Keep Following On

Part 1

The government fell with the face of humanity after Outbreak Day. Some humans survived, but you could barely call the survivors human. Sections of the army spread out into different areas of America. They took control of the largest hospitals in the states. It had many resources, after all: beds, water, food, and medicine. However, any sick left in the hospitals after the outbreak were killed on the spot, and doctors were ordered to create a vaccine.

When they constructed walls around the hospitals, they slowly let survivors in. The community grew, and the people brought children into the world. It was not a paradise, though. The walls weren't secure, and the soldiers didn't seem to care enough to check for infected or Roamers.

Some parts of the community would get a Roamer that sneaked through the cracks in the walls. The neighborhood would fight it off, and then the army would come to assess the damage. They'd check for bites, and the first few times it happened, people were frightened of getting killed on site. But that never happened. They would send you to the hospital with the doctors if you got bit.

The doctors stayed where they were all day, every day. When a person got bit, they would get a cell; cold, damp, and wreaking of the dead. Doctors would watch them, seeing how they ticked and groaned. The infected would stay there until they turned into a Roamer, then the doctors would strap them up and cut them open to see how the body would react to the infection. It was torture. Prisoners wouldn't get any food or water during the process and would not get a chance to say goodbye to family.

That leads to Vian's mother eight years after Outbreak day. Sarah, six months pregnant, ran back into the city through the dense rain. Her escape plan to leave the city had failed.

Limping into the center of the town, Sarah sat in the wet dirt, holding her large stomach and rocking back and forth. She groaned and looked at the bite mark throbbing on her wrist. She knew she would regret trying to escape the city.

Thumping footsteps squished through the mud, and she looked up at a blinding flashlight. A guard pointed her gun at Sarah, stepping closer slowly. She looks at the name tag on the soldier's outfit. It was covered in dirt and mud, only the first letter, "E," showing through the gunk.

Sarah sighed heavily, moving her hands above her head, showing the bitemark to the guard. She placed cuffs around her wrists, and the soldier helped the pregnant woman up to her feet. She looked down at her large stomach, tears running down her face. I'm sorry little one...