I awoke to the sights of Manchester, Indiana, in a suburb exactly like our old one. The clock on my phone read 4:27. Mixed red brick houses passed by one by one, faintly lit by street lamps. The car slowed to a crawl. We were home. I got out and headed straight to my room. My first day of school was tomorrow. I had to get some sleep. My dad left to go to the lab before I passed out. At four in the morning. That man is dedicated. I crashed.
My dad came in at 7:30 in the morning with his lab coat still around his shoulders. He was exhausted. The bags under his eyes told the story. He had to wake me up for school. Caleb gets to wait a few days.
“Jason. Wake up. Its 7:30.” Yelled Dad. There was an annoyed tone in his voice. Better not release the kraken.
I mumbled profanities towards him and got up. My new school started a week earlier than my old one. There went my last summer. I got up after 3 hours of sleep and got ready. It’s going to be a long day I thought.
It was a long day. Mostly a blur actually. The usual crap on the first day. Welcome to school! Tell me about yourself! How was your summer? Where are you from? Yeah. That crap. Plus, the annoyingly shallow conversations with the ambassadors. Can’t handle that for long. And so it goes.
No homework except for calculus. My dad wanted me to take it even though I didn’t want to. “It builds character” he says. It also builds brain cancer I thought. Something not so horrible did happen that day though. I got invited to a back to school party. Along with everyone else in the school. But still, it’s a small victory. I decide that I’m going. It beats the crap out of staying at home. The party starts at 5 so I’ll have some time to eat and get ready.
There goes the bell. The same from his old school. I start to stuff my backpack and head to the bus when one of the ambassadors spots me despite my wandering eyes. Ten feet. Five feet. Smile. Oh god.
“Hey! What’s up? Jason right?”
That is Chad Vonnegut. Student council president and chief ambassador. A volatile combination.
“Jason, yeah. Not much. Just headed home. I’ve got to catch the bus actually.”
“Oh okay. Well I just wanted to ask if you’re going to be at the party tonight. It would be great if you came. It’s a lot of fun.”
“Yeah I’ll be there.”
“All right. Awesome! See you there!” Chad exclaimed.
“Yeah.” I said.
I barely caught the bus. The same ones they used at my old school.

When I got home, my parents attacked with the same questions they’ve always asked. I answered with the same answers I’ve always had.
“Look at this cute picture!” my mom said enthusiastically. She showed me a picture of my brother with Dad’s lab coat on. Caleb looked happy. I remember when I could smile like that. I smiled politely. I told them that I was going to a party later and they were really excited. They’re even letting me take the car.
I went to my room and got ready. I looked really nice. First impressions are everything. I check my Facebook and reply to “miss you” wall posts until it’s time to go.
When I get into the car, the radio dial is turned to the old Christian radio channel. Now it’s just static noise. I turn it off and head to the party. It’s at the school so I’m not completely lost.
When I got to the party I was greeted in the same way I was at school. These people were too nice. It was just a meet and greet type of thing. There were some games going on. There was a bump and jump obstacle course in the middle of the field and everyone was there so I started over there. There were free burgers and drinks and a live band. Not bad Manchester. He saw a group crowded together that dressed like his friends from home so he went and hung out with them. They were pretty cool. The band stopped playing after about an hour and everyone’s attention went to them. Chad went onstage.
“Hello seniors! How are you guys doing?! Good, good. I’m going to try to get off the stage as soon as possible. I just wanted to say that this year will be the best years of our lives. You know? Our senior year. It’s crazy that it’s already here. Some people here have been here since kindergarten. Some people are experiencing their first year here. But were all the same. We’re all a part of the class of 2006. Let’s make it amazing. T.S. Elliot writes in the poem The Hollow Men, “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” Join me, class of 2006, and prove him wrong. Thank you. Enjoy the party!”

Everyone was cheering. He might be annoying but that kid can speak. That was epic. The rest of the night was short-lived. More music, soda, and socializing and everybody started to wear down. I was heading home at 8. I said goodbye to my new friends that I don’t know the names of and head out. That was pretty fun. The drive home was quiet. I started to play with the dial until I got a station. It was a country station. I changed it back to static and made my way back home. The sun was gone and so was I. I needed sleep.

The house was really quiet when I walked in. Dad was already home so I assumed everyone is still getting caught up on this time zone. Sounded like a good idea. I walk past our new rooms, headed towards the bathroom. I pass Caleb’s room and try to make an effort to talk to him.

“What’s up Caleb?”

I made my way to the bathroom waiting for an answer. There is none. I came back to his room after a second.

“Hey Caleb. What are you up to man?”

No answer. I turned on the lights and saw something that haunted me. There was something growing on him. It looked like the arm of some sea creature. I didn’t know what it was. I lost my breath screaming. I screamed for my parents but there’s no answer. I walked up to him tentatively. I couldn’t control my breathing. Sharp sporadic breathes came in. I got next to him and saw that it wasn’t growing on him. It was growing out of him. His mouth was wide open with this tentacle sprouting straight out of it. He had holes on his skull with smaller gray tentacles coming out of it. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. All I could do was stare. The growth is gray with a white tip. It’s not moving. Just sitting there. My fingers closed his eyes and moved down the side of his neck. The familiar warm thump wasn’t there. He was gone.

I started screaming again. My parents were still not answering. I didn’t know what was going on. A feeling of emptiness consumed me when I saw a note on the wall.

“Caleb was infected. The fungus was released. We are infected too. Call someone you know. Get out of the house.”


The handwriting got progressively worse. I tried to hold myself together. I was too shocked to cry. And I didn’t have enough time. I started to run to my room to get my phone and keys when I saw something at the end of the hall way out of the corner of my eye. It was my parents. Both of them were just standing there. Jaws clenched. Heads tilted slightly to the left. Just staring at me. Five minutes pass and we were still there. Standing. Staring. Not daring to move. I swallowed every fear I had and spoke.

“Dad?”
Nothing
“Mom?”
Nothing. There was a minute of silence again. And then they shuffled forward. This is the parasite walking. I told myself.
“Dad? Mom? Stop. Please stop.”

They kept coming. They didn’t say a word. It’s not them anymore. I ran to my room and got my phone and keys and came back out. They weren’t there. I had a second to think. I can’t just leave here. I can’t do that to them. I’ve got to help them. If I just hold them off for a while it will fade away. Right? If they don’t get better by sunrise…I don’t know what’s going to happen but I can’t think about that now. I needed a place to escape. I’ve never looked in the house. There had to be a basement or attic somewhere. In my old house the door to the basement was in the living room. I ran over there, knocking over boxes full of pictures and tapes on the way. There was a door behind the boxes so I pushed them onto the floor. Spilling more memories onto the floor. I pulled more boxes on to the floor and got to the door and pulled it to see our lovely air conditioning unit. There’s about 5 minutes wasted.

I close the door and look to my right to see my father’s jaundiced face with my mother right behind him. Jaws clenched. Heads tilted. I just stared. I had to move. They blocked the hallway to my room so I went towards theirs. I scanned the walls and ceilings on the way there and noticed something. A small string on the ceiling. We had an attic. I jumped to tried and reach the string but couldn’t get it. I looked back to see my parents standing ten feet away with the same stare. Jaws clenched. Heads tilted. I tried to jump again with no avail. The last time I tried I got it. I pulled it down and some stairs came with it. I ran up there and unhinged the ladder. I couldn’t let them come up here. I had to think of a way out of this one. I had to think. I had to call someone. Maybe one of dad’s coworkers. Maybe they have an anecdote that could cure them of this parasite. Maybe it hasn’t spread too far yet. What am I saying? I thought. It’s already taken over. It’s not them anymore. It’s not them. I had to keep thinking. I thought of calling my family members but they lived 14 hours away. They couldn’t do a thing. I thought of calling Chad too. He gave his phone number at the party. But what could he do. Last time he checked it was 1:28 A.M. I had to call the police. It was just a question of them coming or not. They don’t usually respond well to zombie attacks. I decided to try it anyway. I reached in my left pocket to find my phone dead. I tried turning it on, taking the battery out. Nothing. Why can’t this come back to life? I thought. I could just stay up here until morning but what good would that do me? I decided to take my father’s advice. His last request. I just had to try to leave.

I looked down the hole in the ceiling and didn’t see them anywhere. I got on edge and jumped down as a sharp pain shot up my spinal cord. I curled up on the floor in pain. It was just a sprain. I can still get out of here. I started to hobble my way to the door. Past the photos of our family. Past how things used to be. Past the memories. And I started to think. Absent mindedly walking. There’s no way it’s going to be like that again, I thought. This is it. I continued to think. It wasn’t easy. And when you’re zoned out, you’re vulnerable. To thoughts, emotions, feelings, and today, zombies. My dad scratched down the length of my back, sending me writhing in pain. There was blood underneath his lifeless fingernails. Looking with his blank stare. Almost longing for something. An answer to a question that he had to know.

He kept coming so I had to move. I started crawling forward when I met the wall of my mother. I was trapped. I pushed my mother over and ran out to the sound of a hollow body hitting the floor. She got back up quickly. I was running. I jumped over the couch and coffee table on the way to the door and got myself out of there. They were close behind. They became faster. I couldn’t look back. The outside world was brighter than it was just a few hours earlier. The sky was a gradient. Orange to black. Orange. The sun is rising. I’ve got to get rid of this now. The van door is open and my stuff fell out. My baseball bat is sitting out there in the open. Here’s my chance. I grab it, still running, and head for the center of our small front yard. This is it. I swallow my fears. My inhibitions. My human instinct. Repress every memory I’ve ever had for a moment. Forget the world. And swing. The sound of a child dropping a watermelon sounds in the neighborhood. My father’s feet fail him. He falls. Almost in slow motion as my mother runs towards me and gets hit. A disgusting mess of fluids are flying through the misty morning air. Grey blobs of matter are expelled from their skulls.

The adrenaline takes me over. I beat them into the ground. I can’t stop. Something’s taken over me. A flood of emotions blind my vision. Seeing red. Anger from this disease ridding me of a family. Confusion from why this is happening to me. Loneliness from being the last one. The only one. I’m alone. I beat them harder. A pulp of a person lies before me. My father. My mother sits next to him. Together till the end. I break down for a moment. Crying uncontrollably in my palms until I start to see lights out of the corners of my misty eyes. I hear a demanding voice from a megaphone. “Do not move son. We saw everything.” I can’t stop crying. I stand up and see three cops running towards me. I scream as they tackled me onto the ground. I’m done. No use in trying. I guess T.S. Elliot was right. We’re leaving with not a bang but a whimper. My brother left with a whimper. My parents are gone now. Moaning as they fell. And now my last sound of freedom rings as I’m forced down. A whimper. And this is the way my world ends.