Bad Blood || Joel Miller

Chapter One

Chapter One

September 26th, Outbreak Day, Los Angeles, California, USA

Julia woke up to her mom banging on her door for her to wake up. "Come on, it's time for school," Julia groaned into her pillow. She was in her final year at high school, this time next year she would be at college on the other side of the country, away from her family. 

The four of them were all close, Julia was protective over her baby sister, Lexi who was just 9. She couldn't imagine a world without them. 

Julia pulled herself out of bed and got ready for the day, dressing in jeans and a hoodie, not caring much about her appearance. She got downstairs where her dad had a coffee ready for her in a travel cup so she could take it on her journey to school. "Thanks dad, see you later. Bye mom!" she shouted through the house, giving her dad a kiss on the cheek and exiting her house to walk to school. The rest of day was normal, she attended her classes where all her teachers kept mentioning applying for colleges and the fact it was their final year at high school. At lunch, she sat alone outside, she didn't have any friends, not that she cared much. She preferred to be alone.

After school, she picked up Lexi from her school and together they headed to a cafe. Lexi sat down at a table whilst Julia ordered. 

"Hi, what can I get you today?" the barista asked with a very happy smile. "Can I get a latte please? And just a small hot chocolate?" Julia asked. The barista nodded, "Of course, anything else," 

Julia looked at the cakes and biscuits that were displayed. "Uh just one of those cupcakes please," she then took the drinks once they were ready along with the cupcake. "Got you a cupcake, Lex," Julia smiled at her sister. Lexi beamed, "Thank you Jules,"

Lexi sat happily, chatting to Julia about her day whilst she ate her cupcake. She offered Julia some but her older sister declined. Afterwards they headed home and waiting for their parents to get home where they then ate dinner and watched a film. Once Lexi was in bed, Julia retreated to her bedroom too, taking a shower and getting into bed to read a book. It was a regular day.

All was calm until around one in the morning. 

Helicopters and explosions were heard. Julia jolted from her sleepy state and peered out her window. What was going on? After hearing another explosion, dogs barking and sirens going off, she got into action. She quickly got her jeans on as she only was wearing a big top at the current moment, shoved a pair of shoes on and grabbed a blade she kept in her bedside table. She lived in LA, in a rough area, she had to be on guard at all times.

"Mom? Dad?" Julia heard her sister call out in the hallway. Julia opened her creaky door and saw her little sister in her pink pyjamas holding her teddy bear and looking like she just woke up. "Lexi, go back to bed," Julia said. Lexi shook her head and then they heard a crash coming from their parents room, then they heard a scream and another crash before silence. Julia grabbed Lexi's arm and pulled the small girl behind her. Julia walked towards their parents room and opened the door slowly. 

It was dark, the only light was from their alarm clock and the street lights coming through the blind but what Julia saw was clear as day. Their dad feasting on their mothers dead body. "Dad?" Julia said shakily, pushing Lexi back. Julia gripped her blade firmly as her dad looked up to her. 

It wasn't her dad. This was a monster. He was pale, there was a spider-like thing crawling our his mouth, as if he was a different creature. This creature started to run at her but when it reached her Julia pushed it back and quickly got out the room, picking up her sister and running down the stairs. "Jules what's happening?" her sister cried, not understanding what was going on. Julia got to the kitchen and put her sister down. "Go to the closet and stay in there until I open the door. Dad is really sick, you have to stay here okay?" Lexi nodded tears in her eyes but doing as her sister said and ran to the closet to shut herself away. 

Julia let out a shaky breath and looked towards the stairs, the monster was still in their parents room, banging on the door to get out. Julia went to the front entrance of the house, grabbing the car keys from the bowl, and then opening the drawer and getting the gun. 

She then walked towards the stairs, and went up them, walking slowly towards the room she was in moments ago. The room her parents slept. The banging stopped, and Julia held the gun up in front of her. 

Then the thing she used to call dad came running at her, breaking through the door completely and trying to bite and hurt her. Julia backed away quickly and fired two shots at the monster. Her dad's body fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Julia dropped the gun and crumpled to the floor. She just killed her father, who killed her mother. Her mother. Julia composed herself, not tearing her eyes from the body. She stood up, grabbing the gun in the process, and walked to her parents room. Her moms body was all bloody, bite marks everywhere. 

What happened? Julia felt like she was going to throw up, but remembered her sister was downstairs and so she quickly grabbed her dad's jumper and ran downstairs to the closet. "Lexi, it's Julia. We have to go," she said. Lexi had been crying. "What was the gun shots? Where's mom and dad?" she asked sobbing. Julia bent down to Lexi. "Dad was really sick, I think it's happening everywhere, we have to leave if we want to stay alive okay? You have to trust me and listen to me. Can you do that Lex?" Julia asked. Lexi nodded. "Okay, let's go to the car,"  

The two sisters got in the car that was parked outside. "Do you even know how to drive?" Lexi asked. Julia shrugged, "Seen dad drive plenty of times, how hard can it be?" She had never learnt to drive, but she didn't think it could be difficult.

After a few tries,  she managed to get the car started and drove away from her home. On the drive, she saw everyone else driving, trying to leave the city. "Fuck, okay," Julia said reassessing. She knew every inch of of LA, she knew the fastest way out. So she drove her way out and headed east. 

"Jules, I don't feel good, could I be sick like dad?" Lexi asked. Jules looked at her briefly before looking back at the road. "No, Lexi, you're okay. You're just scared," she said. Julia wished that was right.

They continued driving, Lexi ended up crawling to the back seat to sleep. Julia drove out of LA, narrowly missing the police and the army. She was just driving through a forest to avoid people. Julia looked in the mirror to check on Lexi and she was making a weird sound. "Lexi? You okay?" Julia asked. 

Lexi turned around, looking pale and much like how her father looked. Julia panicked. Fuck. "Lexi?" Julia cried and Lexi lunged at her, trying to bite her, causing Julia to crash the car which made her little sister fly through the windscreen. Julia had managed to escape the crash with only a few cuts. Julia watched as her sister lied on the bonnet Julia let out a breath, tears gathering in her eyes and she pulled out the knife in her pocket. "Lex?" Julia said and walked to her sister's body. Lexi turned around, monstrous and trying to kill Julia. 

Julia was much stronger though, and pinned her down. "Lexi! Stop!" She cried, but her sister didn't stop, so Julia pulled the knife down and stabbed her continuously at her sisters head, sobbing as she did. Once Lexi had stopped moving, Julia stopped and threw herself away from her sisters body, breathing heavily. 

What had she done? First she killed her dad and now her baby sister? She lost her whole family in less than an hour. Where would she go? What would she do? She looked at the knife and contemplated using it on herself, but she didn't have the guts to even do it. 

She couldn't. It's not what any of her family would want, they would want her to continue fighting this, help others and fight. To go down fighting is what she would do. 

And so Julia got up, picked up her sister's body and put it against a tree. She couldn't bury her, she had no shovel. Instead she place her against the tree and got to the car that was dented and turned it on. It turned on, thankfully. The engine wasn't damaged.

So Julia got in the car and drove away from her sister's dead body. Not looking back.

And she drove east until she couldn't anymore.