Viola slammed the brakes on.
“Jesus, Vi!” I gasped as I lurched forwards, my hands slamming into the dashboard. I readjusted myself back into my seat, unable to take my eyes off of the sight before us for even a second.
“Marina,” my sister whispered, horrified, also transfixed.
All I could do was stare, open-mouthed. There was a man in the road, surrounded by two other men and a woman. They were all attacking him in a frenzy as he screamed out. My chest tightened as I watched the goriness unfold. This was not normal. These people were scratching, they were biting. The woman sunk her teeth into his neck and ripped a chunk of his flesh away. Viola let out a whimper as a jet of blood shot across the windscreen from his exposed artery.
“Drive,” I commanded sharply, but she did nothing. She was completely hypnotised by the scene in front of her.
I raised my voice, now desperate to escape, “FUCKING DRIVE.”
She jerked into action, jamming her foot down on the accelerator. We swerved around the brawl in the road and then sped off as fast as the car could go.
“They were eating him,” Viola hurried, hysterically, “they were eating him alive.”
“No,” I shook my head, “they were just… biting.”
Like that made it any better. I was shaking from head to toe, somewhere between terrified and numb with shock. The streets were dissolving into carnage, and fast. This virus - or disease, whatever it was - was sweeping across the state, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
“Mommy?” Hallie’s wobbly voice came from the back seat. “I’m scared.”
Oh shit, I’d momentarily forgotten about the kids in the back, despite their constant sobbing. I turned back to them, trying to comfort them. At least Esther was too young to understand what was happening. Hallie though, she would be scarred for life by this. I shook my head sadly, this was no place or situation for a 9 year old. Viola’s voice drifted through the car as she trembled her way through a slow lullaby. It was the polar opposite of her erratic driving, the two actions at an odd juxtaposition with each other. She suddenly swerved sharply and I snapped my head back to the front, catching her narrowly missing a car that had crashed just in front of us.
“FUCK,” she cut off her singing with a yell, completely past sheltering her children from her curses. “Is everyone ok?”
“We’re fine, just keep going,” I urged, taking in the chaotic streets around us. “Get us out of here, Vi.”

It felt like forever to get out of the city, but we both relaxed as soon as we hit quieter roads. Viola’s driving became less hectic, though it was no less hurried.
“All those people back there,” she began, but trailed off.
“If this thing is spreading as quickly as they say, Odessa will be overrun with it within a day. Those crowds are just sitting ducks for it,” I said quietly, fidgeting with my hands. “Maybe my house isn’t far away enough from this.”
“Where else do we go? I don’t want to be anywhere near those things, but they're everywhere,” she shuddered.
“They’re not things, Vi. They’re still people,” I scolded, though I secretly shared her sentiment.
“No way, they are not people any more. Did you not see what they were doing to that man?” she contested, wincing at the memory.
“Of course I saw,” I replied, in almost a whisper. I saw more than enough. I knew now why they were calling this a state of emergency. This virus was already thriving in cities, where mass throngs were pushed together in their looting and rioting.
Viola lowered her voice, “but those three… they were acting in a pack.”
“What?” I blinked at her, unsure of what she was getting at.
“They all attacked him together. They didn’t attack each other, just him,” she muttered darkly under her breath to me. I took a moment to comprehend what she was saying and she continued on. “They were working together to hunt him. Like animals.”
“Now you’re just speculating,” I murmured, nervously. “We don’t know anything about it. It could have just been bad timing.”

We fell into an uneasy silence. I looked out of the window at the passing scenery in an attempt to not dwell on Viola’s theory. We were finally out of the built up streets.
“I’ve never been so happy to see the goddamn interstate,” Viola breathed, putting her foot down as she joined it. It didn’t take long for us to reach backed up traffic. I craned my neck and groaned.
“This goes as far as the eye can see. What do we do?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.
“Should we get out and see what’s happening?” Viola suggested, though not with much confidence.
I swallowed, “Wait here. Anything happens to me, you turn the car around and go, okay?”
“Marina,” she protested, but I hopped out of the car before she could finish. There was plenty of beeping and revving going on as people waited (or tried to force their way through) impatiently. Everyone had obviously had the same idea about getting out of here. I crept forwards between the cars quietly, inspecting them. The further ahead I got, the more my fear consumed me. Some people were attempting to drive down the shoulders or in between lanes. There were crashes all over, ranging from little bumps to full on smashes. One girl had stepped out of her car amidst everything and was leaning against the door, smoking a cigarette casually. I wished I could be that at ease, not concerned with the present goings-on. I looked around, trying to work out a plan. Some vehicles had been completely abandoned in the pandemonium, just making for more traffic. The running theme all the way down the line, though, was that no one was stopping for anyone else. There were no congregations looking for solutions to the problem or supporting each other. Everyone was obviously too nervous to approach anyone else. I counted myself in that camp.

A yelp rang out ahead, and it took me only a second to locate where it had come from. The smoker, who, just a second ago, had been alone, was wrestling frantically with a chubby, middle-aged man as she shrieked at him. I looked on in horror, predicting what was coming. A blood-curdling scream left her throat as he tore his teeth into her cheek. I turned on my heel and sprinted back along the lines of traffic but I couldn’t outrun the unearthly wailing coming from her lungs. Unbelievably, people were stepping out of the safety of their vehicles to watch the spectacle. I sped past them, some of them following my lead and making a break for it. I finally reached Viola’s car.
“Turn around,” I gabbled, pulling the door shut tight behind me.
“What?”
“Turn the car around NOW,” I reiterated, fastening my seatbelt with shaking hands. “Hallie, push the locks down on your doors in the back.”
“Yes, Auntie Maz,” she squeaked, following my order.
“Mar, what happened?” Viola asked as she stared at me.
I glared at her, “Turn the damn car around already.”
She obeyed this time, reversing to the right and then speeding back towards the slip road. I did not give a single fuck that we were driving the wrong way down the interstate, I was not about to wait in that line to die.
“It’s spreading really quickly,” I muttered under my breath to her, causing her to throw me a panicked look.
“What do we do? I really don’t think your place is far enough away from all this,” she fretted.
“There must be some official instructions or something,” I dared to hope as I flicked on the radio.

I scrunched my face up and blinked a few times. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out for, but the sun was well and truly up now. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up as listening to the voices that floated up the stairs. I leaned over, stretching my arm down to the floor. My fingers groped around the carpet, searching for my jeans. I found them after some fumbling and slipped them on. I felt much more human after some restful sleep and felt brave enough to venture out to the room next door in search of Hallie. I peeked my head around the door and glanced around the room. She wasn’t there. Heaving a sigh, I hobbled away to try and find her. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard her voice softly joining in with a conversation in the kitchen. I tiptoed over to the door and hovered, wanting to hear what kind of relationship Hallie had forged with them; not that 11-year-olds are notoriously any good at judging characters. It was dark down here. The windows had been boarded over for protection, and I used the shadows to my advantage as I listened in on the conversation.
“I don’t know,” Hallie’s voice wavered, “maybe a year and a half ago?”
“And your sister too?” came a male voice, which I instantly recognised as belonging to Zach.
Hallie sighed heavily, “Yeah, both of them together.”
“Man, that sucks. I’m sorry,” replied Zach, sincerely.
“It’s ok. I still have Auntie Maz, I guess,” Hallie replied, with so little enthusiasm that it wounded my ego a tiny bit. Could hardly blame the kid though, I would trade places with Viola without a second thought for Hallie to have her mother back. And her sister…

“Alright! What’re we listening to?” Jimmy’s chirpy voice came out of the darkness behind me, making me jump.
“Jesus,” I gasped, clutching my chest before replying tartly, “Were you spying on me?”
“I was spying on you spying,” Jimmy corrected, smugly. I frowned as I turned away towards the kitchen. I still hadn’t forgiven him (or Shadows, for that matter) for the performance from the night before. Pushing the door open (and making sure to close it on Jimmy), I strolled in casually like I hadn’t just been earwigging on Hallie and Zach’s conversation. I shot a glance around the room, noticing a new face at the far end. A short man with untidy dark hair and a nose ring sat at a table with a set of guns before him. A cigarette was hanging from his lips as he polished one of them. I was in awe that someone could keep up with a habit like smoking during the end of the world, but there would always one, I supposed. Through the process of elimination, I identified the man as Johnny.
“Morning, Marina,” Zach smiled, waving his spoon at me. He was sat cross legged on the floor, eating peanut butter from the jar. Hallie was sat opposite him, mirroring his pose. She, too, had a spoon and was obviously diving into the peanut butter between Zach’s mouthfuls. Zach offered me the spoon, but I declined it with a shake of my head.

Johnny stood suddenly and ripped the boards, one by one, from the kitchen window. Sunlight flooded into the room, making us all squint. He peered through the glass for a moment before his mouth twitched into a smile. He slid the window up and picked up the rifle he’d just been polishing. He cocked it quickly and, with perfect aim, he took out a figure in the distance. Hallie and I both jumped at the shot, but Zach didn’t even flinch.
“For fuck’s sake, Johnny. If you’re trying to let everyone know our position, then I think you’ve just succeeded,” he chastised his gun wielding friend, who rolled his eyes in reply.
“Give it a rest, Vengeance. We’re moving on in an hour anyway.”
Zach mashed his palm into his head, “Yes, exactly. An hour. And until then, we’ll now have every damn biter within 2 miles heading this way while half of our group is on a supply run.”
“You guys are leaving?” Hallie piped up, the heaped spoon of peanut butter that had been on its way to her mouth was paused midway as she waited for a response.
“We never stay in one place long, but we move as soon as we can if someone finds us,” Zach answered her, shrugging.
“By someone, you mean us, right?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Yes,” Johnny chimed in, wearily. "I was just getting settled here too,” he complained, shooting a look of distaste my way.
“Well, we’re hardly evicting you,” I retorted, bristling at his attitude.
“No, but you might run off to your little group and then bring them back here,” he challenged me with a snarl.
I groaned in exasperation, “Oh my god, we’re not with a group. I told your leader that last night but I guess he’s got hearing problems.”
“Can we please cool it?” Zach interrupted, “and for the record, Shadows is not our leader.”
I held my hands up to show I was done with the argument. Johnny was about to say something but Zach set his spoon down and motioned to him to kill the noise. Hallie took the opportunity to claim the peanut butter jar and continue shovelling it in as fast as she could, which was not fast at all - have you ever tried eating peanut butter by itself?
“Let me get bandages for your feet,” Zach announced, standing and pulling me by the arm out of the room. As soon as we were away from the kitchen, he lowered his voice. “Listen, I could ask Shadows if you guys can travel with us, if you like?”
“No way,” I replied before he’d even finished his sentence. “We don’t travel with others.”
His brow furrowed, “Why not? Safety in numbers, right?”
“Same reason that you guys don’t stay in one place: because people are evil,” I reminded him. “Besides, I’ve already had a taste of Shadows and I don’t fancy getting to know him.”
“He’s not that bad when you've spent a bit of time with him,” Zach hurried nervously, “He’s just trying to protect us all.”
“Mhm,” I mumbled in reply, “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Just think about it, please?” Zach pleaded, his green eyes piercing into mine.
“No.”
Zach pulled his lips to one side, “But you have a child with you,” he said, quietly.
“And?” I shot back, narrowing my eyes.
“Don’t you want to keep her safe?” he queried, giving me a sad look. I turned away.
“Are you done with the guilt trip?” I asked, exasperatedly. He shrugged and slouched off to get the bandages. I limped after him, silently cursing the raw wounds on my feet.

There was absolutely no way we would be joining them.

Notes

It's acceptable to eat peanut butter from the jar there? That's not a nightmarish apocalypse, that's heaven!