|| Chapter 3 ||

May 2, 2020

Mikayla laid in a stranger's bed, not able to fall asleep. It's currently three in the morning.

It's the start of a new day.

The occasional scream, gunshots, sirens was able to be heard from outside of the large apartment building.

And after hearing any of those things, Mia was pushed a bit further from reality.

After every scream, she remembered the same bloodcurdling scream coming from her mother's mouth as her neighbour tore into her neck.

She remembers when her father tried to stop the attack, and that's when she couldn't stand to watch anymore.

She remembers being so terrified, that age abandoned parents. She left them to die.

She did that.

Instead of helping them, she ran.

She ran, and she didn't look back.

She remembers collapsing in that alleyway, she remembers hiding.

That's what she did; she 'hid'. She 'hid' like a coward.

She can remember every small detail.

Mia slowly sat up, feeling a weight in her chest.

It hurts.

Mia left the man's bedroom, and slowly retraced her steps, to his living room.

The man, Max, is on his couch, staring at the screen of his laptop. The lights are dimmed, as if he doesn't want anyone knowing anyone is in here.

It was as if he sensed the young girl in the same room, because he looked up at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You're still up?" was the first thing that left his mouth.

He has an accent, but she can't quite pinpoint where it's form. You can definitely tell that English wasn't his first language. Maybe his mom is from some other country.

Mia rubbed her brown eyes as she approached the couch. "I-I couldn't sl-sleep," she confessed.

As Mia neared the sofa, Max shut his laptop, not allowing her to see the screen. He tapped the couch beside him, motioning for her to take a seat.

Mia sat beside him, not looking at him, but she could feel his eyes burning holes on her.

"I'm scared", she whispered.

"I know," he responded. "Are you hungry? I have food in the kitchen."

"After seeing what I've seen, I can honestly say that, no, I'm not hungry," she looked at him.

Max gently nodded, looking away from her.

The two of them sat in an awkward silence for a bit, before he finally spoke again.

"What were you doing in the alley?" Max questioned, thoughtfully lifting his eyebrows as he looked at her again.

Tears fought to escape her eyes as soon as he asked the question.

"I don't...I don't know," Mia told him. "I was hiding."

Max reached over and playfully nudged her. "You don't have to cry, kid," he told her.

"That's easy for you to say," she slurred out, palming her eyes. "You seem to be in shock still, you aren't reacting to anything that's happening. People are 'dying'," she said, looking at him again.

Max gently nodded. "I know," he replied.

"I mean, that's awful," she mumbled. Her heartbeat sped up as she leaned back against the couch. "People are eating eachother."

"Well, technically they're dead." Max corrected the girl.

Mia's heart clenched after his words. The sound of human flesh being tore from her mother's throat echoed through her head.

Before Mia could reply, the sound of helicopters flew over them.

Max slowly rose to his feet, flinching as he did. He carefully stepped closer to the window near the couch, he has a slight limp.

"Ar-Are you okay?" Mia quietly asked, also standing up, and following him over.

Max pulled the curtain back and peeked outside. Light from outside of the window lit up his face.

"I'm fine, it was just a small cut from the accident," Max told her.

Mia lowered herself down, to his left leg. She found a small hole in his jeans, where some blood stained the fabric.

Mia carefully pulled the jeans material back, and found a small cut, which he hasn't tended to.

Mia looked up at him. "This needs to be cleaned," she quietly told him.

Max gave her a weird look as she stayed in her new position: knelt down in front of him, eye level with his crotch.

Max snapped from his gaze and took a step back, accidentally bumping a table.

"I'll go do that," he told her. "Stay here, okay? Don't open the door for anyone," he walked away without another word, then she heard the bathroom door shut.

Mia Rose to her feet, and let her curiosity get the best of her. She slightly pulled the curtain back, and was faced with the city she grew up in.

It's chaotic.

Mia quickly pulled the curtain shut, then she turned towards the sofa. Her eyes locked onto the laptop on the couch.

Mia heard the shower flip on from the bathroom, so that means the man will be in there for a while.

Mia quickly sat down and grabbed the laptop. She placed it on her lap and opened it, expecting a locked screen, but instead, she got a weird screen made up of green letters and a black background.

Mia lowered her eyebrows as she tried to understand the thousands of letters all jumbled together.

Then, out of nowhere, the screen went black.

"What...?" Mia whispered. She hit the space bar key, which woke up the screen.

It's unlocked, and is showing a lake for a wallpaper.

That was weird.

Mia opened a web browser, and was immediately bombarded with news stories from across the globe.

The UK, Canada, Mexico, Africa, etc.., all have thousands, and thousands of reports of the outbreak.

As she typed in Los Angeles, California, the internet went out, which caused a large black X to pop up.

Mia sighed, defeated. She slowly shut the laptop, and tossed it aside.

As Mia waited for the man to return, she heard shouting from out in the hall, along with banging at another door.

"Help me! Help me, please!" a woman screamed. "Please! They're coming!"

The voice got closer, and closer, until the banging came to the door to this apartment.

"Hello?! Please open the door! I need help! Please!" the woman screamed.

Mia slowly rose to her feet, and approached the locked door. The banging continued, and crying was able to be heard right from the outside.

As Mia neared the door, the bathroom door flung open.

"Don't you dare open that door," the man warned her.

Mia stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly looked back at him. He's only dressed in a dark pair of jeans, his blonde hair is damp, and so is his chest.

"Help me! Please?! I know you're in there!" the woman shouted.

"Sh-She needs our help!" Mia whispered to Max.

Max stared at Mia with daggers in his eyes. "Just because I saved your ass, dosen't mean I'm going to take pity on everyone I come across," he told her a bit too harshly. "For all we know, she could be infected. We are not opening the door, Mikayla."

A scream came from outside in the hallway, then the woman started running.

Mia swallowed hard after hearing another scream, this one was worse than the one before.

"Do you trust me?" Max questioned, taking a step closer to her.

"No," Mia answered, not looking at him. Her voice is quiet and shaky.

"Well, that's a total lie," Max said. "If you didn't trust me, you wouldn't have come with me. You wouldn't be locked inside of an apartment with me. You trust me, so trust me when I say that opening that door for anyone, ia a bad idea."

Mia gently nodded. "Okay," she quietly replied. She glanced up to him, immediately skipping past his bare chest. "C-Can I take a shower?" she asked him.

Max nodded. "Yeah," he responded. "Some of my ex-girlfriend's clothes are in my bedroom, so help yourself to anything that fits."

And with that, Max turned and walked back down the hall.

.....

After showering, Mia quickly ran across the hall with a towel wrapped around her body, hoping the man in the living room didn't see her.

Mia approached his closet, then she opened it. The majority of things hanging in here, are suits.

Mia quickly shut it, and walked to his dresser. She pulled several drawers open, before she found one with T-shirts in it.

Mia grabbed a white V-neck shirt, then she went on the search for female pants.

Eventually, she found a drawer with leggings in it. She grabbed a black pair, then she quickly got dressed.

Mia quickly exited the bathroom, and read the clock hanging in the kitchen.

It's four AM.

Max is at the counter, doing something on his weird laptop.

He didn't even look up at Mia. His eyes stayed focused on the screen, as if it was sucking him up.

Mia walked into the living area. She carefully examined the large setup where his television is, finding hundreds of movies.

As her fingers trailed across each title, she could feel his eyes settle on her once more.

After reading each movie title, Mia found her favourite one.

The Little Mermaid.

A smile formed on Mia's face as she pulled it off of the shelf. She looked at the movie case for a moment, the she turned to face the man in the kitchen.

"Can I watch this?" Mia asked, holding up the case.

Max's eyes shifted to the case, and it took him a moment to comprehend what she was asking of him.

"Yeah." Max responded. He looked away from her, back to his laptop.

Mia turned, and placed the movie into the DVD player. She, then, returned to the couch, where she sat down and grabbed the remote.

After watching the same previews as always, she pressed play on her favourite movie, not knowing that it'll be the last one she watches for a long, long time.

***

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10/01/2021

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