Outbreak

Day One

    It was nearly midnight and Emma's father wasn't home from his shift yet. It was his birthday and he had to work. As the sheriff of the police department in their town, he had to work a lot of hours. She had saved all her allowance so she could buy him a watch, the one he had been eyeing for a while. Her father was good at his job, he kept the town safe, so when the explosion happened, he had felt as though he wasn't doing enough. It was the day after, and the news was on. Some scary s**t was happening, people who were exposed to the explosion were going crazy and attacking people. Fires were erupting everywhere, people were screaming and running from these people. Some weren't so lucky.      

    Soon, her father came through the door. He looked unhappy, scared, and angry. Emma decided she wouldn't give him the present just yet. He would ask questions about where she got the money from and knew he would feel bad about her spending her allowance. She just wanted to make him happy, ever since her mother died of cancer a few years ago, he hasn't been the same. He used to be outgoing and funny, now he just drowns himself in his work.      He sits down on the couch next to Emma and sees that she is watching the news. He doesn't seem happy about it, but he doesn't say anything about it. He watches intently, wondering why he isn't out there, but he knew his main priority was Emma and her safety. There's a knock on the door, and her father gets up to answer it. Then Emma hears, "What are you doing here so late, boy?"    

     Emma knew that it was Noah, her best friend. So, she gets up and goes to see what's going on.  "Pop is sick and he sent me here," he says in a shaky voice. "Then I heard a gunshot once I was out the door." Emma's father is out the door with the word gunshot and is over at Noah's parent's house within minutes. She stood there unsure of what to do, she never experienced something like this. Did his father shoot himself on purpose? Noah stands there shaking from the cold, so Emma pulls him into the house and hugs him. They stand there for a while until he seems to stop.

    Emma’s father comes back not too long after and he is on the phone speaking frantically. Something’s not right, something’s wrong. Emma’s father has a gun in his hand pointing at the front door as if he is waiting for someone to barge through it and attack. Emma looks back at the TV and comes to a realization, the crazed people have reached their doorstep and it was time to either barricade the door or book it out of there.

    Emma grabs Noah’s arm and drags him to her room and she starts to throw things together. Warm clothes, her father’s watch, and a journal. She drags Noah back to where her father is standing and she nods to the garage door. She knew it was time to leave and let the CDC handle this. Her father seems to understand and they get into the car. When they leave the house, Emma knows she was right about her assumption. The crazed were in the streets, mouths wide with horrible screeches. Getting around them was hard, especially when other people were trying to leave too.  They swerve left and right, turn down one street then the next, the highway is backed up so the only way out is the back roads. But, those are blocked. People in swat suits are blocking the way. So her father turns around and turned down a dirt road, one that not many people know about. The dirt road leads to Oliver’s house, her father’s brother. His crazy brother, however, doesn’t seem too crazy anymore. He said this would happen, that they would say it was an outbreak, but in reality, it was population control. They were the test subjects. 

    Oliver’s house comes into view, and he is standing outside as if he knew we would end up coming. Then Emma realized that that was who her father was on the phone with. Her uncle was known for his theories, the town didn’t like him, hell her father didn’t even like him. But, here they were now. She knew her uncle had a bunker that he built for this sort of situation. She thought he was out of his mind for using most of his money on having it built, but it has come in handy. At least, until this blows over. 

    They pull in front of the house, it looks old, almost abandoned. However, that was the point. An old run-down home that was falling apart would either keep people away or vandalizers would come. And it wasn’t the first time that had happened. There was graffiti everywhere. Her uncle helps them through the house to a hidden doorway that blended in with the wall. That led to a set of stairs and an iron door that locked from the inside. He wasn’t joking when he made this place. It was a sealed tight bunker, nothing was getting in.