Shawn's pov
"I'mfeelin so many different emotions right now. Fear, sadness, confusion, but by the end of that day there was a new feeling...betrayal"
"Dad! Mom! What happe- I stop as I witness a sight I'll never soon forget. My mother was in the corner of the room, naked in blood soaked bed sheets, cowering in fear. I follow her gaze...
And then I see my father, hunched over a naked man's body, hands covered in blood, with a large shard of bloodied glass in hand.
He looks at me with a shocked expression. I hear my mother rambling in the corner "oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god" my father steps towards me, dropping the glass shard in the process.
"Shawn, I-I'm so sorry," he says as he continues toward me, he stops as he sees me back up into the bedroom door. This entire situation is so confusing to me and it hurts.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?" my mother shouts, "DO YOU KNOW W-WHO THAT WAS!!?" she continues. My father has a slightly irritated look on his face but he calms down.
In the distance, the three of us hear sirens blaring in the distance, police sirens "our neighbors must have called." I think.
My father takes a very deep breath and exhales as he kneels down to my level. My mind is racing and my emotions are all over the place, and the person I look to for guidance the most, just got done killing a man.
"Look at me Shawn" I do as he says, he continues "I'm about to go away, probably for a really long time ok? I shake my head as I reply
"No no no, you can't! This is just a huge accident right?" Tears began streaming down my face. He shakes his head.
"It's not safe for you to be around me anymore son, and I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am" he says, tears were threatening to fall from his eyes as well. We hear a loud knock on our front door as one of the officers shout
"STEP OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE! NICE AND SLOW, HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!!!!"
my father stands up and looks at my mother "Layla I- my mother interrupts.
"Just go, Lee" She said with a disgusted tone. He nods, without a word he exits the room and walks down the stairs. I hear him open the front door as I bolt after him.
"Dad?" I mutter, he doesn't respond. I watch as the officers handcuff him and throw in into the cruiser, he looks at me through the back window as they pull off.
"Little did I know, that would be the last time I'd ever see my father...alive"
One month later...
It's eerily quiet In the Everett household. A young boy sits on the living room couch flipping through a book. A formally dressed Layla walks down the steps from her room and darts into the kitchen.
"Are you hungry?" She ask, Shawn simply flips a page in his book and continues to read. She frowns "how about we go grab a pizza?" She says trying to cheer him up. The child lowers his book and looks at his mother
"Dads court hearing is today, and no I don't want pizza, I want my dad, not you" he mutters that last part under his breath.
Layla audibly sighs "how long are you going to hate me? I'm trying my best here son" She replied as she leaves the kitchen and crouches in front of the boy.
"Dad tried his best too, he'd still be here if you weren't such a cheating wh- she slaps her son before he could finish his sentence.
"You don't have the fucking right! To speak to me that way, do you understand me? I'm still your mother!" She screens, tears streaming as she grips the boys shoulders.
Shawn looks at her rant, with a cold emotionless face. "It's almost five pm, shouldn't we get going?" He coldly states. Today was his father's court hearing. His mother releases her grip.
"Fine, go!" His mother states, as she snaps her fingers and points toward the front door. Shawn heads out of front door, slamming it shut as he leaves.
They've been on the road for about 10mins now, Layla couldn't stand the deafening silence and making conversation with Shawn was pointless. She turns on the radio, looking for anything to help pass the time.
Radio*
[This Is an urgent warning to from the CDC, a new virus has been rapidly spreading throughout Atlanta via physical contact. At this time we ask that you all return to your homes, don't panic and await further information]
Layla hears this and perks up slightly with a raised brow, she looks back at Shawn and notices the small look of worry on his face.
"It's ok, probably just a stupid prank, it's not un-common" She tries to ease her son's worries. Just then helicopters and police swarm pass them, Shawn looks at them, then back to his mother
"Did those pranks come with helicopters and police cruisers too?" The boy ask with a mixture of fear and sarcasm. Layla looks forward and notices that they haven't moved in the last five minutes. It's a traffic jam, a man walks up to Layla's driver side window and knocks.
She skeptically rolls down her window and humors the man "you know what's going on up there?" She ask, the man nods and speaks
"Yeah actually, apparently a police officer must not have been watching the road. Struck a bastard with his car goin forty and slid off the road" the man says
As his mother and the stranger are talking, Shawn notices a woman limping toward the man with a crazed look and white soulless eyes.
Instinctively Shawn shouts "LOOK OUT" The man turns around but by that point it's too late, the woman takes a chunk out of the man's jugular, he tries to scream but all that comes out are gargles.
Layla screams as she rolls up the window, Shawn scoots back to the passenger side of the back seat, shaking his head slowly as terror sets in.
Layla gathers herself as she spots her son freaking out in the back seat. She looks outside to see multiple other civilians running in one direction. Men, women and children alike are either running, eating, or currently being eaten!
"Shawn! Look at me baby" She tries to get his attention, but to no avail. Before she can try and further convince him to snap out of it the boy speaks
"That man, he was just there, there's so much blood mom, so much" Shawn says with wide eyes. She had to do something fast before he starts to hyperventilate, she crawls onto the back seat, making sure her body cuts off the view of the man's blood on the back window.
She clasp her son's cheeks with both hands forcing him to look at her "I need you to listen to me baby. We have, to go, now." She pleads, "I know you're scared right now, and I am too, but right now I need you to be brave alright? Can you be brave...like daddy?" She felt a bit dirty using her ex husband as motivation but if it got Shawn moving it was worth it.
Sure enough it did, Shawn's face becomes hardened a newfound determination "yeah, yeah! I will mom, what do we do first?" He ask. Layla looks behind her once more and notices its still evening.
"We're gonna have to leave this car for starters. Luckily we're parked closer the edge, I'm thinking we head into the forest" She explains.
"But won't there be more of those things out there? Those, walkers? He ask his mother. She contemplates before speaking.
"That's a possibility, sure but it's better than running down the street like idiots, yeah?" It obviously didn't work for those people outside, and she refused for only son to meet the same fate.
"Yeah, that makes sense" the boy nods. Instinctively Layla reaches over the front seat looking into the glove compartment and only finds her hunting knife, "fuck, of course they took it" she thinks to herself, the police had confiscated Lee's gun after the arrest.
"This'll have to do for now" She says, crawling back to her son she unlocked the door behind him. "Stay close, stay quiet, and never leave my sight" She commands, the seven years old boy nods.
Opening the door slowly as to not hit the railing, she pokes her head out of the car, looking left to right. The coast was clear. She steps over her son and outside the car, she crouches.
Hopping over the railing, she signals her son to do the same. Once their past the railing and down the hill, she grabs the boys hand and readies her knife
She looks down at Shawn, then back into the forest "Lets go" She says as her protective instincts kick in.