as the world caves in ◦ [rosita espinosa]

IV. GHOST TOWN

A/N: hii this is my favorite chapter i've written so far, so i hope you enjoy it! :)

The first person Janey killed was their best friend.

It was the beginning of the outbreak. Atlanta had just fallen, and the government had sent bombs their way, determined to stop the spread of the virus by killing every possibly infected. Janey was living there at the time, in a dingy apartment shared with a roommate, a few blocks from their university.

The roommate, Mary, was the best friend that Janey had ever had. They weren't always that great at making, and maintaining, friendships, always forgotten almost soon after being introduced. Mary was different; she was sweet, and innocent, and wanted to make everyone around her feel loved and happy- and she did do that, for Janey especially. They had lived together for all three years of college, starting out as randomly assigned roommates their freshman year and blossoming into the kind of friends who can sit in silence, wrapped in each other's warmth, completely comfortable with one another without having to say a word.

It was Mary who kept Janey in Atlanta when things started to go bad; kept them there far longer than they probably should've stayed, when they should've been trying to meet up with their family and go home.

Mary didn't have a home to go back to. She had been orphaned in her home country, Sweden, and had come to Georgia once graduating high school, looking for a fresh start in a new place. She had crafted a wonderful new life for herself in Atlanta, and she didn't want to leave; even when she was being forced out by dead men walking and explosions right outside their home, she held fast in her desire to stick it out and stay together.

Janey wanted to leave. As soon as the first news reports started popping up, showing the dead getting back up and attacking people, they had wanted to get out of the city and away from what was happening. The only reason they stayed was Mary, who was so sure that everything would be resolved in a few weeks, that the CDC would find a cure and the military would keep everyone safe in the meantime.

That didn't happen.

Mary died on day 20.

They were boarded up in their apartment, where they had been for the past two weeks. They were running out of food, and Janey was running out of hope. Mary still held onto hers.

Janey peeked out one of their living room windows, pushing the curtain aside only slightly to see outside just for a moment before dropping it back and moving away from the window. "We should leave now," they said to Mary, who was sitting on the other side of the room, back pressed against the wall with her knees up, arms wrapped around them. "Street looks clear. I have my gun, and you can get a knife. We can fight our way out of here."

The blonde woman just looked over at their friend with a frown. "You know how I feel about leaving."

"But we're not safe here!"

They'd had that argument a thousand times over those last few weeks.

"Yes we are!" Mary assured her friend.

It was an ironic statement as, at that moment, a pounding was heard at their door, which had been boarded up. The two friends looked at each other, and then at the door, which started to bulge with the pressure of too many people knocking against it.

Janey backed up at the sight of the boards holding the door shut starting to splinter. They stepped back to be next to Mary, who had risen to stand. They both watched in shocked silence as their protection began to shatter.