CHAPTER ONE : A DARK WORLD

My name is Dr. Fiona Sanderson.

I been without shelter and food . I survived only on river water for days now. I pray that there is someone , anybody , behind this door that I am about to knock , who will notice me and this memoir recorded in mp3 player tucked in my pocket . There are plenty of things I have recorded about my crazy life . I have a feeling I need to voice them down before I leave this world to join my parents and my beloved Samuel.

Like everyone else born in the 90's , my childhood was pretty normal before this world turned into a dark , crazy asylum . I was a shy little girl living in a quiet farming district . In fact, you could say I was a terrible coward. I was a bully magnet in my class because I was pretty much afraid of everything .

I remembered the worst day of my life in high school . I had a bad stomach cramp, and rushed into the toilet. I found myself bleeding profusely. I had never been so frighten and screamed like I never did in my entire life.

It took a few female teachers and my mother few hours to placate me out of the toilet cubicle , and they told me it was natural for a teenage girl to bleed every month . Thanks to that incident, I became a laughing stock of the whole school.

It's crazy to think that that the same , shy , timid girl who fears almost everything is now writing about death - even welcoming it . If you read on, perhaps you could see the reason why.

It was tough for me to fit into high school , despite so , I was doing surprisingly well in studies . I know I can always return to my loving parents after a hard day of being picked on in class. They always encouraged me to study hard, even though they never even received their high school education. What's even better? I was their only child and princess .

It all changed when I was eighteen and completed high school. I suddenly realized I needed to leave my " comfort zone" when dad and mum agreed that I must receive university education and start to fend for myself. You see , we are not exactly a well to do family , and dad and mum wished that I could be something different rather than following their footstep slotting day and night in their farmyard.

Dad wished for me to be a doctor . He said I have a patient nature and a healing touch , as he had observed me handling the farm animals . I knew I have to give it a try . I've been his little princess, but I had disappointed him for long. So , off I went off to medical collage , being alone and away from my parents for the very first time in my young life.

All I wanted was to get a medical degree to please my father , but I soon learn that it was not at all that easy – especially a degree which would lead you to a career that is not for the faint hearted . The first few years in collage went well , when everything was in pen or paper. Soon, It was too much for me to bear . I had to decipher the green eerie ghostly line that was hook on to patients barely hanging on to their dear lives , not to mention blood oozing from naked skins.

The day I wanted to tell my parents I couldn't cope with collage, was the day everything and everyone I once loved was taken away from me.

I could never forget that day…It was September 11th 2013.

I was home for the weekend , pulling my guts to tell my parents I wanted to quit collage. Mum prepared an awesome homecoming dinner , one of the dishes was my favorite pasta ..

The tv was left open on the news channel . There were reports of unrest and a strange epidemic spreading like wildfire in the major cities of America . I chose to ignore it , although I had a bad feeling about it. Everything seems fine in my University , and my bus trip back home barely hours ago. Besides, I have bigger problem to take care of .

It was getting personal and I was about to spill the beans to mum while helping out in the kitchen… when the tv reporter let out a loud scream, and the cable's reception being cut.

Suddenly , dad rushed into the house and bolted the front door. There was someone bashing at it relentlessly . Dad quickly reached for the rifle on the living room stand . Mr. Smith , our neighbor, knocked down the glass door effortlessly and broke into our house. He destroyed everything in his path , including our dinner table and chairs , along with all the dishes we prepared .He looked … different. His face was starting to disfigure and look like the elephant man. His ruby eyes glared as us as dad tried reminding him of who he was.

When all else failed, dad warned us Mr. Smith is " sick" . He ordered mum to take me and escape with the family car. He told us to never look back . Moments later, I heard gunshot and a terrible scream. I knew by then , that dad was no longer with us. My first instinct was to head back to see him . Ive never even get to tell him about my decision of quitting collage ! but I struggled under mum's tight grip on my hand. We reached for the car .

Mum literally drove through our farmyard into open road. Other villagers seemingly shared our same idea of escaping those that contacted that " sickness". Hundreds were racing down the open road , Confused drivers who thought that they could escape the mad asylum with their car simply collide into each other or running villagers . Roadsigns and nearby houses were burned down .There was fire and chaos everywhere .

Our car was trapped in the middle of a terrible jam. In the middle of the confusion, a strong , young man who seem to contracted the disease smashed the front windscreen of our car . For a moment , I watched mum struggled to fan him off with horrid eyes. We had the advantage at the back of the heavy traffic jam. Mum reversed the car and somehow managed to throw off the young man . It was a close call , but we survived. However, she suffered a bitemark from the young man, which she first dismissed as a trifle matter . Mum continued to drive in the opposite direction towards a further and a lesser known farmland .

All forms of communications were cut off , and we drove all night in order to reach that farmland . At dawn, we parked our car at and stopped for a break at a nearby pond . That was when it became clear that the bite on mum's right arm was no small matter…

Mum unwrapped the makeshift bandage of leaves and herbs that we applied onto her hand . She showed me her wound which was becoming gangrenous at an alarming rate .

She started talking weirdly , saying that she is losing "self control" , most probably thanks to that bite the young man had gave her .She said might have the same disease as Mr. Smith and the young man who attacked us earlier on, and time was running out for her . She told me to stay away from her.

At first , I thought my mum was being ridiculous . I refused to leave my mum . I assured her that we would reach safety and find a cure for the strange disease . She was the one who thought me there is always a solution for every problem .

She pressured me to pinky swear to her that I will study hard , and complete my medical degree if given a chance . Somehow , she could sense It will important to help all the " sick" people out there.

I hesitated. It wouldn't be fair to do so with her as I considered quitting university - but she was very persistent, even begged me .

The very moment I agree, she loaded her rifle , pointed it at her herself , and shot herself right on her head. It happened so fast, I was unable to stop her.

Mum's shot must have alerted some of the " infected" nearby . I didn't know how I escaped them – or whether I even wanted to . I was hopeless in driving , and already failed to obtain my driving license after 5 tries. Somehow I had the strength to leave mum's lifeless body , got into the car , and drove away safely .

I've cried for days , weeks , after the lost of my parents . Mostly I wondered why mum took her own life , while she told me always to treasure mine. I wasn't even sure whether my University was still functioning thanks to the spreading disease. I drove nonstop towards Michigan . Come hell or high water , I was determined to fulfill my promise I made to my mum .