TWD: The winding road

Boston was a depressing city, even after he'd lived here for nearly three years, the glum atmosphere never failed to ruin his mood. Maybe it was because Levi was from the south, compared to the heat and sunshine that pervaded rural Georgia, the northern weather always seemed set up for failure.

But even still, today was especially bad. After his flight, he'd noticed the airport was swarmed with legions of uniformed officers. But what jarred him, more so than the number, was how uneasy they all looked; as if they expected something to happen. Needless to say, Levi didn't stick around.

He'd hoped for a quick journey after the long flight, but after the bus hit the highway that hope died in the cradle; a gridlock seemed to stretch on for miles. He'd checked his phone to see why, and after spotting the accident alert, he just hollered at the driver to open the door and started walking instead.

After about twenty minutes of walking along the highway, his phone began to ring. He shuffled in his pocket and read the name before answering. "Hello."

"I thought you weren't gonna answer again," a feminine voice sounded, from his phone.

"I live to surprise," he chuckled, unphased by her tone. "Now what you calling me for, darlin'."

"Darlin'," she snorted. "Now you wanna act familiar after ignoring my calls for three days?" Levi rolled his eyes.

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" 

"Your mom called, and said she couldn't get ahold of you," At this, he checked his calls and noticed several missed calls. "Told me she saw your win at the competition and was over the moon. She also said it's been a while since we last visited and that we should come visit soon."

"Can hardly call it winning with the quality of competition they have me facing," dismissed offhandedly. 

"Only you could say something like that Levi," exasperation was clear in her voice. "Also it's been three years and I've been pining to go home for a while now. We can just say hi to your mom and spend our break back home."

"Sure…" he croaked out, he'd wanted to keep up his grudge but it was hard to hate someone when they only reciprocated in love. Besides, he was also missing home. "We'll visit when the university breaks for summer. Will you visit your family?" he asked. 

"Hmm," she wondered, as he saw emergency lights flashing ahead. "I'll visit the farm to see mom, Beth and Shawn. But if my daddy is anything like last time I won't be there long…" 

It was then that Levi heard something, a distant scream. Levi stopped and lowered his phone, his eyes looking towards the gridlock up ahead, and saw people running and cars forcing themselves from the deadlock bumping and scraping other vehicles to drive off. Soon cracks of gunfire followed and he dived behind a car.

"Levi what's going on?" he faintly heard Maggie from his phone. He raised the phone, as he scanned the scene from behind the spacewagon he was perched behind. 

"Maggie I'm gonna have to call you back later." 

—

"Shit, he's unresponsive! Get the defib; I'll start CPR," said Mike, a long-time paramedic. He began chest compressions, but he could see the colour draining from the patient's face.

"One, two," 

"One, two," 

"One, two,"

"Daniel, where's that defib!" he shouted. He could feel it, that familiar dread whenever a patient's life was slipping away.

"Mike, it's here; attach the pads," said Daniel, handing the small defibrillator to Mike, who snatched the wires and placed the pads around the patient's heart.

"Pads attached. Ready. One, two, three, clear," the distinctive buzz of electricity sounded as the patient arched his back in convulsion before he thumped back onto the concrete again; yet, nothing. 

"Still unresponsive. Resuming chest compressions," Mike shouted. "One, two, three."

But the man didn't respond. And as the minutes passed, it began to look like a foregone conclusion.

However, after one round of defibrillation, the patient's eyes snapped open. "Thank the lord! We brought him back," said Mike in disbelief.

After the last twenty minutes, he'd all but given up hope. "Okay, Sir, I know this may be disorientating but just relax for me. My colleague is getting a stretcher, and we'll soon be taking you to Massachusetts General. You've been in an accident. We need to take you by ambulance, so don't move any more than you already have. So remain calm and lay still, okay," relief bled into his tone, a smile creeping onto his face.

However, the patient didn't seem to comprehend his words. Instead, he fixed his dazed eyes towards him. He'd seen this before; it was shock. He grasped the man's shoulder with a disarming smile, and said, "It's gonna be alright. You're gonna be alright. Sit tight, and everything will be okay."

At this gesture, the man seemed to comprehend something in his cloudy brown eyes. And Mike saw the moment the switch flipped, and for a second before it happened he could see the raw primal hunger in the man's eyes. But it was too late. 

It's cold hands coiled around his neck and a snarl was the last thing he heard before teeth tore into his throat.

—

It would be a lie to say the death was instant. Everybody there would remember the paramedic's breathless wheezing from the bloody hole in his throat; while the monster gnawed his neck cartilage. He'd fought for a few moments, but that fight was short-lived before he went limp.

The other paramedic was the first to react, rushing the man. The two broke into a scuffle before he managed to separate its bloody jaws from the body of his partner. 

The frenzied man was only fought off for a second though, before he released an animalistic shriek and lunged at the paramedic who'd attacked him. Its body slammed into him, sending them both careening to the road, the paramedic's jaw breaking on contact. He grunted in pain which soon morphed into an agonising scream, jaws sinking into his shoulder.

"Argh! Stop!" he wailed, his pleas giving him no reprieve. "Ahh! Please," he continued, his voice hoarse. Before the crackle of gunshots sounded.

A couple police officers, having finally reacted, ran over from the traffic cordon. After the first gunshots sounded, things descended into chaos.

—

It was a routine car accident. But nothing felt routine anymore. Too many whisperings of strange happenings. Of tragic shootings, dead people waking up in morgue and disappearing, bloodbaths in homeless shelters and junkie dens. Everyone was on edge. There was a storm brewing and he could feel it.

"Great It's pissing down," Rudy grumbled. It had been threatening to do so all day, but it had to happen when he was working outside. "Jack imma get some waterproofs from the car."

He ran over to the squad car and fumbled with the keys before opening the car and grabbing the waterproof jackets. He straight away slipped one on and was about to slam the door shut, when he heard the radio sound on his jacket.

"We've got an ASPO in District 4, South End. The officers were called out for another case of community disturbance and possible domestic violence. Calling on a nearby unit to respond and send back up," he looked apprehensive at his receiver and considered responding before he heard the radio once again.

"This is Victor Alpha 1, we're en route to South End," Rudy, took a heavy glance at the receiver before he placed it back on his jacket and closed the car door. But he couldn't help but dwell again on what he'd heard. 

'Another assault on an officer. How many does that make today? Five? Six?' It was strange. They were numbers you'd see over a month or a bad couple of weeks. 'And what was it yesterday? 7 or 8?' He'd seen a couple of the officers who'd responded and all of them looked off. Not that it was surprising given that in the space of a day, several officers were hospitalized. And he'd heard grumblings that officers had died, but the brass had brushed it off. 

He shook off his thoughts as he reached Jack and tossed a jacket over to him. "Thanks, Rudy."

"You hear the radio?" He asked Jack. He got a confused look and he nodded. "That makes 14 cases in two days…"

Jack nodded grimly, "yeah I know."

"You heard anything? I know you and Rogers are close," Rudy asked. And he thought he spotted an uncertain expression on his face. 

"He mentioned some things…" He said. "But you didn't see him, man. He was in a real bad way. Saying some crazy shit." He looked around conspiratorially, "That changed after the commander called him into his office. He went real quiet after that. His whole story underwent a 180. Told me it was stress and shit, but that was bullshit!" He wiped the sheen of rain from his face, "I Don't know what the commander told him, but it seemed to scare the shit out of him." 

"What'd he say? Before he got called in?" Rudy pressed.

"Something about demons walking in dead people's skin," he said, with some hesitation. "I pressed him about it and he began rambling about 'the blood and the bodies'. I gathered he was talking about some murdered family. Real gory shit, looked like they were set upon by a pack of rabid animals. He checked them all. Checked for any survivors, but no pulse. Nothing." 

"But while they were inspecting the house, they heard someone downstairs and they both went to check. He said one of the people he'd thought was dead had got back up," Jack continued, Rudy's brows raised with incredulity. 

"Bullshit!" countered Rudy. "He must've missed the pulse or something." 

"I thought so too," he agreed. "After that, he started getting hard to follow, but it seemed he was attacked and his partner was hurt pretty bad. Even showed me his wrist and there was a bite mark."

"What the fuck," Rudy replied, looking taken aback. "You sure you're remembering right?"

"I don't know, man. It was hard to get anything coherent from him. But I remember the bite on his arm, and I know I didn't see Stevens at work today," Rudy looked contemplative at that. He'd also noticed the increasing absences. "Personally, I think there's some kind of new drug going around, and it's sending people kooky. But fuck if I know," Jack replied. Rudy went to reply, but began to look around when he heard an off-putting shriek.

"You hear that?" he asked, getting a nod from Jack. 

"Yeah. It gave me the creeps," Jack said.

"What the fuck was that?"

Both of them tried to locate the source, but the heavy rainfall and the blaring horns of dissatisfied drivers, unhappy to be stuck in traffic, made it hard to pinpoint.

It was only when they heard another scream, did they both run towards the scene of the earlier crash. When they rounded an ambulance, they found a dead paramedic with his throat torn out, and another being mauled by the man who'd earlier been undergoing CPR.

"What the…" he heard Jack mutter, floored by what they saw; he felt the same. But that didn't stop him from raising his gun and firing the first shot.

He fired three times, each hitting the man's back and sending him tumbling to the floor. Only then did he release a shaky breath he didn't realise he was holding. His eyes surveyed the bodies and blood, 'what had happened?' he thought. 

"He's getting back up!" he heard Jack shout, disbelief filling him as he turned to see his partner open fire towards the man, he'd just shot multiple times. Who was now standing, enduring more shots to his chest as if nothing had happened.

'Bang!' 'Bang!' 'Bang!'

Hearing more shots, instinct drilled into him activated. He began shooting, but besides the initial few that staggered the man, he shrugged off the rest and sprinted at them. His snarl filled with blood stained teeth, made his heart lurch. 

They only got in a few more shots, before he was upon them and they both scrambled out of the way. While they avoided being bowled over and he went stumbling past, he saw Jack stumble and trip as he dodged; the man sprawled and his gun sliding loose on the floor.

He raised his gun again to fire again, but what he saw in the corner of his eye turned his blood cold. One of the dead men, the first paramedic with a bloody gape in his throat, was fumbling to his feet. The same glazed eyes and deathly pallor visible on the face of what should have been a dead man. And one sentence Jack said floated to his mind, "Demons walking in dead people's skin...." 

"Oh shit. Fuck. Fuck," panic threatened to overwhelm him, but a sliver of rationality kept his gun primed. Several more barks of gunfire issued from his pistol, at what he could only describe as a monster; that converged on his partner. It was all ineffective though, besides earning its ire. 

And soon he heard the click of an empty magazine and baulked as he saw both creatures running headlong at him. He dived out of the way, avoiding getting tackled by the first, but he wasn't so lucky with the second. It had adjusted its angle and was upon him. He went to scramble, but he found he couldn't move his legs, his body refusing to listen to his commands. A spasm of dread jolted up his body and his eyes watched transfixed on the figure steaming towards him. 'Is this where I die,' he thought to himself.

Then almost in a blur, he heard heavy footsteps and a dark blur pass his vision. He tried to comprehend what happened, but the creature's body fell on him first, knocking the air out of his lungs. He waited for the pain to come but nothing followed. Except the sticky wetness of blood dripping onto his face, from the oozing neck stump of the corpse atop of him. 

Reviled, he pushed the body off of him and scampered back while retching. Not sure what had just happened, until he saw a young man in front of him standing among two decapitated bodies.

He had an unapproachable air, with short inky black hair that was slick with water from the rainfall and electric blue eyes that seemed to burn with an eerie intensity. He was surveying the area with a taut alertness, with a katana dyed red in one hand and in the other, a decapitated head, held by the hair which dripped viscous blood onto the concrete 

Then he turned to him and he met the placid, unblinking, blue eyes of his saviour. His lips peeled back into a smile that showed his immaculate white teeth, which instead of reassuring him made him shiver; something about it, feeling very predatory. Rudy wanted to speak, but all the words died in his mouth as he looked again at the head in his hands. Its cloudy eyes staring down at him, its bloody jaws clacking together in hunger. 

'What in the actual…' 

---

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