• "Sara! Sara, help me!"
    Sara woke with a start, gasping for air. She lay in bed in the house she shared with her roommate, Christy. The house was oddly quiet, which startled Sara. Usually Christy was up and about in the morning, but today, there wasn't a sound.
    "Christy?" Sara called out loudly. She got no answer. She threw off the covers and got out of bed. Sara walked up to her floor length mirror and sighed.
    "When did I change my clothes?" Sara asked herself, half-asleep. She had on a white lace camisole, a light tan blouse, and camouflage jeans. Sara peered around her surprisingly clean room and smiled slightly. Her paramedic's jacket, badge and keys lay in a pile near the door. Her boots sat next to the nightstand.
    "Christy? You home?" Sara called out once more as she opened her bedroom door and stepped into the living room. She flipped on the light switch, casting an eerie glow on the room. Sara padded quietly through the house, but there was no sign of Christy. Sara made her way to the hall closet and opened the door. She reached up and extracted a long box. Leaving the closet open, Sara walked back into her room and set the box down. She tore off the lid and dumped the contents onto the bed. Four guns, their holsters and a backpack sat on the mattress.
    "You can never be too safe." Sara said to herself as she donned the holsters. Two on her hips, one on her thigh, and one on her back. She loaded her 9mm pistol, Uzis and shotgun with ammunition and placed them in their holsters. Sara picked up the small brown pack and filled it with the remaining ammunition. She slung it over one shoulder, and then bent down to put on her boots. She placed a knife in the holster in her right boot.
    "I wonder where Christy could have gone." Sara asked herself as she walked towards her jacket. She slipped it on and picked up her keys, and then she swept her hair into a ponytail. Sara walked to the window and pushed away the curtains. A gentle breeze came in, bringing in the falling snow. Her Hummer sat on the road, covered with a light dusting.
    A scream echoed through the quiet morning, cutting off abruptly. Sara watched as a young man stumbled from a house and collapsed on the road.
    "Oh God!" Sara whispered in shock as she jumped out the window onto the ground below. Sara sprinted toward the body, fearing who it was and that she was too late. Sara's heels clacked on the asphalt as she ran to the aid of the fallen boy. When she reached him, he was on his side, his arms wrapped around his stomach. Sara sank to her knees and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.
    "Hey. Just hang on, okay?" Sara said reassuringly as she turned the boy onto his back. Sara bit back a gasp as the hair fell from the boy's eyes.
    "Brent? What happened?" Sara asked. Brent opened his eyes slowly and groaned.
    "Sara? Is that you? Where am I?" Brent questioned as he drew in a ragged breath.
    "Yes, it's me. You're in the middle of the street; you've been injured very badly." Sara replied as a tear slid down her cheek. "Brent, I need you to move your arms." Sara took off her jacket and placed it under his head. Brent's arms fell to his sides with a moan.
    "Do you remember what happened?" Sara asked, ripping away Brent's torn and bloody t-shirt.
    "I was attacked by something. I'm not sure who...or what it was." Brent replied, sucking in a breath.
    Sara shook her head and sighed. "I've never seen anything like this before. It's like you've been bitten by something. We need to get help, now!" Sara said urgently. She took Brent's torn t-shirt and tied in around the wound. Brent cried out in pain.
    "Calm down. This will help stop the bleeding." Sara murmured calmly. She removed her jacket from under his head, and helped Brent to his feet.
    "How long have you been like this?" Sara pondered as she walked Brent to her car.
    "I’m not sure, since about 5 this morning."
    "Since 5am? That was an hour and a half ago. Where you being attacked all this time?"
    "No. I mean, I don't know. I passed out about halfway through." Brent replied painfully and collapsed to the ground.
    "Come on, Brent! You need to get up!" Sara cried as she tried to pull Brent to his feet. Blood spewed from his throat and pooled in front of him.
    "Sorry. I don't know what's happening. I feel so strange."
    "Let's go. We don't have a lot of time anymore." Sara ordered boldly and turned toward her Hummer.
    Brent's eyes widened in hunger as he began to drink the blood from the asphalt. Sara turned around and choked back a sob.
    "I'm too late." Sara whispered, slowly backing away.
    "What's the matter Sara? Where are you going?" Brent wondered, standing up and wiping the blood from his lips.
    "It's too late; the change has already begun."
    "What change? Sara, what's happening to me?!"
    "What the hell is that?" Sara muttered.
    "What? What are you talking about?"
    "Look out!" Sara screamed. Brent turned on his heel.
    A horde of blood-thirsty, flesh-eating creatures stalked toward them. Blood dripping from their mouths, an ear-shattering howl rose from them and echoed through the calm morning. One separated from the pack, its long brown hair matted and dirty. It took a step back, before breaking into a sprint straight for them.
    "Shoot!" Sara whispered. She ran to her car, pulling Brent along with her, and jumped in. "Come on Brent, hurry!"
    "No. It’s too late to save me. One of those things attacked me. I’m turning into one of them."
    "That doesn't mean they won't kill and eat you first! To them, you're still human." Sara shouted anxiously.
    The creature continued to come toward them, closer and closer. Brent ran the short distance to the car, yanked open the back door and scrambled inside. He slammed the door shut and silence filled the car. The creature jumped onto the hood and a horrible shriek came from it. Sara covered her ears in pain.
    "Let's go Sara!"
    "I'm working on it!" Sara replied harshly. She threw the car in drive and plowed through the creatures that started surrounding the front of the car.
    "Oh come on! I just washed this, now I've got mutant all up in my grill!"
    "Sara?"
    "Yeah?"
    "That's not important right now!"
    "Okay, okay. Where do we go now?" Sara asked as she turned onto the main road.
    "I guess we leave town. Try to find a safe place." Sara replied to her own question. "Brent? Are you okay? Brent?" Sara asked as she turned her head. Brent lay sprawled across the backseat, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage, his face pale.
    "Brent!" Sara panicked and slammed on the brakes. She hurried over the front seat and reached Brent's side. Sara shook his shoulder desperately. She got no response.
    "No...No. I thought I had more time! Wake up Brent, please." Sara sobbed. She picked up Brent's hand and held it to her cheek.
    "Sara?" Brent gasped, opening his eyes. Sara looked at him with bright eyes.
    "Brent! You're alive!"
    "Are you sure? What if the change is complete?"
    "I'm not. But I’ve heard about this before. There was a story on the news about some kind of virus that was infecting people and turning them into flesh-eating mutants. I’ve heard people use the word zombies, but the government isn’t saying for sure or not. There is an antidote, but I don't know if the hospital will have any available yet. They weren’t really sure where it started or fast it has spread. The CDC sent out a bulletin that the virus takes at least a day to fully change someone." Sara told him, kissing his hand.
    "I love you Sara. I always have and I always will, no matter what happens to me."
    "Oh Brent, I don't know what to say."
    "Say you love me too."
    "I love you Brent. Nothing is going to change that, not even you turning into a flesh eating monster. We'll find the antidote and cure you, and then we'll rid this town of the zombies before the virus spreads any further. Then we’ll help rid the world of the virus permanently. I promise."
    "You do?"
    "I do." Sara replied, staring deeply into Brent's piercing green eyes. Sara could already see the virus affecting them. Soon, his eyes would cloud over, and Brent would go blind.
    "The next step of the change will be your teeth and nails. They'll become longer and sharper. That should be in at least three hours."
    "Sara?"
    "Yeah Brent?"
    "Did you remember to lock the doors?"
    "I don’t think so, why?"
    "No reason, just that there's a zombie headed right for us." Brent said and pointed out the front of the car. The zombie ran up the hood and shattered the windshield with its fist. It slowly crawled through the hole, drawing closer and closer to Sara. Sara screamed out and tried to get the door open.
    "It's stuck! I can't get the door open!" Sara shouted as she rammed her shoulder against the door in an attempt to open it. It wouldn't budge. Brent scurried over the backseat and tried the trunk. It opened with ease and Brent let out a breath of relief.
    "Sara, the trunk's open. Let's get out of here!" Brent remarked as he tumbled out of the car. Sara started to follow him. She got halfway over the seat when the zombie reached out and grabbed her foot.
    "Brent! HELP ME!" Sara screamed in fear. Sara struggled to get away from the monster's grasp. Brent scrambled to Sara's rescue, the zombie pulling Sara closer to its waiting mouth. She attempted to get to the shotgun on her back, while trying not to become zombie food.
    "Help!" Sara cried as she reached her arm out to Brent. He grabbed ahold of her hand. The zombie opened its mouth and let out a terrible scream. Brent screamed out in agony. He wanted to cover his ears, but Sara would die if he let go.
    "Hang on Sara."
    "I'm trying! I've almost got my shotgun."
    "Okay, but hurry. I can't hold on much longer." Brent said as he continued to hang on to Sara. Sara managed to pull the shotgun from its holster and pointed it at the zombie's open mouth.
    "Time to die, you son of a b***h." Sara stated and tried to fire off a shot. The zombie moved, and Sara only managed to get the creature in the shoulder. It screeched with pain and released Sara's leg. She crawled out the back and fell on top of Brent.
    "I'm so glad you're okay, Sara."
    "Me too. I thought for sure it was going to get me. I was so scared." Sara replied as she stared into Brent's eyes and started to cry.
    "It's okay, it can't hurt you anymore. I won't let it." Brent said as he took Sara into an embrace. The zombie began moving toward Sara's back. Brent's eyes grew wide with fear and in a split-second decision, pushed Sara out of the way. Brent took the full brunt of the zombie's attack.
    "NO!" Sara screamed as the zombie bit down on Brent's shoulder, ripping away a chunk of flesh. Sara reached for the pistol on her thigh, while Brent struggled to get the shotgun that lay on the road just inches from his fingers. Sara pulled her pistol and fired three shots. They struck the zombie in the chest and finally in the head, catapulting it down the road. Sara waited to see if it was going to move. It didn't. It slowly disintegrated into nothing.
    Sara crawled over to Brent and held back the urge to gag.
    "Brent. No, Brent. Wake up...please. I love you." Sara choked through sobs. She placed her hand on his shoulder habitually, her hand covering in blood. Sara pulled her hand back quickly and wiped the blood from her hand so she wouldn't get infected. The CDC didn’t know if the virus could be spread that way, but Sara wasn’t taking any chances. Sara hurried to her car and grabbed a bottle of water. She twisted it open and poured it on her hand, washing away the rest of the blood.
    The world around her fell into an uncomfortable silence. Sara had no idea what she was going to do. She didn't know if Brent was even alive. Sara crawled back to where Brent lay.
    "Please be alive. Please. I don't want to lose him." Sara thought as she sat next to Brent and cried into her hands.
    "Sara? Don't cry Sara, the zombie's gone." Brent murmured as he opened his eyes and coughed. Sara looked up at Brent and smiled broadly.
    "Can nothing keep you down?" Sara asked as she glanced at the spot where the zombie had vanished. It was still gone.
    "I hope not. I want to be with you, forever. I love you Sara." Brent replied lovingly.
    Sara glanced at the spot where the thing had attacked Brent. It was bloody and at high risk for reinfection. Sara shrugged out of her jacket and tied it around his shoulder.
    "We definitely need to get you to the hospital, now." Sara remarked as she helped Brent to his feet and into the backseat. Sara climbed into the driver's seat and groaned. "Great. Now I got to pay for a new windshield. Stupid frikkin' zombies." Sara stated with anger. Brent climbed into the backseat and Sara drove down the road, determination blazing in her eyes.
    But Sara was afraid. Afraid that she wouldn't get to the hospital in time to save Brent. Afraid that she'd have to put a bullet in his head with her own gun. She had no idea how long it would take for the disease to take over Brent's body and seal his fate.
    Sara pulled her car onto the freeway and hit the gas. The Hummer easily accelerated to over 100 mph and Sara took the curves as smoothly as butter. Brent lay in the backseat in anguish. He struggled for air as his organs twisted and contracted and spasmed.
    "I can't breathe. Sara, help!" Brent bellowed as his hands clutched his stomach in a futile attempt to stop the intense pain eating him from the inside out.
    Sara knew she couldn't stop. If Sara stopped, Brent wouldn't make it to the hospital.
    "Just hang on Brent. Just hang on a little longer! We're almost there." Sara said, turning to look back briefly at Brent. Seeing him lying vulnerable and dying on the backseat of her Hummer, shattered Sara's heart. She knew that Brent's time was running out.
    "Hurry, Sara." Brent gasped. He slumped limply on the seat, breathing labored.
    "I am, okay? You just have to hang on. We're almost there. You'll make it...I promise." Sara muttered, turning her attention back onto the road. She was glad she did, otherwise she would have plowed straight into the blockade in her path. Sara slowed the Hummer to a crawl, and was stopped by a man in a haz-mat suit. Sara rolled down her window as the man approached.
    “What seems to be the problem sir? I need to get my boyfriend to the hospital. I’m a paramedic and I need to get past.” Sara told the man, motioning to Brent in the backseat.
    “There’s been an outbreak of the lethal virus in this area and we can’t let anyone past this barricade. We don’t know who’s been infected and who hasn’t. I’m sorry ma’am, but you need to turn around and go home. There’s nothing more I can do for you.”
    “No. I have to get past this. I’ve seen what the infected look like, and you’d be able to tell who’s infected and who isn’t. I’ve killed an infected; the only way to do it is by shooting them in the head. Please sir, I need to get past to find the antidote.”
    “Why do you need the antidote? Is he infected?” The man asked, looking through the back window at Brent.
    “No, but he’s been shot. I need the antidote for my child. She was bitten and needs the antidote. I left her at our house; she’s too weak and unstable to move. Please sir, don’t let my daughter die.” Sara lied, tears shining in her eyes. Sara could see the man’s resolve crumble under the sob story Sara had lain out.
    “Alright, I’ll let you through. Hurry up now.” The man replied as he radioed for the blockade to let Sara through.
    “Thank you sir.”