Outbreak

One

Daniel&Raja

"... A mass epidemic... Please get inside and lock the doors... Do not panic... Government officials on the way..."

Only fragments of the radio can be heard over the shouting that begins inside the store. Panic spreads like an infection of its own. As it spreads, adrenaline roars up within each individual and activates their fight-or-flight response. Some people flee, either leaving their carts full of stuff, or some of them just take it with them. An epidemic was hardly announced in such a way; people assumed the end times were near.

Daniel, among the crowd of people shopping for Christmas gifts, immediately puts the assumption of a zombie apocalypse into his mind. A mass epidemic? That's how all the stories and movies began, there was no doubt in his mind. But then he shakes his head, abandoning his cart like some others and starts his way towards the front, intending to leave.

A zombie apocalypse was unlikely. Realistically, it was probably just a very deathly virus, one that can be contagious and that's why the radios were insisting people get inside. Government officials would initiate rules and guidelines, probably help people get to hospitals and get people the equipment they need to be okay. A zombie apocalypse certainly couldn't be the case.

Daniel knew it was unrealistic. Zombies were just fictional creatures that weren't real. There was no way to be alive without consciousness; no way to be zombified.

His steps falter at the screams that rise above the shouting and the thumping that follows. He stops, listens, curiosity outweighing his need to get to safety. Besides, what if among the chaos, someone was taking advantage of another person? He couldn't just ignore the scream.

Well, he could, but Daniel would feel awful about it later. He turns away from the entrance, not quite close enough to see outside, but close enough to see the registers and where the wall dips in for the entrance to form. He jogs towards the card aisle where the scream had occurred and he freezes.

"What the-" Daniel starts automatically, the words falling from his lips as he takes in the hunched form of a boy over an older woman.

The hunched boy lifts his head at the sound of Daniel's voice. His eyes are rimmed red, but Daniel can tell that they're mostly a pale blue, and the way he looks at Daniel, it's like all he wants to do is tear him to pieces. The boy's jaw snaps, smacking his lips together and then the snarling starts up. It actually begins as a low growl before building up to a complete snarl and he lunges at Daniel with uncanny speed.

"I fucking knew it- Dammit!" Daniel's heart beats erratically in his chest and he tries to dodge the lunge.

The boy smacks into him and they fall to the hard floor together, leaving Daniel momentarily dazed. Before he can get his bearings, there's two of them now; the woman the boy had been chomping on (unbeknown to Daniel) joins the boy in trying to get a bite out of him.

Daniel shouts as he shoves the boy with a foot and rolls as the woman dives towards him. She hits the ground hard, her head smacking against the floor and Daniel doesn't waste any time in waiting for either of them to get back up. He picks himself up off the ground and takes off in a sprint further into the store.

He only stops when he runs out of breath and finds that the area he's in, furniture aisles, is mostly empty. The noise, the panic, it's still there, surrounding him so much that he can barely hear himself think, but upon checking each aisle, he finds that they're empty.

"Fin-ally." He gasps between breaths as he tries to capture enough air in his lungs.

"Help!"

Daniel groans quietly, his moment of peace short-lived. His head swivels in the direction the voice came from; about two aisles down he can guess.

"Okay, do I help?" He asks himself, thinking about the woman he'd just saw. "I should just go-"

The voice calls out again for help and Daniel makes up his mind before he can continue to think about it. He looks around for something to protect himself with, even if it was just something he could use to keep those... people at bay.

Chairs. Daniel frowns at the chair displays, kitchen chair displays and stools, and wonders if it's worth trying to carry one. If he can't throw it, what good was it? At the same time, Daniel reasons, a chair can be good distance from himself to the other people; if he has a stool, especially, it can give distance without being too heavy.

Daniel grabs a stool off the display and cautiously makes his way down two aisles. He peeks around the shelves into the aisle and takes in the boy stuck underneath a chair that was on display. It's a chair for a living room, so big and probably heavy. A little bit away is a cane; Daniel makes the assumption that either the boy has a limp, or some sort of illness that makes him incapable of walking without it.

"He-"

"Shut up." Daniel hisses before the boy can finish the word.

From where Daniel is, he can see that the boy has a cloud of curly, fluffy brown hair. He can only make out the back and side of the boy, but at least he wasn't snarling, nor did he seem to be in any pain.

"Are you bitten?"

"No." The boy replies. His voice shakes some.

"Okay."

Daniel moves around the corner and into the aisle, his stool up and ready just in case the boy turned on him. As he gets closer, he weaves his way around him and the chair before kneeling before him. He looks him over first, just making sure there wasn't anything that might tip off that he was going to start snarling.

"What's your name?"

"Raja. Raja Mercer." The boy replies, tilting his head up in the direction of Daniel's voice.

His hazel eyes are clouded, and Daniel mentally curses. The boy was blind; that's why he had the cane. This also means that there's no way Raja can tell Daniel what even happened that he wound up underneath a chair display.

"I'm Daniel. I'll get you out from under there."

"Thank you." Raja looks genuinely thankful.

Daniel sighs inwardly and stands up, looking over his shoulder first. No sign of anyone. He moves the stool back, setting it down upright before turning back to Raja. He starts to push the chair up and Raja wiggles some when he feels it shift.

In a few minutes, the two of them manage to get him out. Daniel very carefully sets the chair back down, not wanting to draw attention to their aisle for as long as possible. Once the chair is set down, Daniel moves to grab the cane and hand it to Raja.

"So, you're blind."

Raja grimaces. "Yeah, I am."

"That could be a problem right now." Daniel admits, grabbing his stool and looking back over his shoulder just to double check. "I think we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse."

"You're not serious."

"Oh I am." Daniel looks over at the Brazilian boy, able to distinguish him now that he was standing. "It's just that, well, I'm not entirely sure."

Raja nods slowly, sightless eyes on Daniel. "So you're guessing. That's awesome. Let's just go around aimlessly and hurt people without knowing-"

"I watched a boy eat a woman, and then turn on me snarling. I think that's good evidence for the time being."

Raja pales and takes a step forward, cane brushing the ground to be sure he wouldn't trip. "What do you suggest then?"

"For now, we're going to stay quiet and try to get the fuck out of this store."

"Won't outside be worse though?"

Daniel licks his lips thoughtfully. "Maybe. We won't know until we get towards the entrance."

Raja shrugs. "Let me grab your sleeve. I'll keep up faster if I don't have to try and listen to your footsteps."

"Alright." Daniel guides his free hand to his sleeve before leading the way.