Outbreak, Part One: From the Beginning

Following up behind Mary, he "killed" the zombie as it fell away from her. He jump and skipped through the zombies. He was near enough to Mary to look out for her.

Mary heard Alex's voice and responded with. "Inside" She moved cautiously around and searched for the keys. Usually they where in a jar, inside his drinks cupboard. It was far too big to be called a cabinet. The car keys where gone, along with the car and every single bottle.
Even the sawn off that her father kept in there.
"Well... Bugger us" She muttered, this meant one of two things either someone had come into the house and taken the car, drinks and weapon. Or... Her father had done all of those things.

Matthew did his best to avoid the things as they ran for... somewhere. Why was he following them again? Being with other people was better then off somewhere alone. He want to ask what they were doing here but he knew better. Keeping close to the girl, he followed her into the house. The sight inside made his stomach lurch. He'd seen too much gore today as it is...

"Bugger us? What do you mean bugger us?" I demanded as I slammed the door closed behind me, and not daring to move.

"No keys if the keys aren't there..." Mary trailed off letting her sentence remain unfinished. She did not want to say it but their glorious plan had failed.
Still, her father had been a man fond of his drink, they could use them to make some weapons. Though they alone would not solve the problem, they needed to think up another plan.

"Fuck!" I screamed, especially since there was a pounding on the door and the things outside tried to force their way in. I couldn't hold out for long, not with my ankle and not with how tired I already felt. Looking at the new guys, I said "Help me or we all die!"

"Anyone got a plan?" Mary called out desperately as she searched through kitchen draws for something. She emptied them out muttering to herself. "Where is it? Where is it?" Suddenly she reached into a draw and pulled out a tiny pistol, slightly bigger than her hand. It was one of the personal defence pistols designed to go into a handbag. Her mother's. She hated guns but it had been a gift from the terrible man she chose to marry.
Any who Mary was secretly grateful that her mother disliked guns so chose to leave it, even though it would mean she was defenceless today.
"Okay guys any of you know how to shoot it?"

"Well that's not a hard choice friend." Matthew rushed over and helped push back against the door. "Now what do we do?" The fight for the door was actually kinda hard. Numbers must be their strong suit. 'Do we have anything to wedge against the door? Like a chair or something?" Matthew immediately felt sick (sicker then before) when the gun was brought out. "N-no. Don't look at me."

Looking from Mary to the gun, I shook my head and said "Never fired a gun in my life Mary. But worth a shot.....as soon as we block the door!" As if the place emphasis on that, the door shuddered again, violently. "Dammit, we need a bookcase or something heavy in front of this!"

Mary kept hold of the pistol and rushed to find something to hold the block the door. She returned with a solitary chair, struggling to carry it as she was exhausted.
There where other more suitable things to hold the door with... But alone she could not move the table or the bookshelf.

I moved out of the way a bit, still keeping pressure on the door though my arm was getting tired. But we had to get something in front of the door, and the chair was the best we had. "Do it now!" I shouted in fear.

He moved to the table and began to push it towards the door. He would sandwich Alex if he stayed standing. But if he slid down the door, he might be able to go under the table as he blocked it.

I saw the table coming, and it was too wide for me to try and get out of the way in time. So I ducked, and went under the table as it moved over me and slammed into the door. We would need to either push something heavier in the way of the table, or flip it onto its side and get some long nails to board up the place......neither of which seemed like an option really. "Okay, that buys us some time...but we need to get somewhere safe, now," I panted as I rose, but that was a struggle. Simply put, I was past my limit, the running from earlier, and the sprained ankle too boot. It was a miracle I was still going, but even that was coming to an end as I sagged against the wall.

He pointed up. Then put a single finger to his lips, like how you would shush a loud child.

Getting the idea, I quieted down as I whispered "Well, you got any ideas on where to go?" Honestly, anywhere would be better than stuck in a corner.

Matthew did the same and went under. He stood up and looked around in a forced, calm manner. He tried to think. "Uh, make a run for it out back again? And does anyone know how to hotwire a car?" Then he saw the other guy, the one who talked, like he was out of breath. More then the rest of them. "Dude you alright? Need some water or something?"

"Up would lead to my room and my parents' room" Mary explained to them all. But retreating up would only leave them trapped when the monsters broke in. It wasn't a good idea unless... "That's it!" She said excitedly before explaining. "We go into the attic and hide up there" She then noticed the state of Alex. "You okay?" Mary did not know if they would have time to rest so he could catch his breath.

"Not really," I said quietly, as the pounding on the door continued. There was more sound from one of the rooms, and it became clear the things outside were now trying to get in through the windows. "But I can make it.....not much choice otherwise, right?" I asked her, a small, nervous grin on my face. It was no doubt masked by the pained expression I wore.

"We should move and quickly before those things get in" Mary responded her voice filled with urgency. Alex would need to get moving if he did not want to end up being eaten, same with all of them. Her house wasn't a fortress, those things got in before they could easily do so again.
"Follow me" She ordered the guys before heading up the stairs.

I let both the mute and the new guy go ahead of me. Look I was the slowest, essentially crippled. If I went up first, I'd slow them down since I'd be so slow going up, and time wasted was time the zombies could use to catch us. Following Mary upstairs, I checked behind me and saw that one of the windows was now broken, a hand moving about through the broken glass.

Matthew went first and so he looked for the attic door. It wasn't hard to spot, it being the only door on the ceiling. He reached up and yanked on the string. The door came down and the ladder unfolded. "Alright, everyone up!"

"You three first," I said, looking at everyone there.

Mary led the way up, ladies first, it's her house and she has a gun. Besides she could cover them from the hatch if need be before they pulled the ladder up.

Standing in the hall next to the drop-down stairs, I checked back down the actual staircase and saw that one of the zombies had crawled in from the broken window, and now another was broken and soon allowing another zombie inside. Turning back quietly and looking at the other two guys, I said in a quiet voice "Up, now."

Shaking his head, he pushes Alex towards the ladder.

"No, I'm going to take too long," I whispered, gesturing at my foot. Looking at the other guy, who I was pretty sure could speak, I gestured at him to go up.

"For God sake guys get your fat asses up here before I come down there and kick them!" Mary yelled from up top.

Sadly, Mary's shouting.....was what drew the zombies up the stairs and towards us. "Fuck," I swore, and started scrambling up the ladder as fast as I could.....which really was one foot per rung, since my sprained ankle hung behind me, limply. It wasn't numb or anything, just didn't seem like a good idea to put pressure on it. Getting over the edge of the entrance and into the attic, I looked back and waited to see what happened to the others.

He follows up the ladder. He then looks about the attic.

Mary fumbled with the pistol, she remembered to knock the safety off and hastily fired off a shot at the first zombie up the stairs. "Holy Moly!!" The round punch into it's left shoulder causing it to spin around and fall over, tripping up the other zombies on the stairs, That would buy them some time.

Looking down at the last guy, I simply shouted "Get your ass up here now!" That shot from Mary bought us, and the lone guy, some time. But it would be much better if he could just get his ass up here and we could close the attic door.

Matthew just about shit his pants when the gunshot went off. He practically flew up the stairs and landed in the attic somewhere. "C-close it!" He shouted.

Pulling the attic door closed, we were sealed in now. The string was pulled up with us, to make sure the zombies couldn't try anything....if they were smart enough to anyway. Sitting back on my ass, I breathed in despite some of the dust in the air, and said "That......that was close."

"Holy Moly" Mary muttered moving cautiously about the attic. The room was filled with all manner of junk and trash, cardboard boxes filled with god knows what. Junk and priceless treasures all in one place.
"So welcome to the Attic find space to relax if you can"

Nodding at Mary, I tried getting up.....but my body had had it, and standing was out of the question. Instead, all I could manage was to crawl to a free space, my back against the wall, and sat down against it. "How long......how long should we stay here?" I asked.

Matthew tried not to breathe in too deeply, it dustier then a library in here. He laid down where he was at, glad he was safe at moment.

Mary made her way over to a pile of boxes, moving a couple from the top of the pile before finding one that said in black lettering. Spare bedding. Fortunately it happened to not be closed with tape so it was easy to open.
"I'd say we wait until tomorrow morning before trying again to get out of this place" She suggested, taking out a blanket and giving it a shake before offering it to Alex.
"Help yourself to anything guys I doubt my parents will be able to complain about it" The room was filled with all sorts of junk, some it might be useful as clothing, bedding, survival equipment or even makeshift weapons.

There was a lot of noise coming from below. The zombies had gotten back up the stairs, moving through the hall and rooms beneath us. I did my best to quiet my breathing, though it's not like their knowing our location would help. They couldn't get up here after all......until a terrifying thought creeped into my mind: what was going to happen, when we needed to go down, and they were still bunched up there? I got derailed from my line of thought, when Mary came to me, offering a blanket. Looking at her, I gratefully took it though I wasn't exactly cold. It would make for a softer spot to sit though, if needed. "I'm good with what I've got thanks," I whispered to her.

"Can't hurt to look though right?" She replied with a shrug as she walked away. "I have no idea what my parents stashed in here" Mary doubted that there would be anything good that would make them perfectly safe from the horrors below them.
"Oh welcome to my house by the way"

"Hell of a welcome," I joked. "Just hope those things clear out below, or we're all going to be in trouble." As if the mood wasn't grim enough, the words seemed to add yet another layer. "Think there's an old radio in there?" I asked Mary.

He sits and he waits, unmoving.

Matthew stood up as best he could, this was an attic after all, and started rummaging through the boxes. He had a couple things in mind that he was looking for. A leather jacket or jumpsuit of some sort, anything thick. Gloves is a must. Possibly a helmet. He was looking to protect himself from these things so also meant he was looking for weapons. Anything that might come of use.

"Not that I know of" She replied, picking up another blanket flinging it over her right shoulder while she searched for something else.
At least for the moment they where safe, the monsters could not reach them in here. Not yet anyway. For the moment the attic happened to be a a place where they could rest, recover and plan. Yet where would they intend to go? For all they know the entire world could be like this? They might be the last humans on the planet? Which would mean humanity was doomed to extinction whether they survived or not.

"Well last I checked cell's don't work," I said. Checking my watch, I read the time as 11:50. It had only been an hour since the school, but without a way to tell if it started near the school or had just reached it.....it was hard to tell. One thing that made me think it started either at the school or further from the center of the city, was the lack of phone calls. I mean, our parents would have called us if it reached them first right? Course I could be overthinking this.

"Probably the power grid going down" Mary responded as she sat down on an old chair. The present situation was far from ideal but at least they where reasonably safe... Assuming the three guys she happened to be with where good company. So far they had proven themselves to be invaluable. However it would be foolish for them to turn hostile to her, since they relied on each other to survive. But could they manage to do more than just survive? Would they even manage to just survive?

"Well, that certainly sucks," I chuckled. "Means we have no air conditioning." granted, an active A/C unit would probably spread the stench of the zombies around, so not much of a loss really.

Unfortunately he didn't find any gloves, jacket or jumpsuit. Or anything that could protect him more then what he was already wearing. Matthew was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He wasn't exactly prepared for the Apocalypse. "I'd kill for some right now, stuffy as I'll get out in here." As he realized his wording, considering what was going on, he corrected himself. "N-not literally. I just meant it's hot up here." He swallowed nervously. Guess his head hasn't quite wrapped itself around the fact the world has changed in the last hour.

Chuckling a little, I looked at the guy and said "So, what's your name?"

"Oh uh. M-Matthew. Matthew Conners. Or just Matt as everyone... everyone used to call me. Y-you?" Matthew didn't want to admit it but he had a bit of a stuttering problem.

"Alex Dunn," I responded. "Can you believe this shit?" I asked, though in a way it was rhetorical.