[u][b]Holly Smithens - Caraway Plaza Shopping Center[/b][/u] "Attention all officers, the governor has issued a state of emergency for the county. All personal are urged to take to the streets to contain the violence and panic..." "Att-" The repeating message was cut short as a blonde woman wearing a detectives badge on her waist threw the radio into the floor. The woman identified as Holly Smithens by her name tag hanging from her left jacket pocket put her hands to her head and sighed a few times. "What the -FUCK- was going on here." The question was more or less rhetorical and so she felt a bit silly expecting an answer, and so with another sigh she stood and took stock of her current situation. Her mind and whole being was super stressed, her brother was somewhere out in this horrifying horror movie bullshit and she had no idea where. There, that's where I start. Making progress, the most important thing, find Callum and then safety. She nodded again mainly to reassure herself and breathed deeply a few times before running back around the now deserted Jonesboro police station. ---------------- [u][b]5 hours earlier.[/b][/u] "Callum, how many times do I have to tell you that I know literally two people in this town. Count these fingers, TWO. Which means i'm not going to just leave you at a shopping center all day by yourself, you can hang with me at the Police Station OK?" In the backseat of Holly Smithen's partner's car Callum, 11 year old brother to the detective nodded dejectedly and flipped open his cellphone. Holly sighed and looked to her partner Nate. "Blasted kid won't do nothing but text and gripe." Laughing Nate shrugged, "he's a boy Holl what do you expect you can't keep him locked away us guys can't handle it." He winked in the mirror and a adorable giggle could be heard. With a sigh Holly pointed to the sign beside the police station, at which point Callum went nuts! With a brown eyes glare Holly peeled two twenties from her wallet and handed them to her brother which got even more excited. "Now listen Callum, if ANYTHING happens you come right to the Police station, it's about a block away. Do you understand?" Of course the boy nodded vigorously while stuffing the bills into his front pocket. He looked up and smiled right at her, which literally caused her to just want to hug him. She waved goodbye and looked at her partner viciously again. ------------------ [u][b]Present[/b][/u] Tearing up Holly snatched up a Benelli shotgun, shoved some magazines for her sidearm into some pouches of her jacket, grabbed the keys to a patrol car, and a satellite phone, then slammed the departments doors open and sprinted to one of the nearby patrol cars just waiting to be used. She jumped right in and turned the engine over putting the blue lights on and heading to the shopping center which was right down the street from the Police station leaving sirens off. In the same brown eyes that had been glaring at her partner earlier was now a look of such fierce determination that she actually scared herself when looking at her own reflection... ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ [u][b]Callum Smithens - South Caroway Road[/b][/u] Another step, just keep running and don't look back, don't look back Callum, stop it! Stop it, don't fucking look back, oh shit what is going on! These thoughts and more raced through 11 year old Callum Smithen's head as he ran down the street away from the blasted shopping center he had been hanging out in all day. After Nate and his sister dropped him off he took the forty he was given and decided to shop a little and drive security crazy. Both things he did and he did well, but what he didn't expect to hear was screaming and sounds of panic coming from the bathroom area. Before he realized it the sounds were not just in the bathroom and he was being pushed and pulled by all sorts of men and woman running in every direction. Callum trying to make sense of the world himself saw a man with blood dripping from his jaws tackle a lady and bite into her neck pulling the flesh and causing a spurt of blood to shoot all over the white marble floors. Panicing as well Callum ran to a shoe store and pushed himself under the cashier's desk and closing the small door. Not even knowing where he got it the boy was clenching a shoe measurer and rocking back and forth. He waited for an hour or so before deciding it would be best to see if it was over. He uncramped his sore body and then just sat down in the doorway sobbing at the huge pools of blood all over center court. That was where Nate found him. His sister's partner ran right up to him and shook him a few times making eye contact. "Hey bud, it's ok. Hey you hear me, it's ok now." The man had Callum shove his eyes into a muscled arm as the detective carried him into the bright sunshine. He sat Callum down beside his car and gave him a playful ruffle of his head. "See, you're fine. Your sister sent me to get you, things are... Well crazy." He was about to continue speaking when his face turned white. Callum followed his eyes and looked behind him to see a group of... Well he had played enough video games to know exactly what they looked like but surely that was just fiction... Nate pointed to the car and unsnapped his gun. The five men kept limping towards him, despite Nate telling them to halt. When they reached his car Nate pulled his gun and fired a round into each mans body which didn't seem to do anything but make them more anxious to get to him, Nate fired again this times into the skull and they fell to the ground. Then six more came into view, then ten more, then even more. Nate turned to Callum and leaned down. "Run now, up the road. Do it now Callum, do NOT LOOK BACK Callum, you hear me right? Do not. Just keep going until you feel you're safe." He smiled and ruffled the kids hair again and handed him a silver case. "Your sisters gun, or well one of them. I have no idea what her code is. Good luck kid." He smiled again and stepped towards the dead getting ever closer. Callum wiped his eyes and grabbed a knife and backpack Nate had laying in the car before running the way the detective had pointed. He hadn't looked back either, instead he ran until he hit a small convenience store. His survival instincts kicked in and he decided that if he was now on the run, food and water would be rather essential. He went inside and grabbed 6 bottles of water, an entire box of those jerky with cheese packs, and some other food stuffs. He also found a flashlight left on the counter. As he was zipping the backpack back up he heard a sound... He turned around and ca,e practically face to face with what seemed to be the cashier of the store still ever vigilant against shoplifters it seemed. Callum backed until he hit the wall and then stood petrified as the -thing- shambled towards him. His face was actually gone, but three teeth remained on what looked to be a very wide black opening that had to be what was left of his mouth. His insides were still spilling out of him and with every step more and more would slop to the ground. Callum heard himself whimpering and instantly shook himself to the very core. "You have to be strong now Callum, Nate saved you and fuck it if you are going to just die down the road." Waiting for the monster to come closer, Callum acted as soon as the walker outstretched his arms. Throwing himself to the side, the boy managed to get out of the way of the claw like hands smearing his shirt and pants in blood as he slipped. Quick as a snake however he was up and sprinting once more on the road. Out of breath the boy ran until he reached a drugstore and with a splitting headache approached it. As he reached the entrance he tried pushing but the doors wouldn't budge. He thought he heard voices and he tried to call out, and realized that his voice was raw and kicked himself mentally for not drinking one of the water bottles. He just hoped it would carry into the pharmacy.