Name: Lizzi Faith Dresden

Date: 1-27-13.

If you're reading this, it means that it's probably many years from the time I wrote this, and that there must be a cure for the Necrogenesis Virus. For all I know, the Necro, as we call it, might be reduced to a legend or scary story, used to frighten little children if they don't wash their hands. Well, let me tell you. The Necrogenesis Virus is anything but imaginary. If you know your Greek roots, you'll know that "Necro" means Death, and "Genesis" means creation, or life. That pretty much spells out the disease to a tee. The Undead Virus, as I've read on some of the brick walls of buildings. Some people call it "The Green Flu". Although what green has to do with it is beyond me. I should probably explain exactly what the Necrogenesis does to your body. It is transferred by bites or scratches, like Rabies, and has similar symptoms at first. The aches, fevers, and frequent vomiting often point to the flu. That was our mistake. This was definitely NOT a flu. But anyway, once you've been bitten by an infected individual, the virus will change its chemical makeup, disguising itself as a red blood cell carrying oxygen. It travels through your bloodstream, until it reaches the brain. There it deposits its venom, causing the symptoms to occur. As the virus invades cells and multiplies, the brain begins to swell, and extreme fever erupts over the individual's body, leaving the body weak and literally unprotected. Then the individual begins to spew black foam from its mouth, the eyes turn a pale shade of yellow, like ghondis, and the pigment in the skin turns extremely pale. The individual now acts like he or she has an extreme case of rabies, and is only hungry for one thing; Flesh. I have a feeling that I'm going to die really soon. And I don't want to let the real story go untold and watered down for history books. Let me tell you the real story of 2012. Let me tell you MY story of the Apocalypse.

It was my Senior year at Northwestern High School. Late November of 2012, in South Carolina, and my best friend Kylie and I were headed to our third block class; chorus. We'd talked about how people we used to be friends with were suddenly getting sick and then disappearing off the face of the Earth. We'd ask the teachers if they'd heard from their parents, but none of the teachers appeared to know of the students we were referring to. That was suspicious. Apparently, all school records of them had been lost, including the records of our friends Kristen and Emma. Lauren was gone soon, too. Their Myspace's and Facebook's were deleted. And soon, all that remained were a few personal pictures that Kylie had in her phone. We'd heard about some flu going around, and that people were getting sick left and right. At first the only people who got the virus were people who had HIV or AIDS, because they had weakened immune systems. They disappeared soon after a doctor's visit to check for the new flu. The next people to get the virus were the extremely young and the elderly. They disappeared as well. Yes; even babies. The government had tried to keep the disease and the disappearances a tight secret, to no avail. We weren't stupid. We knew something was going on, and whatever it was, it was getting worse. More people started disappearing, and no one knew where to. Soon we began to see posters up in the hallways, stating to wash your hands as much as possible, to report anyone who was sick, get your flu shot, blah blah blah. I remember turning to Kylie one day as we walked down the yellow locker-lined hallway of our school, and saying, "Everything's getting weirder and weirder around here. Look at this; 'Report anyone who is Sick'," I said, pointing to a poster on the wall, "Since when have we ever had to report anyone? We didn't even have to do that with the Swine Flu breakout." Kylie nodded in agreement. "Or with the MRSA thing, either. I wonder why they're making us 'report' people now?" she replied. I drew in a breath and shrugged, "I have no idea, but it's starting to bug me. No one's been this scared of a flu before. I'm starting to think that this may be more than just a flu." Kylie shook her head and shrugged as well. "Even if it was….it still wouldn't explain where Kristen, Lauren, and Emma are. They've been gone for weeks." I glanced over at the posters again that lined the walls, my eyes narrowing. "I don't know. I just think it's fishy, is all." I glanced at my phone that was hidden in my hoodie pocket. "Ah! The bell's gonna ring in a few minutes. We'd better get going." She grinned. "Yeah. I don't feel like getting yelled at for being late to Mr. Bumgardner's class again." We carefully but quickly hurried down the stairs and out the doors of A building, which was at the back of the school, right next to C building, AKA the Cafeteria, and B building, where a few gyms were located. We headed across the giant courtyard to E building, which is where the chorus room was. We passed many people on the way, stopping to hug some of our best friends heading off to their classes in A or B buildings. We dashed down the hallway after opening the heavy black door to E building, and stepped inside the blue-walled chorus room just before the bell rang. Dropping our bookbags on the ground, we grabbed our music folders and sat in our desks. Emma and Lauren would have been here, if they hadn't disappeared about 4 or 5 weeks ago. Looking at their empty desks brought a frown to my usually cheerful face, and the thoughts about that strange flu began to swim in my head again.

A few weeks later, we had our chorus concert, and half of our Soprano section was missing. The classes were getting smaller and smaller, until we only had 16 people left in our 1st block class, 14 in our 2nd, 18 in 3rd, and 15 in 4th. People were scared; no doubt about it. I was scared, too. We began to see people out on the streets with the signs that said "THE END IS NEAR" on them. They were obviously referring to 12-21-2012, which was only a week and a half away. Kylie and I couldn't pretend to be okay with all these people disappearing anymore. We were freaking out, to say the least. Marissa, Keon, Carrie, Kayla, Bekah, Michael, Taylor, and Margaret were gone now, plus many, many more people. Many of them were some of my closest friends, and to see them gone was heartbreaking, to say the absolute least. A girl we knew, Shelby Willis was walking by us in the hallway on the way to 4th block, looking rather pale. She shuddered and puked all over the linoleum floor, black foam spewing from her lips as she did. She looked up at us with yellow eyes, the look of hunger staring daggers at us and we both screamed. "Kylie, I really, REALLY don't think this is a flu anymore!" I screeched. We backed up, and other kids were sprinting by us, screaming bloody murder. Shelby grinned wolfishly, black foam still oozing from her lips. One of the teachers ran by to alert the office, when he was tackled by Shelby. And then was the most horrifying scene I'd ever seen in my life at that point. Shelby bit into his neck, ripping it to shreds, blood splurging everywhere, and she was devouring him. The teacher, Mr. Larx, screamed and thrashed, utter horror on his features, and then he died from extreme loss of blood. Kylie and I had wide eyes, and I felt my stomach lurch. I fought to keep my lunch down. Shelby was still ripping and tearing at Mr. Larx. Then, 4 men in yellow full-body suits, complete with oxygen, ran up the stairs and shot Shelby on sight with a strange dart. On the backs of their suits I read "CDC." In big red letters. The Center of Disease Control…?, I thought. Shelby slumped, seemingly unconscious, and they opened 2 large black bags. They put them on the ground. "Cyanide works like a charm, eh guys?" one of the CDC men joked. The others laughed. "Yeah, gets 'em every time." another replied. Kylie and I gasped. "Cyanide! But that means…" we looked over at Shelby's unmoving body being slid into one of the large black bags. To the right, Mr. Larx was being put in the other black bag. "She's….dead…" Kylie whispered in horror. I turned towards the bag that had Mr. Larx in it. "So is he. Did you see what she….what she DID to him!" I cried. She nodded, terrified like me. "Let's get out of here….I can't stand to be here anymore…" I said, shaking. She followed suit, without another word. The rest of the school day was cancelled, and we all got to leave. "Well…time for Christmas Vacation!" I said to Kylie and Danielle on my way to the Senior parking lot with them. "Yep!" "Finally!" they replied. I got into the black Crown Victoria that I and my older brother, Tyler, shared, and waved at Kylie as she got into her powder blue VW Beetle. Dani hopped into her faded yellow mustang, and we all drove our separate ways. On the way home, one of my best friends, Indigo, called me from her college in Georgia.

"Hello?"

"Lizzi? Have you seen all this crazy disease crap everywhere?"

"Yeah! You too! Everything's gone crazy here."

"Yes! It's everywhere! They're quarantining whole towns here!"

"Whole towns? Like…full of people?"

"Yes! The police officer my roommate is dating said that there's some crazy flu going around. I'm freaked out."

"You need to come back to SC if things are really getting that bad."

"But Lizzi. I really don't think this is just a flu. They're hiding something from us."

"I know. Listen, I'll tell you about it later. But right now, I'm driving. But you need to come back to SC. Meet me back at my house on New Years, okay?"

"Alright. Talk to you later."

"Bye, Indigo!"

"Bye!"

A week passed, and everything continued to go downhill with the sickness. My mom was getting sick, too, so she stayed in bed most of the time. My dad started showing symptoms, and my little brother. Terrified was an understatement of what I felt. Tyler, too. Finally, a few days before Christmas, I heard screaming, car alarms, and strange, monstrous sounds outside my door. Then, I heard gunfire. "Don't open the door, Lizzi! DON'T OPEN YOUR DOOR!" I recognized the yelling from Tyler, who sounded like he was down the stairs, apparently with a gun. At first I thought it was burglars, and disregarding Tyler's warning, opened my door to see my parents and young brother drooling black foam and madly glaring at me. I screamed as my mom lunged for me, foam spewing. I backed up, and acting instinctively, grabbed my lamp off of my nightstand and bashed her over the head, blood gushing. Horrified at what I'd done, I almost knelt down to tend to her, but I didn't have the time. My little brother, Matthew, was screaming and running towards me now. I held the lamp above my head, about to bring it down….I couldn't do it. He was my baby brother…I practically raised him. I hesitated, the lamp hovering in the air in my hands. Tyler shot his 22-Rifle, blasting my Dad and Matthew sideways, neither of them moving. I turned to Tyler in utter shock and horror. "What….WHY DID YOU JUST DO THAT?" I screamed, thinking that my brother had gone crazy. "They got the virus, Lizzi. They weren't Daddy or Matthew anymore. Or Mama. They tried to kill you. To eat you alive. They aren't the people we love anymore." He replied, a sad look upon his face. "This is what Shelby had at school a few weeks ago…" I said, still in shock. Tyler nodded and patted me on the back. "You know what today is, right?" I shook my head. "It's the 21st." he said. I glanced up at him, my eyes widening. "2012?" I asked incredulously. "This….this is the apocalypse?" Tyler nodded. "A zombie apocalypse. Like the ones in those games we used to play." I shook my head. "But….where do we go?" I asked. Tyler glanced outside. "Crap… the house is surrounded by them. They smell us. We need to get out of here. Fast." We heard glass break downstairs. Tyler raised his rifle again. "Find a weapon. You're going to need it. And get a hoodie or something, It's freezing. NOW." I dashed out of the hallway back into my room, and found my favorite dark blue hoodie and my old baseball bat. I went back into the hall, and Tyler dashed down the stairs, me following. They were in the kitchen, swarming around. A sudden thought crossed through my mind. "SALLY!" I yelled over the noise of the rifle. "Get her and run with me!" Tyler called back. I ran back into the downstairs hallway and opened the dog cage, taking my whimpering basset hound puppy Sally out, placing her in my inner pocket of my hoodie. Sally was the runt of the puppies, so she fit there easily. I then gripped my bat and took off running out of the house. Tyler was already on the porch. "We need to get to the suburban. It'll be able to plow anyone who gets in the way." I said. There were at least a dozen and a half infected between us and the car. One of them suddenly rushed at me. Before Tyler could react, my arms raised my bat, seemingly of their own accord, and landed a sickening smack across the middle of the person's head, knocking it clean off. I was horrified, but exhilarated at the same time. "Nice hit." Tyler commented, and commenced shooting whoever got in the way. Suddenly, I heard a growling to my right. I turned and saw a crouched zombie who was wearing a black hoodie with duct tape wrapped around his elbows. His bloodstained teeth were bared, and his hood was up, so it was impossible to see his eyes. His hands were gnarled into a claw-like shape, and he pounced, right on top of me. I screamed and went down, with him scratching at my hoodie. He didn't get very far, because Tyler aimed a shot directly at his head, and he slumped. I checked Sally, who was still in my inner pocket, and she was fine, thank God. I picked up my bat, and we got into the Suburban. I sighed and buckled in my seatbelt, letting Sally out of my pocket, holding her in my arms. Tyler backed up the SUV out of the driveway, and took off down the road. "Where will we go?" I asked. "Anywhere but here. I heard that up North, things are even worse." He replied. I looked down at Sally, who was contentedly wagging her tail and smiling with her big brown eyes. This seems like a game to her. I thought, but couldn't help smiling at her. I turned the radio on, but there was nothing but static on each channel, so we continued driving for hours in silence. We were headed South, for New Orleans. That's where everyone was going, supposedly the only "safe" place left. Eventually, we had to stop to let Sally pee on the side of the road.

That's when we met the other survivors.