Chapter Text
God wasn’t real, Ryan decided.
It was either God wasn’t real, or He simply hated him. Either way, Ryan was totally and utterly fucked.
The front door closed with a click behind him.
“Spencer,” he whisper-yelled into the phone, “you know I can't. He's the contractor.” He groped the wall blindly for the light switch. “I don't care what he said about– no, listen to me, we need this job.”
The lights flickered on, illuminating Keltie's sleeping face on the couch. She yawned softly, her brown eyes fluttering open.
Ryan mouthed the word 'sorry,' casting her an apologetic look.
She smiled up at him sleepily, her blonde hair flattened on one side as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Ryan sighed and watched her stretch her thin arms above her head before cracking her neck.
“Yeah, okay. We'll talk in the morning.” Pause. “Goodnight, then.” Spencer hung up and Ryan flung the phone down on the coffee table before collapsing on the couch next to her.
“Did I wake you?” Ryan asked, rubbing the side of his face.
“Nope, I'm still very much asleep.”
Ryan let out a breath, letting his head fall back against the cushion as Keltie laid across his lap.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, carding through her soft hair absent-mindedly.
She hummed contentedly. “Fun day at work, huh?”
Ryan didn't respond, brushing his thumb over her neck. “What are you doing down here? It's late.”
“Shit!” She exclaimed, pushing herself off of Ryan abruptly. “What time is it?”
Ryan shrugged. “I don't know. Eleven-thirty?” He said with an exhausted sigh. Keltie turned to look at the clock above the couch. “You should be in bed. You have work,” Ryan muttered.
“It's not too late,” She said, rolling off of the couch.
Ryan took a deep breath. “Babe, not now. I really don't have the energy.”
“Here.” She said, pulling a box out from beneath the sofa. “Happy anniversary, baby.”
Ryan blinked.
Screw you too, God.
He looked at Keltie who was smiling her angel smile, her brown eyes warm with excitement.
“Kelts, what is this?”
Keltie kept smiling. “Open it.”
Ryan took a deep breath and flipped the lid upwards.
It was an expensive-looking gold watch that was attached to a sandy-brown, leather band with small, lustrous jewels encompassing the face. “Keltie,” Ryan exhaled.
“You kept groaning about your broken watch, so.” She shrugged as if it were nothing.
Ryan sat silently in deep thought. God, he loved her.
“Do you like it?”
Ryan nodded, taking it out of its box and sliding it onto his wrist. “Yes of course babe, it–” He held it up to his ear, his face falling.
“What?” She asked worriedly, her happy expression melting.
“It's really nice, babe, and I really like it, but I don't think that it–”
“What! No no no.” She grabbed Ryan's wrist and pressed it against her ear, the disquiet melting off of her face almost instantly. “Very funny, Ryan,” she snapped, pushing Ryan's arm away from her. "Ha ha."
Ryan smiled easily, grabbing her wrist and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.
“Yeah, yeah,” She said, fitting her head into the crook of Ryan's neck. “I hate you. You're a real pain in the ass.”
Ryan held the watch away from his body, letting his head tip against Keltie's as he examined his wrist. “Then why'd you buy me the watch?”
She groaned, swatting at Ryan's face.
“How did you afford this?” Ryan asked, rolling his wrist around and watching it catch the beams from the white ceiling lights.
“Drugs.” She said without missing a beat. “I sell hardcore drugs.”
Ryan snorted and pressed his face into her hair. It smelled like her coconut shampoo. “Oh good. That means when we go out to dinner tomorrow you can pay.”
“You are relentless. I want a divorce.” Keltie said as Ryan slung his arms around her shoulders.
“You do realize that that we’re not married.”
“Says who?” She asked.
“The state of Nevada” Ryan said matter-of-factly, turning towards her.
She looked up at him. “We should get married.”
“Huh?” Ryan asked, his heart rate accelerating in shock.
“We should get married.” She repeated.
“Keltie I–”
“What?”
Ryan got quiet as her eyes stared into his. They were sparkling in admiration, her deep brown irises so shiny they were practically glistening. They were beautiful. She was beautiful.
“Okay.”
Her face lit up, her angel smile spreading across her lips. “Okay?”
Ryan felt the corners of his lips turn upwards, mirroring her’s. “Yeah. Okay.”
She beamed, running her fingers through her hair. “Wow. We’re getting married,” she breathed, sounding shell-shocked.
Ryan leaned in and pressed their lips together, his hands finding the back of her neck. “I love you,” he mumbled against her lips.
“I love you too.”
* * *
The phone was ringing.
Keltie blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the bedroom.
She groaned, glaring at the phone that was ringing on her nightstand, illuminating all of the surrounding molecules with the hazy glow from its screen. She rolled towards it, her fingers fumbling for the ‘answer call’ button as her fuzzy bathrobe twisted around her middle uncomfortably.
“Hullo?” She whispered sleepily, her voice rough and tired.
“Keltie? I need you to get Ryan.”
“Spencer? It's—” She looked over her shoulder at the digital clock by her elbow. “–four in the morning. I'll call you la–”
“No listen to me, okay, I need you to wake him up and pack all of your stuff I'll be there in ten.”
“The hell you will,” Keltie said annoyed, smoothing her hair.
“Keltie, I'm serious, get your stuff together some–”
The line went dead.
“Spence?” She asked, “Hello? Spencer, are you there?”
The line buzzed back at her.
She sighed and hung up the phone, rolling back over to wake up–
“Ryan?” Keltie whispered. She stared at the empty sheets next to her, the imprint of a body still pressed into them.
She pushed herself out of bed with a humph, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. ”Ryan?” She called louder.
She tightened her robe and walked out into the hallway, squinting as she flicked on the lights. ”Babe, where are you?” She checked the bathroom. Empty. Keltie sighed and started down the stairs, the carpet soft under her bare feet.
“Ry-an!” She called again, walking into the living room. Where the hell was he?
The TV was on. A pretty, brunette reporter was standing in front of what looked like some type of fleeing mob, people rushing around her in a panic. She paused to watch. “It seems like these crowds have turned violent due to an unknown–”
A man pushed past her, knocking the microphone from her hand. “Lady! What are you doing? Get outta here! Just get the hell out–”
Keltie’s attention was pulled away from the TV as an explosion went off outside of the kitchen window, a billowing mushroom cloud of thick smoke rising into the ozone. She thought it looked like it was fairly far off, near the city. Another went off.
“What the . . .?” She muttered breathlessly, turning back towards the TV but it was only static. What was going on? Keltie felt like her brain was on the brink of detonation. This whole night had just been too freakish and inexplicable, none of it was making any sense, and where the fuck was Ryan?
“Ryan!” She called, her voice panicked. “Ryan, where are you?”
A fleet of cop cars sped down the street, sirens blaring, their lights flashing through the windows. She felt her stomach turn. “Ryan!”
She walked into the study just as Ryan stumbled in from the back, the door slamming shut behind him. “What the fuck!?" She shouted, her heart sinking into her gut. “What the hell is going on?”
Ryan was breathing heavily, his lips parted and covered in blood. “Kelts, oh god,” He said, wrapping his arms around her thin shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She blinked up at him. He smelt like bile. “Yeah, I'm fine.”
He peeled himself off of her, running a hand through the front of his curls anxiously. “Has anyone come in here?”
Keltie frowned in confusion, “No, why would they?”
Ryan brushed her off and started towards the desk by the wall on their right. “I need the gun.”
“What? Ryan, what's going on?” Keltie asked, walking towards the glass door that opened to their porch and looking into the darkness outside. She couldn’t see anything except the vast shadow of their house, shrouding everything in sight. The scene was eerily ordinary and created a sickening feeling in her stomach.
“It's the Hurleys– Jesus fuck– Keltie, get away from the door.”
She took a step back, staring as he riffled through the drawers frantically.
“What about them?”
“They're like sick, like it's, it's a disease or, or some type of an infection.” Ryan muttered, pulling out the shotgun and locking the bullets into place.
“What do you mean ‘sick’?” She asked, her stomach starting to curl.
Ryan didn't answer, his face drawn in focus as he flipped off the safety.
A startled gasp escaped her lips as a man threw his body at the door, leaving a bloody smudge where his face hit against the glass. “Jesus,” Keltie said, her voice shaking with panic as she took a step back. “Ryan...”
“Keltie, get behind me,” he said, pointing the barrel of the gun towards the door. “Andy!” He shouted, “I'm warning you, do not come in here!”
“Christ,” Keltie said, getting behind him and gripping fistfuls of her robe in tension.
Andy beat himself against the glass again, and again, and again, again until it shattered with a sound equivalent to a thousand breaking teacups; Andy collapsing against the pile of door on the ground.
“Andy! I'm serious. Just, just stay back! I'm warning you,”
“Oh my god,” Keltie whispered, her breath hitching in her throat. Andy's face was caked with cracked, dry blood– his skin looking like he had taken a bath in a two-hundred degree vat of poison ivy. He was covered in swollen, festering blisters; some secreting a puss-like substance, some oozing blood. His powder blue dress shirt was ripped, his tie reduced to a loose thread hanging around his neck as if it were a noose.
He lunged at them and Keltie squeezed her eyes shut. “Don't!” Ryan's voice yelled.
Gunshot.
Keltie opened her eyes.
Andy was on the ground twitching and bleeding out, a hole punctured in his forehead.
“Come on,” Ryan mumbled, grabbing onto Keltie's shoulder and pulling her into the kitchen.
“You just shot him.” She said in disbelief, the words feeling almost foreign in her mouth.
“Keltie, baby, listen to me,” Ryan said, his fingers pressing into her shoulder blades. “I don't know what's happening, but I know that it's something awful, okay? We have to go, just trust me.”
Keltie stared at him for a moment in incredulity. He was breathing hard, disheveled brunette curls falling into his widened eyes. He looked scared, which for Ryan was almost an anomaly. She couldn't remember a time when he had ever looked nearly this afraid.
She said, “Okay.”
Lights flashed through their windows as a car pulled onto their front lawn. Ryan looked up. “That's Spencer. Let's go.” He turned, lacing their fingers together and leading her towards the front door.
She followed, her feet stumbling over each other.
“C'mon baby,” he urged.
“Okay,” she whispered, her stomach twisting with the image of Andy lying by her feet, blood spilling out of the bullet hole in his skull like beer out of a keg. She felt sick.
Ryan opened the door, only to be greeted by Spencer's friendly voice. “What the fuck Ryan!? Where have you been? Do you have any clue as to what's going on outside right now?”
“I think I've got a pretty good idea,” Ryan spat, leading Keltie around the side of the truck and helping her in.
“Here babe, get inside.” He said softly, opening the door for her. She swallowed, letting him help her in.
“Shit,” Spencer said, “You're covered in blood. What happened?”
Ryan got inside the passenger door. “It isn't mine– can we just get the fuck out of here?”
Spencer started the ignition, “FOX said it was some type of disease, others are saying it's some kind of government experiment gone wrong, I don't know what to believe.”
“A disease?” Keltie asked.
“Yeah.” Spencer said. “Half the state is infected already, it's driving people fucking crazy.” Then to Ryan, “Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened to your arm?”
“Later.” He said coldly, casting a dark look out the window. He said something, but all Keltie could see was Andy: Andy with these calluses all over his skin, Andy spitting out blood and saliva...
“Keltie.”
“Huh?” She asked.
“Your seatbelt.” Ryan repeated.
Keltie shook her head, her blond hair falling into her eyes. “Right.” She buckled it.
He turned to look at her, a look of concern imprinted over his features. “How are you doing baby?”
“I'm fine.” She answered solemnly.
He stared at her for a moment longer, shooting her a closed mouth smile and squeezing her knee before he turned back around.
“Fuck this car,” Spencer muttered, punching the shift as they lurched backwards and off the lawn. “Sorry.”
It was quiet for a brief minute, the engine humming beneath their feet.
“Could we put on the radio?” Keltie asked.
“Sure,” Spencer said, flipping with the dials.
“Thanks,” Keltie said, folding her hands in her lap. She looked at the rug by her shoes.
The radio let out a high pitched hum and Spencer shut it off with a sigh. “Perfect. Now we don't have radio connection, either.”
“Do you know where we're going?” Ryan asked.
“They're setting up military roadblocks on the highway. They aren't letting people near Douglas County.”
“Take I-80,” Ryan said.
“That's the plan.”
Keltie sat silently, looking at her lap. She thought of Andy’s mom whom she had met once. “Did they say how many were dead?”
Spencer shrugged. “Probably a lot. They showed this one family that had gotten all mutilated in their own house. I think they left a window open or something”
“Lovely.” Keltie murmured distantly.
Spencer hummed.
Keltie stared out of the window, blinking as they passed the remains of an SUV that had taken a rather unfortunate turn into an electrical pole. She flinched and turned away once she noticed the child's body crushed under it. For the umpteenth time in the past hour, she felt nausea.
What the fuck did she just see? She focused on keeping her breathing even.
“How did this even happen?” Ryan said, watching the crash fade into the distance with a mixed look of disgust and horror on his face.
Spencer rolled his eyes. “You're asking me. Everyone is completely stumped.”
“Everyone?” Ryan asked.
“Everyone in the United States. It started on the east coast and then spread. We’re one of the last states to get hit.”
Ryan made a noise in the back of his throat. “Perfect.”
“Holy shit,” Spencer said as they rapidly approached a building that was being mauled by flames. “That's Jon's condo.”
Keltie looked out the window, holding her breath as they drove by. Smoke and ash secreted from every window and door as if it was trying to devour all of the oxygen on the property, and half of the roof had already caved in on itself.
“Hope he made it out okay.” Spencer said softly.
“I'm sure he's fine,” Keltie said instinctively, but even she wasn't sure if she would believe herself. “Ry?”
“Mmm?” Ryan hummed.
“Do you think we could be sick?” She thought back to Andy, his coarse, auburn hair dirtied and matted with blood. How his fingers twitched even after the rest of him went still.
“No. No, of course not Kelts,” Ryan assured her, meeting her eye in the rearview mirror.
“How can you tell?” She asked.
“They said that it was just, uh, people near the cities. I think that we're okay.” Spencer cut in.
“It's this right.” Ryan said.
Spencer let out an agitated breath. “I know.”
“Didn't Andy have a job in the city?” Keltie asked, “He was a lawyer or something.”
“Yeah.” Ryan exhaled. “He did.”
Keltie touched her hands to her cheeks, alarmed when she felt the remains of cold tears. She hadn't realized that she had been crying.
"We're fine,” Ryan said, his voice heavy with conviction.
Keltie didn't answer. They drove on.
“The hell is that?” Ryan said suddenly.
“We should see what they want,” Spencer responded, easing on the breaks.
Ryan looked affronted as he put his hand on the wheel. “Spencer! What the hell are you doing!? Do not stop this car.”
“They have a kid, Ryan,” He insisted.
“We are kids, Spencer!”
A man jumped into their headlights, waving his arms frantically. “Hey! Stop!”
“Keep driving.” Ryan insisted.
“But we have room,” Keltie interjected, putting her hand on Ryan's shoulder.
“Keep driving this car, Spencer.” Ryan said, his voice low.
They drove past, the man's desperate yells fading into the distance.
Keltie felt anger bubble up inside her. “What the hell Ryan? They needed our help!”
Ryan let out a short breath. “Someone else will stop for them.”
Keltie slumped back into the seat shooting angry glances at her boyfriend. God, they would probably end up like Andy, or (even worse) like that kid crushed by his mom's car. The thought freaked her out so she focused on a paper cup that Spencer had left on the floor.
“You haven't seen half of what I have. You can't trust people anymore.”
She remained silent, resuming the staring contest with her lap.
Screw Ryan. They could have just saved three people’s lives.
“We should have helped them.”
Neither Ryan nor Spencer responded.
“Shit,” Spencer said as they started to slow to a stop, the reflections of a thousand brake lights illuminating the windows of the car. He smashed his palm against the steering wheel. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“This is bad,” Ryan murmured, "We're never gonna get through all this traffic, maybe we could go around–”
“What the fuck!?” A man shouted, stepping out of his car. “What the hell is taking so long?”
Keltie watched in horror as a man with boils masking his skin launched himself at the other man, screeching while assailing him and brutally lacerating his face.
“Spence, we need to get the fuck out of here now!” Ryan urged. Keltie felt bile rise in her chest but she managed to push it down.
Spencer remained unmoving, blinking at the corpse. “What the hell just happened?”
“Now, Spencer!” Ryan shouted as the infected started barreling towards them.
Spencer snapped into it, reversing the car and driving as fast as permissible in the opposite direction. “Jesus Christ! Did you see that, Ryan?”
"Yeah," Ryan said breathily, “I saw. Turn here.” Spencer obeyed.
People instantly flocked the car; shouting and running at them, banging on the hood before sprinting away.
“Oh god,” Spencer said, reducing their speed to a slow crawl.
“Move!” Ryan demanded, his voice sharp.
“It's not like I can just run them over, Ryan!"
Keltie stared. They looked horrified– faces ghostly white as if they were witnessing the end of the world. “What are they running from?” She wondered out loud, backing away from the window as a woman’s face beat against it.
“Back up, then!” Ryan said.
“They're behind me too!” Spencer insisted.
Keltie saw the other car approaching only a second too late, a strangled “Watch out!” escaping her lips before headlights flashed, a horn blaring as they suddenly made impact. Her vision tipped and the world rolled over onto it's back, her breath escaping her lips as glass sliced the skin on her cheeks and dug into the side of her neck. For a brief minute, she tasted blood. Then, nothing.