Al was born into a small but rather dysfunctional family in Buffalo, NY. Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she bounced back and forth between living with her mother and father, neither of whom seemed too interested beyond making sure she was fed and well cared-for. It wasn’t so much a lack of interest, but a lack of time her mother worked full-time as a housekeeper to support her and her older brother, James, and her younger brother, Robbie. Her father was a mechanic and she learned how to fix cars at his shop – it was her way of staying close with him even though they usually only saw each other on weekends.
Her interest in mechanics grew, and she wanted to become an engineer, but couldn’t afford college on just a partial scholarship. Besides, she felt her mother needed her help with raising Robbie, especially since James had left at 17, when he flunked out of high school and was finally expelled for selling drugs on campus. He spent a year in juvey for assaulting another teen before bailing completely and disappearing. Allison never heard from him again.
She was close with her little brother, feeling responsible for seeing that he got a good education and didn't fall into the same traps James had. She worked hard and lived at home with her mom and worked at her dad’s shop when she got out of high school, handing over as much money as she could to her mom for Robbie’s future education and for her own “rent”, to help defray the costs of living expenses.
When she was 24, Robbie went off to college at SUNY-Buffalo, and Al wanted to see more of the world. She relocated to Long Island, where it was easier to get to Manhattan on weekends, and worked at a mechanic’s in Copague, NY.
She was on a weekend summer trip to Manhattan with some friends in the when her old VW bug brakes failed, resulting in their crashing into a light pole. She arrived at the city hospital unconscious from head trauma but luckily no fractures or edema. A puncture wound to her shoulder contracted sepsis, which went bad fast. She fell into a coma, only waking up once the worst of the infection had passed. Staff at the hospital was down to one living and overworked nurse, who seemed skeptical that Al would remain on her healthy trend. Though weak, Al regained much of her strength and consciousness over the following two days.
Her nurse, while sniffly at the start, had explained that while much of the surrounding area - and possibly the world beyond - was stricken with a terrible flu, the nurse was still able to help those who needed her...which overnight became Al. And just Al. Her nurse never came back after day 2 of Al regaining consciousness.
Wandering out of her room and into the silent death that surrounded her on the third day, Allison quickly came to realize that she was on her own. The AC and power was starting to flicker and waver, and upon discovering the many dead in the hospital - including Nurse Gladys, collapsed and blackish green at the nursing station - she grabbed the meds and supplies she knew she'd need (oxacillin to keep fighting the infection). Her shoulder wound had healed up by then, with stitches removed. Gladys had told her not to cover it up aside from maybe light material - it had moved beyond needing bandages now that they were a week past the accident.
She raided the vending machines for protein bars, chips and bottled water, and set off on foot to explore her surroundings, figuring she could get more supplies as needed later.
Now, it is June, and with no one left alive to tend to her IV or renew the drip which had been sustaining her sleep, Al is about to awaken to a stranger world than even that which she dreamt of while asleep…
