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chapter three | the flashback
LAUREL DID LAUNDRY with the other women of the camp next to the water as Cassie and Ethan sat on top of the RV with Dale, keeping an eye on everyone. The kids didn't want to leave their sister's side until Dale came up to them while they were arguing saying how he could watch over them. He argued three pairs of eyes were better than one. Laurel asked them to watch her back as she cleaned their clothes, they were hesitant at first but agreed nonetheless.
She felt weird washing clothes, let alone not having her siblings by her side. It made her uncomfortable but when she looked up behind her, she could see them sitting on top of the RV with Dale, making conversation about who knows what. It was nice of Dale, and she was sure the kids were talking his ears off. A smile grew on her face at the thought of what they could possibly be talking about.
Laurel wished things turned out differently for her family. She wished her mother and stepfather were still alive so they could be here with them. But then she thought, how could she be so selfish? As much as she longed for them to be alive, they wouldn't be able to make it in this world. Hell, they didn't make it before all this either. A car accident took almost everything from Laurel. But at least her siblings were spared in the tragedy. She doesn't know if she would've kept going without them. But she does know that she would do anything for them to be alive.
Laurel was scared to trust humans since the outbreak. She remembered watching from her apartment window how people were trashing the streets, hurting anyone in their path, with the military right behind them, setting up barricades and gunning down any roamer or injured person they saw. But not even the military could stop the dead.
A few weeks into the outbreak, Laurel and her family were still stuck in her three-bedroom apartment in Atlanta City, eating the last of her canned corn. When she heard knocking on her front door for the first time since the very beginning, at first Laurel didn't know what to do but make Ethan and Cassie hide in her bedroom closet, fearing the worst. When she looked through the peephole on the door, she saw a woman in bloody, torn-up clothes with her blonde hair covering her face, and it wasn't until the stranger looked up that Laurel recognized her.
Aubrey Hanson lived directly underneath her, on the third floor. Laurel and Aubrey were close in their age, becoming friends quickly when Aubrey moved in about a year ago. But what Laurel didn't recognize was the look in her eyes when Laurel opened the door with a gasp. Laurel was happy to see her and went to embrace her but her hands dropped to her sides when she saw the gun in her friend's hand. She didn't even notice how fresh the blood was on her until it was too late.
Aubrey was bitten on her shoulder and arms. And she tried to kill Laurel when she denied she wouldn't (or couldn't) help end the pain that Aubrey was going through. But Laurel refused. She couldn't shoot her. and Aubrey became frantic. After some struggling, Laurel managed to push Aubrey out the door and lock it before she could get back in. Laurel heard a gunshot after a few minutes of silence when Aubrey finally gave up trying to break in. Blood seeped through under the crack of the door and Laurel remembered jumping back in horror at the sight.
