Chapter Text
One
A p o c a l y p s e
/əˈpɒkəlɪps/
Noun - the complete final destruction of the world, as described in the biblical book of Revelation.
✦
Tala grabbed what clothes she could as hands could be heard smacking against the window. Her colleague, Shane Walsh, could also be heard looking for knives in the kitchen drawers. Sighing, Tala zipped up her rucksack as she finished packing.
‘Shane? We should go,’ She called out. After getting no reply, she shouted again. ‘Shane, we need to fucking go.’
Shane had just come from the local hospital after trying to save their other colleague, Rick Grimes. They had all worked together at the King County Sheriff Department, but Rick had been admitted into hospital after getting shot on the job. He was in a coma for a few weeks, but Shane brought back the news that he was dead.
Tala hurried into the kitchen, pushing the thought to the back of her mind. As she walked past the expansive windows that looked over the garden, she couldn't help but look at the arrangement of flowers close to the back fence. Taking a shaky breath, she tore her eyes away to look back in front of her. There would be time to grieve for everyone that had been lost later. In that moment, she couldn't afford to be anything other than collected.
Groans and snarls from the undead walking the streets outside drifted through an open window. Tala picked up the bag beside Shane as he finished gathering supplies and they looked at each other for a moment before Shane sighed and swung the back door open.
‘We’ll make a run for the car. Put the bags in the back with Carl and Lori,’ he said, glancing to check if it was clear. Tala nodded, tightening her grip on the bags. Suddenly, they were sprinting down her front path towards the waiting car. Tala wrenched open one of the doors before pushing two of the bags she was carrying next to Rick’s wife and son,
Lori and Carl. She slammed it shut again and ran around to the passenger seat. The infected had already started to come towards them as they had made the short journey from the house to the road.
Tala put her rucksack at her feet as Shane pulled away and started driving, panting slightly as adrenaline coursed through her body. She stared out of the window, her heart hammering in her chest as they drove through the town. It was already becoming overrun in the few days that the disease had broken out, and there had been little help from the military. Shane and Tala had been in the dark at the station, responding to calls from people all over town, only for them to figure out the hard way that you can only stop them by shooting them in the head, with a call from a soldier somewhere hectic coming hours after they had realised. Shane reached over and turned on the radio, filling the car with the emergency broadcasts that had been playing on a loop since yesterday.
‘The emergency broadcast system has been activated. The Office of Civil Defence has issued the following message. Normal broadcasting will be ceased immediately. This is a civil emergency warning. Please do not venture outside, if possible, at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way.’
After about five minutes of the robotic voice droning the same speech, Tala reached over and turned it off while Shane sighed.
‘What? You want to listen to that crap?’ She snapped at him. Shane shrugged but didn’t reply so Tala fished her phone out of her bag. Telecommunications hadn’t cut out yet so she could still call her mother, but Tala didn’t know for how much longer. After the dialling tone rang for around a minute the call finally connected.
‘Hello? Tala, is that you?’ A shaky voice answered from the other end of the line.
‘Hey, mum, it’s me. Are you and John safe?’ Tala replied, forcing herself to appear calm.
‘I’m safe, yes. Your father’s with me too. I do wish you called him that. Do you know what’s going on? I saw a man with his arms cut off walk past the house. Recently cut off,’ Her mother said. Tala bit her lip. So it was the same in Britain, too.
‘Honestly, I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s like what happened in that Shaun of the Dead film. Do you remember watching that? Just get some sort of weapon to protect yourself with and try to stay indoors,’ Tala hoped to God she didn’t sound as upset and scared as she felt. She found that she had been hoping to God a lot more recently.
After a pause, her mum replied. ‘Oh, well then … Your brother and sister are going to be here soon, with the kids. How’s everyone over there? Mark, Eliza, Ashley? Shane?’
‘Everyone’s fine. We’re all good,’ Tala lied, her eyes welling up. She couldn’t bear to tell her the truth about how her family had died. ‘Mum? Tell everyone I love them, so much.’
‘That’s good, sweetheart. How’s Rick doing, is he any better? I hope you all stay safe. I will, we all love you so much too. Oh! I’m afraid I have to go, your father has been quite ill after he got bitten by some nutter. I’m sorry darling, but I’ll call back when the others are here too. Send everyone our love!’
‘I love you too, mum, but wait - did you say he got bitten?’ She tried to say but the call cut off and her chest tightened. Tala looked down at her phone, panic rising through her chest like vomit and coming out as a tear slipping down her cheek. Shane reached over and gently stroked her hand with his thumb.
‘I’m sorry, Tala. Your parents were good people,’ He said softly.
‘Are,’ Tala said sharply, looking up at Shane. She softened slightly and looked out of the window again, another tear slipping down her face. ‘They are good people,’ She whispered.
Shane squeezed her hand and nodded. ‘They are good people.’
‘We’re good people too,’ Lori said from the back and Shane pulled his hand away. Tala wiped her face, sniffing slightly.
‘Yeah, we are,’ Shane replied and Lori seemed happy enough, settling back down with her son.
After half an hour of driving down the increasingly busy freeway, the car came to a stop in the biggest traffic jam Tala had been in all her life. Shane cursed under his breath in frustration. Tala got out of the car to try to see what she knew she would find. From where the car was, Tala could see at least a couple miles of lined up cars ahead, and when she looked behind, she saw ever-growing lines of cars trailing back. Helicopters flew overhead, towards the city of Atlanta, where they had been heading for the refugee camp. Tala sighed and got back in the car.
‘There’s just this for as far as you can see. I don’t think we’ll be moving for a while,’ She told Shane. He sighed and closed his eyes. Tala turned around to face Carl and smiled.
‘What do you usually do for fun when you’re stuck in traffic?’ She asked.
Carl smiled back at her. ‘I usually play a game that I’ve taken with me,’ The young boy opened his school bag next to him and pulled out a deck of cards. ‘Wanna play snap?’
‘Of course! Let me come in the back with you,’ Lori and Tala swapped seats, and as the two played games in the back, the adults in the front talked in low, serious voices.
.·:·.☽ ✦ ☾.·:·.
They had only moved around a hundred yards by the time it became dusk. Shane had stopped talking an hour earlier when a tank had been seen getting flown into the city. Lori was in the back again, napping with Carl, and Tala listened to the CDs that Shane kept in his car to dull the echoing gunfire sounding from the city. A police car sped down the other side of the freeway, which was pretty much empty. Finally, Shane spoke again, his voice barely a murmur.
‘Maybe we should be in there, too,’ His eyes followed the flashing lights curving round a corner. Tala looked at him for a moment. The thought had been on her mind, too.
‘Maybe we should. We’re not, though,’ She replied. Shane tore his eyes away from where the lights had been to her and she sighed. ‘Doesn’t look like we’d make much difference. Do you really think there’s a refugee camp?’
Shane didn’t answer for a few moments, still looking at Tala. She could see his thought process in his eyes. ‘I don’t know. I’m hoping so.’
Lori woke up as an explosion went off nearby. Everyone looked up quickly as plumes of smoke started rising out of the city in front of them. Shane opened his door to get out but Tala reached out and grabbed his arm.
‘Wait! Where are you going?’ She asked almost fearfully. Anxiety clutched at her chest as tightly as she clutched Shane, the intrusive thought of being alone flooding her.
‘I’m just going to see what’s happening. I’ll be fine,’ He smiled reassuringly.
‘I’m coming with you,’ Lori declared, opening her own door. ‘Tala, would you take care of Carl for me, please?’
She smiled nervously, the panic staying. ‘Of course. Stay safe, both of you.’
Shane nodded as Lori kissed Carl’s forehead and the two walked away through the cars. Tala noticed the family in the car next to then, playing checkers with their doors open. She took Carl to introduce themselves, not being able to stand doing nothing in the car.
The family of three seemed like nice people, and as Carl settled to play checkers with Sophia, a girl around his own age, Tala got to know her parents. Ed Peletier mainly talked, telling her about where he and his wife Carol lived and what they did. Tala noticed that Carol was quite timid, and she seemed to flinch if Ed even slightly raised his voice. She supposed it could just be the gunfire.
After a long time, Lori and Shane came back. Lori was crying. Carl ran over to her and Tala excused herself before walking over to Shane.
‘Mom, why are you crying? Mom, what’s wrong?’ Carl cried, sounding like he was choking as Lori pulled him into a hug.
‘Shane, what happened?’ Tala asked, preparing herself. Shane shook his head, looking down.
‘Atlanta has fallen. It’s gone. There’s no camp. It’s gone,’ He said lowly, pulling her into an embrace. ‘You were right Tala. It didn’t make a difference.’