Amanda and her two friends, Pattie and Jake, decided to skip school today so that they could catch 'Alice Cooper Live'. He'd definitely be more interesting to listen to then Mr. Cray in Biology. Amanda loved the fact that the sun was out; it made the fall seem like summer, and it made her feel as if the day were still young. She and her friends had constantly complained about how long the school day was and about how much work they had to do.
Her mother's answer to this was that they too unfocused and that it was high-time that they let their distracted young minds snap into shape. She often berated them about lying about on the couch doing practically nothing all day during July.
Amanda loved her mom, but sometimes she just didn't understand what it was like to be her age (speaking of which). Amanda went to the kitchen to prepare refreshments for her guests, if you could call them that (they practically lived at her house); because, she didn't want them to make more mess by raiding the fridge and making dishes or leaving trash all over. That would really bring her mom over.
The gang nursed their snacks and drinks for about three hours.
"Holy crap!!! Your mom'll be home in five minutes, Mandie," Jake yelled after looking at his watch.
"Oh, damn,........." Amanda said mentally drawng a sketch of the worst case scenario that could take place between her and her mother.
"Well, looks like I'm headed home, then. See you guys later," Pattie said attempting to scurry away.
"Not so fast, Speedy Gonzales. Who's gonna help me clean up this mess," Amanda asked.
"Do you like making me feel guilty, or what?" Pattie asked.
Jake busied himself with the minivac, and Amanda and Pattie cleared the cans and the other garbage in the living room. The three hustled and bustled about until they heard the television blare an emergency message.
"CAUTION: THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT. THE CITY HAS CALLED A DECLARATION OF EMINENT PERIL. THE MAYOR AND POLICE ARE URGING CITIZENS OF RACCOON CITY TO EVACUATE IN A CALM AND ORDERLY MANNER. IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS, CONTACT US AT THIS NUMBER, AND SOMEONE WILL BE BY TO ASSIST YOU. REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, A DECLARATION OF EMINENT PERIL!!!!!"
"Oh my God!!! What are we gonna do?" Patti whined now starting to cry.
The three exchanged confused looks and headed for the door. They saw people bustling out of the neighorhood. They got into Amanda's 'Beetle' and followed the caravan of vehicles. She looked at the gas meter and was glad that her mom insisted that she fill up yesterday.
Traffic flowed smoothly until they reached the main overpass. Amanda and Jake grew irate when they saw people exiting their veicles. 'What was the big hold-up?' Pattie screamed for them to move, and another teenage girl who stood by her mother screamed back at them to shut up. When they looked closer, they saw that it was Claire Richardson, the head cheerleader. She seemed to be supporting her mother while she was having some sort of violent seizure. All of a sudden her mother stiffened and fell to the ground.
Amanda leapt out of the car with Jale and Pattie to see what was going on. They watched Claire try to shake her awake, but nothing happened.
Jake pulled Claire back, and ten seconds later; Mrs. Richardson grabbed Claire's leg and tried to bite at it until Pattie kicked her in the rib cageout of fear.
She made a full leap and leered toward Amanda with her hands outstretched ready to seize her succulent young target. Amanda used a martial arts kick that she learned from the 'Tae Bo' video, and she almost hit the monster, but it only served to throw her off balance and send her toppling on to Mrs. Richardson who got her into a headlock.
Amanda instinctively bit the monster and watched her growl in reaction before she pushed Amanda off her.
Mrs. Richardson turned her attention to Pattie who stood nearby waiting to help her friend. She grabbed Pattie's foot and tried to bite her, but Jake and Claire kicked her hands off while Pattie jumped around and wriggled wildly screaming like a screech owl on fire.
Amanda felt a satisfying sensation fill her stomach as the blood from Mrs. Richardson's bite dripped from her mouth. She didn't know why, but she felt the urge to dive on Mrs. Richardson and feast and gorge herself on her. It wasn't the blood that tasted so good; it was something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It tasted like her mother's steak meals. Amanda loved to eat steak with the T-bone in it. Sucking the juice from the bone tasted very good. In fact, it made her feel ready to skip the meat and get straight to the bone part of the main course. That was the best way that she could describe to herself the way that she was feeling right now.
Mrs. Richardson at last made it to her feet and made an attempt to get at the woman who stood in front of her. She grabbed and almost bit the woman's sweater, and would have goten her victim if the woman hadn't punched her hard out of a fear induced adrenaline
reaction. The zombie fell straight on to Amanda flailing violently in an attempt to regain stability. Her bleeding hand touched Amanda's mouth and without warning, Amanda bit Mrs. Richrdson's fingers clean off and began to chew greedily. In the following moments, Amandagrazed Mrs. Richardson like a leopard would graze an anteloupe, tossing the flesh and innner mucle away and going for the bones.
When she was finished, she saw everyone stare at her in fear and awe-filled disgust.
"You don't understand. She tasted so good. I just couldn't help it," Amanda said looking woefully at her surrounding eyewitnesses.
"My God!!!!! It spoke!!!!! One of those things spoke!" a woman screamed from behind the crowd.
"Everybody clear out. This is a matter for the authorities," a muscular man roared pushing his way through the crowd of gawkers.
"Officer... I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. She put her hand in my mouth while it bled, I tasted the blood, and all of a sudden I wanted to tear her apart," Amanda whined in shock at what she'd just done.
She opened her mouth to speak again, and then she felt a sharp jolt of electricity course through her and stun her. The last thing she saw were her friends huddling together so as not to touch her. If only she could make them understand. If only...
Everything went black. Amanda drifted into a stunned sleep amidst a citywide panic, but soon she would awake to find that her new urge, this newly activated taste, would be her one and only hope for survival against the madness that teemed within Racoon City's sealed walls.