I stayed with Jake and Tyler for most of the day. I kept thinking Robin had so show up soon. Hours with no word from her, the news reports were getting more bizarre every minute. They were telling us of horrific events. Police were shooting people that seemed to be coming back from the dead. These people would bite and scratch, devouring others. Jake kept Tyler away from the television, which was a smart idea. Tyler spent most of the day coloring, drawing, playing games. Jake tried to stay with him as much as possible, but I could tell he was worried about his wife. He kept coming into the living room, checking the broadcasts, checking his cell phone for missed calls and texts. Nothing. I was worrying, too. Robin and I weren't exactly friends, but we got along for the most part. I had no idea what was going on at the hospital now, I'd give anything to be there right now. I hate waiting,

Jake's cell phone rang. He came running into the room, answering it within three rings.

A one –sided conversation always sucks.

*Yeah, I'm here. Where are you?"

"Fuck that shit, you need to come home. Tyler needs you. I need you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Yeah, we had pancakes." Nervous laughter.

"She's still here."

"Just a sec."

He handed me the cell phone. "Robin?"

"Caryn, I need you to take care of Jake and Tyler. I don't think I'm getting out of here."

"What? What do you mean?"

I heard noises on the other end of the line. It sounded like Robin was running or something. She came back on the line, whispering to me.

"They're killing people here. They're just lining them up and shooting them!"

I couldn't believe what she said, "Who? Why? What the hell is going on?"

"These people – there's something wrong with them. No one knows what it is. The military – they just started to shoot them all! Oh god! I don't know what to do!"

"Calm down, Robin. Get out of there; use the back exit from the locker room."

"It's blocked off, sealed. The locker room's got soldiers in it. Whatever happens, take care of my guys. If Tyler gets scared, just bring out the pancakes. His nana got him hooked on them."

"I've heard. Pancakes. I promise, I'll take care of them."

"Thank you, Car—Oh shit!"

Gun shots, then silence. I looked at the phone. The call had disconnected. Jake was standing right there, confusion clearly written on his face. I looked up at him, holding the phone out.

"The line went dead."

I didn't know what else to say. He looked at me like I was an alien. He took the phone from me and immediately tried to call Robin back. After several attempts, Jake threw the phone across the room. It shattered against the wall of the living room. He turned to me, shook his head, and left the room. I heard him going up the steps to Tyler. Muffled sounds told me he went back to playing with the boy.

I stood there. I had no idea what to do. The television droned on behind me. I stared at the pieces of the cell phone. Could she be? Why would they? Unfinished thoughts raced through my mind. I couldn't pull any of them together into a cohesive idea. The only things that struck me as the thing to do was walk into the kitchen and inventory how much pancake stuff was there. Tyler would need his pancakes as much as possible. So, that's what I did.

Sometime later, Jake and Tyler came into the kitchen while I was going through the pantry. I don't know how long they watched me, but when Tyler finally said something, I jumped. Tyler laughed at me. I couldn't do anything but laugh with him.

"I'm taking Tyler outside, in back. I can't keep him inside forever."

"But the television says to stay inside."

"I can't keep him inside forever."

With that, Jake and Tyler turned around, and headed out the back door.

Within minutes, I heard Tyler screaming. Shortly thereafter, Jake came running in through the back door, carrying Tyler. Tyler was crying, holding his arm. I ran to the door, shutting and locking it just as someone came walking up to it. I had no idea who it was, but whoever it was didn't look so healthy. He had blood running down his chin and his eyes were all messed up.

"Who the fuck is this?" I asked Jake.

"I don't fuckin' know. He just bit Tyler!"

I turned to look at Jake and Tyler. Tyler was sitting on the counter, holding his arm while Jake was grabbing dish towels and trying to wrap them around Tyler's arm. There was a gaping wound on Tyler's left arm. He was right; it looked like a giant bite mark. Bite. My mind immediately flashed to the few patients that had come in the ER before I left. They had been bitten, too. I had a horrible feeling.

"Tyler," I said, trying to distract him. "Would you like to have pancakes again?"

At first he didn't react to me, the tears flowing down his face, whimpering to his dad.

"Uh huh," came his short reply.

I immediately began making a batch of pancakes; I didn't know what else to do. Jake was holding on to Tyler. Tyler was shaking. I didn't know if it was from pain, fear, or a combination of the two. Whatever it was, he relaxed a bit when the first couple of pancakes came out of the pan. I gave these to him on a small plate. Jake grabbed him some butter and syrup. The two of them moved over to the kitchen table, and Tyler dug into the pancakes. He brightened up almost immediately, but I could tell something was wrong. He was flushed, and the bite was bright red around the edges of the dish towels. I was very worried. The though kept flitting along the edges of my memory that bites were not a good thing, they meant something terrible was about to happen.

Tyler finished his pancakes as I finished making the rest of the batch of them. Jake and I weren't exactly hungry at this point, but we went through the motions. The pancakes sat like lead in the pit of my stomach, but I put a smile on my face for Tyler. The flush he had worn earlier had turned into a full blown fever within a half hour. Jake took him to bed, giving him some ibuprofen to try and break the fever. Neither one of us wanted to risk going outside again. Upstairs, I could hear Tyler whimpering while Jake tried to stoically read him a bedtime story. I couldn't pay attention to it, though. I was distracted by the people that were walking the streets.

They weren't moving right. They seemed to be stumbling, shambling along in a random pattern through the streets and even people's yards. The curtains were closed; none of them could see in, I kept looking through the slits of the curtains. I didn't know what to make of it.

I heard some sounds from upstairs that sounded like Tyler was getting up and playing in his room. Then I heard Jake let out a grunt and tell Tyler not to bite. Then I heard more sounds, like a struggle taking place upstairs. I was frozen in place; I couldn't figure out what to do or if I should call out. I just stood there. After a couple of minutes, I didn't hear Jake anymore. It had gone awfully silent. The only noise at this point was the television spewing the same information over and over. Stay inside. Don't let anyone inside.

Then I heard it. The sounds of someone coming down the stairs, it was slow, the sounds not coming from someone very heavy. Immediately, I knew it was Tyler coming down. I walked to the hallway to meet him at the bottom, but when I got there, it wasn't Tyler. Not exactly, anyway. His skin had a ghostly sheen to it, like the skin of dead person, and he was coated in blood. Instinctively, I knew it was Jake's blood. I couldn't tell you why, I just knew.

Tyler let out a growl. A growl? I didn't know what to make of it until he damn near threw himself at me. The look on his face made me dodge him. He stretched out his arms towards me, but again, I dodged. I couldn't tell you why, I just knew I had to stay away. The sounds he was making sounded like a rabid dog. It scared me. I somehow managed to dance my way behind him. I grabbed ahold of him, but he struggled to turn to me. He was snapping, trying to bite at me. He snaked his arms around, I avoided those simply by able to squirm around them. I didn't know what to do so I dragged him to the couch. He kept snapping at me.

"Tyler, calm down!"

He wouldn't talk. Wouldn't? Or, couldn't? My mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do with him. Before I got to the couch, he moved and threw me off balance. I tripped, with him underneath me and fell to the floor. His head was impaled on a statue of a dog next to the couch. The tail of the dog went in through his eye and out the back of his head. It barely missed me as I rolled to the side. Tyler went still. I just stared at his lifeless body. I was so shocked, I couldn't even cry out in anguish, fear, or any other emotion at that.

I slowly got to my feet, staring at Tyler. My mind snapped to, and I turned to run upstairs and find Jake. I had no idea what I was going to tell him, but I had to get him.