5 years ago.
It was 3:00 A.M. We heard it on the news. A virus running it's course through the United States and Britain. No one thought it would be this deadly. I was asleep when my parents busted through my door and my dad swept me out of bed. In my mothers arms was my brother. My dad ran down stairs, me still in his arms. Banging on the glass sliding door was our next door neighbor. He looked half dead and blood poured from his eyes. I closed my eyes tight, not wanting to look at the horror.
"Stay back" My dad yelled. "I'll shoot you!"
He busted through the glass door and tackled my dad, making him drop me. I grabbed the pistol out of the holster attached to my fathers side and aimed it at our neighbor. I closed my eyes and shot. My dad pushed the guy off and got to his feet.
"Thanks" He said.
"Yeah..." I replied.
My mother hurried downstairs with Riley in her arms. He was so young and unaware. We rushed out the front door and jumped into the jeep. Dad turned the radio on.
"At this time" A lady said. "There are reports of a widespread number of Infected in Seattle. The CDC is advising everyone to either stay in their homes or evacuate to a FEMA camps outside of the city"
"Let's get the fuck out of here" Dad said as he put the car in reverse and backed out.
My mother turned towards me, she was sweaty from running around and gathering supplies but she was still beautiful and her hair still in perfect curls. "Everything will be alright, I promise" She smiled.
A flash of orange and red light burst towards the sky. It was a large wall of fire from a plane that just crashed. We were speeding down the road, people lined the streets, some were panicking and some were infected. We passed burning buildings, burning houses, burning cars. It seemed like everything was burning. We were almost to the bridge when a jet flew over and launched a rocket at it, destroying every inch of our safety.
"Shit!" Mom yelled as dad turned the car to the right. "What are we gonna do now?" She asked.
"I don't know, we'll figure it out" Dad wiped sweat from his forehead.
"Watch out!" Mom screamed as we smashed into a wall of infected.
"I got this. Zoe, make sure you and Riley are buckled in"
"Okay" I replied, tightening my seat belt.
Dad pressed the gas to the floor and we took off, crushing the piles of infected. They banged their fists against the car windows, eventually cracking the one on my side. Once we were through, we drove until we hit a dirt road. It was long a secluded, I don't think anyone would be back here. We finally hit a clearing. It was my grandmothers house. We all got out and gathered our supplies as fast as we could. She hurried us inside and shut off all the lights, making it look like we weren't there. Her neighbors did the same. They all seemed like they had this planned for months now.
"How bad is the city?" Grandma asked.
"It's gone...It's a shit hole" Dad said, wrapping his arm around me.
I looked out the window, all I could see was clouds of smoke and fire from the city. Everything was shit, my dad was right.
"Well...We're all stocked up here" She said. "We knew this was gonna happen someday"
"Even your neighbors are stocked up?" Mom asked.
"Yeah" She replied. "We've been prepared for awhile. And this is only the first wave...Trust me"
"The first wave of what?" Dad asked.
"Of hell" She said, her eyebrows firm.
"There's FEMA camps outside of the city" Mom said, rocking Riley back and forth.
"Do you really think FEMA will keep you safe? They'll round you up and murder you...They'll murder everyone"
I got out of my dad's arms and sat on the couch, taking everything in. It's hard on a thirteen year old to imagine a world without friends, without family, without life. But I had to, I knew this wasn't going to be a couple month thing. By the looks of it, it was going to take years to clear this up.
"The Government has abandoned us" Grandma whispered. "Everyone has abandoned us, even half of our relatives. They've all went to some sort of FEMA camp"
"Even George, Clara and their kids?" Dad asked.
"Not them" Mom chimed in.
"Yes...Even them" Grandma replied, lighting a cigarette.
"Tomorrow morning, I'm going after them" Dad pushed out his chair and sat beside me.
"We have an armory in the basement, take what you need. I'll watch the kids" Grandma said.
"No" I looked at dad. "I'm coming too"
He looked at Grandma, then at my mom. "She'll need to learn how to fight, just in case we're not here to protect her"
"Okay" Mom said, I could tell she didn't agree with the idea, but it was true. I need to learn how to fight, how to save myself. This world isn't innocent anymore.