The Outbreak
September 26th, 2013
It was late at night in a country home just outside of Austin, Texas.
Sleeping on the couch in the living room was a young twelve year old African American boy named Finn Lowe, wearing his grey and black pyjamas.
As he lay asleep, his twenty eight year old mother, Natalie Lowe, or Nat, entered the house through the front door, talking on the phone. She, too, is African American, but unlike her son, who had thick and short black hair, she was completely bald.
"Syd, how many times do I have to tell you not to kick every man's ass if they invade your personal space?" Nat groaned, as her younger sister has a knack for giving men a slight beating whenever they try to seduce and advance on her after she says no.
"Exactly, so in the morning, you go to him and say you're sorry and explain yourself. We don't need you to be fired from work." Nat then explained after Syd, or Sydney, replied to her.
Her voice ended up waking her son up, who yawned as he sat up and moved to the other end of the couch.
"Alright, see you tomorrow, sis. Bye." Nat then said as she turned on a lamp on top of a cabinet next to the couch. She then hung up and sat where Finn laid moments ago and placed keys on the coffee table in front of them. "Hey, bud, did you do your homework?"
"Yeah, it was easy, as expected." Finn replied as Nat rubbed her eyes. "Tough day?"
"You don't know the half of it." She replied. "By the way, why are you still up? It's nearly midnight."
"What?" Finn gasped before looking up at the clock on the wall behind the couch, seeing that it was ten minutes to midnight, which made him grin. "Well, at least it's still today."
He then leaned over the side of his end of the couch, grabbing something.
"Not now, sport, I'm too tired for a prank." Nat groaned as Finn pulled out a small box with a bow on top, which he handed to her, confusing her. "What's this?"
"Don't tell me you forgot your birthday." Finn retorted with a raised eyebrow, making Nat look at him taken aback, yet moved. She opened the box and found that it had a watch inside.
But it wasn't just any new watch that her son bought him. It was the watch that her late husband, who died in an accidental car crash when Finn was four, gifted her on Christmas while she was pregnant with Finn. She broke it some years ago and never got around to fixing it.
"You just didn't seem to bother having it fixed, so I thought I'd handle it." Finn explained as Nat took the watch out of the box and put it on her right wrist. "Well?"
Nat looked at the watch and her eyes were welling up as she smiled mournfully. She then pulled Finn to her side and kissed him on top of his head.
"Thank you." She whispered softly before she let him go, allowing him to lay down on his end of the couch. "How did you even get the money to fix it?"
"Oh, I might've taken some money from your purse." Finn said without any shame as Nat grabbed the TV remote and put it on to watch something.
"So that's why I had less money than I knew I had." Nat said in a playfully stern manner, showing she wasn't mad at him.
"At least I didn't use it to buy drugs." Finn remarked, lightly kicking Nat's leg.
"Good, nice to know my boy's responsible." Nat said.
Minutes later, Finn was fast asleep, which Nat didn't notice until he didn't reply to a question she asked.
She looked up at the clock, seeing it was now midnight.
With a sigh, she turned the TV off, stood and lifted Finn up into her arms, being a strong and athletic woman since she was a child, as well as her sister, and made her way to the stairs.
She made her way up and walked through the landing and into her son's bedroom, where she turned on the lamp on the bedside table before putting Finn onto his bed, placing the blanket over him.
"Sleep tight, sport." She whispered before placing a kiss on his head, then leaving the bedroom to let him continue sleeping.
At some point, later into the night, Finn found himself being woken up by the phone on his bedside table ringing.
Groaning in annoyance, he sat up, opened his eyes and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" He said, placing it by his left ear.
"Finn, I need you to get your mom and put her on the phone." A female voice replied in an urgent tone.
"Aunt Syd, what's going on?" Finn asked, worry creeping in his voice.
"Finn, please, get your mom, now!" Syd urged. "Something's -"
The call was then suddenly cut off, leaving only beeping to be heard.
"Aunt Syd? Hello?" Finn said, now growing concerned before placing the phone on the receiver.
Needing to find his mother and to know what was going on, since Finn hardly heard his aunt speak in that tone, he sat on the edge of the bed and got up.
He then opened his bedroom door, only hearing crickets chirping and the sound of a muffled voice coming from Nat's bedroom, as well as light coming through the open door of her bedroom.
"Mom? Are you up? Mom?" He called out, getting no response, meaning she's either asleep, which he knew can't be the case, or she's gone somewhere.
Deciding to investigate the muffled voice, Finn walked down the landing to Nat's bedroom, opened the door further, finding the room to be empty, and the voice came from a news broadcast of a female reporter standing outside of a burning building in the city, it's skyline being visible through the window in Nat's bedroom.
"It appears that what we initially reported as riots seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic." The reporter said.
"Pandemic?" Finn repeated in confusion. He didn't hear anything about a pandemic until now, though there were some odd things happening during the day, like seeing a helicopter fly above or seeing a fire truck drive past the shop where he had his mother's watch fixed. He even noticed that one of the students at the school he goes to twitching, which was odd, since that wasn't normal for them.
"We've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and -" The reporter continued, but got cut off by a soldier.
"We need to move everybody out of here now." The soldier ordered. "There's a gas leak. Hey, move!"
"There seems to be some commotion coming from beh -"
"Get out of here!" The soldier said before turning to the reporter. "Lady, get the hell outta here right -"
An explosion went off, cutting the broadcast off, which also could be seen through Nat's bedroom window, making Finn jump in fright and gasp in horror before a second explosion went off, all making a nearby dog bark outside.
"Oh, God." Finn muttered with fear as he backed out of his mother's bedroom. "MOM?"
He then headed downstairs, seeing police cars drive past the house through one of the front windows, lights blaring and sirens ringing out.
Finn then turned to the living room, seeing a light flashing on a wall from a countertop by the kitchen. As he walked up to it, he saw what made the light.
"Mom's phone. She never leaves anywhere without it." He whispered concerningly.
He grabbed the phone, seeing that the time was currently 1:47 AM, and noticed some notifications.
"Eight missed calls?" He questioned before seeing that Syd sent some messages. "'Sis, where are you? PLEASE CALL! I'm on my way over!"
These messages now made him more on edge as he turned the phone off and placed it back on the counter.
"Where are you?" He whispered anxiously about his mother.
Finn then started walking towards his mother's office when he heard the dog outside whimper and squeal, making him stop walking and whimper himself, as it seemed like the dog was attacked.
He then took a few steps, looking out through the sliding glass door to the backyard, seeing the tire hanging from a tree swaying like something bumped into it.
Now truly scared, he managed to enter his mother's office, just as Nat ran in through the sliding glass door in her office, looking panicked, panting heavily and her grey white t-shirt covered in some blood. She then closed the door and stepped back.
"Mom, what's goin' on?" Finn asked worriedly, drawing her attention.
"Finn." She gasped before turning to her desk. "You alright?"
"I am, why?" Finn asked as Nat pulled out a box from her desk.
"Did anyone come here?" She asked as she opened the box, pulling out a revolver.
"No. What's wrong?" Finn asked back as she started loading bullets.
"So much. Just keep away from the doors!" Nat replied, glancing at him for a moment. "Just stay right there."
"Mom, please tell me what's goin' on? I'm already worried as is." Finn urged.
"There's somethin' wrong with the Adlers. They're sick." Nat explained just as she finished loading her revolver.
"Sick? Does it have to do with the pandemic I heard about?" Finn questioned.
Before Nat could reply, there was a thud by the glass door, as well as an animalistic growl, making Finn jump, seeing that one of the Adlers, the elderly woman referred to as Nana, banged against the door, their hands covered in blood, as well as their clothes and face.
"Oh, God." Nat muttered as she stepped back to her son. "Amanda!"
"Mom?" Finn called out, making Nat reach her son and stood in front of him protectively.
"Stay behind me." She told him as she aimed her revolver as Amanda smashed through the glass door, falling onto the floor. "Amanda, stay back!"
Amanda turned to her and got back up, growling and snarling like some rabid animal.
"DON'T, I'M WARNIN' YOU!" Nat yelled as Amanda charged at her and Finn, making her fire a shot at Amanda's chest, killing her instantly as she fell onto her back.
Finn gasped and physically shook with horror as Nat pulled him away from her office.
"You… you killed her…." Finn stuttered, truly shaken up as Nat placed her hands on his shoulder.
"Finn, listen to me, bud. There's something going on, this pandemic is worse than expected." She explained sternly, which made her son focus on her words. "We're gonna meet up with Syd and get out of here, alright?"
"Yeah." Finn sniffled as headlights beamed in through the front windows.
"That's Syd, let's go." Nat said and grabbed Finn's hand, leading him to the front door.
Upon exiting the house, they saw Syd exiting her truck. Like her older sister, Syd was bald, but was shorter and more muscular than Nat.
"Where have you been, sis? Things are gettin' bad out there." Syd said as Nat led Finn to one of the back passenger doors.
"I know." Nat replied as Syd noticed the blood on her shirt.
"Please tell me that isn't your blood." She said concerningly as Nat opened the door.
"It ain't." Nat replied as she helped Finn onto the passenger seat. "Let's just focus on gettin' out of here."
"Apparently half the people in the city lost their minds, started attackin' everyone else." Syd explained as she got back in the driver's seat and Nat in the front passenger seat. "Some say it's some kind of parasite. I highly doubt that. Will you tell me what happened?"
"After we get out of here." Nat replied as Syd pulled out in reverse.
"Hey, kiddo. You holdin' up fine?" She asked Finn.
"Yeah." Finn replied as Syd turned left and drove down the street. "Can we hear what's on the radio?"
"I tried earlier, it's just static." Syd replied. "So sudden, since the news folk wouldn't stop talkin' moments previous."
"Did they say anythin' about where to go?" Nat asked her sister.
"They said that the Army's puttin' up roadblocks on the highway, meaning Travis County's out of the question." Syd replied as she reached a three way intersection.
"Then take 71." Nat insisted.
"I was going to, anyway." Syd replied as a couple of cop cars drove past them to the left, heading for the city, before they turned right, heading in the direction of the hospital.
"Any deaths?" Finn asked anxiously.
"There's some. No doubt there's more." Syd replied, not wanting to go into detail for her nephew.
They made a left up a small hill, driving towards a car that had crashed into a utility pole.
"How did this pandemic even happen?" Nat questioned, shaking her head, as Syd made a left turn down a dirt road.
"They don't know. But we're not the only city affected. Initially, they said it was only the South. But now it's affecting both the East and West Coasts." Syd explained before all three looked ahead and were horrified to see a whole house engulfed in fire. "Jesus Christ. Louis' farm."
They drove past, Finn pressing his face against the glass, watching parts of the house fall apart.
"That sumbitch better made it out." Syd muttered.
"I hope so." Nat added.
"Are we sick, as well?" Finn then asked with fear as they reached another three way intersection.
"I don't think so." Nat reassured him.
"But how do you know for sure?" Finn questioned.
"It's only just been people in the city." Syd replied.
"Wasn't Amanda in the city yesterday?" Finn reminded his mother and aunt.
"She was." Nat said grimly. "But we're fine. I'm sure of it."
Everyone was in silence for a short while on the straight road until the headlights shined on a family of three walking down the side of the road.
"Do we help them or do we keep goin'?" Syd asked her sister, considering they do have space in the truck, but there's a chance any one of them is infected.
"Keep goin'." Nat replied as the father of the family noticed their presence and waved for them.
"Hey! Hey, stop! Stop!" The father cried out, only getting ignored as they drove past the family.
"I'm sorry, bud, we have to focus on each other right now." Nat apologised to Finn for the fact that she made a rather cold decision. "Besides, I'm sure someone else will come along."
"I hope so." Finn said distantly as he glanced behind him, thinking of that family.
They drove down a winding road and saw an ambulance leave the hospital on their left, driving past them. Syd then stopped the truck when they all saw that the road leading to San Antonio was filled to the brim with other vehicles.
"Crap. Everyone else had the same idea as us." Syd hissed in frustration, watching a helicopter fly overhead, shining a spotlight on the vehicles below it.
"Maybe we can backtrack -" Nat said, cutting off when the driver of the car in front of them got out.
"What the fuck, man? Let's go!" The driver yelled.
But then an infected from the hospital ran towards the driver, slammed him against the car and threw him onto the ground and slammed their fists on the driver, his wife screaming.
"Jesus Christ." Nat muttered in horror as another infected ran to the car and jumped in, attacking the wife. "Turn the truck around."
"Oh, God." Finn muttered as the infected slamming their fists on the driver looked up at the three.
"Syd! Turn the truck!" Nat yelled, shoving her sister's shoulder, snapping her out of her shock.
"Fuck!" Syd exclaimed as she reversed the truck as the infected started running up to them. She swerved to the right, making the infected slam onto the left back passenger side door just as Syd drove off.
"I can't believe that just happened!" Syd said shakily as she drove down a street.
"Turn left!" Nat said, and Syd made the next left turn, where people were running from something that was on the other side of a bus that seemed to have crashed earlier.
"Oh, come on. Move!" Syd yelled, slamming down on the horn, as the people were starting to run in front of the truck, preventing her from driving forward.
"Why are they runnin'?" Finn asked worriedly.
"I don't know." Nat muttered in response.
"MOVE!" Syd yelled as she continued slamming on the horn.
"There, go!" Nat yelled as there was a moment where there weren't any people running, so Syd drove through the gap behind the bus and started heading down the street.
But Finn turned left and saw a van heading right for them.
"LOOK OUT!" He yelled.
But it was too late. The van crashed into their truck, knocking it onto its side and knocking the three out.
The sounds of running, screaming and an electrical buzzing woke Finn up, who now felt pain in his leg and face, which he rubbed, seeing blood on his fingers. He then looked through the cracked windshield, seeing the truck was on its side, and both his mother and aunt were knocked out.
"Mom?" He said, nudging Nat. "Mom, wake up!"
"What?" Nat mumbled as she opened her eyes, now realising what was going on, seeing someone getting ravaged by an infected in a car.
"Get back, bud." She told Finn, who moved back, as she braced herself and kicked the windshield off the truck after a few kicks.
She pulled herself out and got to her feet, swaying slightly as she tried to get her bearings, only to get pinned by an infected that charged at her, pressed against the truck.
She used her forearm to keep the infected from biting her just as Syd charged in and slammed a brick against the infected's head, killing it as it slumped against the ground.
"Thanks." Nat told her before she turned to help Finn out. "Come on, Finn."
She grabbed his arms and helped him out of the truck, but when he stood, he winced and grabbed his right leg.
"What's wrong?" Nat asked.
"My leg hurts. I can't move." He told her.
"Guys, we need to move." Syd said as she watched all that was going on.
"Here." Nat said, handing her the revolver. "Keep us safe."
"I will." Syd replied.
"Come on, I got you." Nat then said, lifting Finn into her arms, who wrapped his arms around her. "Hold on, you hear?"
"I will." Finn replied.
Then she and Syd started running alongside everyone else, while some infected grabbed and pinned down some of them, attacking them.
"I'm scared." Finn told his mother with fear.
"I know, just keep your eyes closed or on me." Nat told him.
"Watch it!" Syd warned before shooting an infected in the face, which would've attacked Nat and Finn.
As they continued, running, Nat and Syd, even Finn, watched a car swerve out of control and crash into a gas station, which then exploded.
"OH, GOD!" Finn gasped.
"To the right!" Syd shouted, and she and Nat turned right and ran down the street, where a building on the left was on fire.
Finn closed his eyes as he heard screaming from the building as infected ran out, all on fire.
Soon, they ran past a fire truck as a car swerved before another car crashed into it, blocking the road they drove down.
"We'll make it out of this, darling." Nat whispered to Finn as they headed towards a movie theatre.
But as they neared the theatre, car that was on fire drove until it crashed into another car, causing a large explosion, making people scream as more people got caught on fire, making Nat and Syd stop.
"There's too many of 'em!" Nat said, turning to Syd as they backed away. "Now what?"
Syd looked around until she saw a fenced door leading into an alleyway.
"Down there!" She yelled and ran towards it, Nat following her.
Syd opened the door and let Nat and Finn go first as she closed the door in case any infected try to chase after them.
But as Nat reached a larger space in the alley, an infected that climbed over another fence charged at her and her son, making the former hold it back with one of her arms as she placed Finn on his feet.
Thankfully, Syd charged in and kicked the infected away and shot them in the head.
"This way!" She said as she led Nat and Finn, who was back in Nat's arms, down the alley.
"Don't worry, we'll get out of this." Nat reassured Finn as they made a right turn, seeing another fence, where more infected started climbing or crawl under to get them.
"They're gettin' through the fence!" Syd said worriedly as they made a left turn and found themselves in the back of the Pistol Cantina.
"In here!" Syd said, pointing at the door, which they all ran to as some infected jumped over a wall to chase them down.
They all made it inside, but Syd pressed herself against the door as the infected tried to get in.
"Get Finn out of here and onto the highway!" Syd told Nat.
"We can't just leave you!" Nat replied.
"Just go! You have Finn! I can outrun 'em!" Syd reasoned.
"Aunt Syd!" Finn cried out as Nat backed away.
"We'll meet you there!" Nat swore.
"Just hurry!" Syd told her.
Nat pressed her back against the front door to open it and started running.
"We can't just leave her!" Finn cried as Nat ran past an infected that pinned someone onto the ground while she ran towards a part of a brick wall that was ripped open, leading to a wooded area that led towards a bridge.
"She can take care of herself. She'll be fine." Nat reassured her son as she ran through the opening while a helicopter flew near the bridge. "We're almost there."
Finn looked over her shoulder, seeing that the infected was now chasing them.
"Hurry! We're being chased!" He told her, making her start to increase her speed as best she can, given that she was carrying her son.
She continued running through the wooded area, soon running past a crashed ambulance, where an infected was crawling out of a window, which chased after them as well.
Nat ran up a slope as the two infected closed on them.
Soon, she reached the top of the slope, where the two infected were shot down, making Finn yelp and Nat duck her head.
She stopped and looked to see that a soldier stood ahead of them, their gun aimed at them with the flashlight on.
"We're not infected! My son's hurt his foot!" Nat told the soldier, standing where she stood, knowing that movement would antagonise the soldier.
"Got a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter. Please advise." The soldier said into his comms.
"What about Aunt Syd?" Finn asked Nat.
"We'll get you to safety and go back for her, alright?" Nat replied gently.
"Sir, there's a boy." The soldier spoke into his comms. "But - Yes, sir."
The soldier then lifted his rifle and aimed it at Nat and Finn, both realising what was going on.
"Please, we're not infected." Nat begged until the soldier kept aiming the rifle, which told her he wasn't going to listen.
She turned to run away, but the soldier fired as she turned, making her and Finn cry out as they ended up falling down a slope, parted from each other.
Nat rolled onto her back as the soldier approached her and aimed his rifle at her face.
"No, please!" She begged once more.
But the soldier's head then got shot at, killing him, and slumped onto the ground.
The shot was thanks to Syd, who had arrived, but her attention was on Finn, which had her drop the revolver and fall to her knees.
"No." She breathed as her eyes welled up and placed her hands over her mouth.
Nat turned and her worst nightmare happened, as her son was whimpering in agony from a gunshot to his abdomen.
She crawled over to him.
"Finn!" Nat gasped as she was on her knees by his side, as he placed his hands on his bleeding injury.
"Move your hands, bud." She whispered, moving his hands, one of which was on her shoulder, as he continued whimpering. "I know it hurts." Nat placed her hands over the gunshot wound. "I know it hurts, just stay with me. I'm gonna pick you up."
She lifted Finn off his back, making him scream in utter pain.
"I know, I know, just stay with me." Nat said as she turned to Syd, who now started crying, before turning to Finn, who stopped screaming as his eyes were dull and lifeless, releasing one last breath.
"No, Finn. Please, don't do this to me. Please." Nat said, her voice breaking, as she stared into her son's lifeless eyes, her own eyes welling up. "No, no, please. Please, God, don't do this to me!"
She now had Finn in her arms, his head on her shoulder.
"NO!" She screamed in heartache, agony and sorrow. "FINN! NO!"
Her worst nightmare had come true: after losing her husband, she had now lost her son, the person she swore to protect and keep safe, who was now dead in her arms as she cried tears while continuing to scream, while Syd placed her head on the ground, still crying herself.
Without question, this is the worst day of their lives.
I'm taking a break from my TMNT story at the moment, so here I am with my own retelling of The Last of Us with OCs, which will replace Joel, Ellie and Tommy among a few other characters.
For reference to what Nat and Syd look like, imagine Danai Gurira and Cynthia Erivo, as the two do look like they could be sisters.
Also, this retelling with including elements from the HBO show, which I still marvel at for how good it was.
Btw, I know some of you will question me having OCs replace Joel and Ellie in particular, but at its core, the story of the first game is about a parent falling in love with someone they grow to see as their second child, and Neil Druckmann has said in the making of documentary for the game that the story can still work regardless of genders between the two main characters, so it can still work as a father-daughter story, or in the case of this retelling, a mother-son story.