Taylor is a college student home alone when the outbreak hits her small town. One minute she is working on a project, the next she is hiding away from the monsters outside. Taylor will have to find it in her to survive until her parents can -hopeful...
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Crossing another set of tallies off made my chest squeeze painfully. I had gotten a pen and started counting days in my parent's address book a week ago. I was up to fifteen tallies. One for each day since this all started. Every day that passes makes me more anxious. My parents should have been here by now, even if they had to drive. The drive is only half a day, but even with roadblocks and detours, it shouldn't have taken more than a week. And a week was generous.
I didn't know what the world was like outside of our small town, I haven't left it. There could be hoards of infected or groups of crazy people. I had no idea, and that scared me because my parents were still out there. There was a chance they weren't, that they were... I couldn't think that I wouldn't even believe that unless I saw their bodies for myself. Until that point, they were alive and just out in the world.
There's a loud noise coming from the front of the firehouse. People shout, some asking for Beth and Kendra, the only medical personnel we had. That was enough for me to snap my book closed and shove it into my bag. Beth was already at the door, and I got up to rush after her.
There were more shouts, mostly for people to make room. Moving into the garage area I could see some of the cops and firefighters, splattered in blood. It was dark blood, indicating zombies. I rush to the door to the outside first, looking out and not seeing anything but the normal.
"What did I tell you?!" Hendricks yelling drew my attention back. The men who are covered in blood but standing had moved a few steps back, Kendra and Beth were moving between a man and a woman on the ground. One was one of the detectives, the other was one of the women we saved from the church. Jeff and Heather, I know Jeff had been recently promoted and that my dad didn't care for him.
"There are 36 of us in this building." Greg said, his face in complete shock, eyes wide as he stared down at the two people on the floor. They weren't just laying there, no, they were whimpering, moaning, and groaning in pain. When Beth moves Jeff, he screams so high-pitched I thought it was Heather.
"I told you the supermart was off limits!" Hendricks was seething, putting a hand in his hair. He looked like he was about to pull it out.
The supermart he was referring to is the Piggly Wiggly. Some of the guys had expressed interest in going to load up on more supplies. We could live off of what they had for months. We wouldn't need to scrounge around in houses as often, we wouldn't be eating plan cans of veggies. But after a cursory scouting of the Piggly Wiggly proved to show that there were too many zombies. The hoard we took out in front of the police station was one thing. They were out in the open, we could run in multiple directions if we had to. The Piggly Wiggly was a dark void, we could clear the parking lot easily, but we couldn't even begin to count how many had gone in and out of the building.
We would need a really good plan to clear it out, and even then it would be extremely dangerous.
"We can't just keep scrapping by!" One of the other firefighters yells back. "That mart has so much just sitting there!"
I mean, I agreed with him, but this is not how we were supposed to do it. Going behind the leader's back and not thinking it fully through. I cross my arms over my chest and debate on leaving them. I didn't need to be here for the screaming match, and I wouldn't be of any use to Beth and Kendra. My medical knowledge was very limited, mostly to what I've seen on TV.
"Taylor!" Confused I looked up from the two on the floor to Hendricks. He pointed to the others covered in blood. "Get Reid and you two will inspect everyone who came in for bites."
"Me?" I question, pointing to myself. He gives me a hard stare and suddenly, I wanted to be anywhere but here. "Okay, okay."
I didn't want to inspect people. It also came out of nowhere, but seeing them covered in blood, I wouldn't know for sure if it was all zombie blood or not. There was always a show or movie where a person hides the bite, then turns in the middle of the night. That was something I did not want to happen here.
So I motion for the men to follow me, they hesitated until Hendricks started pointing, jaw set. He was holding back from yelling more. The one who had attempted to yell back just looked around, seeing that no one else was on his side, his shoulders drop.
Reid should be in the sleeping room, on the way to the showers. Maybe Reid could do the full inspection, so I wouldn't have to, I didn't want to. There were just some things that were better left to the imagination.
