C H A P T E R  3

❛ the day the world ended. ❜

QUINN

     WHEN THE WORLD ENDED, QUINN WAS AT HOME. Nothing about how her day had been going so far even suggested that the apocalypse was upon them. She'd gone to work in the morning and returned from her boring job behind the scenes of the local theater late that afternoon. The feeling of jealousy when seeing the gracious ballerinas on stage never faded, knowing that in another life, it could have been her standing there. Ever since her brother had been arrested she hadn't even looked at the white powder that used to be her life. She was slowly trying to rebuild her broken life. Now all her days went by at a slow, but steady pace, every day the same, every day another battle against her own dark thoughts.

The sound of the television echoed through the living room as she stood in the kitchen, cooking dinner for herself. Quinn had never been particularly good at cooking, but it wasn't like she had the money to eat out every day. As long as nothing tasted burned she was satisfied. While the newscaster kept talking about some problem with the CDC, Quinn put her food on a plate and took it with her towards the living room, ready to search for something more fun on tv when her attention was captured by the next words spoken by the newscaster: "Authorities are warning everyone to stay inside and keep the roads free so the army will be able to pass through."

Putting her plate on the table she leaned closer to the television, dread growing in her stomach. Footage of helicopters flying over cities was shown and her frown became deeper when she noticed one of those cities was her own...

Almost as if her thoughts were a cue, the sound of rotating blades came from outside. She jumped to her feet, ran towards the window, pulled aside the curtain and stared up to the sky. At least five helicopters flew over her apartment, leaving a loud noise to echo over the streets. Turning back to the television her eyes slightly widened at the footage that showed nothing but chaos. People were running around, packing their cars and getting ready to leave. She didn't understand what the hell was going on and sat back down on the couch so she could listen to the next words of the now terrified looking newscaster: "A virus that the authorities claimed to have been contained is now spreading fast. And while the properties of the virus are still unknown, it is believed to be extremely dangerous."

She'd heard rumors of such a virus going around, but thought them to be just that, rumors. Now, however, when the whole world seemed to be going crazy, it couldn't be just rumors anymore. Still, she didn't understand why people would try to leave. Staying inside with a virus going around seemed much smarter. But her question was quickly answered when the camera cut to a busy street. "We are now getting live footage from New York City where the army is trying their best to contain the virus." The camera showed a barricade made out of army vehicles in the middle of the road and soldiers shooting at civilians. 

Quinn leaned closer to the screen, the feeling of stone cold dread spreading as she watched the army shoot at seemingly innocent civilians. Confused she squinted at the screen and suddenly she noticed something was off, very off. She just couldn't quite grasp what it was, not until the camera zoomed in. Her eyes widened and she gasped in shock.

Dead.

Those people were dead. They were dead and they were walking. Their eyes were hollow, their flesh barely hanging from their bones, their feet dragging along the ground as they stumbled like dronken men. Her mind was spinning, trying to make sense of the situation but she was stuck with one question and one question only. How?

Then the footage cut back to the studio, where the newscaster seemed to be getting more pale with each passing second. "The army has now ordered people to get to the designated safe zones. Please go to our website to see which zone is closest to you-" Quinn blinked, slightly startled as the screen suddenly went blank. For a second she just sat there, staring at the black screen. Her mind was frozen in complete shock, trying desperately to comprehend in even the slightest way what she just saw. But the more she thought about it, the more her head started to ache. It was like she'd suddenly been put on a movie set without clear orders what to do. Then there was one word that broke through the confusion, the most powerful instinct that she had followed all her life and she didn't hesitate to listen to it now.

Run.

Quinn jumped up and ran upstairs, quickly grabbed her backpack out of the closet and threw in a sweater, some jeans and a shirt. She put on her boots and a jacket. Then ran to the bathroom, grabbed a brush and some toothpaste before heading back downstairs again.

She hurried to the kitchen and opened the cupboards. She took anything that was edible and put it in the bag. Then she opened a drawer and took out a kitchen knife, carefully put it behind her belt before heading to the hallway. The routine of packing in a hurry was something she was familiar with. There had been many times she'd been forced to leave her home and head for some sort of safehouse. Whenever Marcus would have another one of his tantrums or there was an all out war between his drug empire and another. Only this time she wasn't running from the arrogance of men, she was running from something much scarier. 

The last thing she grabbed were her car keys from the table and then she headed outside.

The street was a complete chaos. Cars were all over the place and people were running up and down with bags in their hands. She let out a frustrated sigh, immediately knowing she would never be able to get to her own car like this. Her gaze went up and down the street, trying to somehow get a grip of the situation and figure out how to get to the closest safe zone. Her eyes landed on a family. A father with three backpacks on his back, holding his daughter's hand as he pulled her along and then an idea struck her.

Her own father lived on the edge of the town. If she could get to his car, then she could get away. Throwing one look on her watch she slightly smiled. Usually he came home around this time, completely wasted. He wouldn't even notice if a bomb went off right next to him, meaning he wouldn't notice the world dying around him either. Suddenly determined she shouldered her bag and then started making her way down the street in a slow jog, careful not to run anyone over.

When she rounded the corner she came to a stop. An enormous tank was parked in the middle of the street. A soldier was standing on top of it with a megaphone in his hand. 'Please proceed in an orderly fashion towards the safe zone. Maps with the fastest route will be handed out to you at the end of the street.' He kept on repeating the message but she barely heard it as she started making her way through the mass.

Helicopters flew over, people were screaming and children were crying. The noise was pressing against her skull. Trying to calm her breathing she struggled her way through the crowd. People were pressing against her, pushing their way forwards and she almost lost her balance twice. Closing her eyes she forced herself to focus on her breathing and count to ten. She could hear her brother's calming voice echo through her thoughts. When they were little, she used to have panic attacks whenever her claustrophobia kicked in. Milo would sit by her side and tell her to breathe and slowly count to ten, trying to gain back control. The method rarely failed. But over the years she'd come to realise it was because it reminded her of Milo, not because of the counting itself.

She opened her eyes again and started running, pushing people out of the way to get through. The crowd closing in on her made her nervous and she longed for fresh air and being able to walk without anyone touching her. She ran faster, knocked her shoulder against someone and bit her tongue when a sharp sting went through her arm. Someone screamed angrily at her but she ignored it. The urge to escape was bigger than her empathy for other people at the moment.

Finally she reached the end of the street, completely out of breath even though she hadn't been running very fast. While trying her hardest to calm herself, she walked up to one of soldiers who was handing out maps.

He watched her coming and turned to her. 'You're all alone, ma'am?'

She simply nodded.

Handing her a map he started explaining to her which route she could take best. But somehow her mind refused to focus. Frowning she stared at the map in her hand as his fingers went over the lines until suddenly it became clear to her why. The smell of rotten flesh and dried blood hung in the air like a thick, poisonous fog. She turned in a small circle, trying to determine where it was coming from but she couldn't see anything through the thick crowd of people that surrounded her. She turned back to the soldier in front of her when he suddenly stopped talking.

Quinn stumbled back in disgust.

He stood there, with his eyes wide open as a dead woman attacked him from behind, biting him in his neck. Blood came in waves out of the wound as he made horrible gurgling sounds. His knees gave out and he fell down, immediately being attacked by three other dead people.

Tears jumped in her eyes by the smell of death and blood. She watched with her mouth open how they tore right through him. She couldn't look away, her eyes glued to the scene as his inside slowly became his outside. They were eating him, actually eating him. Crimson blood was dripping off their hands and out of their mouths as they tore him apart. 

Quinn would never know how she recovered from her shock but suddenly she was running the other way, pushing confused and scared people out of her path while running as fast as she could. All the while tightly clutching the map the soldier had given her.

Then came the screams. High, low, women, children and men. They echoed between the buildings, leaving a ring in her ears. And then people were running with her as the street erupted in even more chaos. She didn't look back, forced herself to keep moving as the dead devoured the people behind her. Shaking her head to stop the images from torturing her mind she ran, feeling every step she took bouncing through her body. Turning right at the end of the street she let out a small breath of relief upon only seeing people who were alive. They all looked at her running past them, frowning at her, silently asking why she was running the other way.

'They're coming!' She screamed, unable to stop herself from a sudden urge to save these people from their own stupidity. Still they didn't seem to grasp it, not until other people rounded the corner as well. And then the whole street came alive.

More screams, children crying and car engines roaring to life.

She kept her eyes focused on the road before her as she ran. Three times she was almost run over by a car but she managed to get through without many incidents, although her arm was still aching from the impact earlier. She paid no mind to it, only pushed herself to run faster. Her feet carried her out of the street as the screams slowly faded to a dull noise in the background. She ran through alleyways and abandoned streets, never stopping and never looking back. Her haunted breath plagued her own ears as she ran through the streets. The entire edge of the city seemed to have turned into a ghost town and it terrified her how quickly everything had changed.

In the distance screams still sounded and she didn't want to think about if they belonged to people dying or people running for their lives.

It was already turning dark once she reached the street where her father lived. On her way there she'd only seen a few people and it sickened her to think about if they were the only ones who got away from the mess downtown and so she forced those thoughts from her mind. Finally she reached her father's house. Her stomach ached as nerves took over body. She hadn't been back here since she was twelve years old and suddenly she became very aware of the scars on her arms and back. Shaking her head, she lifted up the doormat, slightly surprised the hiding spot for his keys hadn't changed over all those years. She picked it up and unlocked the door. 

Immediately the smell of alcohol and vomit greeted her. Still, it was better than the stench of death that seemed determined to stay in her nose. Walking into the hallway, her eyes scanned the dressers for his car keys, though if the key to the front door was still hidden in the same place, there was a huge chance the car keys would be too. Quinn hoped she could avoid going any further into the house, but apparently the world ending meant facing her father again. She opened the door to the living room, her hands trembling. Stepping inside, her eyes slightly frowned at the huge mess, suddenly realising her life wasn't the mess she'd imagined it was. Old pizza boxes, tissues and beer bottles all lay scattered on the ground. Her eyes went through the room and noticed a dark shape on the couch. 

It was her father, fast asleep.

Slowly she walked over to where the bookcase stood against the wall. She reached out to the keys on the third shelf and quickly grabbed them, ready to leave again. On her way to the exit, however, she stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at her father. Careful not to make any noise she took a step toward him, only to stop herself again. The scars of the belt on her back seemed to be burning holes in her skin. And the pain, still so vivid in the back of her mind seemed to be screaming for her to walk away.

'The world's ending Nick,' she whispered and watched him as no reaction came. 'Just thought you'd wanna know.' Her eyes scanned his body as he kept on sleeping and she didn't understand why she suddenly cared so much. He had never cared about her and she didn't want to start caring for him now. And so she turned on her feet and walked away.

She left the house and locked the door behind her in some pathetic attempt to pretend like she was protecting him. Throwing one last look over her shoulder at the house she grew up in she shook her head, pushing the memories away. She had to stay focused now.

She walked to the car, opened the doors and threw her bags inside. Taking a seat behind the wheel she took the map the soldier had handed her out of her pocket. She was going to make it, she had to and those thoughts fueled her determination as she left the city behind.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

I really enjoyed writing this chapter since it's the first time Quinn sees the walkers and well, basically the whole world goes to shit. I'm really excited for the chapters that are coming up when Quinn will run into a certain samurai.

For now, please leave a vote or a comment on this chapter with your thoughts. I would really appreciate it. And I will see you all Saturday!

xXx

UYM

edited: ✔