Thread: Dawn of the Dykes

Life had finally gotten good for Tabitha. No, really. Moving out of her parents house had been tough, but she had settled into the new city and apartment pretty well. At the ripe age of 23, it was high time she had gotten out from beneath them anyway. No curfews or questions about who she brought home, no nagging about washing her clothes or getting to the dishes. The only reminder she currently had was a thick steel pipe her father had handed her before leaving, saying that she should always be safe rather than sorry. Her neighbors were quirky, to say the least. There was no one to the left of her, but the woman on her right seemed to have loud, awkward sex every night. The neighbor across from her, Jeremy, was a nice guy with an interesting weed habit. He had offered it to her a few times, but Tabitha had politely declined, preferring a fruity cocktail to brighten her day. Her job up at a local book shop was decent paying, and all of her regulars were sweethearts. She had gotten a gym membership the month before and started to work out, determined to get in better shape for her overall well being. Not to say she was fat, but Tabitha could definitely use some extra muscle. Her weekends were spent at bars, hiding in the corners, where she slowly started to work up the nerve to talk to other women. While she had been out to her family for awhile, she was still new to actually trying to go out with girls. And quite frankly, she was still a bit nervous about it all. But with her new home, she decided it was time for her to stretch out and try meeting someone. Still, she had her reservations, and was rather shy, so making a connection was slow. However, she had started to build confidence in herself as time went on. Overall, life had become pretty great. Then it all went to hell. Slowly, at first. Reports here and there of the homeless being attacked. Sad, but thought to be the work of a serial killer. Then more people started getting attacked, and the hospitals started to fill up with the bitten, which just infected more and more people, and suddenly her cozy city was filled with monsters. She didn't know how she had made it all the way from her job to her place without being attacked, but the minute she was through her door she never opened it again. A panicked call from her father and mother had told her that it was happening everywhere, all across the world. They had told to shut in, to hide out, to not leave unless absolutely necessary. The call had ended with a heart breaking I love yous, and the knowledge that this could be the last time they heard from one another. Tabitha had followed orders, had not opened her doors once in 2 weeks, finishing off all of the food in her apartment, and doing her best to ignore the screams you could hear coming from the streets and sometimes what sounded like in the building. She had heard the sound of many people exiting the place, of thundering foots and people jiggling door handles to see if they would open. Eventually, it became quieter, and finally she decided she could sit no longer. She started off with the apartment to either side of her, finding nothing but barren rooms that had been ransacked. Then she checked Jeremy's, only to find his door locked. Her fingers moved deftly along the floorboards in front of his doorstep, and after a moment she found the hidden key he had told her about. Opening his door, she felt a wrenching of her heart as she looked around. From the layers of dust and looks of his dying plants, he had either left without coming back first, or died early on. Doing her best to resist breaking down, she looked through his apartment, coming up with a few cans of food, a can opener, a Swiss army knife, and a decent backpack to stuff it all into. As she silently thanks him for the few items, a creak at the front of the room catches her attention, and she turns to see a zombie shambling in. It could be one of her neighbors, though the rotting flesh made it hard to tell. An icy feeling shoots up her spine as it moans and begins to walk toward her. Fear keeps her immobilized, until the creature is close enough to brush it's fingers across her face. Tabitha let's out a scream and swings the pipe she had been holding at her side with all her might, cracking it upside the head. The zombie falls to the floor, and Tabitha continues smashing the things head it, until the end of her pipe is bloody and she's confident it will not be getting back up. Suddenly, she sank down to the floor, and let out a sob. Tabby had never killed anything in her life. And this, this use to be a person. This could've been someone she knew, a neighbor, collegue, old friend. It took all her willpower to pull herself together. This one was dead, but she had no idea of how many more there could be. Taking the stairs down was not an option, she'd have to walk through 3 levels of potential danger. There was the fire escape just outside the window of her bedroom. Tabitha hated heights, but with no other good options, she headed out of Jeremy's room and back to her own. Checking both ways, she notes, with a shudder, that her ruckus had called what looked like a crawling zombie from the staircase. Not wanting to stick around for when it got close enough to touch, she ran across the hall back to her room, and slammed the door shut. She wasn't sure if those things knew how to work doorknobs, but not wanting to risk anything, she locked the door, and headed to the back of her room. It took some work, but with a satisfying squeak the window opened and Tabitha climbed out slowly. Vertigo starts to set in as the reality of three stories high sinks into her mind. However, there's no zombies, so she's at least free to climb slowly. After a nerve-wrecking half hour, she finally hits the bottom of the ladder, and jumps down to the ground. Scanning the area around her, she feels unsafe in such an open alleyway. Recalling a small grocery store just a few blocks away, Tabitha heads off down the side of the street, ducking behind cars to avoid the attention of any walking dead. It's not long until she hits up the shop, and from the looks inside it seems like it's already been ransacked. However, she decides that there could still be a few things leftover, and since she doesn't have any other plan, she quietly walks in, surveying the place for any of the undead.