Lucy Ann awoke to the shrill wail of sirens on the street outside of her window. The numbers flashing on her clock read 4:50 am, far too early to rise for the day when her alarm was set for 6:00 sharp. She let her head drop to the pillow, hoping to fall back asleep but the noises coming from outside were too conspicuous to leave alone. Slowly, so she wouldn't wake her husband, she snuck over to the window facing the street and pulled down a single blind slat at eye level. Immediately, she let go of the blind and it snapped back in place a little too loudly. The snap combined with her sharp gasp, roused her husband who had not been fully asleep but not willing to regain full consciousness.

"What is it?"

"It's a tank."

Joining his wife by her spot near the window, will peaked out the window to confirm.

Soft scratching at the door announced the presence of Marv who had heard them moving about from downstairs. Ann went to let the dog in and picked him up, holding him tightly to her chest for comfort.

"It looks like the military sent it in... but why?"

Will tore himself away from the window and began slipping a pair of khakis over his pajama bottoms.

"I'm going over to the Turner's. Maybe they know something we missed."

Ann shivered at the prospect of being left alone. "I'm coming with you!"

"I'll only be five minutes. Stay here, understand?"

Will hurried down the stairs and unlocked the door, leaving it open behind him. He was met halfway across his lawn by Elli Spencer from next door.

"Will! I was just on my way to see you! What is going on?"

"I take it you don't know why a tank is passing through town?"

"I don't but they aren't staying. They're heading west." Elli pointed in the direction the tank had been. It was long gone but that wasn't a surprise at the rate it had been moving. "It was all alone though. No regiment or anything."

The sound of revving engines grew in volume as a SUV followed by a smaller, compact car sped down the street. It was only then Will noticed half the residents in their neighbourhood were loading up their cars with belongings. They were getting ready for travel.

The other portion of the neighbourhood looked abandoned, no cars were parked in the driveways and garage doors were left wide open.

Will and Elli glanced at each other, sharing a look of panic and confusion.

"Elli, go tell Ann to pack some clothes, food and water. Make sure she does it and then go back to your house and grab what you need. I'm going to see if anyone can tell me anything but I'll be right back. Be quick!"

Elli took off for the front door of his house and Will headed towards the family across the street. Their minivan was loaded with suitcases and bags and their pajama-clad daughter sat in the front seat, hugging a stuffed dolphin and crying softly.

"Hey there, Lulu. How are you doing?"

The girl whimpered in response and croaked out a reply "I don't want to go to grandma's house."

"Is that where you're headed? Well, nothing to cry over. I'm sure you'll have fun, alright? Can you tell me where your parents are?"

There was no need to ask as of that moment, the Turners appeared with cardboard boxes in their arms, looking frazzled. The wife didn't bother with a greeting, she quickly moved past Will to stack the box in the trunk of their van.

"Steve! Steve, tell me what is going on! Where are you going? What's happening?"

"Look, Will, we can't talk long. We all need to get out of here. They announced an evacuation this morning, around 1:00."

"Who? Who announced-"

"It was by radio, TV stations went down. The police are helping evacuate civilians downtown and they have a convoy posted on the outskirts of the city. It's serious. We need to move."

"But why!? What's going to happen?"

Steve's wife was already in the passenger seat, holding their daughter on her lap. She was impatiently calling for her husband, getting more upset the more words he wasted on Will. His reaction was to dump the contents of the box sloppily into the back seat and climb into the driver's seat.

"Steve, wait!" Will beat his fist on the door of the car, he was paid no mind as the family pulled out of the driveway and burned rubber as they sped down the street.

The sound of gunshots were distinct above the tumult and they sent warning signals to Will's brain. He had to move into action. Leaping over the hedge that separated the adjacent lawn, he rushed towards his house, calling for his wife.

"Did you hear that?" She called over the banister as he burst through the door.

"We need to go! We need to go now!"

Will grabbed a case of water from the kitchen and set it down near the front door. Marv was stuffed uncomfortably into his doggy carrier. At this moment it was a benefit of being spoiled and treated like a baby. He would be easy to travel with.

"What about Elli!?"

"We're taking her with us!" Will nodded to the luggage in Ann's arms. "Throw those bags in the car and grab all the canned food you can carry. I'm going to go get her!"

There were two bulging bags lying on the front steps of Eli's porch but she wasn't standing there along with them. Will charged through Elli's open door, sweat pouring from his forehead from exertion and terror. Manners were long forgotten in a state of chaos.

"Elli! Where are you?"

There was an eerie silence that filled her house, though there was turmoil beginning to form outside. The lack of any movement or sound was an indication she wasn't in the house and it made Will's blood run cold.

"Elli!" He screamed.

Through a window pane from the living room, Will caught sight of her tousled brown hair. The sloppy bun it was in bobbed along slowly, as if the body it were attached to had a limp. The thought of her injured sent chills down his neck. Will rushed back out the front door to meet her.

Elli lumbered from her shed in the back, heaving a large red container.

"I thought we might need this."

Relief swept through Will and he swiftly took the gas can from her with one of his hands and put his other to the small of her back, pushing her along as they ran for his car.

Will took his seat and jammed his keys in the ignition and turned it on so quickly it could have snapped off inside. As he backed out of their driveway, he tried to keep his voice level as he explained the situation best he could.

"I don't know what's going to happen but Steve was in such a rush to leave, he wouldn't even stop to tell me anything."

They were zooming down the street at an increasingly fast pace, hardly swerving to avoid any parked cars that were leftover from the retreating residents.

Ann and Ellie had been incredibly tolerable about the entire situation. He hoped to avoid downtown by taking side streets but if he couldn't, he'd do what it took to get the four of them out of the city.

"Turn on your radio, maybe there's an announcement."

It was the wrong move on his behalf to take his eyes off the road for a moment but even if he hadn't, they couldn't have prevented the car that was erratically zipping down the sidewalk to t-bone into them. The sound of the two cars crushing together was unmistakable.

It took a few moments for the revelation to set in.

When Will opened his eyes, he had white spots in his vision and he noticed the unnatural bend in one of his thumbs. It had been broken and bent upwards from the position it was in on the steering wheel. Bone was protruding, making the tip of his thumb take on the appearance of a piece of rubber rather than actual flesh. It was difficult to tear his gaze off it but there were others in the car besides him.

"Ann! Ann, are you alright!?"

The moan was proof she was alive and he turned to check on their neighbour in the back seat.

"I'm okay." Elli said quietly.

Steam rolled off the hoods of the cars. It looked as if the two vehicles had melded together in the ugliest fashion. Their front was crushed beyond repair.

A passenger from the second car stumbled out of the busted front door, landing on their hands and knees.

"Shit!"

Will got out to help the man onto his legs and that's when they saw the face of their perpetrator. He was covered in blood, his face was completely red from hairline to beyond his neck. He was missing teeth and he had a gash so deep in his left shoulder they could see the pale bone and tender muscle. His lips parted as if to speak but only blood came fourth, staining his clothes a deep red even more so.

Will recoiled, dropping the man in horror. The man was clearly at risk of dying but he was too afraid to even consider helping him. A little boy, no older than six, tumbled out of the opposite side with a softer plop that went unheard by Will. He landed in the most awkward position that seemed like no one could endure no matter what their flexibility. Ann had seen it and let loose a sharp scream and scrambled out of the car to go and help the child.

Just as she reached out her arms to help the boy up, he quickly turned his face and sunk his teeth into her forearm. Her eyes widened and blood drained from her face in an instant.

"ANN!"

"D-don't.." The man moaned from his place in front of Will. Every syllable he uttered came with a spittle of blood and saliva. "I-inf-infected.."

Will disregarded the man completely, running to help his wife. The child had an undeniably strong hold on her with his jaws. Will's first instinct was to just pull the little boy off his wife but as he took hold and yanked, his wife shrieks got even louder. "My arm! You're ripping my arm!"

His teeth were sunken so deeply and securely into her wrist that he was tearing into the skin and pulling out muscle tissue with each wrench.

Pulling the child only resulted in pulling her arm and more along with him so Will resolved to prying his mouth apart with his hands to gain release. The boy turned on him the moment he was freed from Ann. He was forced backwards by the boy, trying to fend him off as Ann clasped her bleeding arm.

Elli sat in the car, wide eyed and in shock, watching the events unfold through the windshield like a wide screen movie. She was shaken from her reverie by the huffing of Marv, swindled in the carrier on the floor. She went to move but was delayed as she wildly looked around the car for something to help with.

Meanwhile, the man who had fallen out of the car first had crawled towards Will and clung to his leg, hands moving fretfully to grip him as they kept slipping from the blood. His nails dug into skin and he held tight causing Will to kick out at him. He was able to free his leg at the cost of a couple long scratches left from the man's fingernails.

"Elli! Help us!"

The car was littered with soft piles of clothing and flimsy plastic water bottles. Elli had to dig through one of the backpacks to produce what she thought might be useful. The boy was snapping at Will like an animal and dread filled her when she thought about what she was about to do.

She didn't have to smack the child with a can of peas after all as a woman came barging towards them armed with a shovel. She swung back with every inch of strength she could muster and knocked the child clear off of Will. He hit the ground a few feet away and rolled for another. At first his body laid there, still as a rock. But then one of his fingers twitched.

The unknown woman bounded towards him and swiftly kicked at his head.

"NO!" Ann screamed. "He's just a kid!"

The woman quickly turned on Ann, viciously sneering at her.

"You've been bitten!" The woman cried. She raised her shovel again but before she could bring it down on Ann, Will tacked the unknown woman to the ground. He let loose a cry when he felt his thumb make contact with her body.

"Are you insane!?"

"She's going to turn! I have to kill her!"

It seemed like ramblings of a lunatic. The sound of ample gunfire shifted their attention for a moment but it was just enough for the woman to throw Will off her and grab the shovel once more.

"STOP!"

In no time at all, she drove the head of the shovel into Ann's neck and pushed it down with her foot making it sink into the flesh. Ann sputtered and flung her limbs to shake her off to no avail.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Will roared, leaping at Ann's attacker. The force he used to knock her off his wife backfired and added to the strength she was using to press the shovel down.

The blade sunk into her neck and split the vertebrae with a sickening crunch.

With a cry, Elli smashed the can upon the woman's head. It wasn't effective enough to knock her out but it stunned her for a mere second. Will took the opportunity and forcibly snatched the shovel then rammed the handle against her face and this time she fell unconscious.

Four bodies littered the pavement. The woman, the boy, the man- who had died sometime while Will had been fighting, and Lucy Ann.

Her head was just barely attached to her body by a stand of skin. Will quickly turned away with tears in his eyes and violently vomited on the spot.

In the distance, more gunshots and crashing could be heard.

Elli let the can fall from her grip and sunk to her knees with shattered nerves.