Author's Note: I haven't written anything for a while, the last thing I wrote was a Harry Potter fan fiction. But I felt inspired to write this Dawn of the Dead fanfic after reading a fabulous story called "As The World Dies" by Gothgoddessrhia, it is one of the best zombie fanfics you will ever read. So I must give some credit to her for getting my creative juices flowing for this story! Check out her story as well, it is really cool. Please read and review my work, constructive criticism is appreciated as well. Hope you enjoy it!

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Leah sighed inwardly and put on an expression of concern. This was the fifth customer today that had decided to yell at her. Even though she'd developed a thick skin to the verbal abuse in the few years she'd been working in retail, today was just too much. "Uh huh," she said when the customer paused. Leah shot a glance at her friend Seth, who was talking to a customer about a flat screen TV. He saw her and rolled his eyes. They both unfortunately knew Leah's angry customer very well.

The middle-aged woman put her hands on her hips. "Are you even listening to me?"

Leah looked up at the woman. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Kildare, please continue."

Mrs. Kildare fixed her with a stern look, then continued her rant. "It specified on the box that a battery would be included, and there was nothing! My daughter spent over a grand on that video camera for her vacation, and she had no battery! It would have taken three weeks to order that type of battery, luckily we have some connections." She paused and caressed her fur coat, as if to emphasize her importance. "I want to know what you're going to do to make this right."

Leah glanced again at the box the camera came in, but this gleaned no new information. "Like I said before, Mrs. Kildare, you can call the supplier and explain what happened, and they will give you a replacement battery."

Mrs. Kildare sniffed. "I don't care about the damn battery! Don't you people check to make sure that all the stock you get is correct?"

"I don't know, I'm just the salesperson," Leah replied heavily. "You'd have to ask Roger, he's the stock supervisor."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place, you stupid girl?" Mrs. Kildare glared at her, then stalked off to speak to Roger. He saw her coming and tried to look busy, but she honed in on him right away.

Leah sighed again, out loud this time. She checked the clock on the check-out computer screen; ten minutes until the end of her shift. "I'm going out the back, Luke," she said to her co-worker, and slowly walked to the stock room. Tired and defeated, she sat down on the old swivel chair that creaked at every movement. The TV was split into four screens showing different parts of the electronic store, and she flicked it over to a different channel. The local news was just finishing, and Leah sat back to wait for The Simpsons to come on.

The anchorwoman shuffled her papers and looked deep into the camera."And finally, our local doctors are uncertain what is causing the outbreak of what appears to be a new strain of the flu virus. The Blackwood Hospital reported ten cases today of people describing symptoms that are affiliated with the virus. Anyone suffering from any of the following symptoms should report to Blackwood Hospital immediately. The current symptoms are: migraines, intense dizziness, disorientation, elevated body temperature, and severe stomach and intestinal pain. Well, that's all from us here at the six o'clock news desk, join us tomorrow for more local news."

Leah blinked; the store manager had taken the day off because he was feeling under the weather. When she'd talked to Seth earlier he'd described Pete's symptoms, and they sounded pretty similar to the ones she'd just heard. Poor Pete, she thought. Sounds like a nasty virus. As the opening theme for The Simpsons began, all thought of the news bulletin left her, and she settled down for a few minutes of classic cartoon entertainment.

Seth entered the stock room and collapsed on the overstuffed couch. "Man, I just heard Roger trying to deal with Kildare. I wish she'd just shut the fuck up."

"Tell me about it," Leah grinned, and swivelled in the chair to face him. "I've been thinking about leaving the job, though."

Seth sat up. "No way in hell. If you leave, it will be the end of my life as I know it."

"That's a little overdramatic, isn't it?" Leah glanced around at the stock room. "Plus, I don't want to spend the next twenty years here, do you?"

"Not really, I guess. What would you do instead?"

"I'm not sure. As nerdy and crap as this may sound, I'd actually like to work in a bookstore." She waited for him to burst out laughing, but he just nodded and said, "That's cool."

Leah hid her surprise; Seth was one of her closest friends, and he'd never really been book smart or anything like that, but he was a popular guy when they had been in school. Leah had also been well liked, but she preferred being alone with books and music rather than socialising every weekend.

The clock above the surveillance TV hit six o'clock. "Thank God." Leah scooted out of the chair and punched her time card. "What time do you finish?" she asked Seth as she put on her jacket.

"I'm on till close." Seth pretended to shoot himself.

"Too bad. Tell you what, how about we go to the movies tomorrow?"

Seth shrugged. "Yeah, if you want. Give me a call."

"Cool." Leah picked up her shoulder bag. "See you."

Seth did a girly wave. "Bye, honey!"

Leah shook her head and left the stock room. "See you later, Roger. Bye, Luke." They both nodded at her. The automatic doors opened in front of her and the chilly air felt refreshing on her skin. The dusk light cast oranges against the predominantly dark sky. It was beautiful. She got out her car keys and unlocked her silver Camry.

The drive home only took about ten minutes. She pulled up in front of the two storey red brick and killed the engine. She opened the front door to find her mother on the phone, and her step-dad Bill was sitting on the couch watching TV. Leah went into the kitchen for a Coke.