Samantha
She rather liked this kid. That was somewhat contradictory for her to think in her profession. Of course rules didn't exactly apply anymore in this situation. "So what actually happened out there?" Sam questioned trying to break the silence on the bus.
Dillon was confused at this. "What are you talking about?" he asked back.
"When you came in, you were yelling and screaming your eyes out. The axe you had was drenched in blood, and up to your elbows was just as bad." She looked at him worriedly. "It took five army men to restrain you and two more to give you a sedative. Not to mention these knocks on the head."
"Oh. That." He rubbed his arm ashamed of what he had done. "To be honest, I don't really know what happened. Because I can't remember."
"Can't or won't?" Her voice was calm to make him feel relaxed. She didn't want to make a bigger scene than he already did in the school.
"Can't." He retorted sternly. "I simply cannot remember what happened after I left my building."
The silence returned for a few awkward minutes before he dared to ask him. "Then tell me." it came out as more of a demand, but it still sounded much like a question. "If you really can't remember, then tell me what happened before then. Let me understand."
He didn't move from his position for the longest time. It was all too eerie how still he was in those moments. Sam was scared that he had actually died he was so still. "Dillon?" She whispered, cautiously leaning over. He rolled his head towards her so suddenly it gave her a fright. She let a small yelp escape and quickly leaned back placing a hand over her racing heart. "Jeez Dillon, you scared me. I almost thought you had died for a minute there."
"It'll take more than an illness to stop me." His voice was sad but there was a joking tone underneath it. "I was just trying to gather my thoughts. Everything is a mess since this morning."
He took a deep breath before starting with, "I might as well start with Matt."
"Brother?" She asked gently.
"Friend." He corrected. "We were playing games online when everything went downhill. There was someone at the door so he went to answer it ..." and Dillon then relayed everything that had happened to him the previous day. He told her of Matt's last moments, of his first encounter with the infected, and he even told her of finding his father. "Then the next thing I knew, I woke up here with you." He looked over and gave her an almost sad expression. But this was shortly contradicted with a smile. "So that was my day," He stated suddenly, both sad and joking at the same time, "how did yours go?"
This stunned Sam. "Hmm, what?" She stammered.
"You heard me." He retorted. "I told you mine now you tell me yours." She didn't know what to say. She knew what had happened to her and she didn't know why Dillon wanted to know. "If we're going to stick together, I'm going to have to trust you. Knowing who you are is a good start." He raised an eyebrow at her and that did it for her. She let out a rather loud giggle that made more than a few heads turn.
"Alright, alright," She chuckled, "I'll tell you." She took a couple deep breaths to calm her nerves. She than took her hand and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Before I start there is something that you should know." She was much calmer now.
"And what would that be?" She had piqued his interest.
"It was what I did for a living." She was avoiding eye contact.
"I can't guess it." He replied.
"Well," she started again. She relay didn't want to tell him this but she felt it was for the better. "I...was...how shall I put this? A lady of the evening." And she looked directly at him. It was the only was that he would believe her.
"A hoo-" He was going to question before Sam cut him off.
"An escort, yes." She stated quickly to avoid listing ears. "It's not something I'm proud of, but when I started I felt that there was no other option." Dillon was still listing but she could see that his mind was running rampant with her statement. She didn't think about what he was wondering and didn't care to find out. All she did was tell him her story and hope that he listened because she wasn't going to repeat herself.
"My day," she began "started out the night before. Business was slow because of this outbreak and it didn't seem like it was going to get better soon, so I accepted the first offer I got."
He was a mousey man, short and balding alike and seemed to be making every crude remark he could think of. She knew it would be a long night, and it turned out to be longer. He treated her roughly and even had a slimy feel to him. The next morning when she had taken his money and was about to leave, he offered her enough to cover another night. She hated herself for it but she took his offer any way. And she soon regretted that decision as well. He seemed worse than the night before and it was even worse when he got drunk. Fortunately he was easier to deal with when the drinking finally got him drunk. She could deal with drunken men, they were easy to confuse and were fun to toy with when they treated her like he did. But that fun was also short-lived. Not long after he started to get violent. Pulling her hair, violently gabbing her clothes, even beating her slightly. She was going to give him his money back and leave but that's when things got scary.
"Wait," He said in a slurred voice, "just give me one more and you can keep half."
She thought long and hard about it and eventually said "Fine, but make it quick before I change my mind." She took one last look at him before getting to business. His skin looked paler and his motions were jerky and sloppy at the same time. She simply passed both off to his drinking. During the business was when things really went downhill.
It was during his…moment that he truly turned into an infected. Luckily she was on top and got a head start. When he opened his eyes and they were white pupils, she knew something was amiss. She tumbled off and ran through his house to find something to defend herself. She could tell that he was right behind him because of his heavy footsteps and loud growling. She found an open door and threw herself through it, slamming it in a quick spin. She knew this protection wouldn't last long as the man started to thrash against the now seemingly flimsy door.
"Gotta' find something." She mumbled to herself in panic. She glanced around the room and saw very little. It must have been a spare room that never got used. The only thing she saw that she could use was a lamp, a really small, really ugly lamp. She grabbed it and tried to move away from the door to get a good swing in, but it was ripped from her hand. Of course it did, it was still plugged in. Frustrated, she moved to get the plug out when an extremely loud crash stole her attention. This startled her again and she spun around thinking she had to defend herself empty-handed. Fortunately it was only piece of the door had been broken.
She peered at the, thing, which was on the other side of the door reaching its hand through to grab her. She dared not look at it now as she needed to dispatch of it before it could return the favor. She scrambled to reach behind the dresser the lamp was on to find the plug. When she grabbed the cord, it seemed to go on far too long. When she positioned her head to look behind, she saw that the cord continued to the other end that the lamp was on. She heard another crack and knew she had to really hurry now.
With a large grunt, she nudged the dresser far enough away from the wall it was on to reach the cord. It seemed to be getting farther away as she reached closer for it. Then another crack, louder than the rest, came from behind her and she heard a scream of both success and primal hatred. Screw it, she thought and lunged up to grab the lamp. She reached for the lamp, grabbed it, and swung in around her in one swift motion to have it crash into the man's head. No sooner did she reach the end of the cord again and it was ripped out of her hand once more. She then sank to the floor out of exhaustion and fear.
She scurried back into a corner, as far away from the now limp body as she could get, and curled up in terror. It was only when she stopped shaking that she could hear the screams coming from outside. She did not have to look to tell how badly things were going. It must have been like what happened with her, only on a grander scale.
She spent a long time in that corner, too long for her own liking. After about an hour of hiding she pulled herself together and decided she had to get moving. She slowly got up on wobbly legs and walked over to last night's company. He looked the same as he had before, but it was obvious what she had missed before. His skin was still pale, a dull grey now, his nails had started to bleed, his mouth was seeping both saliva and blood, and his eyes. His eyes were the only handsome thing about him. But now, they were bright white pupils that seemed to shine in the dim lighting surrounded by nothing but blackness. She shivered at the sight of him now. She didn't regret killing this poor man, in fact she was somewhat glad to do so, what she didn't like was how easy it was. Upon contact, his head caved in like a mine collapse.
It must be the Green Flu, she thought, it must be, changing people. She shuddered once more.
She was about to leave when she noticed a drawer open on the dresser where the lamp was. Out of curiosity, she leaned over the body and peaked inside. Its only contents; a pistol. She let out a sigh of frustration at this. After a short minute of self-loathing, she picked up the gun and left to retrieve her clothes.
She only felt uncomfortable about her half nudity after the whole thing was over and she found her tossed aside clothes. She tried to put everything back on but noticed that a few things had been ripped in the days earlier events. She looked herself over in the mirror and was very displeased. All she had on were her work clothes, and she didn't bring a spare set for any type of outing. She thought long about what she was going to do and finally decided after scrounging through the man's house. "Looks like I need to do a little shopping." She stated after a second quick look in the mirror.
It would be difficult to get to any sort of establishment in the current state everything was in. Fortunately the little man compensated with a big truck. She found his keys, along with a few hundred dollars, some half-decent clothes to wear in public, and a second magazine for the gun, while searching. She headed for his garage where her chariot awaited and shoved the money into her pocket and placed the gun on the dash board. She started the engine with a roar and almost immediately heard many hands banging against the door.
She gave a small laugh before throwing the truck into reverse and hitting the gas. The truck spun its tires for a few seconds before getting traction and speeding backwards. It smashed through the flimsy aluminum door and flattening the infected people behind it. With a few awkward bumps, she cleared the door and was reversing into the street. She hit several more on the way both hearing and feeling the thud against the truck. She flipped it into drive and sped off down the street in search of new clothes.
It was somewhat smooth ride getting there. There were many 'obstacles' in the way, but if they were just ignored then the trip was just fine. She drove around the city for some time, weaving in and out of the crashed cars, until she found her favourite store. She decided to keep driving to clear out most of the other infected close to the store. After the fifth cycle, there was nothing left to run over so she parked as close to the building as she could and went inside.
When she opened the door it was like a world of opportunities. Everything was on sale, the reduction; 100% off. She went crazy. No lines, no people to push past, and no need for discretion. Everything she tried on was on the spot. No need for a changing room anymore. There were a few, interruptions. But those were quickly taken care of with her new pistol. A few times she regretted it as it stained some possible new outfits. When all was said and done, she had picked out five new sets of attire; a rather mundane one for the current situation, the one she had on when she would later meet Dillon, and three others. She loaded the four others into nice store bags, checked them over to make sure they were exactly what she wanted, and walked through the security alarm. "Oops."
It was clearly time to go and Sam wasted no time in doing so. She bolted out side as she heard a scream rip through the air. It seemed to be picked up by others, or maybe it was just echoing off of the buildings. She didn't really have time to think about it. She ran back to the now red truck, and jumped inside. She flipped the keys and the engine switched on in an instant. She could see the massive flood of infected come around the corner of the block in a tidal wave of flesh and hunger. It was the second time that day that she actually felt scared. She flipped the truck into reverse again and backed up. She immediately hit the brakes when she saw the same wave coming from behind her as well. "Oh dear." She whimpered aloud. She sat for several moments thinking how to get out of this situation and thought of only one, and it was the same one she used earlier that day. "Screw it!" She yelled as she flipped the truck back into drive and squealed the tires.
The truck fish tailed for a second before grabbing the road. But when it did, there was no stopping her. She charged the infected mass head on all the while letting loose a battle cry. "AAAAHHHHHHHH!" What happened next seemed all a blur.
The wall of meat practically erupted in front of her vehicle as she sped into it. After that, she couldn't see through the windshield there was so much blood. She unfortunately left the windows down and got more than one arm or hand caught in the frame, all of which came loose and started to drift about the cabin seeping blood where ever they went. She soon guessed where the streets met up and put the truck into a slide around the corner. Time seemed to slow as she spun. She hoped to anything that she hadn't done this too late or too early. She closed her eyes and drove straightened out. When she felt no more hitting against the truck, and no sudden impact of a wall, she peeked open her eyes. She still couldn't see through the windshield, but a few flips of the wipers and things became clearer. She was driving, relatively straight down the road with the horde slowly shrinking in the distance.
She let out a deep sigh of relief and continued to drive as far away from the horde as was possible. But the horror wasn't over just yet. As she was rounding another corner in her pursuit of freedom, the back window came crashing in. She looked in the reverse mirror and saw an arm reaching through the shattered glass. She reached for her gun but she knocked it down the passenger side seat. It slid beneath a carpet of hands and limbs and she was not going to go looking for it. The only thing she could do was bob and weave to try to shake the infected lose. Though try as she could though, the zombie hung on with inhuman grip. She weaved left and right but the infected would not let go. And her time was running out. The zombie was breaking more glass and was slowly making its way inside the cabin, ever closer, always screaming. She was turning corners at a random rate doing all she could to remove the infected from the truck long after it was remotely possible.
When it was close enough, the zombie took a swing at her. She screeched in terror and leaned away from its attack, and turning the wheel with her. The truck did an extremely sharp turn and went into a roll. Both her and the zombie did turn after turn after turn and eventually came to a stop against the side of a building. She could feel the impact of the truck landing on its roof and see how much damage the truck had taken. Luckily the zombie that was trying to kill her earlier was now lying dead next to her, its eyes gazing off in hatred.
She couldn't help but relax despite the situation. This was a mistake as it hurt so much. She gazed off into the distance herself as saw something coming towards her. Her vision was too blurred to make out anything clearly. All she could tell was that it was a person, be that infected or non, she could not tell for certain. "No." She whimpered. She felt so exhausted that she could barely move her head away. "Please, no." It was an effort to even talk let alone defend herself. "I won't, die, yet."
"Not if we can help it." Came a voice from nowhere. She could now see multiple pairs of feet, all of them coming towards her location.
"No." She whined again. "No, you can't. You can't eat me."
"We're not the infected." A different voice replied. Her head hurt so much that it was hard to tell the difference from one voice to another. "She's still alive, someone get over here and help."
She heard a loud screech from beside her and a beam of dim light blinded her. She covered her eyes as best she could. Everything hurt. "Please, no." She could see silhouettes of people through the large opening that had been created. "You can't." They reached out for her and she tried to squirm away from them but she couldn't even manage an inch.
Soon she felt like she was floating through the air. "No, you can't" She could see a building in the distance. A red bricked, three-story building with window all along the front. "You can't." She tried to reason with whomever was taking her. "Not without my clothing. My, new clothes. There so pretty." She felt a prick in her arm and soon blacked out.
It was awhile later when she regained consciousness. Her head was still swimming but it didn't hurt like it used to. She tried to sit up but that still hurt. A hand placed itself on her chest and some said "Stay down honey. You're still very injured." She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a nurse, still in her uniform.
"Where am I?" Sam asked. She looked around the room, but from her laid down position, it didn't really do any good.
"We're in the local high school. Up on the third floor."
She continued to look and saw several other people about talking to each other. There were all sorts of people, but they all seemed so nervous. Not just from the situation. That was when she saw the armed military personnel standing by the doors. "What's with the guns?" She asked starting to get worried herself.
"This is where they are keeping everyone that might be infected with the Green Flu." The nurse stated bluntly. "They found you with stains all over your clothes, and they say your truck was nothing but red."
My clothes! Sam thought. Not my brand new clothing! She sat up despite what the nurse's protest, and looked down at herself. She immediately let out a sigh of relief and laid back down. She was wearing the Purple/leather outfit that she had put together. "Thank goodness they let me keep this outfit." She looked over at the nurse and wondered aloud, "What happened to the rest of what I had?"
"I was the one that they made to change you," she said placing a hand on her own chest, "I chose the outfit from the bag that they brought in, and let the guards take the rest."
Sam was horrified. Her brand new outfits, that she spent so long choosing with care, were being given to the ones that it would look most hideous on. "You did what!" She questioned rather loudly.
"Calm down ma'am," The nurse spoke coolly to calm down the unruly patient, "this outbreak wasn't exactly predicted to happen as it has. The CEDA agents are low on all supplies, and some people are coming in with nothing but the tattered clothes on their backs. They need it more than you do. I at least made sure that you kept you cash at hand." Her last statement was more matter of fact than it was calming. She wanted to argue her right to keep them, regardless; Sam let the issue of her new clothes drop. They weren't exactly hers this morning.
Soon after, Sam was allowed to sit up by the nurse after much insisting from her own part, and was having a rather pleasant conversation. Sam learned that the nurse was in fact, a nurse, and had been called into the hospital due to everyone else calling in sick. She was inside the hospital when everything hit the fan and she was lucky to get outside with her life. The agents had sent her up here because she had had the greatest amount of time exposed to numerous people who were confirmed to have the Green Flu. "We should have seen this coming." The nurse said, clearly distraught, "It happened in Philadelphia, and it was headed this way. I should have saved myself and run when I had the chance."
"Where would you have gone?" She asked sarcastically. The entire country was plagued with this virus.
"I don't know," the nurse responded, "My best option would have been to gather as much supplies as I could, and sail off to some island." They lived in Eatonia, a small city in Southern Alabama, so finding an uninhabited island might have been a small problem.
Their conversation was interrupted shortly by something she did not expect. There could be yelling heard from down the hall and soon the source was brought into the room. It was a kid, couldn't possibly be any older than 20. He was yelling and screaming all kinds of harsh words and non-sensual language. He was carried in through the door by four army men, one on each limb. Even as they brought him in and set him down on a cot, they still needed additional support to restrain him. But the kid was thrashing about so furiously that nothing could be done to strap him down.
"Nurse," Commended one of the army guys, "get over here." He pointed at the nurse that Sam had talked to and she quickly obliged. Sam followed close behind, curios about what was going on. What she saw horrified her. It was by all standards, a regular man. But what scared her was the look on his face. It was contorted in rage like those infected, but his eyes were still a rich mix of blues and greens, and his face was bright pink turning to red not a pale grey. Worse still were his arms. They were slick with blood up to his elbows. They flung a fine sprinkle of blood every time they were waved back and forth. She looked at his legs and saw that they too were soaked up to his calf.
"Please step back ma'am." Said instructed one of the guards forcing her back. She stumbled back onto the cot adjacent and saw the guards holding what appeared to be a red axe. "He had this with him, sir." "Give his pack to the agents. If they find anything they can't use, have it sent back up here. And go get rid of that thing." Was the response of the superior officer. It seemed normal enough until the guard handed it off to a CEDA agent at the door. It left his hands red and smeared more on the agent's. She looked at it in disbelief as she realized that it was covered in blood from the head all the way to the bottom of the handle.
She was interrupted from her thoughts when one of the army men dealing with the kid. "Hurry up with those sedatives nurse!" "Hold him still and I will!"
She got up abruptly and shoved past the army men to get to the boy. "Give me that." She demanded. She swung for the needle and yanked it straight out of the nurse's hand. Before anyone could object, she took the needle and stabbed it directly into the thrashing boy's heart.
"You can't just do that!" The nurse screeched.
"I just did." She rebutted. "If you want to get the job done," She continued, instructing the nurse, "don't hesitate. And that goes for you army men as well." She was really agitated now. "Why didn't you just put him out of his misery when you saw him?"
The boy was now slowly diminishing his movements so everyone thought it safe to leave him alone to the nurse to fret over. One of the guards approached her as he dismissed the rest. "Well ma'am," He began, "when my man first saw him, they claimed it was in front of the school. What's more extraordinary are the clams of what he was doing."
She was suspicious now. What was this soldier getting at? "What do you mean?"
"They said that he ran head on into a nearby horde." She was flabbergasted. Why in anyone in their right mind run directly into a hoard. Then again, he clearly wasn't in his right mind. Her silence was the soldier's queue to continue talking. "He was swinging that axe of his like a mad man they say. My men could only stand and watch as he plowed through nearly fifty infected. They had every right not to attack him. Anyone that attacks those things can't be infected." With that, he left her to her thoughts.
If they truly found him like that, she wondered, would I have had the ability to kill him? Someone who was willing to die? She didn't quite know. In the past she would have gladly given the person as best a death was possible. But things had changed, so many things. And nothing would be the same again.
Her day rounded off with a revived conversation with the nurse. "What do you plan on doing after this?" Sam asked as she ran her fingers through the boys black hair. She found it calming.
"I have family over in Rayford." She replied. "Uncle Ned has been stockpiling supplies for years. We all thought he was crazy." She looked away, shamed to have insulted a family member.
"Hey," She said reaching over with her free hand, and placing it on her shoulder, "don't be like that. The important thing is that you have a plan. That's more than I can say."
"I guess you're right." The nurse stated, cheering up. "I hope you find one as well." They smiled at each other.
The next couple of hours of so was simply just a waiting game. There was nothing to do except count the ceiling tiles, and that didn't last very long. It seemed forever, but after about three hours of waiting, the guards came in and addressed the group of 'living casualties.' She heard more than one guard talk about them in this way. He told the group that they were being evacuated out of the city to a military compound. "Half of you will be sent north, the rest will go west. The busses arrive in 20 minutes. If you have friends in here, I suggest you say goodbye now."
Sam wasn't surprised that the military would choose who was sent where. They had to control everyone's lives. "Guess this means goodbye then." Sam said hugging the nurse.
"I guess it does." The nurse replied, "Do you have any plan formulated?"
She looked at the boy still unconscious on the cot for a few moments. "Where ever he goes, I go." She stated in a way the demanded no argument.
"Why is that? You barely know him." She wasn't arguing, just curious.
She gave a shrug and looked back at the nurse. "Someone has to look after him."
The nurse nodded a few times and replied solemnly "Good luck to you then."
"And to you as well." They hugged one more time before the guard came in and escorted everyone out to the awaiting busses. No one else was doing so, so she picked up the boy in a bridal style and carried him out the door. He was all too limp in her arms and she banged his head more than once going through doorways.
When she got to her bus, the guard stopped her. "If you're taking the boy," He said, "then you'll be needing this." He handed her a small object which she quickly put into her pocket and forgot about it soon after.
The bus revved up and soon they were off. Where she went, only time would tell.
"And so now here we are." Sam said finishing her story. It had taken her longer to explain to Dillon than she would have liked, but it chewed up time as the waited.
Dillon remained silent throughout the entire thing but looked confused afterward.
"What didn't you get" She asked him as he worked things out in his head.
"Only one thing," He replied, "why did you go clothes shopping at a time like this?"
She gave a short chuckle as she head his question. "Believe me darling, if you saw what I was wearing, you would have suggested it to."
He gave a small shrug and brushed the question aside. It wasn't that important. There were more pressing matters. "So do you have a plan?" He asked. If they really were going to get through this together, they needed something to go from.
"After all this time, I still don't know. Let's just see what happens, and hope we don't get killed in the process."
But things don't always have a way of working out. There was one other person driving that night that refused to believe he could be infected. He was driving home, still hoping to find his family even after that horrifying phone call. But his denial put that bus of people at risk. This man's vision was slowly turning orange and things were becoming distorted. Soon later his mind left him and he became the only infected able to drive. He saw the headlights in the distance and he hated them. He would stop them from glaring in his eyes. He spun the wheel and turned off the road, into the grassy medium, and straight into the path of the bus.
The bus driver failed to see him in time and drove straight over the man's car, causing the bus to be launched up and onto its side. Sam and Dillon didn't know what hit either of them as their worlds descended into chaos once more.
I will try to post twice a month. Once at the beggining and then again half way through. But still no promisses.
