things - she had to keep Torin and her Madison safe, she would not lose them too, and she had to find Daryl and Kaden.
They ran over to the grey 2000 Honda CR-V, and thankfully their mother had left the car unlocked again and left the keys in the cupholder. A bad habit that Mavis had scolded her about hundreds of times, but it had just saved their lives.
Mavis climbed into the driver's seat as Torin got into the passenger's side. Madison was in the back. She wasted no time before she quickly drove off down the road. It took her less than five minutes before they reached the apartment complex, but her heart froze as the blue truck was missing from its usual spot. She ran up the stairs without hesitance, Madison and Torin behind, she fumbled with the keys before the door flew open, and she rushed inside.
"Daryl! Kaden!" she shouted as she ran through the small apartment, opening every door but froze in the centre of the living room when she realized they weren't here. There was no note or anything at all. They must have left to go shopping before the broadcast. Madison walked up to her mum and tugged on her hand.
"Mummy," she said in a soft voice. Mavis looked down at her, "Daddy and Kaden will be alright, we will find them... or they will find us," she comforted, and Torin stepped up and wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders.
"She's right, Dar always keeps his crossbow in the truck, and he knows how to survive better than anyone. He will look after Kaden."
Mavis knew deep down that they were right. They collected some supplies from the apartment and quickly left back to the car, they drove around the town in search of Daryl and Kaden, but it was chaos. Cars had crashed on the main street, making it impossible to go down there, and people ran around in search of safety. They saw no other option than to leave the town they called their home behind.
The hunt for Daryl and Kaden begins.