California

Chapter 1

"This is my life now. I have climbed this hill and now I will die upon it."

"Shut up. We've only been hiking for 20 minutes."

I glared at my best friend. "Yes but we've been out here for a week."

Sydney Callahan smiled over at me. "Yes but we finally made it. Look!" She pointed in front of her and I saw the Hollywood sign.

"Holy shit! I never thought we would make it this far!"

"Bitch we did not do THAT much hiking."

She's right. We've been camping in Griffith Park for a week now. Work and life was stressful so we decided to go off the grid. It's not a hard hike to the sign by any means. But we've been taking our time.

"What is that noise?" Sydney questioned. I walked closer to the sign recognizing it as sirens in the distance.

"Something major must be happening down there." Once we could see past the sign, our mouths dropped.

"Holy shit Charlie." Los Angeles was in shambles. Fires coming from so many spots. Sirens going off. You could see cars piled up.

"Quick. Turn your phone back on."

We pulled out our cellphones and powered them up. They both exploded with texts and voicemails.

"Fuck me. 300 text messages. My voicemail is full. What the hell."

I started scrolling through my 300 something texts as well. "Oh my god syd."

I'm guessing she got a similar text because her response was identical.

"We gotta get down there now. We gotta find Brook and Ace."

We took off running back towards the park. The texts messages varied but all implied the same thing. There's been an outbreak in Los Angeles and people are dying.

I work in a very unusual office. It's owned by me and my three best friends. I'm Charleston Valentino, criminal defense attorney. Sydney is a licensed forensic psychologist. Her younger sister Brooklyn is a forensic pathologist. Our fourth is Kacee "Ace" Krieger. She's a private investigator, used to be detective for the Los Angeles Police Department. I used to work for the CDC and still had close contacts with the LA branch. I dialed the number to call the Medical Officer for Los Angeles County.

"Carter." A clipped voice sounded through the phone.

"Sharon, it's Charleston."

"What the hell, Charleston?! I've been trying to get up with you for two days. I even sent someone to your office."

"I've been on a fucking camping trip. We got to the sign and realized all hell broke loose. What is going on?"

"We've gotten reports from Atlanta of outbreaks all over the country. The biggest cities are affected the most."

"Well we always knew that would be the case. Please tell me I'm not gonna come across some Zombies when I get in town."

"No, people aren't eating people. But it's bad. The disease is highly contagious. They're issuing Cordon Sanitaire's all over the place."

I looked over at Syd with wide eyes. "Is my office in one?"

There was a pause of silence. "Not yet. That part of the city has been mostly untouched. But there might be soon."

"Guess that means I better get my ass there now."

"I know you won't listen if I tell you not to go there, so just be careful. Oh and Charleston?"

When she didn't say anything, I responded. "I will be. What is it?"

"Call Banner." The line went dead.

"What did she say?"

"We need to get to the office now. Try calling B and Ace and make sure they will meet us there. Try not to touch anyone."

We finally made it to the parking lot and I thanked the gods we had decided to drive our motorcycles out here. With how the roads are probably blocked, bikes will be so much easier and quicker to get around on. We hooked our packs to the back and hopped on our bikes. I took off towards East LA where our office was, Syd right on my tail. Once we got closer to the city, traffic was at a dead stop. But only on the road leaving. It was completely empty on the side going in. Things must be really bad here if not a single soul is trying to get in. We weaved through stopped cars as we made our way down the highway. Police cars, helicopters, firetrucks, and ambulances were scattered all throughout the city. We drove past one of the Cordon's. People were behind the fence screaming to be let out. People on the outside were pleading to get in to find their families. I didn't have to see Sydney to know she was desperate to help them. But the sooner we got to the office, the sooner we could figure things out. Half an hour later we pull into the alleyway next to our building and dismount our bikes.

"What the fuck. A Cordon?"

I nodded as I smoothed out my hair and grabbed my pack. "One of many in California apparently."

"And the entire United States." A voice in the distance startled us. We turned cautiously but breathed sighs of relief to see Ace standing there, gun in hand, waiting for us.

"You scared the shit out of me." Syd ran over to embrace our friend.

"Stop!" They both froze, arms up in mid hug.

"We need to try not to touch each other until we all get cleaned. Is Brooklyn here?"

Ace nodded and stepped back. "She's in the lab. We can go use the showers."

Having a forensic pathologist in your office meant having a giant lab that had sterilizing showers and vents. That was possibly going to be the safest place for us through this. We made our way inside and headed straight for the lab. I recognized the low male voice coming from inside.

"Bucky?" Medical Examiner James Barnes turned around searching for the source of his name. His eyes met mine and he smiled.

"Hey Chuck."

"I'm surprised you're here."

"It was my day off. They put a Cordon around my district so I couldn't get in. Found out I could get to BB's lab so I made my way here."

"Does anyone know what the fuck is happening?" B questioned looking up from her microscope.

"Sharon Carter told me to call Bruce."

"Banner? I thought he left the CDC."

I shrugged at Ace's remark. "I have no clue. We need to shower and change though then I'll call him."

Syd was furiously typing on her phone before sliding it back in her pocket. "Peter is on the way over. Gonna see what he can find out."

Bucky scoffed. "You mean what he can hack into."

"Hey. Peter Parker is the best hacker we know and that's the only way we're going to get any real information." Syd exclaimed defensively.

"She's right, Buck. We're all gonna have to get along in order to figure out what the hell is going on." B's voice was quiet and smooth, Bucky's features relaxing instantly.