Twin Cities

"I'm surprised it's still here. Thought that asshole of a brother of yours might have got his dirty hands on it first."

That very question was on Dom's mind the second he opened the garage that morning. He honestly expected it to be gone along with everything else in the house. To his surprise his brother never cut the lock off the garage door. Dom had no idea why his brother left his pride and joy alone. Maybe it was some last shred of brotherly bond. Maybe he knew that Dom might actually kill him when he got out when he did. Whatever the case was it didn't matter now.

"Think I can drive it?"

Dom turned his head slowly to see the sexy latina sitting next to him with a mischievous grin. He was just about to put the key in the ignition when she asked. His eyes darted from the keys back to her as a grin etched it's way onto his face. Dom slowly slid out of the drivers seat and stood outside of it while he dangled the keys down for her to grab it.

"If you think you can handle it."

She didn't really think he would let her drive it. But Evie was not going to pass up such an opportunity. Getting out she grabbed the keys from his hands before he could change his mind.

"If you think you can handle it." He added.

Evie just smirked in response. As she slid into the drivers side adjusting the rear view and seat to accommodate her. Putting the keys into the ignition, she had a sudden nerve of stage fright as Dom got into the passenger side. She prayed she wouldn't stall it.

But as she turned the Key in the ignition and the car roared to life, her smile seemed to stretch across her face, it was beginning to hurt her jaw. She knew she shouldn't but . . . she revved the engine. Turning to Sinclair giving him a had to do it look before she put the car into drive, pulling out the garage and rolling down the drive.

Hitting the gas as zombies screeched and hurled themselves at the car, Evie hit the gas and they were roaring down the road.

"Holy shit!" She shouted over the sound. "I could die happy in here."

Dom couldn't help but laugh as Evie basked in the raw, unadulterated power of his Charger. The engine roared like a lion as the car shot out of the garage and skidded into a turn. Evie hit the gas, milking it for all it's worth. The car roared down the street right past the hordes of the undead. While the two occupants inside should have been staring in horror at the terrifying state the streets they grew up on were now in they were both in the moment. All there was in the world was the road, the roar of the engine and the adrenaline.

Dom lowered his window and casually hung his arm out the window as Evie laughed at the thrill of driving the monster she was behind the wheel of. She shifted gears and turned again, the tires screeched out loudly as teh car took the turn in an easy drift.

"Who needs stealth when you got speed?"

Dom joked as Evie floored the gas pedal.

"You know, your old man used to tell me that I lived my life a quarter mile at a time. I never really knew what it meant but right now. Here with you driving through all this shit I think I get it."

Dom's mood seemed to soften, like he had figured out some great mystery he'd never been able to solve.

"It's cause when I'm in a car, racing down the street and I can feel that engine nothing else matters. Not the bills, the cops, my brother, none of it. The whole world can literally fall apart around me and it doesn't even matter because when I'm in a car I'm free."

"Yeah, he was full of all sort of shit like that." Evie laughed joking. "That man could talk a nun out of her panties . . . But he was right about you Sinclair. Too bad it all got fucked up but life's a bitch like that." She added with no preamble.

They drove in amiable peace. His words made more sense to her the he could ever know. For people like them there was nothing more. But, wasn't that what she had been trying to change since her father died? She didn't want to deal with all that shit. Evie wanted some semblance or normality to her life that she had never had.

Well, that had all been shot to hell hadn't it?

"I feel like I stole something from you now." She smiled as she turned slightly to look at him, one hand on the wheel as they drove with no destination in mind, just the road in front of them. "You haven't drove in eight years. You should have taken the wheel . . . So where to? We need a fucking plan."

Dom shook his head with a smile as he leaned back in his seat.

"Naah, she ain't going anywhere. I'll drive later. Besides..."

Dom threw Evie a quick glance as he relaxed in his seat.

"Don't kill me but uhh... I like watching you drive. You're good, real good Evie."

Dom closed his eyes, allowing the growling engine to soothe him.

"As far as a plan I don't know if I'm the best guy to ask about that. My plans don't have the best success record. But... if I had to guess I'd say we got two options. We could one, hit up a military checkpoint or an evac zone somewhere. By now the national guard has gotta be on it's way to set something like that up to get people out of the danger zone. Option two, which would be my personal recommendation, would be say fuck Uncle Sam and let's take off on our own. Find our own way out of the city."

Dom opened his eyes again and looked over at Evie.

"You make the call, I'll back you."

Harry was exhausted, he'd been wandering the streets since the early hours, not daring to stop to sleep. He stopped for a second, sitting down to rest his feet a while, throwing his bag to the ground. When had things got so weird? Zombies. Actual real life zombies. Sure he had kidded on with his friends about their plans for the 'inevitable' zombie apocalypse, but he had never actually thought that it would happen, much less that his mom would be turned.

Figuring he should probably move on, he grabbed his bag again, and got back to his feet. Harry gripped his baseball bat a little tighter and carried on walking head down. His head perked up when he heard a car engine. He looked about him, searching for the source of the noise.

"Now that is a damn nice car." Harry said to himself.

Could zombies drive? He'd never heard of zombies being able to drive. But then, who really knew anything about them? Harry mentally shrugged, nothing to lose. Harry stuck his thumb out, silently willing for two things. One, for the car to stop and two, for relatively normal, non-zombie people to be driving said car. And that the guy who was also yelling at the car was normal.

"Come on, please?"

"Don't tell me, my driving turns you on Sinclair," Evie joked her gaze catching his. "You are a sick fuck." She smiled at him. "And option two sounds best to me. Fuck them all."

Even as Evie said this, the sounds out rapid gun fire caused her to slow the Dodger down. She saw two people. Fucking great. She was more then happy to let them be Zombie feed, unfortunately her conscious which could be a real pain in the ass made her slow down even more.

"Passengers?" She turned to Dom, leaving the decision to him.

"Pull over."

Dom said as he reached into the glove compartment and felt the roof of the storage area. The car came to a halt just as Dom pulled out what he was reaching for. A Glock 9mm came out of the compartment in Dom's hand with a few spare clips. He loaded one clip and stuffed the others in his pockets before stepping out of the car.

"Cover the guy on the roof, I'll cover the kid."

The zombies were everywhere, the sound of the gunfire and the roaring engine only drew more and more to the scene. Dom could see the kid had a few on his ass and raised his gun before firing off a few perspective rounds into the crowd nearing him. After he squeezed off a few rounds he waved both survivors down to him.

"MOVE YOUR ASSES!"

Evie did as Dom told her. She wasn't at all happy about this. She watched silently as he pulled out a Glock, loaded it and headed out the car. She followed suit, stepping out and pulling the Colt from the waist of her trousers.

"Be careful!" She called out after him; for some reason she found herself caring whether he lived or he died.

They were slowly getting surround. She only had six bullets. One clip. She had better use them wisely. Dom had said to cover the guy on the roof but that asshole looked like he could handle himself. And as far as she was concerned was the reason at this very moment they were surrounded by a dozen or so of the living dead.

"Watch out!" She called as one changed course from the kid to Dom and shot a single shot getting the thing in the knee. Enough to slow him down but not stop the damn thing. "We gotta get out of here. Quick!" She shouted, seeing no point in keeping a low profile now.

Harry flinched at the sound of the gunshots, eyes wide. What the hell was he shooting at? He was clean for crying out loud! Harry looked over his shoulder. For the second time, he turned cold.

"Oh shit." Well, that explained that.

Harry startled himself to move, running towards the guy who had just got out of the car, really not fancying his chances after a night of little sleep, even though he really wanted to go at them with his bat. And a bullet to the shoulder did not sound appealing. The short sprint to the car seemed to last a lifetime, the groaning of zombies spurring him on. He was not being dinner today. Harry skidded to a stop behind the guy. He took one last look back at the zombie hoard before letting himself into the car, not caring if that was the reason they had stopped or not.

"Thanks," Harry managed to say through the haze of exhaustion.

As the younger guy reached him Dom stepped forward, putting his body and bullets between the approaching horde and Evie and the kid. He popped off a couple more shots before he turned to Evie who had a walker lurking up on her back. she had just saved his ass seconds earlier with a downing shot. Dom slid over the trunk of the car before kicking the zombie in the chest, dropping it to the ground. Dom put three rounds in it's head as he pinned it to the floor with his boot before he shouted out to Evie and the teenager.

"Everybody in the car, let's go get the guy with the rifle."

Dom jumped into the driver seat as Evie hopped into the passenger seat and the kid jumped in the back. Dom hit the gas and the wheels screeched on the street. Dom revved the engine and teh car sprang to life, leaping forward like a jungle cat. He drifted teh vehicle effortlessly using the vehicle as a he did donut in the street knocking over dozens of zombies in the process. That bought them a little bit of breathing room before Dom drove the charger to the curb of the building the man on the roof was standing on top of. Dom rested the butt of his pistol on the window sill as he popped off a few more shots to slow the advancing horde.

"We don't have a lot of time, this guys gotta pick up the pace."

Dom said aloud to both Evie and the teen.

Evie slid into the passenger side. No one had to tell her twice. Her fingernails digging into the seat as Dom drove the car into the horde.

"Shit!" She cursed as Dom stopped the car. "We're waiting?!"

Turning to look out the window, that's when she saw a truck stopping in the not so far distance. Great! More fucking survivors. As far as Evie was concerned they were as bad as the zombies. Mathematically speaking, as fast as the Dodger was, the more passengers they had, the more fuel the Dodger consumed. Ergo, they were all more quickly likely to become zombie feed.

She peered in the back to the shivering kid, but said nothing before turning back to Dom.

"Shit, you're bleeding." She reached out to touch his knuckles, only realizing once she'd touched him that it wasn't his blood. Her non-existent breakfast roiled in her stomach. "That asshole better be quick, or I'm hitting the gas pedal." She warned, not at all jesting.

And she bloody well would, even if she had to do it with her hand!

Dom looked down when Evie hand grabbed his, checking for wounds that weren't there. She quickly released it when she realized the blood wasn't his. Dom clenched his fist and looked at his own knuckles as well before brushing the blood off on his jeans. He tensed his jaw as his foot itched to hit the gas. The engine growled as he revved it impatiently. He could peel out of there in seconds, his charger was a the best ten second car on the street but even it had it's limits. Dom's eyes locked onto the truck in the distance, more survivors.

If they were going to be of any help was still yet to be seen as the precious seconds ticked by while they waited for the man to get off of the roof. Easily no easy feat as he probably had to scale the exterior since the interior was probably crawling with zombies. Dom's hand gripped the steering wheel just like he'd done so many times before a race. He breathed out slowly, trying to calm the lightning in his veins. His gaze flicked up for a second into the rear view mirror and at the teen in the back..

"Hey, you ok man. You hurt?"

The horde came out of nowhere. One minute they had been sitting in some sort of peace and next the charger was being rocked.

"Fuck!" Evie hissed, as she held on.

If they were waiting for the hot shot on the roof, then they'd would just have to sit it out but she wasn't particularly hot on that idea.

"Do we have to wait?!" She questioned Dom. "I don't know about you but I'd rather live."

Just then a voice could be heard over the incessant growling.

"Is anyone injured in there?"

Evie puffed. "What kind of fucking question is that?! . . . We're fine." She called out belatedly, rather doubting the questioner of the foolish words could here her over the screeching.

Blood, guts and open mouths with sharp teeth pressed against the glass. Evie felt more pain for the paint work she knew was being clawed the shit out of.

"Your car man." She said to Dom so mournfully, it was almost humorous.

Harry looked up, momentarily distracted from spinning his bat. He shook his head, "Nah, I'm fine man, just tired 'sall."
He looked out the window, seeing how the guy on the roof was holding up. If only he had a decent gun on him, he might be of some use. Somehow, Harry didn't think a baseball bat was gonna cut it for the guy. He drew his eyes away from the man on the roof, not wanting to be a witness if things went wrong.

His gaze flickered between the two people in the front of the car. He knew nothing about them, they could be anyone. Hell, he didn't even know their names, "I'm Harry, by the way."

"Is anyone injured in there?" Harry heard a muffled voice from outside the car. He looked out the car to see a fairly pretty blonde girl standing there as if nothing was happening. The two in the front of the car seemed to be in pretty good shape. He shook his head, signalling that he, at least, was injury free.

"Fuck you. fuck you. Fuck you." He repeated, his legs up to his chest as he rocked back and forth.

He stared at the lifeless body of the little girl when he heard another groan, Jayjay's jaw clenched and he stood up, his knuckles turning white as he closed them tight.

"What do you wa-" He started to scream as he saw Alex up.
"What? But how?" He trembled.

Alex had skin decaying off her mainly around her arm, where she was bitten. Her eyes were a dead yellow and she smelled of garbage mixed with death. Jay looked away not wanting it to be true, he shook his head and through his palm up to his head multiple times. Alex turned to him, lunging herself at him the same way that the little kid did. She jumped on him and Jay held his arms up, desperately trying not to get bitten.

His bow and arrow were to the side, right next to him and the dead, little girl. With his right arm holding Alex off of him, his left arm reached out to the bow, an arrow, anything. By now Alex was growling at him, Jay grabbed the arrow plunging it deep into the skull of his best friend. He pulled it out stabbing it in repeadatly now until the body was limp and dead, he grabbed her necklace and put it around his own neck.

He heaved the body off of him wiping his sleeve across his forehead, he picked up the bow and all the arrows he could find, hoping to God that outside was a better scene than this. He raised his head, putting the last arrow in his quiver and throwing it on his back he heard more growls and gugrles.

"Even more? Really?" He mumbled to himself realising that when he screamed before it seemed to make them mad. Getting sick of this shit. He thought to himself but he knew that this was probably only the beginning. He snapped his head to the sounds but they seemed to coming in multiple directions.

Jayjay squinted his eyes making out small figures in the shadows. three little girls and at least five little boys. All Zombified. There was no way he was going to take these child zombies on with arrows, not if there was only one of him. They hadn't seen him yet but they probably heard him and his ruckus earlier. He silently cursed under his breath for not being quieter.

He was going to do this the smart way, hopefully he'd kill a few that were in the way and make his way to the shooting range, pray to God that no one in there is zombified and he's gonna grab all the guns he can find, making sure to get the silencers.

He raised his bow silently and crept his way around, One down, he scooted a little closer taking down two more. That's three down. Leaving two little girls and three little, flesh eating boys. He crept up closer... closer... He was literally metres away from the door if he just took out one more zombies he hopefully wouldn't have to worry about the others.

He took him out with ease and sprinted silently to the door, opening it. With the loudest creak ruining the silence the zombies instantly turned to look at Jay with hunger. Jay wasted no time closing the door and locking it behind him, he turned to the picture in front of him.

"Shit." He whispered as he looked at the blood trails everywhere, bodies overlapping on top of each other. Bullet holes in the head of some and bite marks on the others. On one side of the room there was the new guy who was breathing slowly, bitten around his ankle.

Slowly he went up to the guy and shook him, not quite knowing if he was still living or a zombie. Sure enough the guys eyes hadn't changed to that yellowy colour but he was starting to stink up the place, not that it didn't already smell of death. He slurred a bit but seemed to snap wide awake when he noticed Jay was standing there.

"Dead.. they are all dead." He spoke wearily, his Australian accent showing through.
"Shot em' in the head." He barely had the strength to pick up the gun next to him
"You need to stop talking." Jay said as he took the gun next to him, wiping some blood off of it.
"You have to help me mate." Jay shook his head.
"There's only one way to help you, dude. I'm sorry."

The man gripped onto Jay's sleeve as he looked him in the eyes but Jay shook him off, grabbing his bow. Making sure not to make a sound, he shot him in the head. He grabbed his arrow and walked to the station putting all the guns, attatchments and ammo he could find into a duffle bag. He found a flash light with a few batteries, not knowing if he'd use it or not he slipped that into the bag as well. He took a small first aid kit and shoved it in, he knew he'd need that one.

He went to his locker taking his keys to his bike, as he was about to shut the locker he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, grumbling to himself he ripped his nametag off. He fixed his tie and put his hand through his hair, making it as presentable as possible. Using a cloth he quickly wiped his face free from blood.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way out the door and onto his bike, He drove not knowing where or why but he just drove until he came to a place that was filled with zombies and a few cars. He backed up not wanting to interfere, he was quite cautious since he basically had no protection.

I probably shouldn't.. He thought to himself.

James Winter Monroe

I don't know how long its been since the first biters started showing up, at first only a few, but as soon as they hit the city... It didn't take long for the military to step in and start evacuating civilians. That's how I ended up in the middle of fucking no where, but not as a civilian, I escorted a convoy of trucks across the state and to a stadium. It's not looking good here, too many people and not enough supplies to keep everybody fed for more than another week or two. We've lost contact with the military and the last air drop scheduled didn't come. I fear the worst is already upon us how much longer can we pretend this place is safe?

Winter snapped his journal close, standing from the metal foldable chair that sat in front of a small table in the tent he had been assigned to. Tucking the small notebook into his back pocket he placed the pen he had been using behind one ear, rubbing his cold hands together. Even with his long sleeve shirt and thick pair of jeans, the fall air still made him shiver as he ran a hand over his head and then his eyes, rubbing the sleep away. Grabbing the heavy coat draped over the back of his chair he shouldered it on quickly and pulled up the hood as he zipped up the front.

Ducking outside through the tent's flap he squinted against the weak noon high sun that dared to peek out from behind a heavy rain cloud. It hadn't started raining yet, but the dark and forbidding skies were keen to release the water at some point. The stadium was at it's busiest, people bustling around like ants as food rations and supplies were handed out by men and women in army uniforms at tables. Beside each table stood two heavily armed guardsmen, their suspicious eyes looking out for any who may try and get doubles and also looking for any who showed signs of sickness.

Just like the many others around him, Winter searched for the shortest line, stepping in behind those who were also waiting. Feet shuffled forward slowly and people were served, though it seemed like forever, until Winter had come to the front of the line. Digging into his front pocket he pulled out his ration stamp card and slid it across the table. The woman there glanced over it and then nodded to a boy standing next to her, he disappeared for a moment and came back with an EMR package and a bottle of water, the woman stamping his card. "Next!" She called out, handing Winter back his card.

"See you later, Julia." Winter gave a charming smile as he picked up his food and water, winking as he scooted past the man next to him, stepping out of line. A shoulder bumped into his, causing his stuff to fall to the ground, the quickly walking person who had ran into him barely batting an eye as they stumbled on. "Well excuse you..." He muttered, glaring over his shoulder as he bent down to grab his stuff, brushing the dirt off. This was his last day here, fingering the keys of his truck inside of his pocket as he stuffed the food and water into his bag. Over the last few hours he had collected supplies, rations, and anything else he might need for the road.

It didn't take him long to slip by security, flashing his military badge to the guards as he walked along the asphalt and towards his truck, climbing inside without another thought. Winter shoved his keys into the ignition and twisted, the roar of the engine following shortly as he put the vehicle in gear and sped around the other cars scattered around the entrances.

The second the man was in the car Dom hit the gas. It was like the light turned green and the race was one except this time he wasn't racing for money, respect or a car. He was racing for his life and the lives of everyone in the vehicle. The tires screeched and smoke began to billow out from where the tires burnt the road before they rocketed forward. The engine was so powerful the front of the car bounced up as the car took off, running over the horde as it raced forward. The front tires touched down with a screech and they were off. The charger leaving the pick up that belonged to the blonde in the dust.

Dom slowed down a bit once they were away from the main body of the horde, allowing the other drivers to catch up. As they now drove in a single column of vehicles Dom drove towards the outskirts of the city but was careful not to go near the highway knowing that had to be blocked with people fleeing. The pick up was struggling to keep up so Dom eased a bit more off the throttle, the engine seemed to growl in protest but Dom reigned her in.

Dom flicked his eyes form the road to the rear view mirror and back again.

"You said your name was Harry, right man?"

Dom asked, recalling the teen introducing himself earlier and figured this was as good a time as any to get the introductions out of the way.

"My names Dom, this is Evie."

Dom said with a thumb at his passenger beside him who still looked pretty pissed off at the whole situation.

"What do you think the military would do, Maxy? Do you think they'd help? I don't...I think it'd end up just like World War Z...where only those who could help would be able to live..."

Max clinched his teeth, grabbed another case of bottled water, and threw it into the back of his truck. He was trying to ignore the voice in his head, push it away, but it wasn't going anywhere. Two cases, three, four...how much should he take? All of it, if he could carry it...

He wiped his forehead again, wishing it was just sweat, but he knew better. He couldn't pretend like his arm wasn't coated in anything but red. It stunk too...wasn't his blood, it was zombie blood. Disgusting, horrible, dead, decaying zombie blood. Hell, when had his life turned into this?

"What would you do, baby? If there were camps set up, would you go to them?"

Food. As much food as he could find. He grabbed one of the bags off the display on the wall and packed up. Anything with protien, anything with sustenance. Anything easy to survive off of...as much as he could take. There it went, in the back of his truck. He paused for a moment, hands clinching around the hoe laying there, and listened.

Silence.

"Would you look for me first?"

He closed his eyes tightly, fighting off the tears, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, spinning the ring around on his left hand. He wasn't going to cry. He refused. He was not going to break down.

After a few deep breaths, Max stood up and went back inside, pulling down another bag and filling it with anything he could get his hands on. Meds--everything in the pharmacy aisle, anything in the camping aisle, any first aide, flashlights, ropes, everything...

He threw the second bag in the back of his truck too and sighed as he finally closed everything up. Taking his bloody, beaten hoe with him, he got behind the wheel and dropped his head back.

"Wake up, Maxwell," he muttered to himself. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes tightly, counted to ten, and opened them again slowly.

Just to be met with the same damn picture.

Empty cars. Tossed over trashcans. Fallen belongings.

But no people.

It was real. Making peace with that fact, he leaned froward and began twisting the dials on the radio. Looking for something...anything...but there was nothing. Nothing his shitty little radio could pick up anyway.

"Maxy...baby...would you look for me?"

Max slammed his fist into the steering wheel. Once. Twice. Anything just to get his anger out for a moment. Then, finally, he started up the truck, made up his mind, and did the stupidest thing he had done all damn day.

Drove straight into the heart of the damn city.

"I'm gunna try, baby." He muttered to himself, to the voice in his head, to what may already be a memory. "I'm gunna try..."