A twig snapped from behind me, I lazily turned my head to the sound, finding nothing but a rabbit sniffing around on the floor. I smiled at the sight and laid my head back on the lilo I was on, lounging in my pool. I pushed my hand through the water loving the feel of the liquid through my fingers. I blinked against the bright sun and sighed. This was the life.

I heard an odd groaning sound behind me, I turned my head to look, seeing the once alive rabbit being chewed on by what appeared to be a person. The groaning sounds grew in sound and there was a strange slurping sound. I looked on in horror as it devoured the rabbit, I looked around to see if there were any more of those things, but finding none I slowly paddled my way to the edge of the pool hoping to run inside without it looking at me.

Unfortunately my foot slipped as I tried to climb out and the thing turned around and spotted me, with an almighty groan it pulled itself to its feet and started towards me. I gulped as I fumbled with my footing, breathing heavily as fear hit me in waves.

It walked towards the pool, not seeming to notice it and went crashing into the water. Apparently it couldn't swim because it floundered around, still staring at me intent on fresh meat.

I stopped looking at it and ran inside, my parents didn't seem to be in and I was so close to crying. I ran for the phone and dialled my mom's number; a lump appeared in my throat as I got the dial tone. I tried my dad's but I got the same response. I slid to the floor with the phone clutched in my hand as my eyes filled with tears.

What was going on?

Once I got over myself, who was I to cry when there was some crazy freak in the backyard, I ran to my room, checking the window to make sure it was still in the pool and hadn't managed to get out. I felt a bit better when I saw that it had sunk to the bottom and was slowly walking around in a circle on the bottom, I wondered why it wasn't floating on the top but put that thought to the back of my mind as I grabbed a load of clothes and shoved them in a backpack. I got dressed, not caring that I was still a bit wet, there was no time for something as trivial as that to bother me.

Once the bag was halfway full I stopped and went to the kitchen grabbing knives and food, I was not going to die because of some freak. I stopped for a moment and thought about it. Maybe it was just that one. I went for the phone again, trying the police this time.

"If you are calling to report an attack press 1, if you are calling to report you or someone you know being bitten press 2, if you are calling to report someone who is trying to attack you press 3, if it is urgent please take the following instructions into account. Do not get bitten or scratched. I repeat, do not get bitten or scratched."

I pressed 3 and waited, breathing heavily as I realised this was not just an odd person in my backyard, this appeared to be something bigger.

Someone picked up on the other end and I almost sobbed in relief. Almost immediately the feeling turned to fear as I heard screaming on the other end, there was yelling and shouting with lots of gunshots in the mix.

I put the phone down when I couldn't bear it anymore. Looks like the police weren't going to help me, sounds like they had a lot to deal with themselves.

I wanted to wait for my parents but at that moment in time, someone slammed into the back door. I jumped and scurried over to see who it was, apparently the freak was able to climb out of the pool and was now standing dripping wet in front of my door, trying to get it. I locked in when I saw the handle being turned.

That was it, I'm leaving.

I took my backpack, grabbed some car keys and ran for my car so thankful that my parent's had bought me one last year. I twisting the key, closing my eyes at the sound of the ignition starting thanking the lord that something was going right for me. I noticed that I had a full tank of gas and I almost cried in relief.

I opened my eyes and screamed as the freak from the backyard was standing right in front of my car. I locked all of the doors as another freak banged on my window; I reversed quickly hitting another one and hit the gas propelling myself forward.

My hands were shaking as I made my way through the streets seeing people getting bitten by those things, dogs barking and growling as they tried to protect their owners but getting ripped apart in the process. I looked around for a sign of someone that I could help but most were on the ground and there was nothing I could do. I was just a barely twenty-one year old who still relied on her parents for everything, and speaking of which I drove to my mom's work hoping to see her.

I pulled up to the kindergarten, seeing nothing but freaks. I wanted to go inside and check, I bit my lip in indecision; there was a big chance that one of them would grab me and an even bigger chance that my mom had hightailed it out of there. I still needed to check, she could have been stuck in there and she could need help. I quietly got out of my car, not attracting any of them over and made my way to the front door which was miraculously free. Walking inside with the biggest kitchen knife we owned in my hands. I shakily pushed the door open and held my breath, not believing my luck when the way was clear.

I saw signs that there had been freaks in here, blood was on the wall and bodies were on the floor, almost stripped to the bone with the amount of flesh that had been peeled off. I kept my eyes and ears open, almost jumping when I heard the increasingly familiar shuffle of feet. I walked towards the sound.

I steadied myself as I pushed the door open. The thing turned towards me and my eyes widened in disbelief as I recognised the decomposing face. It was my mother.

"Mom?" I breathed. She groaned as she walked towards me arms outstretched as if to grab me. She stumbled closer as I was frozen in place. I snapped out of it as the smell of death washed over me. I pushed her away from me, knowing that I wouldn't be able to do anything to help her. She came back to me and I cringed as I saw the massive chunk of her arm missing, that must have been where she'd been bitten.

I pushed her away once more but she came back stronger than before. I struggled against her, she was gnashing her teeth as me, coming so close to biting the skin of my neck. I remembered the knife in my hands and sent it through her skull, crying as I did so .

This was my mother, the woman who raised me and she'd just tried to kill me. She'd fallen on top of me, no longer straining to get to me and I realised what I'd done.

I had just killed my own mother. No, I decided, this wasn't my mother. She would never have done that, she was just a shell now.

I'm sure she would rather be dead than that anyway. I guess in a sense I'd set her free.

Or at least that's what I told myself to get myself up. I pushed her off me, patting her hair into a more tidier place, of course it didn't mean anything no one was going to care what she looked like, but I knew my mother would have appreciated it.

I made my way to my car after taking the knife out of her skull. There was a loud bang from down the road which I ignored, although it made a load of the dead turn towards it. I used this distraction to open my car door and clamber inside.

I started the engine and drove to my dad's work. I avoided some of the busier roads, nearly crashing when a couple of freaks popped out of nowhere, the sound of their groaning and pain filled screams in the distance kept me going.

Arriving at the bar that my dad managed I saw the parking lot was empty. This gave me hope that he'd gotten away because I knew that he always drove to and from work. I grabbed the knife once more before I slipped out of the car, looking all around to make sure that I wasn't going to be snuck up on.

I cautiously made my way over the gravel of the parking lot and pushed the door open slowly, rearing backwards when a hand appeared in my eye line. I slammed it shut and ran back to my car.

The door opened and the hand was shown to be attached to a body that used to be my dad's co-worker Frank. His head was bent at an unnatural angle as was one of his feet, so much so that when he walked he stumbled over every couple of steps.

If Frank had been in there that meant whoever was in there was either dead or also one of these walking dead. My hopes plummeted as another figure appeared at the door; I breathed a sigh of relief when it was the barmaid and not my dad.

I didn't want to stick around any longer but I had to know if my dad was alive. Call if foolishness, call if bravery, call it what you will but I decided to go in.

With the knife held tightly in one hand I made my way over to Frank, Louise the barmaid hadn't quite noticed me instead ambling over in the opposite direction, I had a feeling that would change soon.

I attacked as soon as I was close enough; cringing at the sound of the knife going through the skull and it took two more strikes until Frank stopped moving. Louise had indeed been attracted to the noise and she changed directions coming straight for me.

I gulped as I went for her instead, no point in leaving these poor people to their horrible fate I thought. I used to know them after all and I knew neither of them would hurt a fly when they were alive. Once she was taken care of I went back to the bar.

Throwing open the door I gagged when the smell of death reached me once more. That definitely wasn't something you could get used to. I walked to the back, knowing my dad's office was around here somewhere.

He never used to like it when I came to visit him at work.

I pushed open the door that was engraved with his name; I slowly peeked through the crack of the door and held my breath until I saw no one was in there. My eyes filled up when it hit me that my dad wasn't there, I was so relieved.

I jogged back out, grabbing a few bottles of alcohol sure that I was going to need them at some point in the near future and ran for my car. I dumped the bottles in the backseat and drove up the freeway.

My mom was dead, my dad was somewhere unknown and I was all alone.

A tear slid down my cheek. I brushed it away angrily and decided to just concentrate on living.

I was going to survive this. I drove past one of the freak, hitting them with my door and feeling a bit better when they went crashing to the floor. I was getting better at dealing with them.

I hit another one, feeling oddly therapeutic when I did so. I didn't know where to go so I turned on the radio hoping for something to help me.

"This is an emergency transmission. Do not get bitten. I repeat do not get bitten. Do not go near anyone who has. The public is being urged to travel to Atlanta where a safe haven had been set up, this refugee camp will not take anyone who has been bitten or scratched. Get to Atlanta."

That made my mind up then. Off to Atlanta I go.

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