It had been a hard day at work, the same fucking assholes from last week came in and Melanie had to put up with their sleazy comments all night until one grabbed her ass, which was a step too far. She punched him hard and knocked him back off of his chair, her boss Chuck had intervened and brought the bat out from under the counter and chased them out, telling them not to come back or he would beat them bad.

"Get yourself home, doll," he had said "Charlene and Daisy can finish up here."

Her fellow waitresses had been sympathetic to her face, telling her them guys were dickheads and she deserved an early night after dealing with them but Melanie knew they would be bitching about her once she left. They both hated the fact that Chuck liked her, gave her good shifts and never gave her a hard time. Chuck and her dad had been best friends since they were young and after her dad died last year of cancer, he had looked out for her. Said it was what Leo would have wanted and Melanie was grateful for that.

Opening the door, she smiled as she seen Sarah asleep on the couch. Since things got serious with Joel and he had introduced her to his daughter, Melanie was relieved when Sarah seemed to like her and also liked having her around– she knew how much Joel loved her and that she would always come first in his life. It had been a couple of months since she moved in and she had honestly never been happier. Sarah and Joel were her family now and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Walking over to Sarah, she gave her a gentle shake and the young girl sleepily looked at her. "Hey, you should be in bed," she whispered and pushed back her blonde hair from her face, "it's getting late."

"I wanted to wait up for dad," Sarah replied, yawning before stretching out on the couch, "I got him a birthday present remember?"

"Fine, we'll stay up and wait for him," Melanie said, unable to say no to Sarah at the best of times, "you don't have school tomorrow so it ain't that bad."

Sarah grinned, "Thanks Mel, how was work?"

"Oh don't ask, it was a shitty night."

Sitting down beside her, Melanie smiled to herself as Sarah cuddled into her and they watched TV. A couple of hours passed and Joel still wasn't home and judging from Sarah's quietness, Melanie guessed she was asleep. She was nearly drifting off herself when she heard the door open quietly and Joel talking on the phone.

"Tommy, I…" Joel made an annoyed noise "Tommy. Tommy listen to me, he is the contractor. He's the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job….I understand…"

Melanie glanced behind her and raised an eyebrow, Joel caught her eye and shook his head a little, "Let's talk about this in the morning, okay?" he said into the phone as Melanie felt Sarah stir and wake up at the sound of her father's voice, "We'll talk about it in the morning. Alright, goodnight"

Switching the light on, Melanie gave him a small smile as he kissed her cheek, "Everything okay, 'hun?" she asked and he nodded

"Just Tommy being a moron, same old," Joel sighed and looked at Sarah, "Scoot."

The young girl moved over and gave her dad a smile as he sat inbetween them both, "Fun day at work, huh?" she asked jokingly, raising an eyebrow.

Joel leaned back into the seat and rubbed his temple, "What are you both still doing up?" he asked "It's late."

"Oh crud!" Sarah cursed and scrambled up to look at the clock, "What time is it?"

"It is way past your bedtime," Joel said giving Melanie a disapproving look as Sarah reached down the side of the couch.

"Just wait two minutes before you start a lecture," Melanie said, crossing her legs as she smiled at Sarah, "you'll see."

Sarah grinned "Lucky it's still today," she said in a sing song voice, "today is a special day after all!"

"Hon, please not right now," Joel murmured "I do not have the energy for this."

"Here!" Sarah said excitedly and handed him a box, Melanie gave her a small nod as Joel accepted the box with a curious expression.

"What's this?"

"Your birthday, silly!"

With a loving smile on his face, Joel opened the box and looked touched as he took out the watch. Sarah grinned as she scooted closer to him, "You kept complaining about your broken watch…" she said slowly as she waited for a sign that he liked it, "so I figured, you know…"

"That's a good gift kiddo," Melanie said, admiring the watch as Joel put it on, "now your dad can be on time if we go to the movies."

"That was my thinking too," Sarah laughed and looked back at her dad "so, you like it?"

Fixing it around his wrist, Joel paused before his face turned serious, "Honey, this is…" he sounded a little put off and Melanie seen Sarah's face fall a little.

"What?"

"It's nice but I- I think it's stuck. It isn't-"

Melanie tried not to smile as Sarah worriedly leaned over and grabbed her dad's wrist, "What? No, no, no, no…" she groaned when Joel chuckled and gave him a push "Oh ha, ha."

Joel grinned before giving Sarah a nudge, "Where did you get the money for this?"

"Drugs," Sarah said simply, her eyes back on the TV, "I sell hard-core drugs."

Melanie laughed out loud while Joel shook his head, "Oh good," he said slipping his arm around Melanie's shoulder and pulling her close, "you can start helping me and 'Mel with the mortgage then."

"Pfft. Yeah, you wish."

They sat and watched an old film on the TV and Melanie smiled as Joel's fingers made circles on her back, she relaxed against him and felt the stress of her work-day leave her. He always had that effect on her and it was one of the reasons why she was attracted to him. Once the credits started rolling, Melanie glanced over and smiled softly at Sarah sleeping. "She's out cold," she whispered and sat up as did Joel "you got her?"

"I got her. You get to bed, I'll be up soon."

"Okay."

Melanie headed upstairs as Joel switched off everything downstairs and picked Sarah up in his arms. She smiled as she looked around their room, photos of the three of them and her stuff mixed in with Joel's. The big teddy he had won her at the fair on their first date and the bottle of tequila they had finished when she first moved in with their names and the date scribbled on in black pen.

She got changed into one of Joel's t-shirts and went over to the window, small as the house was, it did have a good view and she took it in. This place was much better than her shitty apartment in the city.

Arms encircled her waist and Melanie smiled as she felt Joel's lips on the back of her neck.

"Y'know…I don't remember getting a present off of you," he said and she turned in his arms and leaned against the dresser, "you forget my birthday or something Mel?"

"As if I could forget," she said slowly running her hands up his chest and smiling as he pressed into her more, "but you might be too…tired for my present," she smirked "it requires some unwrapping."

Joel chuckled as she began to unbutton his shirt, "Seems like you're doing the majority of the unwrapping," he said and groaned slightly as she kissed his exposed chest "I hope you're not just teasing me, woman."

"I'm not teasing," she said as his hands slid lower down her body pulled her against him "I plan to fully carry out this seduction."

"Happy Birthday to me then," Joel chuckled and kissed her hard on the lips.

When Melanie reached out, all she felt was cold sheets and she blearingly opened her eyes and frowned when she seen the empty bed. Looking at the clock, she seen it was 3am and wondered where the hell Joel was. Sitting up, she listened carefully and heard the TV on downstairs.

Pushing the covers back, Melanie shivered a little and felt the chilly night air on her naked body. Grabbing the clothes that were closest to her, she quickly put on the black leggings and long, grey top and walked to the door. Frowning, Melanie stood in the dark hallway and felt like something was wrong. She didn't know why but her gut was telling her something was amiss. Glancing into Sarah's room, she seen she was still sound asleep and closed her door quietly before making her way downstairs.

"Joel?" she called out softly and her frown deepened at the silence.

The TV was back on and she heard a vibrating and walked over to where her cell phone was charging, there were ten missed calls from Tommy and a load of messages, "What the hell?" she whispered before jumping violently at the sound of the house phone ringing.

Looking around, she sighed impatiently when she seen yet again the phone wasn't sitting charging and began to look for it. It stopped ringing but the red light on the charger said it had been answered and she knew Sarah was up.

Hearing footsteps, she seen a tired Sarah come downstairs and rub her eyes "Where's dad?" she asked "Uncle Tommy just phoned for him."

"I've been wondering myself, sweetie," Melanie replied, looking out the window and seeing her worried expression reflected in the glass.

"-we've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and-" Melanie felt her heart stop when she turned and began to watch the news, the newswoman was speaking quickly and looked scared as she spoke into the camera.

"That's nearby," Sarah whispered, coming to stand beside Melanie.

As the woman spoke, a fireman came running up "We need to move everybody out of here now!" he said quickly "There's a gas leak! Hey! MOVE!"

Melanie gasped and covered her mouth as the building behind the newswoman burst into flames and suddenly there was only static as they lost signal, "Mel…look!" Sarah whimpered and pointed out the window as the blast could be seen from the house.

"Oh shit!" Melanie whispered and felt Sarah take her hand and she squeezed it back worriedly.

Shouting could be heard from outside and Melanie put an arm around Sarah and quickly headed into the den where Joel kept the gun. She didn't feel safe and didn't know what the hell was going on but she was going to protect Sarah from anything that was out there.

"Come on, honey," she said quickly, hating how scared she sounded as Sarah tensed up.

Before she could reach the desk, she nearly let out a scream when the door opened but felt relieved when she seen Joel came in. "Oh thank fuck you're back," Melanie said but didn't feel reassured when she seen how worried he was, "Joel?"

"Dad, what's going on?"

"You two okay?" Joel asked quickly as he shut the door and began searching the drawers "Has anyone come in here?"

Sarah shook her head but stayed close to Melanie, "No. Who would come in here?"

"Joel, you're scaring Sarah…and me," Melanie said shakingly "What exactly is going on out there?"

But he didn't answer her, "Don't go near the doors. Just…just both of you stand back there!"

"Dad, you're really freaking me out. What's going on?"

Joel shook his head, "It's the Coopers…Somethin' ain't right with 'em. I think they're sick."

"What do you mean sick?" Melanie asked but before Joel could answer, she seen someone slam their body against the glass door out of the corner of her eye. Sarah trembled as the man slammed himself against the door again.

"JIMMY!"

"DAD!"

Joel raised the gun and stood protectively in front of them, "Mel, stay behind me okay! Keep Sarah away!"

"Isn't that Jimmy…?"

The glass door shattered as Jimmy stumbled in, he shouted something unintelligible and got to his feet again. His clothes were bloody and his face smashed up and Melanie froze at the sight of their neighbour. "Jimmy, I am warning you!" Joel shouted, aiming the gun at his head "Stay back!"

"Oh my god!" Melanie cried as Jimmy ran towards him, the gunshot was loud in her ears but she still heard the sickening thud as Jimmy's dead body hit the floor. She stood shocked looking down at the corpse of the kind man who lived next door to them, who had a barbeque every Sunday and always invited them. Now he lay dead in a puddle of blood in their living room.

"Go, go!" Joel urged, pushing them into the kitchen and Melanie seen he was shaking.

Sarah stopped and her eyes were wide as she couldn't look away from Jimmy's body, "You…you shot him," she whispered horrified as her eyes swivelled around to look at her father.

Covering her face, Melanie shook her head and willed this all to be a horrible dream, "This can't be happening," she whispered beginning to pace, "this can't be happening!"

"Sarah-"

"I saw Jimmy this mornin'…"

Putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders, Joel tried to keep his voice steady, "Listen to me, there is something bad going on. We have to get outta here. All of us. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah…yeah, I understand."

Melanie lowered her hands from her face as Joel gently shook her, "Melanie, you ready. We need to leave."

She nodded, her throat closing up on her as she realized this wasn't a nightmare. "Yeah…" she croaked and swallowed hard "How we gettin' out of town?"

Car lights suddenly shone through the window and Joel let out a sigh of relief, "Tommy. C'mon," he took Sarah's hand and pulled her along with him out of the front door with Melanie following close behind.

As soon as they were outside, Tommy got out of his truck and gave them a fearful look, "Where the hell you been?" he asked worriedly "You have any idea what's goin' on out there?"

"I got some notion," Joel replied and held open the back door for Sarah and Melanie. Tommy rolled his eyes but he caught sight of Melanie and his face paled.

"Holy shit. You got blood all over you!"

Melanie felt bile in her throat as she looked down and seen what he said was true. "Oh fuck!" she muttered and shook her head, tears threatening to fall.

"C'mon, baby, get in the back with Sarah," Joel said taking her hand in his and pulling her slightly, "it ain't hers, let's just get out of here."

Pressing her lips together, she nodded and climbed in after Sarah. Immediately holding her close as Tommy and Joel got in the front, "They're saying that half the people in the city have lost their minds," Tommy told Joel who just shook his head.

"Can we just please go?"

But Tommy continued as he climbed into the driver's seat "Some sort of parasite or somethin'. You gonna tell me what happened?"

"Later."

Knowing he wasn't going to get anything else out of his brother, Tommy reversed out of the driveway and gave his niece a weak smile, "Hey, Sarah. How you holdin' up, honey?"

"I'm fine…" Sara replied quietly, still in shock, she held onto Melanie's arms tightly "Can we hear what's on the radio?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Tommy turned the dial but all they heard was white noise and he sighed "No cell phone. No radio. Yeah, we're doin' great. Minute ago, newsman wouldn't shut up."

Letting out a shaky breath, Melanie sniffed "They say anything about somewhere safe to go?" she asked as they drove down the street.

"He said, ah…Army's puttin' up road blocks on the highway," Tommy sounded really worried now, "No gettin' into Travis County."

Melanie felt her heartbeat quicken, "What does that mean?" she asked faintly as they stopped at the crossroads.

"It means we need to get the hell out," Joel said seriously and glanced at the sign thinking quickly, "Take 71."

"71, that's where I'm headed-" Tommy stopped talking as two police cars sped past them, going in the opposite direction.

As soon as the road was clear, they continued driving and Sarah cleared her throat, "Did they…did they say how many are dead?" she asked her Uncle Tommy and he shook his head.

"Probably a lot. Found this one family all mangled inside their house-"

"Tommy!" Joel interrupted him and shook his head "She don't need to hear this!"

"Right…sorry."

A car that was crashed into a tree appeared out of the darkness and Melanie closed her eyes and looked away, making sure Sarah couldn't see it either. "Jesus, how did this happen?" Joel asked and reached behind him to take one of Melanie's hands in his, squeezing it hard as they continued making their way out.

"They got no clue," Tommy answered gravely "but we ain't the only town. At first they were saying it was just like the South. Now they're going on about the East Coast, the West Coast…Holy hell!"

Melanie's eyes widened as she took in the sight of the burning farmhouse and felt her mouth go dry at the sight of the flames devouring the house. "That's Louis' farm," Tommy said weakly as they drove past, the house starting to fall apart "I hope that son of a bitch made it out."

"I'm sure he did," Joel whispered but his voice wasn't convincing at all.

Sarah looked up at Melanie and seemed scared "Are we sick?"

"No, honey…we're not…" Melanie tried to sound reassuring but it just wouldn't come out.

Joel turned and shook his head firmly, "No, of course we're not."

"How do you know but?" Sarah whispered "We could all be sick."

Tommy glanced in the rear-view mirror at Sarah, "They said it's just…ah…people in the city. We're good."

"Didn't Jimmy work in the city?" Melanie asked Joel and he nodded.

"That's right, he did. We're fine Sarah…trust me."

After some time had passed, they came across some people on the side of the road and Tommy slowed down a little, Melanie seen they had children with them and they turned around after hearing the car, "Let's see what they need-"

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Joel snapped, pushing his brother hard, "Keep drivin'!"

"They've got kids, Joel…" Melanie said slowly but fell silent at the look he gave her.

"So do we!"

Sarah bit her lip nervously, her eyes on the family "We have room, dad-"

"HEY!" the man shouted waving his arms frantically to get their attention but Joel shook his head and looked at his brother.

"Keep drivin' Tommy."

"HEY! STOP!" Tommy gritted his teeth as he pushed his foot down on the accelerator and Melanie's heart broke as the man continued to shout after the truck, "PLEASE! HELP!"

There was tension as well as silence in the truck and Melanie noticed the glare Tommy gave Joel, "You ain't seen what I seen," Joel said darkly and looked back out of the window, "We need to look out for ourselves now. Someone else'll come along."

"We shoulda helped them," Sarah whispered, and pressed her face against Melanie's arm, "we shoulda."

Flashing lights nearly blinded them as Tommy swerved out of the way of an ambulance speeding by them, racing the other way but Melanie felt her heart stop as they got to the top of the road and seen the miles of cars in front of them, blocking their way out.

"Oh this is bad…" Joel muttered, his eyes flickering over the mass of cars.

Tommy punched the steering wheel as he stopped the car, "Everyone and their mother had the same damn idea!"

"Why don't we just try another…?" Melanie's voice died as the man in the car in front of them got out.

"Hey, what the fuck man? Let's go!" he shouted to the cars in front and didn't see as someone pelted towards him and pushed him on the ground. The three of them watched in horror as he was beaten by the other person as another clambered into the car and began to…eat the children in the back. The screaming echoed in Melanie's ears as she felt like she was going to be sick as she watched the horrific scene unfold in front of her.

The first person looked up from the now dead man, blood dripping from his mouth as he began to head towards the car. "Tommy….TOMMY!" Joel yelled and smacked his brother to snap him out of it, "Get us out of here!"

"Holy shit!" Tommy cursed and quickly put the car into reverse, Melanie and Sarah both screamed as the person slammed against the window but didn't have the chance to do so again as Tommy quickly drove the car forward away from the carnage.

"What the fuck just happened?" Melanie asked shakily, looking between the two men, "Please tell me you saw that too, I didn't just imagine it."

Joel nodded shakingly "Yeah, we saw it…though Christ knows I wish I hadn't."

"Goddamn….GODDAMN!"

"Turn here! Turn here!"

The street in front of them was filled with terrified people and an overturned bus blocking the road, "Come on people. Move!" Tommy whispered, stopping the car as the crowd ran past them.

"What are they runnin' from?" Sarah asked fearfully and Melanie shook her head.

"I don't know, but should we really be headin' in that direction?"

"Only way out, Mel…Tommy, get us outta here!"

But the crowd didn't give them any room to drive through and one even hit off against the bonnet, they got a glimpse of his scared face before he ran off, following the others. "We can't stop here Tommy!" Joel snapped.

"I can't fuckin' drive through 'em, Joel!" Tommy snapped back.

"THEN BACK UP THEN!"

"THEY'RE BEHIND ME TOO!"

Suddenly, the crowd thinned out and Tommy took the opportunity to drive up on the pavement and get by the bus. The road was clear and Melanie just hoped there would be another way out and away from all the madness, they were just nearly out of town when Sarah suddenly froze in her arms.

"LOOK OUT!" she screamed and Melanie only seen the headlights of the other truck plunging into the side when suddenly there was darkness and she blacked out.