Something woke her suddenly, though she didn't know what. Anika's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. She looked around her dark room, letting her eyes adjust. She swallowed and tried to push the pain in her head to the back of her mind. Light filtered into her room between the curtains opposite her bed. When she'd let herself sink into consciousness, Anika pushed the sheets off her and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, her feet resting on the first step of the ladder of her loft bed. She rubbed her eyes and slowly made her way down the unstable ladder until she felt the cool wood of the floor on her bare feet. Pulling her black jeans on, Anika fumbled around on her dresser trying to find her phone to check the time. Eight thirty. Too early.

Anika stripped off her Star Wars t-shirt and started searching through her draws for a clean shirt. She clumsily pulled on her black t-shirt with the lion on it. Too much black. She went to her wardrobe and found a red and grey flannel shirt to wear. As she stumbled out into the hallway she yawned and looked around the house, only remembering as she entered her parent's study that she was the only one home. They had gone to Oslo because her father had some kind of conference there and her mother had wanted to go along with him. Her brother was in India and had been since late November on a student volunteer program. Neither of her sisters lived at home any more, and one of them was in Thailand on a holiday.

Every one was out of town except Anika and her sister, Louise. Louise couldn't even come to Port Farthing with them on the Christmas break except on weekends. The Academy only gave the recruits their weekends off, and even then Louise spent much of her time studying so she could top the class in the next exam. She was a dork, but she was keen, and Anika had to give her that. If anyone was going to graduate from the Academy and join the police force it was her sister. Anika just worried sometimes that Louise had this crazy romanticised idea about the whole thing. Like she was going to be John McClane or something.

She wandered down to the kitchen and searched for food. Crap, she thought. She needed to go shopping. There was no cereal, no fruit, no milk - just her mother's ridiculous stash of canned goods and a shitload of alcohol. Having had the house to herself the past few days, Anika had made a habit of drinking a lot and eating junk food. It didn't help that she had the worst metabolism ever and never put on all that much weight. She had the worst diet and had no motivation to change it. At least she didn't smoke, like her brother. He had promised her he'd quit the night he graduated. He didn't. What's worse was that he rolled his own cigarettes. What a fucking tosser. Anika had always thought it was never any of her business what shit people consumed. She herself was no role model for healthy living.

But the thought of her brother getting sick like practically all smokers inevitably do made her worry, not to mention her strange feeling that he had to outlive her - at least by six minutes - because that was how she thought it worked when she was just a little kid; that they were twins so they'd die at the same time. It would have been cute if it weren't so morbid. And stupid. She'd only confirmed her belief that she was older when she applied for her Learner's permit. The birth certificate read 'elder of twins'. Anika didn't even care that the licence meant she could drive. There was a small and childish victory in having that superiority; those six minutes.

Finding some chips and a juice box, Anika accepted that this was the beast meal she'd get unless she bothered to walk to the bakery. No. She turned on the TV as she went to find her iPod and phone. She wanted to figure out what to do with the day but she also wanted to listen to music. She and her iPod were inseparable. She didn't do anything without it. She put in her earphones and scrolled through her playlists. She decided to play the thing on shuffle instead, certain that of the excessive amount of options due to her constant downloading that she'd find something she hadn't heard before. Bipolar Breakdown by Iron Butterfly started to pour into her ears. Anika smiled, satisfied. She picked up her phone and found there were three new texts. She frowned. No one ever texted her this early. She unlocked the phone to read her messages as she wandered back out into the living room to sit in front of the TV.

The first message was from her sister.

Hey, are you at home? You're not answering the land line.

Anika checked to see if she had any missed calls, wondering if the house phone ringing was what woke her. She frowned when she saw she had eight missed calls, six from Louise and two from an unknown number. She decided to call her sister. Someone picked up on the second ring.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Louise wasn't shouting into the receiver, but she must have been on loudspeaker because Anika could hear the background noise.

"Woah, what's up? I was sleeping. You know the day doesn't start for me until at least eleven." Anika had noticed the hint of worry in Louise's voice, and she never swore like that.

"Doesn't matter. Stay inside, don't go anywhere and... lock the house."

"What? Why?" Anika laughed nervously.

"Just... I'll be there soon the traffic is - Watch it, asshole!" Anika knew Louise wasn't talking to her at that point.

"What's going on?"

"Please, I don't know. Just stay put." Louise pleaded. Anika clenched her jaw. Something was up.

"Okay, okay." She furrowed her brow, a million possibilities running through her mind.

"I love you." Louise hung up.

Anika's stomach flipped. She and her sister were close, but there was something so sincere about the way her sister spoke those final words. She looked up at the TV then and she had to turn the volume on to hear what the man on the news was saying. Her music still played in one ear, but it was just background noise at that moment.

"People are advised to stay in their homes and to avoid strangers who look unwell. It is believed that the illness is extremely contagious, transferred through bites and scratches. Symptoms include hallucinations and violent behaviour. For these reasons authorities ask that civilians remain calm and -"

The TV flickered and the sound was lost for a moment, leaving the solemn reporter speaking inaudibly for a split second before coloured bars appeared on the screen and a loud hollow monotonous sound played.