Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except original characters

It was a regular day in Atlanta; the heat from the Georgian sun beginning to warm the ground as the day began, noise rose as the people began to wake, ready to start the day. It was a regular day, or at least it was supposed to be. Day zero, the day the world turned to shit. It started with a couple of people getting a fever but the fever turned into an epidemic which then turned into a pandemic. The world wasn't prepared for what was to come.

Scarlett woke at the sound of her alarm clock, burying her head in her pillow, wishing she could stay in bed for just five minutes longer. She succeeded for another minute before the familiar body woke her, jumping on her bed.

"Come on mom, it's time for me to go to school! And you have work!" Her son started to nudge her so she opened her eyes gave her son a big kiss on the forehead.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." She spoke as she got up from the bed, going to the bathroom to get changed.

After she had dropped her son off to school she headed for the University going over the first lecture in her head: The Magnetic properties of matter, the Langevin theory of paramagnetism and electron paramagnetism in metals. Scarlett had been noticing any of her students calling in sick, as had her colleagues; they had been coming down with the mysterious virus that had been spreading.

"Dude, I was on my way home last night after the party when some homeless guy bit me. I was like 'what the fuck?' and just pushed him away. It was weird man." She heard from the corridor as she walked by. The corridors, usually full with students rushing to classes, were now virtually empty.

She got to her office and noticed the door was open, the only other person who had a key was the janitor but he wasn't usually around at that time. She carefully entered the room, looking out for anything out of place but there was nothing so she thought nothing of it. Until she heard a noise from her cupboard. Scarlett froze immediately, eyes darting to the partially opened door. There was someone inside.

"Steve is that you? Jones?" She slowly walked to the door, her inner voice screaming at her not to look inside. "Jones? What are you doing in there?" She felt her heart racing and she began to feel shivers down her spine as she heard groaning. "Jones? Are you okay in there?" She opened the door to reveal a figure in a janitor's uniform, hunched over. It was Steve but something wasn't right with him. Amongst the groans, Scarlett thought she heard crunching and chewing, like he was eating something but she couldn't understand what he would be doing in her office cupboard.

"Jones?" She whispered, her fear building as she slowly approached the man. He stopped what he was doing and started to turn around. When he faced her his eyes were different, almost empty, lifeless. She noticed blood smeared around his mouth and she froze as she saw what was in his hand. A partially eaten mouse. "Jones." She breathed out as the thing before her that was once a man known as Jones stared at her hungrily.

It groaned as it lunged for her and she tried to contain the small yelp that escaped her; falling backwards, she kicked it as it clawed at her, eyes intent on its victim. Scarlett quickly picked herself up and ran out the door closing it behind her. She heard Jones groaning and scratching at the door, trying to get out and get to her. "Shit." She whispered as her mind tried to process what had happened. What had happened to Jones? She asked herself but her thoughts were interrupted as she heard screams erupting from the halls.

Trying to escape the thing in the storage room, she made a dash for her office door, closing it behind her before Jones had a chance to catch up to her. She saw people, men, women, staff, students running about the place, running from what she guessed were more things like Jones. The disease? Was this the disease? She didn't have a chance to answer her question as she felt an arm dragging her.

"Scarlett? What the bloody hell are you doing just standing there?" John, a fellow Physics teacher, asked as he pulled her through the corridors.

"Jones is gone, he changed into something. I don't know." She replied.

"Shit. There's a load of them, they just came from nowhere. We've got to get out of here." They ran towards the car park as the things chased after them. They almost didn't make it as the halls began to fill with bodies but they narrowly escaped, hiding behind a car.

"What the fuck are those things?" Scarlett asked as they tried to regain their breaths, she spoke quietly so as not to draw attention. Those things seemed to pick up on people with ease.

"I have as much of an idea as you. They just started coming at us. First it was one or two but soon there were too many to count. They kept biting people like they were…" He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"Food." She finished it and he nodded. Just then a cold feeling ran through her body and her blood began to pump in her ears. "I've got to get Jack! He's at school." She panicked, her son was in danger and she knew she couldn't rest until he was safe in her arms.

"Be careful. I don't know how many of those things are out there. I'm gonna try to make it home. Good luck." They shared a look, wishing each other luck before heading their separate ways.