"Jesus fucking Christ...." Just like Ishmael had predicted the shit had hit the fan really fast. Within seconds a horde of those flesh-eatig crazies were descending on the bridge and everything on it went to chaos. He could only scoff when he saw the police officers scurrying away from the scene with their tails between their legs.

"Typical." He said grabbing the revolver by his side and taking a view of his surroundings. Everything was going to shit and there was no way he was getting his car of this godforsaken freeway. It broke his heart but he'd have to leave the old girl. His car was the only thing worthwhile he had in his life but clinging to it now would only get him killed. Without so much as a second thought he grabbed his tool box and bag and bolted out the vehicle merely seconds before the car originally in front of him backed right into it. He felt his heart break again but he kept on moving.

It was truly madness. People were fighting and killing each other while they fled trying to take advantage of each other. Shit it was like he was back home again. As soon as he thought this a silver gleam caught the corner of his eye and barely moved out of the way of an incoming knife. His assailant tried to lunge at him again but his instincts were way too fast. Without even thinking he swung the toolbox in his left hand braining his attacker right in the forehead. The man fell over, his head leaking a copious amount of blood. Looking down at the man he recognized the face of the guy whose car he had just fixed not that long ago, the one who gave him the money. The son of a bitch had a family and he risked his life coming at him with a damn knife. Adrenaline still going through his veins.Ishmael yelled as he backed away from the man's body "The fuck you make me do that for?"

He didn't wait for a response, didn't bother to check if the man was still breathing he just ran, same as everyone else. The amount of the "crazies" was getting higher by the second as they attacked more and more people. He was doing his best to avoid them while he looked for an escape, while he did this his eye caught a child wearing a school uniform ducking through the crowd. She looked like she was on her own, no parents or anything. Why did he have to see her? Now there was no way his conscience was going to let him ignore her This being a better. person thing was really starting to suck "Hey kid wait up!"

The cops had fucked up.

Denny had taken a respite in the wooded area off to the side of the highway, she had traveled miles by this point-- going back to the city wasn't option, right? She had walked too far, and there was no promise the rioting in the city had died down-- and there was always the virus behind it all. But proceeding forward... the police were crazy... that wasn't NEW, but these were new standards of low. The cars were fucking stopped, if the virus made it's way here, she'd be fucked. She could survive the city, for a while, at least-- double back, find another car, take a dirt road out as fast as possible. Yes! That could work!

Her mind went dark, and Pete...

Yes, this was way worse than he had predicted, she needed to go back and get him, too.

---

Denny had taken to residential streets to get back, they were less populated-- she may even find a car here. Still, she kept her slung bag close and her gawdy gun at the ready. She was used to spending nights without a roof, the survival would be useful, but she hoped to keep to the shadows, she had no clue how to use the thing... It had a safety? She had already forgotten the numbers Pete had told her, she really hoped she wouldn't need it.

Denny used the back yards-- whatever kept her out of the streets. They weren't as bad as the city, but she didn't really want to be seen. She made her way around the front of a building and noticed another figure in the practically empty streets, the light was dim, but that was totally the girl from the music store!

Not wanting to draw the attention of those with the virus, Denny waved, hoping to get her attention-- more people would be better than less.

The horde kept moving, kept adding more to their ranks. This wasn’t going to stop at the highway, some of the horde broke off and headed their own way, but no less, the horde was still strong. Unless by foot you were going, there was no way of surviving this horde.

Up ahead for those who are running there is pit stop, a rest station where no one has gone, likely safe for now. To meet up with other survivors. The horde moving to slow.

---

POST EDIT!
Serena made her way to the rest station and looked around, looking to Tom who seemed to have followed her.

“It’s a survivor’s game here, either you survive or you don’t… I’ve played surivival games and I know, if you can’t make it, you’re dead,” She stated.

---

Alysia looked back to Ferra and her eyes widened before she ran over to her, ignoring the white haired girl now before reaching out for her.

“Come on, we gotta get off this bridge, I saw someone that could help us, we need to run,” Alysia stated before looking back at the horde, they were getting closer. Alysia grabbed Ferra’s hand and then made a dash towards the edge of the highway before running towards the rest station with the other girl in hand, whether she had to drag her or not was up to Ferra.

When they reached the rest station she looked to Ferra.

“My name is Alysia, what’s yours?” She questioned.

As all hell broke loose, Yuri was standing next to his blue Focus holding his hand on the driver's door. He was confused and disoriented. How could he not have been? No one would expect that tomorrow and yesterday would be so different. Even if so the highway massacre was simply a glimpse of the days after today.
Having recollected his thoughts, Yuri began running towards signs of life as they were being rubbed out. On his way over the bridge he saw a man being attacked by "one of them". Yuri ripped the assailant from the man and banged him against the opposite car, now the "sick one" was gripping Yuri and they began wrestling. He was one tough sonofabitch, but the man Yuri helped returned the favor by bashing the guys skull with a tire iron. Shocked, Yuri looked at the man.
"Thanks." - The man said.
" Незачто." - Yuri replied in Russian.
Yuri noticed that the body had a Ghurka knife strapped on his leg and picked it up.
"Over the bridge. There is a rest station, I am heading there. You should too!"
What that man told Yuri probably saved his life that day. However, unfortunately, Yuri would not see that man ever again.
As he ran, Yuri was holding the kukri machete in a reverse grip. At one point another "one of them" attacked Yuri, however Lakeev was able to dodge the attacker while slicing his guts open with the kukri machete. Looking back, Yuri saw that the man did not even flinch. At that point he finally realized that "they" were actually reanimated corpses, perfect timing he thought. Standing there he looked into the walking copses dead eyes. After mumbling some swear words to himself, he decided to keep running.
He was close to the bridge. To his horror, the situation there far was worse than it was at the beginning. On the right side of the road there was a crushed man, a police officer. Running up to him Yuri looked for his duty gun and picked it up. It was a Smith & Wesson M&P9. Firing the gun at the dead he managed to create an opening to get past the large horde. When the gun ran out of bullets, Yuri casually threw it down onto the road.
He managed to get over the bridge successfully and was on his way to the rest stop.

Charlie remained silent for the next couple of minutes while she walked to nearly empty streets. She surely didn't want to draw any attention to herself so she kept to the sides of the road. Her grip on her bat was tight as the weapon rest at her side in case she had a run in with any of the living corpses. She nearly prayed she didn't have any. Charlie had never hurt anyone not counting the numerous fights between her and other petty girls at school, and she certainly had never killed.

Her walking paused when she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. There was movement. The grip she had on the handle of her bat tightened even more as she took a second to calm down. She had the upper hand in the battle between the dead. Slowly, she turned around. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw a girl waving at her.

She leaned against a flickering light post and waved at the girl, beckoning her over with a smile forming on her face. It was nice to see a fresh face.

Tom ran through the girl's words several times in his head. It couldn't be possible. Awhile ago he was relaxed at home with almost no worries, and now suddenly he needs to keep looking over his shoulder or else he'll be dead. When it all dawned on him, he felt heated up. The new reality was so heavy that it wore him down immediately. The girl seemed determined. Tom worried that she'll abandon him the moment he slows her down.

Up ahead, the figure of the rest station caught his attention.

"There!" he pointed out to her.

Tom glanced behind them and saw the people running for their lives, some fighting for it. When he turned away, he noticed a flicker of movement beside him. An older man was reaching out to him, and one of the dead ones had its teeth on his shoulder. The man cried out before dropping on the ground like a doll, and the dead advanced on Tom. He became alert, and rammed the golf stick on the dead's chest. The hit made it stagger, but it stood as if it didn't feel a thing. He took another swing at the thing's jaw. Blood flew from its mouth, but still it moved. Tom aimed for the brain, swinging with all his arm power. He heard a crack, and it finally went down with the head almost fallen off the neck. Just think of it like golf, he thought to himself. Just so much more disgusting.

Danielle quickly crossed the street as the girl noticed her wave and beckoned. She kept her gun out as she approached, giving a silent prayer that she wouldn't have to use it. As she drew nearer, she was more than certain she knew who the girl was.

"I knew it!" Denny said, a smile forming on her face, relaxing as she approached, "You're that girl from the record store! I thought I recognized that hair!" She gave a sigh of relief, and put her gun back into her bag, figuring the bat would be a much more efficient weapon.

"I'm Danielle-- or Denny. Thank God I'm not alone out here... wh-where were you headed?"

Up ahead was a rest-stop, a place with power to charge his cell-phone or at least a landline from where he could call home and see if his family was safe for now. He pulled his truck up beside it and hopped-out, barely registering that several others were already desperately huddling there for shelter. A light-haired woman with some sort of drifter he was pretty sure he'd seen stab a man through the skull earlier, and two little girls that looked like sisters.

After getting no signal on the cell-phone, and a busy-signal on the office-phone in back, he finally noticed he had the only working vehicle at this stop.

As much as he wanted to save his family, they were likely dead, and going into town for them would just get himself killed as well. These people were alive, but had no means of escape.

He decided to start with the oldest-looking people and work his way down the ages, starting with the woman:

"Um, hello? My name is Anderson. Wayne Wilson Anderson. Are you waiting for someone?"

((Note: Wayne was trying to get *into* town despite quarantine, so he was caught on the other side of the roadblock))

"Yeah, that's me!" Charlie laughed softly and ran a hand through her hair. She had worked at the music store, spending most her days there so she wasn't surprised when the girl had noticed her. She smiled at the girl and nodded her head.

"It's nice to meet you, Denny. I'm Charlotte, you can call me Charlie." She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and loosened the grip on her bat, knowing she could relax now. Charlie looked down the street for a few seconds before during back to face Danielle. "I have yet to figure that out. I'm just following the road...Hopefully it'll get me somewhere." She straightened out her hat and smiled, beginning to walk again. "Join me? I could really use someone to watch my back for me." Charlie said, looking over her shoulder. She frowned as she noticed a rather large horde of the dead making there way up the street.

His sword tip nearly dragging on the ground, Miykael slowly approached the Rest-Stop. It seemed to him that it was the nearest real source of shelter to the bridge. Maybe others had thought of it? When he arrived he found that he was right, several people all gathered in the lobby of the building. He couldn't see them very well yet, but as he may be a menacing appearance with his swords, he decided to sheath them and pull down his makeshift cowl before knocking on the door...

The girl from the music store-- Charlie-- smiled as she began to walk alongside Denny "Join me? I could really use someone to watch my back for me." Despite the lack of clear visibility, this was the first time Denny had ever had a real chance to study the girl's face. She used to go to the record store all the time, the occasional DJing gig demanded it, but still, she was only just a familiar face in the store, the two had never spoken before. It was a miracle Danny had recognized her at all, especially with the world seeming to fall apart.

Weird you never noticed! She's actually quite pretty.

Denny suppressed the thought as she began to walk with the girl, falling into pace. "Oh-- sure!" Danielle didn't show it, but she had actually grown accustomed to something of a solitary life-- at least, when she was still homeless. But some of Pete's wisdom bubbled to her mind when Charlie asked for the company, he believed, if this truly was going to get worse, she would need to rely on others to survive. It was corny-- but that was Pete, she'd have followed his advice to the ends of the earth. Denny noticed Charlie's frown, glancing back.

"Something the matter?" she found herself looking back, only to be greeted with an ever growing crowd of the... infected. "Oh... right." Denny's tone was somber, she licked her lips before continuing, as if calculating what to say, "They're... they're sick. They ain't what we need to worry about right now though," She looked back again, as if sizing the crowd up, "I just doubled back here from the freeway... The cars were just... frozen, and then... then...Cops are shooting people... People are shooting people and... and the riots downtown-- no one was getting... the sickness, however it spreads, biting? Or the air? I don't know, but I saw healthy people die... and when they fall down, they just..." She hadn't realized she was crying, Denny wiped the tear away before continuing, "They just come back... sick..." Another tear fell, she wiped her face with her arm and sniffled as they walked.

After a moment, Denny laughed a little, "Sorry... that got a little heavy, didn't it?" She said in her characteristic, airy voice, she gave a dry chuckle before continuing, "The dead are umm..." She gave a little sniffle, getting rid of any leftover tears, "What's the right word? Slow? Yeah, as long as we stay out of the crowd, and umm, look for any dark places they could be, we should be fine. I think rioters and the cops will be more dangerous."

The pair continued for a moment before Danielle spoke up again, "I think we should get, umm, a car?"

Ishmael followed behind the kids to the rest stop after seeing them amongst the crowd. They seemed to have more of a plan than he did at the moment so wherever they were going was better then him just running around. It paid off when they reached it and there was already other survivors there. That was somewhat of a relief, strength in numbers and all that. On his first instinct he started scoping out the vehicles at the rest stop. It wouldn't take him long to hotwire one and escape vehicle was appealing if the horde started making it way this way.

"Don't cry, everything will be ok." Charlie gently wiped a tear away from Danielle's cheek with her thumb before flashing her another award winning smile. She kept the growing horde in the corner of her eye as she looked around the street, spotting a blue pickup truck in a family friend of her's driveway. The house belonged to the Smith's, but they had gone out of town for the week to visit a sick relative before this all happened, with the dead rising and all hell breaking loose.

Charlie took Denny's hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, assuring her she could trust her. She ran off down the street to the truck, practically dragging the girl behind her as she ran. About 10 seconds passed before they reached the truck. She pulled on the door handle, nothing happened. Locked, of course. "Cover your ears." She warned her before wasting no time in picking up her bat and smashing the driver seat window. Glass shattered everywhere, landing all over the ground. Charlie quickly picked up her bat and bag, getting inside the car. She then unlocked it for Danielle to get in, starting to car immediately. After a few unsuccessful tries, she managed to get it running.

"Buckle up, it'll be a bumpy ride." Charlie brought her hand up to her cheek, winching as she touched a cut caused by the shattered glass. Ok, maybe that wasn't such a smart idea.

"Hey kid wait up!"

The man's voice behind her startled her, but she had barely time to turn around before the young girl in front of her had sprinted over to her. There was so much going on that Ferra was a deer in the headlights, staring at the young girl ahead of her like she was frozen in place.

“Come on, we gotta get off this bridge, I saw someone that could help us, we need to run,” The young girl told Ferra as she wrapped her hand around hers. Ferra didn't think twice about squeezing the girl's hand in return. She nodded, following the girl's lead as they began to run toward the edge of the highway to what Ferra could tell was a rest station that mostly travelers and truckers used on their long trips through the state.

When they reached the rest station the girl looked to Ferra, her hand still intertwined with hers. “My name is Alysia, what’s yours?” Alysia questioned her and she answered quickly. "Ferra. Ferra Hanson." The girl had been trained to say her name and last name always, as if that gave the person some sort of benefit.

Turning her head slightly, she found the source of the voice that had called to her earlier. She was glad he had made it okay, though she did not know whether he meant to cause them harm or not. "My feet are killing me." Ferra admitted, looking down at her red feet within her flats; the shoes were not meant for sprinting down the highway. Ferra slipped them off revealing blisters on the side of her small toes and on the heels. "Maybe I should find some band aids or keep these off for a little bit." Ferra told Alysia innocently.

Yuri was walking towards the rest stop, tired from all the running through the highway. Wiping the sweat off his forehead with his forearm, he looked back not seeing any other survivors. It looked as if he were the last man standing.

If it were not for the man Yuri saved, he would simply roam around until he would end up like everyone else. Yuri was faster than the man and left him behind. He thought that he should go back, but decided to keep going forward. Hoping to be able to call any of his friends, Yuri took out his phone. He noticed that there was no signal, despite that it was still there half an hour ago.

Seeing the rest stop made Yuri speed up his pace, he began running towards it. As he ran, Yuri passed a body with its head hanging by a piece of skin, he finally saw the pit stop at its full glory.
...
As Yuri walked towards the building, he saw a man looking around the cars at the parking area. It was a good idea, as the horde would still keep going and catch up to them at some point.

Taking off his Jacket, Yuri covered the bloodied kukri with his jacket, rolling it around the knife.

With that done, Yuri entered the facility.

Denny gave a tiny smile when Charlie wiped away the tears, she was never particularly that uncomfortable about showing her own weakness or emotions when she felt them, but that Charlie, a person she essentially just met, didn't persecute her for crying, it meant something to Danielle.

"R-right." Denny gave another smile in response before finding herself surprised at Charlie's strength, Denny was practically pulled along as Charlie rushed along the street to a truck she seemed to recognize. Cars were good. The sick couldn't get you in cars, and it'd be harder for cops and rioters.

Denny kept quiet as Charlie broke the glass to the truck and began the task of turning on the car, apparently lacking a key, keeping watch, knowing that the breaking glass might attract noise. She found herself drawn back to studying Charlie though, curiosity overcoming her fear of the sickly risen dead. Hot-wiring was a skill Danielle had never learned, so she took interest in her new companion as she worked, and couldn't help but let out an audible 'yes!' when the engine actually began to purr.

Her cheers died down when she noticed the blood coming from Charlie's cheek. "Oh!" Denny rummaged in her bag, "Ouch. Revenge of the window..." She continued looking for a moment, noting that the horde was quickly approaching, she let out another small cheer when she found what she was looking for.

"Oh-kay!" She unwrapped the small moist towelette, Danielle couldn't help but smirk, "You know this is going to sting..." Before Charlie could object Denny used the towelette to wipe up the blood and disinfect the cut, "Glass scrapped you... you probably already knew that..." She carefully placed a band-aid, "Still..." She lingered in applying the bandage, "Best to not risk infection, you never know... It, umm, might hurt to smile in a few hours."

Charlie felt her cheeks get warm, a blush creeping up on her as Denny cleaned her small cut. "Better safe than sorry I suppose." She laughed, quickly followed by a wince due to the cut spreading when her facial expressions changed. The pain quickly subsided and she went back to adjusting her seatbelt.

"Thank you Danielle." She said softly before putting the car in reverse and slipping out the driveway. Even though it was a small act of kindness, it was good to know there were still good people out there when the world was turning to hell. The car jerked forward, blood splattering on the back windshield as they ran over one of the dead. The horde of rotting flesh began to surround the truck. Her breathing quickened and she quickly shifted the car into drive, stomping down on the gas which sent the car off roaring down the road.

The car was silent for the next 10 minutes as they drove. They had made it to the outer part of town, driving along the backstreets to avoid the riots and police. After a couple more minutes she turned and looked at Denny, studying the girl with a straight face. She wanted to smile, but it hurt too much.

"So tell me about yourself. What you like, what you don't like. Anything." Charlie flashed her a quick smile before focusing her eyes back on the road, humming softly while she tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel.

Charlie and Danielle would notice the rest stop on the way out of town, and notice that actual people were gathering there, remember… strength in numbers, maybe heading that way would be helpful to them as well.

---

Serene smiled some and then made her way to the rest stop, though she knew it was just to see about other survivors, they would have to move out soon to get away from the undead walking. She helped Tom to the rest stop after he pointed it out and then looked around, spotting one man looking over the cars. She herself had left her car behind.

She didn’t have a weapon on her except, well okay she had a Machete, that was about it, and that, well that could help her. But she still couldn’t bring herself to kill one, not yet anyways. She would soon enough when they came crawling, or shuffling her way.

“Damn Shufflers…” She muttered before she walked her way into the lobby of the rest station.

When Wayne introduced himself to her she looked to him and smiled a bit before offering her hand to him.

“Name’s Serena, pleasure to meet you sir… Though right now it’s not a pleasurable situation if you can catch my drift. Damn shufflers, or whatever they’re called, sick people… they’re infecting everyone, don’t know what’s going on but the town is in quarantine, no one in no one out… well except the fact that the cops, well… they’re no longer blocking ways in or out… Because there’s a large horde heading our way. We might want to get out of here as fast as we can,” She stated.

---

Alysia looked over to the man who had followed them and took in a deep breath but didn’t scream or anything, she looked to Ferra and nodded before looking to the lobby of the place.

“Let’s head in there, we can ask for help, I mean… My parents are dead… My aunt was bitten and well… I don’t have anyone left, an you look like you’re about in the same predicament so let’s head in,” she said before letting go of Ferra’s hand and then turned her attention more fully to Ishmael.

“Hey Mister, name’s Alysia, what’s yours?” She asked.

"Hmmm," Denny tapped her bottom lip, thinking of the most appropriate response to the request, "Well... Denny! There's an interesting story behind that nickname..." She paused, thinking of where to begin, looking out the window, she could see the detritus of the city flying in the breeze as they drove down the suburban street, rare were the reanimated standing sick corpses of Colorado citizens, but they did remind her this wasn't some evening drive.

"My father is..." The words came automatically, she hadn't even taken a moment to consider her family in all this, "...was, a doctor. But when I was coming up, he was still in med school. So him and his work friends, they'd go to-- you can probably already tell-- Dennys... Well, my mom was still doing her hippie thing, so I'd actually be going with him to all these late night Dennys trips. I mean, he'd never outright ignore me, I'd always get to go in and get something. But, I wouldn't know why so I started asking him, and he'd always cook up some fantastical answer, that late night Dennys was magic. Really, it's just that he'd a med student in bum-fuck Colorado and Dennys is the only thing open, but I was young, and I started to believe the stories he'd tell me about the magical food..."

She caught a glimpse of Charlie's appraising eye before continuing, "... So I'd always ask for Dennys, because I thought it was magic! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'd bug everyone about it-- there was only one nearby too, so I got to know the employees. Eventually I became 'little Dennys,' which is... really cheesy, now that I think about it... but that made it's way home and into school... Eventually I did grow out of eating that stuff all the time, but the nickname stuck, kinda. So, when I um, got into music, and being serious about it, I needed a DJ name, so I went with Denny!" She gave another thoughtful pause before finishing, "But really, I don't even like Dennys now..."

Danielle's head tilted as she leaned over toward Charlie, "Okay! Your turn!" Really. If it wasn't for the occasional walking corpse or gunshot in the distance, this night would have been downright pleasant.

“Let’s head in there, we can ask for help, I mean… My parents are dead… My aunt was bitten and well… I don’t have anyone left, an you look like you’re about in the same predicament so let’s head in,” Alysia spoke towards Ferra, finally releasing her hand. Ferra wiped her hand on the side of her dress, it wasn't that she was disgusted, but all that running had made her hand quite sweaty. Alysia was right, Ferra was pretty much alone now, and needed as much as help as she could find. "I don't know if my mother got bitten or not, but she was stuck in the car and told me to run as fast as I could away from those clawers, or whatever they are called." Ferra admitted to Alysia as she trailed behind the girl with her shoes hooked on the tips of her fingers. They began approaching the young man who had followed them earlier.

“Hey Mister, name’s Alysia, what’s yours?” Alysia asked, and Ferra piped up shortly after, "And I'm Ferra!"