In. Out. In. Out. I inhaled air and exhaled as I ran down the street. I felt people pushing their bodies next to mine as I made my way up the stairs to my apartment complex on Burlington Avenue.

The world was in chaos after the news of the outbreak. On the nets, they were calling it a zombie apocalypse. A disease ravaged your body and caused you to do unthinkable things.

People had started to eat other people. They called it the plague zero zero one. They said the people had no thoughts that were their own anymore; they were like wild animals. It was thought you would catch the disease from the bite of the infected but that had not been confirmed

“Riley,” I said loudly looking for my little brother as I opened the door to the apartment.

“What,” he said through a mouthful of pop tarts.

“Where’s mom?” I asked.

“She has not come home yet,” he said.

I paced the room. The world could end and Riley would only want to fill his mouth with food; he had an endless stomach pit. Mother should be home from work. I would have thought her boss would send her home because of the news.

“Have you seen the zombie news?” says Riley, worried in his voice.

“Yes, it will be alright,” I say but I do not know that.

The plague is located in major cities for now. We live in a small town in Ohio. Tulip, Ohio. We will be fine, I say to myself.

I sit down on the sofa. I open my texting app and send a text to my mom and to my friend Jennifer,

I got a reply from Jennifer. She is well and with her family listening to the news. I don’t want to turn on the news to not freak out my brother so I do not. I ask her to keep me updated if there is anything new.

Mother has not responded.

Finally, the door to the apartment opens. In comes my mom. She looks beat. She works for a life insurance claims company. They have gotten a lot more calls than usual. She says she will be working from home tomorrow but she needs to work a lot of hours.

Just two weeks ago life was normal as could be. The first leaves of fall had turned their special shades of autumn. Students had returned to school. Teachers were ready to teach.

“Want to go see a movie this Friday,” said Jeniffer.

“Yeah, that would be great,” I said.

“Okay I’ll text you,” said Jeniffer.

I walked to my history AP class and mentally prepared myself to answer some multiple-choice questions.

“Kyla, I have some graded work of yours,” said my teacher Mrs. Li.

I got up from my tan seat and picked up my papers.

I had to babysit my brother after work. If only then I knew to cherish the moments I had with my brother before the plague. When all I did was play video games with him or help with his homework.

Now two weeks later we have a plague of zombies.

My mother stays with us to work from home.

She uses the computer so I keep the television on cartoons. My brother plays with his handheld game system. We are asked to stay for a virtual school day by our school. so we do our homework. I stay busy with schoolwork.

In the afternoon my mother insists we should stockpile supplies. We go to various stores and a lot of essential products are sold out like toilet paper and canned food.

The toilet paper aisle is empty, the shelves bare in our local Walmart. Everything has been bought. We found some toilet paper in another store. We buy some more groceries and basic medical supplies for first aid. But I think bandages will not fix a bite but I do not say that to my mom. My brother complains about the large crowds of people in the stores. We can not just leave him at home alone.

Jennifer works part-time at a grocery store in town and she said that they were very short-staffed but her parents did not want her to go to work.

We arrived at home with bags full of goods.

“Do not eat the food!” says, my mom.

Riley makes a small fit. He definitely wants to eat the food right away. We are to save the food for later.

We finally turned on the news. It is not looking good.

"Riley goes to sleep honey," says, mom.

Riley obeys and closes his door.

The major cities are falling, the military has been sent in. Plague Zero Zero One has spread to the suburban areas.

Mom goes to the kitchen to make a call. She comes back.

"I called your grandparents," said mom.

"How are they?" I asked.

"Good, Riley and you will be staying in the country with them," said mom.

"And you?" I ask.

"I need to make a living," said mom.

"When do we leave?" I ask.

"Tomorrow," she said.

That was the last night I saw her.