Travis Hogue - Rural Jonesboro

Travis couldn’t believe his horrible luck, as he smeared the blood on his hands all over his shirt. He stared, teary eyed at the body in front of him: what was left of the old man, his only family. A tiny sob left his throat as his bloody hand came up to run through his hair, sticking to the fibers like glue and holding them upright.

“What the hell is happening…What’s happening…”, he whispered, turning in a brief circle. He spotted the shotgun the old man kept in the corner, behind the door, for protection. He almost scoffed at the word protection running through his brain. A whole lot of good that did him. Another broken sob threatened to escape as he picked the shotgun up and weighed it in his hand.

This had to stop. It was only going to get worse, but it had to stop.

A crash against the front door shook him to his core, and although his vision was a little blurred, he turned on the noise and approached the door. From the sounds of the moans, he could tell that it was another sick person. It was another one of them…and they couldn’t be saved. They were vicious…rabid, even.

Turning the doorknob, he swung the door open, and held the shotgun up with his terribly shaky hands.

“Stay back…”, he murmured, before sobbing. He had never killed anyone, before this day. He had never had the urge to, but it was out of his control, “Please. I don’t want to hurt you…”

It was another neighbor, from a cross the field. She was missing most of her mouth and chin, and what was left of the flesh seemed to be melting down onto her dingy white dress. Wincing, Travis held the barrel close to her chest, which she simply pressed against, pushing him backward.

“I’m so sorry…”, he whispered, before pulling the trigger. The shotgun bit a huge chunk out of the woman’s stomach, but she didn’t stop. It seemed to cause her no pain, which threw Travis back even more. He pulled the pump down with what little strength he had left, and fired another shot into the woman’s stomach, causing her intestines to seep out, and fall into a pile on the floor.

“Shit. Oh god…”, he groaned, pumping the shotgun once more. This time, he aimed at her head, and fired. The woman dropped like a stone and the moaning stopped. Shaking so hard that he could barely stand, Travis leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

This was beyond sickness. These people…they were dead.

(I will post for Ryland on the next round, since she’s all the way across the city from him)

Luanne and Dot Part 1 - Downtown Jonesboro

The scene outside was nightmarish: Screaming, crying, growling. The sounds of gunfire and rioting echoed through the streets, and the smell of smoke filled the air. And yet, inside the barricaded old pharmacy, the gentle muzak playing through the faulty P.A. system continued as though the world beyond wasn't collapsing.

Insulated from the conflict outside, one of two identical little girls sat on the checkout counter, gun in hand. In the back, the other twin scoured the shelves for anything remotely useful, shoving cans of food and bottles of medicine into a bloodied backpack. Dot, the girl keeping guard, frowned. She almost felt bad for what they were doing, looting. Not too long ago, their actions would have been a federal offense. But times had changed, and the world was falling apart. Survival of the fittest was the only law that mattered anymore.

A loud crash shook Dot, causing her to fumble with the rifle, before aiming it at the door. Luanne stopped gathering supplies, and turned towards the entrance. Another crash. Someone was breaking in. Rifle trained on the place where the barricades were cracking, Dot put her finger to the trigger and breathed in deep. One more crash, and the door swung open.

(Leaving this open-ended so as to allow someone to introduce themselves here)

Kate

“Don’t think about it too much babe,” Selina murmured, planting a gentle kiss on her partner’s forehead. Kate nodded mechanically, before leaning in to bury her head in the crook of Selina’s neck. It was hard not to think about it.

Outside disgruntled moans mingled with the terrified, bone chilling, shrieks of innocent civilians. Kate could imagine them being ripped to shreds the way her naïve uncle and loving aunt had been. What would she tell her cousins, she wondered, presuming she would ever see them again. That she had allowed their parents to be attacked by those mindless monstrosities? That David and Selina had bashed their skulls in until they were unrecognizable.

She could barely stand to look at their clothes. Both were smeared in dry black blood, none of it their own. Feeling bile rise up in the back of her throat, she swallowed screwing her eyes shut and cuddling closer to Selina, who wrapped her long arms around Kate’s waist.

---

Selina

They had taken shelter in an empty Deli, barricading the front entrance with tables and chairs. Every now and then, the doors would lazily press inward as one of those things attempted to push its way through. A few of them had their faces pressed to the window, and Selina could see as the flesh pulled away from their bodies, exposing decomposing muscle, and bare bones.

Even between two layers of clothing, Selina was keenly aware of the small bump forming in Kate’s belly. She had been a few millimeters bigger this morning. A few millimeters of more baby to take care of, Selina had thought.

At the back of the Deli, David was practically dismantling shelves, looking for salvageable food items to stuff in his bag. He had already destroyed the vending machine up front for two bags of potato chips. It was clear others had already ramsacked the half-full deli, taking as many unexpired items as possible. The small group of three had been late to that party, and were left to scavenge through what little items were left.

“What are we doing next,” David practically growled, sounding dismayed at what few things he had picked up.

“The pharmacy across the street,” Kate murmured, peeking up from Selina’s shoulder, “We should check it out. Anything first aid-ish could help us. Painkillers, band aids, antiseptics.”

Selina smiled, running her hand through Kate’s fiery red hair. That was her Kate, tough as nails, and smart too.

“We’re going to have to be fast," Selina murmured, "Those things look slow, but they’re fast when they want to be. I saw a lady get absolutely wrecked by one she thought was dead. It just snatched her up real quick…and…well…”

All three of their faces contorted as the bloody and mangled bodies of Kate and David’s aunt and uncle came to mind.

Readying themselves, the three pulled their backpacks on, heading for the front entrance. The plan was simple. Selina and David would clear away the tables as silently as possible. David would lead the way out. He was the broadest among the three of them, and his swing had the widest girth. Selina would bring up the rear, and Kate would be tucked away safely in the middle.

Their hope was that they would be able to briskly out-walk those, monsters. Running seemed to attract their attention, with the noise and clatter it caused. Fast walking had been their tactic since they had discovered the things were attracted to noise. Still, none felt very confident.

After the doors had been freed from constraint, they took position. Selina could see large beads of sweat rolling down the side of David’s head. She couldn’t blame him. Her back was soaked, and she could feel her tank top plastering itself to her body.

“On, the count of three,” David nodded, and Selina proceeded to countdown, “1…2…”

On three they pushed out of the Deli, walking with as much speed as they could to the adjacent pharmacy, and managing to dodge the creatures whose attention they had aroused. The walk felt like it took hours. Selina's fear doubled when she thought she heard deep breaths coming from Kate. Was she hyperventilating?

Turned out, it was her own breathing she was hearing.

---

Kate

David, obviously, reached the pharmacy first. Tentatively, he pressed his weight against the doors.

“It won’t budge,” he whimpered, looking wild-eyed at the two women. The monsters were beginning to slowly amble towards the three of them.

“Ram into it,” Kate hissed. Turning towards the door, David shoved against it hard, causing a loud crash on the other side, as whatever barricaded it began to fall apart. Selina joined with him, and together, the two of them ran into the doors. They budged slightly, and the pair prepared themselves for what they hoped would be a finally round.

Behind them, the things were beginning to pick up the pace. Kate could imagine what they were seeing. Three tasty, floundering morsels attempting to escape.

“Hurry,” she, squealed, as Selina and David, for the third time, crashed into the doors. They flung open, and Selina practically wrenched Kate off the ground and craned her over a lopsided table. Then she and David rushed in, slamming the doors behind them, and pushing back tables and chairs to barricade the doors once again.

Turning, Kate’s eyes went wide as she was greeted with the barrel of a gun, aimed right at her. In a matter of seconds, Selina had placed herself between Kate and the gun. She loved Selina…but she disliked the fact that her wife, her equal partner was so willingly placing herself in danger for her. She hated it. She didn’t want anything to happen to Selina, because of her.

Shockingly, the three were face to face with a young girl, probably twelve or thirteen.

“Don’t shoot us, sweetie,” Kate said from behind Selina in what she hoped was a placating voice, "We're...not one of them."

"Aren't you too young to use a gun," David said, twisting his face uncertainly.

"This isn't New York, Dave," Selina said, snorting and rolling her eyes, before turning her attention to the kid, "You got parents around....or..."

Kate could hear the thickness in Selina's voice. That was the hard truth. Kids were losing their parents, parents losing kids...everything was going to hell.

- Removed -

Santa -Jonesboro Mall

"Oh the weather outside is frightful." The song hissed out with static over a dying radio system, played in a seasonal store of the mall. The sole figure inside adjusted a Santa cap they were wearing so it wasn't askew. Outside there was the constant melody of breaking and shrieking as people were scavenging. Santa glanced towards the doors which were braced with large sections of plywood and some of the larger decorations. In the middle of the store, perhaps out of place was an old fake Christmas Tree, that had most of its pine covering pieces bare and removed, showing only the black rods that kept the formerly fully festive tree alive. Santa went on to the tree, as he grabbed a box of fake cob-webs that were still in-tact and began stringing them across the tree.

"But the fire is so delightful" The song hissed further, "And since we've got no place to go/Let It Snow!/Let it S-s-sn-..." As the Krampus continued decorating the tree, the music hit a feedback loop, repeating it over and over. Beneath the mask, Santa growled a bit out of annoyance that such a beautiful song could only be played on this fairly disgraceful system. The song started up again, passing the error, "Oh it doesn't show signs of stopping. The sounds of screeching, banging, and the terror from outside continued, before the song skipped another set of lyrics as the lights began flickering ready to give out. "The lights are turned way down low." From the back door there was a loud thump, as the music fully died.

Santa drew the trusty iron bar with concrete attached to it. No one, was going to mess with this treasured sanctuary, not when the Guardian of Christmas was here.

Luanne and Dot Part 2 - In the Drugstore

Luanne shuffled around in the drugstore as her sister kept a vigilant eye on their barricade, grabbing anything that looked like it might be useful and shoving it in her backpack. It hadn't been long since the dead started walking, and Luanne was still hoping that perhaps this was all a dream. Hoping, but not believing. This was the world she lived in now, and if she distracted herself too much with such fanciful imaginings, she might not be long to live. Or worse; she could put her sister in danger.

Luanne glanced at Dot, who was still sitting on the counter with a trembling finger on her rifle. Dot was all Luanne had left in this world, and damn if she wouldn't do anything to protect her. That was her obligation, after all, being a whole seven minutes and eighteen seconds older.

BANG

A sudden crash at the door made Luanne drop the can of chili that she was inspecting and look up at the door. She quickly drew the shotgun that she took from their house, and put her hand at her hip to make certain she still had the combat knife nestled in the sash on her dress. She stalked along the shelves near the entrance as another crash rang throughout the pharmacy, and by the time the door burst open she was able to surreptitiously observe the group that ran in. Not walkers, for certain, as they had the presence of mind to barricade the door again. But that didn't mean they weren't enemies. For all she knew, they wanted the protection of the pharmacy all for themselves.

All of their attention was on Dot at the moment as they began explaining themselves to her, which gave Luanne the perfect opportunity to sneak up behind them and train one of her father's favorite hunting weapons on their backs. If they tried to hurt her sister, she would hurt them first.

Holly Smithens - Caraway Plaza Shopping Center

"Attention all officers, the governor has issued a state of emergency for the county. All personal are urged to take to the streets to contain the violence and panic..."

"Att-" The repeating message was cut short as a blonde woman wearing a detectives badge on her waist threw the radio into the floor. The woman identified as Holly Smithens by her name tag hanging from her left jacket pocket put her hands to her head and sighed a few times. "What the -FUCK- was going on here." The question was more or less rhetorical and so she felt a bit silly expecting an answer, and so with another sigh she stood and took stock of her current situation. Her mind and whole being was super stressed, her brother was somewhere out in this horrifying horror movie bullshit and she had no idea where. There, that's where I start. Making progress, the most important thing, find Callum and then safety. She nodded again mainly to reassure herself and breathed deeply a few times before running back around the now deserted Jonesboro police station.

---

5 hours earlier.

"Callum, how many times do I have to tell you that I know literally two people in this town. Count these fingers, TWO. Which means i'm not going to just leave you at a shopping center all day by yourself, you can hang with me at the Police Station OK?" In the backseat of Holly Smithen's partner's car Callum, 11 year old brother to the detective nodded dejectedly and flipped open his cellphone. Holly sighed and looked to her partner Nate. "Blasted kid won't do nothing but text and gripe."

Laughing Nate shrugged, "he's a boy Holl what do you expect you can't keep him locked away us guys can't handle it." He winked in the mirror and a adorable giggle could be heard. With a sigh Holly pointed to the sign beside the police station, at which point Callum went nuts! With a brown eyes glare Holly peeled two twenties from her wallet and handed them to her brother which got even more excited.

"Now listen Callum, if ANYTHING happens you come right to the Police station, it's about a block away. Do you understand?" Of course the boy nodded vigorously while stuffing the bills into his front pocket. He looked up and smiled right at her, which literally caused her to just want to hug him. She waved goodbye and looked at her partner viciously again.

---

Present

Tearing up Holly snatched up a Benelli shotgun, shoved some magazines for her sidearm into some pouches of her jacket, grabbed the keys to a patrol car, and a satellite phone, then slammed the departments doors open and sprinted to one of the nearby patrol cars just waiting to be used. She jumped right in and turned the engine over putting the blue lights on and heading to the shopping center which was right down the street from the Police station leaving sirens off. In the same brown eyes that had been glaring at her partner earlier was now a look of such fierce determination that she actually scared herself when looking at her own reflection...

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Callum Smithens - South Caroway Road

Another step, just keep running and don't look back, don't look back Callum, stop it! Stop it, don't fucking look back, oh shit what is going on!

These thoughts and more raced through 11 year old Callum Smithen's head as he ran down the street away from the blasted shopping center he had been hanging out in all day. After Nate and his sister dropped him off he took the forty he was given and decided to shop a little and drive security crazy. Both things he did and he did well, but what he didn't expect to hear was screaming and sounds of panic coming from the bathroom area. Before he realized it the sounds were not just in the bathroom and he was being pushed and pulled by all sorts of men and woman running in every direction. Callum trying to make sense of the world himself saw a man with blood dripping from his jaws tackle a lady and bite into her neck pulling the flesh and causing a spurt of blood to shoot all over the white marble floors. Panicing as well Callum ran to a shoe store and pushed himself under the cashier's desk and closing the small door. Not even knowing where he got it the boy was clenching a shoe measurer and rocking back and forth. He waited for an hour or so before deciding it would be best to see if it was over. He uncramped his sore body and then just sat down in the doorway sobbing at the huge pools of blood all over center court.

That was where Nate found him. His sister's partner ran right up to him and shook him a few times making eye contact. "Hey bud, it's ok. Hey you hear me, it's ok now." The man had Callum shove his eyes into a muscled arm as the detective carried him into the bright sunshine. He sat Callum down beside his car and gave him a playful ruffle of his head. "See, you're fine. Your sister sent me to get you, things are... Well crazy." He was about to continue speaking when his face turned white. Callum followed his eyes and looked behind him to see a group of... Well he had played enough video games to know exactly what they looked like but surely that was just fiction...

Nate pointed to the car and unsnapped his gun. The five men kept limping towards him, despite Nate telling them to halt. When they reached his car Nate pulled his gun and fired a round into each mans body which didn't seem to do anything but make them more anxious to get to him, Nate fired again this times into the skull and they fell to the ground. Then six more came into view, then ten more, then even more. Nate turned to Callum and leaned down. "Run now, up the road. Do it now Callum, do NOT LOOK BACK Callum, you hear me right? Do not. Just keep going until you feel you're safe." He smiled and ruffled the kids hair again and handed him a silver case. "Your sisters gun, or well one of them. I have no idea what her code is. Good luck kid." He smiled again and stepped towards the dead getting ever closer. Callum wiped his eyes and grabbed a knife and backpack Nate had laying in the car before running the way the detective had pointed.

He hadn't looked back either, instead he ran until he hit a small convenience store. His survival instincts kicked in and he decided that if he was now on the run, food and water would be rather essential. He went inside and grabbed 6 bottles of water, an entire box of those jerky with cheese packs, and some other food stuffs. He also found a flashlight left on the counter. As he was zipping the backpack back up he heard a sound... He turned around and ca,e practically face to face with what seemed to be the cashier of the store still ever vigilant against shoplifters it seemed. Callum backed until he hit the wall and then stood petrified as the -thing- shambled towards him. His face was actually gone, but three teeth remained on what looked to be a very wide black opening that had to be what was left of his mouth. His insides were still spilling out of him and with every step more and more would slop to the ground. Callum heard himself whimpering and instantly shook himself to the very core. "You have to be strong now Callum, Nate saved you and fuck it if you are going to just die down the road." Waiting for the monster to come closer, Callum acted as soon as the walker outstretched his arms. Throwing himself to the side, the boy managed to get out of the way of the claw like hands smearing his shirt and pants in blood as he slipped. Quick as a snake however he was up and sprinting once more on the road.

Out of breath the boy ran until he reached a drugstore and with a splitting headache approached it. As he reached the entrance he tried pushing but the doors wouldn't budge. He thought he heard voices and he tried to call out, and realized that his voice was raw and kicked himself mentally for not drinking one of the water bottles. He just hoped it would carry into the pharmacy.

All that he remembered was the screeching of breaks...and then there was that booming of a noise, the sound itself almost seem to pierce his very soul. Afterwards there was only darkness, momentary and involuntary sleep. When his eyes finally opened everything that Cael saw was in a blur. As his vision returned he began to feel the stinging of minor cuts and bruises, and a faint warmth that he recognized as blood running down his arm. Cael inspected himself momentarily, looking himself over to make sure that those minor wounds were all that he had suffered in the incident...then he actually realized what was going on...his memory, its blurriness fading slower than that of his visions, came back to him and he understood exactly what kind of incident he was dealing with. Right then the crashing sound, the very noise that had pierced him deep into his soul was that of metal colliding, of two vehicles slamming into each other...he had been in a wreck, and he was one lucky bastard to even be alive.

Looking around his surroundings, Cael dipped his head down to look out of the small portion of his windshield that wasn't cracked in the shape of a spider's web, a small piece of glass only about a foot long and 6 inches wide. He could see the other vehicle, a shimmering blue Prius, it was forced and bent into the hood of his truck; almost like the two vehicles had become one. He could see smoke rising from both engines...and a little flame dancing around the motor of the pseudo-crushed Prius. He immediatley realized that it would be in his best interest to get the hell out of his truck...right now. Cael's hands rushed to reach for the door handle, his fingers, reaching out as far as he could stretch them, missed the mark by about half an inch. His seat belt was restraining him. He tried unfastening it, to no avail, and for a moment he yanked and struggled trying to break free from the "safety belt's" grasp...more like a death trap. Instinctively, he reached down to his belt loop where his knife's case held it in place, and ripping the velcro top open he slid his fingers around the thing, forcing it out and into his hands. Quickly he flipped the blade open and with a click it locked into place. Cael placed the serrated portion of the blade against the belt and with a few swipes was free from the damned thing.

Opening the door he lifted his leg to get out of the vehicle, and in what could only be described as an awkward rolling motion, he fell out onto the pavement bellow. He was truly lucky that he hadn't broken anything, but he knew that he was definitely going to feel this in the morning...if he made it that far that is. Getting up to his feet Cael began waking over to the Prius that had so rudely ruined his already shitty day, it's windshield was split and cracked just like his, and so he had to go around to the driver's side window in order to get a peek inside. There was a girl, probably about 20 years old slumped in the driver's seat. As he looked on at her he could see the lines of mascara running down her face...she had been crying. Cael also realized that her chest was moving, that no air was pumping in or out of her lungs, he reached in to the broken window...doing all that he could to avoid the jagged shards of shattered glass, and placed his index and middle finger firmly on her neck to feel for a pulse. Then, as he searched for any sign of life in the young woman's body, he saw the large and jagged piece of metal sticking deep into her gut, as well as the blood that poured from her wound. She was dead.

He closed his eyes for just a moment, mourning a little but mostly letting out a sigh of relief that it hadn't been him that died in the incident. Before he could even open his eyes back up Cael felt hands grabbing at him, and immediately the sound moaning along with almost a growl boomed from the corpses mouth. The thing had gotten him by the collar of his shirt and was pulling him fast towards it. The, what he thought was dead, woman's mouth was open wide she chomped over and over at him like a dog trying desperately to get at its treat. He pulled back as hard as he could, but the dead bitch had a tight grip on him. He had seen this things before, but never this close, and he hadn't really embraced the concept that the dead were rising until this moment. Luckily he still had the open knife in his left hand and without little thought or hesitation he lunged the blade up through her chin and into her head. Always the head...or at least that's the only way that he'd seen these people, or creatures die. Pulling his knife out he jumped backwards quickly, getting away from the now really dead dead bitch, and he took another deep breath. He was already pretty used to things going straight to hell when he was around, but all of this chaos had taken things to a whole new level, and he didn't even know how to take it in, let alone what to make of it. All that he knew was that he needed to keep moving, and so ran back over to his totaled, all be it piece of crap to begin with, truck and grabbed his pack and the fire axe that he had obtained by breaking the glass on the fire emergency case in the bar that he figured he was no longer employed. That reminded him of the bottle he had stashed in his back pack. It was 750 ml of pure bliss in the form of Hennessy, something that he never thought he would indulge in again...in fact he had sworn off that kind of stuff completely, and to be honest he really wasn't sure why he grabbed the bottle in the first place, but the whole world seemed to be going to hell, and for some reason he didn't feel like being sober if that was the case.

Taking in his surroundings, trying to get a grasp of where exactly it was that his little wreck had landed him, and the first thing that he saw was a sign: NEA Baptist Hospital.

Luanne and Dot Part 3 - In The Pharmacy

Dot tried her best to keep her gaze off of Luanne. She didn't want to do anything to get her sister hurt, and she knew that surprising these people would be important if they turned out to be... Less than friendly. Slowly, she brought herself to answer their question.

"We don't got parents. Not anymore, at least." she kept the rifle pointed at the woman in front, occasionally shifting it to the annoyed seeming man, feeling strangely compelled not to aim at the other woman. "Now, who are you, an' what do you want?" She tried her best to sound tough, but it was hard. There were three of them, and she didn't know what weapons they might've had. This was dangerous. They had made plans for how to deal with bandits, but... Dot wasn't sure that she could follow through with taking another living human's life.

She shook briefly, hearing a raspy voice crying outside the door. It sounded like someone who needed help. And when it came to having other people around... More was generally better. Safety in numbers.

"Open that door back up. Somebody's out there, needs our help. Might be hurt or somethin'." As she spoke, she quickly motioned for Luanne to get out of view, hoping against hope that they'd listen to her.

Remiel Rivers - Prologue 1: Iced Tea
Location: Salt Lake City International Airport

It was about four o'clock in the morning. Elder Rivers was waiting outside the door of his church for his ride as well as his partner. In one hand, Rivers clenched anxiously the strap of his fanny pack; in the other, he held onto a tacky, pink, plastic rolling luggage bag. His right foot tapped on the ground in anticipation. Early, there were few cars driving by. Whenever one did, Elder Rivers would turn in hopes that it was his car.

Soon, a white BMW drove toward the church and parked at the sidewalk. Elder Rivers stared at the vehicle, waiting for someone to step out. The headlights didn't turn off and it took a good few minutes before the door of the passenger seat had opened. Out of the door stepped Elder Valentine. He was a gentleman of about the same age as Elder Rivers, a lean build, brown eyes, and short black hair.

"Good morning!" Elder Rivers greeted excitedly. Elder Valentine yawned and weakly formed a smile. Evidently, he was not used to waking up so early. Elder Valentine spared Elder Rivers of any small talk. As soon as the silence was established, the BMW had driven away. Soon after, another vehicle parked itself on the sidewalk. It was a green Ford. A man stepped out of the vehicle and greeted the two young soldiers of Jesus Christ. "Good morning!" Elder Rivers greeted the older man. The older man yawned and formed a smile in response. Quickly, the older man gave a few minor details to the two boys before getting them in the back seat of his car and driving to the airport.

Checking in took a good hour. Thanks to the church and its benefits, the process was much simpler than would be for a normal flight. This was no ordinary flight, at least not for the two young missionaries. This was a mission to spread to the word of Jesus Christ.

Before long, Elder Rivers and Elder Valentine were waiting at the terminal for their plane to arrive.

"I'm getting something to drink. Do you want something?" Valentine asked as he got up.
"Iced tea" Rivers responded.

Not saying another word, Elder Valentine walked away, returning with two clear, plastic cups filled with clear brown liquid. Elder Valentine opened a straw for Rivers, handing it to the fellow soldier of Christ. "Thanks" Rivers said, inserting the straw into the cup.

"BLECH!" Elder Rivers spat up his drink.
"What's wrong?" Elder Valentine asked.
"This is really bitter!" Rivers answered.

Elder Valentine reached into his fanny pack to take out a clear packet of honey. "It's a good sugar substitute. Maybe it won't make the bad taste go away, but nothing really does." the Elder said, staring into his drink. As Elder Rivers poured honey into his tea, he noticed that Elder Valentine hadn't done the same. The boy didn't say anything. He only watched as the other missionary finished.

When their number flight number was called out, Elder Rivers and Elder Valentine walked got in line and waited to board. The two didn't sit next to each other on the plane. The two hours it took to get from Utah to Arkansas were quiet.

Remiel Rivers - Chapter 1: Winter
Location: Jonesboro Mall

Elder Rivers was huddled inside of a car in the parking lot of the mall of the rural town. He had trekked a long way from the Arkansas International Airport. Clenching his gun tightly, Elder Rivers checked the glove compartment of the car. A granola bar was in plain sight. Hurriedly, he took the bar and crouched back down.

BAM! A zombie had splattered itself over the windshield of the car. Elder Rivers had nearly flinched, but knew better than to compromise his position. As quietly as he could, Elder Rivers unwrapped the granola bar and proceeded to eating. Though he had just been outside, his hands were fairly clean, without a lot of blood on it. The only blood stain being on his left sleeve- and it had long since dried.

Sated, at least for then, Elder Rivers peaked out the window of the car. Knowing their slow, shambling nature, Elder Rivers drew a clear path inside the mall, towards he saw an opening just wide enough to stick his BB gun through to part the automatic door, letting himself in.

Elder Rivers opened the passenger seat door and quickly ran towards the mall. As a zombie walked close, the missionary held his gun like a bat, smacking the zombie with the butt of his gun. Finally at the door, Riders propped the butt at the door and twisted, making an opening just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Grabbing the closest piece of cloth, Elder Rivers wiped the blood off his gun.

The soldier of Christ continued toward the center of the mall, until he saw a Christmas tree put up. Before it stood what appeared to be a mall Santa. If it was undead, Elder Rivers could still shoot it. His BB gun wasn't strong enough to pacify a zombie, but he deemed it was strong enough to at least knock over a present on the tree, big and hopefully heavy enough to do some damage.

"Hello?" Elder Rivers shouted.

Follow the red line down the hall to find the cafeteria.

Follow the red—there was red everywhere! When Mikey returned to the hospital, and run to the first place he’d remember going to the last visit, though he couldn't even remember how he had got here from the wreck down the road. Remembering being in the car and scrambling to get the door open as one of them pull his screaming mother through the broken window, his own screams of horror deafening n his own ears…and he left her.

Then…then he was here, and his legs hurt a lot, and in what was probably a panic had forgotten that he was carrying his hockey stick bag. If he had dropped it, he would have gotten back to the hospital faster, and his legs wouldn't have hurt so much. And sure, he liked to carry it a bit on his own, but when he got tired his father held onto if for hi—where was his dad?

Rubbing his eyes, and feeling a wetness of tears to them, small sobs surfaced…and the sound of a woman thing gorging herself on a human from the far end of the cafeteria could be heard loudly. There was a bang as another monster burst through the door way a distance away, and the small boy stood frozen for almost a few seconds, before sprinting behind the counter. A tray was knocked onto the floor and against a stove thing in such a rapid motion, catching the attention of the thing, but Mikey already flew into the door behind it and slammed the metal door shut.

The monster was banging on the metal door after a minute, but it seemed the door secured on its own…it was then that he finally had a proper look around. A row of shelves of some canned food, one or two he had recognised as the ‘fresh’ made chicken soups or chilli that had been served last visit, and there were also bags of bread in a box to the right. Two whole shelves with plastic containers, paper napkins, plastic utensils and trays, boxes of straws. There was a barest, yet continuous banging sound further back.

There was another two doors, one of them seemed to have quite a few locks or something, with something that reminded him of the thermostat his father oft fiddled with at home…and then other door had a plastic placard that had something about staff only washroom or something, the sound was coming from behind that metal door. Metal doors in the hospital seemed really, really secure to the young boy, but who or whatever was behind that door was obviously not going to enter into the room he was currently in any time soon.

Dropping the hockey stick bag onto the ground, Mikey shakily started to just examine his person as he fell on his bum, staring at his feet. His legs hurt from running, but properly getting a chance to relax and see, he had finally noticed that he was missing one shoe. It would have been funny if it wasn't such a dire situation. His sock was woolly and thick, though if usually got sweaty in the warmer weather…it was white, now red at the end. Peeling off the sock, the boy started to cry softly at the pain of the piece of glass sticking out his foot.

Even as a child, Mikey knew a piece the size of a pinkie nail couldn’t be as bad as it felt, but it felt pretty damned bad. His scrape last year didn't hurt this back, and it couldn't be as bad as removing a splinter…but he couldn't do much more than remember his mother, and continue to cry.

Santa - Greeting Guests of the Holidays (Jonesboro Mall)

Santa peered behind a pair of goggles glancing at Remiel as he approached the sacred tree. He growled something out to the man, which was not fully recognizable due the coverings, as he kept a hold of the iron bar with concrete. Santa walked around the tree, adjusting the positions of some presents huddled around it, some were wrapped, and many were bare. Pushing a few of them that were gathered a bit to forwards from the tree he pushed them backwards so that they'd be covered by the leafs of the tree. After finishing this process, Santa methodically went around the tree three more times, securing the fact that yes, all the presents were confirmed around the tree at a proper location.

Finishing the third round Santa stood in front of Remiel and just stared, before growling out something again, which was a bit softer this time but again was still not fully recognizable. However during this, they used their right hand to gesture to the tree, probably to at least convey the message was about the Christmas Tree.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The noise drilled into Shannon's mind like a metronome, as she sat there patiently, waiting. Her legs were tucked into her chest and she was trying to steady her erratic breathing.

The outbreak had spiralled the hospital into chaos, everyone fled in an instant and left everyone else to fend for tthemselves; including Shannon. The poor Irish girl had been left shellshocked after watching a patient tear into a nurses neck, and everyone had left her in that state until she realised she was alone.

She had no idea if there were any more of these.. things, and where they'd be. She wanted to go and find her mother, but she didn't want to burst out of the front doors and be greeted by a madman.
If she could even call them that ymore.
She had searched the halls for a completely empty ward - most patients had fled as well - and she had situated herself in the furthest corner behind a bed. It was a pathetic idea, even she knew that; but she was clinging onto the hope that the military and the police were already dealing with it.

She'd been sat there for a good few hours by now, accompanied by only her shaky breathing and the obnoxious beeping from one of the machines at the other side of the room. At times she thought she could hear footsteps, and she'd hold her breath until her eyes water. She never discovered who they belonged to, nor if they were actual footsteps or if it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She'd nearly fallen asleep a few times, but she was determined to stay conscious. Her patience was wearing thin, she hoped that it wouldn't be long until someone found her; insane or.. Normal.
Was insane really the word? Shannon didn't want to sound like a 12 year old boy, but these people had seemed to follow all the cheesy features from horror movies. She shook her head in disbelief a one thought ran through her head.
She was surrounded by zombies.

Cael Maddox had bobbed and weaved his way to and through the Hospital’s parking lot; ducking behind and crawling between and even under abandoned car’s, trucks, and SUV’s that had been left vacantly behind in the midst of all this chaos. If these last few days had made him realize anything it’s that things were beginning to get very, very bad. It reminded him of his life only three months prior inside the Grimes Unit Correctional Facility near Newport. Life inside there was never short of chaos, but there were still rules that you had to follow if you wanted to survive; sometimes it was all about survival of the fittest, and if whatever the hell was happening in the world escalated any further that’s exactly how things were going to be…and Maddox new that it hadn’t been that long ago that he was truly used to that way of life and so he had already began to revert to the mindset that he had been trying for three months now to let go…so much for that he guessed.

Maddox new that all hell was probably breaking loose inside of the hospital, and that it would more likely than not be dangerous in there, but he also understood that MOST of the essential items that he was going to need in order to survive this…he wondered momentarily what exactly “this” was or what it should be called…disaster didn’t seem to fit, apocalypse was perhaps a little to extreme…ah, outbreak, that seemed like it was a decent enough descriptor of all the hell around him. Anyways, if he was going to survive this outbreak, the hospital would definitely prove a worthwhile place to look for supplies; for as far as he went the situation was dire enough to justify looting whatever the hell necessary to live another day…and that is exactly what he decided to do as he began to make inside of the large, extremely impressively designed building with his fire axe firmly held in his hands. He was expecting danger, and he WOULD be ready for it when it came at him.

Elder Rivers cautiously walked toward the broken escalators, making his way down while staring down the mall Santa from Hell. By then, Elder Rivers was too old to have believed in Santa Claus. Though the mall Santa responded, it wasn't in a way Elder Rivers was at all familiar with handling. Grunting. Elder Rivers backed away slightly, putting his gun behind his back so as not to come off as a threat, still gripping tightly just in case Santa Claus had turned.

The mall Santa was carrying some kind of reinforcing bar. "I don't suppose you're using that to decorate the tree?" Rivers asked. He stared at the nigh frightening decorations on the Christmas tree. Christmas was one of Elder River's favorite holidays, and seeing such a demented sight made Elder Rivers recoil back.

"I-it's a nice tree by the way." he commented.

Santa kept a hold on the bar, and shook his head as Rivers commented on the bar and concrete. Santa waved the bar up and down with the right hand, illustrating the purpose of the device. Santa Claus paused as Rivers commented on the state of the tree. It was good to see that people cared about the holidays. Santa quickly reached down beneath the tree, and grabbed a small brown cardboard box, wrapped in red paper that had a few reindeer on it, the box itself had several dings in it.

Walking up to Elder Rivers, Santa offered the box to the man, while lowering the bar in his right hand, and keeping it towards the ground.

"Okay" Rivers thought "Doesn't talk... but can still communicate and understand human speech." He wasn't sure what the Santa Claus was trying to communicate exactly, but Rivers was certain that it wasn't a zombie. Perhaps he just didn't know how to speak. The Mormon reassured himself, standing tall trying to look confident. "Thank you" Elder Rivers said, receiving the box.

Elder Rivers nervously unzipped his fanny pack to retrieve a Mormon bible. "W-would you like t-to h-h-hear about the word of Jesus Christ?" he asked.

Santa was smiling behind the mask, it was good to see such a man care about the holidays. Santa peered at Elder Rivers as he unzipped a fanny pack and pulled out the Mormon Bible, and stuttered out another message. As he finished, Santa gave a quick nod, affirming that yes, he would like to hear about the word of Jesus Christ. Santa kept focus on Elder Rivers.

Selina

Selina's brows pulled together, watching the girl warily as the rifle barrel switched between herself and David. Ever so slowly, her hand ebbed towards her knife, hidden away in the folds of her pants pocket. She wasn't sure what a knife could do to a rifle; not much, really. But there was a sort of reassurance in knowing she had some sort of small defense, should a bullet to the face miss her.

Kate had a handgun, three bullets left, salvaged from the rotting corpse of a headless police officer. Selina had given her an ultimatum: the gun was only to be used in dire situations. Three bullets was precious little ammunition to waste. Instead, they had found a wooden baseball bat for her, which stuck out oddly from her backpack, too long to fit within the zipper.

David had equipped himself with a crowbar that fit well with his tall, broad, not necessarily muscular, but fit, frame. From her peripheral vision, Selina could just barely make out the edge of his face, eyebrows pulling downwards in what she could only imagine was a similar expression to her own. It was complicated, being faced with a violent situation that involved children. Selina couldn't imagine hurting, much less killing this girl.

"We don't got parents. Not anymore, at least. Now, who are you an' what do you want?"

"'We'," Selina echoed, blinking in confusion. She had only seen one girl. But 'we' implied...

"Um," Kate whimpered from behind Selina sounding full of distress.

Looking back, all three were shocked to dicover another girl, identical to one in front of them, pointing a shotgun to their backs.

"Shiiiiit," David hissed, jumping at least an inch in the air.

Selina and David both blinked a few times, taking a while before the idea of "twins" struck either one of them.

Selina felt her entire body tense with stress; this girl could have easily clipped Kate, and Selina would have been useless in defending her. She could feel tiny beads of sweat rolling down her forhead and her back. It had been okay, being face to face with the first young lady, but the situation was beginning to feel more and more like an ambush.

"Now...girls," Selina said, waving to them both, voice trembling ever so slightly, "You wouldn't hurt a pregnant lady, would you?" She gestured nervously to Kate's tiny baby bump, rubbing the red head's back in what she hoped was comforting circles.

These girls were so young...too young to be fighting for their lives like this. They looked tired and nervous and Selina couldn't blame them. She was feeling the same way, right about now. And they're too, too, young not to have parents. She thought sympathetically. She could feel Kate clutching tightly onto her shirt. She was anxious, and that only made Selina even more nervous. God, was this the future of their unborn daughter?

Before either girl could repond, a faint rasp of a voice penetrated through the doors. The girl with the rifle must have heard it too, because she said, "Open that door back up. Somebody's out there, needs our help. Might be hurt or somethin'."

Admittedly, neither of the three adults present found it very appealing taking orders from children. But that didn't matter, so much as whoever had called out to them from the other side of the door. Together, David and Selina quickly dismantled the makeshift barricade they had placed on the door when they had entered. Carefully, David pulled the doors apart. Selina could see his eyes go wide as light filtered through the crack in the door framing a small silhouette.

"You've got to be kidding me," he grumbled, staring down at the boy standing at the entrance of the pharmacy, clearly frightened and look pretty worn out. He couldn't have been much younger than the two girls, maybe 10 or 11.

"You're okay sweetie," Kate interjected, before David said anything stupid, and Selina let out a sigh of relief at her quick thinking partner. David needed to learn how to control his mouth around kids. Selina smiled, gesturing for the boy to come inside, and hoping the girl would lower her rifle and possibly lower the tension that had built up in the room till then.

---

Callum

Callum almost started crying he was so relieved and as such quickly scrambled to get inside, the case in his hands almost slipping. Outside however, the sounds of shoes slapping against pavement and the loud breathing had attracted some very... Well unattractive attention in the form of around 20 walkers deciding that they to needed the medication inside the pharmacy. And of course, being the nice zombies that they were that meant that they had friends coming to!

Inside the pharmacy Callum looked from the two woman to two girls holding guns. He instantly felt safe and sighed. He grabbed a water from his backpack and took several long gulps then clutched his head before speaking. "Thanks, i'm not sure how much longer I could run." His voice was the usual higher pitch, the no were near puberty sort of sound yet wasn't the annoying shrill sound some boys could get. He nodded all around and clutched his head again, "anyone got some advil?"

---

Selina

"We don't," Selina said gesturing to her small group of three, "and I'm not sure these-" she paused midsentence realizing she still didn't know the names of the two girls. "I'm not sure these young ladies have any either. But look around you kid. This place has got to have something take what you need."

"But first," Kate interrupted, "I think maybe it's time for names."

Just as she was about to introduce herself a loud moan pierced the air. Turning around Selina's eyes went wide. The doors, which David had been trying to secure again, were slowly pushing inward. Behind them Selina could hear the low growls of multiple walkers. By the sound of it, there had to be at least ten, maybe more. Probably more, she thought warily, feeling her stomach turn queasy.

"Steady yourselves guys," David said in a panicked voice, backing away quickly, crowbar in hand.

The deadly silence before they burst through was mind numbing. It felt like hours, but literally only seconds passed before they were flowing in. Selina only had time to look back and see that Kate had her baseball bat trembling in her clutch.

In the next moments Selina was slicing the head of a walker clean of it's shoulders. Beside her David was doing his best to, struggling with a zombie who was missing an entire hand and most its other fingers. Selina made sure to keep herself firmly planted in front of Kate. She just hoped the kids could handle themselves.

---

Callum

Callum drooped his eyes and nodded slipping away to try and find something to take for a headache. He could still hear the others up at the front but wasn't really paying them any mind. "useless, vitamins, vitamins, stomach pain, ugh.." He got to the end of the row then brightened seeing Ibuprofen and ripped into the box popping three into his mouth and washing them down with a big gulp of water. He smiled and threw a whole armload of medicine into his backpack just as he heard the sound of the front door basically get busted down. Trying to think of something to do, the boy started beating the case on the ground to get it to open, but of course it wouldn't even budge on the clips.

He was still working on it when a zombie started 'running' towards him, screaming like a girl Callum swung the case up as hard as he possibly could and actually took the zombie's head off sending it spiraling into the man who had opened the door for him.

Ryland jolted up in her bed, her lungs seizing as the power moaned to a halt in the hospital. The silence was deafening, until she began grasping at her throat, sobbing.

"No. No please…", she begged to no one as her breathing became so labored she could barely stand to sit. So, she stood from the bed and leaned her hands on it. To her left, she noticed her emergency tank, and quickly unbuckled the strap holding it in. She fumbled for a few seconds, her vision becoming blurry as she shoved a tube onto the nozzle and began turning the valve frantically. After the oxygen began hissing through the tube, she slung it around her face and held it to her nose with shaky hands, because her life depended on it.

After a few breaths, she was able to calm her breathing, and brought a clammy hand to meet her forehead. What was happening? Why were the lights out? Taking another deep breath, she padded over to the door and peered through the small rectangle of glass, her oxygen trolley in tow. She quickly gasped, tears stinging at the corner of her eyes as she stared at the carnage in the hall. There was blood, puddles of it, in various places that she could see. The lights flickered, as the emergency generators fought to keep them alive, and in the floor a woman reached for the door, staring at her eyes as her hands clutched and her half torn jaw flexed. Her eyes were clouded, and her intestines lay on the floor next to her.

Ryland had to fight the urge to vomit as she also fought the urge to help the woman, her hand on the doorknob. Suddenly, a face appeared in the window, a man, snarling and salivating all over the glass as he attempted to get to her…to…bite her?

"What is this?", she asked herself, as a gunshot caught her off guard. She covered her ears and sobbed loudly, as pellets dented her door and the man disappeared.

"Are you alive in there?", a voice called to her. She said nothing, just stood staring at the door, "ANSWER ME!"

"YES! Yes please don't shoot me…I'm sick and…I don't know what to do…please…", she sobbed, sinking to the ground. She didn't know if this man wanted to kill her, or if he was here to save her…or eat her.

"Get on your knees and don't move. I'm coming in. Try anything and I'll blow your head off…", he explained through the door. Since she was already down there, Ryland placed her hands on the back of her head and stared ahead as the door opened.

"Please…", she whispered as a boy, around her age entered, shotgun in his hand and blood covering his neck and shirt. He looked exhausted. He looked like he had been through hell, "M-my name is Ryland. I'm…I'm a student at ASU. I'm just like you. Please don't kill me. I'll do anything you want."

"What?", he asked, absolutely confused. He shut the door behind him quietly, and locked it before stepping up in front of her, "Why would I kill you? You look pretty harmless."

"I'm…that man…"

"He's dead.", the boy explained.

"I know! But he tried to…I mean I think he tried to-. He tried to eat me…To bite me."

"He's dead. They all are. They are all coming back, somehow and…apparently we're food.", the boy explained, setting his shotgun on the empty bed beside him, "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I have something wrong with my lungs. I have to have this…"

The boy closed his eyes and sighed through his nose, visibly frustrated with her situation. He ran a hand down his face as another shotgun blast sounded from outside the hospital. It was another survivor. Ryland simply brought her hands down to her lap, causing the boy to flinch.

"I'm sorry, but…maybe we can just get out of here. We can find the others that are still alive in here. There's hope, right? What's your name?", she asked him, and he rolled his eyes.

"I've checked every room for the past ten floors. Everyone is either dead or gone. Your family apparently doesn't give two shits about you. They left you here with nothing…bailed. We have to do the same if we want to survive. Last place we need to be is the hospital…", he explained once more, before turning his head to look at her finally, "I'm Travis."

"I'll follow your lead…", she whispered, standing from the ground. She swung the backpack of oxygen onto her back and started for the door.

"And how do you expect to lug that around?"

"With those things out there…the last thing I'm worried about is dying of oxygen deprivation. I'll make it until I don't. For now…you said we needed to leave. Let's leave.", Ryland whispered in a hurry as human footsteps ran their way down the hall outside, and Travis joined her, counting down until they ripped the door open and entered the hallway.