Harper pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped on her mom's contact. She called multiple times, but it was apparent that the lines were clogged and no calls were going through anytime soon. After five more tries she gave up and put the phone away. Sam sighed and turned the TV off.
Harper looked at the scratches the old woman left on her arm. No skin was broken but there were red marks and it hurt like hell. She walked over to the window and looked outside just to clear her mind a bit.
"When are your parents coming back?" Harper asked absentmindedly.
Sam shrugged and replied,"I guess in a week or so.".
Harper looked down at the streets and watched an ambulance drive in to view. "Do you think that ambulance is for the old hag that attacked me?" Harper seemed to ask no one. Sam got up and looked out the window to see the car pull up to the apartment building they were in.
"Oh shit, I totally forgot about helping her" Sam whispered to herself.
Harper sniggered a bit before realizing the severity of the situation and making a small 'oh' noise. She frowned and rubbed her arm a bit awkwardly. Sam kicked a soda bottle and huffed irritably.
"We should probably downstairs and check things out" Harper mentioned.
Sam nodded and walked to the door. They both left the apartment and walked down the flights of stairs. At the bottom they found that two girls in uniforms were restraining the writhing old woman to a stretcher. Harper look at the woman's mangled neck and shook her head. "How is she still alive…?" she asked herself.
Sam grabbed Harper's arm and tugged her back up the stairs, away from the crowd that started to gather around the crazy lady that somehow survived. Harper followed close behind Sam and they made their way back to the apartment.
"What kind of sickness makes crazy old bats live even after practically ripping their necks' up?" Harper said to break the silence.
Sam shrugged and replied with a quiet,"I have no idea".
Harper opened her mouth to say something, but jumped in surprise at the sound of a loud 'BANG'. Her eyes went wide and she stumbled to the window. Although the sun had just set and it was dark out, she could still make out the shapes of people dashing around the streets. They were breaking windows to small shops and throwing bricks at buildings.
The groups of people were looting said shops and someone kept setting off their gun into the sky. Sam dashed over and gasped before disappearing from Harper's side again. Harper looked over her shoulder and saw her friend going through some boxes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Harper asked in a slightly hysterical voice.
"We are going outside to see what all of the fuckin' fuss is about" Sam said and pulled out a baseball bat. She stood up and walked to the door.
Harper bit her lip anxiously and hesitated before quickly following the much taller teen. She kept her eye on the bat as she said,"what is that for?". Sam swung it slowly and imitated a baseball player hitting a ball. After a few moments she answered with,"to protect us from any asshole that tries to attack us or something".
Harper sighed as they passed the blood stain from the 'crazy old hag'. She flinched at the sound of someone screaming and followed Sam a bit more closely. They stopped at the exit of the building before continuing outside. Up close the mess seemed a bit more dangerous than from the safety of the elevated apartment that Sam lived in.
Sam stormed over to a random man who was throwing bricks at the window of a pharmacy and shoved him. "What the fuck is this all about?!" she shrieked. The man dropped the bricks he was holding and suddenly looked very cowardly.
"Th-The disease started spreadin' very quickly. We are doin' whatever we want to before we die" the man said in a slightly nasally voice that cracked, it then occurred to Harper that the 'man' was probably a stupid teenager like her.
Sam shook her head and walked away. Harper glared at the teen before following Sam again. "Where are we goin' now?" she asked in a tone that was a bit more excited than it should have been.
"Harper, these idiots are destroying shit just to destroy shit. What we are going to do is find a use for this chaos and start stealing things besides some useless alcohol" Sam said with a grin.
Harper looked at her feet before looking back at Sam and smiling. Sam grinned even wider and they made their way to a grocery store that was being spray painted on as a few looters went in and out. They were inside and running around before Harper could wonder why Sam's attitude changed from 'why the fuck are these idiots destroying shit' to 'let's steal motherfucker'.
Harper grabbed a basket and put a few random food items in before she was tackled to the ground. She squirmed and was about to scream, but her mouth was covered and she took the time to look at her attacker. It was...Sam?
Sam mumbled,"shoosh for a second". Harper looked in the direction that Sam was pointing in and saw a man with a police uniform stumbling around a pile of candy boxes that someone knocked down. They slowly got up and tried to tiptoe away as slowly as possible to avoid getting caught.
Harper's sneaker squeaked on the tile floor and she glanced at the police man. "shit shit shit" she said in barely a whisper as the police man turned to look at her. He made a slow run towards them with his hands outstretched and slobber flying from his...Blood caked mouth?
Sam tugged Harper away and they both started running before any comments were made about the blood. They ran up and down the aisles of food and cleaning products, past a few looters and even a few more sick people. Harper leaned on a wall when they were finally in the clear and tried to steady her ragged breathing.
Sam gripped her chest as if it would calm down her hyperventilating and stared forward. "Wh-Why the fuck was there blood on his mouth? Did he eat someone? Was he sick?" she sputtered out and sunk to the floor. Harper looked at her hands and shook her head.
"I need a weapon" Harper said suddenly. Sam nodded in agreement and stood up.