Nikki was just leaving her Martial arts class. "See ya tomorrow." She said hugging her friend. Nikki heard a few screams but that wasn't entirely abnormal in the Los Angeles area. She was walking today. Her mother had her car in the shop so she had borrowed Nikki's for the day. Nikki couldn't complain too much her mother and father had given her the car for graduation a few weeks back.

Nikki was in an excellent mood. She had just been accepted to Julliard for her dancing. It had been her goal since she could walk. It's all she ever wanted and she could almost touch the doors to the school. Just remembering the acceptance letter made her giddy. Her MA instructor just told her that she was almost ready for her to teach the afternoon classes. Nikki was excited about that. She smiled. She loved watching the little ones take classes in MA. They always looked so cute doing it.

The screams jerked her out of her blissful state. She saw a huge car wreck just ahead and she assumed that was what all the screaming was about. Somebody must be in pretty gory shape she thought. When she got to the crash site there were two people who had been thrown from the car. Nikki had to walk by one of them. She ran over to the young man and turned him over on his back.

"Lay flat don't move the EMT's are on their way." Nikki stayed with him until his eyes closed. A moment later his eyes opened and he made this really aweful gurgling sound and he tried to bite her. Nikki jumped backwards and rolled down the ditch. She looked back up and the young man was already on his feet and biting horrified bystanders who after a couple of minutes began biting others.

Nikki didn't know what the hell was going on. She got up and ran to her house. Her car was there and the back door was open. Nikki went through the living room and came upon a horrific sight. The neighbor was eating Nikki's mother. She grabbed the sword off of the wall in the living room and decapitated the neighbor. Her mother's body began moving all on it's own and making that same noise. Nikki could only see blood, it was everywhere. Blood was on the walls, floor, furniture and it was on Nikki's future. She stabbed her mother in the head through a sea of tears. She hurried and shut the backdoor.

Nikki ran upstairs and packed a bag. She put in necessities, clothing, knives, her guy (gee for her MA) hairbrush, toothbrush and a few other things and Dad's handgun and box of ammo. Running down the stairs she avoided the living room and went to the kitchen. She grabbed snack things out of the pantry. She loaded up everything she could fit in her bag. She grabbed her tennis shoes and tossed them in her car with the rest of it.

She looked up at her neighborhood and there were people attacking each other all over the place. She saw the mailman biting on an already dead dog. Nikki was nauseated but fear is a good motivator and she got into her car and she had to run over the lawn because someone had pulled partially into the driveway and she was otherwise blocked.

Nikki couldn't think of anywhere to go that would be safe and closeby. She just decided since the streets were quickly becoming blocked by out of control accidents or vacated vehicles that she would go to her high school. She grabbed her stuff and locked her car. She went inside. She made sure she pulled the locks through the top of the doors. She pulled her cell phone out and called her brother.

He answered "Nikki where are you?" She could hear the panic in his voice. "Matt don't go home. Mom's dead. Is it happening there too?" She heard screams and crashing and he said, "Yeah, I'm on my way. Where are you?" "I'm at the high school. Matt I love you. Hurry."

Kat had just gotten off work from pulling another all-nighter. Instead of going to her room, she went out to the street to get a cab. She needed to get to the babysitter's to pick up Grace. The older woman who watched her didn't usually watch children overnight, but she made an exception for Kat because she knew what it was like to be a single mom.
Kat hated the all-nighters. She hated leaving her baby with someone else overnight. But her boss had promised her a full four days off to spend with Grace. Kat was already planning on spoiling her : the park, ice cream, a trip to Toys-R-Us, the kiddie pool at the community center... the works.

She was still planning things in her head when the screams registered. The streets were in a panic, people running around like maniacs. Kat tried to stop someone to ask what was happening and nearly got shot. She waved down a cab in the street. "I need to get to my baby!" Kat demanded.
"No way bitch! You know what's happening?! It's the goddamn apocalypse! People are eating each other!"
Kat didn't bother hearing anymore. She jerked the door open and yanked the guy out. He was so scared and surprised by her action that he didn't have time to resist or protest. Kat got in and slammed the door, locking it.
"What the hell bitch?! Open this door! Goddamn it!" the driver screamed, pounding on it.
"I need to get to my baby," Kat replied and sped off, running over the idiot's foot. He ran after her, screaming obscenities but she didn't slow down.

Once she reached the house her heart went in her throat. There was blood everywhere and the door was wide open.
"Grace!!" Kat screamed, jumping out of the car without even putting it in park, racing into the house. A baby's scream came from the kitchen. Kat ran in to see a horror that nearly made her throw up.
The old woman who watched Grace was on the floor, her stomach ripped open and being eaten by her neighbor. Grace was sitting in a highchair screaming her little head off. And the... thing, Kat didn't even want to call it a person anymore, had turned towards Grace purposefully.

Kat didn't think, she acted.
Snatching the curtains down from the wall, she used the pole they hung on and rammed it downward with all of her strength. It embedded itself into the thing's back, pinning it to the floor. It snarled and swiped at her. Kat yanked Grace from the highchair and raced out of the door and towards the cab.

Jenna had just gotten through with a modelling shoot and was on vacation at home. She travelled so much it felt good just to be home. She had tossed her stuff in her bag and went to her aerobics class. She had stopped at Dunkin Donuts and gotten some for the girls in her class. Hey she had a month off she could indulge for once.

After class she went into the locker room and showered. She had seen enough horror movies and dealt with enough photographers to know that you don't take a shower anywhere in a public place without a weapon nearby. Too many creeps tried to take liberties that weren't theirs to take.

Jenna had turned towards the door of the room when she heard the door open. When she heard the shuffling walk and the strange breathing noises she assumed it was someone very ill or some of the guys in the building playing a joke on her but she put a towel on and grabbed her gun.

When the walker became visible to her she looked closely and saw the blood, the vacant look in the eyes and the rotting flesh and she aimed for the leg. It hit but didn't deter the creature so she hit twice more, once in the heart and once in the head. She stayed away from the body and hurriedly put some clothes on. Staying close to the wall she had made her way to the nearest door to the outside of the building. She peaked out and was astonished to see the chaos outside. "Oh my god!" she said.

"What the hell is going on?" She screamed while another walker grabbed her arm and she shot him in the head. Jenna put her bag around her neck and dashed through the door to the outside where she realized quickly she wasn't going to get very far. She jumped into her car and got only a few blocks away before she had to abandon it near the high school. Jenna grabbed her bag out of the seat and ran into the school. The doors were pull only so the walkers couldn't follow her in since she held it til it closed.

Tina was busy loading the Blue Beast with the latest delivery of vegetable oil for her project well aware of all the eyes on her at the warehouse docks when her phone rang. She paused briefly to glance at the number an saw it was pop-pop her Grandfather an thought she'd finish loading before she called him back because she still had six five gallon bladders to go.

She had four to go when she received a text that read "March to the Sea" it was the family distress code so she jumped in the cab of the Beast and hit the family conference button linking it in through her in dash system.

She was instantly linked into the family server her brother the silicone peach tech executive maintained an the first window to open was his.

"Looney! Are you okay?" said her third oldest brother and he looked really worked up.

Worried Tina asked
"Sure, what the hell's going on; are you Liz an the twins okay?"

The end times are here Looney, all hell's breaking loose and till rapture I'll preserve my family. We are headed to Arrowhead Mark, Kyle his wife an their kids ar.... Her brother didn't stay in frame an Tina hear Liz his wife screaming then gunfire.

Tina cranked the Beast an while it idled put the sound on her PA speakers as she dove out of the cab an jumped up on the loading dock.

The dock workers grinned at her once more leering like the primates they were till the PA rang with more gunfire and Todd's wife's screams. Tina didn't go gentle with the last four five gallon plastic bladders slinging then into the bed of the Beast then slinging the Web gate across the tail to secure the load.

She jumped back into the cab an checked her gages before engaging the truck into gear. The huge 3/4 ton 4x4 didn't scream out of the docks but it was growling loudly through it's twin pipes like some angered bear.

On the dash screen two more windows opened along with Pop-pop's audio link and Tina was thankful for the family patriarch's calming presence. He told them that so long as Todd was firing an Liz yellin they was alive. Then they took head count of those on the conference and the ones the others had talked to already and that's when Todd popped back in frame.

[b]"We're okay but the harrowed souls almost got us. I'm leaving the server online so we can coordinate but Liz, the boys an I are headed for Arrowhead[b] said Todd clearly in a excited state as he jacked several brass 12 gage shells into his Italian gun.

Todd was referring to the Family enclave of nine cabins up on a point in Tacoa on lake Hartwell in the north east of Georgia. He had bought the land of the Corp of Engineers an the family had built log cabins on the 16 acre property, hell Tina's lot was still vacant but there waiting for her to build on it some day.

Most of the family thought of the Arrowhead as their private resort bur more religious an paranoid had thought of it the place that could mean safety in disaster and it gallery her they might have been right.

Suddenly she had to jam on the breaks as she came to the sight of clustered cars and what appeared a nightmare scene. There where people running from fangs of people that were attacking the frightened like rabid animals biting an tearing at their victims.

Tina paused in driving long enough to pop the center console open and pull from it a model 1911 given to her by pop-pop and cock it then tuck two clips between her thighs. She'd always thought of the gun as a target pistol that she'd never have to use on another person but that was now a moot point.

She tapped the big blue Silverado into 4x4 just before shifting into reverse. And backing up an embankment and then driving back down onto the street. She knew she had to get back to her shop slash apartment and load her things that she knew she'd need into the truck bed and her MOBY1 off road trailer then head out into the desert where the Beast would give her the advantage of range and terrain.

Location: Sacramento, California Erin Hyde McGarth

Erin chuckled as she listened to Ava's sudden scream as a zombie popped out of the closet in the video game, spilling the popcorn on the basement floor." Hey now. I just got done cleaning my bedroom Ava. So I would like to keep it that way before I'm grounded again." the teenager said as she paused the game then began getting up to get a broom." Erin don't tell me you already knew that was going to happen. How come you're not screaming?" The eight year old asked as she picked the bowl up off the floor." I've played this part a thousand times already. Plus you were the one who wanted to watch me play a Resident Evil Game on my Wii." the young woman said as she swept up the popcorn." Hey where is everyone? I know school was cancelled. Are you guys in the basement?" Vivian May Moon stated as she made her way towards the basement door." Oh no. Mommy is home. What do we do Erin?"" Quickly switch the games Ava. That way Aunt Vivian can't see that I broke my promise again. Plus neither of us will get grounded if she doesn't see what game we were really playing."

Ava did as she was told while the teenager quickly cleaned the bedroom and bathroom. By time the woman had came down the stairs it looked like they had been playing sports the whole time." Well it's nice to know you kept your word Erin. I like the whole Catwoman haircut." The woman said with a smile." Mommy is home! Happy Birthday." The kid said as she tackled her mother." Happy Birthday Mom. I'm glad you like the haircut. What happened to your arm?" the older girl said as she came closer." Oh. Mary brought her son in because of a sudden fever. The kid's body eventually burned out because we were unable to bring his temperature down. I started CPR than the boy's eyes suddenly opened. I was getting down from the bed when he grabbed my arm and bit me for no reason at all."" Did they ever find out what was wrong? Can we go in my bathroom so I can clean the wound and change the bandage." Erin asked as her cousin pulled her mother inside." Alright I'm going Ava. Not yet. Doctors was forced to put the child into isolation. The worst part was that they had to place something in the boy's mouth to prevent bitting someone again. He was also strapped down."" That's horrible Mom. Man the kid must have bit down hard in order to do this much damage. This is going to hurt." the teenager said as she poured alcohol on the wound." Ouch. Where's the hydrogen peroxide? Remember don't put the gauge on too tight or else-" the guardian said before her daughter jumped in.

" Or else you will lose circulation of the blood. We know Mommy. Erin ran out last week and asked you to get some more today after work." The little girl stated." I forgot. I'm so sorry I've been working so hard this month. I even forgot that it was my Birthday today."" Mom you feel like you're getting a fever. I wonder if you caught it due to exhaustion. Nurse Ava what would you proscribe for our Mom." the older girl said trying to be cute." Bed rest Dr. Erin. We can make that broccoli side add chicken to it and steamed veggies for dinner. Chicken noodle soup is for Mommy."" Good choice. Off to bed Mom. We can take care of dinner. When it's done we'll call for you." Erin said as her Aunt just shook her head in defeat. Both girls followed behind their mother as she walked up the steps. They waited until their mother was halfway up the second set of stairs before heading into the kitchen. After halfway through making dinner they heard a thump upstairs causing both of the girls to turn off the burners then rushed up the stairs. Ava was the first to run inside screaming at the sight of her mother underwater while the facet was still running." Ava get Mom's head above the water. I'm going to turn the facet off bad try and drag her out." with that said each girl went to do their job. The teenager was so focused on getting her aunt out until she heard her cousin scream out in pain.

" What's wrong Ava. Oh my. Mom let go of her!" the young woman said as she pushed Vivian off of her daughter. She grabbed her cousin and ran towards the stairway. Her cousin was crying inside her arms, clinging and pleading for Erin to make the pain go away, with the newly turned Aunt chasing them. The teenager nearly tripped on the carpet than regained her footing. The zombie groaned as it fell backwards, slamming her head on a step. The girl was able to find her footing as she decided to go to the kitchen." Mom please stop this. I know you're sick and didn't mean to hurt Av. Just let me call the doctor and have him help you. Someone please help!" the oldest screamed trying to reason. The creature got hooked on a chair falling giving both girls time to get inside of the kitchen." Why did Mommy bit me Erin?"" I don't know Av. She's very sick so she might not know what she's doing. I don't know what to do." Erin said grabbing the knife they used for chicken for self defense." I want you to kill me please. I'm only asking because I don't want to become like Mommy."[color=skyblue]" You're going to be okay. We're going to get you to a doctor." The teenager said as the monster opened the door. The zombie shifted to the right before lunging for her cousin once again. The child kicked the things head away while her cousin forced the knife into it's head." Erin please kill me. I don't want to hurt you like Mommy. Please do this for me." The kid said while grabbing another knife from the sink then placing it in the teenager's hand." Please don't do this. I'm going to find someone to help. Please." the older girl said over and over again. Ava smiled until she forced Erin to flinch making the death fast and quick, at the same time the girl felt herself being torn apart, like another being was created inside her before closing one eye and falling asleep.

Vincent reread the letter in his hands before it was suddenly yanked out. His eyes traveled up towards the person only to receive another shocking event of his life." I was wondering when you where going to finally look away from that piece of paper. Hello Vincent." the woman said causing the man to automatically smile." Oh my. Last time I heard you where living in San Francisco with our mother. Yet here stands my adorable little sister. How are you Raven?" the man said keeping the smile on his face." Wait. Are you telling me that this handsome man is your twin brother Raven? I was expecting to see a soldier instead of well this. No offense." One of the hostess said as she pointed at the man." If I would have boarded this plane three days ago you would have seen me in my AMW outfit. Though I'm sorry to disappoint you miss."the older brother said in a charming voice." Let me guess. You're going to San Francisco because... What is this Vincent? When did you get this letter?" his twin said in a shocked voice as she continued to read the letter." I got it days after father's home blew up from that stupid gas leak. According to my source his 10 year old daughter was found underneath the rubble. Never found out what the kid's name was due to being a minor and a Vivian May Moon wouldn't allow the person to put the name in print anyway." Vincent calmly replied.

" Until you read the letter correct. My question is how did your source find all of this information out Mr. McGarth? Considering that the press never even released that story." The woman said with a troubled look." One of the Irish General's granddaughters was the reporter. She was rather overjoyed to tell me the information over a shot of whiskey. A very lovely girl might I add." he stated getting a raised eyebrow from Raven." Oh shoot. Well I hate to be a party pooper but we're going to be landing in San Francisco here in a little bit. Raven I'm going to have to ask that you go back to your seat since it's your day off."" No problem Violet though I'm taking the letter with me Vincent." the girl said in a matter in fact way." Please do. Maybe you can be the one to ask our mother about this Scorcha woman when we land my dear loving sister." he countered which made his sister groan in displeasure at the comment." Come on. Your mother can't be that bad. Can she?" Violet asked replacing the troubled look with a raised eyebrow of her own." Our mother is rather unique Miss Violet. She loved to tell her children that their father never wanted them and how we ruined her life. Yet the woman never told him about having kids until I wrote to father while he was in the AMW."" How awful. I can't imagine how a mother could ever do that to her children. Though I can't image a father just walking out of your mother'a life without marrying her. Since it was his duty to marry her." She said in a snobbish way.

" That's where you and her have different opinions." Vincent said in a kind voice as the seatbelt sigh turned on." Excuse me Mr. McGarth." With that the woman walked away to check everyone for seat belts. The man was very glad when the plane finally reached the airport. Only to slowly lose his smile and glad feeling when soldiers started boarding the plane one by one. The pointed their weapons at every single person before forcing them to get off. All that went through his mind was the question of where his sister was at now." That's the last one sir." One soldier said before another started to talk." All most everyone is present and accounted in first class except a Mrs. Kelly Alice Masterson sir." The other spoke as a soldier dragged out a coughing woman." Place her back inside the plane. We need to separate the sick before we do a blood test on the others." The Commander ordered the solider." Wait. What are you doing? My wife has lung cancer and needs oxygen. You have no right to treat a sick woman like that." The woman's husband yelled out." We have every-" the Commander started to say before a blood curdling scream filled the air.

Nothing was normal about how the woman suddenly used her teeth to grasped the soldier's neck. Tearing into it like some hungry animal. This caused a massive panic as every person started running in the other direction. Vincent's body only moved when people pushed his limbs, frantically trying to escape this new horror." How did this outbreak get here so fast soldier?" The Commander asked one of the men." All we know is the it has hit Sacramento, LA, and now here."" What do you mean by it's hit Sacramento? We have a half sister there. Vincent we have to go and get-Ah!" Raven screamed from the other side of the plane." Raven!"" Here take my gun and go save your girl." The Commander said as he handed the gun off before getting mauled. The older brother took off shooting one zombie in the head and another in the leg." Raven are you alright?"" Yes. Come on. We have to ran towards that truck Violet." the girl said nudging her friend." I can't. I'm going back the other way." Before any of the siblings could say a word Violet took off in the opposite direction. The older brother quickly lifted his sister off the ground before shooting another zombie in the head, running for the only clear vehicle. Both sibling scrambled inside then drove towards the city.

Matthew was on the docks helping his friend pull his boat in when they heard terrible screams and loud crashes. Matthew jerked his head up and his eyes scanned the area til he pinpointed the person screaming. It was a woman who appeared to have just been bitten by an odd looking man. Matthew's buddy decided to take a look and see if he could help. Matthew nodded and continued with getting the boat out of the water and tied down to the trailer. His friend Nolan was calming the woman down when he noticed that she fell slowly to the ground. He started to perform CPR on her and Matthew started heading up there to help.

"What the hell is going on up here?"

"No idea." Nolan said and the woman's eyes opened and she opened her mouth and raised up biting Nolan on the arm. She tore into him like a starved person all the while making this hideous gurgling noise. Nolan's screams were instant and he reacted by hitting her hard across the bridge of her nose. It didn't seem to phase her at all and she kept coming back for more.

Matthew pulled the knife he used for scaling fish out and stabbed her in the head with it. Only then did she stay dead. Nolan and Matt looked down the street and there were so many just like that woman. One minute they were fine and the next they were zombies. Matt looked at Nolan and he looked at Matt scared out of his mind.

"Nolan, you are going to be okay man. We are going to the hospital right now."

Nolan visibly upset told him, "Nah man you saw how fast she turned. I'm a gonner. I'll be like that in just a few minutes. Do me a favor? Tell Nikki to behave and tell her I love her too." Nolan pulled a gun out of the back of his pants and handed it to Matt.

"Don't let me turn into one of those. You saw that it took getting her in the head so shoot me as soon as I die." Matt nodded but he felt sick. In just a couple of minutes Nolan's eyes closed and Matt stabbed him in the back of the head to make sure he didn't turn. He looked up and the walkers had multiplied and many were headed towards Matt.

Matt got up and ran back to the truck. His phone rang, it was Nikki. He spoke with her a moment only and then he floored the truck on the way to the high school. He called Kat. She didn't pick up so he left her a message telling her to meet him and Nikki at the high school.

@Belle

---

“Here’s your mail, ma’am.”

With a polite nod, Felix received the payment for the delivery and walked back to his motorbike. Two-hundred and thirty-seven deliveries today. Not bad, though he probably could have done better if he hadn’t skipped lunch for a break in the arcade. Not to mention being hounded by police for speeding delayed him for a few seconds, though admittedly it was fun.

This being the last delivery for the day, Felix decided to retire to a nearby Starbucks for coffee, and of course, to leech off their WiFi. What else did people go to the café for, anyway? It certainly wasn’t their food, overpriced as it was. Though he did like their desserts. Maybe he should try working in one sometime, since working in delivery service had a lot more free time than he thought, even when he was working overtime.

As he sat down and waited for his order, Felix looked out the windows. People milling about, going through the tedium of daily life. It was so boring to watch. There was nothing wrong with normal, mind you, but he couldn’t find someone who enjoyed “normal” for what it was. It was always just something they had to do, a chore that they must drag themselves through first before they arrived at a “special” place. It was why he disdained people who took martial arts, workshops, and auditions, and treated that as if it were the only thing that mattered, the only thing they had to hold important. Felix snorted. This world was all in his head, which meant that everything was important. He knew for a fact that if ever this normal life was taken from them, they would love nothing more than to return to it.

And that was when it happened. The first thing he heard was a scream, and then the sound of several cars colliding with each other. Felix turned, and was met with the sight of “normal” being clubbed to death.

Several cars had collided with each other, with people in between them. People close to the accident scrambled away in panic, while bystanders approached, morbidly curious and worried at the same time.

He narrowed his eyes. Unaffected by the chaos, Felix looked beyond it, behind the windows of one of the cars. Unnoticed by the crowd, one of drivers was still alive. His head was bleeding, and his eyes were glazed over. If he had not been moving, Felix might have mistaken him for dead.

Also, he was currently biting the face off of the man seated next to him.

A concerned man rushed to the car, unable to see the gore occurring from the angle she was from, and Felix swore as he opened the door.

Jumping out of his seat, he rushed towards the man as fast as he could, and only got there in the nick of time. The cannibal–

”No, zombie,” he thought. Up close, Felix realized that he wasn’t wrong. The man in the car was dead. His breathing was off, his skin was pale gray from blood loss, and his guts were spilling from a large gash on his stomach.

Chambering a kick to the back of its head, the things eyes popped out of their sockets, and it fell to the ground twitching.
More screaming came from behind him, and suddenly, the crowd of bystanders behind him were quickly becoming a buffet. People were being bitten everywhere, and those that were not pinned down ran for their lives. Felix quickly did the math, and sighed. By tomorrow, the whole city would be infected, and in a month, half the country. This was the beginning of a B-rated horror movie.

Walking away from the chaos, Felix contemplated the apocalypse to come. He grinned. It seemed that “normal” was to die a very hard death indeed. Going inside a nearby DiY shop, he picked up the most worthy crowbar he could find, and despite the cashier being gone, dropped the payment on the register.

Soon enough, the money wouldn’t be important anyway.

Hopping on his motor, Felix sped away. Once he got home, he would pack his things and go exploring for a bit. How far would humanity go to preserve itself?

He wondered.

Tina drove the Beast as only a country girl could all the time keeping up a conversation with her family till for reasons unknown the connection terminated. She didn't allow any of her worries or fears to cloud her judgment knowing that her family the Lancasters would endure as they had since that rainy day in 1733 when they'd landed on the shores of Savanna.

She'd tried to be as polite as conditions had allowed as she drove to her shop only having to shove or threaten a few little cars into submission. "It's the Big dog's prerogative to push it's way to the bowl" she could remember hearing pop-pop telling her while forcing his way into traffic.

Soon she was backing into the the trailer to hitch it up and once that was done running in and our of the little mechanic's shop she'd rented to load truck an trailer. She didn't have a lot of food, perhaps enough to last a couple of weeks if she didn't find game or fish to supplement the mostly dried beans and rice which a lack of water could prove problematic.

Then she topped off her two 40 gallon tanks to make sure that range wouldn't be as important a factor. Then that done she climbed into her truck cab an flipped open her laptop and selected a 32 gig stick and inserted it.

The stick had been one of her brother Todd's more useful going away present as it contained a huge map file which she'd Used to navigate from Georgia to LA. It could work with or without GPS though it was more efficient with a satellite connection. She knew from her three hour ordeal driving from the loading dock to her shop that the main roads and secondaries would be choked so she studied it very carefully then made the decision to stay put for at least a day. Her decision was based on the fact that like after a Georgia Tech football game the cars leaving would cause more trouble in the beginning than if she patiently waited.

She was relatively safe from whatever was going on because the shop was surrounded by an 8 foot number 9 chain link fence topped in razor ribbon. She didn't know when she picked the shop for it's security against intrusion that it would serve as a disaster refuge. So she hopped out and decided she'd eat the perishable foods she hadn't packed.

She felt a. bit silly as well as safer walking around the second story office of her mechanic's shop with her Browning semiautomatic 12 gage slung over her shoulder and her Colt at her hip.

She didn't have long to wait for her first crisis and it was in fact an expected one; the power failed. She figured it was due to an accident knocking down a pole but no matter it's cause she required electricity to maintain her security systems and general comfort both of which were critical to helping her maintain a sense of well being in view of the present disaster.

She went down stairs and cranked the salvaged diesel generator she'd rebuilt from a trailered construction power plant. It purred to life as expected then once it showed it was operating in a sustainable condition she flipped the power supply of her shop from city to remote after which she did a check of the property.

She was stunned later to hear on the TV that the city had lost it's collective mind as a pandemic of some sort swept through the population. Then two hours later the local broadcast was replaced by a military officer declaring Martial law.

Once the military was in control of communications the reports became more orders and repetitive so Tina headed down to her fuel plant and started cooking up her last batch of vegetable oil into bio fuel. She estimated she'd get about a 127 gallon yield from the plant which she could transfer to the empty plastic 5 gallon bladders and put atop the trailer an in the truck bed; all in all she figured she could make her escape with about 300 gallons of fuel if she wanted but only had enough stowage for about 230. At 15 miles to the gallon and figuring in idling delays the Beast had a 3,000 mile top range.

She heard one of her alarms chirp and pulled up her pad an saw it was on the street gate so she chose the facing camera and studied the image for a moment seeing four people attacking someone on the ground.

So she checked her shotgun to make sure it was loaded and secured her ammo bag on her opposite hip from her Colt 1911.

She was well aware of the six and a half pounds of weight split between gun, shells and the three clips at the small of her back and was thankful that she'd bought her weapons belt with suspenders.

What she found when she approached the scene was that the attack was breaking up their victim dead.

Then she saw that each of the attacker's looked like they'd survived attacks as well. At first the horrid condition of them made Tina want to shot them but her brothers and other teachers in her family had taught her that in every dangerous situation where a gun was critical to survival to waste ammunition was to waste chances.

They were gross to look at but informative and what she saw filled her with dread that Todd was right, the dead were moving around. She knew this because one woman hade her throat torn open at the jugular and the volume of blood on her shirt showed she'd bled out.

It was a normal sunny day in San Diego, California. James was at the car shop working on an old Mustang that a client brought over two days ago. The car was lifted on a platform and James was underneath, working at the undercarriage. Bella, James's 2 year old border collie girl was inside the shop too. Energetic as usual. She was basically the shop's mascot. The clients that were coming to get their cars fixed imidieatly fell in love with her mellow, humble and friendly attitude. James's uncle, Dave, returned to the shop after he was gone for about an hour. He had two beers in his hands. "Hey James, come with me!" He said entering the office as James put down the tools, pushed away the tool box and went inside the shop where he saw his uncle sitting on a chair with the beer bottles on the desk. James took a seat himself, as he looked at his uncle surprised.

"As you may or may not know, today is an important day for me. This shop, this business that I opened is officially five years old." He said as he started opening up the bottles.

"And you were an important part of it. Without you I probably would've never succeeded. Or maybe I would have but it would have been much harder. But your dedication to this trade of working with cars and the respect you've showed to the clients that came here made everything so much easy." He said as he grabbed the opened beer bottles and gave James one of them.

Then James and his uncle both shouted to each others "Cheers!" and tapped the bottles together as they started drinking from them. "You know uncle you're a life saver you know that? Coming here was the best decision I could have made. God knows how I could have ended up if you haven't gave me that call and made me that offer." Said James after he let down the bottle from his mouth.

"I guess we both saved each other's lives because I wasn't doing very well in that period either, after my wife, your aunt, died. But that's it, no more sadness this is a happy day come on." Said Dave as both he and James continued drinking from their beers again. "I got some stuff to finish down town." Said Dave drinking the rest of his beer and putting the empty bottle on the desk. "You stay here and keep working. This shouldn't take long. And remember today is Friday. That means were having our weekly movie night and it's my turn to choose the movie and buy the pizza." Said Dave rising up from his chair, getting out of the office and then out of the shop too.

As James got back underneath the Mustang he took a tool and started working but it didn't take long for him to hear all kinds of comotion coming from outside. Screams, car horns ringing and sounds of struggle. "What the hell?" Said James as he got out from underneath the car and went outside only to see his uncle a few feet away, beating to death a man and crushing his head with his foot. "Uncle? Uncle what the hell is going on?" Asked James concerned, as he dropped the tool he had in his hand and ran to his uncle. "This retard tried to turn me into his dinner. But I showed him not to mess with a marine, even an old and retired one." Said Dave quite proud of himself.

Both men looked around them with shock. The world started to fall apart all of a sudden. People eating each other, sudden car crashes. Everything looked like the set of a zombie apocalipse movie. Only this time it was no movie. "You know what kid? I think we should get home while were still in one piece." Said Dave looking at James's Chevelle and running to it. "Hey wait up!" Said James running to his car himself and getting inside, with Bella following them in as she squeezed her way into the back seat barking. James proceeded to start the car and started heading home.

@Doc Doctor



Tina looks at the old man then the Zombies beginning to gravitate towards him. She is uncertain whether she should help him but only for a moment because it wouldn't be human to simply stand behind the protection of her fence at let him die. So slinging the Shotgun for the close range accuracy of her 1911 the tall blonde brings the gun to bear with her left hand first on the nearest to her gate as she pulls a second clip of ACP from the pouch at the small of her back.

"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!" barks the former military pistol sending 230 grains of lead at 830 feet per second through the brain cases of four of the nearest shuffling horrors. Her last three rounds in that clip she takes trouble to aim because unlike the first four are outside of point blank range. She then pops the spent clip and jacks in the fresh one giving herself seven more shots.

She tucks the spent clip into the pouch the new one came from then pulls her security remote and calls out to the old man

"I'll open the gate part way and cover you but I will not endanger my position any longer than that".

Then pistol held ready she taps the electric gate button causing the huge 600 pound section of pipe, chain link and wheels to roll back about two feet before she taps the close button that allows the gate to open four feet before the slack is taken up by the motor and it begins to roll closed.

"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!" sounds off Tina's weapon shattering two more of the horrid remnants of humanity.

She knows she should be scared and would admit that she is but that the adrenaline overwhelmed any debilitating effects.

Nikki called Kat and left her a message and prayed that she and Grace were okay. She got up and decided she could sit and cry about it or get off her ass and try to secure the building. Since it was summer there shouldn't be too many inside but that just meant instead of 3000 there might be only 25. She started searching for them and she held her sword in one hand. For the moment she was piling the dead bodies next to the nearest entrance to the building. She figured they could take them outside later. Between killing these things she kept her muscles moving. Too much down time would make her sore later and she didn't need to be off. Just a little bit could mean the difference between life and death.

Nikki found a radio in the attendance office and plugged it in and listened to the rock channel. It was interrupted by the military declaring martial law across the country. Nikki was suddenly worried that Matt would get pulled back before his time was up. She didn't want to think about it. He was coming here and Nolan was with him so she wouldn't have to worry about him. Her dad was in a high rise downtown and she knew in her heart there was no way he was getting out of there alive. She wiped the tears away and lopped the head off of the next walker that came out.

Nikki's favorite teacher came around the corner and she groaned. "I'm sorry Miss Isaac." As she decapitated her Nikki's phone rang and she looked down and ran back to the front door of the school Sword in hand.

@Belle

---

Blood. There was so much blood. The thick oozing crimson liquid was sprayed everywhere. It pooled on the floors, was splattered across the wall and even dripped from the roof.
What the hell had Levi just walked into...

As his brain raced wildly to put together the mass of sensory data he chuckled lightly, slightly amused at the shenanigans played upon him.
It was massive, convincing, expensive.
Then an icy cold fear slowly swelled within him and a sickening fever took hold of his gut and squeezed tightly as suddenly realisation hit him and the world began to spin as he saw the bloody props for exactly what they were.
... His family.

What had he walked into
... He had walked into hell.

They were all here and now they were all gone. Levi dropped the heavy carton of beer he had just fetched for them all and like his hopes the glass shattered all over the floor. His lunch vacated his stomach and he fell to the ground. After a dark moment he proceeded to crawl around as he cried and called for his friends, he wept as he aimlessly searched the gruesome muck finding confirmation after confirmation of his worst fears until there was nothing left to doubt.

His prayers soon came true as he found survivors, Lilly and Kell the young contortionist twins were locked in the empty human fishtank. But how quick and deep the bitter betrayal of disappointment can cut as dreams quickly morph into nightmares, Levi noticed the large powerful arm of what could only be Bronson's, the strong man of the troupe. The muscly man was now but a scattering of limbs amongst two thin cannibalistic identical twins trapped in a blood smeared glass cage.

Levi touched the glass, he leant against it, he hugged it, talked to it and even apologised to it, all whilst the viscous dead girls snapped and clawed at him from the other-side. They smashed their own faces against the glass, broke their nose. Levi could see the sinew and flesh amongst their teeth, the death in their eyes.
Bronson's large stage hammer lie in the cage with them, now red it was covered in so much blood, his hand still tightly grasping it.

It was a zombie apocalypse.
It was here.
Brain dead, empty and in shock Levi gathered some things and snuck out to see if it was true.
It was,
It was all true. Carnage ran rampant all around him. People fighting, screaming, eating each other, dying, getting back up. What was he to do. Then he saw it, an empty taxi.
Having no other plan he ran for the taxi, hurtling over a bent over muncher as it feasted on a corpse, Levi dove into the taxi and took of before he could even slam the door shut.

@Belle
He drove for some time aimlessly, trying to out run the chaos like it was a wave that would die down, but all around him he saw it spread.
Then out of nowhere a woman on the side of the road caught his eye, she waved him down and he recognised her face. Did she recognise his?
That strange unplaced familiarity was like a warming light in the chaos of darkness. Levi quickly pulled over for her.

"I need to get to my baby!" She demanded. Startled and panicked Levi looked around as the chaos grew closer, they had to go, get far away, and now!
"No way bitch! You know what's happening?! It's the goddamn apocalypse! People are eating each other!" he quickly snapped back.
Panic over rode all his sense and he didn't even hear the words coming from his own mouth.
Clearly she didn't agree with what he said because before he realised it she had jerked the door open and yanked him right out of the car.
His heart dropped along with the sound of the door locks.
"What the hell bitch?! Open this door! Goddamn it!" Levi shouted as he pounded on the car. He couldn't believe it.
The woman said something else from within the safety of the vehicle just before it sped off, running right over his foot on its way.

With a horrid limp a terrified Levi chased after her. He couldn't stay in the streets. he wanted that car back, he wanted his things back, he wanted a familiar face. So he chased her and chased her, he picked up a push bike and managed to just catch which streets she turned. By the time he came across the car he was exhausted. It was parked in front of a house. His bag still lay on the back seat. Levi carefully slipped into the drivers seat, the keys were gone.
"Bitch" he curses just as the lady from before comes running out the front door holding a child.

Jenna caught her breath and she heard a cell phone ringing and saw a girl in a long trench coat sprint around a corner and run towards the front of the school. Jenna started to follow her and she saw the carnage piled up near the exits. This girl knew what she was doing. She followed Nikki and when she saw her open the door to the outside she got worried.

Jenna sat against the wall so she could see anything that was coming at her and so that Nikki would see her. She decided sneaking up on someone right now would likely get her killed. The shock and disbelief of what had been going on in the last hour or so was enough to cause the flood of tears that decided to roll down her face. She cried quietly as she worried about family and friends. She worried that at some point she would be the only person left. This thought was enough to make her get up to go help Nikki in any way that she could.

She got to the door where Nikki had only been a moment ago. When she looked out the small glass window she saw Nikki taking out as many of these things as she could. When she opened the door behind Nikki she yelled to her "How can I help?"

Nikki glanced over her shoulder. "What weapon do you have?" Nikki said.

"My gun." Jenna responded.

"Put the gun inside, they follow noise. Here." Nikki tossed her a knife that was in a cover. Jenna caught it and said nervously, "Okay, now what?"

Nikki said, "Stab them in the brain. Oh, By the way, I'm Nikki."

"Jenna" she said as she nearly got herself bitten. "Kick them if you have to it tends to make them double over and then its easier to get at the head." Jenna followed instructions and she helped Nikki while Nikki taught her how to stay alive.

@Demonic angel@Belle@thehangedman@dark light

@Doc Doctor



Tina studies the old man for a bit using not the eye of a native Californian but of a girl raised in the foot hills of the Blue Ridge. He was obviously a man similar to her Grandfather Pop-pop or his less civilized friends.

"I thank you kindly mister but think I'll pass on the rope; I'm not particularly interested in cultivating a crop of ass hair. You though can feel free to smoke like a coal train if ya wish long as ya steer clear of smoking in the shop, I've got fuel in there."
she says holstering her pistol and unlimbering the big browning

"Name's Tina Louise Lancaster an consider yerself ma guest so long as ya don't raise too much hell.

I figure I'll be cutting free of this place in a day once all tha panic prone have either put themselves afoot or fallen to their lack of plannin.

Not sure where I'm heading but tha Beast has a 2 maybe 3,000 mile range before she'll need more fuel." says Tina leading the way to her shop door which begins cranking up at the tap of a button.

The interior of the plain metal building is a large open affair that once served as a diesel shop repairing four tractors at a time.

The first thing to catch the eye is a stacked Silverado 4x4 which she refers to as The Blue Beast

On the other side of the shop is Tina's bio fuel plant and two Chemistry tables.

@Doc Doctor



Tina laughs softly as the old man relieves himself thinking "Dear God!" The man has less manners than old Thom an Fester who lived up behind Hanging tree ridge.

Well maybe like the old possum tickler as her Pop-pop called Thom had seen the elephant. If that was the case he'd need a little watching an light stepping till she could sus out his brand of pixelation.

Then Tina points off to the side of the shop a large open metal awning area where they used to wash the trucks years ago that she turned into an out door barbecue and lounging spot saying.

"Over yonder is a good place for ya ta watch an smoke all ya want.

An here's tha heavy end, if yall want to cut out with me ya need to bathe first an wash yer clothes. Tha cab of tha Beast is to close, besides if this is as bad as they look it might be a week or even a month before we see bathing water again. Then are smells can creep up onus an we'll stand on equal footing, hell we might not even notice how much like a bear's ass we smell like. Other wise yall gonna ride in tha back if ya decide ta come along.

The only other option for ya is I leave ya my shop an supplies I can't carry. But I ain't staying because all that death out there is gonna breed necrotic troubles that will kill ya as sure as those horrors"

Her phone buzzed but Kat ignored it. When it buzzed the second time she swore. Then it buzzed three times in quick succession, telling her she had voice mail. Stopping on the porch, she pulled out the phone. One was from Matt and the other from his sister Nikki. Both wanted her to meet them at the highschool. Matt was Grace's daddy, but neither him nor Kat had been ready for a serious relationship despite having child together. He visited with Grace regularly and if Kat needed anything for her he immediately provided it, but it didn't go beyond that. Kat had a theory that he was afraid of being a father.

Putting the phone away, she looked up to see the ass cab driver from before. Grace was still crying and Mommy was NOT in the mood.
"If you don't want to lose your manhood, get out," she ordered. "I'm taking my baby somewhere safe and you sure as hell are not getting in my way."