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.

"Babe, I don't hold myself over anyone, I'm not that stupid." Jack snorted. "You're the one who thinks you're better than every other woman in town."

"It will be, because we're leaving town." Kitty pointed out firmly. "You die on me, and I'll find your ghost and kick it's ass!"

"That's because I am." Shannon said, giving him an icy glare with her cinnamon colored eyes as she seated herself in the chair across from his desk. "Now, we need to spend some time trying to come up with a plan on getting out of this town. It's going to hell faster than usual in case you haven't realized." 

Grace laughed at this and nodded her head. "I believe that completely. And that's what honestly scares me. You won't even rest when you're dead, will you?" She asked, holding out her hand for her friend. "I've packed us some food so we'll be good for awhile. I know you hate ramen noodles but they'll last longer than anything else in the cabinet."

"Like you even care." Jack snorted, again running his fingers through his hair. "I saw a guy outside, definite wasn't a civilian, makes me wonder if were already under quarantine, and we don't even know it."

Kitty smiled sadly and shook her head. "I don't know how to die." She told Grace, patting her on the shoulder before heading back into the living room.

"Quarantine from what?" Shannon asked, frowning deeply as she shook her head. "What the hell is going on here. Don't tell me Kitty and Grace did something so bad the government is involved. Neither of them is smart enough for that. And have you tried calling my father. I haven't been able to get a hold of him all day. Winston either." 

"That's depressing. That means you'll never rest." Grace said as she handed her the smaller of the sacks she'd packed. "You know we really should have bought a car last year instead of saving that money. It would have helped us right now."

Jack was oddly quiet, and for once not looking at Shannon. What was he supposed to tell her? There was another sigh and he ran his fingers through his hair again. "Did you read the report on what happened to big John last night?"

Kitty smiled, but there was no real joy in it. "The way things are out there, we could take a jag from someone's driveway and they wouldn't care."

"It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me." Shannon said as she smoothed the wrinkles down her pants. "I mean he was having an obvious heart attack and Grace didn't even try to check on him. He probably had another right there in front of both of you and she over reacted. And then add trigger happy Kitty to the mix. I can see how things got out of hand. It's not like John is the first person she's murdered anyway. What's your point?" 

"We're not stealing someone's car, Kitty." Grace said firmly. "We're in enough trouble. I can just see Jack's face if we pulled up in out neighbor's Jag!"

"Okay, so let's say that it was a heart attack, Jerry was the one who took John's body away, and then this afternoon he showed up at the lake. Apparently he was acting the samecway, until some asshole snapped his neck. Three guesses who the guy was there with?"

"Then quit bitching about us not having a car!" Kitty snapped before she could help it.

"You're kidding." Shannon frowned deeply at this, her attention fully on Jack now. "So she knew him? And...Terry was sick? He was fine when I saw him earlier. A little cranky maybe and pissed off that he'd missed the late show but not sick." 

Grace cringed at the tone to Kitty's voice and kept quiet. They had been walking a long way when the lighter haired woman began to get sick to her stomach. She wasn't sure what was wrong but for some reason she no longer felt like herself.

Jack nodded his head. "They claimed he was acting strange and then lunged at them." He confirmed. "Kitty had stabbed him before that stranger snapped his neck. I don't know what to believe. I just felt it best to get Grave out of there, let Kitty deal with the problem she causes."

Kitty hadn't said much of anything either. Even with her jacket on she could feel the chill in the air now. The weather had seemed to cool the moment the town went to hell.

Shannon couldn't help but roll her eyes at this. Everything Jack said or did revolved around Grace. That had never changed and probably never would. "Well where is she now?" She asked after a few moments, taking great pains to stare at her perfectly manicured nails. 

"Kitty...we need to stop a minute." Grace said softly. She barely caught herself before she stumbled. She leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees and dry heaved a few times. "The air smells a bit funny...doesn't it?" She asked, trying to shake her head to clear it.

"She ran off when that jackass from the lake, and kitty, showed up." Jack replied, though didn't elaborate. "Probably went running home like a good puppy." He added with a snort.

Kitty paused and seemed to be inhaling the air before frowning. "Still smells like the same shithole town, Grace." She replied at last.

"Wouldn't that just make your pants tight?" Shannon hissed, shoving to her feet and reaching across the desk for his phone. "I asked about my father and all you want to do is talk about a couple of whores. Screw you. I'll call him myself. Maybe he'll answer when he sees a call from you. Everyone likes to kiss your ass. Don't they?" 

Grace squeezed her eyes closed. Kitty had a cut on her arm and she could smell the blood. She didn't know how. She hadn't even seen her cut herself. But she knew it was there. It was making her stomach churn. And yet...
"We need to hurry and get to Jack." She said after a moment, pushing to standing almost desperately. "We're running out of time."

"You would know, babe." Jack sneered, grabbing Shannon's chin and kissing her full lips roughly.

"God! All you ever think about is that asshole!" Kitty finally exploded, much like Shannon had. "Don't you get it? He dumped you, Grace! Then he replaced you with that vapid deputy who likes nothing more than to have men stare at her breasts!"

"You're such a pig." Shannon hissed, shoving his face away as she pulled the phone back to her chair with her and began to dial her father's number. "Did little Gracie put up with that shit? You're just lucky I..." She stopped speaking, making it clear she too needed to be careful what she said around her father. 

"He told me he keeps her because he wants to keep his job. It's not because he really wants her." Grace told Kitty, stumbling somewhat as she tried to get her vision to focus. It wasn't working too well and it almost felt like she was drunk.

Jack leaned back in his seat once more and fixed his bright blue gaze in Shannon as she addressed her father. He wanted to push her buttons so badly, and he didn't know why. Something about Shannon seemed to bring out the monster in him, and he couldn't explain it.

"You let me guess, you just accepted that line of bullshit?" Kitty asked. "Grace, didn't I teach you better than that? The man is a pig, and that's an insult to pigs!"

"Daddy." Shannon's smile was sickening. It even disgusted her. "I'm so glad you're safe. Oh yes. We are too. We are leaving the city now...You heard...Where are you...." She paused to listen to him every so often, the deepening frown all but telling Jack that her father had slunk away from this mess long before it began. "And Winston...Is he...Okay...I'll find him before we leave...I love you too Daddy. See you soon." 

"We've known Jack as long as we've been alive practically. He wouldn't lie." Grace said softly, shaking her head again. "I need to eat something, Kitty. I'm getting a bit light headed. Aren't you hungry?"

Jack hated the fact that seeing Shannon switch in the sickening sweetness like that did indeed, as she had said, make his pants tight. He loved her duplicity as much as he loved the feel of her silky skin. "Let me guess... Daddy didn't wait for his princess?"

"Just because we ate dirt together as kids, doesn't mean we owe the son of a bitch anything." Kitty warned. "You can eat when we get out of town, we don't have time right now." She insisted, the warning Ark had given her still fresh in her mind.

"Why would he?" Shannon asked, keeping her smile as she slammed the old phone down into it's cradle. "I'm your problem now, big boy." She purred, dropping the phone onto his desk. "We need to locate Winston before we leave town. That snake is probable in the morgue trying to screw dead old ladies. I'll go get him. You do whatever sheriff shit you do..." She said, waving her hand at him as she turned to leave. 

"I said I'm hungry!" Grace roared, her voice echoing in the silent street. "I'm going to eat something and I'm going to do it now!"

Jack was smirking, not telling Shannon that her already I'll fitted shirt was now buttoned up wrong. "Have fun with all the stiffs."

Kitty stared at Grace, not quite sure what to think. "Then by all means, whip out a kettle and make ramen here in the middle of street." She finally told the other woman calmly.

"I'll have more fun than I would your stiff." Shannon snorted, shaking her head as she headed toward the door. "See you later, dear." She added, slamming the door behind her. 

Grace had decided ramen noodles wasn't good enough. She was looking around for somewhere that sold meat, hoping to find a place that was still open.

"Come on..." Kitty grabbed for Grace's hand and began pulling her along. "You want to see your boyfriend? We don't have to be just standing here thinking about food!"

For the moment Kitty won the fight though Grace was beginning to become a little heavy footed. She wasn't walking as quickly as she was before. Now she was dragging her feet and stopping to stare at people they were passing. Her stomach was growling loudly and more than once she pulled away to dry heavy off the curb.

"Grace, are you feeling..." Kitty reached out to feel Grace's head and quickly pulled her hand away. The younger woman was cold and clammy feeling... Just like John and Terry.

"We have to get to..." All at once Grace found herself unable to remember where they were going or why. All she knew was that she was hungry and the person in front of her was keeping her from getting what she wanted.

"Gracie?" Kitty breathed again, really not liking the way the other woman was looking at her. "Come on, jack is waiting..." She added nervously.

Grace seemed to snap out of it and smiled at Kitty. "It's about time I told him about the baby." She said in an almost dreamy tone. "I can't keep waiting for his birthday to come around. I'll be ready to pop by then." She laughed, linking arms with her best friend.

Kitty wasn't sure she had just heard that. For a moment she let Grace pull her along, and dug her heels in. "Wait! Wait,wait... Wait!" She hissed. "What baby?"

"You really think if you had told me, I'd have waited even half a second to get both those assholes away from at the bar and the lake?" Kitty insisted.

Grace looked confused at Kitty's words. It was becoming obvious she wasn't in the same moment her friend was. "We'll have to push up the wedding I think. Maybe in a month or so so that I don't start showing..." She paused, watching a woman limping past them with a strange expression.