Against the World (w/ Randomname98766789)

God, help me. It felt like just yesterday that Naomi's life had been perfectly normal. Her day to day life had involved simple things like lounging out in her apartment, feeding her cat, going to work. It was a routine that the twenty five year old had grown comfortable with, content even. Life had been good. It still would have been good if shit hadn't hit the fan - it felt like one moment things were okay and the next the news had devolved in to chaos, people were fleeing and the seemingly dead refused to fall down. The next thing she'd known, her building was being raided by the military and she found herself thrown in to some large room, looked like a warehouse of some sort, with fences forming walls between what seemed like hundreds of other people. Maybe she was overestimating, maybe she was terrified. The fact that her cell makes included a boy with the junkie jitters and a man who seemed way too stoic given the situation they had been forced in to.

They barely got out, her and... Nick and Strand? Yes, that was there names, she was pretty sure of it - they got pulled along by a group of people who, from what Naomi understood, were Nick's family and a couple others who were looking for one of their family members. It was chaos trying to get everyone together, and even more chaos trying to get out.

Alicia had felt virtually useless left back at the cars, left having to keep a watchful eye on her younger step-brother, Chris. Gunshot after gunshot had run out in the background and with every loud bang, Alicia had felt more and more on edge. Her mom was gone, Travis was gone, everyone had left in hopes of finding her brother, Chris's mom and Griselda Salazar. She was terrified that they would never come back, though she refused to admit that. The only thing that could have been worse was if Thomas had left - lucky for her, though, her childhood love had refused to leave her side. She wasn't sure what she would have done if he'd left her, she felt bad enough seeing the traces of blood oozing from his nose where he'd been hit with the butt of a gun.

She was fussing over him when everyone returned, bringing in tow with them not one but two unfamiliar faces. Alicia looked them over from her spot at her boyfriend's side, concerned about what adding two more strangers would do to their safety.

One of them had a plan, though - the black one, Strand, he had somewhere the could go. "Can we really trust them?" Alycia questioned quietly as everyone was getting ready to head out, looking up at Thomas and then eyeing both of the unfamiliar faces. Meanwhile Naomi was thinking pretty much the same thing, both relieved to have other people around but at the same time concerned because she knew not one of them.

Drug addict Nick Clark has always been in and out of rehab. His father died six years ago and now his mother was starting a new life with a man named Travis. Nick’s addiction certainly did not help this transition and his condition only worsened as the years passed. Meanwhile, his sister Alicia had it together. Thomas Ridley, her boyfriend, planned to attend college at the University of California: Berkley together. Both of them were high school seniors looking forward to their departure from the area. The young man would be attending college with a full ride because of football and he was excited to play Division I football, the highest of all levels. Additionally, he intended to major in Electrical Engineering, wanting to make plenty of money for himself and Alicia in the future. While Nick’s life was in shambles, Thomas’ life was all figured out but that was all about to change.

Reports had surfaced across five states of a breakout of a strange disease that caused people to attack other people. Its exact biological classification was unknown. This disease also has been known to inspire flu-like symptoms before it took a turn for the worse. Everything happening resembled a science-fiction movie and everyday life was now turned into a living nightmare.

Approximately two weeks ago, Nick awakened in the morning inside of a run-down church serving as a crack house where he and his friend Gloria got high on heroin the night before. He searched the building to find Gloria eating a dead man with a chewed-out neck. She stood with a knife sticking out of her abdomen and chased Nick until he was able to escape the church and run into the street, being struck by a vehicle and then taken to the hospital. Even though he told his family what he saw, everyone just wrote him off as being high but Nick was truly frightened by his experience. Eventually, Travis and Madison investigated the church to find evidence of a recent, bloody scene. That’s when they realized Nick was telling the truth about what he saw and it was real. The next day, Nick’s roommate in the hospital flat lined and Nick was able to escape his restraints before stealing the older man’s clothes and sneak out of the hospital.

Only a couple days before, Thomas’ mother passed away. She worked as a nurse at the local hospital in Los Angeles. Apparently, she became infected during one of the first epidemics to reach their area of California. The only thing offered to Thomas was a phone call and nothing more. It was too dangerous to see his mother’s corpse, or that’s what they told him. At this point, Thomas was basically homeless. His father died when he was six years old, killed in the line of fire just doing his duty as a police officer. Ever since then, his mother went on a downward fall, becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs. Thomas always was the man of the house because he needed to survive and so did his older sister by three years, Brooke. If college was possible, they both needed to be smart and athletic: so they both were. Currently, his sister was away at New York University but the phone lines were down and she would have no idea what happened to their mother. It was completely heartbreaking. Fewer and fewer students arrived to school each day due to the mysterious influenza that was spreading. Videos of an attack on the interstate surfaced and school was closed down after half-a-day.

Nick found his dealer, Calvin, to ask if he gave him something in the last batch of drugs. They met at a diner but Calvin intended to kill him down by the river. They fought and the gun went off, shooting Calvin in the stomach before Nick fled the scene. Afterwards, he found Travis and his mother and they investigated the scene. A reanimated corpse of Calvin tried to attack but they were able to kill the monster with a few hits from the truck. He seemed almost unstoppable. When they finally arrived home, the plan was leave for the desert. Travis felt the need to bring his son and ex-wife along but they would not be so willing to go. Travis was forced into the city to find his son amidst violent protestors. During the riots, they took shelter in some shop owned by the Salazar family. This family helped Travis, Liza, and Chris to escape and therefore, Travis invited them along too. After an incident with an infected neighbor reaching the inside of their house, Travis arrived back home. They were all preparing to leave the neighborhood but a military quarantine was placed and nobody was allowed to leave. Nearly ten days or so after the military began occupying the streets, Griselda and Nick were taken by the guards. Nick was taken to some military base and held in a cell with a man named Victor Strand and a woman named Naomi. Infected attacked the camp and Nick’s family were able to rescue him but Griselda had already been killed. When they were all rejoined, their reunion was short lived because they needed to move quickly. With urgency building, Liza took the lead and showed the way out of the facility.

Thomas just had an altercation with a few soldiers. Himself, Alicia, and Chris were tasked with watching their car with the supplies but three soldiers arrived and stole the car. Before doing so, they threatened Alicia and that’s where Thomas made his stand. He landed at least one shot in each of their faces before receiving a devastating blow to his face from the butt of a rifle. He might be strong but the metal catching his face made him seem like a mere mortal. Thankfully, they were left alone after that and Thomas watched when everyone arrived back at their rendezvous point. He saw a couple new faces as well. Looking to his girlfriend, all he did was shrug silently because they needed to get a move on. They had time to worry about everything else later. Pinching his nose together, Thomas started walking alongside Alicia, following everyone else.