**Collaboration with KnightAnnabeth **
"You're late Luna." The boss calls as the lavender haired woman rushes in.
"By two minutes, chill out." She responds in annoyance. "And the first time in months." She adds when his lip curls.
"Just do the garbage tonight." He scoffs before briskly leaving as she clocks in.
"Yessir." She responds scowling before getting on an apron and putting up her hair. Luna smirks feeling the odd looks the customers were sending her way as she sang a shanty she had picked up from her most recent gameplay.
"I haven't seen you in two days and you come in singing pirate songs." The older woman she was working with shakes her head. Luna gives her a finger gun gesture singing louder as she cooks the next order she puts up.
"This is why they call you Looney Luna." The server shakes her head again before looking out the window as the diner darkens slightly. "Ah... Another storm... That damn weather reporter needs fired, that's the third time in two weeks they were completely wrong ..." The server complains before going to her tables. Luna peeks out her own window, the clouds that had appeared almost looking black. "Bring it on, Zeus." She mutters, narrowing her silvery blue eyes at the sky.
***
"How's it looking, Lilah?" A blonde woman asks, glancing at Lilah in the mirror. Lilah hums in acknowledgement to her question, but doesn't really answer. Instead she opts on wiping away the last bit of excess ink and slides out of the way of the mirror, letting the woman look at the tattoo that now spanned across half of her back. She had spent the better half of four hours on a custom piece for the girl and this was only the first part of it. The woman's eyes go wide and then she grins. "It's gorgeous! I love it!"
"I'm glad you like it." Lilah smiles slightly, stacking her things neatly on the tray beside her. "It should heal up in about two weeks give or take. Come back when it's all healed so I can take a look at it and touch up anything that needs it. Then we can set up your next appointment."
The blonde girl grins, nodding as she hops off the bed, pulling her shirt carefully over the plastic covering for the tattoo. "I sure will. Thanks again Lilah!"
"No problem." She waves as the girl leaves, waiting until she has left to stretch and pop her back.
"Long one?" Logan asks, popping his head into her room.
"Mhmm. I'm out." Lilah yawns as she finishes cleaning up. "Think I'm gonna grab something to eat on the way home. I'll see you tomorrow." She mumbles, pulling a backpack over her shoulder as she heads for the door.
"See ya!"
Lilah looks up at the sky in annoyance as she makes her way down the sidewalk, a large raindrop hitting her in the forehead. "There wasn't supposed to be rain." She grumbles, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head. She sprints towards the door of a diner on the corner, just barely making through the door before the downpour begins. She takes a second to catch her breath before looking around.
There were only a few people inside, most of them people she had seen before. She waves to one of the servers as she walks over to her regular spot at the counter. Once she sits down, she drops her bag on the floor and looks out the window. The rain now was coming down hard enough that you could only see a few feet out the door. "Well that's going to be a fun walk home."
Luna finishes the order she was working on and pings the bell, pausing when she spots a familiar face at the counter. "Lilah! Wanna piece of pie?" She gushes a happy greeting to her.
"Ooo yes please." Lilah smiles, turning her attention to her friend behind the counter. "And a cup of coffee." She adds, reaching down to unzip her bag, pulling out a sketchbook. "How's your day going?"
"I was two minutes late for helping Mr. Willy and my boss was mad." Luna shrugs. "So other than that I'm great." She brings over the pie and a mug of coffee.
"That's good. I mean he can't be too mad right? At least you're here." Lilah takes a sip of coffee, relaxing a bit more.
"Nah he knows I'm always on time. Just felt like being an ass today I guess." Luna shrugs. "So you hear about them shutting down North Side? Apparently they're having another outbreak."
"No I hadn't heard anything." She shakes her head, fiddling with the fork on her plate. "I wonder how bad it's gotten. I didn't really think it was all that serious."
"Neither did I. Honestly, I think it's that lab they got over there, you know... The one that got into trouble for animal testing?" Luna murmurs leaning on the counter.
"Oh yeah." She taps her fork on her plate then cuts off a piece of pie, popping it in her mouth. "I knew they got in a lot of trouble. I heard they tried to shut the place down but the CEO paid someone off to keep it open, but that could have just been a rumor."
"Must be nice to have that much money to do that." Luna shakes her head, "Either way North Side is getting worse. Might be best to move away from it before the water gets contaminated or something."
"True. Who knows what would happen if whatever they're working on leaked our. Just gotta figure out where to go from here and get the money to do it." She says, looking out the window, seeing that the rain hadn't let up. Lightning flickers followed by a deafening thunder, the power getting knocked off.
"Oh... Oh! Delia! The power went out!" Luna grins to the server.
"I see that Looney. But we can't close until Barely tells us too." The server shakes her head, going to get some candles.
"So dark. Hard to believe it's only three in the afternoon." Luna chuckles.
"Looks like the middle of the night." She sighs, flipping her sketchbook shut and sliding it back into her bag. "I love storms. I love them more when I'm home though. I was planning on hanging out until the rain let up. If you guys close it's gonna be a very wet walk home. Can I leave my bag here so the stuff inside doesn't get soaked?"
"Uh course." Luna nods. "But I actually have a poncho in the back of you wanna borrow it. I never use it even though I got it for these random storms... Impulse buy." She shrugs as another flash lightning lights the diner.
"How did they not predict this?" Delia complains, bringing a lit candle over to them. "I'm calling that damn news station tomorrow." She states before taking another candle to the remaining customers.
"Eh... Maybe you should stay until it calms a bit. Even if we close I'm not going out in that." Luna huffs to Lilah
"Yeah it looks pretty nasty out there." Lilah frowns, placing her chin in her hand. After a moment she pulls her phone out of her pocket, opening up her text messages. "I should tell Michael I'm here so he doesn't think I'm out in this." She sighs, typing out a quick message to him.
"Tell him I said hi." Luna hums. "Want anything else to eat? That uh... I don't have to cook..." Luna asks poking at the candle flame.
Lilah types out another quick message, receiving a quick reply. "He says hi." She smiles slightly looking at the case of pies and cakes. "Got any sandwich stuff? Peanut butter sounds great right now."
"Hmm." Luna hums, "Delia, you bring your peanut butter from home?" She asks.
"Always, it's under the counter. Jelly's in the fridge." The server points.
"Alright, hang on Lilah." Luna hums moving to make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Hmm... I don't think we have anything else to go with this... You want more coffee?" Luna asks, bringing over a plate.
"Sounds good to me. Weather like this makes me sleepy so coffee will help." Lilah looks out the windows again. "Wonder how long this is gonna last. If it's anything like the last storm it'll be done in like half an hour. This one seems worse though. I'm glad I left work when I did." She says, taking a bite of the sandwich.
"Same. I would've been worried if I didn't get to see you today." Luna fills up her cup. She pauses as police sirens suddenly scream over the storm, about ten cruisers zooming by. "Huh... That didn't look good."
"Someone probably driving like an idiot. It's like everyone forgets how to drive when it starts raining. Not that anyone should drive in this at all. Hopefully everyone is okay." Lilah frowns. "That was a lot of cars though. Maybe people are taking advantage of the power outage to rob somewhere? Who knows."
"Right? Damn looters..." Luna shakes her head. "Oh right. Did you see the new game I posted? The awesome Dinosaur Survival one?" She grins excitedly. "I gotta get a better computer just so I can play it."
"Oh yeah! I showed it to Michael too. It looks like a lot of fun." Lilah pulls her attention away from the sirens to focus on their conversation again. "If I get it you can come use my computer whenever."
"Awesome! But if it has co-op it'll be funner to play together!" Luna bounces slightly. The restaurant tremors then and she stiffens in surprise.
"Holy...." Lilah flinches. "What the hell was that?" She looks out the window but with the downpour she couldn't see past the parking lot. She pulls her phone out, a confused look crossing her face. "I don't have cell service. Maybe lightning struck a tower...you guys got a radio in here so we can see if they're reporting anything?"
"Um.. There's one that takes batteries." Luna frowns disappearing into the back. "Delia! We got batteries?" She calls.
"Check the box on the bottom shelf! If you can't find any I'll run to that store across the street." Delia calls back.
Lilah taps her fingers on the counter trying and failing to send another message to Michael. When Luna comes back with the batteries she turns the dial on the radio, catching a station after a few minutes of fiddling.
'Local authorities are urging residents to stay indoors and shelter in place until further notice. Please stay tuned for more information as we receive it.'
"Eh? That's it?" Luna frowns heavily.
"Maybe it's a terrorist attack." Delia frowns. "Should we lock the doors?"
"We're on the outskirts of the city, I'm sure we'll be fine... Leave them unlocked in case someone needs shelter." Luna responds.
"Maybe they have as much info as we do." Lilah mutters. Another rumble shakes the diner, this time hard enough that she had to hold onto her mug to keep it on the counter. "Jesus. That can't be good."
"I'm starting to believe in Delia's theory..." Luna frowns. "We should keep away from the windows. Should we put the tables over them in case the glass breaks?"
"Sounds like a good idea." Lilah gets up from her seat, going and helping the few others inside move the tables to cover as much of the windows as possible. "Why would anyone attack us though? We aren't a huge city or anything." Just as she finishes speaking a man flings the door open, completely soaked as he ducks inside.
"Oh thank god." Michael sighs, walking over to look at Lilah, carefully examining her. "I wanted to make sure you didn't get stuck outside in this. I'm glad you stayed here." He looks around, smiling when he sees Luna. "Good to see you're okay too."
"What's up my dude!" Luna greets. "I'll get ya some towels." She says going and grabbing a bunch from the pantry. "Dry off. We're in for a long one."
"How sweet, coming in all this rain." Delia coos to the couple. "Ah. Makes me miss my Henry..."
Lilah smiles at the woman's comment. "He is sweet like that sometimes."
"Don't you mean all the time?" Michael gladly takes the towels, drying himself off as much as possible. "I thought about using an umbrella but that seemed like a bad idea with all the lightning."
"Oh! Did you see what caused those tremors?" Lilah asks. He shakes his
head.
"Not really. Think something caught fire though. Smells like smoke really bad outside."
"Could've been lightning striking a gas station then." Luna frowns lightly.
"That does make more sense." Delia admits. "What God awful weather."
"Sorry... I might've challenged Zeus again." Luna admits.
"Don't go blaming this on your little myths Looney." Delia shakes her head.
"But it always gets bad when I do that." Luna frowns
Lilah chuckles, leaning against the counter. "Maybe he's trying to show off. That or Thor is angry again." There's a shared chuckle between them as Delia shakes her head with a heavy sigh.
"You kids these days…" The older woman remarks before the radio crackles again, drawing their attention.
'News update. We have gotten word that Terralab building 3 caught fire during the storm. A chemical compound store there ignited and caused 3 different explosions affecting other parts of the building as well as surrounding homes and businesses. We are unsure of the extent of the damage at this time. Please stay tuned for further updates.'
"Well there's our answer. At least we aren't under attack." Lilah sighs, relaxing slightly. "Still, I wonder if anyone was hurt."
"... Terralab..." Luna frowns heavily. "Great now whatever sketchy shit they were working on is probably all over the place now..."
"Terralab is at the center of the North Side, there were probably casualties." Delia comments to Lilah.
"Yeah..." Lilah messes with the end of her hair, frowning. "Hopefully they are able to find survivors in all this mess."
"I'm sure they've already got people over there trying to locate them." Michael said, rubbing her back. "Let's just be thankful right now that we are here and safe."
"Right." Luna agrees and more cop cars speed by with some fire trucks close behind. "Wish we had a TV in here to actually see what was going on..." She sighs. "By the way are you hungry?" She adds to Michael.
"Nah I'm good. I ate not too long ago. Thanks though." Michael smiles, looking over at the TV for a moment then tilting his head. "You guys still have a generator? I know there was one here last year when we lost power."
"I think it was just borrowed though... y'all do have an outside storage area though right? It's worth a quick look. Could have been left in there."
"Sure I'll go-" There's a slam on one of the windows, making everyone jump. "What the hell..." Luna carefully grabs one of her skillets from behind the line as everyone looks at the person that was peering at them from behind one of the tables that secured the windows. "Don't tell me I gotta deal with a fucking crackhead right now..." She growls going to the door as he slams his hands on the window again.
Lilah flinches at the sound, watching the man. "Does he just need help? I mean the door is unlocked." She murmurs.
"I don't think that's the case. He doesn't really seem phased by the rain." Michael comments.
"Luna don't go out there. He looks crazed..." Lilah adds, not taking her eyes off the man who had continued beating his hands against the glass of the window.
"Hey! Stop beating on the glass!" Luna calls stepping outside and pausing, as he looks at her the part of his face that wasn't visible before seemed torn and ripped, showing bone beneath, blood still oozing out. Luna stood stunned.
'The fuck? Is that real? It has to be a joke right?' her mind panics as he shuffles for her.
"Listen. That's a nice costume but if you try to bite me, I'm going to hit you upside the head." She warns lifting her pan. He suddenly lunges but she dodges, swinging out and hitting him in the temple with the pan. He falls to a heap on the ground and she shifts looking down at him.
"I'm so fired .."
Lilah runs over, Michael right behind her. "Holy hell did you do that to his face?" She looks down at the man on the ground, seeing the side of his face split open. She was about to kneel down to check on him when he started moving and groaning. Michael grabs her arm, pulling her back against him.
"Dude... you need some help?" He asks, but takes a step back.
"Hey... You okay?" Luna pokes him with her pan. He suddenly grabs her ankle, biting her shoe suddenly. Luna yelps and swiftly hits him again.
"Fucking! Get inside! We're locking the doors." She gasps, scrambling to get away from the man. Michael shoves both girls inside, slamming the door behind them and flipping the locks.
"He shouldn't be able to get up right now. Not with his face looking like that." Michael says, watching the man through the glass in the door.
"Did he just try to bite you?" Lilah turns to check on Luna, seeing the outline of teeth in her shoe. "What the fuck?"
"Right? Ew... There's a tooth!" She gasps, smacking it out with the pan. "He's acting like a Zombie. You think he snorted bath salts or something?"
"Maybe..." Lilah pulls out her phone, looking at the screen. "I still don't have service so I can't really call anyone for help." She glances over at the man who was now standing again, bits of skin falling away from his face. "He's gotta be on something. I mean look at him. He's acting like he doesn't even care."
"Are there any other doors in here Luna?" Michael asks, scooting away from the window. "Might want to make sure they're locked. He doesn't look too happy."
"Dammit... There's only the back door." Luna says, moving to go lock it but stopping as a few more shapes shuffle to join the man. More of them slamming on the windows. "I think we should all get out of here." Luna says to everyone. "Everyone grab a pan we're leaving out the back." She says putting the pans on the counter as the glass begins to crack.
Michael grabs Lilah's hand, leading her through the diner, grabbing a pan on the way out. "There's something seriously fucked going on with those people." Lilah says, flinching when she hears glass shatter.
"Don't worry about them right now." Michael pulls her through the back door. The rain immediately soaked through their clothes, making everything heavier.
"Where should we go?" Lilah asks, looking around while trying to keep rain out of her eyes.
"Home. Come on." Michael pulls her along, stopping when they are a few steps away. "Luna you wanna come with us? Your place is kinda out of the way."
"Anything's better than here!" Luna gasps as people scatter out of the restaurant quickly. "Be careful Delia!"
"You too Looney! God bless you sweetie!" Delia calls back with a wave.
"What do you think is going on?" Lilah asks, having to almost yell over the sound of the rain. "There were more of them. That can't be drugs right?"
"I'm thinking now it may have something to do with all the explosions earlier." Michael says, stopping when two military hummers roll past him. "Now even more so than before."
"Let's just get to your place and think there." Luna says over the rain, shivering slightly, watching the Hummers as well. "But we'll probably have to leave this place soon either way."
The three run through a few back alleys, coming to the door of their apartment building. Michael ushers the girls inside, shaking his hair out to try and get some of the water out if it.
"I'll go get towels and turn the heater on." He says, leaving the two by the door.
"I have some clothes that'll fit you." Lilah says to Luna, ringing out her hair and clothes. "I don't know how long we are sticking around for though."
"... I left my fucking poncho." Luna sighs into her hands. "You could've been dry..." She grumbles before looking at Lilah. "Dry clothes will be nice."
"Don't worry about it. I'd rather us have gotten out of there then stuck around any longer than necessary." Lilah heads towards the bedroom, rifling through her drawers to grab them both something to change into. Michael comes back with the towels having changed into something dry.
"I say we pack some stuff in the car and get out. At least until we figure out what's going on."
"What about the rain though? Has it calmed down any? Driving in that would be a nightmare." Lilah says as she walks to the bathroom to change.
"We will just be careful."
"Sounds good to me. I actually have my wallet today." Luna holds it up. "So we can get whatever we need assuming whatever's going on here doesn't spread..."
"Hopefully it's just some sort of reaction and people will come to their senses." Lilah says as she comes out of the bathroom, twirling her hair into a towel. She hands Luna the dry clothes, shooing her to the bathroom so she could change.
Luna quickly dries and dresses. "Oh my god your clothes are so cute." Luna says stepping out. "I wish I was here to spend the night and not whatever's going on." She sighs.
"Maybe once this is over you can come over and I can clean my closet out." Lilah smiles a bit.
"Oh yes please. I have no room in OUR closet. Literally like this much space." He holds up his hands about six inches apart.
"Hehe. Okay sounds great. Should we pack some of these though?" Luna looks at the closet. "If they're going to have us evacuate we probably should grab some... Or looters might hit."
"True." Lilah pulls two duffle bags from the closet along with a gun case. She starts shoving all sorts of clothes into each one, leaving a little bit of room for other necessities. She then takes the gun from the case, tucking it into the waistband of her pants and hiding it under her shirt.
"You think that's necessary?" Michael asks, a little perplexed.
"I would rather be safe than sorry." Lilah shrugs, pulling another one from the closet and shoving it at Michael.
"Yeah dude. My pan didn't have much effect." Luna reminds him. "I'm still mad about my shoe though. I just got these..." She looks at the bite mark on her shoe. "Maybe I should get a knife..."
"Gimme a sec." Lilah says going back into the closet. Michael looks at the gun for a second, copying Lilah and sticking it in the waistband of his pants. "I got these. Not sure if any will work for you." Lilah adds, carrying over a roll of fabric. She sets it on the bed, unrolling it to reveal a few different knives.
"Where were those?" Michael asks, looking at Lilah in confusion.
"Don't worry about it."
"Ohh! These look like the ones from that one game I used to play! Awesome!" She chimes strapping them to her hip.
"I got them from a friend." Lilah says, shoving some more things into the bag then zipping it up. Michael grabs the other, looking at both of them.
"So we're out of here?"
"Yeah. At least until something is figured out." Lilah nods, grabbing her car keys. When she opens the door to outside she is surprised to see the rain has lightened up a little. "Well it's something." She frowns, pulling a jacket over her head and running over to her car.
Luna quickly follows after her, getting into the backseat as the doors unlock, setting one of the bags on the floor board and awaiting the other two as military choppers go overhead.
Lilah slides into the driver's seat, tossing the bag she was holding into the backseat. She pauses for a second to look at the choppers, frowning. "It can't be that bad...right."
"Maybe they're just checking things out." Michael says, shutting his door. "Come on. Let's go." Lilah shakes herself from her thoughts, turning on the car and heading out of town.
"Think Myersville would be safe?" She asks, carefully driving through the street.
"Should be. Or at least I hope so." Michael whispers.
Luna peers around, stomach churning as she spots some shapes in the roads. "Uh... A-Are those..." She manages uneasily.
"Bodies..." Lilah slows the car, feeling her stomach turn. "They...why?"
"Probably got hit during the rain." Michael mutters.
"Why so many though?" She chews on her lip trying to keep her calm as she steers around them. "Something is really wrong here..."
Luna sinks back in her seat, feeling the hilts of the knives subconsciously. "We should be really careful right now..."
"Yeah..." Lilah takes a deep breath, finally making it past the dead bodies and back onto the road. Michael reaches over, squeezing her knee, but stays quiet. A few moments later Lilah slams on the brakes, nearly hitting a man standing in the road. "Is he..." The man turns around revealing a massive burn covering half his body. He notices them, slamming his hands on the hood of the car.
"Lilah go." Michael urges uneasily.
"But he..."
"Go." Michael says a little more sternly. Lilah throws the car into reverse, backing away enough then serves around him, hitting him with the passenger side mirror.
Luna jumps, looking out the rearview at the man as he gets back up. "Just like the one back at the diner... They don't feel anything... They're like... Dead." She murmurs.
"Are we in a fucking movie!?" Lilah almost yells. "Seriously this shit can't be real!"
"Deep breaths." Michael tries to calm her down, squeezing her knee again. "It'll be okay. We are fine."
"That is not okay! That man should not have gotten back up! Did you see him?" Her hands on the steering wheel shake.
"I know. I know." Michael tries again to calm her down. She almost starts yelling again when she sees more cars. Multiple cars were stopped on the road. They were all running, their lights illuminating the military hummers and police cars ahead.
"The road is blocked?" She murmurs, slowing to a stop. "Do we turn around?"
"But why is the roadblocked? What if the others are too? How are we going to get out?" Luna asks uneasily. "They're not... Trapping us in here with those... Things. . Right?"
"Maybe there's a wreck or something." Michael tries to reason, undoing his seat belt. "I'll go see what's going on. I'll be right back."
"Be careful." Lilah says as he steps out of the car, he smiles giving her a thumbs up before shutting the door. He waves, shouting at one of the officers standing by the roadblock. The officer looks over and shouts something back, making Michael stop. He raises both his hands, shaking his head. "I wonder what..." She watches Michael take a step back, waving his hands as if to say no. There's a moment of complete silence, then a pop. Lilah tenses, watching as Michael wavers for a moment, then collapses on the ground. "They didn't...did they just..."
Luna's eyes widen watching Michael in shock for a few moments, some officers start to gesture to the car.
"W-We got... We gotta go!” She stammers scrambling out and to Lilah's door, opening it swiftly. "Lilah we need to run. We gotta go. Now." She manages unhooking her seatbelt.
It takes a moment for the shock to fully set in, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Why did..." Lilah doesn't finish the thought, letting Luna pull her from the car and towards the trees on the edge of the road. She hears a few more pops, the sound of bullets hitting the dirt around her snapping her out of her daze just enough to keep running.