Laura Miller

December 26, 10:38 AM
Starbucks Cafe

As her rather cheery introduction went over to the two men, one of them returned a response. The Starbucks guy. He introduced himself as James, and the lazy sleepy guy beside him as Miller, giving off a rather attractive half-smirk as he did, a hand outstretched for a shake. She returned the gesture, shaking hands with James. "Well, good morning to you both, James and Miller, I hope you two have a great day ahead." she answered with a bright smile.

She then left the two men at the table, walking over to the counter to collect her cup of steaming hot chocolate. She sighed in satisfaction as she took a sip of the delicious chocolate. What a great way to start a morning. Most people did with coffee or tea, she did it with chocolate.

A short while later, Laura glanced up at a new arrival at the cafe. Golly, there sure were alot of people here this morning! Taking another glance at the guy, she realised it was Ryan from the automobile shop she worked at. The very same. She had worked together with Ryan on a number of occasions and was pretty chummy with the guy. He was part of circle of good friends at the workshop. Walking over to him, she called out to him in a pleasant surprise.

"Ryan! Hi..Good morning to you! Fancy seeing you here on our day off!" A younger guy then caught up with him, his appearance strikingly similar to Ryan. She assumed him to be Quan, the brother he had mentioned once or twice before in the past. She waved to him, "Good morning Quan, that's your name, isn't it? It's nice to meet you."

Thomas responded to the hug positively. He did like Kayla, and he couldn't wait for his child to be born. He always wanted children. All he was scared about was the baby being a gentile. Kayla wasn't Jewish - as far as he knew - and his father wanted him to marry a Jewish girl. "How's it been?" he asked Kayla.

---

James walked out of the synagogue and breathed some fresh air. It had been a long service, as usual, and he began the walk home. He decided that on the way back he would get some coffee, probably Starbucks, because it was on the way home.

"Oh you know, just been traveling around for the past month since we last met, and going to be watching my niece for a few days shes coming over to my place pretty soon." Kayla answered, she leaned herself up against the wall her one foot pressed up against the wall to let people pass. "What about you, and want something my treat?" Kayla said looking over at the group of people who started to gather into the Starbucks, she was nervous of being pregnant though she always wanted a little child to take care of on her own. And Thomas was a nice guy, she then got up and pulled out her wallet again looking at the menu for a moment and decided on just a regular coffee looking over at Thomas. "What would you like?" She asked him as the line started to move, Kayla felt her phone vibrate and quickly picked it up and it was her sister Alicia. "Hey whats up?" She asked while the line was moving slowly. "We are on our way to your place, where are you right now?" Her sister asked Kayla looked over at Thomas and smiled at him for a moment. "Just by the Starbucks outside my place, I can get you something and hang for a bit before your treatment?" Kayla asked. "Sure that works, i'll be there in a few minutes." Kayla hung up and looked at Thomas. "Sorry it was my older sister."



Lilly finished eating her cereal rather quickly, and then drank the rest of her milk looking up at her mother and smiled at her as she got up and started to put her plates down into the sink. "Thank you sweetie, now go and get your coat on we will be over at Aunt Kayla's soon." Alicia said as she went to call her sister as she went to grab her things ready as well for the drive down to the city. Lilly came back a few minutes later with a pink winter coat on as well as her backpack with her clothes and toys that she wanted to bring with her. "I'm ready." Lilly said and her mother smiled as she opened the front door and got into her van and started to drive down the street and headed over towards the city.

"Nice to-"

"Small world, ain't it!" Ryan interrupted, seemingly in awe. Quan sighed as his brother took over the conversation, standing to the side and messing with his phone. It was one of the things he hated about his brother; sometimes, he talked way too much, and in his excitement, forgot about other people. "It's like the whole freakin' city got drunk and needs coffee to make it through the day, Laura."

Quan tapped his brother's shoulder with the back of his palm, pointing to one of the few vacant tables. "I'm going over there."

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan said. "Anyway, you hear about the east and that virus? Quan's told me about some of that fucked up shit, said it was zombies. Not gonna lie, it's pretty sketchy..."

"It's been tough," Thomas told Kayla, "Dad freaked when I told him, moved us out here. Most of the house isn't even unpacked yet."

Thomas skimmed the menu before choosing his regular: "I'll just have a regular coffee, thanks. I can pay, if you want," he offered. Thomas thought through what he was going to say whilst Kayla was on the phone, before finally asking her when she got off the phone.

"So... um... are you still single?" he asked, blushing, "Living on your own?"

When it was Alex's turn she smiled directly at the cashier. After trying to determine certain things about all of the people in the coffee shop she currently had no idea what she wanted. "What can I get you, Miss?" Her eyes flicked to the menu board hanging above the cash register naming the first thing she saw under the pressure of the long queue of customers behind her and the forced smile of the cashier. "I'll have the uh, Caramel Frappuccino?" she said in utter confusion, she had no idea what she had ordered. It sounded alright though. The cashier looked confused too as she asked for the amount wanted and Alex slowly handed over the notes. She politely told the cashier to keep the change, considering how much confusion she had just caused between the two of them. Following the line as they moved towards the collection point, she leant against the back wall making sure she wasn't in the way of the rushing Starbucks workers dashing around to give the awaiting customers what they have ordered. Her eyes began to wonder around the store again, many people seeming to know each other pretty well chatting happily along as Alex waited for her beverage in the corner. Most of the time she was alone due to the fact that she never really had a lot of friends because of having to stay home to pick up the pieces for her drunk mother or look after her younger brother. However, she wasn't complaining the bond she had with Jordan was more than she could ever ask for. Family used to be important to her until both of her parents let her down. Now all that truly matters to her is her brother and she doesn't mind about that.

"Caramel Frappuccino?" The sound of a polite lady calling the drink from the side snapped Alex away from her daydream. She held the drink out with one hand, trying to carry on making the other orders with another. The worker seemed to be slowly getting annoyed that no one had collected their drink, having to have called out the drink multiple times until someone finally realised. "I'm sorry, uh, thank you!" Alex said quietly, taking the drink from the woman's hand, her cheeks flashing red. Making eye contact with the lady as she turned, she made sure she smiled an apologetic smile but the worker just turned and carried on with her hectic day. Alex turned to rush off back to her apartment but seeing as their was an open table free, she slid into the seat and made herself comfortable, quite enjoying people watching and going into her own little daydreams. Being back to herself, Alex examined what sort of drink she managed to get herself, she saw someone drinking something looking like this as she walked in and it did look quite tasty. Alex took a tester sip from the straw, it was average, she could deal with it. Slowly she slumped back in her seat her drink in hand as she watched the world go on around her.

Taking a moment when Thomas had asked her if she was single, it was true she wasn't seeing anyone at the moment which caused her to blush slightly he was a very nice guy. When her coffee was ready Kayla went over to grab it and then nodded at Thomas. "Yes, i'm still single haven't met the right person yet." Kayla answered running a hand through her hair, she had dated a few people in the past but things never worked out. "And I do own a high rise apartment about five or so blocks away from here." She answered Thomas, looking around for a moment to look at an open seat and spotted one that was close to a nearby window in between the tables that Josephine sat in and Alexandra sat in. Kayla looked up at Thomas for a moment and waved him over to join her. "What about you, seeing anyone since last time we were together or anyone here you found?"

Kayla looked outside the window for a moment and quickly noticed her sister's blue Honda Pilot driving down the street, and then it pulled up right next to her Mustang. Watching Alicia getting out of the car and going over to the back door where she saw her niece climbing out and making their way into the Starbucks, which Kayla waved them both over.

When Lilly came into the store, she quickly spotted her aunt and ran over towards her, Kayla smiled and wrapped her arms around her nice. "Hey there Lilly!" Kayla said happily, taking a moment she watched as her sister went over towards the front register and ordered herself a coffee and some milk for Lilly and then walked over Alicia wrapped her arms around Kayla and smiled at her. "Thank you again for watching her for me." Alicia said with a smile, Kayla shook her head and motioned for her to sit. "No problem at all, and this is Thomas." Kayla said motioning towards him Alicia eyed him up and down for a moment and smiled. "Nice to meet you." She said, and then she looked down at her watch just as her coffee was being handed over to her.

"Hey, i'm sorry but i'll have to take a rain check on that, I didn't realize i'm late for my appointment." Alicia said and hugged her sister and Lilly. "Do whatever Aunt Kayla says okay? And i'll see you in a few days." Alicia said kissing her daughter on the head and gave Thomas a rather quick nod before she turned to leave the Starbucks.

Then the news just came on a new report showing a young reporter in front of a hospital looking very alarmed, and a bunch of police and ambulances were outside. "Good morning everyone, reporting in front of St. Joseph's Hospital Earlier today a patient was admitted into this hospital complaining to having flu like symptoms. He died last night and then came back and attacked a nurse, killing her and then proceeded to attack other patients." She said, and then screamed when she heard gunshots ringing from behind her the camera man quickly focused on the chaos as police started to open fire upon what looked like the infected as they swarmed out of the hospital. "Get out of here now!" The reporter yelled backing away as some of the infected started to run towards the camera man and quickly it went to static before switching back to the news room.

"Please remain calm, and head to your homes and lock your doors if you haven't already, police are already on this and the national guard is being called in as we speak we will be back later as this develops." The new anchor said before it went to show more outbreaks happening in various other hospitals along the east coast.

The coffee at the station always tasted the same, not it was bad or horrible. But, he wished for some different taste besides the vanilla. Hayden still drank the same old coffee, crushed the disposable coffee cups, and threw it in the trash can. The taste was still there as he walked towards the other officers and listened to their conversation. They were talking about the drug bust that happened yesterday as 2.5 million dollars of drugs were caught by the SWAT team. It was big news around the stations and inside his police car as his partner couldn't stop talking about it. Of course, he was proud of the men in that team; but, he had other important things going on.

"Hayden, how's your day going?" said one of the officers as he quickly turned around to see Hayden coming towards them. "Tired as always." Hayden said towards the officer, "People act as if the virus doesn't exist. They should be more informed about it.". The other officers started to pay attention towards him as soon as he mentions the virus. "We don't need people to riot and breaking into stores." the officer said to Hayden with an attitude. "I'd rather have riots than inflected people, Greg." Hayden said towards the officer as he quickly walked away before things could get heated up.

Before he could finish the day, the commissioner rushed out of his office and pushed the doors opened. Everyone stopped their movement as the commissioner rushed out of his office and turned towards him. "I got terrible news anyone." he said as his hands were shaking so badly that he looked like he was going to faint. He tried to say the words, but couldn't say it without making it sound fearful. So, he just breathed in and said these words:

"Someone checked into St. Joseph's Hospital and said that he had flu like symptoms. Then, he died."

Everyone frozen in shock as they all knew that the virus had landed in America. The media kept on declining that the virus wasn't bad at all and that a cure was almost here. But, it bites them in the ass as someone with 'flu like symptom' got to America and checked into a crowded hospital. Now, America was going to enter panic mode and it may stay there for a long time. The commissioner breathed heavily as he said, "Most of us need to go to the hospital and prepare for the worst. I hope that God is with us and protects us for this virus.".

As soon as he spoke to the other officers, they began to get ready for the ride to the hospital. They went to the armory and began to put on their gear. Their job was to protect the people of Philadelphia and they were willing to do that until they ran out of bullets. Most were scared and afraid of what's going to happen at the hospital. Hayden soon got his gear on and grabbed a pistol out of the armory as he raced towards his cop car.

With keys in one hand, he opened the car door with another and got in. He saw his partner running towards the car and opened the car door to get in on the passenger side. Hayden started the car as soon as the door was shut and backed up towards the street. As soon as he got to the street, he turned on his sirens and drove towards the hospital as fast as the car could go. Other cop cars followed Hayden's car and raced towards the hospital. His partner looked towards the window, shook his head, and looked towards Hayden. He breathed slowly and said, "Well, this is it. I hope that we all do this."

After a few moments of silence, Hayden said toward his partner, "I hope so too." as he stopped his car in front of the hospital. The radio was going off with that the patient started to attack anyone in the building. Oh Lord, it was already attacking people. He and his partner got out of their cars and raced behind their cars and aimed their guns at the hospital doors. Other officers soon followed and by now, the front door was covered. Anyone going to pass the doors were going to get shot, no matter what the person was. The ambulances soon arrived to help out in whatever way they could help.

Then, the new vans arrived at the hospital and the cameras were aimed at the officers and the hospital. The media was going to finally report on the virus and how it got in America. They must of come up with an excuse for lying to the people. As the reporters started to talk, Hayden looked at the door and began to see people running towards the door. Soon as the doors opened, he fired towards them. Gunfire began to ring as the officers tried to stop those things from getting pass them; but, the officers were quickly overrun by them. Hayden kept on firing as he saw the reporter and the cameraman, running away from some of the infected.

"Go! I got you covered!" Hayden said as he fired at the inflected people, which the reporter and the camera man got in their vans and shut their doors. They were safe. More officers were firing back to stop them, but they were overpowering. The screaming began to replace the gunshots as the officers got inside their cars and drove away from the horrible scene. Hayden and his partner, Brandon, got inside their cop car and started it. He saw officer getting eaten by them as Hayden drove away for the hospital. They both were breathing heavily and the radio was ringing with the sounds of screaming, gunshots, and things that none should hear.

The inflected were soon going to spread to the school nearby and then to the houses and stores. What are they going to do now? How are they going to stop the spreading? How were they going to survive?

"Nah," Thomas said to Kayla as he followed her to a table, "I'm still single. I don't know if I'd be able to have a relationship with one girl and a baby with another." Thomas hoped she'd take the subtle hint. Thomas wished that he was in a proper relationship, she was good looking, nice, and good with children.

James walked into the coffee shop, and saw Thomas with a familiar looking girl, but he couldn't quite place where he saw her from. He walked over to Thomas and asked who the girl was.

"She's, uh, a friend," Thomas told his father.

The news came on, and James looked worried, "Damn... what will we do?" he asked Thomas, "We don't have any food in the house yet, and the shops will be swamped or closed."

|Josephine "Joseph" Smith|

Joseph felt an alarming chill run down her back as the TV went to static. Biting her lip, she pulled out her phone and dialed the familiar number to Big Mama’s house. She pressed the phone to her ear and listened to the annoying ringing sound until, after a long second, it stopped.

“Hello, who’s this?” The gruff voice of the older woman snapped.

“Big Mama, its Joseph. Did you see the news?” Joseph tapped her fingers incessantly on the table, glancing outside where Orion was sleeping. A deep instinct in her warned her that something bad was going to happen and Joseph could feel her lethargic muscles tensing.

“No, why? Somethin’ about them Kardashians or whatever?” Big Mama chuckled to herself and Joseph could hear the sizzling of something cooking. Her patience was running thin, as it always did with Big Mama, and she wished that someone else had picked up the phone.

“No, Big Mama, someone died at the hospital – they had flu like symptoms. He attacked a nurse. Big Mama, it’s an outbreak. I need you to get everyone inside and lock the doors, alright? I’m goin’ to head home soon.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, then distant talking until Big Mama started talking again. “Okay, you be careful, honey. We’ll be waiting.”

Big Mama hung up the phone, not even bothering to say ‘I love you’ - in all her life, Joseph has never heard Big Mama say she loves someone; it wasn’t her style. Joseph slid her phone into her pants and stood up. The disbelief and worry over the outbreak must have triggered some adrenaline reaction, because the loopy sluggishness that once possessed her limbs had left, replaced with an energy that vibrated. Joseph sped walk to the door, glancing once more behind her into the shop, before walking to the outside.

The cold seemed to bite at her skin as she sidled up to the truck, peeking in at Orion. Orion was no longer asleep, instead wide awake with his floppy ears perked, sniffing curiously. Joseph tapped on the glass window and Orion lept to the driver’s seat; Joseph smiled, unlocking the door and allowing her hands to run over Orion’s fur. The foxhound’s fur was slightly cool to the touch and his wet nose nuzzled her cheek. She patted his head before moving to the truck bed, peering at her bow to make sure it wasn’t damaged in its cover.

&

"Just a friend is all." Kayla answered remembering Thomas' father when she told Thomas about her pregnancy, she was nervous but then the news came up, and she instantly had a worried look on her face. She started to think about her older sister who had gone towards a hospital, her eyes going down towards Lilly seeing the look on her face. "Is mommy going to be okay?" Lilly asked, Kayla smiled softly and gently gave her niece a gentle pat on the head and nodded. "Yeah shes going to be fine." She then quickly heard James comment, before finally offering. "I have a five room apartment a few blocks away, you guys can stay there if you want I have some food as well." Kayla then looked over towards the others.

"I can offer you guys a place to stay as well its not far if you want to come its about five blocks away from here." Kayla said as she quickly stood up and looked towards Thomas and James. "Lets go." Kayla said as she picked up her niece and quickly made a run over towards her mustang and noticed that it was now gone, she looked over towards Josephine seeing her car and quickly walked over to her. "Hey, really I don't mean to be a bother, but could you offer us a ride please?" Kayla asked looking nervous while still holding her niece and watched as a bunch of police cars drove down the street.