"Jesus, Rachel. Stop snoring" my sister whined. "I barely slept a wink."

"I hope that's not true," I replied, "we've got a long day ahead of us."

I hopped up on the balls of my feet, swaying back and forth groggily. Hannah pulled me to my feet. I hugged my older sister.

"Good morning."

The campsite was hastily put together. We'd holed up in an abandoned cabin by some lake. We travelled light, moving from spot to spot in day-length increments. I'd say we were somewhere around mid-eastern Minnesota by that point. Still a ways to go until we got to Ontario. Hopefully Nick was still holed up in Thunder Bay. We could only hope.

I grabbed my backpack and flashlight, munched on a breakfast bar, and slung my rifle over my shoulder. We slept in our clothes, so we'd be ready by morning. Hannah grabbed her knives and pistol and we were off.

"You wanna take the lead today?" Hannah asked me

"Why not."

I flipped out my compass, checking the dial for north.

"We've either got to go around the lake or through it" I said.

"Let's take the scenic route" Hannah joked. I took one last look around. The forest was beautiful. It was the time of the year, between summer and fall, when everything was a bright, verdant green and the air filled your lungs with that certain sweet feeling. The lake glistened with contrasting blue and orange hues as the reflection of the sunrise danced across the waters surface. We'd only seen a few infected within the last few days, so we felt fairly safe. You could almost forget about how shitty the world had turned.

"How long's it been since Day One?" I wondered aloud.

"Shit, has to be at least, what, eight months now?"

"Wow. Nothing's ever gonna be the same"

"Heh, no kidding. Let's get walking."

We began our trek north.

"Slow down. I gotta catch my breath."

"Wow. Rach, hurry up. You've got to see this" Hannah said urgently. She stood atop a large rock structure surrounded by trees. I clambered up on the side, placing my foot on a lower boulder.

"Come on, Hannah. I'm too short to reach that ledge." She reached down and pulled me up.

"Thanks. Now what the hell could be so magnif- oh my god." It took a second to sink in. The rock hung over the ledge of a marvelous cliff, jutting over a vast expanse of pure white. The snow blanketed the forestry, like an artist's blank canvas. It reached out northbound, taking up my entire vision.

Snow was a good sign. Definitely a good sign. We were much farther north now. Thunder Bay was nearly on the horizon. The final stretch.

"We haven't seen snow since Day One" Hannah said sadly. Damn. Day One. The memories washed over me violently.

Our family drove up to Duluth for a weekend at Aunt Kat's. It was a family tradition, but the last time we were doing it. Hannah, after her gap year with us, was leaving to college early to live with Nick the remainder of the year. But then the reports started coming in. Abnormal amount of hospitalizations, an unknown virus spreading, "riots" in small towns. But across the globe, it was starting. The global pandemic that would bring humanity to its knees. That night, I awoke to the screams of doomed souls. Despite being nearly seventeen, I still slept on the top bunk in my aunts guest cabin, but that's not where I woke up. I jolted up, in a cold sweat, flat on the floor.

"Hannah? Hannah! Something's happening." I roused my sister out of bed.

"Rachel, what the hell? What's- ohmigod." She ran over to the window as a semi, completely doused in flames, rolled down the street. People ran wild past our house, fleeing from unknown terrors.

"We have to get to the house" Hannah told me, gripping my wrist and leading me out the door. The cabin sat a few meters away from the house, in a rural cul-de-sac just outside of Duluth. Hannah sprinted toward the house, dragging me along behind her. To our left, people ran rampantly down the street, opposite of us. To our right was the sprawling forest that was my aunts backyard. We burst through the back door into the kitchen.

"Mom? Dad? Aunt Kat? Where the hell is everyone?" Hannah yelled. We ran into the dining room, then the living room, and then upstairs.

"Somebody! What's going on!?" Hannah stiff-armed our parents bedroom door and we ran inside.

"Oh thank god" I gasped. Our parents stood by the window, oblivious to our cries. They must've been focused on the crisis outside.

"Mom, dad, it's us. What the hell is going on?" Hannah asked, frustrated. Our parents turned to answer. No answer came. They just stared at us.

"What?" Then we noticed their faces. They were our parents, but something about them had changed. They were... Pale. Shaken. Without warning, they lunged at us.

"Holy shit!" I screamed, flinging myself into the bookshelf. Encyclopedias showered down on me. My father collided with Hannah, slamming her hard into the floor.

"Jesus, dad! Get off!" Hannah screamed. She struggled under his weight, while my mother fixated her gaze on me. She rammed me back into the bookshelf, sending another wave of books to shower down. She pinned me against the wall, grinding and chomping her teeth. I held her jaws at bay.

"Mom!" I yelled. She continued chomping and pushing me more and more against the wall. I could feel my resistance wavering.

"I'm sorry." I slammed my palm into her temple. She recoiled, giving me a second to steady myself, but was back on me in seconds. I rammed my knee into her abdomen and picked up a heavy hardback.

"Mom, I don't want to-" she slammed me against the wall, knocking the wind out of me. I heard Hannah scream in pain.

"Get off!" She yelled, pushing my father aside and grabbing the closest object, which happened to be a snow globe. She backed up on her rear, her eyes on my father. I felt a sharp sensation in my gut. My mother was scratching at my stomach through my jacket. I elbowed her in the throat and delivered a hard kick to her chest. I pulled Hannah to her feet and picked up another hardback. My mother was sprawled on the floor, but my father lunged at Hannah again. But this time, Hannah dodged, sending my dad into the wall. We backed away, now afraid of what our parents were reduced to. My mother was clambering to her feet, but we were out the door. I slammed it shut and tipped the grandfather clock over, barricading it.

"Jesus. What the hell happened to them?" I asked Hannah. I was scared, and could tell she was scared too.

"I don't know, but we need help."

We jogged down the stairs. However, we forgot someone. Aunt Kat lunged out from behind the steps and rammed me into the wall. She struck my chin with a fist and tried to take a bite out of me. Hannah pummeled the snow globe against the back of her head, and then again, and then again. The snow globe shattered on the fourth blow, leaving Aunt Kat with some reasonably sized shards of glass in her skull. But she continued wriggling. Hannah delivered another chunk of glass into her skull, and she stopped squirming.

"Rachel."

"What?"

"Go get the keys to the pickup and anything useful you can find. Something bad is happening. We need to go find some help."