Where The Wildflowers Grow

-0- Dandy

Leading up to the world ending there wasn't much warning... At least to the public. To scientists at the CDC, however, they knew something was going on. Some sort of virus released on the population and for the first few days it was easy to say it was a small isolated event. They should've known better...

Dandy Jenner didn't think anything was odd when her mom picks her up from school. To her everything was happy and normal, to her it's just a typical day. Sure, a couple of her class mates were absent due to sickness but that wasn't odd. The only odd thing was when they returned to their two story home Candace Jenner told her daughter to pack as much of her clothes and books as she could into two bags.

"Why?"

"Dandy, please don't question me. Just do as I've ask," she replies a bit more harsh than she intended.

Dandy drops her gaze down to the floor before stomping up the stairs. Normally after school, Dandy would eat some fruit and vegetable arrangement before working on her homework. She doesn't like to stray from her normal habits. She gets her two duffle bags, packing the first one with clothes and the other with some books and more clothes. She stops packing when she hears a couple loud bangs from downstairs.

"Mom?"

"Dandy hurry!"

Dandy jumps on her yellow covered bed and grabs the stuff giraffe and putting it in the bag. As she zips her bag her mom walks in, a bandage wrapped tightly around her arm. Her mothers red hair, which is normally neatly slicked back in a professional bun, is in a messy ponytail. Her dark blue eyes scanning the room before landing on her daughter. "Its time to go."

Dandy nods her head as her mom grabs her two bags. Dandy has always gotten along better with her mother than her father, her mom likes to say that's because her and her father have conflicting personalities. Edwin Jenner, Dandy's father, is a reserved kind of man who likes to do things by the book and as safe as possible. He prefers to stay by himself or with the least amount of people as possible. Dandy is an outgoing girl, a chaotic bubbly girl who loves to make messes in the garden while wearing sundresses and rain boots. She's a spontaneous type person. Her mother is the perfect in between. Friendly and generous but would much rather be with her family even if it's outside getting dirty.

As they head down the stairs Dandy takes notice of how some of the family pictures are missing off the wall leaving behind a slightly brighter imprint from where they've been hanging for too long. Her vase by the doorway has fallen, the wild flowers she had gathered for her mom laying on the ground among the shattered pieces of the vase. "What happened?" She asks going to clean it up.

"Don't worry about that," Candace says tugging her daughter along with her. Candace moves her daughter to the front door, however Dandy miss seeing the body laying in the kitchen. Candace puts the bags in the back seat. "You're riding shotgun baby girl," she adds.

Dandy excitedly gets in the passenger seat, buckling in with a smile on her face. "There's some jolly ranchers in the glove box."

Dandy grabs a blue raspberry one putting it in her mouth. Dandy always eats the blue ones and her mom gets the purple ones. After it's gone they compare their tongues to see who's is darker. Candace prouds herself on giving her daughter a better life than what she had as a child. She vowed to protect her heart and her childhood.

With each throb in her arm she knows there isn't a way to guarantee that anymore. With each passing second leads to the possibility that she may turn on her daughter to consume her. She can only hope she makes it back to the CDC and Edwin can care for the girl then use Candace to save the future. Dandy is the future, Candace knows that and she'll be damned if Dandy doesn't.

  Candace never thought she wanted children until she met Edwin. She was and still is, she didn't let having a child deter her career, a very driven person. She wanted to find cures for the worlds nastiest virus but when she met him, she couldn't see a future without a child. She hoped for a girl, she truly did and after several hardships she had Dandy. Her wish. Her beauty in the field of wildflowers and tall grass.

  Dandy was everything a mother could hope for. Caring, adventurous, and just the right amount of curiosity that having two scientists as parents could help. Though Dandys line of curiosity was a tad different than her parents. While her parent studied virus and weaponized deasies, Dandy leaned more towards flowers. It reminded Candace of her father.

"Send your uncle a text. Ask how your Aunt is doing," she tells Dandy. Dandy does as she's asked as they pull into the CDC.

When Dandy looks up from the phone she sees several security guards grabbing their bags. "When we get out hold my hand."

Dandy watches the men curiously as she gets out. She quickly rounds the car to grab her moms hand, the bag of jolly ranchers in her other hand. Her strawberry blond hair pulled into two braids, the sun shining against her pale skin. The wind blows softly which has Dandy thinking about how today was a beautiful day.

Her mother flashes her badge to several others who are frantically running around. "Mom, what's going on? Where's dad?"

"Be quiet Dandy."

"But-"

"Dandy," she warns giving her daughter a look. Dandy looks away from her letting her mom tug her to an elevator instead of her moms office. She watches curiously as her mom scans her badge again before the elevator starts to descend. Dandy has never been down before, only to her moms or dads office and the break room.

When the elevator stops her mom pulls her through the halls and enters a bedroom. Edwin Jenner is sitting at his desk looks up to his wife, his eyes landing on her bandages arm. "Candace," his voice tight.

"It's only been thirty minutes, we've got a lot to do," she says letting go of her daughter.

The next events go by quickly, Candace is hooked up to several monitors and Edwin assuring where he can. The three of them give a vial of their blood for the couple to examine. At the two hour mark, the family sits in the parents room. Candace scribbling illegible notes in her journals. At four hours the fever spikes, Candace breaks out in a cold sweat.

  Dandy doesn't understand what's happening or how her mother has gotten sick so quickly. It scares her, and it scares her with how it seems her father is slowly losing his grip. She just knows something is wrong, something is very wrong.

It's not but a hour later that one of the other scientists, Dr. Judy, sits down with the young girl. She's always liked Dr. Judy. "Dandy, you know your mother loved you with her entire being right?"

"Yeah, mom loves me more than all the atoms in the universe," she replies with a grin only for it to waver. She said loved. "What do you mean by loved?" Her stomach drops as Judy's face falls.

"It's important to be strong in these types of situations Dandy. We both know that your mother wrote in riddles. She said Dandy knows, Dandy knows it's where the wildflowers grow. Where do they-"

  Turn the sound of guns cut them off. "Stay here."

Then she never returned. Curiously she wonders from her room pausing upon seeing dead bodies littering the hallways. Upon finding a familiar dark face Dandy lets out the first scream. Dr Judy is dead, a bullet to the head but a chunk of her throat is missing.

  Looking up from the mutilated woman she finds body after body littering the halls. She lets out the second running back in her room and slamming the door close. She pulls her knees to her chest rocking back and forth crying. Screaming until her throat is raw.