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Jay sighed, doodling on the magazine that sat on the counter had grown boring. Today was slower than most, she didn't usually get to zone out like this at the little department store she worked at. There had only been a couple people in today, the only one she could really remember was a teenager who'd spent a suspiciously-long time eyeing the makeup in the back. That was almost two hours ago.
People must be startin' to get scared of this thing going around, she thought to herself as she scribbled out a messy sketch. She made a note to call and check in on the later, the kind old man wasn't here when she came in yesterday or today, he didn't even leave a note like he usually does.
A loud ringing from her back pocket makes the woman jump. As Jay pulls the phone from her back pocket, she finds herself chuckling, suddenly grateful the owner wasn't here to give her an earful about young people and technology.
The call was coming from Danny, which was weird. He should be working still, she thought as she put the little phone by her ear, Why the hell is he calling?
"Oh, thank god. Please tell me you're at work." Danny said under his breath as soon as she picked up, his voice hoarse and breathy. "I went by your place and-"
"Yes, I'm at work Danny. Why are you calling me? Did something happen?" Jay felt concern building up in her chest, she could hear his car's engine speed up the second she stopped speaking.
"There's some crazy shit goin' on Jay. I'm coming to get you. I just.... I watched someone get fucking eaten!" He all but yelled into her ear, there were loud swerving noises in the background.
"Coming to get me? Watched someone get eaten? You ain't making sense right now."
"We need to get the fuck out of this city. I just watched someone tear into an old lady and fuck her up. Like... like she was a goddamn barbeque rib!" Daniel stuttered, his voice so serious it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
"What? Are you fucking serious right now?"
"Jada. Jay, please listen to me. I know it's hard to believe right now but I'm not kidding. You've known me since we were in diapers, you can hear me right now. I'm not kidding."
"Okay.....Okay, um-" Jay took a deep breath, she was starting to feel sick. "How far away are you?"
"I'm a block away. Get ready to hop in."
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It's been almost an hour now since Danny got her, more or less. It all felt like it blended together. From the moment Jada Francis got in the car, the world she knew cracked and fell apart.
He told her people were getting eaten but how was she supposed to expect all this? It was horrific, all the blood and gore around her home. All those people, and their screaming.
People begged for them to pull over, but they just drove right past them all, Danny mumbling about how they couldn't help them all, "Neither of us have medical training. We'd be no help. They could be doing whatever everyone else is doing."
Deep down she knew he was just too scared to stop, his foot was glued to the gas pedal, and would be until he knew exactly what would help them best.
God, how was anyone ever gonna recover from this? How would people go back to their lives? She had an interview for a really good job on Monday. When all this shit is over and done with, would she ever be able to go back to that?
Taking in a deep breath, she pulled herself out of her thoughts. The radio was all public service announcements. That's fucking annoying, she thought before reaching out and playing with the dial, music would be nice right now.
"All that beeping was starting to get on my nerves too." Danny said from beside her, his voice making her force a smile.
"I think I'd even settle for gospel right now." Jay joked, biting her tongue so she wouldn't admit that part of her felt they might even need it right now. After a couple of minutes of searching , she just turned the radio off. She tried to sit and be quiet after, but her thoughts were too loud.
"The fuck are we gonna do, Danny?" Jay said softly, she looked up at her bestfriend to wait for an answer. His shirt had blood that obviously wasn't his on it, his hands were bruised to match. What has he seen?
"I don't-" He cut himself off and frowned, that was a shitty answer. "Well, we could stop at my house since we're close? Grab some food and clothes. Ain't no telling how long it'll take the military to get a hold of this."
Jada nodded, satisfied with that. She pushed her hair out of her face and stared back at him. "Should we stay there? Maybe we can hide out until this, thing, passes."
"I was thinking we'd be better off getting out of Savannah. Less people is always good when there's sick people around, right?" He spoke confidently, an attempt to hide that he was talking out of his ass. "The radio says we should get up to Atlanta, we can stay with my stupid brother and Ma." Jada nodded again, giving him a real smile this time.
She let herself relax a little until they pulled into his neighborhood, she sat up at the sight of empty driveways and people frantically trying to fit their stuff into the car. Jada turned to look at her friend as the car stopped, they made eye contact as he swallowed hard.
"We go in, grab some clothes and food, and we haul ass out." Jada said as she reminded herself of their plan.
Danny gave her a weak smile, and scratched at his stubble."Ready?"
"Yeah. Ready." She spoke, before popping her car door open and hurriedly rushing inside the house. Her mind too focused on their objective to worry about what they'd do next.
I hope this all ends soon, Jada thought hopefully, before turning her focus completely to grabbing food from the kitchen.
