Chapter 1

While I was sitting in my office cubicle at Parasol the boss had walked in with a radio under his shoulder. It was wrinkling his nice pampered suit, he then proceeded to turn on the radio and place it on his head, while holding it with both hands, it almost knocked his toupee off.

“Attention! Attention! North America has just been hit by the H12N14 virus. I repeat, North America has just been hit by the H12N14 virus. The United States has approximately 2 days to prepare. Canada has 7. I repeat, United States has approximately 2 days to prepare, Canada has 7.”

Everyone was quiet; nobody knew what to say, so I had to stand up.

“I’m going home; I need to tell my family!”

“I expected nothing less.” said my boss.

Everybody grabbed the things they thought was important to them; pictures, coffee mugs, loose change, and strangely enough letter openers.

On my way out of the office, I was looking the picture of my family; we took the photo at Wasaga beach, around seven years ago. Standing shoulder to shoulder; I was in the middle Kelly on my left, and David on my right. I just keep staring at Kelly, with her long blonde hair, and green eyes, I even giggled at the fact that she only stands up to my shoulder height. I look at David; I remember when he had short hair, and not this straggly rock star look he’s got going on now, I giggled again when I remembered he now stands taller than his mother; they grow so fast.

Despite all the thoughts that had rushed through my head on the way there, they were perfectly fine. I had told them about what I heard on the radio, and that we should prepare now. Kelly thought I was worrying too much, and that this wasn’t as bad as I was making it out to be. David thought it was awesome, because I told him not to go back to his high school; he was in grade 12. Although Kelly disagreed, I had convinced her that it was better safe than sorry after about 2 hours of arguing.

So we went down to the grocery store to gather some supplies; obviously we weren't the only ones that had the idea to stock up. We had decided to skip the grocery store, and spent a couple extra bucks at the convenience store. A dirty run down, overpriced convenience store, at that; but it was empty so I can’t complain. When we got home, I had searched the shed and the basement for anything we could use as a weapon. I had found a bat, a hatchet (that I bought the other day), some old copper piping, and a cast iron fire poker. I had taken the hatchet, Kelly had taken the bat, and David chose the fire poker.

For the next week, we just sat at home and watched the news. We watched as the infection spread viciously, leaving nothing but carnage behind it. I knew that what we had bought for preparations was not nearly enough for what was to come. It had wiped through the United States in 2 days, and it was only a few more days until we had expected it in Oshawa; Ontario. By the time it had hit Oshawa, all the lakes south of us had been infected with thousands of dead bodies.

People were trying to swim across the lakes thinking it would be safe across the other side, and in their defense, the infected couldn’t swim; but they tried. People would be swimming and bodies would start floating up; seemingly out of nowhere, the infected had made it almost halfway across lake Ontario before they died, and that was scary. Next thing you know, thousands of bodies start floating up to shore, the ones that had made it across weren’t fast enough; the infection had made it around before they could make it across. The air had started to get thick with the scent of the dead, and that something you’ll never get used to, even when you’re living with it.