They were everywhere. There was no warning. There was no telling. They just came. Shuffling through cities, destroying everything. We didn't know. We couldn't tell. It just happened. It was every man for himself. Kill or be killed, and eaten.

Sam's POV

December 7, 2013 (Age 17)

"Yes!" I yelled , "Won again!" Ms. Briggs head snapped up from her book.

Shit.

"Samantha!" Ms. Briggs screeched, "Is that a cell phone?" I looked down at my hand, hoping the cell phone would magically disappear. But it was still there, Pac Rat Deluxe still flashing on the screen.

"Well you see Ms. Briggs, this is a learning game." I lied, "And I just figured out that "run" is a verb."

"Nice try," Ms. Briggs said, "Principal's office. Now." I stood up and slouched out of the classroom. Something was wrong. It was quiet and empty. Suddenly, Gibby came running up to me. His face was white and his eyes wide with fear.

"Gibby! What's wrong?" I asked urgently.

"They're everywhere!" He cried, "Swarms!" Gibby sprinted away in terror. What the hell? I kept walking down the hallway. I arrived at principal Franklin's office and opened the door. His head was face down on the desk, his arms wrapped around his head.

"Principal Franklin?" I said. No answer. I touched his arm cautiously. I fell away, revealing Principal Franklin's head in a puddle of blood. His face was gone, almost like something ate it. I put my hand over my mouth in shock. W-What the hell! I ran out of the room into the hallway. I crashed into Freddie who was just as white as Gibby.

"Sam!" he pulled me into a hug, "I thought they got you."

"Freddie, what's going on?"

"No time. We have to get out of here now!"

"Wait! Where's Carly!"

"She was carried off with Wendy, Gibby, and Spencer." Freddie grabbed my hand and dragged me behind him. We burst through the double doors out into the cold air. People were running in every direction, screaming and yelling. I looked left and couldn't believe my eyes. Zombies. We ran to the parking lot where Freddie pulled me into his truck. We sped back to Bushwell Plaza and sprinted to the building. Lewbert was sprawled out over his desk, mauled and bloody. Freddie and I ran up to the eighth floor and into his apartment.

"Where's your mom?" I panted as Freddie dug through his drawers.

"She's in California visiting my aunt." He said. He pulled out two pairs of black sweat pants and black sweat shirts. "Put these on."

"Why?" I asked, catching the clothes.

"We need to stay unnoticed. Put them on." I put the sweatshirt on over my own shirt. Ialso removed my jeans and replaced them with the black sweatpants. Thank God it was December. I put on some gloves and a ski cap. Freddie was already decked out in his black apparel. We both looked like ninjas.

"What now?" I asked. Freddie motioned for me to follow him into the hallway. He doubled checked twice and sprinted over to Carly's apartment. We walked inside quietly and went to the kitchen. Freddie pulled his backpack off his back and emptied out everything.

"Help me stock up on food and water." He whispered. I grabbed all the water and fat cakes I could reach. We stuffed them into the pack and closed it up. "Now yours." I nodded and emptied my backpack. We stuffed it with food and water.

"What about weapons?" I asked.

"I knew you'd ask something about that." Freddie chuckled. I followed him back into his apartment. He opened his closet and rummaged around a bit. He came out holding two Samurai swords in sheaths and two pistols.

"Whoa Fredward, your Mommy know about this?" I teased.

"This is for emergencies ONLY." He said, handing me the gun and a single box of bullets.

"And the giant knife?"

"This is your lifeline." Freddie said in a serious tone. He hooked his sword on his belt and his gun went into the…gun holder thingy. Freddie handed me a sword and the gun carefully.

"Wait, I don't have a belt." I said.

"Here, use one of my old ones." Freddie tossed me a black belt. I tied it around my waist and hooked it tight.

"Now you weave this around the belt and tie it tight so the sword doesn't flop around when you run." Freddie explained. "And the gun goes here. There, we're all set to go."

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked curiously.

"We need to get the hell out of Washington." Freddie said. He hesitated and pulled a mini laptop from his shelf and stuffed it in his backpack. "What?" he said, noticing my look, "We might need it for navigation!" I shrugged and stood up.

"Let's get going," I said, "It's getting dark." We silently walked down to the lobby and around to the parking garage.

"See anything you like?" Freddie chuckled.

"How about a motorcycle?"

"Hmm this looks like one of those silent models that just came out. We'll take it." There was a little compartment under the seat where we hid our bags. Freddie climbed on first and took the handle bars. I climbed on behind him and wrapped my hands around his waist. Normally, this would be weird, but since we were fighting for our lives, we had no choice.

"Wait," I said, "We don't have keys."

"Watch this." Freddie leaned over and felt around inside one of the pipes, "Gotcha!" He pulled himself back up, jangling a set of spare keys.

"Whoa nice!" I laughed, "Where'd you learn that?"

"Spencer taught it to me." He said. Freddie put the keys in the ignition and twisted them. The engine purred softly. Freddie hit the gas (Or whatever it's called) and we exited the garage. As we drove throughout Seattle, we saw crumbling buildings, the streets were littered with abandoned cars, and bodies. We reached my neighborhood even though Freddie didn't know it. He's never been to my house thank God.

"Wait! Stop!" I cried. Freddie slammed on the breaks.

"What!"

"I need to look in this house." I said.

"Whose is it?" he asked curiously.

"Mine." I walked up to the door and opened it slowly. I kept my hand on my sword and stepped inside. Freddie was right behind me, looking around for danger. We checked every room twice and no sign of my mom.

"Sam, we need to go." Freddie said nervously. I nodded and followed him out the door. We kept driving out of town. I rested my head on Freddie's back and fell asleep.