Infections (Reboot)/S1E2

"Murphy's Law" is the second episode of Season 1 of Infections. It is the second episode overall. It premiered on April 6, 2018.

Synopsis
"The 'flu' epidemic turns deadly as the Walters family deals with a sudden; Monica and Jane become trapped on the fire escape."

Plot
The gas station still sits in silence. Greg is pacing back and forth with his phone against his ear. His boss would kill him if he caught him on his phone during shift, but Greg didn’t care.

“''Hey, this is Monica. Leave a message.''” The voicemail says, making Greg stop in his tracks, looking to the floor and letting out sigh.

“Monica, it’s me. Call me back. I need to make sure you’re okay.” Greg says as he walks back behind the counter. He ends the call, placing his phone face down on the counter.

His eyes go to the old television set on the ceiling. A news reporter is standing in front of a crash site. Greg realizes it’s muted and grabs the remote from next to the cash register, hitting the mute button.

“--and police arrived on the scene to find at least seven people dead from the collision. As you can see behind me, they are working hard to help any survivors, however most of those involved are confirmed to be dead.”

Greg stares at the screen, focusing on it. He’s waiting for something. Something to happen here just like it did on those videos he had watched before.

“According to a few of these police officers, the truck driver had stopped breathing behind the wheel and, despite their best efforts, they could not resuscitate him.” The reporter says.

Greg’s eyes move from her and go to background. A few feet behind her, one of the sheets covering the dead bodies blows off of a man as he sits up. Greg blinks, unsure of what he just saw.

As the woman continues speaking, Greg keeps his eyes glued on the man as he stands. He was just dead… wasn’t he?

A few feet away, two police officers are kneeling over a person on the ground. The man shuffles his feet towards them, stumbling almost as he walks. His arms reach out and grab the shoulders of the first policeman, pulling himself closer before sinking his teeth into his neck.

The reporter is interrupted by his screams and whips herself around to look. The cameraman looks as well, pointing the camera for all to see.

The man is viciously ripping the back of the officer’s neck apart.

The reporter quickly jumps for the camera, pushing it down. “Turn it off! Turn off the damn--!” She is cut off when the screen switches to a news station. The reporter at the desk looks shocked and confused, but nods, trying to keep his composure. “Th-Thank you, Grace. Next, we’re going--”

Greg grabs the remote and switches the TV off. He grabs his phone, seeing no missed call from Monica still. He shakes his head, grabbing his key-chain and stuffing them in his pocket before walking towards the back of the store, where his boss’ office is.

It’s dimly lit in the back, boxes are scattered and stacked all around. The office is down a short hallway, a fire exit right across from it.

“Hey, Jim? Look, I’m sorry, I have to go.” He walks towards the cracked door, pushing on it to step inside. “I need to make sure my--”

As soon as Greg enters the office, he knows just by looking at Jim. Something had changed about him. His eyes are a disgusting yellow, and his skin is a sickly, dry pale.

Greg’s eyes widen, and he slowly steps away in fear. “Jesus, Jim… what happened to you?”

Greg notices his poorly wrapped hand, seeing the blood had seeped through all of the bandages Jim used. “I’ll call you an ambulance and go--”

The man interrupts him with an inhuman snarl, getting closer to Greg. The young man turns around to just run, but his boss grabs his shoulder. As he tries to pull him back, Greg pulls himself away from the man’s grip, stumbling into a stacked pile of boxes and falling to the ground.

He groans, turning over to see Jim step closer. He opens his jaws as he lunges on top of Greg, who puts both his arms up to push him away. “Fuck! Get the fuck off me!”

At the front of the store, the door opens. Vince Jameson enters, immediately noticing that there’s no one working. His eyes examine the room, looking for anyone else in there when he hears, “Someone help me!”

Vince doesn’t hesitate, running to the back. He looks down to see Greg being pinned to the floor, struggling to shove his boss off of him.

The man sees the teenager from the corner of his eye and looks to him. “V-Vince! Get him off of me, please!”

The teenager runs forward, shoving the man, but he doesn’t stumble off Greg. He turns his head to look at Vince now, who sees his face. “Jesus Christ…” He whispers.

Greg takes the opportunity to shove his boss away, pulling himself out from under him. Greg gets to his feet, pushing Vince out into the store. The teen looks back. “What’s going on?!”

“I… I don’t know. Have you heard from Monica? Is she okay?” Greg asks. “And… what are you even doing here?”

Vince steps back with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. “Monica and I were gonna meet up but… while I was out, I heard shit in the alleyways. I figured it was homeless people shooting up drugs but… christ, I just can’t believe what I saw…

“One of them was torn open. They were eating him, Greg.” Vince stares at Greg again, right in the eyes. “Eating his insides. And they were all just covered in blood…”

“What the fuck…” Greg runs a hand through his hair. He looks towards the office door. “... did they look anything like…?”

“Almost exactly.” Vince eyes the dim office room, hearing the sounds of scraping and sliding from within. “Your boss isn’t your boss anymore, Greg. Whatever he is now… it’s not normal.”

Greg doesn’t respond, though instead, he runs behind the counter quickly and reaches under it. “They always said in case of an emergency…”

“... what are you doing? Greg, we gotta go, we have to get out of here before any more of those… things show up.” Vince steps forward. “C’mon, we have to find--”

A sickening growl is heard as the inhuman gas station manager pulls himself from the office, reaching and clawing at Vince, who shuffles back in shock.

And then a baseball bat slams hard on his head, blood splashing out the wound and onto both the bat and the floor. Jim collapses, unmoving, as Greg stumbles back, lifting the weapon. “Staff always… kept it back there for emergencies… I think I incapacitated him…”

Vince stares well and good at the unmoving body. “Greg, I’ll be honest, I think you did more than that…”

“... regardless…” Greg keeps hold of the bat as he grabs his phone again. “Fucking hell, cell service is completely gone. Now there’s no chance I can get a hold of Monica.”

“Well we’re not gonna get an answer if we keep standing around. She has to still be at the hotel.” Vince eyes the corpse again before he looks around the shelves. “Get a move on, we’re heading out.”

“And what are you doing?” Greg goes for the door. “You can’t just rob us.”

“I’m not. I’m protecting myself.” He holds up a survival knife package and rips it open, holding the knife in his hands. “In case of anything. Now come on.”

He rushes Greg and pushes him out the door, and they both bound left upon exit and sprint down the desolate road toward the hotel.

“'''PETE! GET OFF OF HER!'''”

Sarah screams and falls back as her husband collapses on top of her, gnawing viciously at her, gunky spit and blood splattering on her face with every bite at the air. She struggles to push him off as Monica shouts, building up enough courage to grab Pete by the shoulders from behind and pull on him as forcefully as possible.

Pete swings an arm back and knocks her away, but Jane grabs the loose arm and pulls Pete to the side, allowing Sarah to slide away and scoot back into the bedroom.

Jane stumbles back and lets go as Pete scrambles to his feet, lunging at her. However, she fights back by grabbing his wrists. His arms flail wildly as she fights back hard against him, trying to stay balanced and push him back further.

“Jane!” Monica sprints from the bathroom to the counter, grabbing a rolling pin and slamming it against Pete’s shoulder and neck, trying to incapacitate him. “What the hell Pete, STOP!”

Pete claws at Monica once again as she dodges, and Jane pushes him back as the two round the kitchen table and make distance. The man stumbles again and apparently loses his bearings, as his head cranes around slowly, his soft growls leaving with every glance around the room he takes.

Monica pants, staying by Jane’s side, her eyes not leaving Pete. “What do we do…” She whispers.

“I don’t know, just keep him at bay…” Jane pants, watching as Pete begins to shamble to the right to get to them. “I don’t think he really knows where he is… just go left, keep circling. Keep distance.”

“O-Okay, okay…” Monica nods, slowly moving along with her, Pete barely picking up in speed.

Pete is on the opposite end of the table when the door opens and slams shut.

“Mom? Dad? Grocery store was closed, a bunch of crazy people were--”

Pete whirls around and snarls, a loud growl echoing through the house as he shambles towards his daughter, Abby.

Abby’s eyes meet Pete’s cold, yellow eyes, and she stumbles back against the door. “W-What the fuck?! Dad?!”

“Abby, get away from him!” Monica shouts, sprinting around the table and charging Pete.

“What the fuck is wrong with--?!” Abby is almost grabbed by Pete when Monica tackles the man to the ground, pinning him beneath her and fighting to hold onto his arms, blood and drool still flying from Pete’s ever-moving mouth, as his futile attempts to bite her continue.

“P-Pete…?”

Sarah slowly walks over, kneeling down beside her husband. Tears form in her eyes, as she reaches for him, rubbing his head. “Oh, Pete… g-good god, what’s h-happened to you…? I-I’ll fix you right up, okay…?”

“Mrs. Walters, keep away from him!” Monica shouts.

“C’mon lady, that’s not your husband anymore!” Sarah chokes out a sob as she fights against Jane, who grabs her and pulls her away just before Pete can bite into her fingers. The woman tries to wrestle out of Jane’s hold, while Monica struggles to keep Pete down on the floor.

“Abby, just get away!” Monica shouts over her shoulder. “This isn’t your dad anymore!”

Abby’s breathing picks up as she eyes the three of them, before she runs into the kitchen. Monica’s eyes fall away from her and back onto Pete, the man not even focused on anything anymore. His eyes are now drained of almost all color, just a pale yellow that isn’t even looking at her. He snarls loudly and wracks his head about, trying to bite her. Monica stares in sad shock at the being that was once Pete Walters, unable to believe that this has happened to him; or anyone for that matter.

And suddenly his movements cease, blood pooling onto the floor as a knife stabs into his temple.

Abby pulls it out, breath shaky as she drops it onto the couch and backs away. Sarah’s sobs pick up in volume as the room otherwise falls into silence.

Monica pushes herself away from the corpse, using the couch to get to her feet. She looks down at herself, seeing her shirt is covered in blood.

As she stands, Sarah manages to pull away from Jane and fall over the corpse on the floor. Her sobs soften down, now only small whimpers as she stares down at what used to be her husband.

“Th-That wasn’t Pete… He… He’d never try to hurt us.” Sarah whispers before she lifts her hand, closing the unfamiliar eyes.

Monica’s eyes drift to her friend, who is just standing a few feet away, eyes wide as she stares down at the body. “Abby? Are you alright?”

Abby looks to the other girl. “Am I alright?” She unfolds her arms. “Am I alright? Monica… I just stabbed my dad in the fucking head!”

“Abby… Sweetie, that wasn’t your father.” Sarah looks up to her daughter, starting to recollect herself. As she starts to get up, Jane assists her, the two standing. “Thank you…”

“Anyway, we can’t talk about all of this now. We need to get somewhere safe.” Sarah continues. “Away from… th-those things.”

Jane crosses her arms. “Where do you suppose we go? Assuming the bite is what caused all of this, there’s probably more people like that couple outside all around the hotel. Hell, even outside.” Jane turns to Abby. “You were out there. What did you see?”

“I-I, uh… I saw…” Abby stammers, trying to remember, but she shakes her head and collapses onto the couch, putting her head in her hands. “Fuck, I just… n-no, sorry. I’m trying to remember if I saw… anything really w-weird.”

“... Abby.” Monica sits beside her. “I-I’m sorry… I mean, I’m sorry about what happened to your dad… we just… have to figure stuff out.”

“I’m telling you, it’s gotta be the bite.” Jane says. “Those Raymos people had bites on them. Dude had his shoulder ripped off and their legs were just covered… it’s gotta be what’s causing people to turn into these things. I mean, that guy’s hand is wrecked. And wasn’t he normal hours ago?”

“... s-some bitten people just… fell over.” Abby stares at the ground. “I saw one fall, and their chest just… stopped moving. They stopped breathing… and then they sat up again. But their chest wasn’t moving.

“They still weren’t breathing. They just died and then came back to life.”

Silence falls over them again, as Monica looks down to Pete. “... so then the bite got him. He was already dead hours ago.”

“Th-This is insane…” Sarah’s breathing becomes shaky as she averts her eyes from the others. “People dying… and coming back to life? Abby, are you…?”

“I’m being honest mom.” Abby shakes her head. “It’s fucking stupid and scary and impossible… but it happened.”

“And he was feeling sick, right…?” Jane surmises. “... so the bite makes you sick, you die, and then you turn… what the fuck, are we stuck in a horror movie?”

“It doesn’t matter right now.” Monica stands from the couch. “We should find somewhere safe to talk this over.” As soon as she stands up, however, a thought comes to mind, and her eyes widen. “Shit!”

Jane stands up. “What’s wrong?”

Monica looks around the room frantically before seeing the time. 6:15. “Vince! He probably has no idea what’s happening!”

“Or he’s already seen what’s happening.” Jane mutters, earning a glare from Monica. “What? I’m being honest here. For all we know, he’s one of them, too.”

Monica shakes her head. “No way. He lives on the second floor, we can go--”

“Monica, we need to go.” Abby says.

Sarah shakes her head, standing as well. “No, she’s right. There could be other survivors in the building. We can’t just leave them all here alone.”

Monica looks to Jane with pleading eyes. “Please, I just need to make sure he and my brother are alright.”

“So call them or something. I’m not going out there!” Jane crosses her arms.

The younger teen reaches into her front pockets but immediately realizes it isn’t in either of them. She feels the back, finding them empty as well. Jane looks at her, realizing what’s happening. “You lost your phone?”

“I left it on the counter in your room.” Monica responds.

Jane shakes her head, walking towards the door. “I swear to God, Monica…” She opens the door, turning back to Sarah and Abby as Monica exits. “Alright, you two start looking around for other survivors on the first few floors. Monica and I will start looking from the top floor and make our way down here. We’ll meet back here in about 45 minutes. Sound like a plan?”

Sarah nods to her before she gets an idea, turning around to the kitchen. “Wait!” She rushes over to the sink, opening the cupboards underneath and pulling out a wrench. She walks back over to Jane, handing it to the girl. “You two be careful.”

Jane nods to her, turning to go into the hallway where Monica is waiting. The two make eye contact, Jane letting out an annoyed groan. “You’re lucky I live a few doors down.”

Inside the Walters’ room, Sarah turns around to see Abby throwing a blanket over the corpse. The woman frowns, walking towards her daughter. She puts an arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to her. “We’ll be alright. I promise.”

Abby doesn’t look convinced, but doesn’t say anything. She hugs her mother back quickly before pulling away and grabbing the bloodied knife off the couch. “Come on. We should get going.” She says. They walk to the door and exit the room.

A girl exits the stairwell onto the second floor quietly, looking down the empty hallway in silence. She looks around before continuing down the hall slowly, going to her apartment. She reaches the door and fumbles for her room key when she hears another door creaking down the hall. She instinctively looks towards it and notices the door slowly opening, before a man falls out, collapsing onto his knees with a thud and slamming his fists to the ground.

“S-Sir?” She steps forward, keeping her eyes on the man. He doesn’t move, and she begins to walk towards him. “Sir…? A-Are you alright? Do you need any help…?”

He weakly pulls himself from the ground, and the girl reaches him as soon as he’s upright, leaning and wobbling and trying to stay balanced.

“Mister…?” She reaches out and takes his hand.

He snarls and turns around, revealing a large chunk of of his right cheek missing, and his pale complexion to match, with sickly blank eyes. The girl shrieks and stumbles back as the man grabs ahold of her, pulling her in and biting at her neck as she struggles to escape.

Before he can tear any flesh, however, someone rushes over and pushes the man off, throwing him to the ground. He snarls and reaches for the girl’s savior, but he uses a knife and stabs him in the temple.

The girl’s screams stop as she blinks, stumbling back against the wall, panting hard.

Vince turns around. “MacKenzie, Jesus Christ…”

“V-Vince!” MacKenzie jumps up and quickly hugs her brother, the two embracing tightly. “What the hell was that?!”

“Hey, it’s alright…” Vince pulls back, his hands on her shoulders, as Greg approaches. “Something really weird is going on. So just stay with us so we don’t get separated.”

“Have you seen Monica around?” Greg steps forward. “Please, please tell me you’ve seen her.”

“I-I, no, I haven’t… I just got back to the hotel…” She shakes her head, shivering as she looks at the body of the man. She steps away. “No… did you… k-kill him?”

“... I had to.” Vince sighs. “He’s not… a person anymore. He’s dangerous.”

“We still have no clue what’s going on.” Greg kneels down and checks the body. “But we do know… yeah, right here.”

“What?” MacKenzie steps towards them slowly. “What do you know?”

“Bite, right here, back of the neck, under the shirt collar.” He gets back up, holding his baseball bat. “Vince and I have seen this all the way here, people bitten up and walking around, not knowing where they are… it’s the bite that makes people this way.”

“So the man… he attacked me…” MacKenzie looks over the body. “And he was one of them…? What are they?”

“... I don’t know.” Greg shrugs. “Just… inhuman beasts. All they do is… attack, eat, and walk.”

“Walkers.” Vince mutters.

“Eh?” Greg eyes him. “What, Vince?”

“That’s what we’ll call them. Walkers.” The teen nods. “It’s… simple. All they do is attack and eat, but most of all they walk. And it’s easy to tell the difference now.”

“What if more of them show up? What do we do?” MacKenzie asks frantically.

“Well, we’re gonna get to higher ground. See if we can find Monica and anyone else.” Vince says, hurrying back down the hall. “Come on. Let’s get a move on before we become walker bait.”

MacKenzie follows him, and Greg chuckles a bit before jogging along behind them. “Walkers, eh? Stupid name…”

The fourth floor hallways are empty as Jane waits outside her own door impatiently. “Jesus, Monica, how much time does it take to grab a damn phone?” She murmurs. Jane turns around and pulls her key out, unlocking the door and pushing it open to see Monica sitting on the couch with her phone in hand.

Jane frowns, slamming the door behind her. “How can you be looking through your phone right now? We have to--”

“Cell service is down.” Monica looks to her with worry, Jane’s expression changing to confusion. “I… I can’t reach Greg or Vince… or anyone.”

Jane reaches into her one of her bags that was left on the floor and pulls out her phone from one of the pockets. She looks at the corner of the screen, reading, ‘No Service.’

“Son of a bitch…” She murmurs as she drops her phone onto her bag, standing and turning to face the other girl. “Alright, just… Stay calm, okay? Let’s go look through the building and find other survivors.”

Monica seems hesitant but stands from the couch, following Jane into the hallway.

“We’ll start on the fifth floor, make sure your friend upstairs is okay.” Jane says, reminding Monica about Maggie.

“Oh, no!” Monica starts to dash down the hall, Jane trailing behind her. “Maggie’s still up there!”

As Monica turns the corner, she stops dead in her tracks. Jane turns the corner as well and gasps in horror.

Six of the dead stand in the hallway, all turning their heads to the girls as soon as they turned the corner. The girls immediately step back as the walkers shuffle towards them.

Jane pushes Monica, yelling, “Run! Go now!” Monica bolts down the hall while Jane looks to the walker closest to her and swings the wrench. It collides with the dead man’s jaw, blood splattering on the wall.

The girl steps back as the man looks back to her with his cold eyes, his jaw now broken as he snarled. “Fuck!” Jane yells before running after Monica.

The teenager looks back to see if Jane is following. “Don’t look back! Just go!” Jane calls as she runs to catch up.

Monica looks forward again, slowing herself down as she approaches the door to the stairwell. She pulls it open only to see a boy on top of an old woman. Monica’s eyes widen as she sees the pool of blood around the woman, the boy turning to reveal his torn face.

“Jane, hurry!” Monica yells, backing away from the door. Before it shuts, another walker pushes himself against it, entering the hallway. Monica gasps, stumbling back.

Jane grabs Monica’s arm from behind, pulling her to the door to her room. She pulls out her key and fumbles as she tries to get the door unlocked quickly.

Monica looks on either side of them, the walkers are closeby. “They’re coming…”

“I know, Monica, shut up!” Jane says with gritted teeth before she finally manages to unlock the door. She shoves it open, grabbing Monica to pull her in. They both push themselves against the door only for it to get caught by a walker as it pushes its arm through.

“Son of a bitch!” Jane shouts, pushing herself harder against the door.

Monica looks up in horror as the walkers begin pushing themselves against the door, more arms reaching in for them.

“We won’t be able to hold them!” Jane groans. She grips the wrench before swinging it at one of the arms, the limb snapping instantly, but the walker keeps waving it around, reaching anyway. Jane looks down at Monica. “Got any ideas?”

The teenager looks around the room frantically for anything they can use to escape or fend off the dead. Then she looks out the window.

“The fire escape!” She exclaims.

Jane looks out the window, seeing it clearly. “We’d have to make a break for it… go see if the window is open, I’ll hold them off.”

“Are you sure?”

“Monica, the dead are right outside! Fucking go!” Jane shouts as the dead bang against the door.

The girl pushes off the door, dashing across the room to the window. She switches the lock and pushes it open, turning back to Jane. “Come on!”

The other girl steps away from the door, turning away from it to get to the window. Monica crawls through quickly, turning to see Jane pull herself through next. As Jane steps onto the fire escape, she turns around and slams the window shut, the two backing away and catching their breath.

“Damn it… my fucking room…” Jane looks at her room with a shake of her head. The dead have gotten inside, stumbling around aimlessly, a few slamming on the window at random intervals.

The breeze blows by the two and Monica sighs “Our apartments are the least of our worries. We gotta get to Maggie somehow.”

“And how do we do that? For all we know, everywhere above and below us could be flooded with these things.” Jane argues. “I mean, we’ve seen a dozen chasing us right now, there could be more.”

“Jane, I doubt that--”

A scream cuts off Monica, a clear one from directly above. She looks up before she scrambles up the next flight of the fire escape, Jane following closely behind. They reach the next platform and see Maggie through the window, sprinting around a table and backing against a wall. She screams as two undead stumble towards her, covering her face and looking away.

“'MAGGIE! RUN!'” Monica shouts, distracting the two reanimated people. Maggie gasps and chokes on another scream, locking eyes with Monica as she ducks away and sprints for the window. The undead make chase as the girl is pulled onto the fire escape landing, panting and trying to calm down as she and Monica embrace.

“Happy reunion and all, but are we gonna do anything about the open fucking window?!” Jane shouts.

Monica reaches for it after breaking away, but Maggie stops her. “No, what about my parents?! What’s wrong with them?!”

The girl looks to Maggie, then to the undead. A realization crashes right into Monica as she recognizes the disfigured undead roamers as Maggie’s parents. Her father’s guts are loosely dragging along the floor as he walks, and blood is stained around her mother’s mouth.

She has no time to respond as they reach the window. However, Jane grabs hold of the father and pulls him out. His arms flail as Maggie begins to help, and Monica steps back. But Jane pushes him over the railing, much to Maggie’s surprise.

“No, DADDY!” She looks over the railing and watches her deceased father fall five stories before crashing onto the sidewalk below in a splattered puddle of blood. “'You MONSTER! YOU KILLED MY DAD!'”

“They’re already DEAD!” Jane shouts, pulling her mother out. She fights back, however, as the girl is pinned against the railing. She grunts and shoves her away on the tiny landing, but Maggie takes the initiative.

“I’m sorry, mom…” She mutters, sobbing as she shouts and grabs her undead mother, hurling her with great force over the railing and down to the pavement, where she, too, smashes into the ground in a pool of blood.

Silence again, aside from the wind blowing through their hair, at a fast pace so the sharp breeze creates an eerie ambiance. Maggie sniffles and recoils, pressing herself against the wall as she begins to quietly cry.

“My god…” Jane looks over the railing and grimaces at the two corpses. “Fuck, I’m sorry…”

“I just had to kill my fucking mother!” Maggie screams, sliding down and sitting on the platform. “I’m a monster…”

“N-No, Maggie, they were already dead…” Monica kneels beside her. “They… they got infected. They already--”

The girl is slapped across the face as Maggie glares at her with bloodshot eyes. “M-Monica, what the fuck is going on?!”

Monica rubs her cheek, as it stings from the impact. “... I-I’ll explain inside, just… come on.”

She stands up as Jane clambers through the window. Offering a hand, Maggie hesitantly accepts, pulling herself up with Monica’s support. The two climb in individually, and Maggie shuts the window and locks it while Jane locks and barricades the front door by pushing a chair in front of it.

Monica walks Maggie to the couch, sitting her down. Maggie looks to her friend. “Well? What’s going on?”

The teen doesn’t know where to really begin. She looks over to Jane, who is roaming the kitchen for a glass.

“Monica.” Maggie says, gripping Monica’s hands in hers. “Please…”

“All we know is that it comes from the bites. Like the ones your mom and Abby’s dad got. It makes people… sick. They die, but then they come back… but when they come back, they aren’t exactly… them.” Monica explains.

The other girl shakes her head, looking away. “No… my-my parents… they wouldn’t--”

“They weren’t your parents. They were dead.” Jane places down her wrench on the counter before taking a sip of water.

“They don’t seem to be aware of who they were or where they are, for that matter. By the looks of it, they don’t feel much pain.” Monica continues. “But a stab to the head seems to do the trick.”

“Or a push from the fifth floor of a hotel.” Jane says, earning shocked expressions from the other two. She takes another sip of water. “I’m sorry. This is how I cope. Continue.”

Monica looks to her friend, sighing at Jane’s comment. “Anyway, we found out downstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Raymos attacked us and so did Pete Walters.” The news seems to shock Maggie. Monica then looks over to Jane. “Abby and Sarah. We’re supposed to meet them downstairs!”

“Your point?” Jane places the glass down. “Monica, the fourth floor was roaming with those deadheads down there.”

Monica sighs, but then smirks at a thought. “No… They’re all in your apartment at this point.”

“No.” Jane says simply.

“Come on, Jane, we can lock them in there! At least for a little while.” Monica stands up, leaving Maggie on the couch.

Jane crosses her arms. “One, I’m not risking my life for that. And two, that’s my fucking room down there.”

“Jane!” Monica rolls her eyes. “Will you just take one for the team?”

“It’s a room. They’re not that great here.” Maggie mutters from the couch.

The older girl huffs in annoyance, shaking her head before grabbing the wrench and walking around the counter, going to the door to push the chair out of the way. She opens the door, ready to swing.

Nothing outside.

Jane is relieved, turning around to the other two. “Grab something to fight back with.” She says as she turns back to exit.

Monica and Maggie run for the kitchen, Maggie opening a drawer and pulling out a large knife. Monica takes one as well, both of them meeting Jane in the hallway.

With their guards up, the three girls walk slowly down the hall. None of them makes a sound as they approach the door to the stairwell. Monica looks behind them, making sure nothing was following as Jane opens the door.

The three move slowly in the dark, Maggie grabbing Monica’s free hand in hers. Jane leads them down to the fourth floor landing.

As they come across the door, Jane stops and turns to them. “Alright, if things go sideways, we run. Okay? We get the hell out of here, no looking back.”

Monica nods. “Alright.”

The two notice Maggie hasn’t responded and both their heads turn to her, only to see she is staring at something on the floor. They look to see a corpse of a woman.

Jane sighs, snapping her fingers at Maggie. “Maggie!” She whispers harshly, getting the other girl’s attention. “If something happens, run. Got it?” Maggie nods.

Jane reaches for the door handle, turning it slowly and pulling the door open. She peeks through to see if there’s any walkers in the hallway.

Three of them have left Jane’s room, one of them is already further down the hall. Jane looks to the other two. “There’s a couple outside. I think we could take them. Monica, you go for the door and close it. Maggie, do you think you could help me take out the other walker?”

Maggie takes a deep breath, nodding. “I think I can.”

Monica looks to her. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do.” Maggie says, gripping her knife. “I’ll probably have to do it eventually. Might as well start now.”

The three of them get themselves ready, Jane shoving her shoulder against the door and allowing them to run out together.

The first walker turns his head to Jane as she runs towards it. The woman’s jaws open as she lets out a snarl, but Jane swings the wrench and hits her in the temple. She quickly swings it back again, hitting the other side of the woman’s face.

Monica shoves the second walker back as she turns to the room, pulling the door shut and locking the other walkers inside.

The second walker snarls as Maggie steps above it. It reaches up, snarling at her as she stares at it with disgust before bringing the knife back and stabbing the man in the forehead. She pulls the knife out, watching the man go limp beneath her.

A few feet away, Jane hits the woman over the head with her wrench, blood splattering as she falls to the floor.

The three all pant for air, looking to one another. Monica smiles at Jane as she turns to face her. “See? We’re alive.” The other girl shakes her head at her, but can’t hide a smile.

The stairwell door opens suddenly, making the three of them turn around with their knives -- or wrench, in Jane’s case -- raised.

“Woah, it’s just us!”

They lower their weapons the moment they realize it’s Sarah, who steps back with her arms up in defense. She breathes a sigh of relief that it’s only the girls. She and Abby both exit the stairwell, but a few others join them.

Abby smiles at Monica as she sees them. “We found these guys on the second floor.” She motions to three other survivors. Two guys and a girl.

Monica drops her knife to the floor, smile fading as her eyes widen. One of the survivors locks eyes with her, and she runs straight to him. She wraps an arm around Greg, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Christ, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Greg whispers as he hugs her, almost chuckling as a wide grin forms on his face. “Jesus Christ, you’re okay…”

“I tried to fucking hard to get a hold of you…” Monica mutters, her hold on her brother tightening. “Oh my god, I thought you… you--”

“Oh come now, you think I’d just up and go that soon?” He chuckles. “No fun if I don’t get to smash a couple brains in first.”

Monica laughs a bit and hugs her brother once more. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, you idiot. I’m not letting you go that early.”

“Oh come on, what am I, chopped liver?”

Monica looks over and sees a smirking Vince, shrugging at them. Greg steps back with a smile as she hurriedly embraces him, kissing his cheek.

“Guess those date night plans are out the window… huh?” She jokes.

“I guess so.” Vince smiles. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” Monica hugs him tight.

“Date plans out the window?” Jane mutters, smirking. “Out the window with Maggie’s parents?”

Monica glares at Jane. “Really?”

Jane sighs. “Ugh, it’s a shitty day. Last one.”

MacKenzie steps ahead of the others and towards Maggie. The girl smiles a bit and the two embrace. “What a day…”

“I still have no clue what’s happening.” MacKenzie pulls back. “I’m just… glad you’re alright. Everyone else, too.”

“Not… everyone…” Maggie looks down, her smile fading. “My mom and dad… th-they…”

MacKenzie frowns and hugs her best friend again, looking to the others. “Why is all this happening…? All this bad stuff?”

Monica sighs and looks to Vince and Greg. “Do you guys know anything? What the hell is going on?”

Vince looks to Greg and the two shrug. Vince rubs the back of his head. “Murphy’s Law, I guess.”

“Murphy’s Law?” Abby asks. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s simple.” Vince looks behind them at the corpses in the hall. “Anything bad that can happen, will happen.”

Co-Stars

 * Rowan Blanchard as MacKenzie Jameson

Uncredited

 * Unknown as Jim
 * Unknown as Mr. Thomas
 * Unknown as Mrs. Thomas

Deaths

 * Jim (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
 * Pete Walters (Zombified)
 * Mr. Thomas (Zombified)
 * Mrs. Thomas (Zombified)

Trivia

 * First appearance of MacKenzie Jameson.
 * Firat (and last) appearance of Jim. (Zombified)
 * Last appearance of Pete Walters. (Zombified)
 * Last appearance of Mr. Thomas. (Zombified)
 * Last appearance of Mrs. Thomas. (Zombified)