A/N-
Just wanted to drop a quick line to say thankyou to everyone for the reviews on the first chapter. Although this is a zombie fic, its more about the saving of humanity and rebuilding of civilisation. Callie is the main character however there will be cameos from some of our favorites, some in jobs we are used to and others in more AU settings. You will see when we get there, but for now... sit back, relax and please enjoy this next chapter.
Love Always
AL x
-oOo-
Callie awoke with a start at the sound of a person screaming, she couldn't distinguish whether it was male of female but it sounded close. She glanced up at the ceiling of the loft, at the wooden beams that held the roof in place and wondered why people were risking being out in the open. The president had made it perfectly clear that it wasn't safe to be on the streets right now.
She flicked her caramel wrist over and saw that it was only a little after five in the morning, normally she would have an hour left in bed before she got up to start her day but today she decided she would allow herself the luxury of sleeping in. She had nowhere to be, nothing to do and nobody to see. She rolled onto her left side and kicked her feet into the bottom of the sleeping bag trying to get comfortable and tried to erase to image of why she had awoken in the first place.
The next time she opened her eyes it was just before ten and as she stretched out she could feel the ache in her back for having slept on a solid base for so long instead of in her comfortable queen-sized bed on the floor below. She unzipped her sleeping bag and crept to the loft hatch and listened for a few moments, trying to detect if anything was in her house. Although the majority of the house was safe and secure there were still sheets of window glass that could have been broken and infected people could have entered that way. After about five minutes she heard nothing and so opened the loft hatch and spent another five minutes listening before creeping down the ladder and into the garage.
She moved stealthily around her car and to the garage door where she placed her ear against the cold aluminium and listened for movement outside the front of her house, once satisfied that there was nothing of immediate danger, she entered the main house cautiously and quickly checked the perimeter of the single-story home. Once she saw that everything was secure, she relaxed slightly. She suddenly remembered the screaming that had awoken her earlier in the morning and moved into the master bedroom at the front of the house, moving to the three slim windows she moved to the middle one and cracked the blinds just enough to see the street in front of her.
Callie let out a shriek of disgust and horror as she witnessed the destruction on her very own street. There, in her front garden laid a half-eaten body, the flesh ripped from the bone and the bones picked dry. The lush green grass of the front yard, once perfectly manicured lawn now had dark patches where the blood of the deceased had spread and bits of sinew of flesh scattered around the carcass.
Callie felt the bile raise to the back of her throat and forced herself to look away before her stomach could reject the Dorito's that she had eaten for dinner. She let the blinds fall back in place and moved to the bed where she sat on the edge before collapsing back and soaking up the comfort that the memory foam mattress provided her. She lay thinking for several long moments about the happenings of the world, her front doorstep was a damn cemetery now.
She sat in silence, listening to the new world outside her sanctuary as the silence threatened to deafen her, she began to feel claustrophobic and quickly rose from the comfortable bed and made her way to the walk-in closet. Selecting a pair of skinny black jeans, a grey tee and a black hoody, she dressed quickly and looked in the mirror, laughing that she looked like a burglar. She grabbed her steel toe capped boots and threw them on her feet. She made her way into the bathroom and ran the faucet to wash her face and brush her teeth. Once complete she threw her long dark hair up into a messy bun and nodded to herself resolutely.
Foregoing breakfast, Callie entered the garage and walked to where she stored her tools, selecting her firewood cutting axe she placed it on the bonnet of her car and inspected the array of tools she had on hand. None of the rest of them appealed to her so she made her way back to the car and grabbed the axe testing the weight of it in her hand. With a sigh she made her way to the front door, axe in hand, and unlocked it with the spare key she kept on a hook by the front door. She unlocked the screen and exited the house nervously; she crept to the edge of the entrance and took a good look out about the street.
It was deserted apart from the solo dead body on her front garden. So, she ventured towards it carefully, it was deathly still right up until the moment she was inches away from it, then its jaw began to move, not slowly but viciously which surprised her because there wasn't much muscle left on the body. She raised her axe with a shaky hand and slammed it down into the corpse's skull. The skull cracked visibly yet the jaws still moved so she hefted the axe into it again a little harder, this time the skull separated and the axe sucked into the brain with a squelch.
The infected stopped moving instantly and Callie couldn't help but say a silent prayer for the soul she had just diminished. It may not be a living being now, but it was at one time and Callie couldn't help but feel a sadness deep within her at the loss of a life, despite not knowing the infected as a person. No, this soul would never see the inside of a coffin, it would never be worshipped by friends and family. It would receive no send off. It would lay to rot and return to the earth that way and that thought brought a tear to Callie's eye.
Using the back of her hand she wiped at her eyes to remove the tears and moved back towards the garage. Using the clicker on her car keys she opened the electric door, entered her car and reversed it down the short drive and clicked the button to secure up her garage once again.
Callie Torres was on a mission today and her first port of call was to make sure the estate was safe from the infected, and hopefully find some other survivors. She made her way towards the main entrance into the estate slowly and looked at the ransacked houses along the way, she couldn't help but think of the lock down and how many people had clearly not listened to the Presidents orders. Not that she was one to speak, she was meant to be secured in her home right now not out on the streets.
She stopped her crew cab in the end of the road and took a few minutes to look each way, the sight that met her eyes wasn't a surprise, seeing cars abandoned on the main road and bodies of various states lain strewn across the road... it was expected, yet the sight made her gasp in horror. She raised a tanned hand to her mouth and could feel it tremble against her face. Shaking her head in frustration, she grabbed her axe from the passenger seat and exited her vehicle without shutting the door. She wanted the vehicle to be accessible in case of any emergencies.
Standing just outside of her vehicle, she listened for several moments, there was nothing but silence. No planes in the sky, no vehicles driving down the road, no children laughing in the distant play park. Just the sound of her own breathing.
Sensing that the coast was clear from infected she set to work inspecting the cars abandoned on the main road with her axe in hand. The first three cars that they checked had the keys in the ignition, she glanced back towards the junction and decided that there was no time like the present. She jumped into the closest car and crashed her knees against the dashboard and cursed out loud. She adjusted the seat to a more comfortable position and drove it into position until it touched the six-foot chicken wire fence bordering the school.
Grabbing her axe, she walked slowly towards the next nearest car before glancing back at the first car and mentally face palming herself. There could be something useful in the trunk. Food, medical supplies, hell there could even be a gun she could use. In case of emergencies of course... rule number one of a zombie infected world was no gun fire unless absolutely necessary.
She grabbed the key from the ignition and popped the trunk, not finding much but a few reusable shopping bags, a small first aid kit and the usual spare tyre and tools. She grabbed the first aid kit and closed the trunk carefully so not to make too much noise.
Once the first aid kit was deposited in the trunk of the crew cab, she moved to the next car and drove it till it was nose to tail with the first then checked the trunk again. She repeated the process until the exit lane was completely covered, it took five cars and half an hour to seal the gap. Callie stood back and surveyed her work with satisfaction before moving to the next car which she placed at the wall which surrounded the estate.
Once she had a double car length space, she parked the next two cars in front of the wall so that she had a 'gate' to get in and out of the estate. With eleven cars moved into position and several items stowed in the trunk of her crew cab, Callie looked at her watch and saw that it was around midday. Grabbing her keys from the ignition of her vehicle, she jumped the car wall and walked the five-hundred meters along the wall to the gap in the wall where there was a path entering the estate.
She grabbed two cars from the main road and drove the pair of them as close to the gap as she could get for the metal fence that was erected between the passageway and the fence. Then she selected another two vehicles and drove them nose first into the wall on either side creating a barrier. She stood back and surveyed her work. There was small gaps but nothing to worry about majorly. She would need to revise the situation down the line to make it more secure but for now it would do.
She checked the trunks of each of the four vehicles and found another two first aid kits, several umbrellas and even more re-useable shopping bags. She took the first aid kits and left the rest of the items, closing the trunks quietly she made her way back to the first car wall, climbed over it and threw the first aid kits in the cab of her own car.
She jumped back in her own car, placed the axe on the passenger seat and drove back towards her house, once inside the garage with the door down she exited the vehicle and made her way into the kitchen where she poured herself a pint-sized glass of water and glugged it all down. Feeling refreshed, she opened the fridge and took out some salad, some ham and some cheese and set to making herself cheese, ham and salad wrap.
She took a seat at the kitchen counter on a bar stool and devoured the wrap hungrily and washed it down with a second glass of water. Once finished she placed the dirty plate and glass in the sink, and walked through to the lounge where she flicked on the television which had been left on the news channel but found nothing but static. She flicked through several more news channels and found them to be the same. She clicked through the normal channels and found more static, with a heavy sigh she flicked the tv off and threw herself back against the couch.
This was turning into a real shit show, real quick.