My bootiful readers.. :D Thanks so much for the favs/follows and views! Got me motivated to post this chapter as soon as I could!

I won't lie, fan fics take quite some time to write, so sorry if I don't update quickly enough for you :/

This'll be a long-ish chapter BTW! (Prepare for the feels train next chapter TTT_TTT)

But, anyways! Let's go! Like I always say.. ENJOY! :)

Raising the bat above my head, I yell, "SHIT!"

I put all my strength into my arms, swinging my bat at the Kyle, back-forth; left-right; up-down. I'm hitting him wherever I can, whenever I can.

The sound of wood impacting on his flesh continues.

Again, and again, and again.

Kyle's blood is going everywhere, splashing over my face, shirt, arms, and legs. I finally hear a crack and an unpleasant squelching sound come from the impact of the bat on Kyle's head as he staggers over and falls.

Andy's randomly smacking my right side, his hits may be random, but he still hits hard, despite not having any control over his body. His nails are leaving minor cuts on my arms and face, peeling the skin off. I have to keep shoving him to get him to stop.

I don't want to kill him. I didn't know Kyle all that well, but I do know Andy, I did at least. Class clown, biggest flirt in class, lazy ass, one of my best friends. I can still see his stupid grinning face as I hit him; but then I remember: It's not him anymore. He's dead. I finally decide to start hitting him.

Each blow is telling me to stop, but if I do, he'll kill me before I can. It's either him, or me. I choose me.

Please die. Please die. Please die. I don't want to hit you anymore. I'm choking on my sobs, and I sound like a blubbering baby.

Finally, he does. He twitches for a few more seconds and doesn't stir anymore.

My bat is coated now with the Coopers' blood. I'm just glad it's not mine. I killed them both in cold blood and didn't even hesitate.

I release my bat and slump on the floor, feeling the hard impact on my ass, facing their lifeless bodies.

Their limp bodies are in odd angles in a pool of dark crimson. I swallow hard and slowly try to take in this grim scenario.

I crawl over to Andy's body, and kneel over him. His hazel eyes are still open, but unblinking. His long ashen blond hair is still falling over his face.

I carefully push it aside. I lean into his ear and whisper, "Bye, Andy. Sorry it had to be you." I kiss his cheek as a goodbye after shutting his eyes. Hopefully, he's at peace.

I hop over Kyle's body to prevent myself from tripping. After picking up my baseball bat, I climb out of the house and feel the humidity of summer hit my face.

I check my trouser pockets for anything that can show me what time it is, nothing.

I wipe the back of my neck and realize that it is slick with sweat. I am covered in grime from face down to my arms. "What a great start to the day", I mutter to myself.

Judging by how the moon and stars are still in the sky, I'm guessing it's still pretty late. Hopefully, if I run home and get there on time, things will be back to normal again.

01:53 AM

I run all the way home.

When I reach home, the first thing I do is run to the bathroom to wash my face and arms to rid myself of the grime left from my previous contact with the Coopers. I'm splashing water everywhere, but I don't care, I don't care.

Their blood is turning the water into an unpleasant combination of deep crimson with brown, now a dark brown-pink waterfall flowing down the drain. I take a hand towel, dampen it and start to wipe the chunks of flesh off that were left over from my previous encounter. "I can't let Sarah find out about this…" I tell myself.

I slowly walk into my room, breathing heavily. I peel off my shirt and change into a clean one before putting on my hoodie; my surroundings suddenly feel cold, like I've suddenly gotten the fever. Something in my gut is telling me that this is real, and that things won't get better from here. I hope I'm wrong. I really do. I toss the bat at the far end of my room.

I lie my head down on my pillow and try to sleep. This is worse than before. All I can see now is Andy's bloody face, a twisted grin plastered on along with it, this picture is repeatedly popping up each time I close my eyes. I finally decide to just cry myself to sleep, and I do, except the sleep part.

By the time I'm done, my face is wet, snotty; red. I feel like one of those girls who just broke up with their boyfriends, crying their souls out. Andy was one of my closest friends, knowing him since we were kids makes it even worse. I never felt anything in particular towards him, but he was almost like a brother to me for the most part of my life. I might as well try to get some shut-eye. Hopefully, his distorted face doesn't show up again.

2:13 AM

My eyes immediately shoot open. My heart is racing, I'm coated with sweat and so is my bed. It's probably because of the hoodie I'm wearing, maybe I wet the bed. I don't know. I hope it's not Theory 2.

I can hear the house phone in Sarah's room start ringing. I hop off my bed to check on her, to find her pick up the phone and answer.

"Sarah, what're you-?" I ask. Ignoring me, she says into the phone, "Hello? Uncle Tommy, what is it?" I can hear the line get cut off. "Uncle Tommy? Hello?" ending the call. She turns to the door to face me, "What was that all about?"

I swallow hard and answer, "I don't know, but I've got a bad feeling about it…"

She walks over to me, but something in the corner of her eye catches her attention. "Ah, dang it! I forgot to give this to him!" holding the birthday card we made for Dad the day before.

"Shit. Pass it over; I'll keep it with me for now and we'll give it to him later."

Nodding tiredly, she hands it to me. "We could just come back for it, you know…" she says to me.

I bite my lip, and an awkward silence is in the air for a minute or two. Finally, I reply, "You know, I have a feeling that we won't be coming back."

A frown is glued to her face when she asks, "What's that supposed to mean, Melanie?"

I take the card and walk out of her room to go to mine, not realizing that she followed me out. I scurry over to my backpack and tip it upside down, emptying its contents, searching for anything I can use. Nothing other than my phone.

I frantically start searching around my room for last year's birthday present that Dad got for me. I'm emptying the drawers, throwing clothes out wherever I can. I feel like a robber now, looking for valuables in a rich person's home, but this is my room, my property. I can do as I please to my own room. "Mel, what the heck are you doing?"

My hand finally closes in on it. I sigh with relief as I take it out. My precious 9mm handgun. A gasp of horror escapes Sarah's lips. "Why on earth would you want to take that with you?" asks a frightened and confused Sarah.

Ignoring her, I start looking around for the 2 boxes of rounds that Uncle Tommy bought for me to go with the gun. Sarah, exasperated at my insistence of ignorance starts to whisper in a frustrated tone, "Mel, come on! Please, just answer me! Why would you want to take your gun out now?! We all agreed that it would only be used at the shooting range, not in a normal scenario like this!"

I finally turn to her after loading the gun. "Why are you doing this?" she asks in her normal timid voice.

"You haven't seen what I've seen" I say quietly to her. I don't want to tell her. I don't even know how she'll react, so what's the point in that?

I pick up my pocket knife from my bedside table and stuff it in my pocket along with my phone. I take my beanie off from my jacket rack and pull it over my head. All the items I find in my room each have a use of some sort, which is a bright side that I am willing to sugarcoat. I toss my two water bottles into my backpack, along with the cloth I used to clean my bat. I take the only photo album I have in my room and throw that in as well.

I silently walk out of the room after double-knotting my sneakers, Sarah following after me.

Leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door and I ask her, "Need anything? If you do, make it quick." Ignoring me, she walks in to the other copy of the Texas Herald. She silently starts reading, and finally puts it down.

I realize that she's still in her pajamas. "Don't you want to change out of those?" I ask.

She turns to me, "Why would I? Dad should be at home, right?" I sigh in exasperation and walk with her down the hall to Dad's room. "Dad?" she calls out.

A glowing light is emitted from underneath the door. Mumbled voices can be heard from behind. I push it open for Sarah, and let her walk in first, but I don't. My right hand is dangling on my side as my left is pushing the door open.

"You in here?" she asks as she walks in. A news report is playing on Dad's TV, with Amy Jamison television ready voice playing.

"The patients with this newly developed infection have shown increased signs of aggression and-" her voice is cut off by a man in the background, asking her to leave the area. Ignoring him, she continues, "There seems to me some kind of commotion is going on from behind me-".

"That's nearby…" I say to Sarah, both our eyes glued to the TV screen from across the room. The same man cuts in again, "Lady, you need to get the fuck out of here now! There's a gas leak!" Just when she's about to continue, a deafening explosion stops the broadcast, causing the screen to turn static.

Another explosion happens, but this one isn't coming from the TV. We both turn to the window, and see the cloud of smoke rising up. "Oh, fuck. Wasn't that..?!" I say.

Sarah's eyes look panicked, like a deer that's about to be hunted. She makes for the door and I let my hand fall to my side, letting the door close on its own. "DAD?!" she yells, loud enough to be heard from the basement. "What the heck is goin' on?" she asks me.

I can hear the blaring of police sirens outside, and the dogs are all losing their shit. They're barking with all their might, but at what? When we get downstairs, we see that some of the lights have been switched on, not leaving us in total darkness. "He might be in his study" I tell her, trying to comfort her. I know it won't help, but it's worth a shot.

We walk across the living room to make for his study, but as we pass by the kitchen, Sarah walks over to the kitchen counter, causing me to stop walking. She picks up what caught her attention earlier, "There's his phone" I say.

I can hear a strained tone in her voice as she's reading what's on the phone. "14 calls. Where the HELL are you? Call me. On my way…what?" she says before putting the phone down. I end up with a look almost as confused as hers, but not quite since I'm already quite aware of what's going on.

I wait for her for several seconds and continue to tip toe to the Dad's study, allowing Sarah to follow behind me. When we get to the doors, we push one apart each; as soon as we take one step in, a grime covered Dad runs in through the sliding door. He looks scared, but of what? He immediately slides the sliding door shut. "There you are!" Sarah exclaims to Dad.

"Mel. Sarah" he says turning to us. He turns to his study and starts frantically loading his revolver. "Are you okay?" he asks in a panicked voice.

"Yeah" I reply as calmly as I can. I think my voice is shaking. "Has anyone come in here?" he asks in the same panicked voice as before.

"No. Who would come in here?" asks a confused Sarah.

"Don't go near the doors. Just… just hang back there" Dad says to her in reply.

"Dad, you're kind of freaking us out. What's going on?" Sarah asks in return.

"It's the Coopers." OH FUCK. The mention of their family name is bringing me flashbacks of what happened the previous hour.

"S-something ain't right with 'em. I-I think they're sick." Dad continues. Sick, with the "turns-people-crazy" infection I'm guessing.

An oblivious Sarah asks again, "What kind of sick?"

She didn't even really have to ask. One slam in the glass door answered the question. Sarah screams; a startled scream. "Jesus!" Dad yells.

I'm just frozen in place, I can't think. I can't breathe. Kyle and Andy's dad, Jimmy Cooper, had that same look about him. He's making the same noises as Andy and Kyle, strangled roars in the back of their throats. The amount of blood covering him is no surprise, but how aggressive he is, is frightening, even more than the other two. "Honey, c'mere. C'mere. Baby, get back." Dad tells Sarah as they join me from where I'm standing. Again, again, and again. Jimmy's just slamming the glass repeatedly against his shoulder, smudging the sliding door's glass with his own blood.

"Jimmy… Jimmy, just stay back!" says Dad in a loud and threatening voice as Jimmy finally breaks through the glass, landing on the ground then getting up and lunging towards us. Jimmy's strangled roars are loud enough to wake the whole damn neighborhood. Dad's voice wakes me up inside.

"Sarah, it's okay. It's okay." I whisper her to her as calmly as I reach for her hand to clutch in mine.

"Jimmy, I'm warning you! Don't-!" Just as Jimmy reaches for Dad's face, he shoots Jimmy's head with his revolver, causing a loud bang to echo through the house. Sarah's free hand clutches the back of Dad's shirt as he shoots him, while I stay as stiff as a statue, my unblinking eyes remaining on Jimmy Cooper bludgeoned face.

"Oh my God. Y-you shot him. I-I saw him this mornin" says a traumatized Sarah.

Dad grabs my right shoulder and Sarah's left, saying to us, "Sarah. Mel. Both of you listen to me. There is something bad going on, and we have to got to get outta here. Do you understand me?" I look up at him and nod slowly, Sarah does the same. "Y-yeah." we respond as calmly as we possibly can. I can hear Sarah holding back her tears; how much more selfless and calm can anyone get?

"Alright, c'mon, you two" he says to us after taking hold of Sarah's arm as we make our way for the front door of our house.

After throwing the front door open, we find Uncle Tommy and his truck waiting for us outside. "Where the hell you been? You have any idea what's goin' on out there?" he asks Dad.

"I got some notion" he nods in reply as he opens the door for us to climb in the backseat. "Holy shit. You got blood all over you!" he exclaims in a surprised tone. "It ain't mine; let's just get out of here." Dad says to him as I close the door.

When they both climb in, Uncle Tommy turns to us and asks, "Hey, Melanie. Sarah. How you two holdin' up now?"

"I'm fine." I say quietly as I look out the window.

"Yeah, can we hear what's on the radio?" Sarah asks.

"Sure thing" Uncle Tommy replied. Always playing the nice one in our family, that's what I like so much about him. His positive attitude always puts a smile on my face, but not today.

All we can hear is static when he turns the radio on. "No cellphone" I have one, "No radio. Yeah, we're doin' great. Minute ago the newsman wouldn't shut up."

I zone out as I stare out the window. As the rest of them continue talking, all I can think about is how quickly our world is falling apart. We'd be willing to lose our humanity to save ourselves. Destruction is spreading across like a wildfire, death following shortly after.

"Did they say how many are dead?" Sarah asks when I decide to pay attention to what they're saying. "Dunno. Could be hundreds, people say they found this one family mangled inside their house-"

"Tommy." Dad says to him to cut him short. He doesn't want us hearing about gory situations like that; but I know better.

"Right, sorry."

We drive past Louis' burning farm as we continue down the road. "Hey" I say pointing out to a family at a bus stop a few blocks from Jeremy's house. Uncle Tommy slows the car down, "What're you doin', man? Keep driving!" Dad tells Uncle Tommy.

"They got kids, Joel!"

"So do we!" Dad says in response.

"But we have room!" Sarah says, trying to reason with Dad.

"Hey" says the father of the family, waving at us to stop the car. "Hey, hey wait! Stop!" he yells as we drive right past them.

"Are you kidding me?! We had room!" I yell at Dad, with an angry and questioning look on my face. "You ain't seen what I've seen" Dad says to us. "Someone else'll come along."

I have seen what you've seen, old man. You just don't know about it.

When we reach the highway, we immediately stop dead in our tracks. We see an unlimited number of an unpleasant site: CARS. Snaking all the way back to where we are, all of them are honking, flashing their lights at each other. "Oh shit. Everyone and their mother had the same damn idea." Uncle Tommy says.

We notice an army helicopter fly right past us. The driver in one of the cars grows impatient and climbs right out of his car to yell at the helicopter pilot, not that he can hear him. "Hey, what the fuck, man?! Let's go!" My heart stops when I see what happens to him. This highway is about a mile away from the nearest hospital; the victims of the infection must have escaped after going insane.

We see two ex-hospital patients come from behind the iron railings, sprinting towards the man, giving off their loud and choked roars. One of them lands on the man and starts to eat him alive, all I can hear from him are his screams of terror, most likely, his last. We see the other climb into his car and eat his passenger, blood splashing everywhere.

"Holy shit!" Uncle Tommy yells.

"One of them's coming this way!" I yell back at him.

"Drive, drive! Tommy! Get us out of here!" Dad responses. The one on the man runs towards us and bumps the hood of the truck, giving us a mindless but menacing roar. Sarah gives out a panicked scream while I grip my seatbelt as Uncle Tommy goes on full reverse, causing a loud screeching to escape from the truck's tires.

"The fuck just happened?! Did you see that?!" Uncle Tommy yells to Dad. All I can hear now is the both of them yelling at each other, I can't even make out any of what they're saying anymore. When I finally do hear proper English words, it's not coming from them.

It's Sarah, "What are they running from?" I immediately peel my eyes away from the two adults and look out the car's front window to find us in a narrow street, people running towards our direction but not towards us. They attempt to run past us, but Uncle Tommy's now slow driving is keeping them from moving anywhere else.

"Tommy, step on it!" Dad yells. "I can't fuckin' drive through 'em, Joel!" pointing at the people in front of us obstructing our path.

"Then back up, then!"

"They're behind me too!"

Their exasperation is starting affect us now, and soon enough, I start yelling as well. "Damn it! Just friggin' drive!"

"Hold on!" Uncle Tommy says to us as he starts to drive faster now. The people are still in our way, but it's not as bad as just now.

"Run, man! Run!" I hear people saying to others, maybe us, I wouldn't know. They're everywhere; they remind me of ants running away from a magnifying glass.

When we finally manage to push through, I turn to Sarah trying to reassure her, but I don't. Her eyes wide and alert, she points behind me to my window and yells to us, "WATCH OUT!"

When I do turn, all I feel is the hard impact of the other car on my door, causing me to lurch to me right and land on Sarah. A loud cracking sound comes from my window, the glass shatters, flying everywhere and anywhere around me. The truck flies to the right, knocking me and everyone in it, out for the count. Everything's gone black.

Took me over a week to write this, so hopefully you all appreciate it! Rate & review (if you want!); have an awesome day peeps :P (I'm uploading next chapter ASAP! Stay tuned ;D)