<div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family:Philosopher"><span style="font-size: 22px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff">|Goldleaf, CA| July 23rd|</span></span></span>​</div><span style="font-family:Philosopher"><span style="font-size: 15px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"><br/>
Kitty balanced her little stainless steel tray on one hand, twisting the knob to room 8 with her free hand and gently pushed through the door, a cheery smile on her face.<br/>
"Alright buddy, looks like you're due for 3 today!" She said, by way of greeting, to the eight year old perched on the patient bed, his hand tightly clasped around his mother's. He wore a tight expression of dread as he eyed the tray Kitty set on the counter near the bed and his mother emphathetically pecked the top of his head with her lips, exchanging an amused glance with the raven, curly haired nurse.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, it won't be so bad Jamie! Just one last round of boosters and you won't have to see my face again until next year!" Kitty promised, winking a blue eye at the boy as she unwrapped an alcohol swab to clean a spot on his upper arm.<br/>
"It isn't you I mind, Ms. Kitty." Jamie sighed, wrinkling his nose as the scent of the swab invaded his nostrils.<br/>
"Well, I appreciate that. All that heavy sighing was making me wonder." She teased back, plucking the first needle capped syringe from the tray.<br/>
"O-Kay, on the count of three, then?" <br/>
<br/>
-----<br/>
<br/>
Not so very long after, the nurse, her patient, and his mother all exited the room. Jamie's face was flushed pink, but he hadn't cried and he now sported three shiny superhero themed bandages and had traded his mother's hand for a lollipop. <br/>
Kitty waved them off and then popped her head into the nurse's station.<br/>
</span></span></span><br/><span style="font-family:font1522365474"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"><span style="font-size: 15px">"I'm taking my lunch now!" She announced to the two other RN's, chatting behind their desk. Holly, the lead nurse, waved a hand at her in acknowledgment, never even pausing to take a breath or look her way. <br/>
Kitty rolled her eyes and turned towards the break room, the phone in her pocket vibrating right on cue.<br/>
Smiling, she withdrew the phone and answered just as the break room door clicked behind her and she reached for the refrigerator door to retrieve her lunch.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, babe!" She greeted into the receiver, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder and carrying the plastic grocery bag containing her sandwich and yogurt to the table. It wasnt the most environmentally friendly way to carry her lunch, but she reasoned that if she reused the same bag there wasn't much harm to be done.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, darlin'. How's your day?" Her fiancé replied on the other end of the phone. That warm and familiar southern drawl of his still made her melt like butter.<br/>
Over in Fresno, not so very far from Goldleaf where Kitty worked and the suburbs the couple resided in, Tuck was crawling along through traffic on the 168 towards Clovis. One hand lightly gripped the wheel of his tan and dusty Ford 150 and the other held his own cell. It might have been slightly hypocritical for a cop to use his phone while driving, but he was off duty and his night shift had taken him away from home the evening before. He missed Kate.<br/>
<br/>
"I am just sitting down to lunch. How was the graveyard shift? Are you on your way home, yet?" Kitty asked, unwrapping her turkey sandwich and taking a bite.<br/>
"It was... Nuts. I tell ya, things get crazier every day." Tuck replied grimly, reluctant to dwell on the events that had transpired the night prior.<br/>
"Are you okay?" Kitty pressed, her tone suddenly thick with concern. Tuck smiled fondly, he could almost picture her sitting at that little round, wooden table, dressed in blue scrubs, her curly hair in a ponytail and a dollop of mayo on the corner of her lips.<br/>
<br/>
"I'm fine, sweetheart. We had to respond to a disturbance downtown. Some lunatic attacked and killed a civilian on the street. Hurt a few witnesses, too. We had to take statements at the community ER." Tuck said, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel as traffic faltered again.<br/>
"Jesus, did ya get the crazy?" Kate asked, fishing a plastic spoon out of a basket sitting on the table for her yogurt.<br/>
"Kind of. He's dead." Tuck replied, tucking strands of sandy blonde hair behind his ear and leaving out the more disturbing bits of information. <br/>
<br/>
He didn't want Kate to have the same images swirling around in her head that he had in his. She didnt need to know that the psycho had ripped the victim's throat out with his teeth and then proceeded to bite the surviving witnesses as they desperately tried to protect themselves, and each other. She didn't need to know about the mess of blood and skin he'd left on the sidewalk, or the fact that he was so out of his mind they'd had to fire 5 goddamn bullets into his body to put him down.<br/>
<br/>
"So are you headed home now? You should hit the bed and relax. When I get home I'll give you some gold star treatment." Kitty promised coyly, her eyes flicking to the TV mounted on the wall across from the table. Some commercial for toilet paper was coming to an end, and the screen flickered and gave way to the news.<br/>
"Well, I can't pass up an offer like that." Tucker replied with a grin, letting out a relieved sigh as he finally reached his exit and he turned his truck off the highway.<br/>
<br/>
"Actually I just exited off into Clovis. Thought I'd swing by Regional and say hi to Bob." He informed her, knowing the thought of Kate's father in his hospital room would make her chest pang, as it always did.<br/>
Robert was on the losing side of an increasingly uphill battle with cancer. It had started in his throat shortly after he retired, making simple actions such as eating or drinking a painful effort. After multiple, aggressive rounds of chemo and radiation, the cancer spread to his lungs and he was admitted into the Clovis Regional Cancer Treatment and Rehabilitation center. It was, at this point, mostly to make what little time he had left as comfortable as possible. <br/>
<br/>
"Tell him I said hi. And that I love him." Kitty replied finally, some breaking news story on the television distracting her.<br/>
"Wait... Tuck something's happening." she breathed, her eyes widening in alarm.<br/>
"What do you mean?" he asked, her tone instantly causing concern.<br/>
"I'm watching the news... they're saying all airports and hospitals in Fresno's surrounding areas are being quarantined!" Kitty informed him, shoving herself from the table and shaking her head in disbelief. <br/>
<br/>
"I'm on my way to meet you." she said, grabbing her purse from a row of hooks by the door and abandoning her lunch completely.<br/>
"Kate, just wait a minute-" Tuck began firmly, cradling the phone in between his ear and shoulder so that his free hand could turn the dial on his radio.<br/>
"Holly, I gotta go, something's going on at my Dad's hospital." Kate called towards the front desk. Holly nodded with a furrowed brow, her ear pressed to the receiver of the office phone. <br/>
"We're all going home early, I guess. They're releasing kids early from school." the head nurse remarked, her expression puzzled and anxious. <br/>
<br/>
"Kate!" Tucker barked, half listening to what was happening on her end and half to the radio, where the national emergency system was droning out a very vague alarm.<br/>
<i>"This is a message from the National Emergency Systems.... All civilians are advised to return to their homes and stay indoors until further notice.... This is a message from the National Emergency Systems.... All civilians are advised....."</i><br/>
"<i>KATE-!</i>" Tuck tried again as Kitty shoved through the clinic doors and into the sunlight, beelining for her little Honda Civic.<br/>
"What?!" she snapped back, practically falling into her car. <br/>
<br/>
"Kate, go home. I'm about ten minutes away from Regional, I will find out what's going on and I will call you." Tuck instructed, his knuckles white against his steering wheel.<br/>
"But," Kitty began to protest.<br/>
"No, don't argue me on this. Please. Just go home, and lock the doors. There's nothing you can do here that I can't, okay?" he pleaded, the tension in his shoulders building with every silent second that ticked by.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay." Kitty agreed reluctantly. <br/>
"But call me the <i>second</i> you get there." she demanded, Tucker's relieved sigh echoing through the phone.<br/>
"And not a moment later." he promised, coming to a stop at a red light.<br/>
"I love you." Tuck told her, and Kitty smiled in spite of herself.<br/>
"I love you, too." she returned before they both hung up and she started her car.<br/>
Moments later she was greeted with the same ominous automated recording Tucker had heard and her chest grew heavy with anxiety. What the hell was happening?<br/>
<br/>
Not wasting another moment, she stepped on the gas and peeled out of the parking lot, settling in for the twenty minute ride home. The house was actually her father's. When it became clear he wouldn't be coming home, Robert asked his daughter and protege to move in. He knew they'd been aching to leave their one bedroom apartment, but real estate didn't come cheap in California and he was leaving everything to her anyway, <br/>
<br/>
Traffic was heavy on the main roads, since most everyone had either seen the news or heard their radio. They were all trying to get home and no one knew exactly why,<br/>
Every now and then, Kate passed army green tanks and jeeps slipping in and out through the streets, which must have meant the reserves near Edison were being called into action, and it could be assumed the air national guard had been deployed as well, since jets occasionally roared overhead. Was America under attack?<br/>
<br/>
It wasn't until Kitty's slow crawl along the road came to a stop at a light that she caught her first glimpse of the apocalypse that had quietly gotten its claws into humanity all over the world.<br/>
It started with a crescendo of horns from vehicles too far ahead for her to spot. She thought there must be an accident ahead, but that idea was discarded as four people came into view, running down the street in between cars. Kitty nearly got out of her own car, thinking perhaps medical assistance was needed, until one of the people suddenly turned and slammed themselves into an SUV, mad squalls ripping from their throat as they beat against the glass with their fists. <br/>
<br/>
Before Kitty could comprehend what she was witnessing, the other three people began following suit, beating against the vehicle with rabidly gnashing teeth. She watched, frozen and torn between wanting to help and not knowing how. The driver of a neighboring car threw open their door and attempted to pull one of the violent lunatics from the SUV, and that's when shit got really fucked up.</span></span><br/>
<span style="font-size: 15px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff">The maniac turned and without even a millisecond of hesitation, she leaned forward and latched onto the good samaritan's throat, ripping out his jugular with her teeth and chewing on his flesh as he fell and barely muffled screams rose from every vehicle in the area. Blood dribbled down her chin but the psycho didn't even seem to register this. Her head swiveled from one side to another, ignoring the squeals from her companions as they became increasingly </span></span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"><span style="font-size: 15px">frustrated</span></span><span style="font-size: 15px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"> with the metal barrier between them and their pray.<br/>
<br/>
Kitty had seen quite enough and she threw her car into reverse, nearly crashing into the person behind her but giving her enough room to lurch towards the right and over a curb into a grocery store parking lot. Her action must have stirred the others, because in moments the air smelled of burned rubber as every vehicle on the road moved to go anywhere at all off the main road and away from the horror show unfolding in the street.<br/>
The sound of shattered glass signified the monsters had gotten through the SUV window and Kitty didn't stick around for the after math. <br/>
<br/>
She floored her gas pedal, ripping through the parking lot, aiming for the side street on the other end to escape to as her initial shock began to wear off and panic took its place.<br/>
"Okay, stay calm... you just saw a crazy woman chew on another person like a dog with a bone, but you have to stay calm..." she whispered to herself, her breathing beginning to hitch and fray.<br/>
"Just get home... get home... get home..." she continued, never slowing as she turned onto the empty side street.<br/>
<br/>
Or, she thought it was empty.<br/>
There was a flash of army green, the sound of twisting metal and popping glass.<br/>
And Kitty was suddenly upside down.<br/>
Her chest heaved and blood dripped from her nose into her eyes. Black boots stomped around her shattered windows.<br/>
"Cover me!" a voice barked.<br/>
"Leave it, let's go!" came a reply. <br/>
<br/>
A stubbled face appeared at the driver's window, and the soldier crouched to inspect Kitty. <br/>
"Hey, I'm gonna get you out, okay?" he said, attempting to sound soothing. Shots rang out, just beyond her car, and Kitty yelped, her body giving in to violent trembling. <br/>
"It's going to be alright..." The soldier promised.<br/>
<br/>
He was wrong. He saved her life, but after that, nothing was alright.<br/>
</span></span></span><br/><div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family:font1522365474"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(153, 153, 255)"><span style="font-size: 22px">|Fresno Suburbs| July 30th|</span></span></span>​</div><span style="font-family:font1522365474"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(153, 153, 255)"></span><br/>
<span style="font-size: 15px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(153, 153, 255)">It was a week later and now people understood what they couldn't seven days ago.<br/>
The monsters that were feasting on them all weren't crazy or on drugs. Well, not anymore anyway. Most of them had been on a drug, the very one that wound up making them sick and killing them off, one by one. Only, these people didn't stay dead. <br/>
A defiance to nature itself, but they came back none the less as mindless, emotionless hunters with only a desire to feed on the living. They were ruthless, strong, fast, and hard to kill if your aim was shit. <br/>
<br/>
Kitty was slowly recovering. She'd been lucky, walking away from that crash with nothing more than a bruised face and some strained ribs. <br/>
The soldier that stopped and saved her kept a close eye on her until the military got a barricade set up around the 'burbs in Fresno, creating a safe place for anyone who could prove they were healthy enough to get in. And man, if you had so much as a cold, you weren't getting in.<br/>
<br/>
Still, with her phone destroyed along with her car, Kitty had offered her services to the medical tents set up near the only way in and out of their shelter. She had to stay busy or succumb to insanity herself. She didn't know where Tucker was, or if her father was still alive. <br/>
As cable and satellite TV began to phase in and out, they'd learned most hospitals had fallen to the plagued. <br/>
After all, where else would sick people go? By the time their patients had turned, there wasn't even any use in their attempted quarantine. The CDC couldn't have contained this disaster even if they'd seen it coming. <br/>
<br/>
Kitty sat at a wooden picnic table in the morning sun, picking at the oatmeal in her bowl. It hadn't occurred to her that food might become harder to come by, but she simply wasn't that hungry. <br/>
"Hey, Kitty." a man in a white lab coat greeted amicably, sitting across from her with his own bowl of grain mush. <br/>
"Hey, Dr. Thomas." she replied quietly, folding her hands on the table before her. The surface wasn't sanded, and little pieces of splintered wood pricked at her palms. She never even looked up.<br/>
<br/>
"How are you feeling? Still sore?" the man across from her asked cheerfully. He wasn't stupid. All doctors were masters at staying calm and putting others at ease.<br/>
"A little." Kitty admitted, one hand raising towards her bruised nose. Dr. Thomas watched her for a moment before clearing his throat.<br/>
"You know, I hear a convoy is coming in today with refugees from Clovis." he said gently, and Kitty's head snapped up, a painful kind of hope twisting in her gut. Dr. Thomas' brown eyes met her blue ones and he offered her a smile, a hand running through his red hair.<br/>
<br/>
"You could come along with the examination team. We'll have to see everyone before they're given access, of course. You could come help and see every refugee personally." he offered.<br/>
"Oh, thank you Dr. Thomas, I'd love to!" Kitty blurted earnestly, moving to rise from her seat. The doctor held up a hand.<br/>
"We won't be leaving to meet them for another few hours. So, do me a favor and get some food in your stomach and drink some water. I'll need you at your best if you're coming along." he instructed, and Kitty immediately picked up her spoon and dug into her oatmeal. <br/>
Maybe today was the day. Maybe Tuck would be with this group. Maybe today something good would happen...</span></span></span>