Lone Star City, a city that was built around the mid 2010's in Texas. The history of the city wasn't well known. But Lone Star was built to show the greatness of Texas in one settlement, at least that's what the mayor told people. It's been almost 10 years since it's inception and Lone Star has been a hot bed for tourism. People from all over the United States visit Lone Star for a "taste of Texas". There are a great many restraunts and casinos in the city as well as tourist traps. To outsiders it was a marvel, but for most who have lived in Texas...they know what Lone Star really is. Just a fancy place to get money from unsuspecting tourists.
Jack Ashford, was someone who saw through all the PR. Even though he wasn't born in Texas, he lived here long enough to know the pitch they told to customers wasn't exactly true. Texans were all about steak, pickup trucks, ten gallon hats and 'the range'. Not any of these casinos, vegan dishes and pink t shirts with Lone Star State on them. There wasn't any reason to burst the bubble though. He wasn't from here after all, lived in a town close by called Katy for a few years now. He had actually gone to school in Houston but liked the warm weather all year round and decided to move back when he had the money. Now working as a custodian at a 3 star hotel in the heart of Lone Star.
5:00 pm on the roof of the Texas Ranger hotel, Jack was taking his break. He wasn't smoking or trying to drink. The roof was the one place where he had any privacy. He even had a table and chair set up. It was around spring so the weather wasn't too hot and the breeze hit just right. Making the sun beating down on him more tolerable. Jack sat in the chair, on his phone just browsing through the web. He wore his work uniform which consisted of a purple polo shirt and black pants. He was supposed to wear black shoes but he instead wore grey shoes with a tinge of blue. His brown hair was long that flowed around his shoulders. His face had a beard forming as well. One of the reasons Jack worked at this hotel was the management were easy going when it came to employee presentation. So long as you were mostly in uniform they didn't care.
"Aha! Lazing about as usual I see!" A high pitched voice called out to him.
"Lazy? I'm on break Asa." Jack shot back to the person one arm opening the door to the roof.
Asa looked very feminine but he was a 18 year old man. He liked fooling around with people but he also just liked dressing as a girl sometimes. The staff turn a blind eye to it since he became a tourist attention in some way. Even now Asa wore a skirt instead of black pants. Black thigh high socks to match as well.
"You're on break whenever you're not cleaning something. Don't think I haven't noticed you walking around the lobby pretending to work." Asa was in one of his teasing moods, putting his hands on his hips and leaning forward. Like an anime character talking to their childhood friend. Even though Jack and Asa met last year. Asa played one of his tricks on Jack when he first started.
"There a reason you're bugging me?" Jack was low energy, looking at his phone the whole time.
"There is actually. A friend of yours came to visit." Asa motioned over to the door, and out came a man the same age as Jack. He wore a dark green hoodie and black cargo pants. His hair the complete opposite of Jack's however. He wore it in a buzzcut, most of his hair cut off.
"What are you doing up here all by yourself?" The man questioned.
George? Well this is a surprise." Jack stood up and pocketed his phone. Going up to his old friend and shaking his hand.
"Well, I hadn't really planned on it. I just happened to be here for work."
"No shit? How long has it been? 5 years now?"
"Has it really been 5 years...? Damn man." George sighed and shook his head. "You the janitor here? Why not something...with better pay?"
"Eh...I wanted to take an easy job for once." Jack handwaved his concern away, "What brings you here anyway?"
"Just passing by actually. Heard you were in town so decided to drop by." George pulled up the other chair at the other end of the table. "Came by to say hi then I have to hit the road."
"What? You a trucker now? Didn't think you would enjoy driving for god knows how long."
"Something like that...not really something I can get into."
Asa was uncharactistially standing by silently, watching the two converse. He had this look on his face like he was watching a show he was fully invested in. Jack caught on his undivided attention and rised a brow.
"...What?"
"Nothing! Just you don't really talk about yourself a lot. And seeing you so open around someone is...refreshing. Don't mind me though!"
"You were so quiet I forgot you were even here. Aren't you still on the clock anyway?"
Before Asa could counter, they could hear car horns blarring, wheels screeching, metal crashing and a few screams. It all sounded to chaotic to be an accident. All three moved to the edge, looking out to the sudden carnage before them. Car were crashing every which way, smoke rising from the few cars that were completely totalled. It was hard to see what the people were doing but most were running away from something. From what, was still unknown. There was a rather large crowd of people that looked like they were shambling about. Something about it was unsettling to them even though they couldn't explain why.
"When did all this happen...?" Asa asked, shocked at the destruction that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Some of the people looked like they were devouring eachother. Some were chasing others, letting out a wail like a feral animal. The screams and shouts getting louder as the situation was dawning on the people down below.
Jack had a grim expression on his face. Pulling out a handgun from a holster that was hidden under his shirt. George seemed to understand what was going on and pulled a weapon from his back pocket.
"Jack!? Where'd you get that? Have you always had that?!"
Jack didn't answer. Instead pulling a knife from another holster. "Here. Just stay close and use this if they get too close." Handing over the hunting knife to Asa.
All three of them spun around over when they heard the door burst open again. Expecting trouble the two armed men raised their guns. Thankfully they were met with human faces. Two women who no doubt were trying to find safety. One seemed fairly young, long blonde hair with half of her face bandaged up. Tan with well defined muscles, she looked like a local. Not to Lone Star but to the state in general. The other looked foreign, her clothes didn't seem like it was from this reality. Almost like it was from an anime. Her clothes was like a body suit that clung to her body tightly. Her hair was snow white and she kept and pistol in hand.
"Don't go down there!" The blonde woman shouted, "This place is crawling with zombos!"
"Is there another way out ara?" The other woman spoke, her accent clear in her voice.
"...Ara...?" Jack was taken back from that, for a moment he forgot about the zombies entering in the hotel. "Eh...no. We're cornered if we stay here. The only way out if back the way you came."
"If we can make it out of the hotel we should be in the 's no telling how much of the city is affected but we should just focus on one thing at a time. For now, let's just make it out of here in one peace." George seemed pretty calm dispite the situation, "You and Asa know the building better than anyone. Any plans?"
"We could just book it to the elevator leave from the east entrance. Barely anyone uses it, so that would be our best bet." Jack seemed tense while he was coming up with a plan, clear he wasn't certain what the best course of action to take. "Can you two defend yourselves?"
"Now hold on...You want us to go back there?" The blonde with a southern accent wasn't too thrilled of going back the way she came in.
"I have half a mag..."
"It'll have to do. Just stick close and head right to the evelvator." Jack carefully swung the door open. The staircase was thankfully empty but the growls of the undead could be heard down below. The life of the city seemed to completely die, being replaced by a deafening silence. Everyone filed into the fire escape, backing themselves against the wall. Few dared to look over the ledge for any sign of danger. But nothing caught anyone's eye, they were safe at least in this room. It was difficult to tell just how many zombies they were dealing with in the building however.
"It sounds like they're on every floor...how'd this happen?" Jack listened closely, it sounded like every floor was filled with swarms of the lumbering monsters.
"See? I told ya the place is crawling with the things." The blonde girl complained.
"The city looked like it was going to hell too. Even if we get out of this hotel...there's going to be far more outside." George spoke up, looking over the railing. "It looks like they're coming from the ground floor too."
Sure enough, even from their height there were hints of something lurking in the stair case with them. But they were still pretty close to the top floor.
"This is hopeless...ara."
"Ok! let's just focus on one thing at a time...let's get on this floor..." Jack tried to get everyone focused.
"Actually let's go one more down. I'd like something to defend myself with." Before anyone could responded, she was already climbing down the stairs ahead of them.
"I also need my bird. So I vote to head down too."
Jack sighed, understanding where both were coming from and feeling he couldn't argue against them. "Alright fine. Just hurry alright?"
The 7th floor, pushing past the door revealed the undead roaming the halls. Zombies banging against closed doors, trying to get at the people inside while others seemed to be standing around mindlessly. It didn't take long for fighting to break out though. As soon as the 5 living breathing humans were spotted, the zombies let out a wail. Making their presence known to anyone that could hear. Screams, gunshots, gore splattering across beige wallpaper were the sights and sounds of all that could witness the scene unfold. There were questions brewing in some of their minds. Some had worries or doubts. In this moment however they were only focused on one thing: Survival.
