Nobody understood how, or why, once it was too late everybody knew they were coming, you couldn’t escape their boney fingers trying to rip you to pieces. All you could do was run and hide, trying to escape from their dreading groans of hunger. It started in New York, everybody thought it was just a mutation of the common flu, but it wasn’t, not even close. As it slowly spread through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Boston and so on, nobody really took notice to it, until it was too late.

My name is Roxanne, but some people call me Roxie, I live in Ionia, Michigan with my parents and my two siblings and I am 17 years old a  senior in high school, graduate of year 2027! Yay! Not really, because then comes reality and I have to go to college, and work to try and get enough money to live, by myself. Yeah, a little more complicated than I thought it would be when I was younger. One of my siblings is, Camile or Cami for a nickname, my younger sister is 7 years old and in 1st grade, and my other sibling is my little brother Samuel or Sam which is what I call him, who is 11 and in 6th grade.   No doubt, I am personally a huge fan of horror and apocalyptic movies, TV shows, and books. But I never knew it would come true, it all started in May the last month of school, I couldn’t wait until summer break, my mom had promised to take me to Kauai, Hawaii before I went to college, and she was going to buy me my own new car, since I graduated all A’s except for a B in Government which, you can’t blame me for Government is really complex. Everything was fine until one day I noticed half of the school was gone, was school out early? No. Teachers were still here, I just went with the flow until it was 5th hour, Government. My teacher got a call and immediately made eye contact with me, she hung up the phone and said, “Roxanne. Go down to the office. Take everything with you too please.”
I nodded and grabbed my stuff, I stopped by my locker on the way there. Afterward, I slowly walked down to the office afraid something went wrong, and also enjoying the quietness of the abandoned hallway with only traces of students left by a piece of paper that said, “Investigation 5.1 Algebra.” I finally reached the office after a short peaceful adventure. I walked into the frozen tundra of the office and saw my dad.
“What is going on?” I said confused.
“We need to go I have Camile, Samuel and your mom in the car.” He said worry visible in his voice.
I turned around as he walked past me, I opened the Suburban car door and hopped into the middle seats. “Roxie!” Camile said in her high pitched voice.
“Hey you guys!” I said smiling.
Samuel was oddly quiet so I said concerned, “Sam.”
He looked at me and nodded his head up as to say, “Hey.”
I did the same to him noticing immediately something was off, I could feel it in the air. We started driving and since we were already in town my parents quickly drove into the Wendy’s parking lot. We all got out me helping Cami since she was so short, Cami grabbed my hand as we walked across the pavement and walked in.
I immediately got smacked in the face with the smell of french fries and grease. We quickly ordered since we were the only people there, we sat down at a booth Cami’s small fingers laced into mine. I sat down my dad across from me, Cami next to me, my mom next to my dad, and Sam at the end next to Cami. We started eating in silence, once we were all done my mom stood up and said, “Cami, Samuel. You guys want some ice cream?”
“Yeah!” Cami squeaked.
“Sure.” Sam said lousily.
“Get me some.” I said noticing that my mom didn’t ask me and that my dad stayed sitting too.
“Roxie! Come on.” Cami said looking at me, her light brown curly hair in a small ponytail, and her beaming green eyes looking at me.
“It's okay Cami. Go with mommy.” I said smiling.
She nodded unsure, then quickly bounced away behind my mom. After they were a good enough distance away I said, “What’s up? I can feel something is wrong.”
He sighed, “At the middle school, a girl was sick and she fell asleep on her desk. It was the end of class and she wouldn’t wake up, then the teacher Mr. Johnson went over to her trying to wake her up. But before he could get away the girl bit his arm, there was a lot of blood when I went into the classroom. Then the little girl just stopped moving, Sam said her eyes were a milky white color and she was making loud, ravenous noises like, like a….”
“A zombie. Are you kidding me? Stop joking around.” I said chuckling a little.
“Roxanne. I’m being serious. The school was evacuated, everybody went home. After I got Sam I picked up Camile, then you. But Roxanne, stick with me right now okay?” He said a serious tone in his voice.
I nodded, getting a little creeped out.
“ You know when we watched World War Z, the zombies were fast and went down with a couple of bullets. In The Walking Dead, the zombies were slow like a limp, and went down with one single bullet to the brain, since that was the only body part still functioning. But this girl she just bit him, and stopped. The teacher about an hour later, his eyes turned milky white but he was still moving ravenously trying to get through the door and bite somebody. So what I am thinking is a zombie needs to bite one human, then they freeze, when do they unfreeze? I’m not sure. But Aunt Pam in Long Island, New York said that it was happening there but the cities and towns had them everywhere.” He said interrupted by my mom, Cami, and Sam coming back to the table.
I looked at my mom who had a concerned look on her face, I quickly looked at Cami who was saying, “Roxie! Roxie!”
“Hey Cami! Did you get my ice cream?” I said quickly shoving all of the information my dad told me into the back of my head.
“Here you go!” She said handing me Oreo ice cream.
“My favorite!” I said smiling and taking a bite, ”Mmm.”
“You like all ice cream Roxie!” Cami said scootching towards me.
I smiled then glanced at Sam, he was looking at me but quickly looked away. He knew that I knew what happened, and we were thinking the same thing. We all ate our ice cream talking about whatever came to mind, other then what all of us but Cami was thinking about, the zombies.
After 10 minutes more we all finished,, threw our trash away and was about to walk out of the door. “Roxie! Roxie!” Cami shouted still at the table waiting for me to pick her up.
I smiled and said, “I’m coming Cami.”
She smiled and squealed as I picked her up and span around, she was laughing her adorable high pitched giggle. I started walking towards the door, I saw my parents and Sam looking at me and Cami. Behind the counter I heard a shriek and ravenous noises, the cashier had been bitten in the arm, there was blood running down her arm in a waterfall like way. I looked beside her and one of the cooks were standing there, still, frozen with milky white eyes I stared in shock at what I had just seen, the cashier started making ravenous noises and was slowly climbing over the hip high counter. I quickly broke into a sprint and ran out of Wendy’s Cami in hand, we hopped in the car and slowly started driving. “Stop the car.” I said staring out the window into Wendy’s, where the cashier had made it over the counter and now had bitten a man who I didn’t notice there. It looked like he had just walked out of the bathroom, his arm had blood running down it. His mouth was open in a silent scream, just as the cashier froze, the cook started moving again. Then without my permission my dad quickly stomped on the gas sending us flying, way over the speed limit to home.
We quickly drove up our steep driveway to the garage, we pulled in stopped, then my dad waited until the garage door shut to get out of the car. I silently jumped out of the car, “Roxie!” Cami said in a sad voice. “What was that?”
“Nothing Cami. Come on wanna go see the kitty!” I said smiling.
Immediately she lightened up, she held her hands out for me to grab her. I did gently and carried her to the door, I unlocked it and put Cami down. She waddled into the house, she ran up to my room going to get our black and brown tiger looking kitten named Shiva. While she did that I ran up to my parents’ room, I got under their bed and took out a long box that was locked. I had stolen the key years ago, just because it made me feel a lot safer. I tucked the pistol into my leggings, I quickly locked and slid the box back under the bed. Then I put my sweatshirt over the gun just as Cami walked in, “Roxie. Look! Look!” Cami shouted.
I put my hand on the gun and slowly walked into my room, I pointed my gun up before I knew what I was doing. My Aunt Pam was sitting on my bed holding Shiva, I breathed out and put the gun back.
“You’re a little on edge don’t cha think?” She said smiling a pearly white smile that matched perfectly with her dark brown skin.
“Sorry.” I said slumping next to her.
“It’s alright. Let me guess you’ve seen it?” She said slowly and steadily petting the kitten.
I nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Well you are great in science about how the body functions, the brain specifically.” She said handing Cami the small kitten, Shiva.
“Yup, that’s me the brainiac.” I said sighing.
“Let me show you something. I suppose your mom and dad are boarding the windows. Follow me.” Pam said standing up and walking towards my door. I steadily followed her down into the basement, she opened a creepy closet that was under the stairs. She put her hands on the light bulb that had just exploded the small room in light. Then a normal size door opened from the concrete, Pam causally walked in, “Keep up Roxanne.” She said looking back and smiling.
“How….” I said amazed as I walked down a few stairs to a huge laboratory. The room was dimmed with lights hanging from the ceiling, there were microscopes, and strange objects I didn’t know the name of everywhere. Then I saw one of them. Frozen behind a sheet of this glass, it’s eyes were blank standing still, staring into nothingness. Until I realized it was Jessie, my neighbor and my best friend, we spent days together wooing over cute boys, laughing and crying over movies. We were basically long lost sisters, I believe that we were made best friends because neither of our parents could handle us as sisters.
Before I could tear up anymore I said, “So what are we going to try to do? How did she get there?”
“We are going to make them immune. Follow me.” Pam said walking down a short hallway.
She stopped at a large window, I loomed into the window and saw, Jessie’s brother who was my guy best friend, “Shawn.” I quietly whispered.
“He was bitten by Jessie and he hasn’t turned yet. It has been a day and usually they turn in an hour, I believe he is immune.” Pam said looking at him.
“How would he be immune?” I said looking at Shawn who was lazily sitting in a chair looking beyond the verge of uncomfort.
“See you are starting of good. I have only discovered the parts of a plague like this one but then you come in. If we can find what is making Shawn immune we could easily implant that or inject it into Jessie’s body. His mother and father did the same thing, his mother turned but father didn’t. I don’t think it has anything to do with gender because I have seen boys and men change.” Pam said arms crossed still looking through the crystal clear glass.
“Why do it on Shawn I might screw up and kill him and I don’t wanna kill my guy bestfriend, or my girl bestfriend, or their parents’” I said sighing.
“Well let me tell you something that might help you, but you have to carefully listen.” She said walking out of the hallway and towards a couch.
We both sat down and I said, “Go on.”
“As I was coming here from New York two days ago, I ran into somebody, I’m not sure of their name. But they had a bite on their arm, I asked them how are you not turning. He sounded a little crazy but he said that he had diabetes which is stopping his from changing. All diabetes is, is the abnormal amount of glucose in a humans body. Before you got here I did some research, Shawn and his father has diabetes, so I have come to a theory that glucose is the answer to prevent the turning.” Pam said looking at my reaction.
I stayed silent for a moment then said, “I can’t do any experiments I will freak out and mess up. Then I will have to live with the fact that I killed one of my best friends, or their parents. But what if I have an anxiety attack and I mess up because I freaked out like I usually do?”
Pam smiled and said, “You have the brains Roxanne all you need is the courage.”
She started walking upstairs so I sat on the couch for a few minutes just thinking, then I heard somebody say my name, “Roxanne!”
I jumped and looked around, “Roxanne! Come here.” A familiar but faint voice said.
Quickly I raced down the hallway to Shawn who was standing next to the glass, “What are you doing? You can hear me?” I said through the glass.
“Of course I can hear you this glass isn’t sound proof. But I have an idea, come in here.” He said trying to open the door from his side but it was locked.
“Okay.” I said reaching for the door knob.
“Wait, stop!” He shouted.
I froze and said, “What?”
“You have to put the key in the door or the alarm will go off. The key is in with Jessie.” He said worry visible in his voice.
I nodded and walked towards Jessie’s room, I slowly opened the door Jessie was laying in the corner. I looked at the chair she was next to and the key was dangling from the bottom of it. Then she slowly started moving, oh no. She started to stand up making low ravenous noises, before I knew it she had stood up and was staring at me. Without noticing I had already grabbed the whole chair, I quickly ripped off the key. Just as I did so, Jessie lunged at me, I blocked her with the chair and threw the chair so she launched to the wall. Quickly, I slammed the door with the key in hand. I walked back to Shawn’s room my body still tingling from the fear and terror I just experienced, and easily unlocked it with no alarm. He was sitting in the chair so I sat under the window just in case Pam came down and was looking for me, “So what’s the idea?” I said exhaling deeply.
“Hey Camile!” He said looking above me.
I got onto my knees and peeked over the window, “Roxie!” she squealed.
“Shhh. Cami be quiet!” I said standing up and opening the door.
“Roxie!” She whispered.
Just as she said that I heard a closer ravenous voice, Shawn’s mom was way down the hallway along with Jessie’s. But Shawn’s dad was not very far away, and the ravenous noise sounded close.
“Stay in here with Shawn okay?” I told Cami.
“Shawnie!” I heard Cami say as I closed the door.
I slowly creeped down the hallway and looked at Shawn’s dad, he had turned, the white milky eyes were staring into oblivion, it wasn’t the diabetes. I quickly raced to Shawn but Pam was standing in front of his door, she hadn’t seen the key or Cami. Shawn looked worried, he kept glancing below the window, smiling putting one finger to his lips as to say “shhh” and mouthing words.
“Hey, Pam. Is it okay if I do some tests on Shawn’s dad because he turned. You know how you said how he isn’t turning because of diabetes, that’s not it. But I wanna try and put in a very high amount of glucose into his body so maybe he will turn back.” I said trying to sound confident.
“Wow Roxanne.” She said looking at me sternly.
“What. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” I said looking down.
“No, no, no. Do it. Just make sure that you have a full body suit so he cannot bite you through it. Once you tie him up you can take the suit off and I have glucose in the room over there. Be careful with that stuff I have cancer cells, Ebola cells, everything in there. Alright?” Pam said starting to walk up the stairs.
“Got it. Can you shut the door so Sam doesn’t come down here, my mom told me Cami was taking a nap in my room so I wouldn’t worry about her. She is really grumpy if you wake her up from her nap though, beware.” I said walking towards the room where I saw all of the diseases, and substances.
“I’ll take note of that.” She said shutting the door.
I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding in, I ran back to Shawn’s room and he was sitting in the chair hugging Cami who was on his lap. I opened the door and said, “That was great Cami!”
“Shawnie promised I get ice cream!” She said smiling and looking at me.
I looked at Shawn who shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sorry.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes, “In a minute or two Cami. Shawn tell me your idea.”
Immediately it looked like a cloud of darkness fell over him, “Yeah.” He said the tone of his voice changing as he set down Cami.
I sat on the floor under the window and Cami sat in my lap, “So.”
He sighed and said, “So it’s not diabetes. I don’t have diabetes, at all that was a lie I told Pam.”
“Okay. So how are you not trying to eat me right now?” I said getting a little worried.
“Well, I have stage one brain cancer.” He said as I interrupted him.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were best friends telling each other everything!” I said angrily as I stood up setting Cami beside me.
Shawn stood up and said, “I know, I know. Roxanne I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to worry about me, because if I told you, you would’ve started treating me like I can’t do anything.”
“How long has this been going on?” I said the sadness consuming me.
“Just for like 7 months.” He said sitting back down.
“A month ago on my birthday you had it and didn’t tell me?” I said sitting back down.
“I’m going to be fine, I’m taking chemo and last time I went to the doctors they said it probably won’t spread but there will still be a cancer cell in me. That’s how I’m not turning, cancer.” He said looking at Camile who looked confused.
“So… I will be right back keep Cami in here.” I said running out the door not waiting for a response. I ran to the room with the diseases and substances and grabbed brain cancer, then I went to the room where I saw the suits Pam was talking about, in the same room I found rope. Quickly I out on the suit, I ran past every room and at the end of the hallway was a big room with a lab table and a few lights around it. I went to Shawn’s father and opened the door, I grabbed him viciously and tied up his hands. I noticed he was frozen, did Pam do that? But that wouldn’t make sense he was moving when I last saw him, I don’t know. I dragged him to the lab room, there were straps on the table so I strapped the frozen body and tied up it’s legs using the little bit of rope I had left, just in case. Doubtfully, I grabbed a hair shaver and shaved him hair off until he was bald. I hadn’t learned how to cut a head open so I winged it, I ran a scalpel right down the middle of his head. I was met by blood, cerebrospinal fluid and a skull, this was the nasty part. To get to the brain I would have to drill through the skull, luckily I had seen in on the TV show Fear The Walking Dead before but the guy they did it on didn’t survive. I looked around the lab room and found a drill with a circular shaped thing on the end that looked like a blade. I grabbed the drill and turned it on, it span making a loud drilling noise. Good thing it runs on batteries because we might lose power soon. Grossed out, and feeling anxious I held the drill onto the skull and held down the button. It turned on quickly, I focused on keeping it steady and trying to avoid looking or thinking about the skull dust that was accumulating on the skull as I drilled. I gagged a little then refocused as I felt the drill stop drilling through the thick skull. I set the drill down and looked at the piece of skull I drilled out that was stuck on the drill. It was a pretty clean cut, but I had exposed the brain, it looked a lot more disgusting then I thought it would and it smelled strange, there was also a lot of blood. Then I realized, how am I gonna get cancer cells into the brain and more importantly where is the infection? I sighed realizing I just drilled my best friend's dad’s skull open without thinking about what I was doing, I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I frantically searched around the laboratory and found a book about the brain, I found a diagram with all of the different parts of the brain and found out that the top part that I drilled into was the Cerebral Cortex, which is the basic part of the brain everybody has seen in diagrams. After about twenty minutes I decided if I put the cancer cells into the spinal cord it will most likely go into all parts of the brain. I got a syringe since it was the only thing I could find and inserted it into the spinal cord and just for experimental purposes the frontal lobe which is controls the movement, intelligence, reasoning, behavior memory and personality. Well I didn’t know that until after I inserted the cancer cells that’s probably not the best choice because if this works he could lose his memory, his personality, his movement, and more. Regretting the decision I just made, I carefully inserted the circle of the skull that I drilled out. Randomly and to keep the part of the skull I drilled together, I took a substance that looked and felt like glue, and rubbed it on the crack in the skull, with gloves, yes with gloves or that would be disgusting. Then I used surgical tape to bring the two pieces of skin together and then I left it like that, since, I don’t know how to use stitches, and I couldn’t find any either. I shut the vial of cancer cells, threw away the syringe, and cleaned up the fluids that came out of his head. Once the area looked clean I took of my gloves, threw them away, washed my hands and took the suit and cancer cells back to the room of vials and suits. I slowly walked back to Shawn’s room, I opened the door and saw him laying on the ground talking to Cami. “See Cami I told you she would be back.” Shawn said.
“Roxie!” Cami said sleepily but in her usual happiness.
I smiled and slowly picked her up, she held onto me like a koala. “Thank you Shawn.” I said as he stood up.
“No problem.” He said standing up and hugging me.
“I’m going to go sleep now but when I wake up I will come back.” I said slowly creeping out the door.
“Okay bye.” He said waving once.
I shut the door and waved back, Cami did a small tired wave as we walked to the couch that was sitting down here.
I looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall, it said 10:59 pm. Slowly I laid down on the couch Cami laying ontop of me, I grabbed my old blanket that was lying on the back of the couch. It was a furry black blanket with the words, “Astronomy Is The World To Me.”  In fuzzy white words, I hugged Cami whispered, “Good night Cami.” And let my drowsiness slowly consume my body as I fell asleep.
I slowly opened my eyes to Cami still laying on me, the flat screen TV that was down there was bright with the movie, “Jeepers Creepers” on, it must have been my dad he knows that’s one of my favorite movies. I layed there for about fifteen minutes until I saw a body figure slowly creep down the stairs, it was too dark to see who it was, “Roxanne.” I heard Sam’s voice say as if he had read my thoughts.
“What Sam.” I said sleepily rubbing my eyes.
“Dad. He… he….” Sam said tears in his eyes.
Immediately I caught on I slowly lifted Cami off of me and set her where I was laying, I ran up the stairs and saw my dad laying on the couch in the basement, he was frozen. As I saw him tears started uncontrollably rushing out of my eyes, I stayed up there and cried with my mom, Sam, and Pam for a while then I stood up and went back down to the laboratory. Since that happened I was so much more motivated to find a cure, I left Cami sleeping on the couch and went to Shawn’s room. I opened the door to him laying on the ground sleeping, “Shawn?”
He slowly turned over his eyes were closed, quietly and sleepily he said, “Yeah? Don’t worry I’m still me.”
“My dad .” I said tears coming to my eyes again
He stood up and said, “I know.”
I looked at him surprised and he handed me a note, it was from my dad.
To: Roxanne
I’m sorry I hadn’t told you. I should’ve. I got bit when Pam was showing you the laboratory and your mom and Sam didn’t know either. Can we keep this between you and me? Please? You need to find a cure, you need to save the world Roxanne. I know what you’re thinking, you can’t do it you will kill somebody by trying to find a cure. But the thing is even if you kill somebody it will be for the world, for a good cause. You have the brains, you just need the courage.
Love: Your dad.
P.S. I love you and don’t forget me.
Shocked I held the note in my hand, quickly and without warning I put the note in my pocket and ran out of the room. I put a suit on and ran to the room where Shawn’s dad was, I walked over to him and touched his arm. “Nick.” I said using his first name.
He opened his eyes, they weren’t milky white but he stared blankly. Slowly he turned to me looking confused, he was easily breathing. “Grab my hand.” I said offering my hand.
He did so then let go, he looked at me confused then grabbed my hand again. He didn’t remember grabbing my hand just a few seconds ago, “What’s your name?”
In very confusing and slur like words he said, “Nick?”
“What’s your name?” I said getting excited.
He looked confused and asked, “My name?”
I nodded and he just looked at me confused, “Where Shawn?”
“He is okay. Who is your daughter?” I said surprised he remembered Shawn.
Then he angrily yelled, “My daughter?!”
I sighed, it didn’t work. Then he started to awkwardly move his hands, he wouldn’t stop moving and he took no notice of it either, he just stared at me blankly.
I walked out of the room and went to Shawn’s room, “Follow me Shawn.”
I took off the suit and walked back to his dad, “Dad?” Shawn said walking to his side.
His dad stared at Shawn with a mixture of emotions in his eyes, “Family love you.” His dad said seriously.
Shawn stared at his dad who sat there for a second then his body went limp and he stayed there.
Shawn full of anger and sadness walked out of the room, I followed him as he went back to his room. He shut the door and said, “Leave me alone.”
I stared at him for a second then walked back to the couch where Cami was sitting watching Jeepers Creepers, it was to the middle of it so I sat next to her. She slowly crawled on my lap and hugged me, I hugged her back and covered us with the blanket. I watched until the end of the movie then I went back to Shawn with Cami, her little fingers strongly pulling on my hand. I ducked below the window on the outside so Shawn couldn’t see me, then I unlocked the door and sent Cami in.
“Hey Cami!” Shawn said sounding like he had been crying.
Cami gasped and said, “Shawnie!”
I heard Shawn laugh a little then I crawled back towards the couch and stood up, I walked past the window like I hadn’t just sent Cami in.
“Roxie!” Cami said smiling and hugging Shawn.
“Cami what did I say you can’t see  Shawn until I say okay. Right?” I said looking at her.
“Sowy.” She said hugging Shawn.
I quickly glanced at him and his eyes looked red from crying, “Stay in here for a little while Cami okay?”
She nodded and ran to my legs to give me a hug, she squeezed my legs and I smiled. Then I picked her up and said, “Love you.”
“Luv you tew!” She said as I set her down.
I walked out the room shut the door and walked down the hallway until I was past Shawn’s window. “Pam!” I said surprised meanwhile I was praying in my mind that Cami was hidden.
“How’s it going?” She asked.
“Well I tried a procedure on Shawn’s dad and it worked but then he died.” I said sadly knowing Shawn could hear me.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that but do you have any questions?” She said looking at me.
“Actually do you know where the infection is, and do you have any medical records or something for Shawn?” I asked her.
She nodded and walked into a small room, she handed me a piece of mail that was unopened. Then she went to the computer and pulled up Shawn’s medical records. “Here you go. Your dad is in a room down the hallway too, I did it this morning okay?” Pam said walking up stairs.
“Thanks.” I said setting down the letter by the laptop that she had pulled the information on.
I heard the door shut quietly then I ran down the hallway, I opened up Shawn’s room quickly and checked on Cami who was under the window smiling. I shut the door then sprinted to my dad’s room, I arrived at the window unfortunately. I stopped and stared at my dad who was in the chair frozen, “Dad. I got your note, but I don’t know what to do. I know you said all I need is courage, but I can’t. I can definitely try but I don’t want any more of Shawn’s family members to die or you I need to see you again.” I said crying.
“Daddy?” Cami interrupted me.
I jumped and saw her standing next to me staring through the glass, “Yeah Cami. It’s daddy.” I said bending down and hugging her.
“Daddy? Why is daddy not hug me?” She said looking at me confused.
I sighed and stood up, Shawn was looking around the corner, “Cami he isn’t hugging you because he has a surprise to show you in a couple of days. Okay?” He said trying to sound happy.
She nodded, “I wait daddy.”
I looked at Shawn crying, before I knew it he was hugging me. “Listen to him Roxanne. He knows you can do it, so prove him right and when he gets better show him you had enough courage to save the world.”
“Okay.” I said wiping my eyes.
Cami gasped and said, “No hug?”
I laughed and so did Shawn,then he said, “Shawnie will give you a hug.”
Cami squealed with joy and hugged him.
Cami and Shawn went back to Shawn’s room as I went to look at that information. First I looked at the letter that said:

Dear Roxanne S. Rooks;

I send this message with an amazing pleasure to finally get in contact with you. I have heard many, many great things about you Roxanne. Most of these amazing things include Neuroscience which is what I wrote this letter for. Ms. Rooks we reach you in tremendous desperation, we have heard you are highly skilled with neuroscience, mostly the part that includes the human brain. We at Michigan State University have tried our best but the people who have survived aren’t people who focus on the brain. Yes we are aware you are only 17 years old, but we have gotten requests from the president to try and find the cure. What we know is that the infection starts in the Cerebellum, which is not a very dangerous place to loose in the brain but we cannot stand back and watch the world fall into an apocalypse. If you discover anything then contact us via text or Skype.
Sincerely: MSU

I stared at the letter then I got a suit and went into the lab room again, Shawn’s dad’s body was gone probably due to Pam. I got Shawn’s mom who had sadly recently turned, I strapped her up to the lab table just like I did with Shawn’s dad. Doubtfully and once again I opened and drilled another skull. I was going to try and take the Cerebellum out which is where the infection is, I grabbed a scalpel and tried to accurately cut off the Cerebellum. I successfully did and there was a lot of blood, I know this is my best friends’ mom but I have to do this. I set the disgusting looking Cerebellum onto a tray, I carefully used surgical tape to seal the incision then I cleaned up my area but the Cerebellum into a bag and into a refrigerator that was in the room. Once everything was clean, I threw my gloves away and vomited along with it. I am proud of myself for waiting that long before I vomited, once I was done I wiped my mouth and looked at the lab table.
His mom was awake, “Ava?” She said to me struggling.
I stared at her in shock, “It worked!”
Then she looked at the ceiling and said, “Can you unstrap me?”
I did so and she fell off of the lab table, she fell on her head and it bursted open. Blood was all over the floor, I stared in shock, I just killed an innocent woman. I ran out of the room and back to the computer, I immediately Skyped MSU to try to distract myself, they quickly accepted it and I saw a woman with straight blonde hair into a bun, her eyes were brown, and she looked a few years older than me.
“Okay so I got your note and I found a cure somewhat.” I said nervously.
I heard cheering and a bunch of people grouped around the screen, “Remember I said somewhat, so my best friend has brain cancer. I tried to insert cancer cells into the frontal lobe and that was a fail, then after I got your note I tried to take out the Cerebellum because it has the infection in it, that somewhat worked but the woman I did it on she, she fell and died. So I have a new idea and I am thinking, so I have a friend here that has brain cancer in the Cerebellum. So I am going to try and get a brain x-ray and try and see how much of the Cerebellum that is infected with cancer and how much is infected with the plague. So I believe from what I know so far is that the brain cancer cells stop the plague from spreading, so kind of ironically since cancer is one of the worst diseases in the world, I think brain cancer is the cure.”
It was pretty silent then a woman said, “That is reasonable but what if we spread cancer cells throughout the world for people to inject it into the spinal cord. Once or if the infection is gone, everybody is going to die from cancer.”
“But there is a cure for cancer, the president has it, they just don’t wanna give it to the world or the money people get from chemotherapy will decrease a lot .” A young man said.
“Well, can you guys try and get the president to give out the cancer cure. I will work on getting rid of the virus, okay?” I said looking through the screen.
“Alright. Skype us when you have anymore information okay?” An older man maybe a professor said.
I nodded and disconnected, I went to Shawn’s room and sat under the window with Cami.
“So, I need to do an operation on you.” I said to Shawn.
“Will you kill me?” He asked me sounding worried.
“No. I promise I won’t.” I said sighing.
“That’s all I need, are you doing it now?” He said to me.
“In like an hour yes.” I said as Cami was staring at us not understanding what we were saying.
Then Shawn looked up and Pam said, “Where’s Ava and Cami?”
“I think they went to my house. I know Ava just finished another operation, I don’t think it worked.” He said looking at her.
“Have you talked to them?” Pam said sounding mad and worried.
He shook his head, “I’m not breaking your rule. I have seen her but acted like I can’t hear same with Cami.”
Then it was silent I’m guessing she nodded, “Alright well I will be back in a couple of hours.”
Shawn nodded and waited for about 20 minutes until he said, “She’s gone she just took my mom’s body”
I nodded and said, “I promise I won’t kill you Shawn. All I need is an X-ray I think.”
He nodded then stood up, “Let’s do it.”
I stood up and walked out of the door, I turned Spongebob Squarepants on the TV so Cami would stay there. I walked to the lab room and Shawn was already sitting on the lab table, I searched around and found a door. I opened it and there was an X-ray machine, I looked in and there was a frozen person. I jumped and in relief it wasn’t unfrozen, I moved the body out into a separate room and put Shawn in the X-ray machine. After about 5 minutes it was done and he came back out, I looked at the X-rays and I could see a medium sized white spot, which I am guessing is the cancer. Then I saw a greyish spot in the white spot, it must be the infection. I let Shawn go back to his room with Cami, and I went to skype MSU.
“Any news?” A young woman said.
“Yes. So what I did was take an X-ray and I saw the cancer, but in the cancer was a grey colored spot which I’m guessing is the infection.” I said looking at the young woman.
“Okay, that is great news. Can you try and insert the cancer into the bloodstream of a patient, and see what happens?” She said.
“Definitely I will report back with any news.” I said disconnecting the chat.
I walked back to the room where I put the frozen guy in the x-ray room, I grabbed him and took him into the lab room. I strapped him down to the  lab table and went to grab the cancer cells, when I turned around cancer cells in hand Pam was behind me.
“I’d like to see how things are going.” She said.
“Okay.” I said walking back to the lab room, thank god Cami was unseen in Shawn’s room.
“So what I did was take an x-ray of Shawn and found out that he has brain cancer in the cerebellum. What I am trying to do is insert cancer through the bloodstream as it heads up into the brain, hopefully it will attack the infection and turn whoever this is back to normal. On the x-ray the white part is the cancer and the greyish is the infection by the way.” I said as I showed her the infection.
She nodded, “I approve. Keep up the good work.”
She walked out of the room and I grabbed a syringe, I inserted the cancer cells into the bloodstream. Then I threw away the syringe and walked out, I went to Shawn’s room and grabbed Cami. I went out onto the couch with Cami and fell asleep watching, Jeepers Creepers for the third time.
I woke up to somebody saying, “Hello? Please help me!”
I shot up and put the blanket onto Cami, I ran past Shawn’s room to the lab room. I grabbed out the gun I had and pointed it in the room as I walked in.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s happening?” The man said looking terrified.
“What’s your name?” I said holding onto his driver’s license that I had taken.
“Joe.” He said acting like I was insane.
“Do you have a wife?” I asked looking at a picture of him and a blonde woman in a wedding dress, that I also found in his wallet.
“Yes. Her name is Cheyanne.” He said looking at me.
“How many kids?” I asked looking at one newborn child.
“One. Nicholas, my son.” He said smiling at the thought of him.
I slowly unstrapped him without putting my gun down, he stood up and said, “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Walk this way.” I said ignoring his question.
He walked towards me and said, “What is happening?”
I walked to his left and I said, “What way did I just move?”
“Left… I’m not that stupid.” He said sounding annoyed.
“I did it!” I screamed happily.
“What? Did you make me immortal or something?” He asked.
“No. I inserted brain cancer cells into your body to make the zombie plague disappear!” I said still excited.
He stared at me in shock then I ran out and to Shawn, I opened it the alarm going off, “I did it! He went back to normal!”
He hugged me and said, “You are gonna be famous!”
I laughed then I heard Pam say, “What are you doing Ava?”
“I found a cure! The cancer cells kill the infection!” I said happily.
It looked like she was a little relieved then she said, “Go tell MSU!”
I ran to the computer and told them, they all cheered and said, “The president gave us the cure for cancer too!”
“Now we have to spread it to the people who are still alive! This will take a while but we have to insert it into everybody’s blood stream in the whole world, then deposit the cure for cancer to the whole world. It’ll take a while but we did it!” I said smiling.
“We’ll get back to you soon.” They said smiling.
“Okay.” I said disconnecting.
I grabbed some more cancer cells and got my dad onto the lab table, I inserted the cancer cells into his bloodstream and waited. I waited at least an hour then he opened his eyes, “Dad?”
“Roxanne!” He said happily.
I unstrapped him from the lab table and he stood up, immediately he gave me a hug.
“I knew you could do it! You have always had the courage you just were too focused on anxiety to see it. I’m so proud of you for saving the world, Roxanne you just saved the world.” He said smiling.