Outbreak

We'll be Alright by Travie McCoy blasted from Luna's large black pickup. She sang along and I could hear this from behind her in my Jeep. We were going camping in the mountains, as we often did with my dad. He loved us for these little outings, even now that we were adults. Luna was my adopted sister and had been since we were three years old. It was a long story.

"The virus is spreading from all major cities," I heard from my radio. Curiously, I turned it up. Usually I never paid any mind to the news when it came to viruses--I never had to worry about it--but something told me to listen. Thank goodness for that. "It is still unknown this is, but please take it seriously. Atlanta is in the process of being evacuated at the moment. This is not a joke...I repeat, this is NOT a joke." For a moment I froze and continued to listen. Judging by the calls made by listeners, whatever was happening was bad. People were...eating each other!



That seemed so long ago; back when everything made sense. Now the world had gone completely to Hell, Dad was dead, and Luna and I were all alone. We had managed to barricade ourselves inside the police station near my house where Dad worked. Somehow we were the only two who thought to settle here, which didn't make much sense to me. For two months now we had lived like this. I started to wonder if anyone else was alive.

Luna entered our cell in her usual attire, which included form fitting green-beige cargo pants, a white tank top with a beige shirt cover, and black running shoes. The outfit would be normal if it hadn't had the thigh gun holsters, shoulder holsters, and traveling backpacks. We needed to be prepared. My outfit was similar. I wore a black Bite Me tank top with my shoulder holsters over it, black cargo pants similar to Luna's with my own thigh holsters, leather fingerless gloves, and black combat boots with my knife hidden inside. One could never be too careful. My backpack laid on my bottom bunk as usual. For now I didn't need it.

"Had to kill three zombies outside." Luna muttered with an irritated tone. "Didn't have my machete, so I had to use a damn pipe. Thank God John taught us how to think on our feet." After all these years, Luna still called our father by his first name. Force of habit, I suppose. "Still no survivors...I say we look in the city again. Can't be too bad." I looked at the boarded up and barred window of our cell for a moment before replying.

"You remember what happened last time, Luna." I reminded her. "The only survivor we found was those sick people." After going a month without seeing any other living being, Luna and I had found a small family in Atlanta. We tried to help, but some people just didn't want to be helped. They tried to feed us to the zombies as if it was some sort of show. We barely escaped. "What if there's more like them?" Luna sat beside me in front of our bunk-beds.

"We have to take that risk...I heard someone on the radio this morning." Luna said. I paused a moment and stared at the walky-talky attached to her pants. "It was a guy's voice...all I heard was 'heading towards Atlanta' and it cut off before I could warn the poor bastard. Sounded familiar...like we knew him." Sighing, I rose and exited the cell. I knew what we had to do.

We double-checked the area before sealing it off with the metal gates, then we inspected the front office. As always, there was nothing there. We then sealed off the office from the exit and we were off. It was a rather long process, but this made leaving our shelter safe. We didn't want to come back to dozens of zombies inside our now home. Even if the area was surrounded we at least knew that none would be inside.

The drive to Atlanta was a long one in which I hated. Being on the road was dangerous enough, but the trip was a waste of gas in my opinion. We could have just kept trying to warn the mystery man of the dangers from the radio. Oh how cold I had become. At the beginning of this apocalypse I would have been happy to help; anyone would have been. That's why most are gone now. One couldn't afford to be generous in this world anymore. Hell, one could never. As always, the kind get eaten alive. Nowadays this was more literal than before, obviously.

After driving through the maze of cars in Luna's truck we managed to reach the gates of the city. Fortunately the government had tried to seal it off at the beginning, so entering was never really an issue. It was leaving that was the tricky part. Those gates weren't exactly the strongest things in the world. Many had fallen already. Reluctantly, Luna abandoned her truck outside the gate and we started on foot. It was wiser to leave this here, but also very risky. If there were survivors they could easily steal the truck. This had already occurred when we drove Dad's truck to the city before.

Avoiding the zombies wasn't a simple task, but we managed. We had the advantage of only having two in a group. If it had been more than just us, then perhaps we would have died. That was one thing I feared about helping out this mystery man--he would be added to our group. Luna always reminded me of the power in numbers, but I could never truly believe that.

Since we were already in the city, Luna and I decided to gather what little supplies we could. We grabbed some medicines and a few things of water, but that was all we could really gather. After a few dangerous hours in the city we were just about ready to leave. Just as we were about to take our leave, there was gunshots. Soon there was also yelling; that same familiar male's voice. It almost seemed to be...happy.

"Fifty points!" Another male's voice called out. By this time Luna and I had found the source. We couldn't see the two men clearly, but they were on top of a delivery truck that was surrounded by the undead. We were now easy meals. Whoever these two were, we didn't care to find out. They took this situation too lightly. This wasn't like playing Resident Evil; this was real life! The one who spoke wore a paintball mask and some other paintball gear along with a thick black coat. He had an axe and baseball bat crossed on his back behind a crossbow, a handgun obviously placed in his pants pocket, and throw-knives in the other pockets. He was well equipped, I'll give him that. "Trav, there's two live ones right there!"

"What the fuck are you guys doing?!" Luna yelled as she hopped on top of a car, then jumped to the next one until she was high enough. I wasn't so lucky as to find an easy escape. Honestly I thought I was going to die. Luckily, Luna saved me from one zombie in the nick of time. I then was able to jump the same way she had. We faced the men from across the street. We were completely surrounded and the zombies had started to shake the trucks. "Look what you've done!" Luna paused a moment, then her eyes widened. "A-Are you...Travie McCoy?!" One of the males stepped forward, laughing. I looked closely at his face--he was Travie!

"The one and only." He replied, still chuckling. "Nice to still have fans! This is my best friend, Jared. And you two?" I rolled my eyes. This wasn't the time nor the place. Judging by his attire and attitude, I don't think Travie understood the gravity of the situation. He wore a red plaid shirt over a white T-shirt, black skinny jeans, and a black fedora. He held two handguns and had a baseball bat on his back like Jared, but Travie seemed less equipped. "We've been lookin' for a shelter, wanna join us?"

"If we promise you a shelter will you help us get the Hell outta here?!" I yelled. Travie nodded, as did Jared.

Travie pulled a grenade from his pocket and threw it far from us towards a car, which caused a domino-affect of explosions down the street. This of course caught the attention of most zombies, so we were able to escape the city. We exited the same way we came, but this time there was a new car near Luna's truck--a Jeep like mine. This was apparently Travie's car. Inside was another baseball bat, two riffles, more grenades, and a mountain bag. There was also a handful of supplies, but the men were certainly lacking.

Luna, despite her fan-girl side, angrily looked Travie in the eyes. Under different circumstances she probably would have been tripping over her own drool. She shoved him against his car, and then did the same to the other man; Jared. He laughed, making Luna remove his paintball mask to slap him. The first thing I saw was bright blue eyes. Of course that was only for a second before Luna hit him.

"Drive fast, don't make noise, and do as I say." Luna growled. She entered the driver's side of her truck and started it. "First strike and you are out. I mean it. I don't deal with dumb-asses, even famous ones. C'mon Khloe before they're stupidity rubs off." I smiled a little and stared at Jared, watching him wipe his cheek that was already turning well. What can I say, Dad taught his girls well. We were strong things despite our size, but Luna had always been stronger. Jared's eyes traced from my head to toes, then back up. This made me uncomfortable.

"Are you as moody as she is?" He asked with a laugh. Travie shoved him playfully before entering his Jeep. "I'm just playing...it's really good that she stays focused I guess. We sorta need that....as you could see earlier. Thanks." I nodded and went to Luna. Adding men to the group was going to be a big enough change, but adding these two seemed like adding aliens. This would be interesting.