Realistic or Modern Overcast: Alexia Weber

[ArcticFox]

"Hang out until early morning, then leave." Alexia said with a nod. She didn't want to stumble in the dark either. "But we keep watch in case looters decide not to wait. Or the infected go crazy or something." She looked at the others, "I can take first watch."

 

[Lorsh]

[Feel free to use [WAIT] if you want, btw.]

"I can do it with you," Miles offers. "Probably won't be able to sleep tonight anyway," he sighs. He looks at Ron and Ivy. "You two should sleep off that high, need you to be functioning tomorrow." They both shrug, though even Ivy reluctantly agrees.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Yeah, sure." Alexia nodded at the suggestion. "Let's put on a movie or something, lock the door and wait until morning."

 

[Lorsh]

[WAITING...]

Everyone closes the curtains, blinds, and ensures all the entrances to the house are locked. Miles digs out his old DVD player, and puts on a romantic comedy film to lighten the mood. However, after about an hour, the air raid-style emergency sirens begin to blare throughout the city. They're somewhat distant, but still loud enough to be an ominous annoyance to anyone trying to tune out the events of the outside world.

The sun rises at around six o'clock. By this time, the sound of distant, albeit rapid gunfire, as well as occasional explosions, can be heard sounding off in the city, mixed with the civil defence alarms.

Miles peeks out of the blinds again. "Fuck," he squeaks. Outside, the infected have multiplied, and they're all moving (mostly shambling, though some running) in the same direction. They ignore the actual roads, cutting through yards and property, but it looks like they're moving towards Highway 3. Some of the gunfire can be placed as emitting from that direction as well.

Worse still, there is a messily dissected corpse in the middle of the road. At this point, it's nothing but an oversized slab of meat, as its missing most of its limbs and has its clothing reduced to shredded, blood-soaked strips. Some of the figures carry sinewy human appendages as they dumbly walk towards the distant gunfire, occasionally lifting them to their mouths.

 

[ArcticFox]

Alexia gasped as she approached the window. What was going on outside? What were those crazed people doing? Were they eating something? Or rather, someone?

"We should have left earlier." She said, a hand over her mouth. Quickly regaining her composure she added, "Let's get Ron and Ivy and get to the car. If it's like this here, can you imagine what's it like in the city? We need to go somewhere... less crowded, until this mess is dealt with." She took the phone from her pocket again to check the signal, "I need to reach mom and dad too."

 

[Lorsh]

"The army must be shooting those people," Miles points out as he puts his face mask on. "What else would all those shots be for?"

Miles shies back from the window, looking dubious to the prospect of leaving. "With all those freaks out there? They might... notice us," he whispers.

You attempt to use your phone. After the callback tone, you hear a series of beeps before a robotic voice begins speaking.

**THIS MESSAGE IS BEING RELAYED AT THE REQUEST OF HOMELAND SECURITY. A STATE OF EMERGENCY IS NOW IN EFFECT IN YOUR REGION. CELLULAR AND LANDLINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS HAVE BEEN RESERVED FOR USE BY CIVIL AUTHORITIES ONLY. PLEASE REMAIN ON THE LINE, AS IMPORTANT DETAILS WILL FOLLOW...**

**A DEADLY EPIDEMIC IS UNDERWAY. VIRAL OUTBREAKS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN THE CITIES OF CONGRESS, NEWLEY, VINTNER, MONTE, HUCKSVILLE, LANKFORD, CRAWBURG, AND ANDERSON. PLEASE DO NOT GO OUTDOORS, AND REMAIN AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND OPENINGS TO THE OUTSIDE. ENSURE YOU ARE WEARING A PROTECTIVE MASK, AND THAT ALL PETS AND FAMILY MEMBERS ARE INSIDE. PLEASE AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM LOCAL AUTHORITIES, AND BE PREPARED TO EVACUATE AT ANY TIME.**

 

[ArcticFox]

"Dammit." Alexia hissed, placing the phone in her back pocket again. "The lines are down and the government doesn't want us to move. But what are we supposed to do, just wait this mess out?" She looked through the blinds at the shambling infected, "Look at them, there are more an more, and if the army is shooting them, then it means that there is no cure for the virus! How long until we get infected here, or until the army goes nuts and decides to shoot us too, just in case?" She shook her head, "No, we have to bail, go somewhere remote, find a village or something and wait it out there."

 

[Lorsh]

Miles glances out the window again, face tightening at the sight of the sickly horrors and mangled meat outside. "Shit, okay. I'll get my keys, should we try to get out through the highway then?"

Ron and Ivy walk over, looking like they just saw ghosts. "Do you guys see that crap?" Your brother seems to shiver.

 

[ArcticFox]

"No, I imagine the highway will be full. Do you know any other way out of the city?" Alexia said. When Ron approached, she reached out to pat his back, "Don't worry. I'm sure that things will get better soon. But we need to get away from here for a while."

 

[Lorsh]

(long bus ride)

"There's other, smaller roads... One goes towards Nimbly, one goes parallel to the highway, towards Baxter, and one hooks around and goes towards Couvey and the airbase," Miles tells you.

Ron swallows, and nods. "I just hope we're not sick..." He takes on a pained expression. "We should try to get a hold of mom and dad, later... They can't block the phone forever."

 

[ArcticFox]

"Let's skirt the highway as much as possible," Alexia said, gathering her backpack. "Let's head out toward Couvey and the airfield. With some luck there's less of a crowd there." She turned to give Ron a smile, "Don't worry. Mom and dad know how to handle themselves. We'll keep trying to reach them as we go."

 

[Lorsh]

Ron nods, momentarily put at ease by your assurances to him. He goes off to rejoin Ivy, who is packing some miscellaneous items into her borrowed backpack.

"Right," Miles says. "We could stop at the airbase, the military is there... Though, I don't know if they'd like, rescue us or tell us to fuck off," he says. "Anyway... Is there anything else we wanna pack before we go? What if those freaks notice us out there?"

 

[ArcticFox]

"You think we might need weapons?" Alexia looked at Miles with an expression of unease. "I really don't want to have to use anything. I'm not sure we have anything anyway, except a kitchen knife, or perhaps a hammer in the garage?" She sighed, "Well, let's take what we have."

 

[Lorsh]

"I hope it doesn't come to it either, but good idea. I have my baseball bat," Miles says. He wanders off and retrieves the slugger, because you can never be too careful. Ron overhears the conversation and goes to grab the hammer from Miles' toolbox. He gives Ivy a wrench. Your companions are definitely on edge about the victims of this disease.

 

[ArcticFox]

Alexia took one of the knives from the kitchen, just in case, though she was really iffy about using it. She could outrun most anyone on foot if it came to that.

"Well, let's head out then." She said, "Miles, your car is still working, I hope?"

 

[Lorsh]

[back, done my training.]

Miles nods, and grabs his keys. "She's good to go." waits for Ivy, Ron, and yourself to get ready. He turns off all the lights in the house and makes sure the doors and windows are locked, before donning his medical face mask and making sure its strapped on tight.

He opens the door and quickly rushes outside, unlocking his car, one of the newer sedans. Ron flings open the door, and he and Ivy pile into the backseat. The passenger's side door is nearest to you.


Some ragged figures are already starting to appear from the alley next to your apartment. A fat, hairy man in his underwear and a pair of shower thongs shuffles towards the car quickly, mouth open with red-stained teeth, his gullet like a black void. Next to him, there is a young woman in a paramedic uniform with half the hair on her scalp ripped off, and one of her eyeballs dangling from its socket.

 

[ArcticFox]

Trying to avert her gaze from the battered infected that were shuffling toward them, Alexia hurried to open the door of the car and slip into the passenger's seat. The sooner they were out of that place, the better, "Step on it, Miles!" She urged.

 

[Lorsh]

You slam the door, as Miles briefly fumbles with his keys, the infected man slaps the driver's side window and leaves a wet, pinkish stain. The veins on his hand are pronounced and purpled.

Ivy yelps. Miles screams "FUCK" as the car finally starts, the radio coming on he puts the pedal to the metal as he rips out of the driveway and onto the street. He has to swerve to avoid quite a few shambling people, but the car can't dodge all of them. A few souls end up getting clipped by the car, and a sickly paper boy is sent over the windshield.

The commotion of the car is drawing a lot of attention from the throngs of infected shuffling towards the highway. Some of the faster-moving ones begin to trail behind the car, running full tilt. Up ahead, you can see an SUV parked in a driveway where a soccer mom is being pulled down by another rabid woman while halfway through the process of putting one of her kids in the back. Other shamblers are starting to converge on the scene around the SUV as well.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Oh, no." Alexia watched the scene in front of her. Yes, they needed to get away, yes their lives were a priority... but there were children in that car. "Stop the car, Miles! Now!" She exclaimed, clutching the knife she brought with her. "We have to help them!"

 

[Lorsh]

"Goddamn it, Alex!" Miles slams on the breaks, and Ivy's face slams into the headrest in front of her, not having put her seatbelt on. She recoils back, grimacing heavily.

"Are we all getting out?!" Ron asks, trying to steady Ivy.

The infected seem to be too focused on mauling and devouring the mother, the children are still in the back, strapped to booster seats. You can count two of them, a boy and girl, probably aged 4 and 6-7, respectively. Naturally, they're bawling their eyes out from the horrors around them.

 

[ArcticFox]

"No." Alexia said. "Ron, you take the wheel and be ready to move. Ivy, put a seat-belt on. Miles, you are coming with me to take the children." She clutched her kitchen knife, "Let's hurry."

 

[Lorsh]

"R-right!" Ron crawls up to the front without hesitation. He only has his learner's license, but he knows what he's doing, regardless.

Miles gives another 'goddamn it' as he's conscripted into the heroic endeavor. He opens his door, brandishing his bat quickly and swinging it into the head of an encroaching infected teenager, which knocks it to the ground temporarily.

The SUV's open door is only a few feet away. Blood from the other side of the SUV is already pooling over on this end, leaving little doubt that the mother is beyond saving. The seven year old girl, who hadn't been fully buckled into her booster seat yet, has already scrambled over the seats and jumped out. Ivy flings open one of the sedan's doors and ushers her in, while Miles goes to unbuckle the boy.

You hear a low, guttural sound towards your side. An infected traffic cop, on the shorter side but still looking ferocious as ever, has his arms outstretched and is moving towards you. The front of his uniform is practically torn off along with a large patch of skin, and you can see one of his lungs expanding through broken ribs.

 

[ArcticFox]

Upon seeing the infected walk over to her, Alexia's first instinct was to back off. She still brandished her knife and would use it if the man approached her, but she had never killed or injured a person before. How does one gather the strength to do it, even if that person is technically not a person any longer?

"Miles, hurry up." She called.

 

[Lorsh]

You don't make any moves, keeping your distance from the bloody husk.

Miles unbuckles the booster seat, before fumbling with the kid and nearly dropping him. He tosses him in the backseat of the sedan.

The runners that had been trailing the sedan have since closed the distance to it. With agility inconsistent to most of the infected, one of them ends up jumping onto the roof of the car, scurrying forward and reaching down as it snags Miles by the hair. He screams and staggers, the thing coming off the roof and falling down on top of him.

There's more runners only seconds behind it. Ron starts honking the horn frantically.

 

[ArcticFox]

The running infected made Alexia move. She couldn't let Miles get hurt when she sent him to help the kids. Without too much thinking, she ran toward him, reaching down to stab the infected in the back of the head.