However, when Johnny turned around, he forgot the sight the kids were about to witness: the infected man's corpse was lying down on his back, his brains splattered across the floor, not to mention the already hideous state he was in as a result of the disease.

"Uh kids, how about you turn around for a little while, I have a, uh, little job to do here. Can you do that for me?" Johnny awkwardly said.

The Loud siblings started to look at each other in confusion but Johnny didn't wait for an answer. He immediately picked the man up quite easily with his impressive physical strength, and carried him around the house and through the back door before the kids even realised what was happening. Johnny put the man behind the garage in hope that no one would see him, especially the kids.

Then, he took an old blanket he found near the front door and then entered the house. The kids were startled by his entrance as they were still caught up in their thoughts. He swiftly passed them, leaving a trail of wind behind him because of his speed and size. He covered the entire area where the man was shot so that the kids couldn't see it. Then he finally turned to the them and started to talk:

"Well the ugly part is now behind us. Now, where are your parents or the ones responsible for you? You all are not your own, right?"

Several of the sisters opened their mouths to speak but realised who should have the word. Lori stepped forward and took a deep breath. The rest of the sisters and Lincoln looked at her with eyes full of concern.

"Our parents have gone to visit our cousin in another town along with our youngest sister. I'm the eldest here so I am the one responsible for my younger siblings until they return," Lori said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Wait, she was responsible for them? Didn't dad tell me that I was to protect them, Lincoln thought to himself. What is going on here?

"Ah, so I see. That must be the reason why you called us in the first place. Since they aren't currently here this might be harder on our own but I think we'll pull it through. By the way, what's your name?"

"It's Lori, sir"

"Please just call me Johnny, I'm not that old," he chuckled but they didn't seem to show any sight of happiness. In fact, they might have become even sadder since they realised that all this was happening without their parents being home. He sighed.

"Ok Lori, this is what we'll do. All of you younger kids, go into your rooms. Pack some of your things in you backpacks, just in case. But also leave some room for food and water. That way we'll be prepared for anything."

"So like a trip in the forest," Lana was curious.

"Yeah, something like that. While you do that, Lori and I will stay here and have a little talk. I have something important to tell her and you kids will do what I told you, okay?"

The kids nodded which Lori found strange. Mostly their parents had a difficult time trying to get all of them or the majority of the siblings to agree on something, but this man managed to do that in a short time he had been here. His voice must have contributed greatly to that. It was both commanding and reassuring as a law enforcement worker's should be.

As all of the siblings except Lori started to climb up the stairs, Lincoln stood in his place and frowned upon Lori. She found herself confused at his sudden change of expression as he tightened his right fist.

"Why are you ignoring me Lori? What is going on here?" Lincoln sounded irritated.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, Lincoln. Explain." Lori replied.

"Well, all this responsibility stuff and you didn't even mention me. Everyone seems to ignore me like I don't exist. Should I remind you that I was the one who slowed down that sick man until the police officer arrived, and basically saved all your lives?"

The sisters stopped at the top of the stairs to hear the end of the conversation. One particular took a few steps down and stood at the middle of the stairs.

"Duh lame-o, thanks for the mention. Weren't you the one on the ground while I was smashing his head?", Lynn lashed at him with crossed arms.

Damn, I forgot about her, Lincoln sighed. It was too late now.

"Oh yeah, of course, sorry. Me and Lynn both, but either way, Lori, dad said to me that I should protect you as it's a brother's duty. Yet I'm here being commanded around by the two of you"

Lori's expression changed from confusion, anger and finally to a smile. She approached Lincoln and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Lincoln, I admire your courage and your will to help, but dad didn't mean that literally. Of course you're supposed to help all of us especially your five younger sisters as that's what big brothers are for. To be role models for their younger sisters. But that's what us five elder sisters are there for you six. To take care of you. I don't expect an 11-year-old boy to take care of a 17 or 16-year-old girl. Nobody expects that from you, we all have our jobs and responsibilities within our limits. That was dad just being, well, dad. Father-son talk, I don't know much about that. But I can assure you, don't take this too seriously, you have me, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn and now, officer Johnny. Don't worry we'll be fine." Lori patted him on the head gently.

"You're-, you're right. I may have overreacted, sorry. It won't happen again. I'll do what you have asked. Don't worry," Lincoln said through a smile.

"And that's why you're the best brother ever. Now go twerp, and the rest of you. Do what you have been told."

They all nodded and started going to their rooms. When Lincoln passed Lynn, he felt a punch on his left arm.

"Ouch!" he cried.

"Next time when you're narrating your heroic adventures, don't forget your sidekicks" she grinned at him. He sighed.

"Lynn, knock it off! To your room, now!" Lori yelled.

"Okay" Lynn sighed.

"Hey Lori, excellent pun. I'll write that one down." Luan could be heard saying along with her infamous laugh. Lori groaned while Johnny chuckled.

When her younger siblings were finally in their rooms, she turned around to face Johnny. Whatever he was gonna tell her, it wasn't good news. She could feel it.

"You have quite the dynamic household here, no?" Johnny smiled.

"Could be said so" she nervously laughed.

"Since we're alone now, I won't waste time. This is very important what I'm going to tell you and we can't afford to slack off. Please, sit down." Johnny pointed at the couch with a worried expression and sat down.

Lori gulped and sat beside him.

"I'm pretty sure you have watched the news by now and have seen the horror that is happening outside. Well, what you have seen isn't everything there is to this situation. I don't know why they didn't show it everything on the TV, maybe they didn't have all the information at the moment, or they weren't allowed to talk about it by the officials. Either way, that's not important right now. What's important is what I'm going to say next." Johnny leaned back, putting his arms behind his head and looked at the top.

Lori's fingers were intertwined with one another and she nervously played around with them while looking at what Johnny was about to say. She could feel cold sweat slowly starting to overwhelm her face.

"I have a friend in FEMA, we went together to elementary school. After all this chaos started this morning, we had a quick talk. He was talking to me about this disease, everything he knew about it. While I didn't understand most of his words as medicine bores me to hell, I did understand the key message he was trying to tell me. This disease, infection, sickness, however you call it, it's not like anything they have ever seen before. Sure there are rare medical cases that happen to one in a million people but this is something completely different. At first glance, it resembles rabies because of the victim's aggressiveness, but then when you look closely, you can see the infected victims surviving wounds which would kill any normal man. I saw a guy getting shot several times in the chest and still getting up like it was nothing. That was the moment I knew that this is something much different than anything else." Johnny then stood up and started walking around the living room with his right hand holding his left behind his back, looking at the floor.

Lori was just looking at him in shock, with her mouth slightly open. Her breathing was slow and silent.

"Now you must be asking yourself 'why is he telling all this to me'? And you are probably right. The news probably didn't say all this as not to raise a panic attack among the common folk. While I agree that scaring people with unimportant informations is unnecessary, this is crucial for everyone to know. For example, most of the civilians don't even know how to defend themselves against the infected when they get attacked. They don't know that only strikes on the head can slow down the infected. Which is the most ironic thing here. The government wants to protect the people, yet by hiding vital informations from them, they cause them more harm than good." Johnny let out a deep sigh.

Lori was lost in her thoughts, and winced when he stopped talking. She stood up, slightly shaking from this words but managed to stay calm and focused. Johnny stopped walking around and looked at her.

"Lori, I have seen how you handled your brother back there. You could have yelled at him, you could have hit him but you didn't. You showed your cool and collected side, which is what we need right now. I think that you are mature enough to take care of your siblings in the absence of your parents. And I'm gonna help you with that." Johnny smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Lori was quite surprised at this sight. She, like most people, saw police officers as beat cops, who mostly ate doughnuts, were overweight and middle-aged, and gave tickets to people just to ruin their lives. But this young man, was different from this stereotype that most people had about police officers. He showed genuine concern for people he had just met and offering his support like he was talking to his own family, not some strangers. Could this be a blessing right in this moment?

Lincoln was sitting in his room, packing some clothes in his backpack, comics and Bun-Bun. He let a deep sigh, reflecting to how he acted out there in front of everyone. So pathetic, he thought. In this state of emergency, he was trying to be the macho man when he should have just listened to what his elders had to say. On one occasion, Lincoln thought that he was 'unmanly' as he had grown up with ten sisters, causing him to be more like a girl and less like a man. When his attempt failed, he just accepted it. That's the way it's gotta be. Maybe when he grows up he can 'man up' but right now he was the kind and soft brother to his sisters who often sacrificed his own free time to help them with their activities, while receiving little in return. But he didn't really want much from them. Just seeing them happy and laughing was good enough for a brother like Lincoln.

But, there was a spark of anger in Lincoln that was growing. Little by little, day by day, his frustration grew because he thought that he was weak and useless sometimes. Rarely, he would snap and let his anger out on his sisters but they would just laugh it up like nothing happened. Lily would smile at him and babble something in her baby language, Lola would get annoyed and hit him, Lana would throw dirt at him or some animal, Lucy would write a poem about Lincoln's mental state (her poems were quite good though), Lynn would punch him as usual, Luan would crack a pun (to the annoyance of everyone except dad and sometimes Lincoln), Luna and Leni would kiss and hug him as they found him to be the most adorable when he was angry, Lori wouldn't even notice as she was to occupied on texting her 'Bobby boo boo bear'. Even thinking about that nickname made Lincoln cringe and he shivered. If he said something similar or even suggested something like that to Ronnie Anne, she would beat him up. Deservedly so.

Lincoln hit himself lightly in the head with his palm but the impact was still heard. He lied down on his bed and stretched his arms and legs with a sigh. What was he thinking? Siblings are there to annoy each other but they still love one another more than anything in the world. This wasn't the time for these thoughts, Lincoln concluded. He'll do his best to help his family to get through this crisis until things are back to normal and so that his parents can be proud on how good of a brother he was. Lincoln smiled at these thoughts and slowly got up, intending to finish packing his stuff.

Lynn was silent the whole time she was in her room, which surprised even Lucy, her stoic and mysterious younger sister. She was thinking about all that stuff that happened with the infected man. How she hit him several times in the head without hesitation. He was threatening Lincoln, her little sweet precious brother. While she was tough on Lincoln most of the times, punching him in the arm frequently, she still deeply cared about him and loved her family with all her heart. She just had a very specific way of showing that love. By brute force. However, bullying Lincoln or abusing him in any way, is the equivalent of signing a death sentence by Lynn's hands personally. Anyone that wasn't her or the rest of the siblings, of course.

"You okay, Lynn? You seem more quiet than usual." Lucy asked her in a silent tone, while finishing packing her things.

"Yeah, it's just a small headache, nothing to worry about, Luce" she laughed, mostly faking it.

Except there was something to worry about. She had just bashed a man's head in several times with her aluminium baseball bat, and he reacted like it was nothing. Even though she was just a 13-year-old-girl, her technique and physical strength put her on a high level compared to her generation or even some of the older girls. That was the thing that terrified her the most. No human could have brushed off a beating like that.

"By the way, Luce, how do you see all this that's happening? You love all that creepy black magic stuff so this infection must be exciting for you, no?" Lynn asked, trying to shift the attention on Lucy and to temporarily forget about her own thoughts.

Lucy finished packing her things then sat down on her bed, her hands clasped in her lap and looked at Lynn with her hair covering her eyes as usual, but Lynn could deduce that she was serious even though she kept the same, monotone face most of the time.

"I would lie if I say that I wasn't excited when I saw it on the TV. I have already ideas for new poems to write in regard to all that is happening right now. But still, after actually thinking about it, I am now far less optimistic. Me, you or the rest of our family can get hurt by this, and that thought scares me. Considering that nearly nothing scares me, this should give you an idea on how serious this situation actually is" Lucy spoke, deadly serious.

Lynn stared at her for several seconds, then shook her head. She just smiled at her and nodded, then got up to finish packing her clothes.

Despite being cold and calculating, with her emotionless personality being on par with Lucy's, Lisa couldn't help herself feel but lonely when she was in her room alone. While her room mate Lily didn't speak anyway, and she preferred to work alone, unhindered, this time it was different. All of the terrible news they had just witnessed, this disease, chaos slowly spreading through the town, even she couldn't be indifferent to this. She was excited when she heard about the infection as it would be a joy and thrill to investigate it, especially find a cure or at least something to ease the pain and suffering of the victims. But now she just couldn't focus. She put some of her clothes, mostly sweaters, in her bag along with some notebooks where she had written her most important researches and science notes, hoping that it would help her in any way it can in potentially solving the infection. She sighed, sat on her chair and started writing some notes on her paper while awaiting further instructions from the older ones as she was now the youngest in the house.

Leni had the entire room for herself now but she didn't even bother looking around. She didn't even notice that Lori wasn't there, thinking that she was in the Mall with her friends or on a date with Bobby, despite being in the living room with Officer Johnny. She was hurriedly inspecting her clothes, trying to put on her favourite pieces of fashion in her bag but she had chosen too much and was struggling to make the selection of which to include and which not. This was already too much for her brain, so she started to sweat and sat down to relax a bit.

Lana was laying on her bed, playing with Hopps, not even bothering to wash all the dirt that was on her after she had played in the mud outside. Lola cringed at the sight of that, barely containing herself not to throw up on the floor.

"How can you be in your bed like that?! Have you no sense of disgust or discomfort?" Lola asked her with a frowned look on her face and her right eye slightly twitching.

"Oh relax, stop overreacting drama queen. It can't be worse than being engulfed in poisonous cheap perfume like you are" Lana chuckled and Hopps also seemed to smile.

Lola pointed her finger at Lana, furrowing a brow, and opened her mouth to speak but stopped as air left her mouth. No, calm down Lola, just like we trained, she reminded herself. Don't fall for her provocations, she's not worth your time. Groaning, she went to her mirror to continue her daily rituals of face care.

Luna was just looking at her guitar, lacking the will to pick it up and play some tunes. She was seemingly the one sister who took all of this most seriously, thinking about it with half lid eyes. This is similar to those cheap and cliché zombie horrors she would occasionally watch with Lincoln or even rarely with the rest of her family. But this couldn't be true, right? Zombies and monsters like that don't exist. They are just a work of fiction, created by humans as a big 'what-if' or just for entertainment. This was a normal disease, that was spreading fast but will eventually get cured and everything will get back to normal. But what if it doesn't? What if the army and the scientists don't manage to stop the infection, what if the entire country gets swarmed by victims, the entire world…

Luna would have swam deeper in her thoughts if not for her happy-go-lucky younger sister Luan chuckling at her own (bad, cheesy) jokes. Luna's body twitched as she got back to reality and groaned.

"Hey Luna, when people get milk spilled all over them, and if someone asks them if they're all right, do you know how they reply?" Luan excitedly asked, barely containing her laughter.

"No, I don't. How do they reply?" Luna's voice was irritated but she already knew where this was going.

"I'm not all right, I'm all white." Luan let out her infamous laugh, exposing her buck two front teeth.

Normally, Luna would groan at this and roll her eyes, and if she was in a bad mood, maybe even give her a small punch to the arm, but right now, she actually found it funny and laughed with her. When she was lost in her thoughts, feeling a little depressed in this bad situation, she actually needed some comedy to cheer her up, even if that was Luan's cheesy puns. Even Luna couldn't believe what she said next.

"Hey dude, can you tell me more of your jokes? I'm really in a mood for some good laughs" Luna smiled.

Luan's eyes went wide open.

"Why, of course! Just wait until I grab my newest collections of only the best Luan Loud jokes!" Luan nearly screamed in excitement.

A part of Luna regretted saying this but a bigger part of her agreed with this. She needed something to temporarily escape her dark thoughts. Even if that was Luan's puns.

Johnny was nervously walking around the living room while Lori was sitting on the couch and thinking about all that Johnny had told her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she even forgot to text Bobby ever since they called the police. She finally took her phone and asked Bobby how was he and what was he doing. No reply. She immediately suspected the worse, even though only a minute had passed since she sent the text.

"Was I right to tell her all that?", Johnny was thinking to himself with a sigh. She is the oldest and the most mature but still, she's pretty young. Maybe that was too much information for her, maybe she's now more scared than aware which was Johnny's original intention.

"Uh, Lori? There's something that I should tell you while we're still alone. I need your opinion" Johnny turned around and took a step closer to Lori, directing his gaze at her eyes. Lori gulped.

"How can I help?" Lori was getting nervous, there were enough bad news as it was already, she didn't need another bomb dropped on her.

"Remember when you called the Police like 20 twenty times in a row? At that moment, there was total chaos in the Station. Our cells were overflowing with criminals, some of them infected, most of them were handcuffed in the hall or the offices themselves because there wasn't enough room for every arrested man or woman behind the bars. Anyway, phones were constantly ringing and we didn't have enough men free enough to answer all of them. That should tell how much crowded it was. But luckily for you, I traced back the call after you finished, and found out that the Loud family lived here, and that you had a very large family of 11 kids plus parents living together. So I chose to go and help you, ignoring other calls. Now you tell me, is it wrong if I chose you over someone else? Even though it was critical enough for you as that man was threatening you and your siblings and God knows what would have happened if I didn't arrive at time, maybe, just maybe there was someone even more in need of help. But I had chosen to go here because I thought a larger family would need more help as it has more members to worry about. Please tell me I did the right choice."

Lori couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing. Officer Johnny appeared much more vulnerable and relatable now then when he was giving orders minutes ago or shooting that infected man. He was a very compassionate man, investing himself fully to help others, people he didn't even know. Like a real man should do, she thought. She slightly blushed.

"Well, I'd say it's no pro-" but before she could even finish her answer, an explosion could be heard outside. Both Johnny and Lori were startled, and nearly fell on the floor because of how scared they were.

"W-what's h-happening?!" Lori started panicking, her breathing was getting faster and faster, barely being able to connect the words.

Johnny's expression turned to anger. What now? Like they didn't have enough problems and now this is happening!? He turned towards Lori and ordered her to go upstairs, and gather with her siblings in one room and lock themselves in. He was going to check outside what happened. Lori was in a trance for a few seconds but when he grabbed her by the shoulders she snapped back to reality and Johnny repeated what he had said with a grim tone. She nodded slightly and quickly ran upstairs to gather her younger siblings in her room.

Johnny went outside and locked the house just in case. He could hear screaming and crying all around him, despite the situation being relatively peaceful just now. There were police cars, SWAT vans and military trucks all around the neighbourhood. Were they evacuating the uninfected and quarantining the infected? But where was FEMA in all this? Surely they would have sent their specialized teams who were trained specifically for this situation. This was getting too suspicious, Johnny thought to himself.

However, he was interrupted in his thoughts when a man rammed himself into Johnny and knocked him down.

"What the hell is the matter with yo-", Johnny yelled as he got up but stopped as he was about to finish his rant: the man had several gunshot wounds on his stomach and was spitting a large amount of blood from his mouth and nose. He was lying down on the street, his hands twitching over his stomach.

"Please, please...", the wounded man was desperately saying.

"Oh no, sir, you are seriously injured, we need to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. Let me ju-", but Johnny was interrupted again but this time by the man's ominous words.

"Don't...trust...them...they...are...killing...everybody...no...matter...if...infected...", the man seemed like he wanted to say something more but stopped. His breathing got slower and it looked like he was going to leave this world. Johnny looked at him in shock and then the direction from which he came from-a bunch of military personnel. No, that was not it, right?

"What the fuck is going on here?" Johnny said disgusted.