Prolouge: Z-Day

The story begins

My mother used to tell me as a child that you never know when thing's can go wrong. That you always have to be prepared, so that your not blindsided by thing's. I'm sure, at the time, she was talking about when I was in college or something. Since then of course, I've found that the lesson rang more true than I, or she, could ever have known. I remember it well enough. Z-day started out like any other day. People got up to go to school, work, or anywhere else. Not knowing that for a lot of them, it would be their last day. I wish I would have. I would have stayed home.


I remember walking into the classroom at around seven thirty, shortly after Mom dropped me off. I was running a bit late that morning, so I had to deal with Mr. Thompson being his usual smart-mouthed self. "Ms Brook's, you know I do not tolerate tardiness in my class. Stay over afterwards, I want a word with you. I rolled my eyes as I sat beside my best friend at the time, Tammy Morgan. She smiled and passed her notes over so I could copy them. "Don't worry. You haven't really missed much" she said softly. I nodded, I hadn't thought I had. Thompson was just a prick.


It was about 45 minutes or so later, just as class was about to wrap up,when the first reports began coming in onto the Thompson had on. "Were here on Cooper Street, where it seems a group of crazed men and women are currently assaulting police and other citizens!" A harried voice of a reporter claimed. Thompson frowned and turned the volume up, making the rest of the class look. We saw before them before the cameraman moved again. That several people, some in what appeared to be white lab coats, were indeed attacking people. Biting them.


The class soon began whispering among themselves. "What kind of drug's are these people on?" one said. "This has to be some kind of stunt right? Channel seven news aren't exactly well-known for the truth" another said. I knew all these couldn't be it. For one, there was no way THAT many people would play along with this. And even if they would, I knew the fear on their faces and their screams were genuine. No one was that good at acting. Then the intercom clicked on. The principal said, a voice strained with fear, that school was being called off early.


Tammy looked at me worried as we gathered up our books. "Emily, what the hell is going on?" she said softly. I shook my head, brushing my hair from my eyes. I didn't say anyhthing. My mind was racing with questions that had no answers. Cooper Street wasn't far from here. A couple blocks, ten maybe fifteen minutes walk at most. If..whatever those things were, because they certainly weren't people to me, were that close the school was the last place we wanted to be. Tammy and me both slid our books lnto the locker we shared and made our way out.


"Call your parents please. I don't like this" Tammy said with a slight whimper in her voice. I nodded and did so, quickly finding our home number. I dialed it. As the tone began to ring, I heard the screams coming from Cooper Street and felt a chill run up my spine as i realized they were slowly getting louder. More students were gatheirng, some desperately trying to get in contact of their parents while others watched in the direction of the screams. I groaned in frustration when I got a out of service tone. "Piece of junk!" I snapped.


I was starting to grow more uneasy. The screams sounded like they were only a block away now, and all I was getting anymore was out of service tones. I tried Tammy's and then even a few other students on a different phone plan. Nothing. I began getting a sick feeling, my dread increasing with each passing moment. Where was my mom? Surely, she had to have seen the news? All she watched in the mornings was Channel 7. "Oh my god..." Tammy whispered. I turned to see why she sounded so terrified. What I saw will haunt me until my last days.


There, on the end of the street, was a large group of people. Only they resembled something out of a movie instead of normal men and women. Some had their chests ripped open, their lungs hanging out, their hearts either ripped out or hanging by fleshy threads. Others were missing pieces of their necks or face. And one or two missing bottom parts of their jaws. But they all had some things in common. Their skin was a dark, greyish color, their blood was a dark brown goo instead of red. And they all had the same soulless pale, white eyes.


They slowly lurched towards the crowd of students. Their movements were stiff, as though their muscles no longer worked properly. I don't know how long we stood there, most of us too terrified to move. It wasn't until they grabbed a couple students that the spell seemed to lift. A collective scream erupted and the students ran in all directions. Some into the school, others down the street. The older students towards their cars. Me? I was slowly backing away. I watched as those monsters ripped apart some of my classmates. Tammy smacked me now.


"Will you snap the hell out of it Emily?! We have to run!" she screamed. It was like a fog lifted off my mind. I nodded and we began to run in the direction of my home. I dared a glance back. The horde seemed more interested int he students fleeing into the school. I saw Mr Thompson, who had come to investigate the screams dragged down by a few of them. A part of me regretted seeing this, but an even bigger part was screaming at my legs to keep moving. even as they burned from the effort to keep going. We finally stopped four blocks later.


We finally stopped and Tammy looked at me, sweat pinning her blond hair to her forehead. "What...the f**k was that...?" she panted at me. I shook me head. All i could do for the moment. When my lungs finally ceased burning I stood up straight. "I have no idea. We need to keep going. My house is still a bit away. We heard a clattering of a trash can and nearly jumped out of our skin. Out of the alley to the side of the store we stood in front of, stepped Anthony Landon. I remember he had been out sick for the last few days. He looked even worse now.


His skin was pale, almost ghostly white and it was covered in a thick film of sweat. He leaned against the red brick wall and slid down into a sitting position. His breath was coming in thick, ragged jerks and he stared at us almost desperately.  "Emily...Tammy...help me..." he whispered. It took a moment for me to realize what he meant. There, on his white shirt, I saw it. A thick film of blood was spreading over his side, staining the color to a almost sickening shade of red. Tammy bent down at his side and rolled the shirt up. I finally vomited when I saw it.


His side was missing a large chunk of his flesh. It looked as though a animal had ripped into him. However, seeing what we had we knew better. I calmly knelt down now too. "Anthony...who did this to you?" I whispered, doing my absolute best to keep my voice calm. I cursed the tremble in it despite my efforts. He locked his eyes with mine and gulped back the lump in his throat before speaking. "My father.." he choked out. That got my attention. Anthony's father worked for the pharmacy company in town. Far from Cooper Street where we thought this began. He cried out in pain and leaned over, puking some blood up. Tammy sighed sadly as she looked at me.


"He's lost too much blood...his entire abdomen is probably filled. I'm not as good with this stuff as my Aunt Clara but..it probably won't be long" she said softly. We sat there in silence for a moment. We didn't know what to say. Finally, Tammy found her voice. "I'm so sorry Anthony..." she whispered. I echoed her words, unable to come up with any of my own. He smiled a bit as his eyes began to close. He couldn't speak because of the blood clogging his throat. But I like to think it comforted him he didn't die all alone. I hope it did anyway, His eyes then closed.


We sat there for a time, quietly wondering how things had grown so awful. A thought entered my mind that quickly erupted into full blown panic. Anthony didn't live far from me. If his father was one of those creatures, it means he had been infected, gone home and infected Anthony. Which meant my mother was also at risk. "Tammy we need to go NOW." I demanded, not recognizing my own voice anymore. Tammy nodded and went to stand. She spared one last glance at Anthony. Looking back, I wish I had made her leave sooner. It was a horrible mistake.


Anthony eyes suddenly sprang back open. They had taken on that same milky white color. Tammy, in her shock was too slow to react. Anthony grabbed her by the shoulders and sunk his teeth into her neck. Tammy screamed in agony as the teeth broke through her skin. Blood began spurting everywhere as her veins were ruptured. I kicked and punched at Anthony's face but he paid me not attention. He kept chomping down again and again until Tammy went limp. I saw her eyes roll back before closing. I stumbled backwards as Anthony turned on me.


He opened his mouth and a low groan came out. He reached for me, his eyes never leaving me. The look he gave me was the same as the other creatures. One of hunger. His jaw snapped as he kept getting closer. I saw Tammy slowly struggled to her feet behind him. In a mad moment I thought she was still alive. But it was false hope. She eyes were the same now. She groaned and made her way towards me as well. Something inside me snapped. I lunged forward and moved past Anthony. Using all of my body weight, I knocked Tammy away and quickly ran.


I wondered for a moment where all the people were. The store owners etc. Then I remembered it was only a bit after eight. Most of the stores here didn't open until 9. So I was on my own. I ran until I was positive I was alone. I was in tears by now. Both from the burning pain in my side and what I had just witnessed. After gathering myself, I made my way down the street, closing the last bits of distance to my house. I hoped my neighborhood was quiet. I was dead wrong. Those things were everywhere, knocking down doors to homes and dragging people out.


"No! No please! N-ARGH!" I heard one man, Mr Louis scream as his wife bit into him. I did my best to avoid the monsters, avoiding eye contact with anyone. If i saw them, I would be tempted to help. And that would just get me killed.  I saw our house up on its hill. My heart sunk seeing the door broken in. I ran up using my last bit of strength. There, in the doorway leading to the common room, lay my mother. She had a single bullet hole int the side of her face. There were no dead monsters anywhere. And she wasn't bitten. Then I saw our valuables missing. It clicked in my head and my fists clenched in anger. Looters had come and mom had put up a fight.


"Those b******s!" I yelled, although it came out with a squeak as my throat was dry and I was trying to fight back tears. Hell on our doorstep, and they turn to robbing?! Part of me wanted to understand. People were scared to death. But again, the bigger part of me wanted to chop their heads off. Even more so than the monsters. I couldn't dwell on it. I saw some monsters coming up the driveway. I had to move. I barred the door as best I could and choked back a sob as I took one last look at my mom. I then began searching the house for supplies.


I kicked myself for leaving my backpack in my locker at school. I could have used it, but I remembered our camping gear in the hall closet. I dug into it and found a decent sized pack. Not too big to make me clumsy if I had to run, but large enough for a decent amount of supplies. I packed a few pairs of clothes and then grabbed as much canned food and bottled water as I could. The robbers had gotten the kitchen. But mom always kept some in the basement for emergencies. It would do.  I slowly looked out the window of the living room.


"God help us...." I whispered. It was strange I said that, given I was never much of a religious person. But I if you had seen what I could have..you probably would have said something similar. Our home had always had a great view of the neighborhood. I always loved looking out it when I read my books. But now all i could see was smoke. Some of the houses were on fire, thick black smoke choked the air. The only thing that broke me from my trance was the monsters hitting the door frame. With a last glance at my mother I slipped out the back, unsure of the future for me. Unsure of the future for my friends or family. But most of all...unsure of the future for humans.

Reviews

[Meat of Dog]

I like how the narrator is edgy but not mean, or better he’d edgy but not bitter. When characters are too intensely bitter they tell the story through such a narrowly bias scope that it’s hard to read. Did you say she was in college at the time of this story or was that meant as a gesture at the future? Because (I know it’s nitpicky) but there aren’t principles in college, this has a distinct high school feel. Also, college teachers see you as an adult even if you’re eighteen or a running-start teen so they really don’t bother themselves if you’re late and whatnot, at least not in an infraction sort of way. I like the suspense though, it start quickly and builds well.

I was surprised when Tammy got bit! This was a good suspense as well, and a good plot twist surprise. I like the jarring feeling (most times) of losing a main character quickly after meeting them or someone you expect by cliché to be alright. I was a little surprised by the looters bit only because this happened so recently, it seems too soon for looters to be already stealing and killing within just (presumably) an hour or two. Nice open ending, a good hook.

Suggestions:

“so that your not blindsided” You’re.

“about to wrap up,when” Needs a space.

“ I didn't say anyhthing" Anything.

“More students were gatheirng,” Gathering.

“I shook me head. All i could” My. And the ‘I’ needs to be capitalized.