Outbreak

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Summer had already passed this year and autumn was well and truly there to stay. Not that it mattered, this town only seemed to have rain, or slightly less rain as weather anyway. It was big news when they got a dry spell, meaning everyone seemed to take it as a sign to wear as little clothing as possible to get a little colour in their pale skin. Kitty Stein was one of those very people, though she saw little point to it. It would takes a solid week of warm weather just to get her particular skin to white. She had lived in this town her whole life and had accepted the fact she would never have the golden tan all the magazines advertised. The magazines were always trying to persuade young women like herself to try the latest self tanner, or skin smoothing face cream. She personally didn't put much stock in them, and she didn't have the money for them either. A waitresses wage, even when coupled with that of an occasional bar tender, barely covered her living expenses. The only people with money in this town worked at the factory that packaged the very creams women all over the country bought by the case. 
It was 7pm and Kitty was running late for work. She was jogging across town from her job at the restaurant to get to the bar to earn a few hours extra pay. Slender fingers were running through her plum coloured hair as she went, loosening out the bouncing curls that had been tied back all day. She stopped moving only long enough to apply black kohl to her pale grey eyes right there in the street before moving on again. Kitty was in such a hurry she didn't even hear the sound of someone falling into a row of trashcans a few feet away. by 7:15 the young woman had burst through the back door of the bar, somewhat breathless.

Kitty was on Shannon in an instant, grabbing a handful of her hair and jerking her head back, the sharp knife pressed to the other woman's tender throat. "You better be lying, you cheap little whore!" She wailed.

"Serves you right!" Shannon said again, grabbing for Kitty's hair. She had a handful of it in a moment, her bloodied fingers wrapping tightly around the silken strands. "This is all your fault! It's been your fault from the very beginning! You and your whore friend tempted my brother! We brought him here to get away from that! It was your fault! This is your punishment!"

"Gracie did nothing wrong!" Kitty screeched. "She was a sweet kid who couldn't even bring herself to kill a spider! She didn't deserve what your monster brother did to her!" It was odd, but Kit didn't seem to be denying that she had been the one to leave Winston in this mess.

"She did it to him not the other way around." Shannon hissed, trying hard to pull Kitty's hair out of her head. "She was a whore! Just ask Jack! He knew! The whole town knew!"

"Enough!" Jack finally roared, grabbing each woman by her slender throat. "We do not have time for this bullshit! Take a look around you, ladies, and I use that term very loosely. This place has gone to hell, literally. Are you really going to stand her screaming about which of you is the bigger bitch?"

Shannon looked toward Jack, her eyes filled with despair. "My brother..." She whispered. She didn't say anything else. He was right. Things were going to hell. She could kill Kity later.

Jack gave Shannon a solemn nod. "I know. You can have your retribution, just not here. If we linger any longer, none of us will make it out."

Shannon nodded, glad when he sat her down on her own two feet. She stepped away from Kitty and Jack, now staring down at her brother's head. What she saw nearly sent her screaming in the other direction. Winston's eyes were open and his mouth was moving. Though he had no body to get him where he was going, he was trying to get closer to her. His teeth were snapping together. He was trying to bite at her.

Jack was quick to kick the head far away from Shannon. He didn't care what she may think, he wasn't losing anyone else to whatever this infection was. "Come on." He took her hand and firmly pulled his lover and deputy in the direction Ark had pointed out to kitty as the exit.

Shannon was quiet for some time as they headed toward the exit. She didn't even turn to see if Kitty had followed them. She had shut down somewhat. If Jack cared, he would probably find it rather strange that she wasn't even trying to make snide remarks about him.

Jack was focused on getting them out alive. He had told Shannon she would have justice for what they both believed kitty had done to Winston, but at the same time he believed he needed punishing himself for failing Grace. Neither of them stopped to think that Kitty didn't have a weapon that could sever Winston's head the way it had been.

Shannon kept her silence until they were out in the garage. She was more than a little frustrated at the sight of all the disabled cars that smoldered in front of them. She was so sure this was going to be their easy way out of the town. "Damn it." She muttered, shoving her fingers through her hair. "You have got to be kidding me." 

Ark again found Kitty. She was still where he left her. "I thought I told you to leave." He said gruffly, shaking his head. "You're determined to die, aren't you?" He clicked his tongue. "And there I thought there was more to you than that."

"It's still fine, we can get out on foot." Jack assured Shannon, as he too ran his fingers through his hair. "It may even be better, easier, to go unnoticed." He was murmuring, trying to make sense of their entire situation.

"My best friend is dead." Kitty whispered without looking up at Ark. "Sorry if I'm not as fucking cold hearted as you!" She added, her slender fists balling up where they had been resting against her knees.

"Who cares if we go unnoticed if we had one of the trucks to use as a battering ram!" Shannon hissed, her mood having gone very sour. "Someone did this on purpose and I'll bet it was Kitty. She's probably trying to make sure we die too." She kicked one of the tires trying to work through another outburst before she lost her temper yet again. She'd never been too good at controlling herself. 

"Your friend was sick. I heard it on the phone. You knew it too and you chose to ignore it." Ark said as he moved closer to Kitty and scooped her into his arms. He didn't bother to ask if she wanted him to or not. "There is nothing that can be done about it now. She wouldn't want you to die here. Would she?"

"Kitty might be as lot of things, but I seriously doubt she was wishing herself dead. That's exactly what she'll be on her own with no transport or weapon." Jack pointed out as he moved up the row of destroyed patrol cars.

Grace would be the first to tell Ark that treating Kitty like some helpless damsel was not a wise course of action. As it stood, the young woman didn't seem to protest him manhandling her, her grey eyes seemed heavy with fatigue, or perhaps it was the realisation that Grace was truly gone finally setting in. "I wasn't ignoring it, I was going to get her to the hospital!"

Shannon didn't follow him. She was busy staring at the truck that was smoldering away in front of her. "I don't know why you're defending her." She muttered. "And don't give me a bullshit story about guilt over Grace either..." She would have said more if it had not been for the gunshot that pinged the metal right next to her head. 

"You really think that would have helped." Ark chuckled. Even his tone sound cruel and harsh. "You really haven't been paying attention the last few days. Have you, my dear?"

Ever the hero, Jack was quick to pull Shannon behind him and against the cover of the smouldering wreck. "You sure ow how to attract attention, don't you?" He growled.

Kitty struggled free of Ark's powerful arms and slapped him harshly. "I don't give a shit what's going on! Keeping Gracie safe was my only task! And I failed!"