There were abandoned cars all over the road, bodies lay all about and she saw several corpses staggering around. There were several people looting the Zales on the corner.
"Amazing! There are people dieing all over the place and these sonofabitches have time to loot Zales!" Tiffany commented.
"Human greed never ceases to amaze me." replied Katie.
They pulled over in front of Katie's building. Katie used her key card to get them inside the outer doors. The lobby was deserted and they headed straight for the elevator.
"I don't feel so good..." mumbled Tiffany, she then vomited all over the floor. She really wasn't looking good at all.
"Oh my God! You're burning up!" Tiffany just moaned in response. "Come on lets get you fixed up."
They got off on the fifth floor. Once inside Katie's apartment with the door securely locked, she helped Tiffany to the couch.
"Let's take a look at that arm." Katie gently took Tiffany's arm. Her arm looked horrible, the flesh where Tiffany had been bitten was torn and discolored. It was pretty swollen but at least the bleeding wasn't too bad anymore. It was the meaty part of the forearm. Katie cleaned the bite the best she could and bandaged it up. She gave her something for the fever and pain and helped her run a cool bath to help with the fever.
While Tiffany was in the bath, Katie turned on the TV and sat down to see if there was any new info. The reporter on the screen was saying "It seems the outbreak has spread rapidly worldwide. The Infected start to feel ill in a matter of hours and deteriorate rapidly from there. It appears once one of these "Infecteds" die they... they.... rise from the dead and become very violent. We have seen footage of people being attacked and they seem to be eating or biting the victims. These victims that are killed then also rise but this is happening much faster than those that were originally infected. It appears that those who have been killed by these...Infected....can reanimate in anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, while those who have been Infected through a bite take about twenty-four to thirty hours to succumb to the illness before reanimating in the same manner. Scientists believe whatever is causing this affects the nervous system, primarily the brain. The original source of this remains unknown, however this is now being spread rampantly by the bodily fluids of the Infected. Similar to the way HIV is transmitted, only much more rapidly due to the violence of these reanimated. The President has urged everyone to try to remain indoors. The military has moved into cities throughout the country to do whatever they can. It also appears the only way to stop one of these reanimated dead is to somehow incapacitate the brain. There is no cure yet, but government scientists are working around the clock."
Katie gave Tiffany a change of clothes, they were a little big on her. Not that Katie was overweight or anything, she just had a nice figure and Tiffany was a little petite. Katie got Tiffany set up in the spare bedroom. She decided to take a shower herself, she had her new friend's blood all over her and her scrubs. She decided to use the other shower....just in case. After her shower she made a quick dinner and headed to her room. Better take a nap and get some rest, who knows what's going to happen? As anxious as she felt she was exhausted and quickly fell asleep.
She awoke several hours later to screaming and the sound of gun shots. She remembered her gun in the nightstand drawer and took it out. She couldn't tell if it had come from down the hall or below her. She looked out the blinds. The sun had already set and things were looking even worse on the street below.
Katie went in the other room to check on Tiffany. She looked horrible and was shivering though her temperature read 104 degrees.
"I can't feel my hands and feet!" she whimpered.
"Shhh, it's gonna be alright. I'm gonna do everything I can." whispered Katie taking her hand. It felt hot to the touch.
Tiffany mumbled something that made no sense, it didn't even sound like words. If the news report was right, she would only have another twenty-four hours at the most.
Katie paced the room, she didn't know what to do. She tried calling Tyler and Dave but got their voice mails. She tried her parents in Loch Sheldrake and got no answer. Her sister Brianna answered on the fourth ring.
"Brianna! Are you OK? Where are you? What's going on?"
"Katie! Oh my God! This is crazy! I'm on my way to mom and dad's house with Kevin! They're saying to stay out of the cities if possible, if not to barricade yourself inside! Where are you?"
"In New York, my apartment." Katie's pretty face wrinkled in a frown.
"Oh shit Katie! What are you gonna do?!"
"I don't know, but I can't stay here too much longer. Maybe I should pack up the car and meet you at mom and dad's."
"How the hell are you gonna get out of New York?!"
"That is a good question....."
The call was lost, Katie's phone flashed no signal. How the hell was she going to get out of New York? She definitely didn't want to go the tunnel route. She had visions of being trapped in an zombie filled tunnel every time she thought of it. She was gonna have to try the George Washington Bridge. She would leave first thing in the morning.
She went to the kitchen to see what kind of supplies she could gather up. Katie grabbed a duffel bag from the closet and threw all the bottled water she could find into the bag. She grabbed some dehydrated food and some cans of this and that and threw them in the bag. She tossed in some granola bars, trail mix and fruit roll ups. She grabbed all the medical supplies, pills and antibiotics she could find and a change of clothes and threw them in also.
She put the duffel bag by the door and headed to the room. She grabbed her backpack and threw in the box of ammo from the nightstand. She also tossed in a flashlight with some extra batteries, her map of the East Coast, a couple more bottles of water and a sweatshirt. She changed her clothes trying to dress in something that would be comfortable and easy to run in. She decided on a pair of black running pants and a tank top with a pair of hiking boots.
She went back into the living room and set her backpack on the coffee table.
Katie went to go check on her friend. It had been about twelve hours since she had been bitten. Her heart rate had slowed and she seemed unable to move her arms and legs. She also seemed to be in a semi-conscious state. Her temperature was now up to 106 degrees and there was nothing Katie could do.
She went back to the living room and sat back down to the news. She could hear banging and shuffling noises from outside in the hallway. She got up and slid the table in front of the door. Better to be safe.
Katie managed to stay up until three am and then fell asleep on the couch. She awoke with a start to the sound of glass breaking. She looked at her watch, it was ten am. She jumped up. Tiffany had staggered out of the bedroom. That's odd she thought, last time she had checked on her she hadn't been able to move and was non-responsive.
"Tiffany?" Katie started. Tiffany's head whipped around in Katie's direction, and she started heading straight for her. Her skin was pasty white and her eyes had glazed over. Katie screamed and ran towards the kitchen where she had left her gun on the counter. She turned around to take aim, but it was too late, Tiffany was upon her. They fell to the floor, Katie hit her head hard, and saw stars. Tiffany was on top of her trying to bite and drooling. Katie struggled to get her off finally pushing herself free. She fired hitting Tiffany in the head on the first shot. She sat there in shock on the floor just crying and staring at Tiffany's corpse for a while before she heard banging outside on her door.
She slowly got up and went to the door looking out the peephole. An Infected face looked back at her and continued its thumping on her door. There was at least three of them out there. She gasped, how was she going to get out? The gun shot must have drawn their attention. She looked around for another exit, but she lived on the fifth floor, its not like there was a back door or something. She looked at the window. The fire escape! She grabbed her bags and headed to the window. She tried the window, it wouldn't budge. "I hate this window! It always sticks!" She didn't have time for this, she grabbed a chair and smashed the window.
She picked u the gun and bags and stepped out onto the fire escape. Great, now just five floors of fire escape and I'm free, she thought sarcastically. The pounding on the door grew more insistent. Time to go, she started to make d her way down. It was a little more difficult with the bags then she had expected and there was more of those things stumbling around on the street below. When she got to the second floor, she stopped to take a look around below. Once she gets down from here her car is about twenty feet away. There was two of those Infecteds between here and there. So the decision now is does she shoot them and try to run for it, or just try to make a run for it without taking them out.
She decided on the later, worried the gun shots would only attract more of them to her. She kicked the ladder down and made her move. She had to jump the last couple of feet to the sidewalk, and lost her balance sending her sprawling on her back. One of the Infecteds turned her way and started in her direction. She jumped up and shook it off and grabbing her bags made a run for her car. She pulled out her keys and pressed the button to unlock the door. Katie opened the door and threw in her bags jumping in behind them and pulled the door closed quickly locking them behind her. She struggled to get the key in the ignition as the Infected who had been chasing her began pounding on her window, smearing it with blood and goo. She got the car started and took off.
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