Time: 22:00
Hours since invasion: 144


They were everywhere, closing in on me. Only one word came to mind – zombies. I could see them coming towards the house at every angle, they were running against windows, trying to open doors, I had to think of something, and fast. I pivoted on right on my heel, facing me towards the stairs. They leaded to the top floor, no good, there was no way out from there. I spun around – the basement – perfect. I sprinted down the stairs and went to the room where my father kept all of his tools; surely I could find something that could be of assistance. Frantically opening cabinets and looking on the shelves, I finally spotted something that could be of use – an axe, a little brutal, but it would suffice. I cautiously made my way back up stairs because the moaning and creaking had ceased, still clutching the axe tightly in my hands. I looked around and lowered the axe; they had all seemed to have left, for now. They must have sensed another innocent person nearby. Crash. My eyes searched anxiously for the source of the noise. I noticed broken glass scatted across the wooden floors. One of them had gotten in. I spun around, axe at the ready. But what I saw made me drop it on the spot. It was my brother. His flesh was decomposing, rotten in places with gashes and septic in others. His hair was limp, long, greasy, and his jaw out of line. It made me shudder to think this… this… grotesque creature, had once been my brother. As soon as I had made eye contact with him, he seemed to disappear, but I knew better. Not even a millisecond had passed and he was right behind me. These creatures were incredibly fast. He swung his arms, trying to grab my stomach to subdue me but I ducked and quickly grabbed my axe, tearing for the basement. Sure enough, he was there to head me off. He swung his fist and it impacted with my cheek. It burst in pain and I stumbled backwards, disoriented. As I regained my focus I realized, he was aiming to kill. I could not be gentle with him, he was no longer my brother. A tear in my eye, I swung my axe. It collided with his arm. He moaned in pain but still continued his assault. I swung again, but this time with all of the force I could muster, aiming higher. It hit his neck, no not hit, it went through. His head hit the floor with a sickening crack, next, his body. I stared at the wall, willing myself not to cry but the tears came anyway. Here lay my brother, right in front of me. His head was rolling aimlessly on the floor, his body in a lump. But then I thought, “No. This is not my brother. This is some sick creature who stole his form. I did not know him. I shared no memories with him. He, no IT, was a stranger to me.” As I walked away from the crime, I couldn’t help but think of the time we had shared together. About 11 years ago when I was only 6 years old; I had managed to climb the tall oak tree in our backyard. After I had reached the top my brother, Kyle, came outside and spotted me, way up at the top of the tree.
He said, “Cassi, be careful, you could fall and seriously hurt yourself.”
He was around 10 at the time.
Being the smart 6 year old I was I simply stated, “Of course I am being careful!”
But I was wrong. As I tried to make my way down the tree to run over to Kyle, I lost my grip and suddenly plummeting down to the ground. Kyle rushed over to me, checking to see if I was okay. Of course, I burst into tears partly because of the pain, partly because of the fright of the drop. He picked me up and brought me inside to our mom. I managed to survive with only a broken leg and arm. I knew Kyle cared for me greatly, and always would. But now, he could care for me no more, love me no more, for he was gone, gone and dead. Twice actually, firsts, the zombies had killed him and that is how he became a zombie himself, and the second, by his own sister. The rest after that was a blur. Somewhere between sobbing and remembering our childhood, there was another crash.



6 days earlier.


I awoke startled, there were alarms going off down the street. I looked at the clock, it read 2:00 a.m. What was happening at his early hour? I pulled the covers off and went to my window. I pulled the curtains back and all I could see was smoke and the obnoxious blue light on the police cars, flashing. I turned and saw my brother’s figure standing in the door way, the noise had woken him too. He silently came to the window, drew the curtains and peered through it wordlessly.
After a few minutes he asked, “What do you think happened?”
“If I knew I would tell you.” I replied simply.
Together we left me room and the house; we walked down the street to see what the commotion was about. Many of the neighbors had come too. There was restriction tape all around what seemed to be a huge, well I wasn’t quite sure what it actually was. It was a giant ship sort of thing. The police were ushering everyone back, telling them everything was fine and to go home. It did not do much good; people had a natural curiosity and were determined to get a peek. Steam was emitting from the machine and oil was dripping onto the concrete. I motioned to my brother to leave but he refused. I turned to go, walking alone back to my house. When I reached home I did not find my parents in their room, they must have gone to see what the commotion was as well. I returned to my room and looked out of the window once again. All of a sudden, with a gust of air, a hatch on the machine opened. A gas seeped out with a greenish tint. It looked quite toxic. That was when I began to panic - my family was out there. I was conflicted between seeing to my own safety by staying indoors or going out to check on my family. I decided the latter – I would stay inside because I did not know what this foreign gas was, or what it could do.

Only later did I realize that this gas would be the downfall of the Earth society.

Time: 4:00
Hours since invasion: 36

I stared blankly at the road moving in front of me, my eyes started to droop, but I had to stay awake. I had been for about 3 days now. Driving. I had stolen my parent’s car minutes after people began to get affected by the gas. I did not know exactly what it did at the time but I could see the physical appearance of the citizens changed – seemingly melting away in places and rotting slowly. They were decomposing in seconds. It was not scientifically possible but what did I know was possible anymore – anything could be. I was driving but I did not know where to or exactly what from all I knew is that my senses were screaming at me to get away. So that’s what I did. I looked at the fuel tank – almost empty. I sighed and pulled into the next gas station. I slowly opened the door and got out. I began to put gas into my car as I did so, I surveyed the area. A sudden click told me my car was full. I paid and returned to my car. I merged back onto the empty highway and resumed my endless journey.

What seemed to be moments later my eyes flashed open with a sudden jolt and forceful pound to my head. Suddenly, I was flying through the air. My car was flipping over and over. When it finally came to a stop I pushed the airbag away from my face. And lay back in my seat for a moment, thinking back on what had just happened. I had fallen asleep and crashed. Perfect. I emerged from my car and gasped in pain – my arm was sprained and my leg cut badly. I sat down on the road and stared at my totaled car. What a fortunate event. Carefully, I stood back up and opened to compartment in front of the passenger seat to look for a first aid kit. I opened it and took out supplies to wrap up my arm and bandage my leg. I forced myself to leave my car and begin my walk back to the town. I had not seen a soul for days now.

Hours later I approached to town once again. I walked into the gas station looking for some nourishment. Later that day I took the liberty of registering myself a key in a nearby hotel to stay the night.

Time: 11:00
Hours since invasion: 74


I had been in the town for days now and had searched it thoroughly. I had even found my own arsenal in the storage unit of an old house. The man who lived here must have been a hunter. There were 20 or more bodies of the once humans who had come to find me that had come face to face with my and a shot gun. The end never turned out well for them. The upside to this is that I was able to inspect the bodies and see what had become of the infected people. They had a grey tinge to their skin and most had long, greasy, black hair. They had patches on their bodies where you could see down to the bone and other patches of rotten or rotting skin. They were a horrid sight and the smell produced by them was putrid. The eyes were sallow and black and the cheeks were hallowed. The most important thing I had come to find was that, despite their looks, they were extremely fast and brutal. These creatures I had come to call zombies.

Time: 14:00
Hours since invasion: 123


I had finally figured out how to hot wire a car after looking in a few books I had managed to find on the subject and drove one back to my home. Something was drawing my there and I had an itch to find out what. When I returned home there was nothing and no one there except for the machine that had crashed days ago. I covered my mouth with my shirt so I did not breathe it in. I remained in my home for about a day and that’s when the zombies started coming again.


Time: 2:00
Hours since invasion: 148


My brother lay motionlessly on the floor and the windows started to creak again. They were coming. Lots of them. Seemingly all at once, the windows smashed and glass shattered all over the floor. As fast as lightening, they were everywhere. I looked at the hundreds of grotesque faces, dropped my axe and accepted my fate. Their faces were the last thing that I saw.

Time: 2:07
Hours since invasion: 148


The last girl had fallen in defeat to the zombies. Minutes later, she was reborn – just like the rest of them. Her hair was limp and face hallowed. A colony had been made and soon enough – the rest of the world had to accept its fate as well. Let the new Earth be reborn to accommodate its new inhabitants.