Hello! So, this is another one that was stashed way back in my vault of unposted tales. I've gotten a lot of messages asking if I could post something that had Damon and Piper in it and this is all I had. I know that some folks aren't fans and that's okay but wanted to warn them away from this story if that's the case. Forty chapters are already finished so wrapping it up shouldn't be a problem and I think if I don't post it, it'll just keep sitting there so here you go. Hope some of you enjoy!

Chapter One

Fear slithered like a snake through Sophia's chest as she took in the chaos around her. There were students everywhere, some actually knocking others over in their haste to get to the line of buses outside. She pressed herself against the wall as a group of seniors ran towards the exit doors, shoving people out of their way. She wasn't pushy by nature but she was seriously thinking about joining the ones that were now pushing through the doors. If she were able to ride their shirttail then she would at least be out.

She pushed off of the wall and was about to do just that when she was suddenly slammed in the back and then tossed to the side. She looked up in time to see two big boys wearing football jerseys run past. They had tossed her away like refuse. Someone else flashed past, slamming into her shoulder hard and this time she wasn't able to keep her balance. She hit the wall, bounced off and then fell right on her ass.

She tried to get up but she was hit once again, knocked back down. She was going to be trampled by her own classmates! Whatever was going on out there wasn't going to get a chance to bring her down because she was going to die five minutes after they called for a city wide evacuation. She cried out when a heavy foot caught her thigh and then someone was falling heavily across her legs.

The strangest thing was this person was going the wrong way. He wasn't running towards the doors but away from them. He cursed and scrambled back up, turning and looking down at her with dark eyes. He glanced back over his shoulder, further down the hall and then reached down and gripped her wrist in one large hand. He hauled her up off the floor but he didn't let go of her. Her leg throbbed where his boot had caught it. He pulled her further down the hall and she tried to pull her hand free. He looked down at her and then shoved her into an alcove where the water fountains sat.

"You can't get out that way. You can try, but it ain't gonna do you any good," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the stream of people still hurrying towards the doors.

"We have to go. The buses are out there. They're evacuating the whole city!" She said, that sick fear causing nausea to swirl in her stomach.

He shook his head. "You wanna get out of here then you need to come with me. If you wanna risk your ass then go with the others but I'm getting out now," he said, dropping his hold on her wrist and stepping back into the hall, shoving his way through the current of bodies fighting to get out. She didn't have time to really think about it. Her chances of getting out that way were slim and this boy, whoever he was, was big enough to at least fight through them, bigger than the football players that had tossed her to the side. She hurried out after him and since she wasn't sure what else to do to keep up with him she gripped the back of his black shirt and followed close to his back.

He was tall and broad enough to cut a swift path and she prayed that she wasn't making a huge mistake. She dropped his shirt when he slipped through a door. The silence that prevailed after the door swung shut was nearly deafening after the chaos in the hallways.

"Who the fuck is this?"

Sophia looked up at the sound of a female voice. Out of the shadows stepped a familiar face. She had a few classes with the girl. She was extremely small with unruly red hair. She was looking between Sophia and the boy, clearly not happy that she was here. "I'm Sophia. We have History and Chemistry together," Sophia said lamely.

The boy shrugged. "I fell over her in the hallway and figured if I didn't help her out she'd get trampled."

The girl studied Sophia with narrowed eyes and then shrugged. "I'm-"

"You're Piper Dixon. I know. Can you two please explain to me what we're doing?"

Piper cocked an eyebrow and gave her an appreciative nod. "Yeah, we're getting the hell out of here. The rest of those morons can stick around and wait for the powers that be to tell them what to do and where to go. I'm not putting my own fate in their hands. We're taking a shortcut."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Piper walked to the window and slid it up, leaning out and pointing to her right. "These dumb asses are movin' too slow. If we can make it to one of those buses that are already waiting and drive it through the back fences then we're home free."

Sophia felt her heart sink. She knew this girl was trouble. She had known it since her very first day at this school when Piper started a fight in the middle of class and got suspended. She had to get back out there and try to get to the front. She cursed herself for following this boy to begin with. She had almost made it to the exit when she had fallen. Then again if he hadn't helped her then she probably would have been killed.

Piper threw her leg over and crawled right out the window without a backward glance. Sophia put her hand on the doorknob. There was a chance she could make it to the front. She glanced up and noticed that the boy was looking at her, watching to see what she decided to do.

"You know, your only chance of getting out of here, is us. The rest of them ain't gonna make it. Whatever is comin' is comin' fast or it wouldn't be this chaotic."

She glanced towards the window and then back to the door.

"I gotta go. Good luck, Sophia," he said before he walked to the window.

She pulled the door open and was surprised to see that the hall was still streaming with students. She couldn't even get out now. Glancing back she caught him straddling the windowsill, still watching her. She shut the door and hurried over. He slipped out and then to her surprise, he helped her down, sitting her on her feet in the grass. "Thank you," she muttered.

He nodded and took off towards the back parking lot where there was a line of idling buses. She hurried to keep up with him as they raced to the very last bus. Luckily not all of them had drivers yet. The door closed as soon as she was on the bottom step and she looked up in time to see Piper scurry out of the driver's seat and the boy took her place.

"You sure you can drive this thing?" Piper asked.

The boy snorted and before Sophia could even get to the seat he was throwing the bus in reverse. Piper sat down in the seat across the isle from Sophia, right behind the boy. She was grinning.

"I ain't got a choice but to bust through the fence," he said, glancing behind him.

Piper shrugged. "Fuck it. What are they gonna do? Bust us for destruction of property? Grand theft auto? Hell, by tonight we'll probably all be dead. This has got to have something to do with that crazy ass virus going around. Today was suppose to be the last day of school because of it. Now all of this? I'm tellin' you. We're dead."

"Shut up. You think some virus is gonna take out the Dixons? You're crazy" the boy grumbled. "Oh, and brace yourselves."

Before Sophia had a chance to take his advice she heard a crash and felt the jolt of the bus smashing through the fence that surrounded the back of the school.

Piper looked over at her once they were on the road and sighed. "Sophia, meet Damon. He's the optimist to my pessimist."

Sophia could only stare wide eyed out the windshield as they barreled down the street. "I need to find my mom," she muttered, more to herself than to her two cohorts. She couldn't believe she had followed them. Was she insane? Then again, what if they had been right? It wasn't likely those other students would make it out of there if whatever was happening happened quick enough.

She didn't have a phone anymore, since it was just her and her mom and her mom couldn't afford two cellphones. She looked over just as Piper stuck her own phone to her ear.

"Dad? What the fuck is going on?" Piper asked into the phone, anxiety showing in her face for the first time. She paused. "No, me and Damon... well, everyone was panicking so we took a bus." She rolled her eyes. "No, we didn't bring a bunch of people. This chick, Sophia, happened to be with Damon for some reason and she's with us but other than that, it's just us. Should we go to the house?" She paused again, her face losing a bit of color. "What?"

"Ask him about my mom and my old man?" Damon said over his shoulder.

"Damon wants to know... Dad?" She took the phone away from her ear and glared at it. "Fuck!" She growled, throwing it on the floor.

"What's goin' on?" Damon asked.

Piper shook her head. "No idea. Service just went out."

"I need to get to my house. My mom is alone," Sophia said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

Damon didn't seem to hear her. They were at a stop sign and he was leaned forward, peering out the windshield. "What the fuck are those people doin'?"

Piper sat up on her knees in her seat and Sophia did the same. There seemed to be a group of people walking towards them but they weren't your average everyday people. They were walking strangely, their mouths hanging agape, some looked like they were bleeding from various wounds.

"What the..." Piper breathed, gripping the back of Damon's seat in a white knuckled grip. "It's like a gang of speedball addicts."

Just then the door slid open and a man stumbled up the steps. Sophia threw herself as far back as she could. His skin was gray and slightly mottled, his lips pulled back from his teeth as he snarled and his eyes looked like storm clouds, milky and sightless.

He turned his head until he seemed to be looking right at her, his jaws working, gnashing his teeth together as he leaned over the seat, reaching for her.

Suddenly he was gone and it took Sophia a moment to realize that Damon had actually kicked the guy. He stumbled and then toppled out of the bus. There was someone else there trying to crawl over him, reaching up and Sophia gasped when she realized the woman's wrist was dangling, clearly broken, snapped like a twig but she didn't seem to feel it or notice any pain. Damon threw the lever, closing the door before the woman could climb up.

"Dude," Piper pointed ahead of them. The group was much closer, like they knew that the three of them were on the bus.

"Fuck this," Damon growled, stomping the gas so quickly that it threw Sophia and Piper both back against their seats. She sat back up and watched in silent horror as Damon drove the bus right through the sea of distorted faces.

"You're killing them!" She nearly yelled.

He glanced back. "Somethin' tells me that it's us or them. Did you fucking see that guy? That wasn't a man. That was something else. They're fucking everywhere."

Piper shook her head and sat back in her seat. "This has gotta be why they're evacuating. Those bastards are heading straight for the school too."

Sophia felt her gorge rise as the bus bounced over bodies. They were killing people! Sure, they were obviously sick people that weren't in their right minds but they were still people. "Can you guys drop me off at my house?"

Piper shook her head. "My dad said he'd been on his way to the school to get me and Damon. Military came in and started forcing people out of their homes. Your mom wouldn't be at her house anyway. You're a lot safer with us than you are on your own."

"I can't just not try to find her!" Sophia said, her voice much louder than it needed to be. "She wouldn't leave the city without me!"

Damon glanced at her as he turned down another street. "Just chill out, okay. We'll figure somethin' out when we get a chance to stop. Right now I just wanna get the hell away from the city."

"But she's in the city!" Sophia hissed. "Just stop the bus. I can make it home on my own."

"Fat chance. You ain't leavin' this bus. Not with those things out there," he said in a low voice.

Sophia sat down, feeling defeated. She wanted to cry but she refused to do so in front of two people that she didn't know, and seemed to be a lot stronger than she was. She prayed her mom was okay and she would find her soon. They had been through enough hell.