Dead Horizon

~*~Author's Note~*~ I would like to thank everyone for their feedback on chapter 1. As always, everything is open for criticism and all advice givers and editors are welcome, and encouraged, to message me with suggestions. With that being said, please remember to rate and if you feel like it, leave a comment. Now for your enjoyment, Chapter 2. Enjoy!

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-- Escaping the Madness --

For Kaleb waking up anytime before ten in the morning, on a weekend, was early and so was the case for this morning as he rolling over, the warmth of Stacie still curled against him. Glancing over toward the alarm clock -- which was currently running off the backup nine volt battery-- he read off the large red digits before rolling back over against Stacie's still sleeping frame. Gently brushing the sex-matted, sweaty strands of sandy blonde silk away from her cheek. "Stacie, it's eight nineteen. It's time to get up." He whispered against her ear not really wanting to wake her. Soon he was gently pulling his arm out from beneath her delicate frame before sitting up in the bed and swinging his legs over the edge of the wooden frame.

Grabbing a pair of black Nike basketball shorts from his dresser drawer, he slid his legs into the leg holes and pulled the shorts up over his waist before making his way into the other half of his room. With the large side window, slightly opened, he could hear the loud barking of both Thor and Loki from outside. Forgetting he had let the two of them out during the night, he was peeking around the corner on Stacie who was now wrapped within the leopard print comforter still sleeping. He began making his way down the stairs of his room pushing the door open and stepped into the living room. Instinct had kicked in as he walked into the kitchen, stopping in front of the coffee maker, getting ready to brew his first pot for the morning when he noticed there was no power. His alarm clock had been running off it's battery.

Turning toward the living room once again --his dogs could wait a moment longer-- he made his way back up the stairs to his room and grabbed his phone from the coffee table in front of his leather couch. Cell phone's still had a signal and as he began making his way back down the stairs, he was typing out a quick text message to his neighbor. Finally heading over to the back door, he pulled it open allowing the two dogs to barrel their way inside and downstairs into the basement. He was just getting ready to shut the back door when he heard the sound of a car door being slammed shut, from his driveway. That at least explained why his dogs were barking. Quickly running down the porch steps he was just looking around the corner of his house as Aaron, stumbling out of the backseat, began to wobble and limp his way up Kaleb's driveway, using the side of the house as support.

"Why are you sleeping in the back of Stacie's car?" Kaleb asked puzzled as he saw Aaron making his way toward the back fence. "I thought you went home after you stormed off the way you did yesterday."

"Is that the reason you were taking my girlfriend for a "test-drive"? You thought I "went" home." Aaron quickly snapped back, using his index and middle finger to imitate quotation marks, still bitter over what he could remember of the day before.

"You're going to be mad regardless of what I tell you, so either drop it and tell me what I asked, or kick rocks and find yourself more then just another ride home. It's not exactly warm outside and if you haven't noticed, I'm dressed more for laying beside a beautiful sandy-blonde. Not standing outside fighting with some emo pill-head who's looking for attention." Kaleb wasn't much in the mood for an attitude and if Aaron wanted to throw fire, then he had better be ready to get burned. From inside his clutched hand, he felt his phone begin to vibrate just as Blake's back door was pulled open and Kaleb was waving him over.

"Hey. You're still here?" Blake asked as soon as he saw Aaron, still holding himself up against the side of the house. "I'm assuming you couldn't talk that young blonde into giving you a ride home after all." Blake commented, finally jumping over the back fence and making his way toward the back porch, where Kaleb was currently standing resting his hands on top of the make-shift back gate.

Aaron couldn't believe it, his nightmare was still going on and what had happened last night was real. His girlfriend was a no good cheating slut. Still he had to swallow his pride, at least for the mean time. "Fine! Do you mind if I come in? I'll try and explain my hellish nightmare and why I am sleeping in the back of her car as best as I can remember."

Of course Kaleb wouldn't turn him away, the poor boy honestly looked like he had just got jumped by one of the small local gangs. Pulling the gate open, allowing Aaron to slowly wonder through before the three of them made their way inside the house as Aaron hobbled --as quickly as he could-- toward the large brown leather wrap-around couch inside the living room.

"So I finally got a hold of someone at A.E.P." Blake began once the three of them had made it toward the living room, though his attention was directed more for Kaleb. "They're claiming the power outage was caused by a generator that had exploded in the early morning hours and surrounding areas should have their power restored within the next couple of hours." He finished saying with disbelief as he took a seat on the couch, grabbing the light weight blue jean jacket and moving it over a spot so he wasn't directly sitting on it.

"So again Aaron, this time without the attitude, care to tell me why exactly you were sleeping in the back of Stacie's car?" Kaleb asked, turning those hazel-browns away from Blake, focusing his full attention on Aaron.

"After spending most of the afternoon up at one of the local bars, I started heading back here, hoping to maybe get a ride home, or at least somewhere to sleep. I was pretty drunk, I remember that for sure." Aaron began, trying to go through his foggy memory so he could replay all the events that had gone on. Taking a long thought out breath, slowly exhaling it, he began again. "After your neighbor here, so 'kindly' informed me that you were fucking my girlfriend and went back inside. I saw an ambulance and a fire truck drive down the street and stop in front of the house across from yours. From inside the house I could hear a male screaming and yelling about being bitten. Soon two cruisers had pulled up to the scene, taking one of the females from the house in handcuffs yelling 'this dumb bitch wanna bite someone, I'll damn sure give her something to fucking bite on."

Another pause was taken, as he was still trying to replay the events of last night. "I remember the ambulance taking the male away from the scene. Two other officers went inside and I can only assume a fight or something had happened, because I heard gunshots from inside the house, which at that point was when I climbed into the backseat of Stacie's car. Soon one of the officers came running out of the front door and rushed away by his partner, after he too was shouting about being bitten. I recall a wagon showing up, another person was shot twice by police after refusing to get to the ground and attacked another officer. And I remember two slightly heavy set males being arrested. I must have fallen asleep however, cause after that, I can't remember much else."

From upstairs, Stacie was just starting to get out of the bed, her body still suffering from the beating Kaleb had put through the night before. After raiding both Kaleb's built in dresser and closet, Stacie was finally coming down the stairs, bare feet barely causing the stairs to creek as she pushed open his bedroom door, wearing a pair of Kaleb's loose fitting, fuzzy camo fatigue style pajama pants and one of his white muscle shirt tank tops.

"Oh my god K.C.! I'm so fucking sore. I can't recall the last time I got stretched AND get fucked so hard." Stacie said gloatingly as she stepped into the living room, not expecting there to be company over this early in the morning.

--Oh look! Aaron's here too. Looks like the cat's out of the bag now.-- Stacie still being extremely sex-drunk, either wasn't paying attention, or she just simply didn't care that Aaron was watching, as she moved over to where Kaleb was currently standing. Pressing her shorter, five foot three inch, frame back against Kaleb's own much taller --five foot eleven-- frame, she took his hands into her own and wrapped his arms around her waist and sides. Wasn't long after she could feel his fingers tickling around her pelvis, before finally tucking them inside the hem of the pants. Feeling the slightly rougher pads of his fingers as they gently rubbed against the soft, hairless mound teasing her clit. She couldn't help but tuck her bottom lip between her teeth, fighting back both a soft moan and the devilish little grin that had begun to curl against her lips.

"Are you trying to make me cum again? Wasn't the three you got out of me last night enough?" She asked cocking her sideways, mischief spreading across her facial features, as she peered those bright sapphires at him through the corner of her eyes.

Blake was just getting ready to leave when Stacie came down the stairs and with the way she was gloating, it wasn't difficult to figure out the kind of evening she had ended with. The little blonde was radiating sex like an animal in heat. Blake covered his mouth, trying not to burst out into laughter as Stacie stepped into the living room, her first comment just seeming to be the ice-breaker, cause as soon as her next to questions came rolling from her throat, Blake was quickly turning his attention back to Aaron. "And for the record, what I had said was your 'girlfriend' was in the shop getting some undercarriage work done and a tune-up. But in all honesty, I like how she said it instead."

After unlocking the two locks, Blake was finally pulling the front door open when he quickly noticed, that from across the street, two of his 'neighbors' were slowly wondering from around the back side of the house. The opening of Kaleb's front door had managed to catch their attention and as Blake stood in the doorway watching their movements, he noticed the two figures were slowly staggering side by side. Hearing the creak of the door, the two began to hobble a little faster, heading right for the chain-link fence that surrounded the house, as though they were unable to see it and began using the top pole as a source of guidance to locate the opening.

Not wanting to attract the unnecessary, or unwanted, attention of -whatever- was currently going on out front of the house, Blake quickly re-shut the front door and after pointing out to Kaleb what he had just seen, he began heading through the kitchen toward the back of the house. Heading down the steps of the back porch and over toward the gate, Blake was quickly jumping over the small chain-link fence that divided the two property lines and heading inside his house through his own backdoor. Aaron had managed to take his attention away from Stacie and the way she was allowing --or more so enticing-- Kaleb to caress and cradle her, just in time to notice the way Blake's intention had changed. Turning around on the couch, he shifted the blinds aside so he could better stare out the front window. Wait, he recognized one of the two male figures, or at least he wanted too. Still so much of last night was forgotten and didn't make sense. Stacie and Aaron both were having a hard time believing what they were seeing.

From down the street the rooster continued to caw from within it's coop, acting much like an alarm for the slow moving figures that appeared to be following the sound. "So, I'm just going to go on a limb here". Aaron finally said, breaking the silence between the three of them as he turned back around in his seat, noticing Kaleb had finally released his hold on Stacie and had headed into the kitchen. "but I'm assuming we won't be leaving any time soon?"

"Oh no Aaron! I'm sure you are more than welcome to leave any time you like." Stacie fired back sharply as she no longer felt Kaleb pressing against her. Which in a way was a blessing, he had made her so wet she could barely think straight.

"Yeah, you can leave if you like. I just wouldn't suggest using the front door." Kaleb, catching the seriousness of Stacie's tone, cut in a little more sarcastically while he stood near the back door as both Blake and Tara began to climb the fence into his yard, passing the car seat over.

"Any word from either your sister or her husband?" Tara asked, being the first one to reach the steps of Kaleb's back patio, after taking the car seat from Blake. Once Blake had jumped the fence the three of them made their way inside.

"I haven't heard anything since the two of them left yesterday morning." Kaleb replied, just getting ready to shut the back door. Stacie, although more coherent of her situation was still a little sex-drunk, had entered the kitchen area not wanting to be to far from Kaleb, or just not too close to Aaron.

"If I were you Kaleb, I wouldn't stay inside the city much longer." Blake said as Tara was stepping back outside on the porch. "Things are bound to get worse from here before they get any better. Here, take these." Blake finally finished saying as he handed Kaleb both a silver key and a map.

"And this is for 'what' exactly?" Kaleb asked, although slightly confused, he had a good inkling on what the map was for as he sat it down on the counter top just in front of the coffee maker.

"The map has a location on it. That's where Tara and I are going. The key is for the garage so you can get your motorcycle." Blake said heading back outside through the back door, taking the car seat from Tara so she could get over the fence first and headed it back to her.

"If you don't have a walkie, get one. You'll be able to find either mine, or Dominic's CB on channel two." Kaleb replied.

Blake quickly climbed the fence and after loading the few bags into the backseat, along with Cole, they were quickly driving off. Hearing the low roar of the car's engine as it started, Blake and Tara soon had a few stragglers slowly chasing after them. Their time had just become short and of the utmost importance and Kaleb wanted to waste very little of it getting Stacie's car out of the driveway and away from the truck. After all, he remembered disconnecting her starter last night, so the only way that car was moving was being pushed out. Quickly heading inside, he was already turning his attention toward Aaron. "Come on, we need to move her car if any of us plan on getting out of here before things get any worse."

Not giving Aaron any time to argue, Stacie was picking her purse up from off of the back of the couch, pulling out her car keys and tossed them in his lap. "Go make yourself useful for more then just a middle man weed connect." She said rather stern and demanding.

Aaron wasn't going to argue as she threw her car keys at him. He was still boiling over the night before and what he had heard, but he was already beginning to device a plan that if executed, could make Kaleb's demise appear as an accident. Picking up the keys from his lap he stood slowly, still sore from his drunken adventure the night before, away from the couch and began to follow Kaleb outside. Blake and Tara had done well with clearing out most of the neighborhood when they left, giving both himself and Kaleb a little extra time to work. Climbing into the drivers side of the car, he closed the door and shoved the key into the ignition. Instinctively putting his foot down on the brake he shifted the gears into neutral so Kaleb could do the hard work of pushing the car out of his driveway and into the driveway of the vacant house across the street from Blake's, as he guided the car.

Aaron had been watching the rear view mirror closely and a good thing too. Noticing three other infected coming from around the back of the half-double home, he had locked the doors of the car. With any luck Kaleb wouldn't notice them until it was too late. Aaron was proud of his plan, even if it fell around chance and luck, he'd take it any way he could get it, once Kaleb was out of his way, he could give the cheating bitch inside Kaleb's house the punishment he felt she rightfully deserved. Unfortunately for Aaron however, neither chance nor luck was on his side, the aching groans coming from behind the car had caught Kaleb's attention.

With the car where he wanted it, or at least far enough out of his driveway and the road, he tried opening the car door only to find Aaron had locked himself inside. Kaleb wasn't about to play a game of cat and mouse and with the three figures closing the distance between themselves and him, he wasn't going to waste anymore time. One of the figures --a middle aged female-- had finally noticed Kaleb and with dirty bony fingers -which Kaleb could now tell were caked with dried blood and torn away flesh, her clothes were torn and tattered, a blood stain showed of a pretty bad wound that she had suffered around her left breast- tried reaching out toward him. Kaleb however, being much faster on his feet, had moved away from the infected female as she tried reaching out for him. Leaving Aaron inside the Malibu, Kaleb quickly sprinted back toward his house.

Stacie was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over one another on the back of the couch, watching the situation unfold from the window. Her heart sank for a moment, taking in a deep gasp of air, as she watched the female attempt to reach for Kaleb while he tried getting Aaron out of the car. No surprise her chicken-shit -boyfriend- had locked the door. Then there came a breath of relief, as she watched Kaleb make his break for the house and was now coming back inside, rushing through the kitchen and around the corner toward the basement. After a moment or two, he was coming back up the stairs carrying two large duffle bags and a cat carrier. Heading toward the door to his room, he stopped and double checked the locks on the front door, sliding the chain across the door near the top corner, locking it.

"Get your shoes on, we're leaving." Kaleb said as he looked at Stacie. Turning the knob of his bedroom door, he stepped through the door frame and began climbing the steps into his room. Setting the two duffle bags down on his bed, he grabbed his cat and after finally getting her inside the carrier, he locked the front gate and set it by the edge of the steps.

"What about Aaron?" Stacie asked curiously, not that she really cared either way, as she came around the corner of Kaleb's bedroom, sitting down the edge of his waterbed and began putting on her shoes as she watched him rummage through his closet and dresser drawers, filling the two bags with as much of his clothes as he could possible.

"What about Aaron?" Kaleb remarked as he moved over toward the other half of his room and began filling the black and blue tackle box with an assortment of useful items including his silver survival knife; his all black boot knife, two walkie-talkies with the chargers, two different socket sets, a variety of different sized screwdrivers, a hammer and still had a little room left to spare. "He's making a rather nice diversion at the moment staying locked inside your Malibu." He finished saying as he grabbed his tow-straps and binoculars and fit them inside the tackle box as well before locking it and setting it beside the cat carrier at the edge of the steps.

Stacie was just heading back down the stairs, after picking up both the tackle box -- which was slightly heavier then she had expected -- and the cat carrier from the edge of the steps. Kaleb was right behind her carrying the two duffle bags, which one of the bags contained his gallon jar that he had filled full of weed, out toward the back of the truck. Putting the two bags into the bed of the truck, along with the forty-five pound toolbox that he had forgotten to put away the night before, he took the tackle box from Stacie and sat it in the back as well. "Get in the truck, stay down and don't make a sound."