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 actually grinning as they walked away. "Wow, that's was pretty catty, for you." She mused as she slid an arm around her friend. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."

Grace returned the motion, a smile on her lips that threatened to turn into another round of tears. "I should have let you hit her. I wanted to see her bleed." She muttered. "I was serious about breakfast though. I'm starving and I really need to stab something with a fork."

Kitty laughed and shook her head. "Have I told you how weird you are today?" She teased as they walked. "Maybe we should go to the lake anyway, and find you someone to help you forget that asshole jack once and for all!"

"Sounds good. Maybe not getting another man but the lake sounds like fun." Grace said as they headed toward the apartment they shared. "At least all my stuff is still where I left it this time." She sighed.

"Alright, we'll get you a girl then." Kitty teased as they shut the apartment door behind them.

The lake wasn't nearly as full as Grace would have thought. It seemed like even with the warmer Autumn weather most of the town folk had chosen to stay home. Most of the people there were tourists traveling from the other side of the lake and the bigger town of Riverview. She didn't even see any of the factory workers who'd told her they were coming today. The realization left her with an odd feeling in her stomach.

Kitty either didn't notice, or simply didn't care. She was wearing a dark pair of cat eye sunglasses which made it even more difficult to judge both her mood and what she was thinking. The sun felt nice and for once it was a welcome change from the rain they had simply grown used to.

Grace fell asleep on the beach towel beside her friend. The events of the night before had gotten the better of her and she had had a lot of trouble holding her eyes open. It was because of this that she missed the sight of a strange black helicopter hovering over the lake for a moment and then heading toward the factory.

Once again kitty wasn't asleep, mand lowered her sunglasses to the tip of her pert nose as she watched the strange helicopter. The dark haired girl was somewhat of a conspiracy nut, and this was like gold dust to her imagination. Kitty pulled her shorts on and moved closer to the water to try and get a better look.

"Looks like a government helicopter, doesn't it?" A tall well built man stood next to Kitty, adjusting his dark sunglasses. He looked almost out of place in a pair of rugged jeans and no shirt.

Kitty replaced her sunglasses, then looked up at the man who had seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I really wouldn't know what a government helicopter looks like." She replied coolly, despite it being far from the truth.

"That's odd. I would have thought you'd pay more attention to things like that." The man snorted, running a hand through dark hair. "Guess you're not as interesting as I thought you were." He added with shrugg, turning to leave.

"Why would you make the assumption I was interesting?" Kitty asked his retreating back.

The well built man stopped where he was, a half smile on his lips. "You don't look like all the other people in this town. The rest of them look like they walked right out of the step ford wives. You actually have character. Are you trying to tell me I'm wrong?"

"You're saying you don't think I have a perfect home with a perfect husband waiting for me?" Kitty asked, mirroring the half smile the stranger wore. She was well aware he wasn't from their town, else he would know exactly who she was.

"Your sleeping friend over there is more likely to have those things." The man mused. "I don't think you've found the perfect man yet." He told her, still wearing his smile. "You look like you're still having fun." He moved back toward her, a business card appearing in his fingers. "Call me if you're interested..."

Kitty didn't know whether to be offended or flattered, however she did take the card and tucked it in the back pocket of her shorts. "If that's what you think, then I guess I need to work on my look, huh?" She asked, lowering her glasses once more to give a brief glimpse of her pale grey eyes. Kitty lingered only a moment longer before she turned away to walk back to where she had left Grace sleeping.

Grace sat up, rubbing at her eyes. "Sorry about that." She murmured. "It's too hot to just sit here." She ran her fingers through her hair, topping her head back to the sun. "How long was I out?"

Kitty shrugged, pretending she was reading her magazine. "I don't have a watch." She commented, choosing not to mention either the helicopter or the stranger to Grace. "I think a lot of people have home already though."

Grace frowned when she saw that the sun was already beginning to set. She'd wasted an entire day on sleeping. "Is that?" She stopped brow beating herself when she saw the ambulance driver Terry several yards away. He was still wearing clothes from the night before. She could almost swear he had blood on his mouth and he was walking strangely. "I'm going to go talk to him..."

"Grace, don't do this to yourself." Kitty pleaded. "You just want to talk to him about Jack, and you're going to wind up hurt again." She insisted as she hagan packing her stuff into her back before pulling her t shirt on.

"No, I'm going to ask him what we did to make him act the way he did last night. There was no call for it." Grace snorted, though she was still watching the odd way Terry was walking. "It's too early to be drinking...right?" She asked Kitty softly. The middle aged man seemed to have noticed them and was now stumbling in their direction. He was making an odd sound as he came that was a lot like groaning and weeping at the same time.

"Gracie, you know by now that I never think it's too early." Kitty mused. "It's not our business anymore anyway. The more we get involved, the more they have to burn us with." She added, thinking Terry was simply drunk.

"We should at least help him get home." Grace said, deciding to move closer to Terry. "Look at him, Kitty. He's depressed. I'm going to make sure he sits down and then I'm going to call him a cab." She added. Terry was moving faster now, seeming desperate to get to where the two women were. Grace was too busy trying to save him to notice that.

Kitty groaned and muttered something about Grace not knowing when to just walk away. "Grave, he isn't our problem, let him sleep it off out here and realise what an ass he is in the morning!"

"Kitty, I'm not going to just leave him like that. I can't. Just because he was being rude last night..." Terry was gaining on them quickly. From here it would be possible to see his grey skin and slack jaw. "Jack is one of his best friends. He thinks I hurt him. He's just helping a friend. I'd do the same for you. Now come help me."

"No, you'd be wiping their blood yo after I kicked their ass to the ground." Kitty snorted. "But fine, go be the good little Girl Scout. I've got your back."

Grace paused a moment longer, something telling her this wasn't right. Terry looked worse than drunk. He was almost on them now, his short fat fingers reaching out for her. "Is he sick?" She asked Kitty. "Maybe he has what John did... Should I call Jack?"

"Grace..." Kitty reached out for her friend, wanting to pull her out of Jerry's reach. "If he does, we can't be near him!" She insisted. "If he is sick, and did catch it from John, whatever it is acts fast!"

"John was dead, Kitty." Grace argue as Terry lunged forward and she got a glimpse of the white eyes that reminded her of the other man. "At least he was when...what the hell..." She was backing into her friend, now fumbling for her phone instead of trying to help the man anymore.