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 didn't like this one bit. She took the assumption that Grace had taken a knock to the head, and it wasn't what her gut was telling her. It couldn't be whatever happened to john and Terry... She could let it be that. "Come on, you can explain all this to jack."

"I'm afraid he's going to be mad." Grace said, once again having to snap herself out of something else. "You know how he is about his job. What if he thinks the baby is taking him away from that? Maybe...no. I'm not going to tell him."

"Grace, even I have to admit he would kind of notice when you actually gave birth." Kitty snorted as she dragged Grace along.

Grace turned to her friend once again, looking rather confused. "He's going to hate me isn't he? Something is going to go wrong and he's going to blame me." She didn't know why but she was sure of it. "He won't want the baby. It'll be just us..." She paused, smiling to herself. "That won't be too bad. Me and you and a baby. Someone else to help us get into trouble. Sounds like fun." 
It wasn't long before they'd reached the sheriff's station. It didn't seem to bother Grace a bit that the front doors were barricaded and several people were shouting and cursing to get in. Not to mention the people already lying dead in the streets.

It bothered kitty. The darker haired woman pressed a hand to her friends smooth belly to keep her from stepping round her. "Not this way." She breathed, keeping a watchful eye on the bodies lying in the gutter. "We need to find another way in that won't draw attention from anyone out here."

"I'm still hungry, Kitty." Grace told her, trying to keep her voice down. Though she was trying the sheer panic of it was making her tone fairly loud. "I just need a bite. That's all and the. We can go."

Inside things were hardly better. Shannon's brother had indeed been in the morgue and he had left the doors wide open. The dead were spilling in from beneath the building and heading toward the stairway, leaving the remaining deptuies trapped in a stairwell, screaming for help.

Kitty didn't think what she was doing when she clamped a hand over Grace's mouth. "You can eat real soon, just not out here, okay? I'll get you into Jack's office, and you can eat then."

Jack heard the screams and unlocked his desk for his back up gun. He didn't expect to find many survivors, not with the panic in those screams. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew the kind of animals humans were, and they would trample one another to save their own hides.

Grace nodded, a single tear sliding down her cheek. She knew what was happening. Deep down she knew. She was horrified to realize she wanted to take a bite out of her friend's hand. It took an enormous amount of effort just to keep her lips closed. Eat. In Jack's office. Wait. Wait....

Shannon was trying her best to get herself into the stairwell. The other deputies had left her locked in the basement floor below them. They didn't seem to care that she had very little ammo left. They had damn near trampled her to get there. Angrily she kicked at the wooden door, cursing that she was going to kill them herself when she got it open.

If Jack happened to look down into the street right then, he would see Kitty helping Grace up the fire escape from the dumpster she had pushed closer to the ladder.

The door would kick open right in Shannon's face and send her sprawling backwards. Despite the dire situation, Jack howled with laughter.

Grace tumbled into Jack's office, barely able to focus anymore. Her memories were bleeding together and she was forgetting why they were even there. "Do you think he'll be happy to see me?" She asked as she helped Kitty into the room with her. "Do you think he'll be happy about the baby?" 

Shannon wasn't laughing. She hated being humiliated. She got to her feet quickly and brushed herself off, glaring at Jack. "I could have opened that door." She snapped. "You're such a pig."

"I think the only time Jack is happy is when he's in close proximity to mirror." Kitty muttered as she began ransacking the room for anything she could use to make sure Grace remained safe.

"Oh yeah? Do you even know how long I was listening to you curse at the door before I kicked it?" Jack snorted.

Grace seated herself in the chair that faced Jack's desk and shivered violently. Her stomach was growling loudly and she was beginning to sweat in the icy room. It wouldn't be too much longer now. 

"I saw Winston down here." Shannon said, turning away from him to glance toward the morgue. An old woman in a tattered gown saw them looking in her direction and moaned loudly, beginning to shuffle toward them.

"Gracie, I..." Kitty stopped talking when she realised she still had the card Ark had given her. "I need to make a call, and while I do it, I need you to stay right here, okay?"

Jack instinctively pushed Shannon behind him. "If he's down here... He ain't making much noise." Jack growled as he backed them up.

"Okay." Grace nodded slowly, looking out the window dreamily. "I think it's a girl. I want to name her after you. Is that okay? I don't care what Jack thinks. He'll get over it..." Though she didn't realize it, her nails were digging into the wood of the arms of the chair, all but ripping them from the nail beds. 

The old woman certainly was. The closer she got she began to snarl, reaching out for Jack and bearing her teeth. Shannon wisely stayed behind him, reaching for her own weapon. "What the hell is going on?" She hissed. "Ms. McCready has been dead for days..."

"I can't stand being called Katheryn, don't do it to some poor..." Kitty shook her head when she realised she was taking part in Grace's delusion. The other woman had picked the phone up off the cradle and was dialling Ark's number.

"Smells like she's still dead." Jack confirmed. "Just get up the stairs, I'll handle this."

"I thought you said you wouldn't be calling me." Ark mused, his voice nothing more than a rumbling purr as he answered her call. "Does this mean you made it out of the city? Smart girl." 

"I can handle myself." Shannon snapped. She move to try and do anything about the moaning woman, but she didn't leave him there alone either.

Kitty swallowed, trying not to be affected by the sound of that voice. "Define... 'Out of'?" She breathed, Unaware of now her own once had changed somewhat.

"Dammit! We need to find the survivors and get the hell out of here!" Jack snapped, foolishly tearing his gaze from the dead woman to glare at Shannon.

There was an audible sigh on the other end of the line. "Why aren't you gone? Your window has an hour to close. Your local heroes are being taken over from the inside out. They've made sure of it. There's no protection from them anymore. Where are you? If you are lucky I might be close enough to help you." Ark said softly, his voice extremely gentle. "Unless...that's not why you're calling me..." 

"Jack, you moron!" Shannon hissed. She shoved him aside moments before Ms. McCready could sink her teeth into his arm. She managed to kick the elderly woman in the stomach, knocking her down. It didn't keep her off her feet for long however. Less than a second later she was back on her feet and grabbing for the well endowed woman in front of her, managing to get ahold of her shirt front.

Kitty couldn't help the smirk she wore now. "What? You think I'm calling to ask what you're wearing?" She chuckled.

Jack fired a single shot between the undead woman's eyes, the blood splattering over Shannon's own face before her shirt was released, though now it was somewhat torn.

"A guy can hope, can't he?" Ark chuckled. "Seriously, Kitty. What can I help you with? The time is growing short and I hate to sound like an ass but I'm a very busy man." 
Grace was still digging her nails into the chair she sat in, moaning softly. She was so very hungry and no one was bothering to give her anything to eat. She was on the verge of taking care of that problem herself. 

Shannon stood where she was for several minutes, blinking in shock. It was one thing to shoot someone who was climb through a window and hurt them but an elderly woman... Never mind the fact that she was already dead.  It was almost too much for her brain to process.
"What the hell is going on around here?" She muttered finally, regaining herself as she forced her brain to concern itself with makeup and the torn shirt.

Kitty's whole mood changed and she was now frowning slightly. "Well then, don't let me keep you, mr. Self importance!" She snapped, slamming the phone down. She was so annoyed that she didn't even realise that she had missed the cradle and the phone now simply sat in the desk, the call still connected. "Gracie?" She didn't like the rather glazed look in her friends eyes as she crouched down in front of her.

"You really think I have an answer to that?" Jack hissed as he dragged Shannon along with him. "It could be an infection of some kind, given how John and Terry were infected so soon after contact with each other. No, but then... How did John get it?" Jack was merely thinking out loud now.

Grace's eyes snapped to Kitty's face and she barely registered she was there. "The baby is hungry and I have nothing to feed it." She said softly, her lips trembling. "We're going to starve and you keep lying to me. You won't even try to help. You want to kill me just like Winston did..." 

"John was bitten. Terry and I both saw the bite." Shannon said, stumbling to keep up with Jack's wide strides. She was practically having to run to do it. "It has to be something like that. But this is something out of a movie. Shit like this doesn't really happen!"

"Gracie, you need to snap out of this. There is no baby, remember? There was an accident." Kitty breathed, her hands now resting on Grace's knees. "I need to you to hold on a little longer. If I don't find Jack soon, I'm getting you to the hospital."

Jack was nodding. "Which would mean Terry had to have been bitten too, right?" Jack asked.

"An accident?" Grace looked at Kitty with horrified eyes that were no longer their usual bright green. "I don't remember that. Kitty, I have to tell Jack about the baby. I can't keep hiding it because I'm afraid of what he'll say. So let's just eat something until he gets here. Stop trying to distract me!" 

"Oh that's right. I haven't seen you since then. Some dip shit attacked us while we were loading John's body onto the meat wagon. Bit Terry on the side. I took him to the hospital in my car and he wouldn't let me wait with him." Shannon said, gritting her teeth as Jack yanked her up the steps and past the other deputies. He loved to make a fool of her. "What about Winston? I can't leave him down there!"

Kitty sighed heavily, her lack of sleeping catching up to her. "How about you stay here, and... Eat, and I'll bring jack to you?" She suggested.

"He's a big boy." Jack muttered. "You really think he's out there worrying about you?"

Grace's lip curled and she snarled at Kitty. The moment she realized what she'd done her face crumbled and she dissolved into tears. "I'm so sorry. I'm just to cold and hungry. I'm so sorry, Kitty. I've gotten us in trouble again. Jack is going to blame this on you. I'm so sorry..." 

"No more than you, I'm sure." Shannon snapped. "He's my little brother, damn it. I've been looking out for him since we were little. I can't just leave him in this mess! I'm not the bitch you think I am!"

Kitty pulled Grace into her arms and hugged her tightly, unwisely bringing the other woman's face close to the neck. "You know I don't care what I get blamed for. You've done nothing wrong, anyway."

"I'm saying the kid needs to learn to dig his way out of his own shit!" Jack hissed. "All you, your whole family, ever do is hide that assholes mess!"

Grace recognized her feelings, just like she saw the flash of something just outside the window. She pushed Kitty away from her, shaking her head. "Get Jack. I need to tell him about the baby and I...I need to say goodbye." 

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Shannon growled back, trying to yank her arm free as they neared Jack's office. "You don't know anything about my brother! Don't start pretending you do!"

Kitty sighed again and ran her fingers through the waves of her plum coloured hair. She knew she wasn't going to get any sense out of Grace without Jack around. It was unfortunate that Jack and Shannon reached his office just as Kitty had left and rounded the opposite corner in search of him.

Grace's head snapped up as Jack opened the door to his office. She'd been looking out the window, holding up a single finger as if signaling for something. 
The moment Shannon saw her she snorted loudly. "Oh this is just great. Poor helpless Grace. The hero sheriff is here to save you now." She snapped, finally managing to get her arm free. "We'll make sure what you care about is all well and good. Because that's what matters. Wonder where her partner in whoredom has gotten off to." 
"I'm pregnant." Grace said softly, though she didn't look back at them. "I've been afraid to tell you with everything going on. Judge Athens is making things so hard on you...Please, Jack. Don't be mad. It will be okay..." 
"What?" Shannon's eyes went from Jack to Grace and then back again. He hadn't been near her in over a year. How could that be? Her father would have had his balls for it. There was no way...