The cough lingered in the air, followed by a wheeze, making Erin shudder in place as she stayed somewhat hidden behind the car alongside Sophie.

  A few seconds later, she could hear a couple of footsteps approaching from the direction of the cough. She gestured for Sophie to stay put before taking a peek over the car's trunk.

  Some free strands of her hair blocked her vision momentarily due to the wind picking up before she wafted them aside. The same wind carried the wretched smell of the infected that she now had her sights on.

  They appeared to be roaming without much of a purpose or objective, their bloodshot orbs were staring forward as if they were in some sort of a daydream.

  Erin tried her best to not be spotted by any of them as she leaned out from the front bumper of the car slightly. It did seem like all of the infected were congregated in a specific spot, leaving the other parts of the lot empty. Or at least that's what she saw from that angle.

  "Okay, so..." Erin shuffled closer to Sophie, keeping her voice on the low. "...there is an entire group of them to our left. But as far as I could see, we could just go right and toward my hoop.

  Sophie gave out a sharp exhale, her head bobbing in place twice. "I am going to follow- follow you, mhm." She shuffled closer to Erin afterward, peering directly into her eyes with her own greens.

  Erin gazed deep into the woman's eyes, taking in the light scent of lavender surrounding her. She hadn't noticed it before due to every smell being masked by a rather metallic and nauseating one of blood. Her hand gently planted itself upon Sophie's, followed by a gentle and reassuring squeeze.

  "We will get out of here, okay? I promise you that."

  A faint smile came from Sophie, along with a trusting expression on her face.

  As the duo continued to converse in a hushed tone, a loud groan came from behind the car. Erin peeked under the vehicle to the opposite side to see a pair of feet shuffling next to it. "Shit." She muttered under her breath.

  Her hand gestured for Sophie to follow her along as she laid flat on her stomach and shuffled under the car, leaving some space for Sophie to take shelter as well.

  A thud against the vehicle shook both women up as a loud alarm started blaring above them. This attracted the attention of a few groans, making additional pairs of feet shuffle around the car before becoming somewhat stationary.

  After hearing a muffled whimper coming from her side, Erin shifted in place to peer at the woman next to her. Sophie seemed to be shaking a bit as her eyes were opened wide.

  In an attempt to calm her down, Erin wrapped her arms around her body and hugged her tight. Her hug offered the shaking woman some comfort and warmth as the air went cold, the clouds darkening past every minute.

  Sometime later, when it was dark all around and Erin barely could see Sophie's face, a movement piqued her curiosity. She could see someone attempting to force open the doors of an ambulance's backdoors while making a fair amount of noise.

  This, of course, attracted the attention of the infected that was surrounding the car. Their feet shuffled on the ground before they turned their shuffling to a light jog. The figure who caused the commotion tried to escape but was overshadowed by the others enclosing them.

  A series of gutwrenching screams filled the air soon after. Erin grimaced in place, though she made sure to shake Sophie's shoulder, who was awake throughout the entire thing it seemed.

  "Let's go." Erin whispered, peering at her surroundings before shuffling to the side, and getting out from under the car. The breeze surrounded her skin as she did, a metallic smell of fresh blood hitting her nostrils due to the latest victim.

  Sophie followed after her, crouching next to Erin as the other led her behind the row of cars. Erin gestured for Sophie to follow her as she continued to step forward, her gaze faltering toward the direction of the person being consumed by listening to the sounds of slurping.

  With the help of the dim moonlight shining over the body, she could see strings of flesh being torn from the person and consumed by the infected. Their fingers dug into the person's torso, pushing and pulling their ribcage as blood gushed from the holes in their body.

  She held a tighter hold on Sophie as she led her farther away. Her eyes scanned her surroundings in the darkness to spot her hoop. After a bit of a search and avoiding the dangers lurking on the other side, she finally spotted it by the entrance, where she'd left it.

  "Almost there." She uttered, taking a glance at Sophie for a second.

  The woman was shuddering, perhaps due to the chilly air or the overall trauma of what she had seen. But she followed behind Erin's steps nonetheless.

  As they reached the black and white hoop, Erin made sure to check her surroundings once again before opening the door to the car, leading Sophie in before she clambered into the driver's seat from the other side.

  She had checked out to see if the entrance was clear. And from what she observed, the answer was yes. Trusting into that knowledge, and having a bit of faith, she slotted the key into ignition.

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  "Ready?" She turned to Sophie.

  "Y-yeah... Yeah... I am ready." The woman shuffled in her seat, one hand clutching up over her ankle as she winced in pain a bit.

  Erin noticed this but didn't comment on it yet. Not waiting for another second, she twisted the key in the ignition and started up the hoop's engine. The noise attracted the gazes of the infected who were a few feet away, illuminated by the headlights of the hoop.

  A few of them had completely red scleras instead of bloodshot eyes. All of their mouths hung low as they showcased their blood-covered maws. It didn't even take them a full minute before they started to jog toward the hoop.

  After making her preparations, Erin put on her seatbelt while helping Sophie with hers too. As she peered at the horde of the infected jogging toward her way, her foot stepped on the gas.

  She took a turn toward the exit immediately, the headlights of the hoop exposing a few cars that were stuck on the road. The hospital was near a residential area, and so corpses littered the streets, both of civilians and law enforcement.

  Even though there were a few cars piled up on the roads, there weren't as many so that could completely block traffic. Erin, knowing that having the headlights turned on for the entirety of the drive wasn't probably the best idea, turned them off and on occasionally. The moon provided enough light for her to see most of the time.

  Sophie was seated next to her, peering mostly out the window as she took in a breather. "Finally."

  "Hmm?" Erin eyed her for a second.

  "Finally we're... we're out of there."—"Maybe we can find some help out here?"

  Erin nodded to that as she had the brilliant idea to turn the radio on. Even though there's no correspondence coming from SCC, she tried her chance a couple of times. With a slight frustration, she turned on the normal radio inside the hoop.

  "Are they all gone?" Questioned Sophie.

  Erin didn't give a verbal answer to that, only shrugging her shoulders. She had a feeling that it was the case though. Perhaps she was the only survivor from her department in this mess. The others would've taken calls and perhaps succumbed to worse fates.

  A gentle grasp upon her shoulder got Erin out of her circle of thought. Sophie took in a soft inhale to speak but a blaring sound coming from the radio took both of their attentions to hold.

  "...safe...Mountain..." the EAS voice read out in between buffers.

  "San... Mountain..." Before it could utter anything else, the radio went only static. Erin's brow perked as she tried to puzzle in the clues, but Sophie beat her to it.

  "Mt. San Antonio. Are they... gathering there?" Her orbs were washed over with a glint of hope. "The national guard is there... maybe... Erin. Erin, take us there."

  Erin gave it a second's thought before nodding. "Alright, but I am taking an alternative route. You should just... catch up on some rest."

  Sophie's lips stretched to a wide smile as she relaxed on her seat, closing off her eyelids. In the meanwhile, Erin took a longer but safer route that'd get them there from the countryside.

  As the sun dawned from the cliff-side, Sophie opened her eyes wide, taking in deep breaths. This was her third nightmare for the night. Erin tried to calm her down with a gentle caress on her cheek.

  The woman seemed paler than usual with a few sweat droplets covering her forehead but Erin attributed these to the nightmares.

  "Hey." She smiled at Sophie. "Good morning."

  Sophie let out a huff, followed by a subtle groan. "...Morning."

  "You've slept for like, five-six hours? That's pretty good actually." Erin grinned.

  "Oh, shut up." Sophie nudged her playfully.

  "Feeling well? How is your wound?"

  Sophie shrugged off a shoulder lazily. "I will be fiiine." She wafted a hand in the air. "Don't worry."

  Erin rolled her eyes in response but didn't pressure her much. A faint smile appeared across her cheeks as she was thankful that both of them made it out of there in one piece at least.

  "So..." Sophie's eyes stayed still upon Erin. "... I've never been in one of these actually. And it's pretty fun riding up front."

  She chuckled. "Mhm? Never got in trouble with the law before then?" Her brow perked inquisitively and playfully toward Sophie.

  "No. I've always been a /good girl./" She cracked a sly grin.

  Erin rolled her eyes to the side upon hearing that, shaking her head with a snort. "You suck."

  "I know... I know... Hey, I'm the best passenger princess there's, mhkay? You won't be having any complaints at all, I promise."

  As they continued down the highway, so did the conversation.

  "How's it like being a cop?"

  She shrugged a shoulder. "Well, it has its downs and ups. It's never easy to, you know, see people in 'certain' situations. But that's your job and you kind of... need to do it." She sighed before flicking her chin at Sophie. "What about you? Are you a doc?"

  Sophie nodded to that. "Mhhhm. That's a good guess." She grinned. "What gave it away? My coat?"

  Erin poked onto the woman's shoulder. "Could've been a damn pharmacist for all I know."

  A cackle from Sophie followed that statement before giving out a series of nods. "Alright... I guess- I guess that's fair. A pharmacist, hm?" She teased a bit more before putting her palms up in the air.

  "Are you going to answer my question or are you going to keep amusing yourself over there." Erin smirked.

  "Ah! Yes, your question... Well, it was okay for the most part. As an ER Physician, I wasn't getting paid much but I loved my job, so there's that. I was able to learn a lot of things that I couldn't otherwise."—"Save from the usual drama and gossip, I guess. Everyone gets to know about those."

  Erin shook her head with a chuckle. "What? You guys kept a daily chart of what kind of drama there was?"

  This earned an eager nod from Sophie. "Mhm, mhm. The last one was a nurse breaking up with a cop and then she started dating another the next day."

  "Pfft..."—"...who'd date a nurse?" Erin murmured under her breath, almost guilty.

  Sophie narrowed her eyes at Erin but did not state anything, only keeping up a smile.

  This earned a side-eye from Erin after a while. "What?"

  "Ah! Nothing!" She threw her hands in the air sheepishly. "Buuuutt... You seemed a bit 'shy' when I talked about nurses. That's all."

  "Why are we talking about nurses and exes right now? Aren't we in a- a... an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world, everyone-is-getting-consumed type of thing?"

  "Yeah but who cares? This is pretty interesting right now."

  "Fine." Erin sighed. "Sure, yeah, my ex was a nurse."

  "You know what they say about the men who work in the medical field, right?" Sophie grinned.

  "That warning didn't apply to this scenario, /Sophie./" Erin smirked in return, winking at her.

  Sophie's mouth formed an 'o' as her brows rose up.

  "Mhhhm."—"Hey, you asked." Erin's eyes trailed over her phone's screen in the meanwhile. She had to squint her eyelids a bit due to it being darkened for the battery life to last longer.

  She was peering at a map rather than a live GPS as she couldn't access it.

  "Perhaps I could give you a few pointers about how dating /women/ from the 'medical profession' is like then?" Sophie kept up a smirk as she tended to her wound.

  "I don't know if I'd go for a doctor or a nurse now that I know what kind of a freak they all are." She squinted her eyes at Sophie with a teasing grin before peering back, swerving the hoop around a traffic collision without any victims in sight.

  Sophie planted her palm over her chest dramatically as she gasped. "That /hurt/. Wooooww... Didn't know you were /that/ ruthless, Erin."

  "Mhm? You do now." She grinned.

  A moment later, Erin peered at her phone's screen once again, however, the reflection of the sunlight took away her vision for a moment. And within that moment, a speeding car almost rammed into them, making Erin swerve to the side and lose control.

  The hoop rolled down the hill to the woods before all the sounds ceased.

  All she could hear now was the heavy breathing coming from Sophie before her vision faded to black.