The night everything changed, Adam was doing what he did best: partying. Most of his apartment was filled with people, and he and Matt were starting to feel very grateful for Tom's tip about putting newspaper on the toilet floor. The flow of booze didn't look like letting up any time soon, either, as more people kept arriving.

Adam was out on the balcony, chain smoking cheap cigarettes and talking with… What was her name again? Wasn't she Tyler's little sister? It didn't matter too much, Adam decided. She was cute, sure, but he was just chatting and goofing off, not feeling in the mood to try.

'So, do you like movies?' She asked, sipping her drink.

'Yeah,' Adam tossed an empty can over the rail. He chuckled. 'I'm a huge zombie movie geek.'

'No way! I'm huge into zombie movies too.' She laughed, maybe a little too drunkenly. 'To be honest, I've pretty much failed college because of it. What's your favourite?'

'There's no way I can choose that… George Romero is a genius, but I prefer it when zombies run. I think that's scarier than the shuffling, draggy-leg thing. I'll say Romero's scripts, but Danny Boyle's zombies.'

'Isn't there a new Romero coming out soon? We should go see it.'

'Sure. I'll give you a text, or something. What's your number?'

Adam handed her his phone, and she tapped in her number before handing it back.

'Okay, cool. How do I spell your name?' The moment of truth- what is she called?

'Zed, oh, ee, why. Zoey. The y is important.'

'Okay. Gotcha, Zoey. Wait, I'll just prank you.'

Caller Unknown, followed by a phone number flashed on Zoey's phone.

'Okay, that's me. It's just Adam, spelled how you spell Adam.'

'I know that! This is your party.'

'Mostly my party. Tom and Matt live here too. But they're not as awesome as me.' He laughed a little, and then shook his head, trying to indicate that he didn't think he was cool.

It was around then that they realised the music inside had stopped, and people were yelling.

'What the-'

There were a lot of people running around inside the apartment, hitting each other, or something. Adam recognised Tom, pinned down by some guy who was- no, that couldn't be what was happening. Blood pooled across the floor.

Something long and strong wrapped itself around Adam's waist and lifted him bodily off the balcony.

'Oh Jesus… Help!'

Something arced past his head, and he recognised Zoey's drink as it sailed into the alley below, a trail of leftover Martini following it. Well that was no good. At least she made an effort.

God, this thing was so slimy, like it was something's- He craned his head around, and saw the shape of a human silhouetted against the moon. Disgusting.

He tried to reach into his pocket. If he could get his lighter, then maybe he could burn the thing's tongue. It was a good idea, only his hands were pinned to his sides. He just kicked, getting further from the balcony, and more importantly the ground. Annoyingly, his kicking just made him revolve gently. If this is how I'm going to die… he grumbled inwardly.

Suddenly, he dropped. Whatever-it-was on the roof had let him go. He grabbed hold of a fire escape rail, although the shock of the impact jarred his hands painfully, forcing him to let go. He crashed into the alley, landing on his feet, but falling backwards, his right hand clutching his pained left one. From this vantage point, he noticed a sickly-looking cloud spreading around the rooftop.

'Are you okay?' A voice. It sounded like it was trying to sound tough, but coming across as scared and tired.

'Ouch?'

'Is your hand okay?'

Adam flexed his fingers. 'It hurts but I don't think it's broken or sprained.' He winced. 'It hurts a lot.' He sat up. 'Wait, aren't you that guy who works at the movie rental? Pete something.'

'Pete Hewlett, and you're Adam Taylor, the party king and all-around popular kid.'

'You say that like it's a bad thing. And what the fuck's going on?'

'There's an infection going around. It mutates people and drives them crazy. At first it was happening out of town, then a few suburbs got infected. Now it looks like it's moved into the city. Those psychopaths in your apartment and that thing I popped, they're just the tip of the iceburg.'

'How did you- how d'you know all of this?'

'There were a lot of websites dedicated to it. Some of us notice when villages suddenly disappear. The infection's been spreading in the area all spring, but it's been hushed up by the government. If they can contain this, they'll probably call it rioting.'

He started walking away, Adam stumbled after him. 'Where are you going? There's people in there.'

'They're probably dead.'

'Someone else was out on the-'

'Dead. Listen, I'm not particularly cool, but I'm a realist. You were there, and I could save you, for all the good you'd do, but I'm not going to tackle an apartment full of zombies.'

'Zombies? Shouldn't I get a gun, too?'

'Not until you sober up. My basement's safe, we can wait out the night there. Now, follow me and for God's sake, stay quiet.'

Adam tiptoed after Pete, saddened by the realization that tomorrow would bring a particularly bad hangover.