LezVirus

008: SHUTTERS

"GO AWAY!" echoed a muffled voice rang out and Bristol's eyes snapped open.

Her heart skipped a beat, as she listened for confirmation that it wasn't just a dream.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" another voice just as urgent as the last chimed in, it wasn't a dream.

Thinking fast, Bristol leaped out of bed grabbing her equipment belt snapping it over her nightgown, she made it downstairs in seconds. It was Sarah's voice, she stood next to her sister in front of the large windows gripping the handle of a broomstick defensively. A bloody nosed man was yanking at the doors violently trying to rip them open.

Bristol lowered her gun, knowing full well that shooting through the glass would expose all of them.

"Get behind me!" Officer Bristol ordered, all the sleep haze from before vanished, as the frightened young women did as she said without lip.

It was worse than she'd thought, this was a full-fledged riot. Dozens of people were running down the streets like animals. Bloody-faced men fighting each other with bashed knuckles, smashing windows and empty cars. People were running in seemingly every direction, high-pitched voices rose above screams, mixing in with gruffly voiced babble of raging men and horrible moans of infected women. Hell on earth was just unleashed.

Suddenly Bristol realized she didn't have enough bullets to even begin to protect them, only having what was in her gun and one extra clip. If that glass broke... That was it.

Another man ran from nowhere charging in like a freight train, tackling the one trying to break down the door. The taller man beat him to a bloody pulp right in front of them.

"Hide!" Bristol said, not able to think of anything else to say.

It was still dark inside the store, save for the dim flashlight Eliana had left on, behind the counter where she had been reading. Sarah didn't want to leave the office alone, she hesitated before Eliana frantically started pulling her sister by the arm. Protecting her sibling was a priority, even if leaving the cop alone didn't feel right. There wasn't anything else to do.

A rock flew through the top of the main window, leaving a small crater of a hole but not shattering it.

"Go!" Bristol said yelling under her breath, to get them out of harm's way.

The two young women ran upstairs, locking themselves in one of the rooms. People outside seemed to grow louder and louder flooding the streets to the brim with infected. Scattered screams, let them know the infected weren't the only ones out there... But there was no helping them. Hot tears slid down Eliana's face, gripping her sister's hand so tightly it cut off circulation.

Bristol backed up slowly to conceal herself behind the end of the first aisle, never lowering the gun. Crouching down low, she watched the violent riot unfold, ready to go out swinging if need be, to protect the younger women upstairs. They were all she had to protect after all, in this miserable world where everyone else she knew was now gone too.

She readied herself, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. So far it looked like the mass of the riot was flowing in one direction not halting too much in any one spot, say for a few women who were randomly littered in the streets fucking each other, maybe if they stayed quiet and on the down-low, it would blow passed.

Minutes felt like an eternity and Bristol could feel her blood pumping, the growing cramp in her leg not even reaching her adrenaline-fused brain. A grainy sound chimed in from behind the counter somewhere, broken voices came in loud enough to attract attention, and Bristol recognized it was her police radio. Now the damn thing decided to work, didn't do jack when she wanted it to. The voice grew clear, a military woman judging by the tone.