In all honesty, I didn't want to hear it. I just wanted my friend back. I couldn't give less of a shit about what Luke had to tell me. I just didn't want to hear it.

"Isabelle, listen the reason I put you two into…a…"

"A quarantine?" I finished his sentence with a snarky tone, I couldn't help it really. And I didn't mean to come off as so short-tempered, but I was still oblivious to the situation. Damn it, I'm feeling so conflicted right now.

"Yeah…" He started, and his shoulders were starting to shake. This was the last thing I wanted, him breaking down.

"I'm sorry for how I'm acting Luke, I shouldn't be like this…" now I felt like shit, "I need to stop with the bitchiness, you don't deserve it."

He pinched the bridge of his and I noticed a tear slide down his face, I'm not good with men crying. At all. But I tried my best to comfort him by letting him lean on my shoulder.

"It's all my fault, Isabelle. This shouldn't have happened." He sobbed quietly into my shoulder and my heart continued to ache for I could feel his pain.

I tried my best to tell him otherwise, but no matter what I'd been trying to tell him it only seemed to hurt him more. What am I doing wrong?

Luke then pulled back from my touch, and he tried his best to wipe the tears away as if he was ashamed to look so vulnerable around me. Even if I'm not good with people crying, I didn't mind that he was showing his emotions. It was completely understandable, of course, he'd just lost his girlfriend and best friend.

"Luke, I'm not trying to sound insensitive…" I started slowly, he looked up at me and nodded his head for me to continue, "I really need you to tell me what's going on."

He sniffled several more times and took a deep breath, "Right, right. I'm sorry, Isabelle. I keep getting off track."

I rubbed his shoulder tenderly, it was the best way I could show that I was understand.

"I just…" He sighed, "I need to get on with it and tell you, huh?"

I shrugged and tried to give my best smile, "Well, I really would like to know, Luke."

"The man…who bit you," he started as he eyed my bandage, "he had a disease. It was on the news really early this morning, the reason I wasn't here was to get food. I should've stayed. I'm such an idiot, Isabelle. I'm so fucking stupid."

I sighed, "Luke, don't. Don't start playing the blame game and thinking what if, it's not going to make anything better." I felt a headache coming on from the crying earlier and my growing frustration, "Please, just continue." I know I was sounding like an asshole, but I couldn't be kept in the dark any longer, especially since he said the man who bit me has a fucking disease, I deserve the right to know.

"The news reported that the dead were coming back to life…like zombies or some shit like that. I don't know, all they reported was that if you were bit you would turn into one after you died."

"Zombies?" I asked skeptically. I knew what zombies were, hell I always watched zombie movies back when in college and after would play some Dead Rising or Left 4 Dead. But in real life? Come on, I'm not stupid.

I was just so baffled at the moment though…zombies? I was entirely at a loss for words, so I did the next stupid thing I could think of…I laughed.

I laughed softly, while nervously at the same time. Thank god Luke was a good friend of mine, because I know anyone else would've beaten the shit out of me. It truly was a bad habit of mine.

"Yeah, but they're not being called that. They're called walkers." It seemed more like a fitting name…since I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to ever call them zombies, zombies were fictional, they shouldn't and wouldn't ever exist. Just like these "walkers" Luke was talking about.

"I don't… want to believe this, Luke. At all." This couldn't be real. This was a dream, had to be. I tried my best to pinch my arm and wake myself up, only for Luke to grab my hand to stop me.

"It's hard to take in, I understand that, but we need to both…" he sighed as if he didn't want to finish his sentence, "we need to move on and accept what's going on so we can survive."

I nodded my head, I wanted to cry. I really did. I wanted to scream and yell and break everything in sight. I just wanted to be home with my family.

My family…

"Luke, where has this been happening?" I asked, my breathing getting quicker as I was starting to get nervous about my family back west, the last thing I wanted was for something to happen and me not being there.

"So far it's the east coast, haven't heard much about the west coast." He paused, taking notice of the very worried look etched on my face, "But I'm more than 100% sure that your mom and brother are okay. I know it, Isabelle." His soft tone helped somewhat, but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough until I'd hear their voices and them saying that they're alive and just…safe. I just wanted them to be safe.

I jumped off the bed and tried to go downstairs to get my cell phone, but I was stopped by Luke. "Don't. They'll hear you, I disconnected the phone anyways so it wouldn't go off."

"Damn it!" I pounded my first on the wall, not caring about the pain. "How am I supposed to know my family is okay? Huh?" I shoved him out of anger, "How the fuck am I supposed to know?"

"Isabelle, please." He pleaded, "Calm down, we can't risk them hearing us!"

I took multiple deep breaths, "I just want to talk to my mom and brother. That's all, Luke. Just give me a working phone and I'll shut up."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and pulled out his cell phone to hand to me, it had barely any signal. This was going to be fun.

I quickly dialed my home phone number. Several rings and no answer. Fuck. I tried calling my mom's cell phone. Didn't work either, fuck fuck fuck.

God, I know I've sinned before in my life, but please take it out on me and not my family. Please make sure they're okay. Please.

I tried one more time by calling my brother's cell phone. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Ring ring ring. More rings.

I was on the verge of giving up and smashing the fucking cell phone into the wall, until my brother answered in a whisper.

I almost squealed but I tried to keep quiet due to Luke's glare, "Jason! Jason! Oh my god, I'm so fucking happy to hear your voice. Where are you? Is mom okay? Are you okay?" I know I was overwhelming my brother with questions and that now was probably not the best moment to be doing so, but I needed to know.

"Yes…we're fine, Isabelle. Mom's with me. We're at a marine base in San Diego right now, preparing for an evacuation to the Catalina Islands. It's our best bet for survival. What about you? Are you okay?"

I didn't want to tell him, I just couldn't bring myself to tell him the bad news, but I had to, it wouldn't have felt right to keep it from him. I lowered my voice, "Jason, please don't tell mom this…I was bit. I don't know what's going to happen." My voice started to break, and I tried my best to stay strong for my brother, "Jane got bit too, and she died about twenty minutes ago but…she came back. I don't remember much about this morning, I just remember being bitten."

My brother sighed on the end of the line, yet remained calm, how he managed to do so was beyond me. "Isabelle, I need to know how long it's been and how you're feeling now."

"It's been about four or five hours…and I don't feel terrible. I did earlier, but now I feel fine. No fever or anything."

"Where are you?"

"Upstairs in a boarded up house."

"Fuck." He said silently, "Mom's going to freak."

"No, Jason, please don't tell her. Tell her I'm safe."

"And if something happens to you?"

"I'll be fine, I just need to talk to Luke on our plans on getting to an evacuation."

"Is it bad in the neighborhood you're in?" He sounded like he was getting anxious, and pretty fast, I think I could hear my mom in the background.

"I don't know Jason, we'll be fine. All that matters is that you and mom are safe, don't worry about me."

"I have to fucking worry, Isabelle!" His voice lowered, "You've been bit and you're in some boarded house! I have to worry!"

"I feel fine though!"

"Maybe you're one of the lucky ones, Isabelle…" I was just about to question what he meant until I heard the phone snatched from him and I could hear the frantic calls of my name coming from my mom.

"Isabelle? Isabelle? Honey are you okay? Where are you?"

I smiled at the sound of my mom's voice, "Mom, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm in…a-a safe place. I should be getting evacuated soon." I felt terrible for lying to my mom like this, but I didn't have the heart to tell her how it really was here.

"Oh thank god, Isabelle. The way Jason was talking on the phone scared me."

"How about you, mom? Are you okay?"

"Yes, sweetie, of course. We were the fortunate ones to get to some military base, there aren't that many people here so I think we'll be fine. But don't even worry about us."

Luke looked over to me as if I needed to wrap things up, I knew that we had a lot of things to attend to.

"Mom, I have to go now. I love you so much and please stay safe. I'll try to contact you whenever I can." I paused for a brief moment, "Can you pass the phone to Jason so I could say bye?" I asked softly, holding back a sniffle.

"I love you too, Isabelle. Here's Jason." I heard the phone being passed and my brother answered softly.

"Yeah?"

"I'll try to contact you guys when I get the chance. Protect mom, alright? And I'm going to try my damn best to get to you. I love you."

"Stay strong, Isabelle. I love you too." He said before hanging up, I was praying that it wouldn't be our last words to each other.


The next couple of hours, Luke and I had to prepare for the following weeks. He'd thoroughly explained to me the situation better, and we were sure to keep the radio on quietly) so we could be informed at all times. So far, we've only learned that these walkers feed on human flesh and can be killed by a shot to the head.

After he'd told me more about the situation, we'd decided when we'd be keeping watch. We also divided up the food among us; there was enough food to keep us going for at least two or three weeks. In the corner of the master bedroom we placed our backpacks and Luke's handgun in case we'd have to abandon the house. We were both hoping the whole threat would die down in a matter of weeks, but had to come to the realization that we'd have to eventually abandon the house.

The master bedroom is pretty much where we'd be staying, waiting out the storm. It was in the middle of upstairs and was the biggest room with not too many windows. The most vital part was that it was in the front of the house, so we could see ahead of the house into the street and the driveway was right below us in case we'd need to get to a car.

Luke explained to me why he had the axe, besides the obvious use as a weapon, he told me it was to destroy the staircase. And…my stuff was downstairs. Great.

It was now probably 8 pm or 9 pm, and Luke was still waiting until there wasn't any more walkers in the area before breaking the staircase. So I took advantage of when he was peeking out the curtains to sneak downstairs and grab my things.

Before I was able to get past the doorway, Luke had already turned around, I was caught.

"Where are you going?"

"I…I was going to get my stuff downstairs." I replied hesitantly, while trying to sneak away from the door casually.

"Let me get it for you, I don't want you making noise downstairs. I need to check the windows anyways."

I sighed and slumped down on the bed, "Alright fine, I just need my phone and clothes."

"Your clothes are already in your backpack because Ja-" He paused, he couldn't even finish the sentence, "I'll get your phone."

This sucked. I mean really, it was hard to describe how shitty the situation was, but it sucked ass. Both of us were still hurting and grieving, which was normal, I was just hoping that it wouldn't impair our survival abilities.


August 26, 2010

The nights were the worst. I wish Luke had somehow gotten a hold of some ear plugs or something. The incessant moans of the walkers kept ringing through my ears the whole night when I was trying to get my rest, no matter how hard I'd try to tune it out. Although Luke always assured me he would be fine with taking night watch, I could feel how torn he was when he'd hear her scratch at the door and groan. The guilt was tearing him apart, and no matter what I would say, nothing would help.

Sometimes at night I'd hear him quietly sobbing in the bathroom, and as always I'd ignore it and pretend I never heard it, but it was just as painful for me as it was for him…to be constantly reminded of a mistake you made.

I was woken by the sunlight bleeding through the blankets covering the windows; it'd been at least two weeks since the outbreak hit. Luke and I were doing fine, I mean we could be doing better, but we were still alive.

My wounds had been healing nicely, and yesterday I was finally able to take off the bandages. There was a slight bite mark, but it could've been mistaken for something that happened when I was much younger, which was really good for me if we were to come across other bands of survivors. From what the radios been saying, a bite turns you into them and if someone were to see my bite mark…I didn't even want to think about it.

Not much had happened the past couple of days, besides the occasional walker coming up to tap on the windows downstairs and maybe a hiss or groan here and there.

Something was different this morning though, Luke wasn't in the spot he should've been. I checked the clock on the wall, the time wasn't wrong or anything. I definitely hadn't slept in either, how could I have with the constant reminder of the undead outside?

Okay, this was getting borderline weird. He didn't even have his gun with him. Ever since day one, Luke always carried his gun. But it was here, on the dresser. And not with him.

I raised an eyebrow and grabbed the gun to holster it in my pants, just in case one of those bastards had broken in. I swear I would've heard it too.

"Luke?" I called out, hoping nothing bad happened to him, or else I'd be shit out of luck. I turned back to the room, there was still supplies (but barely), and he wouldn't have left without telling me anything. Our bags were still there too.

I checked all the rooms upstairs, and still no sign of him. The ladder (which was now used instead of the staircase) was untouched. I would go down there…but I was never allowed to. Luke told me before that I would always stay upstairs because it was safer.

I heard some…weird sounds coming from downstairs. Like…

…flesh being eaten.


Thanks for reading guys! I'd really like some feedback …. :-*

Also, sorry for the writing being a little all over the place, it's to reflect Isabelle's thoughts of course, since she's still a bit in denial over the whole apocalypse thing.

I think it'll be about one or two more chapters until we get back to Rick and Isabelle. Again, thanks for reading~