1 Chapter 1

I rolled over in bed, trying to block out the loud noises I heard coming from the living room of my apartment room. I could only think that my roommate and best friend, Scarlett, was probably out in the living room making all that noise. I groaned, placing the pillow over my head as I heard more shouting. "Why is she so loud?" I lifted the pillow off of my head, looking over to my alarm clock which read 6:13 pm, which got me to groan again. It was way too late for her to be making all this noise, especially since I was up much earlier than usual to get all of my homework out of the way before classes and finally got to take a long nap after I finished my class of the day. The two of us didn't live on campus, due to how expensive it really was to live on campus for our college. I had moved away from my family, who live in Denver, Colorado. I had gotten a full-ride scholarship to Oceanside College In New York City so I accepted it. Scarlett followed me out to New York since my parents were worried about me living here alone, she also received a scholarship to attend the school due to her talent in art. So the both of us were able to attend the school together, without worrying about the cost of tuition. Since staying on campus was something that the two of us didn't want, my parents and Scarlett's parents put together a lot of money and bought us an apartment to live in for the time we would be spending in college in New York City. They even gave us a lot of money to live off of to buy what we needed, especially food and paying bills. But Scarlett and I were not the only ones who lived in the apartment, we had two more roommates who got along with me but one of them seemed to always argue with Scarlett. The shouting soon stopped, making me sigh in relief and I leaned back into my pillows. But just as I closed my eyes, trying to settle back into sleep, my bedroom door was thrown open. I immediately sat up in bed, looking to the door to see who had thrown it open. "What are you doing?" I shouted, completely frustrated with Scarlett. Scarlett rushed over to my dresser, shoving my nicely folded shirts and undergarments in a large indigo duffle bag. She looked over at me with terrified green eyes, disheveled red hair and her face had slightly paled and I could that she was freaked out.

"Scar, what's wrong?"

"There was a news report just now... Blake, we have to leave here." She said, quickly rushing over to my closet. She threw the door open, shoving my jeans and other pairs of pants that were hanging up on the rack into the dufflebag as well. "What? Why?" I sat up, looking at her slightly alarmed. I have never seen her this panicked about anything, for as long as I have known Scarlett (basically since kindergarten), she has always been a fairly calm person in even the craziest situations. She didn't answer me and continued shoving stuff into another bag, before leaving my room. I quickly followed after her, walking into the living room. I looked over at the T.V, stopping in my tracks as I saw what was on.

"We have received news that a new virus that was being tested in the Infectious Disease lab facility over the course of the last several months has just infected a staff member. The staff member reportedly was working on a way to curing the virus when he accidentally came into contact with the virus's cells through an open cut on his arm. The staff member was immediately rushed to the emergency room and quarantined off from other patients in the hospital, he is being treated by other ICD staff." The newscaster reported, she was about to say something else when she was stopped midsentence. She held the earpiece in her ear, her facial expression changing as she was listening to someone on the other end of that line. She looked up at the camera, composing herself and tried to remain calm but the look in her eyes spoke volumes as to what she was really feeling. "I'm now receiving word that the infected staff member has just passed away from complications. They tried everything to make him better but he only got worse and continuously deteriorated to the point there was nothing that they could do to save him. Our hearts go out to the family of this staff member, his name was Dylan Trobucher and was a loving husband and father of two. It was reported that within the hour he died, he suddenly came back to life, at first he seemed docile but when one of the scientists moved, he immediately became aggressive and started attacking the medical team working on him. Local authorities were called and have been fighting whatever is happening in the lab facility. It seems that the virus has found a way to spread through the facility." One reporter said, but then there was a breaking news alert that took over the broadcast. "This just in, we have received word that this virus was not only in the ICD. Local authorities are reporting that the people, who recently have died from the global virus as the Z-cell Virus, have come back to life and now have started to become increasingly aggressive towards anyone they have seen. They have been reported to violently attack anyone they can get their hands on, including their loved ones. It is said that anyone who gets near them will be attacked and bitten, they have already spread to half the city. If you are planning on leaving the city, I suggest you do this now. The highways are already starting to get busy." The New's caster said. As we heard more about this, the newscaster started to refer to the dead as "Infected" rather than using the term zombie. Apparently the "Infected" could tell if you were alive or just like them, they could smell the difference and anyone who wasn't like them was attacked. "I've gotten word from other sources that there is another ICD Lab was working on a cure for the virus. Local law enforcement has stated that if you are to come across any "Infected", the only effective way to put them down is to stab or shoot them in the head. If you are scratched or bitten, the symptoms are listed as follows: mild headaches, a horrible fever that will leave the muscles aching, constant nosebleeds, muscle weakness, and fainting spells. The last symptom is a fever that will eventually turn life-threatening. Within four hours of the initial bite or scratch, you will die from the infection and come back as one of them."

My blood ran cold as I processed this information, which I knew would come in handy down the road.

"What are you doing still standing there? Put these on, we have to go!!" Scarlett shoved me into the bathroom, pushing a wad of clothing in my arms, and quickly shut the door. I stood there, still stunned at what I had seen on the television before snapping out of it. I took a shower, washing thoroughly as I got a vague sense, I wasn't going to be able to shower in quite a while. My mind wandered as I thought about my family back home, were they safe? When I got out of the bathroom, I spotted Scarlett carrying several bags towards the door. "Blake, I need you to grab those bags. We're going down to the car." I grabbed the bags from off the couch, heading to my room, and grabbed a few pillows, a blanket, several pairs of shoes, and whatever else that I possibly needed. There was no telling how long this trip was going to be, I could only hope that we wouldn't run into so much trouble. I quickly headed out of the apartment, noticing that other people were doing the exact same thing we were doing.

"Scarlett, where is Emily and Olivia? Have you heard from them?" I asked, "No, not since early this morning. Let's just hope that they both are somewhere safe." She said.

As we were packing the car, we heard screaming from three cars down from us to our left. Obviously, it was a woman and she sounded terrified. Scarlett who was standing on the driver's side of the car, looked up at me and immediately shook her head. "No, don't even think about it." I looked her in the eyes, reaching for something in my bag. "I have to, Scar. If it was you, you would want someone to help you, wouldn't you? I can't just let her get attacked." I shook my head, backing away from the car. "No Blake, no!" Scarlett grabbed my arm, gripping it tightly, and pulled me back towards the car.

"Scarlett, let go!"

"No!"

"No?" I questioned, staring at her in shock.

"I'm not letting you get bitten or possibly killed because you always want to help everyone! This is not something that you can easily just negotiate! From the sound of those screams someone is being bitten or possibly eaten. I'm not losing you to those things. Not now! Not ever! I promised your mother that I would do everything in my power to protect you while we are living out here and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Now, get in the car." I pulled myself out of her grip, groaning as I knew she wasn't going to back down. I was not going to win this fight, I usually never do anyways when she gets like this. It just shocked me that she wouldn't let me help whoever it was that was being attacked, I moved back from her, closed the trunk, and walked around to the passenger's side of the car. I finished packing the back seat, closing the car door behind me when the sounds of the screams suddenly died out, stopping both of us in our tracks. I looked at Scarlett, the two of us making eye contact with one another. Both of us becoming more and more on edge as the only sounds we could hear at the moment was the sounds of other people piling shit in their cars and driving out of the parking garage.

"Why'd it go quiet?" I asked.

"I don't know..."

"You don't think that person is---"

"Maybe... Whoever it was stopped screaming." I said. The two of us suddenly went stiff as we heard groaning, which echoed throughout the large parking garage. The people packing their car across from us suddenly started screaming, causing both of us to jump and look their way. The couple quickly entered the car but before the male could close his door as he was in the driver's seat, someone jumped at him and started attacking him. The girlfriend started screaming bloody murder, rushing out of the car to get the man attacking her partner off but it only got worse.

"Get in the car!" Scarlett shouted, the two of us rushing to get in the car. I quickly shut the door, noticing in the side view mirror that the girlfriend had been convulsing on the floor, and immediately got up to her feet and rushed towards our car. Scarlett slammed her door shut, locking all the car doors as I could hear the screams of the girlfriend coming at our car. Scarlett quickly turned the key in the ignition, turned the car on, and put her seatbelt on.

"Go! Go! Go!! Drive!!" I shouted, jumping as the girl slammed into the back window. Her hands leaving bloody handprints all over the glass, "Put your seatbelt on!!" Scarlett screamed at me, I quickly put the seatbelt on and clicked it into the buckle. I let out a panicked yelp as the man who attacked the couple slammed directly into my window, trying to break the glass. He was an older white man, his pink shirt covered in blood which was all over his face and mouth. His eyes were clouded over as if he was in a daze, his pupils weren't as focused as human eyes usually are and they were gray colored. I jumped again as he let out a roar, slamming his blood-covered hands on the window again.

"GO!!!" I shouted at Scarlett, she immediately pressed on the gas and floored it out of the parking garage. Leaving the two people behind to try and chase after the car, in the rearview mirror, I could see them go after other people who were still packing their cars. Scarlett slammed on the brakes as a car barreled past ours, nearly causing an accident with another car further down the road. Scarlett blasted her horn, made a left turn, and kept driving as we headed towards the highway but traffic was crazy. "Scar, where are we going?" I asked, looking over at her. "The military has set up some kind of camp we can go to as long as we're not infected. They have one set up in Philadelphia. We should head there, it will be safe." She explained. As we headed away from the apartment building, I noticed that there were a lot of people running and out on the streets. She swerved, dodging the people who were running on the streets, we managed to get to Highway US-22. Scarlet immediately cursed under her breath as we came to a complete stop at the highway's entrance. "No way..." The entire highway was backed up, people were standing outside of their cars, arguing with each other and carrying out conversations. Others stayed in their cars, fearing for the worst as the Highway was completely backed up and we weren't going to be moving any time soon.

"Shit..." I muttered.

"This is unreal.." Scarlett sighed, rubbing her face.