[three years before]
The air was stiff and hot and heavy and Leah felt like she was going to suffocate. The rumble of an old air conditioner could be heard, making her anxiously rub her hands together as she bounced her denim-clad knee.
It was the summer of 2007 and Leah had just turned eighteen, making her official entrance into her adulthood. It was funny really -the girl felt like she was born an adult. Hell, sometimes it felt like she was even aging backward.
The smell of rust and residual cigarette smoke lingered in the air, drenching her clothes like the layer of thick sticky sweat covering her entire body. It was humid and it made her hate summer even more.
Her feet tapped on the once green linoleum floor, her eyes switching between the clock hung on the wall in front of her and the old woman behind the counter obnoxiously licking her finger as she swiped through the pages of her magazine.
A drop of sweat collecting on her brow fell onto her lap, making the girl scoff as she untwined her hands and wiped the remains of sweat on her forehead. Her ears were ringing as she put her hands on her knees, trying to stop bouncing them up and down.
The lights above the three flickered a few times, making both the Hernandezs' heads snap up towards the lamp that hung from the ceiling just in time to see one of the bulbs shut down completely.
Leah began bouncing her knees again while Jamie's eyes kept staring at the burnt bulb as he fidgeted with the toy in his hands. His feet didn't reach the floor so he just let them dangle in the air.
"Hey, lady!" The older Hernandez finally spoke, "How much longer is it going to take?"
The woman adjusted her blue rectangular glasses on the bridge of her nose before raising her eyes and looking at the girl in front of her. Leah wanted the ground to swallow her as the woman behind the counter took in her raggedy appearance, from the hole in her jeans Leah hadn't realized was there until she sat down to her tank top that sat too big on her shoulders, causing one of the straps to fall down her arm every five minutes.
"What is it that you need?" She questioned with a raised brow.
Leah threw her brother a glance before walking towards the counter, resting her elbows on the cold wooden surface as she whispered something to the woman. The woman nodded towards Jamie, who had now stopped dangling his feet and was staring at his sister with those big round eyes of his.
The girl nodded and the woman pointed at a door behind her shoulders before sending Jamie one last glance and returning to her magazine. Leah signaled to her brother to get up and Jamie obliged, his red sneakers squeaking against the sticky floor.
Sometimes Jamie felt like a puppet, not a human. He just stood around his sister, waiting for her to do the things he was never going to be able to do. Jamie watched as the lady said bye to him as he walked to his sister. He didn't say anything back.
Leah grabbed his hand -his hands were always much colder than hers for some reason- before entering the hallway the woman had gestured before. Jamie began to feel sick and slowed down a bit, causing his sister to turn around to look at him.
"Hey," She said as she lowered herself to look at the boy in the eyes. He was so tiny even if he was already seven years old, it made her heart ache with guilt, "What's going on?"
"I don't want to go in." He whispered, "Can't we go home?"
Home. Home for Jamie was the shabby building that reeked of mold and wet dog. How shitty was that?
"It's going to be quick." Leah tried to reason, "You need this."
Jamie's eyes watered as he shook his head, "I don't want to." He whined, "Please don't make me."
Sometimes Jamie wished Leah was his mother. If she had been his mother maybe he wouldn't have to be here. But Leah was his sister even if she too wished she had been his mother.
"C'mon, I'll hold your hand." She murmured as she finally managed to successfully make Jamie move again. Yes, she was already used to being an adult.
Jamie counted twenty-three steps before they stopped to a halt in front of a white door and Leah whipped her hands on the front of her jeans before bringing her knuckles down the wooden surface, a man's voice came from the other side a few seconds later, inviting them to come it.
Leah took her brother's hand again before twisting the handle open, entering the room. Jamie liked staying with Leah because she wasn't an adult even if she acted like one. No adult would keep holding his hands as they spoke to a doctor and no adult would act so quick to step in front of him when he was getting agitated.
"I already said that he won't reply, ask me what you have to ask." His sister sighed when the man wearing a white coat tried to ask him again what his symptoms were.
"He needs to be the one to tell me what he is feeling." The doctor replied, but Leah wouldn't hear it, "He's not going to tell you anything."
Jamie was weird, he knew it. Leah knew it too. His brain was different from other people. He wasn't going to say anything, he couldn't, not even if he wanted to.
The doctor decided to drop it and instead told him to sit on the white cot and that he was going to be back in a second. His feet were dangling midair again as Leah stood next to him, his hand still in hers. She kept rubbing circles with her thumb on the back of his hand with the intent of soothing him, but instead, he was growing more and more anxious.
A weird thing was tied around his elbow and the doctor pressed another weird thing that made the band around Jamie's arm inflate more and more. Blood pressure Leah mouthed him as if to explain what the doctor was checking. Jamie weakly nodded as he looked down at the thing on his arm again.
Then it was time to check his heart rate, which meant the doctor had to press a cold thing on his back and he had to breathe a lot. In the meanwhile, the man asked for his medical history, which was near to zero. Leah just explained about the surgery he had three years before and that he did these checkups two times a year, which, based on the way the man scoffed, was not enough.
"All done." The doctor announced.
Jamie was content that it was over, but, when he looked over to Leah, she had a face that told me she wished the visit had lasted longer. Jamie felt bad for being relieved -he forgot that it wasn't free.
He tugged the hem of Leah's shirt to gain her attention, "I forgot Zuppo in the other room." He whispered in her ear once she had knelt, "Can we go get it?" He hoped that was enough to get them out, but the doctor cleared his throat, gaining his sister's attention back.
"Go get it and wait for me there, I'll be back in a second." Leah gave his brother's hand one last squeeze before he exited the door, his head low.
JAMIE
Jamie felt useless as his hands gripped the cold metal of the gun's barrel, his palms coated in cold sweat as he tried to remember how to breathe. He wished that his sister was there to hold his hands again, to tell him what to do, but instead, she was away and his hands were holding a riffle.
He felt like crying, he wanted to cry. But his throat was closed up and he knew better than to emit any noise. The dog outside -assuming it was a dog- was making a mess, the kid could hear it from behind the door. He usually liked dogs, but this particular one sounded mean. And hungry.
Jamie could hear the dog getting hungrier and hungrier as time went on, its growl filling the silence he was working hard to keep. His heart hammered in his eardrums as the dog knocked over something that sounded like a table and Jamie held back a whimper.
The streets also sounded like a mess, Jamie heard the cars crashing and the police sirens wailing for about an hour before they stopped. Now the streets were deadly silent and he didn't know if it was good or bad.
His back was pushed against the bed's leg, his hair sticky and sweaty against his forehead. He was sweating profusely and it was making him uncomfortable. His clothes sicked to his skin like a second layer and he hated that. He hated this situation.
A voice broke the silence as Jamie threw himself towards his backpack, fumbling it open.
"Jamie?" The voice was slightly distorted as it exited from the walkie-talkie, "Jamie, I heard you calling me. Are you okay?"
The dog hurried towards Jamie's door, banging against it. Whatever race of dog it was, it must be really tall because the whole door was shaking together with the makeshift barricade Jamie had arranged.
"Steven?" Jamie whispered, "There is a dog outside."
STEVE
Steve let out a chuckle as his hand dripped inside the old bag of chips next to his computer, "You called me for a dog?" He questioned with a laugh as he licked his fingers.
"It is a scary dog." Jamie cried a bit. The dog was scratching against his door, growling as it tried to get in. But Steve couldn't hear it as he still had his headphones on.
"Call Leah then." It sounded more like a question than a statement as the older boy spun on his gaming chair, "I was in the middle of something anyway."
Jamie fumbled with the riffle as the snarls outside got more frustrated, "Leah isn't here."
"What do you mean? Isn't she back already?" Steve looked at the digital clock standing on his desk submerged with all types of junk, "You want me to come over and wait for her with you?"
Steve was Jamie's only friend and, even if the older boy would never admit it, the thing was reciprocated. Despite that, Jamie knew that the Ledger boy was nearly useless in situations like this -he was an acne-prone seventeen-year-old kid with a bad sleeping schedule, not an adult. But Jamie was selfish and scared and wanted to be comforted.
"Yes please." The kid murmured.
He heard a sigh from the other side of the line, "I'll be there in a second." Steve said as he got up, holding his walkie-talkie still between his cheek and shoulder as he stumbled across his dark room, dodging the piles of clothes and old pizza boxes on the floor as he looked for his left shoe.
"What the fuck?" The older boy cursed under his breath, "Jamie, did your sister say anything to you about why she is late?"
"She told me to wait here, that's all." He mumbled, "She also told me to grab the gun from under her bed and to hide."
"I can see why," Steve replied in a whisper as his eyes scanned the slaughter outside his window. A car had rolled over itself, dark smoke exiting from its front as something red and pulp leaked from the broken glass. There were things scattered around, open suitcases with clothes, kids' toys, and purses. No sight of anything moving, "Jamie, where are you hidden?"
"Leah's room," Jamie whispered, "The dog is in front of the door."
Steve didn't have the heart to tell him that whatever was outside the room probably wasn't a dog so instead he just nodded, "I'm going to climb from the window, okay? And then we'll wait for your sister here."
That wasn't how Steve had imagined the first time he'd climb inside Leah Hernandez's window but whatever, there was always a second time, "I'll be there in a second, don't move."
The problem with Steve was that he wasn't cut for physical activities at all. How stereotypical, the nerdy boy who plays video games not only can't play a sport for his dear life, but he also had fucking asma. His life was a cliche and he hated that -especially now that he hurried towards his front door, struggling to put on his worn sneakers while he ran.
"Nana, I'm going to the Hernandezs, I'll be right back," He yelled towards the closed door that belonged to his grandma, "Don't open the door to anyone." As if she could, the old woman was basically a vegetable attached to a breathing machine.
No answer.
Steve knocked on the door, "Nana, wake up." He called, but he was met by silence once again.
The door opened with a creak as Steve pushed it with the tip of his shoe, the room behind it dark like all the others. They weren't big on wasting.
"C'mon, don't be lazy now." Steve huffed as he got closer to his grandma's sleeping form, "I have to go to Jamie, I'll be right back."
Cee Cee Ledger didn't emit a sound.
"I can see you breathing, just get up already." Her grandkid exclaimed, "I'm serious, I have to go."
His hand tangled with Cee Cee's light blue cardigan, a filthy thing that was longer on one side but that she had knitted herself a few years before when she still knew how to hold the sticks in her hands without them falling from her trembling fingers. He lightly shook her and her smell of rose and close spaces filled his nostrils as a strand of grey hair fell from her shoulder onto her back.
Then he was met by his first sound -a chocked gasp.
"Grandma!" He yelled as he jumped in front of her, the transparent tube that was supposed to give her medicine somehow tangled around her neck, "Hold still, hold still." He exclaimed as Cee Cee struggled against it, opening and closing her mouth as he tried to untie the knots that had formed.
His hands shook as he carefully removed the string from around the old woman's bruised neck, her whole face red as she let out more gasps, "Nana, are you okay?" Steve asked as he tried to reach for the light switch, "Can you hear me?"
Only that Cee Cee wasn't herself anymore. And as her grandson tried to brush a strand of hair away from her sticky forehead, she lunched forward, trying to bite his hand. The boy let out a shriek as he jumped away, hitting his back against the wall as he backed away from his dead but alive grandma.
"Nana, what are you doing?" He asked with the same eyes as a scared cat as the old woman growled, once again extending her hands towards Steve as she stumbled forward.
"It's me, Nana, It's me." Steve pleaded as he looked for mercy in her grandma's milky eyes. He found none.
LEAH
Leah's head was about to explode as paranoia gnawed at her sanity. Shadows still danced in front of her eyes every time she tried to blink, a cruel joke from either the powder or the horrors she had just witnessed.
Rachel next to her wasn't much better as she cried, her phone in her hands as she tried to call her sister. Mascara ran down her cheeks as she kept spilling tears, trying to move around the truck bed to get a better signal.
The woman with the broken feet had fallen asleep, mumbling something under her breath now and then, her delirious state only making her husband more snappy towards the girl.
"Tell your friend to calm down or more of those things are going to come for us." The balding man hissed at Leah.
"She's just worried for her family like we all are." The Hernandez girl replied -although she had to admit that the old man had a point.
"She's freaking out."
"Aren't we all?" The nurse whose name Leah couldn't remember asked.
"How much longer?" The man who was driving asked from the driver's seat.
"Go on for about another five minutes then turn left," Leah replied as she looked around herself. There wasn't anyone around, but there were signs that whatever was going on had reached this part of the city too. It wasn't much of a surprise, the majority of people there either were homeless or worked nights too. But Leah knew those weren't the reasons why the streets were empty.
Her stomach twisted and contorted when they drove past one of the dead stuck under a car, moving its arms as it tried to claw at them. Leah nibbled her bottom lip until she tasted iron, nervously bouncing her leg as she prayed for the first time after almost a decade.
The roof of her house was now visible and the girl almost jumped out of the moving car when she noticed that the front door was open. There weren't any dead walking around, but she was still drying of anxiety. Her knees buckled as she tried to come down the truck, a wave of nausea washing over her while she gripped the car's side, her knuckles white as she stood up.
And then she ran.
"Leah!" Rachel called, but the girl had already bolted inside the house, taking in the mess that once was the living room. There were chairs knocked over and the plates were broken on the floor. Dark crimson blood stains went from the front door towards the dark narrow hallway, causing a shiver to run down Leah's spine.
The already partially peeled-off wallpapers on the walls -an ugly shade of orange Leah was pretty sure had been put there by the previous owners to make the house look warmer, mission unsuccessful- had scratches over it, like someone had tried to claw their way inside the walls.
"Jamie!" Leah called as she grabbed a fallen spatula from the floor on her way towards the hallway with her room at the other end of it, "Jamie, it's me."
She was met by a horrifying growl instead, and her blood ran cold.
Her grip on her spatula tightened as she desperately looked around for a more dignified weapon. She found none.
A pair of milky white eyes met hers as the creature stumbled up on its feet from its crouching position in front of the door which happened to be her bedroom's one. The dead ran its nails against the wood and a yelp came from the other side of the door, meaning that Jamie was behind it.
Viscera was hanging from its teeth, smearing blood all over its clothes and skin, its skin a deadly white with a big chunk of it missing around its cheek, revealing the rotting teeth behind it.
The dead thing advanced towards her, emitting snarls as its jaw clenched and unclenched around the air, ragged clothes brushing against the blood-stained floor. Leah's vision kept blurring as she tried to clear her dry throat.
"Jamie, climb over the window," Her voice was shaky, basically a whisper, "Climb over the window and go outside there's-" The dead growled again, "There are people outside, go with them, bring the gun and go."
"I'm not leaving you here." Jamie's voice came muffled from behind the door.
"Just go!" Leah yelled. She never yelled at him.
She could hear rustling from behind the door as she passed the spatula from one sweaty palm to the other, swallowing hard as the window opened.
The dead jumped forward, its jaw snapping a few inches from Leah's face as she hit him with the back of the spatula in the head, a horrifying crunch of broken bones following. But the thing didn't feel pain as it launched forward once again, trying to grab her.
Its fingers curled around her arm as they tried to break through the material of her blue uniform, but Leah didn't let go from the spatula, and instead jabbed the metal side of it right into the dead's open mouth, most likely breaking its jaw.
"Leah!" A voice called, and soon after a chair had been smashed on the dead's head, sending it flying backward. Leah's head snapped around to see as the man who had been driving the truck charged another hit, striking the dead's stomach with the chair.
"Why isn't he dying?" He exclaimed as the dead stumbled back on its feet, its growls more angry.
"The basement!" Leah exclaimed as she rushed towards the end of the hallway while the man hit the dead thing again, "Send him towards here." She ordered as she opened the small door that went to the basement downstairs.
The man nodded as he pushed the dead towards the stairs, grunting as its hands reached for him. The dead turned around at the last second, going for Leah instead, its rotten teeth too close to her face for her liking. In one final move, the man snapped its leg with the chair before Leah kicked it in the stomach, sending it flying down the stairs and closing the door right after him.
The man put the chair against the door, keeping it shut as the walker could be heard trying to crawl its way upstairs again. Leah shivered at the thought of it. If someone ran into the house again, they were going to be met by an unpleasant surprise.
"What are you doing?" The man asked as Leah crouched to the ground, smearing blood on her fingers before walking towards the door.
"We have to put a warning, in case anyone comes here." She explained as she wrote on the wooden surface.
DEAD INSIDE; DON'T OPEN
"Artistic." The man commented with a sigh as he rested his back against the wall.
"I know, right?"
Leah walked towards the bedroom door, stumbling a bit as the adrenaline started to wear off.
"I'm Travis." The man extended his hand.
"Leah." She shook his hand, "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it." Travis shrugged a bit, "Your son is in there?" He pointed towards the bedroom.
Leah didn't correct him. Instead, she grabbed the handle and twisted it, sighing when it opened. He had left the door open. If she had arrived a few seconds later...
"Leah!" Jamie yelled as he started to knock over the few stuff he had put against the door before slipping out the door from the small creak.
"I told you to go." Leah was on the verge of crying, "You have to listen when I tell you things."
"Sorry, I just wanted to see..." The kid's voice trailed off as he took in his sister's disheveled state and the blood splattered around the house, "...the dog."
"Don't look." Leah ordered as she pulled Jamie in a hug, hiding his face in her torso, "We are okay now." She murmured as she ran her dirty fingers through her brother's brown locks.
"We should go outside." Travis suggested, "No kid should see this."
Leah nodded before taking her brother's hand, "Don't open your eyes until I tell you, got it?"
Jamie nodded as he trailed after the two adults, stumbling a bit over the fallen furniture as he kept his other hand over his eyes. The cold air hit his sweaty skin as he struggled against Leah's hand.
"We are almost there." She reassured him as she looked around her, "Just keep your eyes shut." The streets were a mess, but at least there weren't any dead roaming around. But she knew that if Jamie saw this he was going to freak out.
"Rachel." She called as they approached the truck, Rachel and the nurse from before both jumping out of the vehicle to run towards them.
"You could have gotten yourself killed." The nurse exclaimed as she walked towards Travis.
"We got the kid." He explained, "Now the house is clear, we take the medicines for Griselda and we go home."
Leah nodded, "I'll show you the way." She said before looking down at Jamie.
"I'll take him." The nurse's voice was now softer, "I'm assuming that whatever happened in there isn't pretty to look at." She said with a small smile, "You go inside and take what you need, I'll keep him and Chris out."
Leah was stunned by the disponibility both those people were showing towards her. They must be very stupid to be this kind to a stranger. Or really smart.
"I'm Leah," She extended her hand to the woman, "This is Jamie."
"Hi, Jamie." The nurse said, frowning a bit when the kid didn't reply, "I'm Liza." She then said, grabbing Leah's hand and shaking it.
"Thank you." The girl whispered.
Liza lightly chuckled, "Don't worry about it, at least now I have an excuse to stay out and not see any more gross stuff hopefully."
Jamie tugged Leah's bloody uniform, making the girl kneel to allow him to whisper in her ear, "Steve." He just said, "He said he was coming for me, but he never did."
Leah's blood ran cold as she watched the house next to theirs, the front door also open, "I'll check on him, okay?"
Jamie nodded, "Do I still need to keep my eyes shut?"
The girl looked at an overturned car, blood smeared around it, "Yes, keep them close and stay with Liza and Rachel. I'll be right back."
"So, what's the plan?" Travis rubbed his hands as Liza took Jamie away, helping him to jump on the truck as he kept his hand over his eyes.
"I have to do one last thing, then we can go get the medicines for the woman." She explained with a sigh, "I'll be quick."
At least I hope.
"Okay," The man nodded, "Let's go then."
"You don't have to-"
"I saw you have a gun in your house." Travis cut her off, "People who keep weapons in their house often have more than one," He explained, "You give me a gun to keep my family safe and I help you do whatever you have to do."
Leah nodded, "Fine, I'll give you a gun."
"When are we getting the medicines for my wife?" The old man -Daniel- approached them with his arms crossed over his chest.
"We have first to get a thing." Travis replied, "Then we'll think of your wife."
"Are you serious right now?" Daniel scoffed, "My wife is dying."
"Once we get the medicines she'll be out of danger." Leah piped in, "But I have to get the keys to my truck unless you want us to tag along with you." She nodded toward the still-wailing Rachel and Jamie, who were currently shaking.
"You said you were going to give us the medicine if we brought you here, you can't change the deal now." Daniel shot back.
"I can give you a gun if you just wait five fucking minutes." The girl snapped, "That's what you want to hear?"
"This is why you are risking your family's life? For a gun?" Daniel turned to Travis.
"Yes." Travis simply replied, "You haven't seen one of these closely, they don't go down." He explained, "But no one survives a bullet in the head, not even the dead."
Daniel rubbed a hand over his face, "Fine, but I chose the gun."
Leah scoffed, "Sure, I have a whole armory in my two-room house, suit yourself."
"You said you have guns-"
"Jesus yes, I have guns and I'll give one to each of you." She cut the man off, "I'm just saying don't expect to find a bazooka among them."
"Now that it all settled let's go then." Travis piped in, "Your shoutings will attract the dead."
The trio walked towards Steve's house, Leah a few feet in front of them as she pushed the door further open, "Steve?" She called, "Cecilia?"
The smell of death surrounded them as they entered the dark house, and Leah started to fear the worst as he noticed both Steve and his grandma's door wide open.
"Steve, it's me." She whispered, "Where are you?"
Small sobs met their ears as they walked towards the living room, nothing out of the ordinary in it. Leah recognized Steve's voice as the one emitting the choked sounds coming from his grandma's bedroom.
"Steve." She called again her eyes wide as she took in the scene in front of her.
On the floor sat a weeping Steve, his head hidden in his knees as on the bed in front of him stood what once was CeeCee, Steve's sweet grandma.
Leah remembered CeeCee. She was a kind lady, even if she was a bit old-fashioned at times. But she was good. She cooked for them when she was still able to walk and once she took care of Jamie when he had chickenpox as Leah couldn't stay home from work any more days. She made scarves in the winter and she gave them to the homeless.
But that wasn't the same CeeCee standing in front of Leah. No, that was a monster who had taken over the sweet lady's body. Leah watched in horror as CeeCee's body rocked repeatedly, struggling to break free from the tubes that had been tied around her wrists, her jaw snapping against her own grandson.
"I didn't know what to do." Steve explained in between sobs, "She was possessed."
"We need to get her out of here." Travis whispered, making Leah nod.
Something told her that this was only the beginning
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A/N: ik i'd say i'd rewrite it but first i wanted to give a bit of contest about how leah met the clarks (also leave your opinion in the comments thanks loves)