Country girl in the City

[ebk]

By the time Sam left the shop, things were getting bad. Really bad. People running. People screaming. People chasing them, that ought not to be doing anything. Creepy was an understatement.

None of the cabs would slow down, much less stop, and she was two miles from the relative safety of her aunt's place. She could feel panic starting to rise, and she didn't have a clue what to do. Sammy was completely out of her element. Then she saw the bus... She took a huge risk, and got out in the road to flag it down. The bus driver very nearly ran her over, and she had to jump clear to the sidewalk - but he stopped.

Sam ran to the door, but he hadn't opened it, so she beat on it with a petite fist while yelling "Let me in!" The driver looked very reluctant, but he finally opened the door.
"I'm, ah, not in service. You'll have to catch the next one" he told her.
"Y'all know just as well as I do that there isn't going to BE another one!" she said, pushing her way onboard.
"Look miss..." the driver started to tell her, but she cut him off.
"Just drive. You're head'n in the right direction for where I need to go. If you have to leave this road, believe me, I'll understand. Just warn me so I can get off."

The driver sigh deeply, but tilted his head for her to sit down. Then he changed is sign to Not in Service before pulling away from the curb. Sam unlocked the case the guy in the gun shop insisted she have to meet local ordinance. Hah! Like that was going to matter in another hour! She took the rifle out, and started loading it.

"Ah shi...look lady, I don't know what you want. I'm just trying to get home to my family." the now very-worried looking driver said.

"Good. Me too, and all I want you to do is drive, and let me off if y'all have to turn. That's it. Yah ought to be glad to have someone ride'n shotgun. Or rifle, take your pick" she said, her her Texas accent obvious as she started to load the pistol. The driver only nodded, but he did look a little reassured.

It took them nearly half an hour to go the two miles. "Alright, I gotta turn here to take the bus to the depot. Hope my car is alright" the driver said, fretting. "I got a long drive still from there." Sam had learned in their short time together that his name was Jerry.

"Jerry... no one's gonna be looking for this bus. I mean, look around. If I was you, I'd drive the damned thing all the way home. You can bust right through cars with it..." Sam stood up, putting on her pack and hefting the rifle

Jerry thought about it a second. "We'll keep going, I can get ya to within two blocks of where you said you're staying."

Another ten minutes, and they'd reached her jump point. Things were only getting worse by the minute.
"Slow down, but don't stop. Soon as I'm clear, y'all gun it and get the hell outta here" Sam told Jerry, watching out the door for the right place to jump. "Right there, middle of the block is clear."
"You sure?!?" Jerry said, slowing, but not stopping.
"Yes! Good luck Jerry, and DON'T STOP FOR ANYTHING!"

The door opened, and she jumped out, running and hitting the wall. She gave one quick wave, since she was sure Jerry would be looking in his mirror, and then darted off for her aunt's flat.

//ooc: Might add another post with more to this, have to think on it. ;D

[ebk]

Sam slammed the door to the apartment shut, putting on every lock there was. Thank God for paranoid New Yorkers! This was a pretty nice neighborhood as far as she knew, but Aunt Linda still had one of those door security bars, and she made sure it was fully in place. Then she slide down the wall, and let the tears that she hadn't had time for flow freely.

That's when she heard the deadbolt start to turn. She silently stood up and looked out the peephole, only to see her dad putting his key in the next lock and checking over his shoulder constantly. Sam immediately started undoing locks from the inside, and threw open the door.

"Daddy!" she yelled, throwing her arms around him.

He gave her a quick hug, but pushed the door shut as he set down what must have been a table leg he been using as a club. "Lock the door. Put the bar up too." That complete, they moved further into the apartment. "I can't tell you how glad I am that Linda is on the 2nd floor. I doubt a window would stop those bastards. Where on earth did you get that gun?!"

It was only then that Sam realized that her dad was alone. "Daddy... where's mom?" she asked hesitantly, his question about the firearms already forgotten.

"I'm sorry Sammy. They...killed her. One of them tore her throat out before I could do anything" he said, his voice breaking.

Sam stood still, in shock. Was this really true? While she knew it had to be, her heart didn't want to accept it. "Daddy..." she started to say.

"No time Sam. I...need you to tie me to a chair. I got bitten by one, trying to get them off mother. Had to make a run for it. I, ah, I think that's how they reproduce. They kill someone, then they come back to life as one of those...things."

"But Daddy" Sam pleaded. It was just too much, and she was overwhelmed.

"No buts. Do it right now Samantha Beth" He was using the "don't even think about arguing with me daughter" tone of voice, and adding the middle name too, as he sat down in a chair with arms.

Sam searched through the house, finding whatever she could use, coming back with some belts, the tie for a bathrobe and other stuff. With her dad urging her to greater speed, she tied him to the chair.

"Samantha, I feel awful." Ian's color was gone, and sweat beaded on his forehead. "I'm not sure, but I don't think you have to die to become one of those, well, whatever you want to call them. Maniacs. I think it's some kind of super-rabies. Once they've got it, there's nothing left there of the person anyone knew. They're just a vicious, deadly, animal. You following me girl?"

"I... guess so" she replied with great trepidation. She was a Vet student, and she even before that about rabies. Animals with it were destroyed...

"If I'm right... if that happens to me too... you know what y'all have to do."

"Daddy, no!" Sam said. She gone pleading to downright begging.

"No choice girl. If it happens, this body will just be a shell. A wild, vicious, animal. But at least this way I get to say goodbye and I love you" he said softly. "Your mom and I, we worked awful hard to get you to open up. Don't shut down again Samantha. Just promise me that."

Sam couldn't talk by this point, so she just nodded. After a long silence, she finally managed to speak.
"Daddy... what's happening? Why is this happening?" She was trying to make sense of something so chaotic it was beyond imagining.

"I don't know darl'n. Personally, I think we've entered the tribulation. If that’s the case, you’re in for a wild ride. I want you to make it through though. No giving up. You’ve never been a quitter, no sense in starting now.”

She and dad talked until long after it got dark. Part way through the evening the power failed and she had to get a candle. She finally fell asleep on the couch arm after they'd talked long into the night.

Sam awoke to a strange sound. A snarl. She looked up, and what had been her father now had the white eyes void of caring or compassion. He was growling at her, struggling to get free. Sam stood, walking closer but keeping her distance. She drew her pistol, but still hesitated. Rabies could be treated, right? Maybe, maybe there was treatment for this too. But in her heart, she was sure there wasn't any, and if there ever was, it would come far too late for him.

Suddenly, one arm of the chair broke free, and he started reaching wildly for her. She was too far away to grab, but jumped back, startled, all the same. No time left to hesitate. The other arm might give at any moment, and if it did... Sam raised the gun and fired a single shot. He rocked back in the chair, but was forward again almost immediately, trying to break free. Wide-eyed, she cocked and fired again, hitting where she was sure his heart should be. Same thing... it didn't even seem to phase him. Two more shots and while holes where appearing and at least one bullet had exited, he didn't seem to notice.

She was standing there, unsure what to do, the gun hanging loosely in her hand at her side. That's when the other chair arm suddenly broke. Sam reacted instinctively, firing both the remaining shots in a fraction of a second by fanning the gun's hammer. The "balloon" she fired at, was actually his head, which exploded as the magnum round hit his brain and expanded. Finally, he was really at rest, face down on the floor.

The head. Only the head had any effect. Sam slumped onto the couch, but opened the revolver and emptied the spend shells, then began to reload. She looked at the body on the floor, and realized that by being tied up, she'd had the time react and to figure out what worked.

One last gift.

[ebk]

Sam was faced with a quandary. She couldn't bury her dad, that was simply too dangerous. If she took his body outside, those things would eat him. But, well, you can't exactly keep a dead body in the house. She had awhile to decide what to do next though. She didn't have to move him that minute.

Looking around the apartment, she started to go through her parents things. She needed to salvage what she could, anything she could use that wouldn't slow her down. She cut up a leather jacket she found in her aunt's room - she was pretty sure that she would never be returning to collect it - and made a scabbard for the rifle that she could attach to her pack. Wherever she went, she was sure a lot of walking, and probably running, was going to be involved.

When she had the pack ready, she decided she'd best mount the scope she'd bought to the rifle, and take at least a few shots to zero it in. went out on her aunt's small balcony, and simply looked around for a good target. There was trash and bodies everywhere, so it didn't take too long to find a suitable bottle that she figured was 75 to 100 yards away. The first shot went wide left. She adjusted the scope and fired again, this time hitting next to the bottle, but still left. a little more tweaking, and the bottle shattered as a .38 slug hit it.

That's when she looked up, and saw Them coming.

"Ah shit..." she whispered. Dozens of undead, all attracted by the noise of the gunshots. Sam ducked back into the apartment, and locked the sliding glass door, then immediately started reloading the rifle. "Note to Sam" she muttered, "they may be dead, but their hearing still works just fine." She waited a long time, huddled behind the couch, expecting to see zombies coming over the wall of the balcony, but nothing happened. She could still hear things, but wasn't sure what was going on. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her, and she crept up to the balcony door, unlocked it, then slipped out. There were still zombies there, and lots of them, but they didn't have a way to get up to the balcony or the brains to devise solution. So...she was surrounded, but safe, more or less. She hoped.

Sam went back inside, trying not to look at her dad's body, and headed for the kitchen. She tried the sink, and got a few drops of water. This...was a problem. No water meant she had some limited time. She looked through the selves and fridge next, and found slim pickings. Her aunt has been the classic busy business woman, and obviously didn't cook much. She collected what she could, but supplies were going to be an obvious necessity, and soon.

So...how to kill zombies quietly. More rummaging stuff around the apartment, and the beginnings of a plan began to form. It took a long time with the very limited tools she had in the apartment, but eventually she managed to drill a hole running between two finger holes in a bowling bowl that she guessed had been forgotten in the closet for years. Next, attach heavy-duty extension cord. Viola! 13 pounds of bowling ball and a little gravity... it was stomp'n time!