Chapter 1.2

Rosemarie was frantically throwing random stuff from her apartment into her car when they pulled up.

Georgi immediately got out and headed for the nearest box. Her nine year old, Alexis, followed.

“Are these boxes ready to go?” Georgi asked.

Rosemarie looked around. “I think so. Alex, grab those pillows.”

The girl nodded. She wrapped her little arms around a pile of pillows and began to waddle with them out the door.

“Uh, can I make a suggestion?” Randy said as he peered down at the heaps of stuff.  

Rosemarie suppressed a groan. “Yeah, sure.” You’re going to anyway.

“You should leave your school books. They’re heavy, take up space, and are pretty much useless,” he said.

“Look, this is a few hundred dollars worth of books. I’m not leaving them here to be looted,” Rosemarie growled, unable to hide her agitation. 
“We’re not moving to another apartment. We’re leaving to survive,” he said irritably. 
He continued to argue with her as Georgi and Alex carried stuff out.

Rosemarie put her hands on her hips and braced her feet. “They’re going in the car and that’s where they’re staying!” she yelled.

Randy snorted and walked off.

To be fair, Rosemarie was throwing a lot of random crap into bags. After she’d gotten off the phone with Georgi, all Randy’s the end is near talk kept replaying in her head.

“You alright?” Georgi asked.

Rosemarie let out what she’d hoped was a calming breath and nodded.

“Anything else?” Georgi asked.

“Murphy’s food and bowls.” Rosemarie answered as she looked around for her dog’s toy box.

They loaded that stuff into the car, along with her couch cushions. Which Randy wanted to make a suggestion about, but Rosemarie stopped him.

“Let’s gas up and get out of here.” she said, fumbling with her keys. “Shit--” she looked over at Alex. “Sorry, I meant shoot.” She went back inside and got her dog, who was sitting by the door, wagging his tail with hopeful excitement.

“Now, let's get out of here before curfew,” Georgi said. “Follow me.”  

Rosemarie followed to the nearest gas station and was greeted by a line waiting at least four cars long. This did nothing good for her nerves and she jumped when her cell rang.

“We’ll have to keep movin’. There’s no point in wastin’ gas waitin’ to get it.” Georgi said.

So onward their caravan continued, hoping they’d find a better station on the way.

They had no such luck. It seemed all of Starkville and the surrounding areas had the same idea and gas stations were packed.

This time, Rosemarie called Georgi.  
“Fuck it,” she said after Georgi picked up the phone. “Let’s just go. I think I can make it.”

The traffic thickened as they continued East into Alabama and Rosemarie began to shake. Murphy sensed something was wrong and whined.

Something felt wrong as they came over the last hill before Gordo, Alabama. Rosemarie’s phone rang.

“Hey, Randy says it looks real bad down there.” Georgi’s voice sounded shaky.

“How the fuck can he see that far?” Rosemarie asked.

“Binoculars.”

Of course fucking binoculars, Rosemarie thought

“Let me drive!” Randy shouted. “You won’t make it through the Zombies!”

“Stop sayin’ that!” Georgi yelled. “They’re not--”

“Yes they are! Now stop the car!” He interrupted, “You’ll never make it through.”

Rosemarie saw the break lights before Gerogi said anything.

“Rosemarie, we’re swappin’ drivers.”

“Shit,” Rosemarie said,  “He’s not serious, is he?”

“We’ll talk about it once we get there.”

Rosemarie saw her get out and walk to the passenger side as Randy moved to the driver seat.

“Tell her to keep up,” Randy barked as the doors slammed shut.

“I heard him,” Rosemarie said before she could speak. “Georgi?”

“Yeah,” she said flatly.

Rosemarie’s voice sounded foreign as something in her brain switched over. She could see big brown eyes staring at her through the back window of the car. “Tell Alex to get down and cover her head.”

Rosemarie could scarcely breath as they drove through Gordo. Randy was half wrong, there were no zombies, but there were also no people either.

It looked like a disaster area. Empty cars littered the roads and ditches, some abandoned, some smoking from collisions. Shop windows were shattered and it looked like anything worth having had been looted.

This was not a good sign.

Rosemarie called Georgi, but the line had a busy signal. She tried a few more times before she gave up.

“This is definitely not good,” she mumbled to Murphy.

She reached for the radio and switched it on.

The DJ was reading reports of attacks across the state. They were concerned about their sister station that had been off the air for almost two hours. Advising listeners to stay indoors as they barricaded themselves in the station.

She switched off the radio with a click. A strange detached feeling came over her as a quick burst of hysterical laughter tore through.  “We’re going to fucking die.” she said in a defeated tone.

Right then a man darted out from the drugstore toward the street while waving his arms.

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