A/N I'll try to do at least one chapter update a week. Shit really starts to hit the fan now. Let me know what you think of everything so far, I love getting feedback.
The pounding in her head drags Sam from sleep, she slowly walks to the bathroom, the light from the windows causing searing pain in her brain. She turns on the cold tap and fumbles in her bag for the bottle of aspirin. A sob escapes her throat when her conversation with Andy fights it's way to the front of her mind.
Daryl wakes up on the old couch in the living room, a spring digging into his side and his neck aching from the poor position. Merle is sitting in the recliner, beer in hand and surprisingly watching the news. "Watchya watchin that crap for?"
"All the stations are like this. Some emergency broadcast bullshit,"
He swings his legs off the couch and sits up. "Turn it up. What'r they talking about?"
"Something about the coast. An outbreak or something."
"First signs of the infection are high fever and delirium," the anchor reports "Aviod contact with anyone that appears ill. The infection is highly contagious and most commonly spread through the bite on an infected person."
Merle shuts off the tv " 's all bullshit. Member all that hype bout pig flu and bird flu and all them other flues. This is no different."
"I dunno man, this seem pretty serious." Daryl says, but Merle isn't paying any attention.
Sam turns off the little tv in her room and looks at her phone again, wishing Andy would call her. She goes to the window, trying to alleviate the trapped feeling that's set up shop in her gut. Military helicopters fly over the hotel, and once again she wishes she had driven down here instead of flown, at least then she would have her own car. The news reporter didn't make it sound so bad, but they're probably trying to control panic. Andy sounded scared, he's never scared. She tries again to call her mom, or Cally, her sister, but no one answers. Absolutely alone in the middle of no where in a state she doesn't know her way around, without any knowledge of how long this will last. She can' help getting the feeling she is well and completely screwed.
"No! God damn it. There will be no pity party." she forces herself off the bed and gets dressed in fresh clothes, "You will not be helpless. Go find a map, learn your war around the town at least. If it's as bad as Andy says, you're all you've got."
Motivated by her pep talk she laces up her combat boots, pulls back her hair and heads out for some supplies. There is a small general store right down the street from her hotel. She grabs a basket and a road map right inside the door. There is a middle aged woman at the counter talking to the cashier, Sam can only hear parts of the conversation as she shop s around.
"Oh it's just awful, three towns quarantined on the coast. Can you believe that May? The military is doing what they can, but people keep getting sick."
"I know dear. My oldest boy took his family, packed up the car and headed here as soon as they blocked off that first town. And thank the Lord he did. His town got hit with it today. Said he saw people just wandering the streets. In their night clothes. Can you believe that? Poor things must have had the fever, not in their right minds anymore. They said it makes you delirious, but I can't imagine walking out of the house in my bed clothes, sick or not." the cashier, clearly an old southern belle, can't stop the gossip, even now.
Sam fills the basket with bottled water and instant food, flashlights and extra batteries before lugging it up to the front of the store. The woman starts ringing her out "Are there any hardware stores near by?"
The woman smiles at her "Sure thing sweetheart, Harpers is right down the road. You take a left at the end of the street here, at the lights, and it's about half way down that road. You can't miss it."
She finds the hardware store without any trouble, just like the clerk said and heads straight towards the small lawn and garden aisle. "Andy said to hit them in the head, they're dangerous, obviously. So it's probably a safe bet to have at least something as a weapon, and then there's the looters." She thinks to herself while browsing the saws and axes, and finally spots a few smaller hatchets hanging on a hook, grabs two and a tool belt small enough to fir around her waist.
"You look like yer preparing for a battle." The older clerk says, surveying her purchase.
"Yeah," Sam lies with a laugh "got some pretty persistent saplings to take out, you know? Too big to just rip up, too small to warrant breaking out the saw."
"I sure do." he says, good naturedly "an I'm sure you know what you're doing."
Sam thanks the man and starts making her way back to the hotel. She turns on the news as she is organizing all her things. Even more towns infected, hospitals over run with the sick and dieing. People are finally starting to panic, those left uninfected are looting their neighbors houses and stores, stealing cars. Sam watches live feed from a news copter of one of the towns. People are shambling around in the streets, one of the people started going after an officer trying to get a family to safety. He aims his firearm but the woman keeps coming, one shot fired into her shoulder spins her around, but nothing more than that, the officer backs up but she keeps coming, two more body shots but she wont stop. He finally shoots her in the head and she drops to the pavement like a pupper who's strings have been cut.
Daryl watches the woman on tv drop to the ground when the cop shoots her in the face. "Bro, this is serious, they're fuckin shootin people. Those fuckers just won't go down."
"What'r you so worried about? Dumb asses don't know enough by now not to get themselves bit. Their own damn fault."
"Yeah, but," Daryl tries to argue, but Merle cuts him off.
"Not our damn problem little brother." he storms out and slams the door
"Not yet." he says to the empty room, the roar of Merles bike fading. He heads to the small closet in him room and takes out his crossbow and quiver, looking it over, making sure everything is in working order. Better to be prepared than caught with your pants down, no matter what Merle thinks.
The lights in her hotel room flicker slightly while Sam refills a few of her empty water bottles. She jumps when her phone rings and drops the half full bottle into the sink.
"Sammy! Shit Sammy." Andy's voice comes over the static filled line. "I gotta get out of here, the base is compromised. We're over run. One of the bastards from the first town got bit. Fucker didn't tell anyone, before we knew what was going on."
"Andy!" Sam tries to get his attention through the static and his panic "Please calm down. Have you been bit? I still don't know what's going on."
"They're not people anymore. They're monsters."
The emergency broadcast blares from the television in the other room "The president has declared a stare of emergency. It is advised you head to the nearest city and await military action. Avoid all infected persons. Shelters will be set up inside the city."
"Sam, you listen to me. Stay the fuck out of the city. You'll never make it out alive." the static gets worse along with the shouting and commotion on his end " stay at your hotel, I'll try to come get you. If I don't get there in three days… help. Find … woods, camp if" his phone cuts off completely.
"Andy!" she screams into the static on the other end. The only person she knows in thousands of miles, and her only reliable source of information. Gone in a burst of static.