Author's Notes: Hello everyone this is my first fan fiction. I hope you will please leave reviews to help me on this journey! Sorry if the first few chapters are a little slow I promise more action starting at about chapter three. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I hope you enjoy and again please leave a review so I know if I'm doing alright and should continue I will update a lot.

Chapter 1: Prelude/Outbreak

Zoey's POV

It seemed like forever since I'd been back home in my room in Pennsylvania. It hadn't even been two years but as much as I hated to say it part of me did miss it. I never thought I'd miss this place the day I walked out the door to leave for college to become a film student. i don't even think I had looked back that day I left. I felt like there wasn't much of a home left for me here. My parents had just divorced before I graduated High School and I was excited to leave the place that brought me bad memories of my parents fighting. My mom had brought me back home after she had gotten a phone call from my college about my grades having dropped drastically and my absence from school. This, of course, was the first she had ever heard about it. I knew it would probably come as a shock to her since I had always done well in school. Lately I just hadn't been feeling up to attending my classes. I would stay up all night and day watching horror movie marathons or playing video games. I would make it to some classes if they weren't interrupting my two previous plans. That apparently wasn't enough for the school to just look past me. After she had talked with my father about this they agreed it was best I came home, (which is funny because they never agree on anything which probably is a factor in what led to their divorce.)because they thought I might be on drugs or that I was being badly influenced by some people at school. My parents had always been like this, overprotective, strict, and paranoid. I guess it comes with my dad's line of work being the chief of police, it still gets on my nerves though. I was tired of living my sheltered boring life and I didn't want to live like this anymore. I'd always wanted to be adventurous ever since my dad took me shooting when I was little. Holding that gun made me feel powerful like I could do something, CHANGE something. I'm not sure why I thought that film would be the way to do that but as I said I quickly found out I was wrong. I flipped on the T.V. in my room and started walking to the bathroom connected to my bedroom when I heard the news anchorman on T.V. say something about a new flu going around. "Oh great" I said out loud to myself "Something else I can worry about killing me other than my parents when they find out why I'm doing so bad in school". I inwardly sighed and continued to go to the bathroom. I had to get ready for dinner that night because my dad was coming over to discuss with my mom and I about school. After I had showered and gotten dressed the doorbell rang. I quickly ran down the stairs and flung the door open to see my dad smiling at me (even under these circumstances) and then we both hugged. I let him in and his eyes lit up when he saw my mom come downstairs sporting the best outfit in her closet making me feel as if I were underdressed in my jeans and tank top. My dad still deeply loved my mom and I felt she still loved him too but, their marriage still fell apart I don't understand why. It makes me like relationships even less than I did before.

"Hello Delilah" my father had said in awe while still staring at her. My mother replied with a simple "Hello" and we all walked to the dining room where the food was already set out and waiting to be devoured. My father's face turned more serious and he looked me in the eye. I knew this was the start of my scolding and I braced myself for the yelling by casting my eyes downwards ready to give him the puppy eyes he always caved to, but the yelling never came. After a brief moment in silence I looked up to see my dad staring wide eyed at my mother who had turned sickly looking. "Is your mother sick Zoey? I hope she isn't catching that new flu." My father had started to walk over to my mom to help her, all of a sudden her face slammed into the table as if she had just died right there. I ran to her to check on her and felt her skin, it was cold, clammy and worst yet, I felt no sign of a pulse coming from her wrist. I stared at my dad with wide eyes and he stared back with the same expression and I looked to see he was doing the same. My father hurriedly picked up my mother and he headed for the door. It was cold outside so I went to grab my track jacket, nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to see when I walked back to the entrance of my house. My father was on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. My mother was beside him on her knees chewing. Part of me knew I should run but I walked quietly around and saw that my mother was chewing on my father. I had screamed in panic not even recognizing my scream until my father looked at me awoken from his unconscious state by my scream and he immediately pulled his gun and shot my mother in the head. He ran to me quickly and held me for what felt like a long time while I sobbed into his chest. My father then handed me his pistol and looked me in the eyes before saying "Zoey I need you to kill me, before, before I attack you like your mother attacked me. After that please promise me you will find somewhere safe." I looked at him in terror and started shaking my head, tears still in my eyes and a heavy heart as he had started to change just like my mother before my very eyes. "Do it Zoey. I love you. You will always be my little girl. " I raised the gun and my dad smiled at me, a simple yet heart-wrenchingly sad smile. "I love you too daddy..."

I just shot my own father and watched my mother try to eat him. So many thoughts raced through my head before it landed on one. The new flu I had heard about. I felt bile rise in my throat and had to swallow as I realized this was the start of something horrible. Something that had just affected my family and I was sure it was affecting many others I started to try to find stuff to help me and I decided to go and look for a place that might provide some safety.

Francis' POV:

I had just came over to Jessica's house when I heard a man on T.V. talking about some new flu that was plaguing people and turning everyone psycho. "I hate the flu." I complained. Jessica was scared and asked me to come over saying that she think she came in contact with someone who was sick while she was at work at the strip club. I didn't much approve of her working there but it was better than some of the girls I'd been with in the past so I learned to live with it. Jess was in the bathroom and I walked over to stand outside the bathroom dorr and listened in on her to see what was going on. I heard her throw up a few times in the toilet before I knocked. "Jess you ok in there?" I asked and then when there was no reply I opened the door to find her passed out by the toilet. I picked her up and the moment I touched her it felt like she was already dead in my arms. I carried her to her bedroom and I set her down on the bed. I stared at her for awhile before going to watch the TV to see if they said anything about the symptoms of this new flu and what to do. As soon as I sat down in the chair and flipped the TV back on to the news channel I saw Jessica come from the hallway and stand in the hall entrance. She stared at me for what seemed like forever. "Are you ok Jess? You seem really weird." She didn't reply so I started to get up and kept looking at her. Something was wrong with her and she wasn't giving me any answers. I was getting really fed up with everything at this moment and started to yell "JESS HELLO, YOU IN THERE?!" I wish I'd never done that because the moment I did she started screaming and running towards me.

The next thing I know I was on the ground and she was on top of me snarling and acting like a rabid dog. I was holding her back away from me and noticed she still felt cold. I looked in her eyes seeing that no life appeared to be in them. It looked as if her very soul was ripped from her body and just a shell was left. I seen the shotgun that she had hidden behind her door just in case anything ever went wrong like someone breaking in or a creep from the club following her home. I slowly scooted over and grabbed the shotgun being careful not to let her get close. "I'm sorry" I said to her as I shot her. I'll never forgot how horrible it felt to shoot her but I knew I'd have to suck it up and move on if I wanted to find out what was happening and survive whatever it was that was going on. I grabbed the keys to my Harley and my vest and headed for the dorr to leave Jessica's trailer never once looking back.