We heard the sirens notifying us that there was something wrong, to stay indoors, I ran from my room to the living room as my dad John and older brother Jason are running around the house in their army uniforms,

"Make sure to board it all up before we go Jay!" My dad yells.

I grab the remote, turning on the TV as my mom Laura sits on the couch sighing at the chaos going on in our house, I sit next to mom as a news reporter says,

"Everyone is advised to stay indoors! We are in a state of emergency, stay tuned for further instructions."

I look at my brother as he runs by I grab his hand stopping him,

"What the fuck is going on Jay?"

Jason looks at me, "People are-"

My dad cuts him off, "Jay don't you'll scare her."

I look at my dad, "I'm an adult I can handle it, Jay continue please."

Jason nods, "They are coming back to life after dying, they don't go down easy, you can't just stab them in the heart or shoot them in the chest, it's more intense than that, they seem to only go down when you kill the brain, we have to go now, you keep mom safe Lace okay? Dad and I will find you guys if you have to relocate okay?"

He pulls out a Glock and an army knife handing me them, "Bullets are in my safe, code is 42598, keep the doors locked and don't let anyone in."

I take them from him, "I won't, stay safe Jay."

I hug him tightly as my dad finishes reinforcing the last of the windows, then I hug my dad tightly, "Why can't you guys take us with you?"

"Because we have to go help the army sweetie, Jay and I will contact you via satellite radio whenever we can, mines in the top dresser drawer okay?" Dad replies.

I nod, "Okay."

My dad kisses my mom and hugs her goodbye as does Jason before they leave us alone in the house, I lock the door up tightly and place the last piece of metal against the door so no one can get in, I can hear screaming from our neighbors The Hamilton's, I can also hear growling, I quickly run up to the attic and look out the window, my eyes widened at the sight before me, I slap my hands to my mouth as I watch a zombie bite my childhood best friend Luna Carson, a few minutes later, Luna becomes a zombie, my heart feels heavy, I didn't know how to process this news, I didn't know how to deal with the apocalypse either. We split up, I wondered how long it would be until we would reunite, I moved away from the window, dropping my arms to my sides, I leave the attic and go to my brothers room, I find his safe and unlock it, I go into his closest, grabbing his army backpack he never used, it was still new, I walked back to the safe, putting all the boxes of bullets into the backpack, I took out the gun holster, placed it on my jeans and put the Glock in it, then clipped the knife to my other hip.

I stood up, grabbing the backpack off the floor, I walked to my room, went into my walk-in closet and grabbed a few different items of clothes, a few t-shirts, a few tank tops, a pair of jeans, a sundress, a pair of jeans shorts, a shoved a pair of new sneakers in there since the bag holds a lot of stuff, I went into the bathroom, grabbing a pack of new toothbrushes, 5 boxes of toothpaste, a hair brush, a new pack of hair ties, a clean towel, bathing stuff and I emptied our medicine into another pocket. I grabbed my brothers new comforter, my new comforter, some pillows, a first aid kit and 4 40 packs of water out to the garage. I packed up my brothers Navy blue Chevy truck; the back had the cover to it,

(Picture above is the truck but it should be Navy blue not white)

I went to our dry goods shelf in the pantry packing up whatever we had, I also packed up all canned goods, and then brought them to the truck; I wanted the truck packed and ready for whenever me and my mom had to move on. I went into my dad's dresser drawer and grabbed the satellite phone and put it into my brother's backpack, then I headed back to the living room and sat next to my mom, as she turned on the news, the same news report was playing over and over, they still have nothing new to report and they had no idea how this all had happened yet. After an hour of finding nothing really to watch on TV, I went to the kitchen and made me and my mom some dinner, then we ate, then we took showers and went to bed. The screaming outside never stopped all night long, it was really hard to sleep that night and I barely slept at all, I ended up looking out the window in the Attic all night long, when the Sun finally rose I looked at my phone and it read 5 a.m. I sighed and went to make something for breakfast, and then I went to check on my mom, she was still asleep so I let her sleep. She finally woke up around noon, the growling was getting louder, and we were starting to hear scratching at the doors and windows. We might have to just move on sooner than later, that's if we can get a clear path out of our building, I brought my mom up to the Attic, we looked out the window and things are beginning to burn, fires were started all in our neighborhood, I looked at my mom,

"I think we have to go now, but before we do go we should try to contact Dad and Jay," I say.

She nods, "Okay I'm going to get ready and pack real quick."

"Okay Mom," I reply as I go to my room quickly changing into jeans a tank top and a NF hoodie.

I grab the phone and try to call them, my brother answers surprisingly,

"Lacey's everything okay?"

"We have to move now, mom's packing, I packed some stuff in the truck last night, I have all the bullets, and we just need to figure out where to go from here. When we find a place I'll try to call okay?" I say

My brother sighs as I hear yelling in the background, "Okay Lace, stay safe, I love you."

"Love you too Jay." I say before we hang up.

I run downstairs, placing the backpack in the truck, then running inside, I grab whatever I can from the cabinets placing them into a bin I emptied, I packed it into the truck and waited for my mom to come downstairs. I ran up to my room one last time, grabbing my medical bag from the top shelf, I also grabbed my clean scrubs and shoved them in my medical bag; I had quite a few helpful things in it. My mom was finally ready as I came downstairs she had her duffle bag packed, she also had a bin with a few photo albums she placed in it, and she also packed up her comforter and some more pillows. We finally got into the truck after loading the last of the stuff we were taking along with us, locking the doors, I start the truck and hit the garage door opener on the visor, as the door opens, I hear growling, then I see a group of zombies who are really hungry. I step on the gas and knock them over as I drive out of the garage and out of my neighborhood. I peeked at my mom once in awhile, who was staring out the window lost in thought, I sighed and drove onto the highway nearly hitting a car that drifted into my Lane,

"Fuck."

My mom looks at me, "What's wrong?"

"That idiot almost hit us," I reply.

My mom rolls her eyes, "Dumb idiot."

We drive for a bit until I pull off to fill the truck with gas, no one's inside the gas station, so I fill it up then we head back to the highway, I search for a place for us to take shelter for the night, finding an abandoned house, I park next to a car who's window is smashed,

"Stay here, I'll see if it's safe." I say to my mom.

She nods as I get out, "Lock it I'll be back."

"Okay sweetie." She replies.

I close the truck door, pulling out my gun, I ready myself to shoot if needed as I approach the house, I walk towards the front door, carefully opening the door as I get to it, I peek inside, carefully looking around, hearing some growls I go in, I walk around the first floor, not seeing any zombies, I go towards the basement, slowly opening the door, I pull out my phone and put the flash light on, then walk down the stairs carefully as the growls get louder and louder, until I see 3 zombies staring at me like I'm their next meal, I raise my gun as they charge at me, I kill the first one, miss the second and piss off the third one, I grab my knife driving it into one of the remaining two head, killing it, the last one knocks me over, trying to bite me as I hit the ground, I struggle with it for a minute before finally getting a good angle to stab it in the head, once it's dead, I shove it off me, getting up I'm covered in zombie blood, it smells horrible. I check the rest of the basement, seeing the only doors reinforced and blocked off. I go back upstairs, heading to the second floor, I check every room, killing two more zombies, then I head to the attic, which is clear of zombies, once I've finished searching the whole house, I go to the garage and open the door. I walk towards the truck as my mom unlocks it, I get in, start it and turn it around, backing it into the garage, and we get out, close the door locking it then head inside with some of our things. We eat something for dinner, then my mom falls asleep, I doze in and out for the night, hardly sleeping.

Early the next morning I heard guy's voices, I grabbed my gun, as my mom woke up,

"I got this, go back to sleep mom."

She nods and falls back to sleep on the couch, I ready my gun as I walk towards the front door, the voices getting louder,

"Dad we need to just find shelter, this place looks good." A guy's voice says.

"Tommy, we must keep going, we need to get further away." The other voice says.

"Dad, it's getting dark, we don't need one of those zombies getting the jump on us," Tommy says.

"Fine, but make sure it's empty." The guy replies.

I slowly unlock the door, opening it, both guys raise guns to me, I point mine at them,

"Easy, I'm harmless unless you're looking to hurt me," I say.

Tommy puts his hands up, holding his sniper still,

"I'm standing down, don't shoot."

The other guy lowers his gun as well, "Okay I'm also standing down."

I nod at them, then lower mine, "Sorry, I'm not sure how this whole apocalypse thing is going to go, how people will become, it's like day 2 of this shit and I've seen more zombies then humans, I'm Lacey, that's my mom Laura," as I talk the satellite phone rings, "Sorry have to take this."

"Hello? Jay?" I ask

"Lace, you and Mom safe?" Jason asks.

"Yes found an abandoned house and met two people, mom's sleeping," I reply.

"Those people safe? They aren't going to hurt you?" He asks.

"No I don't think so, they lowered their weapons after I told them I'm harmless unless they were looking to hurt me, how's Dad?" I ask.

"He's fine, had to separate from him for a few weeks, he went on a Navy seals boat, I'm still in Maine, where are you guys?" He asks.

"New York," I replied.

"Okay I have to go sis, stay safe, and keep the phone close." Jason says.

"I will Jay I love you," I say.

"Love you too little sis," he replies then hangs up.

I hang up as the two new people look at me, the tall one with black hair steps towards me, holding his hand out,

"I'm 10k," he smiles.

I shake his hand, "10k?"

"That's my goal of how many zombies I want to kill," he replies.

His dad looks at me, "He hasn't killed any yet, but his time will come to."

"I've killed about 6 so far." I reply

Tommy smiles at me, "Yeah? Well my real name is Tommy, but don't tell anyone."

I laugh, "Okay I promise I won't spill the beans to the zombies."

He smiles more and laughs, "You got jokes, that's good."

I smile at him, "Come with me, you guys look tired and we have plenty of pillows and blankets."

Tommy follows me as I walk into the garage and open the back of the truck; I climb in and grab a few blankets, a comforter and the pillows. His dad takes them as Tommy looks up at me,

"Hold onto my shoulders," he says as he grabs my waist picking me up.

I instantly hold onto his shoulders, he places me on the ground next to him as I say,

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Lacey," he replies smiling.

He still hand his hands on my waist, I looked up at him, my heart started to race, he smiled down at me then his dad broke our moment,

"Hey come inside you too, get some rest, I'll keep watch."

We both nod, heading inside, I lay on the couch where I was before they showed up, looking up at the ceiling, Tommy takes the empty spot, getting comfortable in the recliner near my feet, I have trouble falling asleep, I feel Tommy's hand on my leg, I look over at him, he's already passed out, his hand resting on my leg, then I drift off to sleep.

3pm that day...

I'm still passed out, having barely slept since thing began, and Tommy gently shakes me,

"Lacey, wake up," he says softly.

I slowly open my eyes, seeing his face inches from mine; I feel my heart start to race, Tommy smiles,

"I've been trying to wake you for over an hour, you okay?" He asks

I nod, "Yeah didn't sleep much the last two nights."

"You afraid of one of them getting in while you sleep?" He asks.

I nod, "Kind of."

"It's okay I am too, they aren't what the movies or shows made them out to be, these ones are different, but enough of that, get up." He says.

I sit up, getting off the couch, my mom and his dad are talking in the kitchen making food, Tommy looks at me,

"So tell me about you," he says.

"Well I'm Lacey, I have a master's degree in nursing, I'm board certified, my dad and brother are in the army, I'm 20, before this happened I loved music, dancing and singing, now I think I'm going to take up writing, I need something to escape this he'll, even though this just started, I feel like it's the end of the world as we know it, I'm single by choice, guys haven't been too good to me, and you?" I reply.

"Well I'm single as well, I'm Tommy, I'm 20," he begins then goes into telling me about himself.

"Hey you two, lunch or dinner is ready." His dad says.

I look at Tommy who smiles, "Come on."

He takes my hand and we walk to the kitchen, we sit with them and eat. After eating we turn the TV on low, we watch the news until I pass out with my head on Tommy's shoulder.

10k's POV:

I looked over at Lacey feeling her head on my shoulder, she was fast asleep, I carefully repositioned myself so she was laying down, her head on my chest, my dad took her comforter and laid it carefully over us, trying not to wake her, then he covered Laura up, she was also asleep, he laid down on the love seat, and I slowly fell asleep with Lacey in my arms.

Lacey's POV:

I woke up early the next morning, the wall clock read 3am, I felt arms around me and even breathing, I carefully lift my head, seeing my mom and Tommy's dad asleep, then looking down I see that I'm cuddled up to Tommy who is passed out cold, the TV is still on playing the news, they have no new information yet, just for people to try to reach the refugee camps the army was setting up. I put my head back on Tommy's chest watching the news, I drifted back to sleep to the sound of his heartbeat. I hadn't been this close to a guy since Logan, but that story might never get told, he is a bad guy and I hope to never see him again, he caused us to move from Ohio to Maine to escape him.

We spent a few weeks in that house before wescavengedwhat we could, packed up the truck and moved on. We got cornered while on foot, my mom and Tommy's dad both are getting bit by a zombie; I put that one down and looked at Tommy as we both knew this was bad news. Soon they both begged us to make sure to put them down when they came back, my heart was broken, I had just spoken with Jason last night and told him everything was fine still, he told me he had no contact with dad for a week now, he said that something bad could have happened. Once my mom turned, I pulled my knife out, driving it into her head as tears fell, Tommy put his dad down, the start of his 10,000 zombie kills, now all we had was each other, we still had a lot of water and some food. This was the start of a journey for us that we weren't sure if we were going to live 10 years or 2 days, we just knew we had to look out for each other, we lost our parents, my brother was in Maine, and my dad was missing.