Dawn's alarm rang angrily throughout her room, and she pressed the 'sleep' button gently. She stood up and crossed the room towards her closet, and began to get dressed for work. The sun was barely hanging in the sky, providing a small amount of light to the streets.
She had to wake up early every morning because she worked at an abortion clinic, and she didn't like getting caught by the Catholic-Baby-Rights committee.
Dawn was nineteen and was still living with her parents at the time, but she desperately was trying to save up for her own apartment. Her mother had gone to the hospital the night before because she went into early labor. Dawn's parents were always talking about having another child and it miraculously happened later than they expected; ten years later to be exact.
Dawn's hair was unmanageably a curly auburn red color; she normally tied it back in a ponytail because it would get too crazy if she left it out, and she refused to cut it. She had very little freckles, unlike her mother, and dark heavy green eyes.
She was never much of a social girl, and had very few friendships. For some odd reason she was always silent and pulled inward when people tried to have a conversation with her. The friends she did make were older men, and that troubled her parents greatly. She always felt it was easier to talk to older people, probably because the last thing teenagers in a small town wanted to talk about was politics and the economy.
As she buttoned up her shirt she turned her head to the window and saw a large stain of blood across the driveway. She stared at it with a puzzled expression, trying to figure out if her mind was playing a cruel trick on her eyes.
Unfortunately, it was not. The streets were all stained with the dry copper scented liquid, houses were smoking from the windows, and cars were crashed into various scenery. The hair on her arms stood up as she stared at the chilling scene.
She stumbled into the living room. The television was on, and she grabbed the remote and turned the volume up when she heard the word 'Bloodbath.'
"This is an epidemic; I advise everyone to stay in their homes and do not come in contact with anyone out of the safety of their houses. Be careful, America." The message started up again and repeated itself several times. Dawn stared at the television, her wrist shaking nervously with every syllable, and her heart pounding up to her throat.
A loud grunt came from the next room, and Dawn turned her head slowly to find out who it was from. "M…Mom?" She called out shakily.
The sound of a vase shattering to the ground and a large 'THUMP' came from the room in return to her.
"Momma?" She squeaked, reverting to her childlike instinct.
A mere shell of what used to be her mother stepped into view, her eyes glazed over and blood covered her face. Dawn's jaw dropped. She knew something was wrong; very wrong.
The carcass made a shrill shrieking noise and ran awkwardly because of the pregnancy weight towards Dawn. Dawn leapt up and darted to the front door, and it followed her.
A hand shot out from the dining room near the floor and clutched Dawn's ankle; she looked down to see her father's torso at the end of the stiff arm, and his eyes were glazed over in the same hazy manner.
Her mother came around the corner, still chasing after Dawn intently, and Dawn kicked the monster's hand off of her and ran out the door.
The road looked much more dangerous and frightening than her from her window now. She pressed her hand against her hip, trying to dig for the keys to the car, but only to find she hadn't had time to get pants on.
"Fuck…" She whimpered.
"DAWN!"
Dawn whipped her head to the left to see Selena, her neighbor, in a vehicle with several others. "Selena!!" Dawn sighed in relief.
"Get in, hurry!" Selena pushed the car door on the opposite side of her open.
Dawn's immediate reaction was to accept, but she looked in the backseat only to see a child with the same distant look in their eyes. "Selena… Get out of the car…" She said, trying to stay calm.
"Are you kidding?" Selena choked out and placed her hand on the back of the passenger seat near the child's face.
"Selena, I'm serious. Get out of the ca—"
The child lashed out and sunk its teeth into Selena's tender hand, and the two people next to it screamed and jumped out of the car quickly.
The child soon shot into the front seat and began mangling poor oblivious Selena.
Dawn backed up nervously and the two that were in the car grabbed her wrist, "We have got to get out of here. Now." The man said, and the woman that was with him looked around frantically trying to figure out a way to get out of the mess that they were in.
Dawn looked down at the man's waist, and saw a gun sticking out of his belt. She snatched it and put two bullets through the child's head and it fell limply out of the car. The woman screamed and clutched the man's wrist.
"Come on." Dawn said in a low voice, and pushed Selena's corpse out of the car. The couple abided and jumped into the backseat, and locked the door.