Outbreak, Part One: From the Beginning

"W-Well... No. I-I keep expecting to wake up any minute now. Or e-even some guy in a suit to c-come say I'm in a government experiment. E-either one would be fine with me." He laughed half-heartedly. It was too crazy to be true, right?

"Well I'd like to pinch myself and wake up," I said to Matthew, "but if this were a dream I'd say the pain of twisting my ankle would have woken me up by now." Sighing, I pressed against the wall, the blanket coming up over me a little. "So uh....don't suppose anyone here knows how to tell how bad my ankle is, would they?"

"What's wrong with your ankle?" Matthew laid back down and used his arms as pillows. "And no, I have wouldn't have the s-slightest clue. I r-really only paid attention in history and workshop. S-So unless you were a birdhouse from the past..."

"Sprained it when I fell down a fence," I explained. "Most I know about these things, is that there's different types of spraining but not how to tell what type."

Mary had settled down on the a pile of several blankets. She intended only to rest for a few moments but soon she drifted off to a fitful sleep, before waking with a start. Mary sat up straight suddenly, not recognising where she happened to be.
She calmed down after a few moments, everything rushing back to her. Sadly Mary had yet to wake up fully from this nightmare of the real world. If only she could find herself back in her own bed and this was nothing more than a terrible nightmare, a dream, a fantasy created by too many scary movies.
It was not to be.

"Well, from the one time I sprained mine I was a-able to walk it off a few minutes later. B-But like you said there's different types." Matthew didn't look at Alex when he spoke. But he did look at the girl when she woke up suddenly. Honestly, she scared him when she did. "Uh... you o-okay?"

Mary thought about the question for a moment, she shook her head as she hugged her legs to her chest. Who honestly could say they where okay with this? Maybe those end of the world prep guys and girls could but Mary couldn't. Not with people eating people. Madness, her home was invaded by those things and here she was hiding in the attic. How had it come to this?

He sat in silence. His mind was not as it should be. No words came to mind or to mouth.Thoughts lay in pieces, except for survival.

"Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be able to walk faster," I said to Matthew. Looking at Mary, I crawled over, shuffling over the floor with my leg behind me, and came to rest in front of her on her left. I was within reach to put my hand on her shoulder, and give a reassuring look. "We're going to survive. All of us," I said, looking from Mary, to Matthew and the silent guy. "We've got two advantages over these things: we're smarter, and we can use weapons. Be a shame not to exploit that fact."

Mary sat in silence content to remain gloomy. His words reached her she just did not believe them. How could any of them be sure that they where still alive? After all this would living be something that she truly wanted? A world overrun by monsters that where not just created by the imagination, who would want to survive in a world like that?
"I hope that your right" She whispered eventually.

"Well we'll never know if I'm wrong if we don't try," I said to Mary. "All I know is that I'm not staying up here forever. Minute my ankle is better, I'm out and looking for my family."

Mary sighed but did not reply, she could not find the words.

Moving away, I tried standing up, though like I said before I was at my limits. Still, I managed to haul myself up to peek out a window in the attic. The street outside was.....well, crowded. There were still a lot of zombies, but they were starting to move away, even the ones from inside the house. Odds were that without anything to chew on, they were looking for someone else, and that meant somewhere else. "Well.....looks like they're moving. Not sure where, but it looks like they got bored with the suburbs.....them and everyone else."

"Good." Matthew stated. He wasn't too fond of being a sitting duck just barely out reach. "S-so, where's your family? O-Or where would they be?" The question was to no-one in particular. He wanted a general idea of where he was going next. Whoever's family they were gonna visit anyway, unless they split up. Though he didn't like that idea too much.

"My parents would be at work, over in the city," I said. "I just......wish I could reach them."

"I wish we could too but... We have to get out of the city" Mary said though her voice was sad, heavy with weariness and defeated.

"That......would be the best idea," I said. "But what direction do we go in? We could run, but into a slaughter." Grimly, I looked back at them all and said "at the very least, we need an idea of what path to take for the run. And that means finding police, army if they're here. If they're not setting up safe zones, then they're evacuating us."

"W-Well." Matthew started. "We need a radio, t-that should be our first priority. Figure out what they're doing t-then act on that." He never moved from his position. He was tired as hell even if it didn't show that well.

He closes his eyes. Listening to the words of the other three in the attic.

"Well for now, the most we can do is plan," I said to Matthew. "Police cars would be our best bet but not like I know where to find one. They're could be some in the area, if the drivers were......well, if they had to leave the cars behind." I didn't want to say what I meant to--that if the cars were there, then the drivers must be dead.

"But that's stuff we can do later or tomorrow. It's not late but.....I don't see us getting out of here anytime soon, at least not me anyway. We should get some rest, a few hours at least."

"We survived one day... I guess we could make it through another day" Mary whispered quietly as she flattened down the blanket and slung one haphazardly over her shoulder.
She rested her head on her hand and said "Well... It took the end of the world to be able to have guy friends over for a sleep over" She chuckled dryly, it was clear that she was exhausted, unhappy and trying to put on a brave face to it all.
She lay her head on the ground and closed her eyes. "See you all in a couple of hours"

"Yeah...see you in a few hours," was all I could say. To be frank, I wasn't thrilled about falling asleep. With Mary in the same house, I was....more or less fine with, especially since I was in a different room. Matthew looked to be too nervous to try anything successfully, though that may have been a convincing act. The one that had me worried the most, was the silent one. Hell, why else would there be phrases like 'watch out for the quiet ones,' or 'it's always the quiet ones'? Maybe I was being too judgmental but the guy unnerved me with the silence.

So that said, I didn't fall asleep so much as keep my back to the wall, the blanket Mary gave me draped over me, and my bokken in reach while I made damn sure to keep both guys in sight. If not my sake.....then at least for Mary's.

Matthew never moved, insisting on the arms-for-pillows position. He lay near the door, eyes at the ceiling. He wasn't going to sleep well tonight. Lucky if he did get any. Instead he contemplated over his next move. Thought about whether or not he should stay with these people. Take that wooden sword of Alex's and make a run for it. But that would be stupid, really stupid. And to be honest he couldn't even do it. He was too scared to fight those things alone. So he just laid there and tried to rest.

Despite my reservations about it, I fell asleep for a few hours. My dreams were......not pleasant, at all. They were filled with images of bloody faces and gaping, toothy mouths with bits of flesh stuck between teeth. I kept running but they were everywhere and boxing me in. Before I knew it a dozen hands grabbed me, clawed fingers ripping into my skin and teeth tearing open my throat, a geyser of blood erup--

"AHHH!" I screamed, waking up with a start, sweat coating my skin, heart hammering as I was hyperventilating. God, I could still feel it, nails and teeth biting and tearing at my skin. Calming down, I looked around, trying to see where everyone else was. But I couldn't see them, which had me worried. "Mary?" I called out. "Matthew?" I tried. No answer from either, until there was a sound, a box being pushed over and I looked to see to my utter horror that Mary stood there......only she wasn't the same. Her right cheek was missing and it left her teeth exposed, blood dripping down her jaw and neck while her eyes stared at me, cold and lifeless. More chunks of flesh had been ripped from her, and at her side I also saw Matthew, equally as dead with his shirt torn open and showing how little flesh he had left on his chest, ribs clearly shone. Finally, there was the silent kid, his throat ripped out and his mouth curled in a snarl. All three lunged at me, I was too scared to even think of moving, and they started to rip me apart as for the final time I awoke from my nightmare.

It was rather loud, my awakening, as I flung off my blanket and started screaming. Like in the dream, my body was just covered in sweat and it soaked through my clothes, my heart was beating so fast it felt like a single constant pressure. My hand came up and clamped over my mouth, stifling each scream until they died down. God help me, it all felt so real.......and to my horror I realized that it very much could be real. After all, that was the world we lived in now? How long before one of them turned and tried to kill me? Or I them? My stomach was empty but had it been full I was certain I'd have thrown up then and there. I was shaking, curled against the wall, arms wrapped around my legs to keep them close as I dreaded the thought of my screams blowing our cover.

Mary woke with a start as someone screamed loudly. She uncurled herself from her makeshift bed, blanket draped around her like some form of soft cloak. She trembled slightly, perhaps from fear but she tried to force herself to believe it was cold.
"Everyone okay?" She called out quietly, her voice more a frightened squeak rather than a confident, unshakable voice which she initially hoped it would be. Mary wanted to move to investigate the sound of the screaming yet fear kept her rooted to the spot, uncertain, afraid and unwilling to move at the present. Below the floor the shuffling and moaning of the monsters could be heard, they still had not left the house, almost like they knew the kids where hiding up here.

Still shaking from my nightmare, I managed to uncurl and slowly move into sight of Mary. "Sorry," I mumbled quietly. "Had a.....had a bad nightmare."

"It's okay... You just made me jump." She whispered in a hush voice, trying not to sound too much like a frightened little girl. "Hold me." Mary said suddenly, her eyes pleading, frightened.

Silent and still for a few precious heartbeats, I slowly crawled over to her, sitting next to her as I wrapped my arm over her shoulder. "Sorry....didn't mean to make you jump," I murmured softly.

Mary wrapped her arms around him and held him close. Feeling the warmth of his body seep into her own. She remained silent, just feeling glad to be alive and wanting to feel that she was still alive, not cold or dead.

A part of me kinda liked this. I mean come on, at the end of the day, despite all the zombies and death.....I was a guy. A teenage guy at that, still going through puberty and having trouble going a few minutes without girls dominating my mind. So to have Mary hug me like this.....it was really nice. Nothing happened don't get me wrong, but it was a nice feeling atop the added comfort behind the hug.

"We should probably leave early in the morning," I whispered. "When they're gone and we still have some extra darkness to cover us."

"And go where?" Mary inquired wondering if it was perhaps wiser to stay put as they where reasonably safe. They could not just go off and hope for something, they had to know for certain otherwise they would be taking pointless, needless risks.

"Outside the city?" I suggested to her, never letting go. "These things....they'll be staying here, maybe, since there's all the people here. So we leave." The idea sounded good as he said it. "Just....just need to leave the city and find somewhere safe on the outside."

"I don't think that there will be anywhere that is safe." She whispered sadly. "I guess all we can do is try to survive and hope that someone out there will rescue us, the army maybe."

"Yeah," I whispered, going quiet then. In the silence, the faint sounds of the world going mad creeped their way in to our attic. Echoing sirens of emergency vehicles, dying or panicked screams of survivors......and the ever constant cacophony of their sounds. Snarls, growls, moans and gurgles. As they moved through the house below, stumbling into things and knocking them over, I thought on Mary's words, on how we would have to survive.

I had seen plenty of zombie movies and shows, so a chilling thought passed through me: what would have to do, to survive?

Early morning came as sleep overtook us. I found myself still holding onto her when I awoke, gently untangling myself so I wouldn't wake her. Below the house was quiet.....a chance to leave I wonder. As gently as I had untangled myself, I shook Mary awake, or tried to at least. There was still the other guy to deal with, but I'd get to him when I checked on Mary.

Mary woke up slowly at first, then with a start she looked around wildly as if she did not recognise where she was. Then, realisation dawned on her, that this was not a terrible nightmare, it happened to be real a nightmare which only death would be the escape from.

When she began moving so quickly I worried that Mary may freak out, make a noise. So I gently put a hand on her shoulder, easing her movements as I quietly whispered "Easy there Mary, it's okay. You're safe here." For the next few minutes anyway before we'd have to bolt. I looked to our guest--That's you Nick--and said "Hey, you awake? We need to get moving."

Mary let out a quiet sigh but said nothing. She didn't exactly want to move but they all had little choice. Getting out of the city would probably be their best hope for survival.

"Hey buddy, you awake?" I said again, moving over to the guy. I wasn't sure if I'd get an immediate response from him or not, so I left the opportunity for him to say something open, moving back over to Mary. "So," I murmured, "guess it's a good thing you don't open up with right cross when you wake up...."

"Oh sometimes I do... But with killer creatures in my house I guess there are more important things than being woken up to worry about." She replied with a slim smile. It might have been a poor joke.

"Well good this isn't one of those times," I murmured, attempting a smile myself. Sitting back against a box, I sighed and made an attempt to rub the bags out from under my eyes. "Okay....okay so we give it a few minutes, actually wake up.....then we make a break for it." It wasn't really much of a plan. But then again it's not like a plan for a bank heist was being made, this was just a play to run from a house, past the killer zombies (though was there any other kind?) and hope to find an actual means of escape.