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Waverley winced as the stranger tossed her chair at the sick student, causing him to fall to the ground. She didn't say anything - there was reason to be scared. Whatever was happening, there was a violence to it. She'd picked up that much from the police broadcasts. Still, she hadn't seen any of it with her own eyes, and she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the sick student as they shambled back onto their feet. Waveley followed the stranger, heading towards front of the school. Waverley brought up the rear, so the children were sandwiched protected from front and back.

The memory of the gunshots outside resurfaced in Waverley's mind, prompting her to tilt her head slightly, listening out for anything out of the ordinary. She could still hear the bustle of a crowd outside, but the commotion had lessened since they'd entered. The gunshots had gone quiet too - which was particularly relieving for Waverley. She let out a sigh, turning her gaze forward, past the kids to the stranger leading their little group.

"I'm Waverley, by the way. Waverley Watts," Waverley introduced herself - since things had calmed down, it seemed like as good a time as any. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for her to explain why she was at the school. "My sister goes here - Riley. Kinda short, kind of a genius, kinda smug about it."

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@Trainerblue192@Kirah The 911 operator still sounded very stressed over the phone as Hermes confirmed that there was a bite on that person as well to. "Alright, so listen closely if they start acting aggressive or anything like that you have to keep your distance we'll have someone there as soon as possible." They said while still remaining on the line. "Are they responsive or anything?" She asked Hermes, while Hannah looked at Mandy staying clear or touching the bite wound on the old man's hand. The elderly man seemed to be out for the time being.

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"Kaitlyn Carver it's nice to meet you." She said extending her hand over towards Waverly as she introduced herself as she watched Becker escorting the kids off to a nearby ambulance, the scene seemed to be secured for the time being which was good then. She started to think for a moment, it was still her first day here and she was still trying to figure out each of the students names were. "I don't think I saw her in my class sadly." Kaitlyn answered Waverly's question.

"Maybe you should try and calling her number again or something?" She suggested as a cop approached the two of them. "Is everyone out of the school?" He asked knowing that there were a few teachers who had gone in along with them to make sure that the other students who fell behind or got lost could still be in the school somewhere. "I uh saw a teacher and student they were really aggressive I managed to lock them in the two classrooms we saw." She answered as the officer nodded slightly. "Are you alright miss?" The officer asked Waverly.

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"I won't be long." Isaac said to Kali as he watched the remaining patrons and employees had all left, he grabbed his keys and started to make sure that the back door was locked as he made his way towards the front door and locked it as well to. "Alright so how far do you live from here Kali?" Isaac asked Kali letting her lead the way, his own place wasn't to far.

"Cool follow us then." He said motioning for Verity to follow behind him towards his tow truck, luckily there was some rear seating as he looked towards Flynn. "The lady gets to sit in the front." He said which made Flynn roll his eyes and shake his head slightly. "Yeah, yeah whatever you say man." He said as he opened the door and the rear passenger door and climbed into the back seat which was cramped. "After you ma'am." Flynn's friend said to Verity as he got into the driver's seat and started it up.

Mandy's eyes went wide and she stepped back away from the man. Hermes was telling her that the CDC said to avoid people who had bites on them and this man did. She looked at Hannah, hoping the teen would ask the woman some questions, like what happened? She felt useless. She hated this. She wanted to converse, she needed information and this situation was dangerous.

She raised her hands, palm toward her chest and pulled them slowly away, telling her cousin to breathe. Then she turned to Hannah, "Ask what happened, before the accident." God she wished there was a proper interpreter there.

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Verity followed the two men out, periodically checking her phone for texts or updates on what was going on. Her mind wandered to her ex-husband briefly and she debated calling him to see if he was okay. She opted not to. He lost that right when he cheated on her. She hoped it was some illness going around and he and his new girlfriend caught it.

She smiled when the man offered her the front seat, moving that 100-watt smile over to Flynn. "How generous. Thank you. Looks like chivalry isn't dead just yet." Perhaps a poor choice of words given what happened inside, but she let it slide and got into the vehicle's front seat. Once she got comfortable she put her seatbelt on and checked her phone one last time. She was ready for this day to be over and it was still morning. Perhaps when she got home she would take a long bath and catch up on some shows she had been putting off, let whatever was happening run off.

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"I got ahold of her before I bumped into you. She dipped out early; girl always had good instincts," Waverley explained. She took the woman's hand - Kaitlyn, she introduced herself as - and shook it, committing her name to memory. The group made their way outside, Waverley stepping up to walk beside Kaitlyn once they were all out. As the cop approached, Waverley flinched, falling back slightly, letting Kaitlyn answer the officer's question. Her shoulders tensed, though, as he turned his attention to her - exactly what she didn't want to happen. She took a deep breath, stepping out from behind Kaitlyn, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly, literally biting her tongue to keep herself from saying anything else. Her history with the police was less than stellar, and her personal punk philosophies usually put her in opposition with them. She managed to keep quiet for a good few beats, though she probably looked shiftier than was safe; avoiding eye contact, stiff as a board. After a moment, she asked, "Heard gunshots earlier - did any of the kids get hurt?"

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Soon enough, it was time for Kali and Isaac to leave.

"It's not that far of a drive." Kali explained as she waited for Isaac to lock up the restaurant. "But the subway has always been faster than if I were to walk to work." She continued, walking over to where Isaac's vehicle sat in the parking lot. Opening the passenger door, Kali sat down and buckled herself in.

Once Isaac was in the car, Kali pointed at the windscreen towards a nearby street. "You'll want to follow that road for a couple blocks before turning at the light." She told Isaac, placing her purse on her lap as he began to back up. "...And thank you again, Isaac. It's been a... crazy day today. I just hope Jeff will be okay, like the paramedics said he would."

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@Trainerblue192@Kirah "Sir are you still there sir is he responsive?" The 911 operator asked over the phone hoping to get Hermes to respond to their previous question. The elderly man was still breathing and groaning out in pain as Hannah looked over at Mandy and nodded slightly as she turned towards the elderly woman. "What happened to him?" She asked gesturing towards the bite mark on the man's wrist. "We were walking, and this homeless guy came out and bit my husband. We were taking him back home and were going to call 911 when the car drove by and hit him.." The elderly woman said as Hannah turned and translated for Mandy as best as she could for her, Mandy would be able to understand Hannah's signing while she translated.

@Kuro "Yeah today hasn't been what I was hoping it would be honestly, i'm sure Jeffery will be getting the best care he can get." Isaac said to Kali as he got into his car and started it up and started to follow Kali's directions. "So do you live alone or have a roommate?" Isaac asked as he continued to drive down the street as he turned on the radio trying to see if there was any news on whats going on as a news reporter started to speak up.

"So i'm here with the commander here with the national guard, is there anything you can tell us?" The reporter asked, as a man's voice started to speak up sounded like an older guy. "Due to uptick of violence all around the city we will be working and helping with local police with keeping the peace. We will also be providing aid to anyone who needs it as well to and will be setting up locations shortly and will be giving that info out to the public as soon as possible." They said to the reporter. "Thank you for your time sir." The reporter said as the radio went to an ad break.

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Kaitlyn looked at Waverly as she took a step behind her slightly as the police officer asked if they were hurt or anything which she shook the head slightly. "I'm good." She said to the officer, as the officer turned to look at Waverly noting the behavior but didn't really want to address it. "The kids are safe and those that were injured along with the staff are getting looked at." They said sighing slightly looking at the two ladies. "We are blocking off the area so I suggest you two leave now and go home." They suggested before walking off to the other officers.

Kaitlyn nodded slightly as she turned to look at Waverly. "Do you know where your sister is right now?" She asked wondering if she had decided to go home or something to avoid what was happening which was probably a good idea and avoided what happened at the school. "Though we should go before the cops get annoyed with us." Kaitlyn suggested as she started to make her way off of the school grounds.

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Flynn rolled his eyes slightly at Verity as he climbed into the cramped backseat shoving a few of his friend's work tools to the side. "The shop aint to far really like less than five minutes." He said as he looked at Verity. "I'm Gus by the way." He said extending his hand towards Verity as he turned the truck on and started to drive, turning on the radio as well to as the same news reporter was interviewing the national guard commander.

"So i'm here with the commander here with the national guard, is there anything you can tell us?" The reporter asked, as a man's voice started to speak up sounded like an older guy. "Due to uptick of violence all around the city we will be working and helping with local police with keeping the peace. We will also be providing aid to anyone who needs it as well to and will be setting up locations shortly and will be giving that info out to the public as soon as possible." They said to the reporter. "Thank you for your time sir." Gus shook his head slightly and turned it over to a music station.

"Looks like another bout of some super bug or whatever." Flynn finally said as he shifted slightly in the backseat he really did hate sitting in the back of Gus truck sometimes it was always full of junk. It didn't take to long and eventually they were in the front of the repair shop. "Alrighty ma'am just gonna check in on the mechanic working on it and we should get the invoice for ya and you can be on your way. You are welcome to wait in the waiting room if you want." Gus said as he got out of his truck and started to make it towards the garage where other cars were being worked on leaving Flynn and Verity alone. Flynn got out of the backseat and was getting ready to head towards the waiting area when he heard a sudden scream.

Mandy nodded as Hannah translated. Okay, that made sense. Had the woman been bit? "Ask if she's been bit." She told Hannah and looked at the man checking on him again.

"Hermes, tell the operator what happened. Ask them what we need to do." She was getting scared. Was this what Hermes thought it was? Were they doomed? End times? Mandy wished her parents were there. She pulled out her phone and sent her dad a text.

"Stay inside. Do not go outside for any reason. It is crazy out here. I'll be home ASAP. But there was an accident, we weren't involved, but we saw it. So we are helping."

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Verity shook Gus' hand in return. "Verity," she said in response before they were off. Gus turned on the radio but instead of the Billboard Top 100 it was some news relating to what was going on. Verity closed her eyes at the words 'uptick in violence'. People didn't need much for them to resort to their basic instincts. Every time something happens people run to the nearest Wal-Mart and stock up on water and toilet paper (of all things). She wasn't surprised that whatever was going around was causing people to panic and hurt others.

At the end of the day, we were all but monsters.

She hoped it wasn't some superbug. But what else could it be? Her mind wandered to conspiracy theorists saying the drinking water is tainted or that the government is spreading chemicals in the air to get people to do things. She laughed to herself just as they pulled into the shop.

Verity opened the door and was about to get out when she heard the scream. She looked around and then at Flynn. "You heard that, right?" She got off the truck and, slowly and surely, made her way toward the noise.

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”Uh, uh yeah sorry I'm still here.” Hermes made his way a bit closer to the old man, he didn't do much, but was able to follow his gaze and finger at the very least before Hermes went back into his call. ”He seems to be responsive. The woman with him claims he was attacked by a homeless man, bitten on his hand before they were able to pull away in an attempt to make it home. That's when the truck came out and sideswiped him as we saw.” He kept glancing back towards the two elderly people, waiting for help to come as Hermes waited to see if the man turned aggressive.

He was pacing again, his legs unable to stand still as his body was pumped with adrenaline and fear. ”How, uh, h-how much longer till they arrive? We haven't moved him, but we can't tell if anything more serious is there like internal bleeding or something. So the sooner we can get the help the better.” Liar. Hermes just wanted to leave this situation. The whole reason he hadn't wanted Hannah to leave the safety of Mandy's place, and the more reason why she shouldn't have even attempted to do it alone.

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Waverley found herself relaxing as the police officer stepped away, leaving her and Kaitlyn to their own devices. They might not have been the scariest thing on Waverley's mind, but they certainly didn't comfort her. Waverley stepped back beside Kaitlyn, slipping her hand into her pocket to withdraw her ancient phone. At Kaitlyn's question, she gave a shake of her head, fingers already tapping at the cracked screen.

"No, but hopefully, I'm about to find out," she replied, before bringing the phone up to her ear. She listened to it ring as Kaitlyn began to lead the way away from the school, and the police that currently occupied it. It was fine with her - as far as she was concerned, the farther away from cops she was, the better. She followed close behind, her attention primarily on her phone. It was up in the air whether she'd answer. She wasn't always the best at doing so, but given everything going on, she figured chances might be higher. As the phone rang, she added to Kaitlyn, "Do you have a car?"

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Kali nodded in response. Nevertheless, the nagging feeling in her head refused to go away even with Isaac's assurance. "I hope so. For his sake and ours." Kali replied, turning her attention towards the passenger window as she dwelled on the last few minutes. Thankfully, Isaac seemed to catch on the mood and shifted the conversation elsewhere.

"Actually, yes," Kali spoke as Isaac began to fiddle with the radio. "Liana—you might remember her. Though, she said something about her boss asking her to stay late, so she's probably not home right now."

As Isaac settled on a station, however, the news that came forth was quick to zap the tense atmosphere back to where it had been moments prior. An uptick in violence was certainly putting it lightly, as if they didn't just have to deal with a co-worker attempting to maul other members of the restaurant's staff. "Do you think there'll be any road blocks?" Kali asked Isaac as she shot him a momentary glance. "The message said to shelter in place, so they must be trying to keep the roads clear."

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@Trainerblue192@Kirah Hannah turned towards the elderly woman. "Were you bit or anything by that homeless man?" She asked as the woman shook her head. "No it was just him." She answered Hannah's question as she turned to Mandy and started to sign back her reply saying that she hadn't been bitten. "Just give us the address where you are located and I want you to keep your distance, we'll get one as soon as one is available." The 911 operator said over the phone sounding stressed now Mandy would get a text from her father. "Get back home as soon as you can, do not stop for anything okay?" Was what the text said.

@Kuro "Do you think your roommate is going to be okay with everything that is going on?" Isaac asked her he then decided to try and turn the radio to something else finally a music channel was playing as he turned to look at Kali. "Yeah I would imagine so." Isaac said as he looked up at the sky seeing another blackhawk helicopter flying overhead, which was something he didn't see when COVID was going around. Soon he was on the road that Kali would know where her apartment was located Kali would notice Mandy and Hermes there along with two of her neighbors one of them on the ground injured and the elderly woman talking with a girl.

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"I do but it's at my apartment building I took the subway to get here." Kaitlyn said to Waverly, she wasn't sure how the subways were right now and she honestly didn't want to go down there after experiencing what happened at the school. "It'll be a bit of a walk but I can drive you to wherever you need to go if you want." Kaitlyn offered Waverly.

She noticed another military helicopter flying overhead as she looked at Waverly, she didn't want to stay on the streets for to long either. Waverly wouldn't get any kind of response when she tried to call her sister and instead went straight to voicemail for her, as Kaitlyn continued to move along the sidewalk.

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Flynn looked at Verity and nodded slightly towards her. "Yeah I heard that to.." Flynn said as he looked at Verity he wasn't sure if it was from Gus or someone else but he decided to go and investigate. "I'm going to go and check it out to." Flynn told her as he followed shortly behind her towards the garage.

When he came into the garage he stopped and stared in shock noticing one of Gus' workers on top of what looked like one of his customers taking a bite out of their arm. Gus quickly going over to try and restrain his coworker as Flynn quickly went over to try and help the person bleeding on the ground. "Get them in the waiting room!" Gus yelled at Flynn as he grabbed a wrench and managed to push his worker away from him doing his best to fend him off

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Verity didn't quite know what to expect. Whatever the hell was going down was causing panic so screaming wasn't unusual. This sounded raw though. Real. Not a quick panic but something more viceral.

And that was the right word for it, wasn't it?

Verity walked closer to where she heard the scream, Flynn following shortly behind her. A real gentleman would have sped up but she didn't consider him to be one of those. Finally she got to where the scream originated and saw the scene unfolding. It took every ounce of steel inside of her not to recoil because surely that wasn't a person biting into another, right? But it was and things had to be taken care of quickly.

Verity glanced around, eyes landing on some wrenches and other car repair tools. Verity grabbed a tire iron and stood near Gus, facing the crazed worker. "You heard the man, get him elsewhere." It was more for protection than anything, but given the fact the worker took bits off an actual person she wasn't about to take her chances.

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Hermès gave the address to the operator, taking the nearest house number that they were in front of as well as the street they managed to be at. They needed to stay back, to make sure the old man couldn't turn and bite them as well like the homeless man had done to him. But how could they do that without seeming like they were abandoning the man, or the couple. He didn't want to alarm them all, but the threat was real clearly. Hermès tapped his cousins shoulder just before he started to sign to her, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear.

They said we need to keep our distance from him, in the event that he's contagious from the bite. Should probably stay back a bit more. Once he finished signing, he looked towards Hannah and the Old lady. ”They said we should all stay back away from him, to give him space and air so that when they arrive they can act quickly. We should probably step away for now ok?”

"Not entirely sure where it is I'm actually going, yet - but hopefully I'll figure out where Riley is, and we can swing by to pick her up," Waverley replied, phone still pressed to her ear. Waverley winced as the voicemail began to play. She waited patiently for it to reach its end, walking alongside Kaitlyn. As she did, something caught her eye - a semi-familiar grip sticking out from a trashcan. As they passed, she grabbed it, lifting it into the air: a glock, shoved carelessly into a trashcan. She glanced back to the school, still relatively close behind them, then to Kaitlyn with a questioning look, as if to ask the question, 'what kind of place are y'all running here.' Before she could linger too long on the thought, the tone pulled her attention back to the voicemail.

"Hey, Riley, it's Waves. Something's happening. I think we should meet up, get outta town..." Waverley paused for a moment after saying this, chewing the inside of her cheek as she deliberated something. Eventually she huffed, adding, "We can't be worried about mom. She's a cop - we'll just have to hope she can find her own way out." Waverley wasn't at all close with her mother, but she tried to tell herself that had nothing to do with her prioritizing Riley's safety over that of the woman who'd raised the both of them. "Just call me back when you get this. I'll find you."

With that, Waverley hung up, slipping her phone - and the handgun - into her pocket. She wasn't crazy about guns, but she had to at least keep it until they could safely dispose of it.

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"I don't know, Isaac," Kali replied, "and that has me worried. I just hope she's fine right now."

As Isaac pulled onto the road Kali lived on, her heart sank at the sight that she saw. One of her neighbors, the elderly gentleman from next door, had been badly injured; his body clearly broken from some impact. By God, was he even still alive? Worried sick, Kali unbuckled herself from her seat and hopped out the moment Isaac had parked the car. She needed to know he was okay (or rather, still alive, given his injuries).

Racing across the street, Kali made her way to the scene. She needed to talk to someone; someone here had to have seen what happened. Yet before she could ask, a large, round object had sprung from the shadows, beaming her in the head. What had hit her? Where had it came from? These were the questions she asked herself as she stumbled, taken off-guard by the sudden impact.

Thankfully, it didn't take Kali long to find out. Her eyes centered onto a ball, now rolling across the ground in front of her. Picking the ball up from the ground, Kali turned around, hoping to find the owner only to find a group of nearby kids hanging around the neighborhood block. "Go on, get lost!" Kali shouted at them, clearly angry. Her grip on the ball tightened before she chucked it into the air, hoping to throw it far away so that the kids wouldn't pester them again. Being hit in the head was one thing, but this was an active accident scene, not some playground for them to fool around at. "Don't you see that someone's been hurt? Go play somewhere else!"

Mandy read the message from her father, her stomach twisted a little. "We will as soon as we can. There was a small situation. We are fine, but a man is hurt and we are waiting for medical personnel to arrive." She texted back to him. Her cousin's tap drew her attention and her stomach twisted more. She didn't want to, but she took a step away from the man.

A small thing of appreciation and pride welled in her heart as she realized her cousin had told her first. He spoke to the others, and the few words she caught on his lips were the same as the ones he had told her. It was such a small thing. But it was rare. Normally in mixed groups the hearing people learned about things first. She loved her cousin a little more for that small gesture. He may not even realize what he had done, and for that she loved him even more.

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@Trainerblue192@Kirah@Kuro The kids that accidentally threw the ball looked at Kali with an alarmed look. "Sorry!" They yelled as they grabbed the ball and quickly ran back to their backyard to play. "I'm sure she is okay." Isaac said looking at Kali and smile slightly towards her reassuringly Kali would recognize Hannah as one of her neighbors. Mandy would get another text from her father from her phone. "Okay, please be safe." Was what the text would say a pigeon would suddenly swoop down and start to flap it's wings right in Mandy's face trying to peck at her with its beak before flying off.

"Someone should be there in about ten minutes or so but please stay on the line." The operator instructed Hermes on the line. Hermes in the corner of his eye would see Finley in the distance another one of his crushes that was in the same apartment building as Hannah and Kali were. It looked like he had a serious bite wound on his shoulder as he shambled over towards the group but mostly focused on Hermes right now.

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Kaitlyn looked at Waverly and gave her a slight shrug, she didn't know anything about it, either it was a criminal who had the gun and tried to hide it from a crime scene she wasn't entirely sure at all really. "We can get my car at my apartment and we can go from there then and it'll be safer there." She suggested as she started to walk down the street knowing where to walk from the school to her apartment building.

She noticed a wave of police vehicles driving past them as they drove off to another scene somewhere else, the gun Waverly found wouldn't fit in her pocket really only putting it in the waistband of her pants would really work. It took awhile but eventually they would make it to Kaitlyn's apartment building as she pulled out her keys and put them into the door to get into the building itself. "Follow me we have to stop and get something in my apartment first." She said as she held the door open for Waverly as she headed over towards the elevator where her apartment number was on the fifth floor.

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Gus was holding off his crazed employee who was now trying to take a bite out of him, luckily he was holding his own, before it suddenly turned it's attention directly towards Verity now. It started to shamble it's way towards her, and using its full body weight it would knock Verity down to the ground as it started to try and take a bite at her again. Gus quickly went to his customer who had been attacked and went to help them get into the waiting room of his shop. Flynn turned his attention towards the zombie who he didn't recognize really other than he worked for his friend.

Flynn looked around and found a nearby tire iron and grabbed it off of the nearby tool rack nearby and quickly charged forward taking a swing at the zombified man's skull knocking it off of Verity as he took another swing again cracking the dead man's skull killing the zombie. A bit of blood was covering his face as he turned to Verity and made his way over towards her offering his hand to help her up. "Are you okay?" He asked her.