Destruction ||| Glenn Rhee (BEING REWRITTEN TO OC)

2 ~ Street

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You leapt from crumbling bridges watching cityscapes turn to dust

Filming helicopters crashing in the ocean from way above

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After nearly twenty minutes of sprinting down the streets of Atlanta, the store clerk finally comes to a stop down an empty alleyway.

Rosanna sits down to catch her breath. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked, sitting down across from her.

"Shooting those... things. You saved me and my brother's life."

The mention of Bellamy makes her mouth run dry. She can only hope that him and their parents are safe.

The man looks at her before looking down at the concrete. "Yeah. Well... it was nothing."

There's a pause as both try to bring their breathing back to a steady pace.

"I'm Rosanna." She holds her hand out to shake.

He takes her hand into his and smiles a bit. "I'm Archer."

They let go and sit quietly for a bit.

"So... what's going on out there?" She asks, picking at the skin around her nails like she always does when she's nervous.

"Some sort of virus. I don't know if it's airborne or something else but it's spreading. Fast. All I know is that if you get bit or scratched, you'll turn into one of those freaks."

Rosanna doesn't say anything as she thinks about her family. She knows they can take care of themselves, but she can't help but think of all the gunfire she heard.

They never should've split up.

"Anyways, we should get moving. It'll be dark in a few hours and by the looks of it, those things are multiplying." He stands up and offers his hand out to her.

She takes it and stands up. "We?"

Embarrassment flashes across his face. "Well. I mean. I just kinda assumed..."

"No. It's fine. It's probably best if we stick together for now. Strength in numbers or something like that."

He smiles and asks her where they should go.

"Me and my family are staying at a hotel not too far from here. All our stuff is back there. Maybe we could stay there for the night."

He nods at that, and they head off.

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"Okay. Here we are." Rosanna says as she uses the hotel door key to open up the room. Suitcases are everywhere because when the broadcasts started, her mom wanted to pack and head back home.

She rummages through some of her stuff until she finds her backpack. Inside she has pepper spray, because being a twenty-year-old at college by herself is dangerous, an unopened water bottle, a book, a phone charger, and a pack of crackers.

"Not really the stuff you need when people start eating each other." She coughs out a laugh.

"All I have is this gun. It was under the register in case we ever had an emergency, and we felt threatened. I've only used two bullets so far." He says, checking to make sure the safety is on.

She scoots the suitcases off of one of the beds and grabs an extra blanket from the closet. "You can sleep here tonight; I'll clear off the futon."

A couple minutes later, they are both settled in on their specific bed of choice. Rosanna reaches over to turn the light off when more gunshots can be heard below. A helicopter flies above their building and people screaming can be heard from the street.

Archer sits up and looks at her. She glances over at him with a nervous look and turns off the lamp.

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The next morning, Rosanna wakes up to find Archer already awake. "Morning." She says getting off the futon.

"Morning." He replies, running a hand through damp hair that he must've washed.

Rosanna throws on a tank top, jeans, combat boots and a flannel wrapped around her waist. She adds a jacket into her bag and grabs a few other small items.

She uses the hotel notepad to write a note to her family:

"I'm okay. Store clerk saved me. Took some of my stuff. We are headed for the outskirts of town. It's too dangerous here. Please stay safe. -Rosanna"

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Rosanna and Archer slowly make their way out of the hotel building, keeping an eye out for rotters.

Archer's pistol is in the waistband of his pants so he can grab it at any moment. Rosanna's pepper spray is concealed in her right hand just in case someone tries to attack them along the way.

When they get down to the street, it's a dead zone. There's nobody around. They silently walk along the edges of the streets avoiding any sign of life.

Another helicopter can be heard in the distance. After several minutes of seeing no life, they spot a military truck headed toward them.

Rosanna feels relieved when she sees them and goes to wave for them but is yanked backward by Archer. He pulls her down, so they are hidden behind a half-wall and out of sight.

She goes to say something, but Archer puts a finger to his lips. She peeks over the top and sees more military trucks showing up.

The sound of them approaching attracts the attention of some actual people who were hiding out in a nearby building.

One of them cries out in disbelief and runs toward them.

Before they have time to react, one of the soldiers shoots the person directly in the head. Rosanna gasps and ducks below the wall again.

"Oh my god. What is going on?" She whispers. Archer puts a hand on her shoulder but doesn't say anything as a few more gunshots ring out. He continues to watch as the people try to escape but are shot anyways.

All the noise starts to attract some rotters who seem to have appeared out of nowhere. One sneaks up behind a soldier and takes a large chunk out of his arm. The man screams and collapse to the ground as a second rotter shows up and bites him in the neck.

A fellow solider turns around and without hesitation, fires three shots, killing the two rotters and his fellow brother in arms.

The remaining soldiers gather up the bodies, put them in the back of a truck and drive off in the opposite direction.

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