Eastbound

[Messiah]

First thing's first. Credit goes to Bosch for creating the original roleplay, Haven (now renamed Live Together or Die Alone).

This is meant to be a spin-off of sorts of the original roleplay. This story is meant to detail the exploits of Chris and Amber Kinney, siblings to Ben Kinney - my character in the original roleplay. The link to his profile is here.

I would advise at least reading Ben's background to get some history. I will be including some background on these two characters throughout, but reading some background on Ben would be a good place to start.

As for this story, I plan to present it chapter by chapter. Once I have a chapter finished and to my satisfaction, I will post it here as a continuation from this prologue. I don't know how long individual chapters are going to be, but they will likely be longer than the prologue, as it's only real purpose is to set the scene.

Just as a note, I am still a participant in the Haven roleplay, as of writing this. When it's time to write for the roleplay itself, that's where my attention will be going. I will be writing for this when I have downtime, so just be prepared.

As a warning, this story will contain adult content, likely including descriptions of violence and gore, language, and some sexual content (while abiding by site rules, of course). If you are offended by any of that, then this might not be the right thing for you.

I welcome any feedback, whether it be from random passersby or from people who are part of the roleplay itself. I hope you all enjoy.

So, without further adieu, I present to you...

Eastbound

Prologue: Genesis

August 2013

"Yeah! I'd love to!" the young girl said into her phone, grinning, "Okay. See you soon!" And then she hung up, turning to her friend sitting next to her. "Chris is taking me to lunch," she announced, beaming.

"Can I come? I haven't gotten a chance to meet him yet," the other girl asked, smiling hopefully.

"Come on, Rachel. I haven't gotten to see him in months, and you're asking to come along? I just want to have a nice lunch with my brother before you start ogling him."

"Oh, Amber. That hurts. You have such low expectations for me," Rachel teased.

"I know you."

"Fiiiine," Rachel sighed exasperatedly, "But you have to let me meet him sometime."

"Oh, I will. Just not this time."

A few minutes later, a silver four-door Toyota Tacoma with a canopy rolled up in front of the girls. Amber stood up and waved to Rachel, "Bye!"

Rachel waved back, smiling, "See you later. Text me."

"I will!"
______

"How has school been going?" Chris asked his sister, sitting across from her in a burger joint.

"Good! I got a 4.0 in all of my classes last semester."

Chris smiled. That made sense. Amber had always been the overachiever among them. He himself had always been the troublemaker of the family, spending his days in high school drinking and smoking pot with friends. Not that he wasn't smart, he just preferred to party and play sports. It's strange that he ended up joining the Marines after high school. It was partly at the urging of his father, but it also was a little bit of him. It was his need to take on a little bit more responsibility in his life.

Ben was smart, he really was, but he preferred to spend his time around his friends and playing video games. His older brother always chastised him for it, but he was always the first to defend Ben when people would pick on him, often leading to some kind of reprimand, and lending to Chris' reputation as a troublemaker.

But, Amber. She was something else. Smart, outgoing, and really likeable. Most people that knew her liked her, and she made honest attempts to make friends with most people, especially people who didn't have many friends, and even people who were mean. Chris was a soldier, but Amber was real the peacemaker among them.

"What classes were you taking?"

"Oh, you know. Just basic stuff. English, math, history. You only get basic stuff your first two years," Amber replied, picking up a fry from her plate and putting it into her mouth.
______

It was a few days before Ben's birthday. Her brother was in England now. He had asked for their parents' help to pay to go several times before, and when they finally agreed, it came with a caveat; he would have to finish college first. As much as Ben liked to procrastinate as much as he could, Amber was a little bit surprised that he actually managed to finish. That was probably the hardest she'd seen him work in a while. She was actually a little jealous and maybe even a little resentful that he got to go overseas and she didn't. She worked the hardest to keep up her grades and probably deserved a break more than Ben did.

Oh well.

Amber was sitting on her bed, reading a copy of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, and she could hear music going on in the background, and Rachel was singing along.

"When you're left and think I'm gone, I'm gonna drop the Ex Bomb..."

How could she listen to that junk?

She set down her book and opened the door to her room and into the main room where Rachel was sitting in front of her computer and doing a dance with her butt in the chair. The TV was on in front of the couch.

"Is my singing bothering you?" she asked.

"Well, no. It's more the song," Amber replied, turning slowly towards the TV.

"How can you not like it? It's--"

"I know who it is." Amber's attention was squarely on the television now, her brows furrowing.

"Then, how--" Rachel finally noticed that Amber wasn't paying attention to her and turned down the volume on her music and joined Amber as they watched the TV.

"...appears to be some kind of disease," the news anchor, a red-haired woman in her 40's was saying, "Reports of incidents are coming in from across the country in which hundreds have already been confirmed dead." The woman then put a finger to her ear, "I'm being told we're being brought to Diane Cooper, who is live at Harborview Medical Center."

"Thank you, Lisa. I'm here at Harborview Medical Center where Seattle police have blockaded off the area as reports of sick patients attacking staff and other patients are coming in."

A gunshot rang out in the background, causing Diane to turn around and look quickly, but it didn't appear to be from any of the police at the barricade.

"Diane," Lisa cut in, "Do you know anything about what's causing this?"

"No. All we know is that people suffering from the disease are attacking. We haven't been told if this is some form of Rabies, or what."

In the background, someone shouted, "Get back!" And more gunshots sounded out.

Diane turned around to see what the commotion was about. The camera zoomed in as a group of people emerged out of the entrance to the hospital, looking rather feral and aggressive. Their hands and their mouths were covered in blood. After a brief pause, they began sprinting towards the blockade. The police at the blockade raised their weapons and voiced a warning.

"Stop or we'll shoot!" one of them shouted.

The group didn't stop. They just ran straight at the blockade. The police fired, bullets ripping into the torsos of the sick, but even that didn't stop them. In a matter of seconds, the group had gotten over the barricade, with the ones at the front pouncing on top of the police officers.

"Oh my god..." Diane said incredulously, staring at the scene as the others ran towards them. The view got more distant, as if the cameraman were backing away. However, the field correspondent, Diane Cooper, had yet to move.

Diane turned back towards the camera, her face panic-stricken. The cameraman didn't bother going back for her, instead swinging the camera around and running in the other direction. After that, the next thing they heard was a woman's scream.

And then, several seconds later, the camera fell to the ground. The last thing that was heard before it cut back to Lisa was another scream, this time from the cameraman, no doubt, and the sickening ripping and tearing of flesh.

Lisa looked pale and completely at a loss for words when it cut back to her.

"I... don't know what to say," she said quietly. "We'll stay on the air as long as we can, to keep you all up to date."