A young girl, around the age of fourteen years, rapped lightly on the door of an apartment room. Another girl, around her age, opened the door with a grin on her face and said,"Harper! I'm glad you are finally here, come in!". Harper happily obliged and and entered the small living quarters.
The ground had some clothes on it that were lazily left there. A red couch rested in the middle of the room, a few feet from a large HD television that was obviously the most expensive thing there. Harper examined these things only for a moment and flopped on to the couch like she lived there, which she practically did.
"Honestly Sam, you should clean this place more often", Harper drawled lazily.
Sam closed the door and shook her head. She strolled into her kitchen and looked through the cabinets. Harper turned the TV on with a remote and flipped through the channels.
"I have a half empty bag of chips and some cheap, knockoff brand, cereal. Interested?" Sam said a bit loudly so that her friend could hear her.
"I'll take the cereal."
"Nice, I will claim the chips then."
Sam carried the food and some soda back into the living room. She handed the cereal and soda to Harper and they said in unison,"Breakfast of the champions".
Harper shoved a handful of the crunchy, fruity, and most likely sugar loaded cereal into her mouth. She chewed and watched some nerdy kids' show about aliens. Sam threw around some stupid comments and they laughed together.
Harper glanced at the clock and realized it was late, she looked back at Sam and stood up. She brushed crumbs off of her clothes and said, "I should get going, my mom might start worrying if I am out much longer.".
Sam pouted and made large puppy dog eyes. Harper shrugged and apologized dismissively as she collected her things. She walked over to the door and swung it open.
Harper closed the door on her way out and looked up and down the hallway. She walked over to the elevator and thought about how lazy she was considering this was only the third floor of the apartment complex.
Harper pushed the 'down' button that was next to the closed elevator door. The elevator did not appear after a few minutes and the young teen started to become impatient. She violently jabbed the button multiple times, but eventually gave up and made her way for the stairs.
Harper pushed her raven-black bangs out of her eyes and jogged down the staircase. Her thoughts wandered from cute animals to the TV show she watched with Sam. She got lost in said thoughts and accidentally tripped over something. Harper landed on her side with a loud thud and she let out a small squeak of pain. What she tripped over appeared to an old woman.
The old woman had thin, white hair. Her droopy eyes were closed and she was sitting against the floral patterned wall.
"Oh shit lady, I'm so so sorry! A-Are you okay?" Harper apologized as she stood up slowly. The elder stirred and turned her head to Harper. Her wrinkled face shifted as she opened her eyes slowly and groaned. She turned her head to the teen and held her hands up as if to be helped up.
Harper took the old lady's hand and tried to help her up, but the woman's fingers gripped her arm violently and tugged. She opened her mouth to reveal yellow teeth and growled.
Harper pulled her arm away quickly and stumbled backwards, down the stairs. She scowled and muttered,"woah what the fuck woman…". The old lady lunged at Harper, but missed by a longshot and went tumbling down the flights of stairs.
The woman landed on her neck and there was a loud crack. Blood started spurting and soaked the carpet, but the lady foamed at the mouth and continued to wriggle despite being dead. Harper's eyes went wide and she screamed loudly. She ran back up the stairs and dashed towards Sam's apartment.
Harper banged on Sam's door and glanced around. Sam opened the door and she was about to say something that was most likely a witty remark, but was cut off by Harper pushing past her.
"H-Harper, what the hell happened? What are you doing?" Sam sputtered out.
"I have no idea! This old fucking hag attacked me and she broke her neck!" Harper shouted as she shut the door tightly.
"Is she okay?"
"I don't know! She was still moving but there was blood everywhere…"
"You didn't help her?"
"She tried to fuckin' KILL me dumbass."
"Jesus christ…"
"Uhm yeah, her mouth was foaming and everything, maybe it was rabies?"
"Fuck, dude what are we gonna do? Does accidentally breaking little old ladies' necks go under murder?"
Harper swallowed nervously and shuddered. "L-Let's watch the local news" she muttered.
"What for?" Sam replied.
"Just do it, maybe there is some bug goin' round."
"Alright, if you say so" Sam said unsure, then picked up the TV remote to flip through the channels. She stopped on a news channel and glanced at Harper. Nothing of interest was being talked about, and the two teens just stood there in silence.
Sam sighed and nervously ran her hands through her long, sandy colored hair. She inhaled deeply and bit her lip. Harper slowly sat on the couch and watched the broadcast expectantly. Her eyes went wide when the word 'disease' was mentioned and she beckoned Same over.
They both sat there with their eyes glued to the screen and listened. A middle aged man with combed hair and sparkling blue eyes talked about a sickness of some sort. He described it, saying it caused "insanity" and "cannibalistic tendencies". Harper shivered and shook her head. "This is insane" she uttered out.