Alana smiled as she walked into the store around noon, the sun high in the sky, making for a nice warm day. It was the first of six days off duty for her, which meant time to relax and find some fun. First, though, time to get some new clothes for the summer that was just starting. She moved about the shop for a while, picking out some t-shirts, a couple pairs of shorts and some new jeans. Finally, she found a new leather jacket, one that was wasn't fleece lined like the one she owned, so it wouldn't be too hot in the summer weather. Satisfied with what she'd found, she made her way over toward the checkout counter, setting down the clothes. "Hey," she said with a smile at the young woman behind the counter as she pulled out her wallet, "Nice day today, huh?" Little did she know that was about to change, and fast.

Ashley was standing at the checkout counter she had spent the past five hours standing there greeting customers and checking out their clothes nothing interesting which was good. There was a TV mounted up towards the front of the store the news was playing, she was going to have two days off once her shift was over and had plans on going out with some friends with her that evening. When Alana came up Ashley smiled at her. "Hey there." Ashley said scanning each of Alana's clothes and taking off the hangers putting them under the counter where they would be taken to be used later on. "It's very nice." She said and checked out the last item which was the leather jacket. "That will be 65.99." Ashley said bagging up the last of the clothing. "Would that be all today?" She asked and turned to look at the news station on the tv saying there was breaking news.

Alana couldn't quite keep herself from discreetly looking the woman behind the counter over, thinking she was cute. She smiled again, and nodded as she fished enough cash out of her wallet to cover the cost of the clothes. After setting it down on the counter, she followed the other woman's eyes to the TV screen by the front of the store.

"Breaking news. What originally started as several small outbreaks of an unknown contagion in the southern states has continued to spread, quickly leading to warnings from health officials that this could quickly become a pandemic. Early symptoms of this as yet unidentified contagion are rapid onset of a high fever... wait, we have air coverage from one of our helicopters of a small hospital on the southern outskirts of the city where there are reports that this has reached... we take you live now..."

On the screen, footage from a helicopter's camera started playing while the news ticker continue to scroll across the bottom relaying details of the story. The hospital parking lot was crowded, right up to the doors. It was hard to tell what was going on, exactly, but as the camera zoomed in further, Alana felt her stomach lurch. Amongst the crowd of people, it became clear that several of them were actually attacking others, grabbing and clawing, even biting. Near the edge of the screen, a man bit into a woman's neck, tearing away flesh, and blood poured out freely. The footage was suddenly gone, replaced by the news anchors, who were scrambling to apologize for the footage and at the same time give some explanation of what was going on.

Alana wasn't listening to them anymore, though. She raised her hand over her mouth in shock, and turned to look at the sales clerk, seemingly seeking some confirmation that she wasn't crazy, wasn't imagining what she'd just seen.

Ashley watched quietly as the news feed went towards a hospital on the other side of the city and was shocked to see what was being played on, she took a moment to see some of her co-workers and customers watching the screen also, Her boss came up to Ashley who looked like a man in his mid fifties. "Whats going on?" He asked watching the news closely for a moment as it switched to a man biting into a woman's neck ripping out a chunk out of her neck watching the blood splatter everywhere causing Ashley to cringe. Then the news went back towards an anchor woman near the scene another infected woman coming up from behind and suddenly bit into her neck and pulled the news woman to the ground. Then the screen went black.
"I don't know whats going on.." Ashley said sounding scared then the manager walked towards the front of the store. "Alright everyone I am going to close the store, take what you bought and in an orderly fashion leave." He said Ashley was still stunned what she watched on the news.

Alana looked over to the man that came up, her eyes flicking to the nametag he was wearing that identified him as the store manager. She forced herself to take a breath, realizing she barely had since the first gruesome scene on the news, as the man asked them to leave in an orderly fashion. She was about to just go when the woman behind the counter caught her eye again. Understandably, she seemed scared and shocked, and Alana couldn't found herself unable to just walk away. Her innate desire to help people was part of the reason she did what she did for a living.

"Hey," she said as calmly as she could manage, reaching out slowly to rest her hand on the woman's arm, giving her a gentle smile, "You should get out of here too. Whatever this is... whatever's going on, it's probably going to cause a panic... do you need a ride?"

When the manager said that the customers, and her co-workers started to go into a panic when Alana reached over feeling the woman's hand on her arm she brushed a strand of her brown hair over her ear. "Your right, and thank you I need a ride back to my apartment it's not that far from here." Ashley answered reaching down to grab her purse and shut off her lane handing Alana the clothes she just bought in case she wanted them. "Wheres your car?" Ashley asked as she started to head towards the front doors to the store before the panic started to get much worse.

Alana gave a nod, not speaking her the worry in the back of her mind that the city wasn't going to be safe for much longer. She didn't know just how bad, but was aware that panic led to chaos, and in a city that usually meant looting at the very least. People could be dangerous, even if they didn't mean to be, when they panicked, especially when they were in large groups. She took the clothes for now, not thinking the situation so dire that they'd soon enough seem little more than a luxury that took up room better taken up by food an other supplies. "Oh um... I don't have a car..." she said as they reached the front doors, and she pointed to the sport-touring style motorcycle parked just up the block from the store. As they approached it, though, she took her helmet out of a compartment attached to the back of the bike, and stuffed the bag of clothes into it instead before handing the woman the helmet.

Ashley had a feeling that things will get bad and fast she thought to herself and followed Alana out looking back at her manager and co-workers as they all scrambled to leave. When they were outside Ashley could hear sirens going off most likely police and ambulances that were going to different places or towards the area that the news cast was played. Ashley looked at the motorcycle that was across the street which made her nervous never ridden one before. "I've never ridden one before just so you know." Ashley said accepting the helmet.

Alana nodded a bit when the other woman said she hadn't ridden a motorcycle before. She waited for her to put on the helmet before making sure it was properly seated on her head. "No problem. Just sit behind me and hold around my waist - just try not to hold so tight you make it hard for me to breathe, alright?" she said, using a bit of a lighter tone to try to keep both of them calm, make this feel a little more normal, "And you'll have to give me directions. Don't be afraid to yell them to me. It'll be hard to hear between all this noise, the helmet and the wind."

With that, she sat on the motorcycle and started it, waiting for her companion to sit and hold her waist before starting off down the street.

"Thank you again, my apartment isn't that far from here kinky five minutes." Ashley said as she looked around one last time before climbing onto the back of Alana's motorcycle. "I'm Ashley by the way." Ashley said wrapping her arms around the woman's waist holding on tight but not tight enough to hurt.

Alana turned her head slightly to better hear what the woman was saying, and nodded slightly at her introduction. "It's nice to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances," she said, "I'm Alana, but my friends just call me Lana." With that, she started them off down the street. As they went, it was apparent that the panic was quickly spreading. People were scrambling down sidewalks to get home where they expected to be safe, and more and more cars were on the streets as they went, probably a mix of more people seeking shelter at home, and people looking to get away from here.

"Thanks again Lana." Ashley said loudly as Alana started to drive the motorcycle through the busy streets as cars and people made their way towards their homes Ashley tapped Alana's shoulder motioning her to turn right down another street. "It's the last apartment complex on the left side of this street." Ashley yelled again holding tightly and noticed a woman tackling a woman down to the ground taking a bite into his shoulder quickly looking away.

Alana just gave a small nod in response to her thanks rather than trying to yell a you're welcome back to her. She drove them down the streets as fast as she safely could, nodding again at the directions she was given. She looked ahead to the building in question, but then off to the side at the rather disturbing sight. It had already reached this far into the city - that meant things were about to get much, much worse, and probably very, very quickly. She picked up speed, getting them away from the infected woman as she continued to bite into her screaming victim's neck, and stopped in the emptiest part of the street she could find.

"It's already reached this far... your building might not be safe," she told Ashley, speaking up to be heard. She would leave it up to the woman, but her tone made it apparent she thought that trying to get into her apartment and hole up there was a bad idea.

Ashley could bearly hear Alana over the sound of the motorcycle but she heard what she said and knew it could be bad in there to. "I know but there's stuff that I need." Ashley yelled back tapping the woman's shoulder to stop they were in front of a nine story apartment building. "It's just going to be in and out." Ashley told her taking off the helmet setting it down where she was sitting,

Alana sighed at Ashley's reply, and she ran her hand through her hair, trying to decide what to do. Her survival instinct said to leave right then, but as someone who's job required that she be willing to run into a burning building, she was used to being able to reassess it. Turning the motorcycle off, she stood, quickly getting the new leather jacket out and slipped it on. She knew she couldn't help everyone who needed it, but felt she had to do something, and so helping Ashley just seemed right.

"Okay, then let's do this right. I'll have your back, you lead the way. Oh, and it might be best to avoid the elevator..." she said, tucking her keys into her pocket so no one could take the bike. She grabbed her U-lock, which she sometimes used to lock the rear wheel if she'd be away from it for a while, since it was the closest thing she had there that could serve as a weapon if need be.

Ashley had a feeling that there was something bad going on up in her apartment but couldn't think that now, she needed her supplies and a few of her personal things. She turned to look at Alana. "You don't have to come, but thanks for coming." Ashley said watching as her friend started locking up her bike so it wouldn't get stolen remembering she had let her roommate use her car earlier that day. "I'm on the last floor just so you know." Ashley warned not wanting to go up the whole flight of stairs but she had to incase there was something wrong with the elevators. The young woman then entered the lobby the whole room was a mess things were knocked over shatter vases pictures had fallen off and noticed there was blood going to the elevator doors. Ashley reached over seeing a baseball bat nearby and picked it up before walking towards the stairwell.

"You're welcome," Alana replied quickly to her thanks, rather wanting to get this over with as quickly as she could. Whatever might be going on in the building, she imagined the streets would be getting more dangerous by the minute, and that's where they'd have to be going after this. "Don't worry worry, I'm used to stairs, I work for the Fire..." she began, but trailed off as she followed Ashley into the lobby, and caught sight of the streaks of blood leading to the elevator. It was like something out of a horror movie - a thought she quickly pushed out of her mind as she raised the U-lock she was holding so it was at the ready. It definitely wasn't a traditional weapon by any means, but she figured that given the heft of it, a good hit from it to the side of the head would make just about anyone rethink trying anything with her.

((Sorry for the long response))

Ashley started walking over towards the stairwell the blood leading towards the elevator made her shiver to herself wondering what had happend in the few hours that she had gone to work. "So how long have you been working with the fire department?" Ashley asked trying to make some small talk as she opened the door to the stairwell.

( No worries :) )

Alana was just a few steps behind Ashley as she opened the stairwell door, and she took a look up. It seemed clear, for the moment, but there was really only so much that could be seen in the small gap that was left open all the way up to the top floor through the center of the staircase. She was grateful for the bit of a distraction that the possibility of small talk provided. "Oh, um... Right about four years now including all the training..." she replied, "Got into it when I was a couple years out of high school. What about you - the clothing store, is that la full time thing, or do you do something else too?"

((Totally sorry I forgot about the RP i'm here now if you want to still continue.))

"It's just a part time job i'm still a college student studying medicine." Ashley said going up a few flights of stairs holding the bat in her hands she looked up through the stairwell and sighed it was a long way up. "I hate going up these stairs." She said a few minutes later they had reached the top of the apartment, Ashley took out her room keys and come up to her apartment room, and noticed that it was open slightly and opened it fully to see her place was ransacked already.