[u][b]LOCATION: EMORY UNIVERSITY - SECOND FLOOR LIBRARY[/b][/u]

Three days ago, the world ended. A scientific anomaly had occurred, something had infected them. The symptoms were clear, decaying flesh, vacant eyes, mindlessness, but the cause was not. Not yet, at least. All that was known was that it was an illness. A sickness, which slowly killed the living's minds, or perhaps animated the dead. News stations kept her updated for a little bit, but soon the frightened cries and warnings of the inane reporters became too much. Too much. Jesse couldn't be sure in the end what was actually happening (she had never been one to trust the news), she didn't have enough evidence to create a theory, but her hypothesis was clear: something was very, very wrong. 

[i]dead all dead debra connor all dead O God[/i]

She was alone, huddled deep within the aisles of Emory's grand library. Above her, a glass ceiling allowed an ample amount of light to shine down among the wooden shelves and plush carpet, and around oak wood cases surrounded her in organized rows. Against her back was a royal blue wall, which melded into a narrow window which gave a decent vantage point on the college cafeteria and yard below. It was quiet, save for her heavy breathing and tapping foot, yet her head ached as if she were in a music-filled party. Three days she had wandered the empty halls of Emory, watchful eyes scanning the vacant rooms of the university while her brain attempted to regain a sense of normalcy. That wouldn't happen though, it couldn't. She had seen enough already on the morning it began, she had awoken and watched the body of her dearest friend rise and wander cluelessly into the morning while students streamed out of the building like rivers. Screams and alarms filled the air, but outside didn't seem like the best place to go. Despite the grogginess that had invaded her brain and the need to flee that filled her limbs, she remained within the dormitory, clutching her phone and the radio close to her being. Jess was too deep in to return to her life of studying or tests.

The sudden buzz of her phone drew Jess from her thoughts, and she turned to stare at the cracked tech with tired eyes. Unread messages from friends and local warnings streamed across the screen rapidly. Twitter had been alive with farewell messages a few hours ago, disproving Jesse's idea of her being the last person alive, but she couldn't bother to read any of them. What was the point. They were all dead anyway.

Or... Were they?

[i]pessimism is not becoming of anyone nope nope[/i]

Sounds from within the library made her eyes rise, and she felt her throat tighten. A crash, like glass shattering, then footsteps, loud and unsettling, echoed against the silent hall. There was no voice to accompany them, only short, scattered huffs as if someone were exhaling heavily over and over again. Jesse pursed her lips, then slowly rose up, pulling all of her belongings together into her pack before she tip-toed forward, gray eyes scanning the aisles around before she slipped towards the stairs which led down to the first level of the library. The sighs from before had stopped, as did the foot steps, and instead a groan filtered from somewhere below. 

Jesse frowned, hands tightening around the strap on her shoulder as she creaked slowly down the wooden steps, eyes wide and wild as she constantly searched for the source of the moans. There was, however, no one to be seen, only an unfamiliar break in one of the windows far to her left. Finally feeling an uncontrollable anxiety, Jesse quickened her pace, nearly sprinting towards the closest exit, and as she entered the final row of shelves the groans turned into cries, and arms burst from the shelf to her right, waving wildly. Jesse couldn't contain her scream, and she fell back to evade the confused claws, wincing as books fell from above.

[i] not dying here gotta find kimbel gotta find kim-[/i]

The arms reached blindly, knocking countless books to Jess' feet, and in an act if blind feat she suddenly turned and rushed at the bookcase, ramming her shoulder into the shelf just beyond the arm's grasp. Instantly, the creak of wood filled the room, and the shelves fell back. Books tumbled through, and the groans turned to screams as the entire right side of the aisle collapsed. Without taking another second to check the body she ran, exiting the room and fleeing out into the yard. Her first thought was to run back to the dorm, to crawl under her bed and simply die in peace, but something caught her adrenaline-fueled attention. The cafeteria.

The last group she had seen enter there had left at least a day ago, or, seemed to have left. Jesse remembered vaguely that the doors had been opened sometime before she had taken refuge in the library. Now the doors were close. How odd. She slowly approached the building, glancing about cautiously before finally reaching the double doors. Scratches covered the wood, and the slightest bit of red filled the indents. Blood, probably.

[i]wouldn't hurt to knock

knocking wouldn't kill ya[/i]

"... Hello?" She muttered against the wood, fist rasping against the door once, twice, and then she was on the move again, circling to the shadowed side of the cafeteria building as far off car horns suddenly filled the air. She quickly lowered herself down into a thick brush, eyes wide, and within her bag her phone continued to buzz and buzz, matching the beat of her heart almost perfectly.