Authors Note: Thanks for all the support for the story so far, it means a great deal to be able to work with some of the feedback you've given, so thank you all so much! xD This starts off with a bit of the international applications of the apocalypse (tryin' out a little World War Z style for the beginning, plus it was a great way to satirically -and bluntly- point out the shortcomings of our beloved politicians), we join the gang for a very heated debate and some full-blown Johanna tantrums!
Next chapter will focus on building the chemistry between the survivors, but feel free to leave your suggestions for directions to take the story, I was hoping to start getting to the good bits a few chapters on after I sow the seeds for some kick-ass Joniss! :P
Reports of 'zombies' came through thick and thin along the Northwest, that area being the most and first effected by the tides of dead swamping the streets, though many refused to believe it until medical information was available and there had been many accounts of the terrifying goings on. Presidential Advisor Snow set to work immediately, sending out an urgent SOS message to all nations, friend or foe alike, telling them to prepare for the worst. He began to order the closing and termination of all nuclear power plants and for the sources of the power grids energy to come from the newly installed renewable wind turbines, waste incinerators, geothermal hotspots or even the wave power harnessers to prevent some nation-wide radioactive meltdown.
The same reports had also surfaced in Eastern Asia with a few anomalies (most likely from airports) in Europe and Africa. Most nations saw the imminent threat and declared a world-wide ceasefire, though some more volatile countries refused to proclaim their adherence to the global treaty and remained a large target for the operational warheads the US owned.
While the President was left to publicly address the issues, Snow was the brains behind the actual implementation and ordered the immediate evacuation of the Midland states directly under threat and the preparations of those further South. He arranged for the Secretary of Defence, FBI, Home Secretary, the Chief of Staff of the US Military and any organised military ready organisation to strike the affected areas with the help of the air forces providing overhead cover, and the assembly of the Navy in the hopes of evacuating whole cities on the large aircraft carriers with the assistance of the Navy.
He had heard word of just how fast the disease had spread, seeming to crop up overnight as whole towns were laid siege to by the hordes of ravenous undead. Snow wasn't leaving anything to chance, and contacted several other allied nations in the hopes of having them support their military efforts. Press conferences were held in the blink of an eye, and many nations pledged their allegiance, claiming in cringe-worthy statements that 'they could do better together', 'only united could they stand against the undead', 'with the help of their military yada yada yada' and other similar juvenilely cliché proclamations of worldwide 'unity'.
Snow knew better than to trust the empty promises of the politicians only out to save their reputations and make away in their private jets (at the expense of the tax paying public) with their families and years' worth of food, so begrudgingly faced the facts and accepted that the likelihood was they would have to solve their problem themselves. Facing the clamouring streets alone was a treacherous task, but it was much better go it alone than have some so called 'allies' stab you in the back and bomb the streets to oblivion, even though they had been the ones doing the stabbing many-a-times beforehand, during a zombie apocalypse wasn't the best time for karma to bite back.
"Where are we headed?" Asked Gale, they'd been on the road for a little under half an hour and were still undecided where their destination was. "We can stop over in a minute and take a look at the map, then decide where we'll take it from there." Reasoned Finnick, Annie already pulling a large (what looked to be nation-sized) worn map from under her seat. "I just need to get as far away from home as possible…" he muttered under his breath, and looked over at Annie when she rested her hand on his knee, a comforting smile adorning her face. He returned the smile, albeit a little sombrely, and returned his attention to the road.
The drive was very static, all the while they had to slowly swerve around abandoned vehicles or flaming cars as clothes and random belongings littered the vacant road. Every few minutes they went past a few shambling corpses, sometimes even a small group clustered over something by the side of the road. A couple even tried (and failed) to pursue the car, though they seemed startlingly fast compared to the ambling ones they'd seen in the town.
Silence once again settled over them, Gale and Madge huddled together, Johanna picking at her fingernails with an oversized knife, Katniss still looking out of the window and Peeta facing forward, though his eyes occasionally drifted to observe Katniss once in a while before returning back to the front for fear of being caught staring.
After another 5 minutes on the road in dense silence until Finnick pulled down a worn country lane off of the highway and parked the car under the cover of the overgrown brush. Turning off the engine, everyone suddenly snapped to attention as they scanned the outside area; everyone besides Johanna who became impatient and swung the door open, stepping down onto the dirt road with an irritated sigh. Finnick and Gale followed suit, then joined by the rest of them as Katniss and Peeta clambered out of the back. Finnick moved over to the hood of the car and sprawled out the map, smoothing down the creases as he took a pencil to mark their location.
They gathered around the map, Gale and Finnick leaning over it to the left side, Peeta occasionally scanning the surroundings whilst the girls leaned on the right side, Annie and Madge talking quietly between them and Johanna sprawled out beside Katniss. "So, we are right about… here" he began as he circled the track off the highway with a pencil. "What do you propose we do?" He shrugged, retreating away from the leading position.
"Whatever is happening could just be happening here" Madge supplied "We could just wait it out somewhere." She looked to the ground scuffing the dirt with the toe of her ankle high boots. Johanna scoffed. "Oh yeah, why don't we just wait to have our asses handed to us by the living dead. We could even invite them in for a tea party, I'm sure that if we reason with them they won't rip off our fucking faces!"
"Johanna, cool it. It was just a suggestion." Finnick reasoned. Truth be told there was no need for her hostility, if she didn't want to wait it out she could've just said she didn't think it was a good idea. "If you think you know everything, why don't you suggest a plan?" Gale intervened, moving his arm possessively around Madge's waist bringing her closer to him.
Johanna merely laughed. A high-pitched, sarcastic chortle before her smirk dropped and she returned her face to its impassive state so fast you'd have missed it if you blinked. Moving over to the map, she barged her way in between Gale and Finnick and splayed her hands out over the corners of the map. "Well, the cities are gonna be chaos and the highways are definitely going to be clogged, so if we take the minor routes up North West passing through small towns on the way to stock up, we can head to the border and jump over into Winnipeg."
Peeta's eyes widened, his hand flying out to cover where Johanna was gesturing in an attempt to grasp their attention. "What? Why? What about our families? Aren't we going to find them?" He rattled off questions in quick fire succession concerning their wellbeing. Johanna remained still, her jaw clenched and lips set in a firm line. The silence remained for a few moments before Finnick spoke out. "Look, my mom and dad are all the way in Cali, the same as Annie's. As much as I want to I know we sure as hell aren't going half way across the country to find them." He shook his head in resignation, his shoulders slumping and eyes glazing over with unshed tears. Annie rushed to his side, discreetly whispering sweet nothings into his ear as she looped her arm through his.
"Peeta, our families are all the way in Tennessee." Gale sighed, looking pointedly towards Madge and Katniss, and then returned his gaze to Peeta. "Where's the rest of yours?" He cast his gaze downwards, his shoulders slumping as he mumbled "New York."
Johanna exploded. "WHAT?! You want us to go all the way to FUCKING NEW YORK to rescue your FUCKING BROTHERS? That's like the busiest city in the whole of fucking America, and you want us to just waltz in there, avoiding the thousands of FUCKING ZOMBIES and armed bandits, pluck your brothers off the street and get back out ALIVE?" She slammed her hands down onto the front of the truck making the entire vehicle shudder under the force of impact, continuing to rant, rave and curse at Peeta, becoming more rowdy and more mobile by the second. The group was stunned into silence as they witnessed the fright that was a full-blown Johanna outburst.
Finnick quickly intervened when he saw her start towards him, her fists clenched at her sides and knuckles turning white as her right hand gripped the wooden handle of her knife. "Johanna-"
"No! Don't you come in here and try to tame me when this idiot is so convinced that…" Finnick repeated her name in increasing volume as Johanna continued to yell at the top of her lungs, swearing and storming around "…we just have to go save his brothers even though for all we know they're probably already DEAD." Finnick had had enough. He grabbed her by the shoulders holding her in place and bellowed "JOHANNA FUCKING MASON shut the HELL up!"
This finally seemed to work as the words died in Johanna's throat and her jaw clenched as she resigned herself to throwing particularly menacing death glares over Finnicks shoulder in Peeta's direction. Finnick lowered his voice "Calm down, Jo. We're not going to New York, no one is going to get eaten, we're going to find our wa-"
"I beg to differ." Gale said, his gaze intent on a huddle of figures in the distance. The rest of the group turned to follow his gaze, Peeta rushing back into the car to pull out a worn pair of binoculars. "Woah, there's a lot. But they look like they're moving too fast to be…" Peeta continued his musings silently for a few seconds until Gale took control of the situation. "Annie, pack up the map and everyone get back in the car. I don't know if they are dead or not but I sure as hell am not waiting to find out."
The group worked in synchronisation, Peeta and Katniss clambering into the back, Annie swiftly folding away the map and returning it to its place and the others slid into their designated seats with shocking fluidity. Finnick turned the keys in the engine and the car desperately spluttered to life as if it knew of the danger of the situation and was impatient to escape. The engine roared as Finnick stepped on the accelerator and they began driving into the horde of oncoming bodies. "Shit shit shit" Finnick chanted, quickly turning into reverse as the car spun around. The figures became closer and closer, and as Finnick fiddled around with the reverse two of them managed to run directly into the back of the car, their faces pressed to the glass and hands repeatedly smashing into the back window.
Their mouths twitched and snapped repeatedly, their lifeless eyes were both boring into their souls and looking through them simultaneously. "You might wanna hurry up!" Peeta yelled as they both drew their hands to their knives as their beatings on the glass became faster and more frantic until Finnick finally managed to pull away and the car sped down the dirt track. It took a while for everyone to get settled again, and they continued along the same road until they managed to pull onto the highway again.
"Is everyone alright back there?" Finnick breathed a sigh of relief when he looked in the rear view mirror and saw both Peeta and Katniss nod their heads, though both were still shaken from the experience. "Those ones were fast." Peeta declared, a smile slowly creeping up his cheeks as both Katniss and him broke out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles, rolling around in the glee from having avoided certain death trapped in the back of the car piled high with bags.
"Jeez, lover boy, pipe down." Johanna muttered, feigning disinterest at the hysterics the other two were in. Even those in the front of the car couldn't supress their own smiles, and soon joined in with their own girlish giggles until the whole car was in fits of laughter.
The whole car except Johanna. There seems to be a weird pattern emerging.