---

---

@Trainerblue192@Kirah The traffic would still be pretty congested but they would be able to make progress down the road now, Hermes would be able to see several more Blackhawks flying overhead. Mandy would see a few MRAPs as well as a few APC's driving through several intersections being escorted by a number of Humvees to the military and national guard had started to arrive. Mandy and Hermes would be able to make it back to Mandy's home now to the front door was closed and locked.

@Carlyle Hannah had gone to her parents apartment she was living in the apartment across from Gladys' she closed and locked the door, Isaac made his way into Gladys' apartment as well to. "Do you have a tv remote somewhere?" Isaac asked the elderly woman as she turned to look at him and nodded. "It's on the bookshelf over there." Gladys said to him, Isaac nodded as he went over and grabbed the remote he turned the tv on to the news station. Gladys took one of the cookies and took a bite out of it as she turned to Kali she shook her head slightly. "I haven't honestly." She said, on the news they were in the middle of a broadcast. "The military have now just arrived in the city and have established a location in Central Park, we'll report more on the story as it develops." The new anchor said as it went to a commercial break.

---

---

---

---

Flynn quickly backed up he grabbed the tire iron that he had again in his hand just in case Gus quickly backed up as well to. "What the fuck she was dead man!" Gus yelled loudly as he backed up towards a desk, Verity would be able to find a tool box nearby containing a set of screwdrivers, hammers, and nails. The zombie had it's cloudy looking eyes set on Gus and started to shamble it's way towards him, Gus started to freak out as he grabbed the keyboard of the computer and tried to hit the zombie with it. "Get away!" Gus yelled, Flynn didnt want to see his friend get hurt and he ran forward kicking the zombie in the legs causing it to tumble to the ground.

Flynn turned to Verity getting an idea. "I'll lure it out into the garage itself, just hold the door open and close it right away when I get back." Flynn suggested, the zombie slowly started to shamble back to it's legs again letting out a growling sound it's attention now focused on Flynn as he made his way towards the door hitting the tire iron on several things to keep it's attention on him. "Over here!" Flynn yelled as he slowly made his way into the garage floor itself. Once the zombie was a good ways in Flynn would kick the zombie in the legs again and made a beeline towards the offices and waiting area again.

---

---

---

---

"Yeah maybe, the few we encountered had bites in areas where you'd bleed out from the neck from and they were still walking." Kaitlyn said as she made her way back into the car and looked back at Juniper. "But hurry up if your getting anything I want to get out of here before that thing has its attention back on us." Kaitlyn suggested to Juniper as she looked at Waverly and pulled out her phone handing it to her and turning on the GPS app on it.

"Here put in the address." She suggested as she looked over at the zombie it's attention was still luckily on the cybertruck with it's alarm still blarring very loud. "Once he's in we can get out of here." Kaitlyn said as she turned the car on waiting for Juniper to get into her car.

---

---

Sure enough their fears were recognized when the woman, clearly dead, began moving around. Verity glanced at the toolbox and grabbed a hammer, not wanting to be without protection this time. Verity looked at Gus as the man yelled in fear. Now was not the time to panic.

Flynn's idea was stupid, but what choice did they have other than attacking her again? Verity nodded and waited as Flynn baited the woman outside. Verity ran to the door and waited. As Flynn ran back, Verity clutched the hammer tighter. As soon as Flynn was inside, Verity would slam the door shut and lock it.

She hoped the dead woman was to dumb to know how to unlock a door.

Mandy sighed relieved when she pulled into the driveway. She grabbed the cat carrier backpack, wishing she had left the cat at home, but glad that she knew it was safe.

At the door, she double-checked her car was locked when Hermes got out and then unlocked the house door. She waved Hermes in and locked it behind him. She flashed the hall light switch several times—her way of shouting that she was home for her parents. They would either be in the living room or kitchen. She headed to the kitchen first.

In the kitchen, she scrubbed her hands for almost two minutes. Mentally she went over what they needed to have on hand. They'd need bug-out bags packed and ready. She wasn't the type that thought about that a lot, but she knew it was something to pack. They had an emergency bin for natural disasters and terrorism.

Mandy didn't remember 2001, but she knew that her dad had spent some time after making sure they'd have something. There was no radio. That relied on hearing and no one in the house could. She frowned and dried her hands. Then pulled out a yellow memo pad and wrote: Bug out bag. She looked at her cousin.

"What do we need to pack?" She didn't know how long they would be able to use the car. With traffic, it was already making it impossible. Leaving the city would be nearly impossible soon, at least via a car.

---

---

Kali was disappointed with Gladys' response, and simply nodded back at her neighbor. She had expected her reply, but a part of Kali had hoped that Gladys would've said otherwise. The city was falling into chaos, and not knowing whether Liana was safe or not began to drive a pit in her stomach. Pulling out her phone from her purse, Kali pushed a few buttons and opened the contact app. "I'm going to try to see if I can get a hold of her. Hopefully the lines are still working."

Waiting with abated breath, Kali listened for the dial tone to go through. "C'mon, Liana, pick up the phone." She uttered to herself as the phone rang, knowing the likelihood of the call getting through was likely slim if not impossible. To her surprise, however, Liana—or someone else—had picked up on the other end of the line. A deluge of worriedness soon poured out of her mouth, asking a million questions from the get-go.

"Liana? Are you okay? Where are you right now?" Kali rapidly asked. "No one bit you, right?"

---

---

---

---

Everything felt so surreal. The Blackhawks, the Vehicles, the traffic was about the only normal bit of it that he'd seen. It felt like an eternity in the car, waiting and wading through a slug of cars until they'd finally made it to Mandy's place. The front door was locked, and a part of him was desperately trying to recall if they had locked it or not when they left. Did something happen? Were his aunt and uncle ok? He quickly stepped into the apartment behind Mandy, following her as she flickered lights and they began to search for the family. He knew they were deaf, that calling out wasn't something they'd do nor having a radio play like back at his place. But given everything that had happened, the silence was eerie.

Hermes began to sign to his cousin, trying to think of what to get. ”I have some supplies at my place. Ready made kits with bandages and other things to help survive.” Hed debated in letting her know one of those items was a gun, but he didn't want her to worry or panic on as to why he had it. ”I'd offer a ride on my Vespa but it's back at school. And…we don't all fit on it. But it's easier to navigate traffic with it.”

---

---

Location: NYC, Apartment Garage
Skills: N/A

Juniper stared at her for a few moments. How could she not want to know? How could she face horrors like this and not want to analyze them? How else were they supposed to survive? They needed to know everything, and she didn't even want to call it what it was? He could feel all the thoughts clawing at his brain again when she kept speaking.

"Don't--don't you want to--no, yeah that's... fair, actually." Juniper said. Maybe she was right. He got into the backseat of the car, carefully taking off his backpack and sitting it in his lap, looking up at the two girls. "Thank you, again," He said, hoping he hadn't made it too awkward by mentioning the zombies. His brain was still replaying what the stumbledly fellow had been doing, looking for signs of what he was taught about zombies. He kept trying to shut down the thoughts. They kept returning. He buckled up and gave a thumbs up to the one who was driving to let her know he was ready, taking one last look back at his apartment, wondering about life in the world to come.

---

---

As soon as this new stranger got into the car, Waverley followed suit - and this time, she got to stay in the car. She immediately propped her foot onto the dashboard in what seemed to be her natural passenger seat position. She took Kaitlyn's phone as it was offered to her, flicking her way over to her maps app. Her fingers tapped on the screen for a few seconds, before the GPS' automated voice came on over the speakers, announcing its destination as, Beyond the Veil.

"Here's the other thing," Waverley began as soon as they were all in the car. "If we decide they're zombies, we're pretty much saying that at some point, we're going to have to kill them. So, we need to be one hundred percent sure. But, Kaitlyn brings up a good point: a lot of them seem like they'd be dead if they weren't zombies, so..." Waverley pulled her backpack up from the ground, unzipping it. She pulled out a hunk of metal the size of a short sword - it appeared to be the armrest, unscrewed and stolen from a park bench by some vandal. Some punkish, purple-haired vandal, most likely. "If we do need to kill some zombies, I have this." Then, offhandedly, she added, "Oh, and the handgun in my pants."