It started out like every other school day after Christmas break, everyone talked about how much fun they had, how great it was, what presents they got, but today would also be the day my entire life would change.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" My alarm clock blared in my ears, screaming for me to get up. In annoyance I reached over and shut it off, then checked the time "6:34 A.M." it read.

"Ugh, alright time to get up bud." I sleepily muttered to my dachshund that was laying on top of my stomach, rubbing my eyes I slowly sat up forcing the fat dog to roll off my belly and onto the bed mattress. In response, the pup just wagged his tail and waddled over to my face which he then proceeded to lick.

"Alright, alright I'm getting up ok? Gosh, dang just calm down." I then got up and got dressed in cargo shorts, and a black t-shirt that had dark red lettering that said: "When life gives you lemons, squeeze them in life's eyes and ask for chocolate." As I finished up getting dressed by putting on sneakers, I then brushed my teeth and left my hair crazy like I always did.

Walking into the kitchen I fixed a bowl of cereal before snatching the note my parents left me on the fridge a couple days ago and read over it again. "Had to take your sisters to Dallas for their doctor's appointments early this year, but since traffic is awful these days with that bug going around like a plague, we might be stuck here for a few days. Please take care of your dog's and nobody is allowed over! Love mom and dad."

After I finished eating my cereal I looked down at Mojo, my dachshund, and playfully exclaimed "Are you hungry? I bet you are huh? Well after I feed you and your brothers I gotta go catch the bus." I then walked outside to collect the dog's food bowls, the cool January breeze put a smile on my face, then I grabbed the two food bowls and took them back inside, filled them with food and brought them back outside before calling out "Elmo, Chance come get your food." They trotted out from a corner and began eating their food.

Once I grabbed my backpack and locked the house, I started to walk towards the bus stop before I noticed my neighbor, Mr. Thompson, his red hair disheveled and he had big bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days, he was also coughing which he seemed to always be doing, I waved at him and he waved back, then I took off down the road and towards the bus stop. Surprisingly she was already there so I was able to get on right away, as I entered the bus driver looked at me fearfully tightening her face mask, I smiled awkwardly at her and proceeded to the place I always sat, I saw five other people on board three of them were younger kids and they were jamming out to Pandora at the front of the bus, two were older looking kids that had face masks on as well and they sat at the very back of the bus.

I took my seat on the left side in the middle of the bus as we proceeded to the next stop, at that moment three other kids got on two of them coughing which made the bus driver quietly squeal before scooting all the way to the window of her driver's seat, then my friend Clay got on and took a seat next to me, he was kinda short, his brown hair neatly brushed, his dark brown eyes lit up with worry as he looked around.

"Dude, did you see the news last night?" He asked, obviously concerned.

"Good morning to you too," I chuckled "and no why?"

"It's crazy man, so many countries are in chaos right now, more than half the world's governments have fallen. All because of that strange bug going around, the Tantoa Virus, it's spreading like wildfire man and it got to the president yesterday, some states have been hit so hard that they've declared martial law, and some the smaller states have gone completely dark.. it's insane.."

Slowly my smile faded away "that doesn't sound too good," I shook my head and continued "but maybe we'll all be fine, I mean it's not like this is the first disease that's tried to wipe out the world. I'm sure this will all be cleaned up in a few weeks or so."

Clay nodded and we remained silent for the rest of the trip. As we arrived at the high school, the first thing that caught my attention was the parking lot; it was usually full of cars, but today it was nearly empty only 20 or so cars were scattered throughout the lot. I guess Clay noticed too as he muttered: "is there really that many people sick?" I just shook my head in disbelief.

We then walked in through the glass double doors of the tall red bricked school and headed straight for the band hall, our favorite place to hang out. As we got the there, Clay and I were greeted by the rest of our friends, we had our "leader" of the group her name was Laurie, she was a good 5'7 when it came to height, her wavy brown hair was always behind her shoulders, and her hazel eyes looked as if she held the secrets to the universe.

Next we had the religious person of our group, her name was Claire and she happened to be someone I cared about very much, her height of 5'6 matched her perfectly, her beautiful brown eyes reminded of the center of a milky way bar, and her curly reddish-brown hair flowed down past her shoulders like a waterfall.

Then there was Lisa, she was an "I'm everyone's friend" kind of person, she was a short happy Mexican, with soft brown eyes, but they were also intelligent like a bear's and long curly black hair.

The "jokester" of the group, also one of my closest pals, Mike. He was also pretty short, like 5'5, and he had dirty blonde hair that he was constantly messing with. His deep crystal blue eyes made it seem as if he was always hiding something.

His girlfriend, Mel, was no different, she had the same height although we consider her the "short one" of the group, she has short blonde hair and has eyes like Mike's, except hers, were darker.

Liah the "drama queen" of the group was about 5'6, and she was a little chubby but that didn't keep her from doing all the sports she wanted, she looked half Mexican but was actually part Irish she had dark cherry red hair, that flowed down past her shoulders almost to her waist, her bright green eyes made her look like a tall leprechaun.

Then there was the "counselor" of the group, Lacy, she had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. And lastly we had the "genius" and that was Kale, he had the typical features an African-American, short curly black hair and dark brown eyes. Then, after, we said our "hellos" we talked about our Christmas breaks until we were suddenly interrupted by the bell ten minutes later that signaled the first period and we went our separate ways...

My first class was P.E, I walked into the large spacious gym and saw Coach Jackson, although he preferred to be called just Blake or Coach Blake, was shooting basketballs like he normally did in the mornings.

"Hey, coach." I called out to him, before setting my stuff down and jogging over to him, he turned around to face me tucking the basketball securely under his right arm

"Hey Carter, how's it goin man?" Wiping his face of sweat, his black gym shorts and t-shirt also appeared drenched in sweat, his ocean blue eyes appeared tired, and his brown hair was hidden behind a black and white cap that had Angel wings on the front above the bill

"Eh not too bad I guess, what about you?"

He scratched his scraggly goatee before replying "same I think."

I nodded and then asked, "Did you see the news?"

His face becomes masked in concern and grim "yea... it's crazy isn't it, not to mention most of the bodies just disappear, and some sick people appear to have human bite marks on them, it just doesn't make any sense." Before I could reply, however, three other students walked in and coach smiled widely and exclaimed "how about a game of around the world." I nodded and we played for the next 36 minutes...

The next six classes zipped by since we didn't do anything due to sick teachers, and after seventh period I made my way back to the band hall for our 45 minute break period also known as lunch, as I walked in my friends all waved over to me and I strolled over to the corner they were sitting in, and took a seat in between Claire and Clay and Lisa passed out cards so we could play a game of Go Fish, after a minute my curiosity took over and I blurted out 'have y'all noticed how many people are sick?"

Laurie nodded and muttered sadly " Yea.. my first five classes only had six people in them, it's crazy." Everyone else just nodded in agreement and just as we were about to start the game the announcements clicked on and principal Brown fearfully alerted "Attention, this is not a drill we are now under a high-level lock down all students get to a classroom immediately, I repeat this is not a drill." Panicking we all stood up and looked around, we heard the cafeteria explode into chaos as students ran through the halls looking for a place to hide, a few of our classmates ran into the band hall, Mike and I then ran and shut the doors before locking them, and sprinted behind a cluster of chairs.

Soon the hallways settled down and it got real quiet, before we heard shuffling footsteps, then a slight knocking on the band hall doors, carefully I peeked out and looked at the narrow door windows, I was only able to see the silhouette of the man as banged his hands clumsily on the door growling, which then caused a girl I didn't know to utter a small shriek which was followed by a stern "Shhh" by one of her friends. After 30 minutes the man finally left and another 14 minutes after that we heard the jingling of keys as principal Brown opened the band hall doors his balding head made him appear older than he was, his eyes full of worry as he nodded letting us know it was safe to come out.

We followed him out into the cafeteria where the students, and staff, had congregated to. Principal Brown then quieted down the confused and scared group of people before announcing "due to the lockdown, school will be letting out early today, however, buses will run at the usual times, but tomorrow we will continue school normally." Little did any of us know, that was the last normal thing that would ever happen to us again..