Chapter 1

The Big Change

After over an hour of staring at the clock as it steadily crawled through the minutes, the bell released us from second-period geography. I met Alex at the door, and we made our way towards my locker. Weaving through hordes of people, we arrived to see Xiran waiting. Xiran always went to class after us and got out before us, yet somehow his marks always soared. He explained that it was because he's Asian. It made sense. Alex was a skinny, blonde, and relatively high-pitched white kid whom I had known for three years. Xiran was Chinese and somewhat of a nerd, balancing his free time between playing Halo and writing about it. I met him a year after Alex. We continued with the routine that we had used for the two months since school started: bike over to Xiran's house, eat pizza pockets, play ping pong and halo, and get to class seconds before the bell. It had always worked as long as there were no changes to it, but that day there would be one. And a very large one. On the other side of the front door of the school were three men, dazed and bloody, and by their bashing and the nearly destroyed glass I could tell that they were quite intent on getting in. Now, it is interesting to note that regardless of how long you have known a person, the best way to judge how they will react in a situation involving zombies is by their initial response to seeing one.

Alex: A double take, followed by a girlish scream and heavy breathing.

Myself: "Shit. Um… let's… take another exit.

Xiran: "Well fuck me."

We all turned at once and began moving quickly through the center of the school. Xiran was dumbstruck, Alex looked terrified (he was still looking over his looking over his shoulder and spouting various worried obscenities) and I was just determined to get out of there. There were zombies at the front door. Unlike what I imagine most others would think, this was the first thing that popped into my head and I was sure of it. I looked over at Alex with a look of feigned insanity. "You know what this means, Alex? Zombies, Alex! We're screeeewed!"

"No. Shit. Seriously. That's zombies! That's… there's nothing else it could be! Dear Jesus!" He screamed quickly, directing the attention of most of the school to himself. They then turned their gaze to the front door, where a longer, female scream was emanating from. The zombies had obviously been noticed by someone else. We hurried our pace, eager to escape the rush that the undead are always sure to cause. Xiran joined the conversation. "Alex, shutup. So, we're not going to my house then."

"No", I replied. "We're going to mine. 'Cuz I've got the guns… and no, you can't have any".

"Aw… come on… I want two pistols and a shotgun."

"Funny", I replied.

Alex retorted: "What? What the hell am I going to use THERE'S FUCKING ZOMBIES!"

"We'll think of that later". I pushed open the door against the wind that blew a continuous spatter of cold, sideways rain at us from a grey and unforgiving sky. We pushed against it without thinking or complaining, as panic erupted behind us. Regardless of how nasty it is, the weather never seems like a contender in urgency when there are zombies about. We walked wide around the school, through soaked fields and parking lots, until we arrived at the bike rack. I looked at the school, to see the moaning trio rush in. Some poor bastard had opened the doors.

The wind rushed sharply past us as we rushed home. My house was only three blocks away, but it seems like a lot longer in a crisis. As I was biking home, it occurred to me that I had little idea of what to do. I had always thought it would have been great to have zombies for a day or two, to load up my .22 and sit on the roof picking them off, as they huddled around my house and looked up at me comically. Nobody I knew, of course. When that got tiring, I would go inside, eat dinner and watch TV by the fire. Great fun would be had by all, and it would all blow over in a few days. When zombies do come however, it's quite a different story. The first priority would be to board up the house. No, wait a minute. The first priority would be to convince a skeptical mother that yes, nailing that table to the window is necessary, no, I'm not crazy and yes, there really are zombies roaming the neighborhood. All of these thoughts left me when I saw another one.

It was on the other side of the street, arms outstretched, moaning and coming rather quickly towards us. It was like a happy medium between the two types of zombies I had previously seen in movies, between slowly lurching and all-out sprinting. Regardless, It wasn't pleasant.

"Shit! Zombie! Watch out!" I yelled to my friends as I biked across a lawn on the opposite side of the street. My friends followed, going wide around it. I was amazed that Alex didn't fall off his bike by the way he was shaking. I was going to continue to my house, which was in view now, but decided against it. I swerved sharply off to the left, onto another street. "Where the hell are you going?" yelled Xiran against the wind.

"I'm losing it!"

Losing a zombie really isn't hard. We circled another block, and then headed to my house. Luckily, we didn't see any more. We biked onto the driveway and I attempted to punch in the garage combination with frigid fingers, getting it on the third try. We pushed our bikes in and pressed the door close button, staring at it as it slowly lowered and knowing that something was going to limp under it at any second.

I guess now would be a good time to describe my house, both from a defensive standpoint and for future reference. I live in Oakville (which for those of you who don't know, is Canadian suburbia) in a relatively large, modern house. It had two floors and a finished basement. Probably the most obvious zombie threat would be the large bay windows at the front of the house. That combined with several other windows and a front door partially made of glass made it rather difficult to defend. I would have much preferred an older stone house, with fewer windows and sturdier everything, but then again I could have been living in a Toronto high-rise full of old people, claustrophobia and fire. All things are relative The best part of a situation was definitely not the house though, it was the supplies. We had enough food, canned and otherwise to last us a month. Two jugs, two baths, four sinks and a vast amount of containers would hold enough water to last us a very long time. Most importantly though, we had the weaponry. My dad and I had always been interested in firearms, and as a result we had our own little armory. With all of this we could definitely protect a family of four and two friends.

A family of four. That means me, my mom, my dad and my sister. My grade 6 sister who was currently at her school, which would most likely be screwed long before 3:30. Even if it didn't spread that fast, something was bound to happen to her on the walk home. Someone had to go get her, but first I needed speak to mom. My mom worked at home on the upstairs computer, doing mostly web design. One thing that she didn't like was being disturbed when she was working. "Mom?"

"Mhmm" she said, not looking up from her monitor.

"Can we talk for a bit?"

"Is this important? I'm working."

"Yeah. It is"

"Alright, Justin. What is it."

"Well… okay. When me and my friends were getting out of school there were these… people banging on the front doors and moaning and breaking the glass and trying to get in." The look she was giving me wasn't helping, annoyed and trying not to laugh. "Justin,"

"No mom, listen. I'm completely serious. I know you think I'm joking, but I'm not. Just listen."

"Alright". I had to keep a conscious effort to keep from laughing myself. Regardless of how desperate the situation was, I could still find the obvious humor in it. "On the way home we saw another, he was moaning and coming towards us."

"You realize why I find this very hard to believe."

"Yeah, of course I do. But even if you don't, can you do something for me?"

"What's that."

"Just please go get Sam. I'm really worried about her, and it would really make me feel a lot better." Mom paused for a bit, looking at me. She looked to be sympathetic. "Are you serious about this."

"Completely."

"Because if you aren't-"

"Look!" I interrupted her and pointed out the window. There was a zombie limping aimlessly through the middle of the road, his head scanning back and forth at ground level.

"Okay... I'll get her. But don't do anything while I'm gone."