"The Center for Disease Control says the recent outbreak should be contained within the next few days," the news reporter said. "Until then, they advise you to stay in your homes, remain calm, and not to approach anyone on the street. Reporting for WABE in Atlanta, I'm Carley -" Sam turned the television off.
"Can you believe this?" he asked. "A disease outbreak, and they want us to 'remain calm'." Sam shook his head.
"Next thing you know, there'll be zombies roaming the streets," Wanda said with a laugh. "I'm sure everything will be fine."
"I know," Sam said. "But I think my nervousness is justified, though. You've seen the movies about these types of situations. They don't end too well."
"Relax, dude. Nothing is going to happen to you," she said, smiling. "Do you want anything to eat? I was thinking about going up to the drive through of that new place. What was it called? I don't know. That new sandwich place a few blocks down. But do you want anything?"
"They said we should stay in our homes," Sam reminded her.
"They were reporting from Atlanta. We're not in Atlanta," Wanda said. "We're in Athens. Many, many miles from Atlanta."
"Still, I don't think -"
"Sam." She looked at him. He abandoned his attempt to get her to stay at their apartment. "Now, do you want anything to eat?"
"No," he said, sighing. "Drive safely, sis."
"Yup." Wanda stood up from the couch. "See you in a few minutes, Sam."
"Bye," he said, waving at her as she left the apartment. Sam rose from the couch after his sister was gone and went to look out the window. He and Wanda both attended the university in Athens, but they had to rent a second-story apartment together since all of the on-campus residencies were taken.
He sat back down on the couch and took his cell phone out of his pocket, then placed it next to him on the couch. He reached for the remote control and turned the television back on. It was still on the news channel, but there was a different reporter.
" - your homes. The C.D.C. has been exerting their best efforts to get the disease under control, but there have been recent reports of people with aggressive, un-human actions and violent -" The station cut out. She needs to get back here. He picked his phone up and called his sister's number. No answer. He called again, and it went to the automated voicemail. Again. He tried calling a third time, but she didn't answer then either. He picked the remote control up and started flipping through the channels. Three more of the news stations had been cut and showed the multicolored bars on the screen. He tried calling Wanda for the fourth time, but she didn't pick up her phone. Sam was getting to be really panicked, and so he tried to text his sister instead.
The first message he sent read "Where are you?", followed by "Why are you not answering your phone?", and then "Are you okay?". After a minute of Sam chewing his lip and nervously tapping the ground with his foot, Wanda sent a single message to him.
The message was only two words: "love you". Sam's blood turned to ice and tremendous feelings of consternation and worry filled every part of his body. He didn't try sending any more messages to her. Sam only re-read what Wanda had sent over and over. He turned his attention to the television since the colorful bars changed back into the news station.
". . . four car pile-up in downtown Athens resulted in a mild explosion. It truly is chaos down here. At least three people are confirmed dead, please -" the reporter stopped talking. "What the hell?" The reporter had turned around and was looking at someone on the street. "Focus on them," they said to the camera person, pointing towards a man on the street. "Zoom in." The person the camera had focused on had now turned around to face them, and he started walking in their direction. "Stay back, sir," the reporter called out. The person didn't say anything as it picked up its speed and continued going towards the reporter and their crew. "What the hell is that? Oh shit, cut it! Cut the camera, we need to -" The screen shifted back to the multicolored bars.
What the fuck is going on? Sam picked his phone back up. Wanda, please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. He stood back up and scurried over to the window again. There was someone running and screaming down the street, but what were they running from? Sam moved into the kitchen to get a better view through that window. There were two more people - were they even people? - stumbling down the street after the running individual.
"What the hell is this?" Sam said to himself, his voice nearly a whisper. He pulled his phone up in front of him and dialed 9-1-1. The line was busy. How can the police be busy? The only noise that filled the apartment was the muffled beep, beep, beep of the busy tone. Then someone came running down the street again. They were screaming, too.
I need to go find Wanda. Sam was equally scared, anxious, and confused about whatever it was that was going on outside on the streets. Actually, he was probably more scared than anything else. But he had to go find his sister. So Sam ran into his bedroom, took out the bag he used for his books and whatnot at the university, dumped the contents onto his bed, and took a photo of him and his sister off of his wall. He looked at it for a second, and then placed it in the backpack. He tucked the bag underneath his arm and then ran into the kitchen. I don't need a knife, right? These are all just people. He contemplated for a second. No. I'm going to bring one. Just in case. He slid one of the drawers under the counter open and took one of the sharper knives. He tossed it into his backpack as well.
Sam zipped the bag up and put it on. He walked over to the front door and placed a trembling hand on the doorknob. He turned around and looked at his home, then twisted the handle and stepped outside.