As they stumbled down the steps leading from the front door, Blake paused as he heard the gun shot. Katharine released her grip on his arm and turned to face him. Sympathetically she wrapped her arms around him and offered her shoulder for his tears to soak. A moment passed before Ivy appeared in the doorway, slight distress and sadness in her eyes. She closed the door to the house firmly and made her way passed the teenagers without saying a word. Kat noticed her and followed leading Blake, gently, back to the car.
Sliding himself into the back seat with a lack of effort, Blake looked up to his parent's bedroom window as Kat closed the door after him. After seatbelts were fastened Ivy started the car and they set off in an uncomfortable silence, nobody knowing quite what to say. The hush lasted as they turned off Bryant Street, down Dixie Lake Road and back onto the Roosevelt Highway. Everybody just stared out at the road, empty cars and white lines were the only other passengers of the Highway. It wasn't until they turned to rejoin Route 85 that the awkward silence was broken.
"How are you doing?" Kat asked placing her hand softly onto Blake's thigh…no response, he just kept staring at the grey road to avoid Katharine seeing him still crying quietly. Kat just sighed and stroked her fingers over his leg to somehow show she was there for him.
"Hey Blake…" Ivy coughed out looking in her rear view mirror. "I'm so sorry you had to see that." She watched as he took a deep breath as more tears dripped from his chin. "I'm sorry for what I did, but you must trust me that was for the best… for our safety and for… well you don't want your mom to be that…thing. Do you?" Blake bit his lip and shook his head to show that he was listening, and that he understood what had to be done. His reaction alone was enough to show his forgiveness for what Ivy had done to what used to be his mother and this gave Ivy the satisfaction and eased her mind a little. With a more relaxed tension now in the car, Ivy decided to fiddle with the radio once more. Still the same old things, white noise and the automated evacuation alert so she switched it back off and the silence continued. Racing along 'R85' they soon came to pass the airport, Kat spotted the pool of blood from her first sighting of the walkers feeding the day before had dried into the concrete pavement and in the place of the body they were eating, a mismatch of bones, all the flesh had gone, just bone.
As the road turned to head North, Atlanta City towered in front of them. Destruction could be seen from where they were; broken windows adorned buildings, smoke billowed from fires as if a riot had taken place and as they reached to edge of the city, litter blew through the streets as people had tripped over trash cans and piles of newspapers in their panic. Heading further into the city they were met by more and more chaos, Ivy managed to make her way through the abandoned traffic and came off at the 'Five Points' junction by Trinity Avenue, the same route she'd taken many times to go and visit her parents at work.
Leo and Beth Kennedy both worked for the Board of Education and had met in the office twenty-eight years ago, their relationship blossomed and the following year they were blessed with their first child, Ivy. Working in such respectable jobs meant their pay slips were always more than enough to get what they needed in life but now, money was practically worthless.
Trinity Avenue also was home to the City Hall, equally as deserted and dark stains marked the stone steps where blood had previously cascaded down like a water feature. Neighbouring opposite was a taller building, quite plain in comparison to the fine architecture of the City Hall, this was the building that held the Atlanta Board of Education, this was the building where Katharine and Ivy's parents worked. As they closer, Ivy saw something and stopped the car.
"Ivy? What is it?" Katharine asked about the hold up, Blake awoke from his miserable daydream and stretched to look out through the windscreen. Opening her door, Ivy stepped out of the car and in turn the teens followed, the trio stared at the familiar building, a tightening pain began to crush Kat's heart and a fear overcame Ivy.
The footpath surrounding the tall building was garnished with shattered glass a number of blood stains, as if someone had been dropping water balloons. Accompanying two of these marks were scratches of material once belonging to a smart suit or a slender pencil skirt. A nearby roof of a Land Rover was slightly dented and in the centre laid an unknown man, his shirt and tie still fastened neatly, but not a sign of life. As Ivy placed a hand over her mouth to hide her panic she lifted her eyes to the building above them, windows were broken. The officer figured out the scene.
As the City had become over-run with walkers, the workers inside must've locked themselves in the offices and once they realised nobody was coming to help and there was no escape from the hordes growing outside they decided they had no choice…and jumped. Some will have died upon impact with the cold hard ground below, others, perhaps greatly injured, were unlucky enough to survive the fall and be fully aware of the pain as the walkers fed upon them. The ones who weren't completely shredded for food would've probably become the lifeless bodies hungry for flesh themselves. The stranger atop the large vehicle was the luckiest of all. As he fell, he must've landed head first and fractured his spinal column, instant death and due to the height of the car that caught his impact, he was still there in one piece.
As Katharine broke down in tears, Blake caught her quickly as she fell to her knees. He knew the pain she was feeling, he too had just lost his parents. Ivy too choked on her own tears and out of pure curiosity ran over to the Land Rover. Thoughts of her father ran through her head. Of course, she didn't want to see the deceased body of her father atop that vehicle, but if it was him at least he hadn't suffered or become one of the walkers himself. She climbed onto the bonnet and without thinking brushed the man's hair from his face. Tears streamed down her face as this unknown man stared right through her. His youthful face calm and peaceful, he was free from the torment the world had brought. Then, a crunching sound. Spooked by the noise, Ivy pulled away from the dead body for fear he actually was one of them. It wasn't him. Ivy's eyes followed the sound of crunching bone to the other side of the car. A walker. Whoever the man was atop the 4x4, his arm was slightly hanging over the edge of the roof and the tantalising site of fresh meat had attracted one of the undead, a male, his mechanic overalls were soiled with a mixture of blood and oil, the name badge read "Mike". Fresh blood sprayed over him as he bit through the finger bones of the mystery worker. Happily chewing away at his new found feast, the feeder hadn't yet noticed Ivy. She reached for her gun and sliding off the bonnet of the car a rush of anger filled her veins. She'd lost her parents to these monsters and it was time to find a release for her pain.
"Hey Mike!" She said as her boot met his stomach. The walker fell to the floor, yet it hadn't felt any pain, it instantly began crawling to its feet and heading for her, teeth bared. Lining her gun with his head, she waited until he was close enough to smell the gun before putting a bullet through his brain. The gun shot echoed through the city streets loudly, Katharine and Blake, completely unaware of Ivy's findings cowered at the sound before both racing to find her. As they rounded the bulky vehicle Ivy was in a fit of rage, kicking and stamping on the skull of the already dead zombie until its brains seeped through flesh wounds.
"Ivy!" Kat screamed as she went to try and restrain her sister. "Ivy! Stop it!" Hearing her sister's voice, Ivy collapsed to the floor and pounded her fist into the road, screams of tears. Katharine embraced her sister and held her close, pain and sadness filled them both. Blake just stood and watched, he'd felt this pain just an hour earlier and seeing the sisters before him let him know that he wasn't the only one in this situation, thousands of people had died, perhaps millions. A lot of people had lost somebody dear to them; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, teachers, children, elderly, all gone.
"Blake, please, get the water." Katherine wept as she felt her sisters burning rage and chilling sadness. With a nod, Blake turned and jogged back towards the police car. Reaching into the back seat to grab the backpack, he heard a groaning. Lifting his head out of the car, careful not to hit it on the framework, he scanned the street. It wasn't until he turned completely that he saw the source of the noise.
"Run!" Katherine's ears perked up as she heard Blake shouting. "Kat! Get up! Run!" He repeated as he reached them once again, backpack in hand. The panic in his voice was enough to get the girls' attentions and Ivy wiped her red eyes as she forced back her wailing. The look on Blake's face worried Kitty and as she stood to see what had got him so worked up, the same fear painted her face. Ivy pulled herself together and got to her feet, looking to where the other's had their attention; she became speechless and moved to get a better view around the Land Rover's windscreen. Suddenly, the trio began to sprint, away from the City Hall and away from Ivy's car.
It must've been the sound of the gun shot or possibly Ivy's screams booming through the street that had attracted them. A horde of walkers filled the road, too many to count. Their feet dragged along the floor as they filtered their way around abandoned cars and anything else in their way. No emotion filled their cloudy, grey eyes but they were definitely after something, a lusting for flesh, their next meal. Unfortunately, the meal they wanted happened to be Ivy, Kat and Blake.
Checking behind them, Ivy could see that although the walkers weren't too quick on their feet and often clumsy, their numbers and desire for food still made them extremely frightening. Plus, it wasn't worth the risk of slowing down to see if they could out-walk them and so they carried on sprinting. Testing the horde's intelligence they turned right down a street, the walkers followed with an awkward attempt to run, their groans and grunts growing louder as their excitement for dinner increased. Ivy led them down another street and another until she stopped quickly, Blake hadn't noticed the hold up and almost ran straight into the back of her as he paid too much attention to the creatures chasing behind. She hadn't just stopped for a break, they'd been trapped. The walkers fumbled down the street after them and another horde drawn by the smell of the living was snarling up ahead. Ivy knew it wasn't a case of being outsmarted by these bloodthirsty beings, it was just finding themselves to the main event in town and apparently every walker around wanted a piece of them.
"What do we do?" Asked Blake with the well-known sound of panic back in his throat as he watched the living dead gaining on them from either s
"Get inside!" Ivy dashed across the footpath and tried a few doors, the kids ran to help by trying different doors along the street, keeping their eyes on the walkers getting dangerously close.
"Ivy?" Katharine whimpered as she shook the handle of another locked door. Ivy looked to her sister, images of a horrible death flashed through her mind as she reached for her pistol.
"Hey! Over here!" A yell called from the other side of the street. "Hurry!" Spotting a man standing at an open door, the three rushed across the road. Leaping through the open door they watched as the stranger slammed the shutter gates closed and padlocked them just in time before the walkers smashed against them. Still crazy with the hunger, their arms flailed wildly through the gaps in the metal gates. The man wiped his brow and smiled with a grin to show he was pleased with himself. Ivy, Kat and Blake watched through the open door at the pandemonium outside. Eventually, their saviour turned and headed back inside and locked the door behind him as the sound of snarls and hissing from the walkers dimmed behind him. An awkward stillness filled the room as the trio just stared at the stranger who'd saved them and then Ivy popped the silence.
"Thank you! So much!" She said trying to catch her breath; she bent over with her hands on her knees until she could taste the sweet flow of fresh oxygen in her lungs. Swallowing to wet her throat she stood back up and offered her hand. "I'm Ivy!" She added before the unknown male shook her hand and announced.
"Glenn."