Andrew took his coffee and bag from the older woman working the desk. He paused to toss his change in the little tip tray before going to his usual seat in the back corner. The shop was almost deserted this early in the morning. Just an off-duty cop, and an exhausted young student falling asleep in his bagel. The sun was just barely brightening the streets as he dumped in two sugar packets and pulled a binder of work papers from his laptop bag. Four lab reports to look over before work in an hour, and he might as well do it over hash browns.

He took a sip of coffee. The windows shattered. He dove under the table, turning it sideways towards the sound. Burning coffee poured over his shoulders and back, but he ignored it, and peered around the side of the table. A woman in exercise clothes had her nails in the officer's head. The worst sound that he had ever heard screeched from her cracked lips. She bit into the officer's neck and Andrew watched in horror as he fell to the ground and thrashed in pain and fear. The woman behind the counter shrieked. A man leaped through the broken window and dove at her. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Andrew slung his bag over his shoulder and took off running for the door, slipping on a fallen napkin on the floor. The student shoved him out of the way and tore the door open.

"What's happening?" Andrew yelled to him.

"Why are you asking me?" The boy stumbled out the door and into the street. Immediately, a man ran in and knocked him to the ground. He made the choked cry that the woman- creature- had made. The boy fought in a panic."Help me! Help!"

Andrew swung his computer at the creature's head. It collided with a satisfying crunch and the monster toppled off with another inhumane cry. Andrew pulled the student to his feet by his arm. "Thanks." He swallowed.

"No problem." He remembered to breathe. The streets were full of people and creatures, shrieking, weeping, yelling names, running, falling. He swallowed, and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. It wouldn't be of much use as a computer after this, he was sure. Another creature came at him from the side and he knocked it off with his bag. He kicked it and ran before it could get back up. He didn't know where he was running to. He just had to run. Cars were scattered over the street, abandoned. Most still had the keys in the ignition. He slipped on something wet and fell. His hands went into broken glass, but he jumped back up and continued running. A woman ran into him screaming her childrens' names. He made eye contact with her for half a second before they were shoved away from each other. He had never seen a greater terror in a person's eyes.

He heard a scream and saw a creature on top of that mother. He hesitated for a second and then went back and smashed it away. It leapt at him. He raised his bag to protect himself, and the creature clawed at it, snapping his jaws above the top. Andrew cried out without trying to, and threw the creature to the ground. He brought the laptop down on it's head and felt a crack. He glanced back at the mother to see her seizing on the ground. His pulse pounded throughout his entire body as she sat up and looked at him. Her skin was grayed and stretched over her face. She opened her mouth and chattered her teeth and lunged at him.
He ran.

He had to get away from here, away from this chaos. There would less people out of the city. Maybe there would be less creatures too. A family hijacked a minivan a few feet ahead. He shoved through the crowd and got to them, tearing open the backseat door before the little girl could close it. She shrieked and began to cry. He slammed the door shut and locked it. "Shh. I won't hurt you."

The father glanced back at him from the driver's seat and then took off driving as fast as possible through the crowded streets.

Andrew leaned against the door, trying to catch his breath. His veins strained against his skin, blasting blood and oxygen and adrenaline through his body.

The little girl was still wailing. An pale older girl sat next to her, while a baby cried in the mother's arms. The older girl touched the little one's shoulder. "Shhh Addie. He's not a monster too. He won't hurt us."

A creature slammed into the window next to her and she screamed. The window cracked. Andrew reached over and pulled the girls away. "Drive!" The car accelerated, smashing into another creature or a person, who rolled over the roof and was gone.

The littlest girl twisted her hands in his shirt and pressed her face into his chest. She trembled. "It's okay, Addie," the mother called, rocking the screaming baby. The car swerved to avoid a crashed school bus. The older girl fell into the window with a cry. The younger one clung to him.

The cracked window smashed under the weight of another creature. Both girls screamed. The mother yelled something he didn't make out. He reached over the girls and shoved what used to be a man away from the car. The creature's hand slipped between the bag and the window, clawing at the air. The mother tossed something in Andrew's lap and he used what he saw was a magazine to beat the hand back out the window. He kept his bag pressed to the widow, his chest pounding. His throat was dry.

"Girls, are you okay?" the mother called.

The older girl was twisted in her seat belt, leaning as far as she could behind his back."Yes." She sobbed. The little one was on his other side, clinging to the back of his shirt. She cried and didn't say anything.

The mother looked back at him. "And you, sir?"

He swallowed. "I'm fine, thank you." He cleared his throat. "Do you know what's going on?"

The mother frowned. "No. I don't. I guess you don't either."

"I don't...It looks like it's infectious though.."

"What?"

"Those creatures can turn people into them. I saw one do it, but that's obviously not enough to make a full conclusion about that…"

"Oh God…" the mother said.

"What's he saying?" The little girl yelled. The older one stared at him in horror.

"Don't let the monsters touch you," the mother said. "It's like a game, okay? Like tag. Don't let them touch you. Run away."

The older girl nodded. "I don't like this game," the little one said.

Andrew patted her shoulder. "Er... Do you know where you are planning on going?"

"I don't know." She glanced at her husband, who was white-knuckled on the wheel. "Honey?"

"Outside the city. As far outside the city as we can get."

Andrew had a small sigh of relief that at least the people he jumped into a car with were fairly reasonable.

The car jerked to a stop to avoid splattering a pedestrian. Both girls fell into him. He fell against the back of the father's seat. A creature flew over the windshield. The mother cried out. The father slammed on the gas and the creature fell under the tires. Andrew felt a horrible smushing feeling as they drove over it.

The farther along the road they got, the more creature- free everything was. Eventually they made it out of the city. The car pulled over on the side of the road. The father sighed. "Okay. Let's think about this for a second."

The silence of the lightly traveled rural road was only broken by the girls' quiet crying.

The mother glanced back again. "I'm Ellie, by the way. Ellie Green." She offered him her hand.

He shook it. "Dr. Andrew Fassbach."

He immediately thought about how it was pretentious of him to introduce himself with "Dr." when she had just said "Ellie". It was probably not the only bad decision he had made today.

"Doctor? What kind of doctor, sir?"

"I'm a virologist. I study viruses."

"But you're just a kid," the father said. "How old are you?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I'm twenty-five in January."

"Wow," the father said, and leaned against the steering wheel.

The mother reached back and touched the younger girl's hair. "Oh, Dr. Fassbach, this is Addie. And that's Lilly." She glanced at the baby in her lap. "And this is Franklin."

Addie raised her head from his sleeve. "Mommy," she moaned. "What's going on?"

Andrew stared at her. The poor child must have been terrified. Both of them. He was terrified.

Ellie stroked her hair. "I don't know, baby. But it's going to be fine. Don't worry. Daddy and I will take care of you. We should be thankful that our family is safe, and our new friend, Dr. Fassbach." She turned to look at him. "Dr. Fassbach, did you have family with you? Do you know if they're okay?"

"Er, Andrew's fine. My family lives in England. I don't know where my fiancee is though.. she should be at work right now." He swallowed. He wanted Amelia here. Now. With him. He needed to go find her. But now he was outside the city. Without his car. She might be dead already. He didn't let that thought become an idea. She was fine. Whatever was happening was just starting. "I- Um.. I actually want to call her…"

"Oh do it!" Ellie said. "You poor thing. You must be worried sick. And her about you."

"Yes.. thanks…Here, I'll just.." He gently untangled himself from the children and stepped outside the car. He pulled out his phone. Three missed calls from Amelia blinked on the screen. He hadn't heard it ring. He called her back, and prayed that it would still connect. It rang twice.

"Andrew?" Her voice was a gasp of hope.

"Yes! Amelia? Where are you? Are you okay?'

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm at the lab. I'm okay. We've been watching on the news- Andrew, what's happening? Where are you? Please tell me you were already at work." Her voice was shaking.

"No, I was in the city. I'm okay though. We got away. We're a few miles out. And I don't know what's happening. No one seems to."

"You were still in the city?! Were you hurt at all? Oh God, Andrew. We've been watching…"

"I'm perfectly fine. It's alright. Everything's going to be alright."

There was a pause, where he could hear his heart pounding. "I'm scared, Andrew."

He squeezed his eyes shut and felt them sting. "I know. I'm scared too. We're going to be fine though, okay?"

Her breathing was shaky. "Right. What are we going to do?"

He swallowed. "I don't know."

"The first step is probably to get together.."

"Yes. Right. Here's the thing. I got a ride out of the city with this family, so I don't know how we can.."

She paused. "I guess I could try and come to you. But I would have to go through the city."

"No!" His heart jumped in his chest. "No. If you're safe there, you're staying there. I'll figure something out. And I'll come and get you."

"Okay. Then we should go somewhere where we can work.. mostly you, but you know. I'll try and help. You should see if your lab is still… functioning.."

"Yeah. I'll call over there. And I'll call you later to figure everything out."

"Okay."

"Alright..