The Changed Ones

Three

Their eyes widened as they saw the streets of New York empty. The only thing keeping the streets crowded were the cars. All of them were off and just looked abandoned.

"Holy crap..." Jackie said.
"Is there really nobody here?" Marzia asked.
"Maybe there are, but they're just not coming out yet." Mark responded.
"Are we going to find a way out of here?" Sean asked.
"The city is in lockdown so I don't think we can get out!" Felix said.
"Come on, there are so many ways out of this city!" Lily exclaimed. "There's no way every way out is blocked!"
"Should we still look?" Bob asked.
"I feel like we should look for survivors first!" Wade butted in.
"Both of those options would take forever!" Mark said.
"Well what else would we be doing?" Jackie asked.

Mark was silent for a moment.

"Alright..." Mark sighed. "We'll go and look and see if we can find some way out of here, and we'll see if we can find any survivors along the way."
"What happens if there is no way out?" Marzia asked.
"Then I guess we're stuck here and we have to search for supplies and food to survive!" Mark said.

They then started the trek to look for a way out. They looked through all of the subway stations, all of which were completely empty and now abandoned, with none of them in service. At one point, they even tried to follow the tracks out, but everything was blocked off. The group then went all the way over to the bridges, where there were cops surrounding every area.

"Excuse me nobody is allowed past this point!" The cop said.
"Are you serious?" Mark asked. "We came all the way from the Times Square area to try and find a way out!"
"As long as the city is in lockdown, we cannot permit anybody in or out of the city." The cop explained.
"This is ridiculous!" Mark exclaimed. "The city is completely empty! The toxin has passed! Shouldn't you start letting people through again?"
"It's for precautions, sir..." The cop responded.
"Where are the people who are going to inspect the city to give it a thumbs up, huh?" Mark asked.
"They're on their way here." The cop answered. "In the meantime, just be patient please! We're doing all we can to ensure the safety of everybody here!"
"You should say what's left of it!" Mark murmured.
"Excuse me sir, you better watch what you say!" The cop exclaimed.

The rest of the group finally pulled Mark away from the cop and away from the area.

"This is completely stupid!" Mark ranted, walking back into the city. "They should've let us pass!"
"Mark they're sending people to inspect the city now, it shouldn't take too long for that. We'll be out of here in a day or two." Lily assured him.
"Let's just go back to the hotel, we'll be alright!" Sean suggested.

Just as they were continuing to walk, Marzia suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed.

"Marzia!" Felix shouted, going over to her.
"What the hell happened?" Mark asked.
"I-I dunno she just collapsed!" Felix panicked.
"She's probably dehydrated." Bob exclaimed. "We haven't really had anything to eat or drink yet."
"Then let's go to the closest diner or something and get something!" Felix suggested.
"Hopefully we can make food!" Jackie said.
"Well even if we can't, there's still cereal there." Sean assured.

Felix then picked up Marzia and they continued their walk, trying to find a place to eat.
---
The group finally settled into a small diner just around the corner from Times Square. The doors were thankfully opened so they went in and took a seat. Felix laid Marzia down in one of the booths. Mark, Sean and Wade both went to see if everything in the kitchen was still working. Thankfully, they were. So they each decided to go and cook some eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast and sausage for them and everybody else.

After about ten minutes, they had all come out with food for everybody. Around that same time, Marzia had woken up.

"Hey, are you okay?" Felix asked.
"Y-Yeah I think so." Marzia said.
"Are you hungry or thirsty or anything? Because the others made breakfast." Felix asked.
"Well, yeah..." Marzia nodded as she began eating what was on her plate.
"Were you feeling thirsty or anything before you passed out?" Felix asked.
"I was kind of sweaty and felt really dizzy..." Marzia answered.
"Yeah I think you might need some food or something in your stomach." Felix agreed.

The group spent the next 20 minutes eating and then finally headed out of the diner. They suddenly came across a few people walking across the street.

"Survivors!" Sean exclaimed.
"Should we go over to them?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah, and if they do anything stupid..." Mark said, drawing a gun.
"Where'd you get a gun?" Lily asked.
"I kinda... Stole it from behind the diner counter." Mark answered.
"They had a gun?" Wade asked. "That's a pretty badass diner!"

Mark then put his gun away and slowly approached the other people.

"Hey!" Mark shouted at them.

Just then, they turned around. Their faces all extremely pale, their veins all popped out, their eyes bloodshot and their mouth was watering. They had also smelled like sewage. These people weren't people at all, they were zombie like.

Mark immediately pointed his gun at them and the zombies charged after him. He fired shots at each zombie, each shot blowing their heads off like a cannon would.

"What the hell was that?" Bob asked.
"Not people that's for sure!" Mark exclaimed.
"Where did they come from?" Jackie asked.
"I dunno but we have to get outta here before more show up!" Mark said.

They each nodded and ran as quickly as they could back to the hotel.