Mag-log in"What are they thinking, wandering around in the rain like this?" the driver said through the truck's open window. His name was Lewis. "Do they have a death wish?" I could hear him clearly now. He switched on the hazard lights, hoping the three of us would notice. The orange lights blinked through the rain like a signal flare. The crew had come specifically to inspect the final cleanup in this area, just in case any survivors had been missed. "They don't look like survivors," said the captain next to him. His name was Elijah Young, and he watched us for a long moment. We were well-equipped, and two of us walked with a spring in our step. We didn't look distressed in the slightest. Reid, the tall guy, started waving at the truck, hopping up and down to get their attention. Inside his raincoat, he gave them a big thumbs-up. "All along this road, the survivors have already been evacuated," he said into the headset, grinning. "I'm so grateful to the rescue team." "Turn off the hazar
I opened the door. The couple standing in the hall looked exhausted. "I don't know what got into him," the woman said through her tears. Her name was Jenny Warner. "He looked at us like we were his mortal enemies. We had just gotten Nana into the car safely, all of us together, protecting her." The man behind her said nothing. His eyes were full of grim resentment. "We know nobody wants to give up medicine right now," Jenny continued. "We just want to borrow your raincoats." She had seen us from across the hall. She noticed visitors had arrived at Madison's apartment, and more importantly, that we were wearing acid-proof coats. "We'll definitely return them. We can pay!" "We have no cash at home," the man said at last. His name was Isaac Lawson. He held out a golden bracelet in a shaking hand. "I have medicine," I said. I stepped forward and took the bracelet. I examined it for a second and confirmed it was real gold. "What's your daughter's name?" "Melanie Lawson.
Reid Hale's childhood friend was named Nathan Reed.As we walked, Reid told me the story, the rain loud against our hoods, his voice small in my earpiece. Back when Daniel was a street vendor, he'd been a single father who sometimes had to lock little Reid in the apartment alone while he worked. One day, a fire started in their kitchen, and the family next door, the Reedes, pulled Reid out.After that, Uncle Reed and his wife often invited Reid to their place. They had a son and a daughter, and the three kids grew up playing together. Later, when Daniel made his fortune, the Hales moved away.Sadly, Uncle Reed and his wife died in a car accident, leaving only Nathan and his sister Madison behind. Nathan joined the Army. Madison started working at a design firm in Los Angeles.This time, Nathan had called Reid in a panic, saying something was wrong with Madison. He asked Reid to check on her."Madison hates to trouble people," Reid said. "She didn't want me to come at all. But I have t
"Do you believe in doomsday prophecies?" I asked.For as long as people had been around, they'd loved predicting the end of the world. None of the predictions ever came true, but some people never got tired of making them. I'd never understood what those people based their guesses on, and I'd never believed them."Of course not," Reid said. "Who believes that kind of stuff?""Then don't overthink it. You can't save them anyway."My words sobered him up. I heard him exhale through the headset, long and slow.We walked a while longer before the road disappeared. Floodwater covered the street in front of us. Cars floated on the surface, bumping gently against each other. Reid suggested a different route."It's no use," I said. "Everything is flooded."I walked over to the shelter of an awning on the side of the road and unzipped my bag. After struggling with it for a while, I pulled out a folded inflatable raft."You even have one of these?" Reid said, admiring me more than ever."I took
For a moment, nobody in the family knew how to react."Ivy," Vera said, "we still have enough food at home to last a few more days. If it gets bad, we'll just eat less. You don't have to go out and risk your life."She and Daniel tried everything to talk me out of it. I stood by the door and let them finish, and none of it worked."Fine," Daniel said at last. "You can go."He said it slowly, rubbing his jaw, and I knew he hadn't been convinced. He was remembering something I had said days ago, about a greater disaster coming after this one. If that was true, ordinary people like them couldn't survive by hiding. It was better to let the kids get some training now.Reid sat in my car with his hands in his lap."Thanks for earlier," he said quietly.It was the first time he had been outside in days, and the sight was far more desolate than he had imagined. The once-luxurious community had turned into a wasteland in less than a week. Brand-new Mediterranean-style mansions now looked like
"Plans?" Vera asked. She didn't understand what I meant.Instead of answering, I pulled up a video on my phone and set it on the coffee table.It wasn't a clip anybody had filmed on purpose. It was a strange piece of surveillance footage from overseas. Inside an ordinary little house, a family of three stood motionless in the center of the living room. The video ran over an hour, and for that entire hour, the three of them barely moved. Even the child, who couldn't have been more than four years old, held the same pose.If you ignored the blood spattered across the floor and walls, and the clock still ticking on the wall, you might think it was a photograph."What's wrong with these people?" Daniel muttered. I watched him lean closer, frowning, as if something in the picture was tugging at him. He zoomed in on their faces, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead."Zombies?" he whispered.Their expressions were exactly the same as Ben Stone's and his mother's.I had already searched







