In the middle of the night, Heather felt something on her toes. She flinched and saw her mom on the other side of the bed, wearing a mad look as if she did something bad.

"Mom? Are you fine? Do you need something?" She asked while fixing her blanket

She got no response so she looks at her mother again.

"Mom, c'mon I'm was in the middle of my sleep and now we're just staring at each other? Say something so I can go back to my sleep" she sighed

Instead of speaking, her mom gets up and aggressively chokes her neck.

"Mom---" she obviously can't breathe so she tried pushing her mom away but her mother is stronger than her.

Heather kicked her mom and started running away.

She went inside her car and start the engine, her eyes widened when she saw her mom outside the car's window. She locked all the doors and stars to drive the car as fast as she can.

All of the street lights were closed so she keeps on telling herself to drive safely. She tried calling her friends but there's no signal, the whole city is so dark, all the stores were closed. She went to her friend's house and used her phone as a flashlight to go inside but she instantly regrets what she did after she opens the door.

She saw her friend stabbing her own brother, she almost drops her phone. She quickly shut the door and run to her car before her friend kills her.

She started driving, trying to find a place that has electricity and people. She stopped driving on the roadside.

"I need to go back to my mom," she said and started crying

In the middle of crying she heard some knocks so she look around, she saw a girl outside her car so she rolled down the window.

"Can I get inside? I'm alone" the girl burst into tears so Heather opened the door.

"Where are the other people?" Heather asked

"I don't know, I came from an overnight ship at work then when I was walking home, someone attacked me" the girl explained

"We need to go to a safe place" Heather suggested

"Let's try going to my house, I live alone and I'm sure I still have stocks of food in there," the girl said

"I'm Heather, and you?"

"I'm Lara, thanks for letting me in. oh god what's happening here," Lara said and holds Heather's hand

"You're so welcome, we have to make it alive," she said and hugged Lara

Heather started to drive to Lara's house, the whole city is dead and looks so damaged. It was so dark, only the moonlight gives brightness to a lifeless city. All the buildings are closed, the street looks so messy, even stray cats and dogs are not roaming at the street sides.

"I just wonder, where are they?" Heather asked

"Who?" Lara was confused by her question

"People, they should be here, chasing us because we're not like them if this thing is a virus or a zombie wave" she explained

"You have a point" Lara nodded

Tear stars falling on Heather's cheeks, she still can't believe what happened to her mom. She's now alone, her father died from a heart attack 5 years ago, after losing her dad she lost her mom too. After her father's disappearance, Heather's mom started drowning herself in work, she barely comes home. She has a brother but she doesn't know where he is now, because of a family problem, her brother ran away.

After 10 minutes they arrived at Lara's house, it was a small apartment. Lara went out but Heather stayed inside the car, so Lara asked her

"Why aren't you moving? let's get inside" Lara said

"I need to go back to my house, I need to see my mom, I hope she's still there," she said

"No! it's not safe, she might be infected with the virus. what if she attempts to kill you?" Lara asked

"She already did" Heather whispered, "She tried to kill me, but I still love her and I will do my best to get her and help her. She's not a monster, maybe she's just a victim of the virus" she added

Lara sighed before speaking

"I know how it feels to be a daughter, you'll do anything for your family. If that's what you want, I'll let you do it, but please... be safe" She said and came back inside to hug Heather

"Thank you," Heather said and let Lara go before driving back to their house

When she arrived at their house, the gate is wide open, all the doors are open so she panicked and ran inside.

She went to the second floor to see if her mom is in there but there's no sign of her presence there so she went back but when she got on the first floor she saw an armed man

"Oh my god!" she panicked but the man puts his gun away and starts walking in her direction.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help you, you need to go to the facility for your safety," the man said so she nodded

They started walking and get inside the van, they went to the facility wherein the other rescued people are in there.

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