It began June 2029 with the disease. No not a zombie plague -- Something real. In the year 2023 China Combined their greatest minds to start processing a weapon. They were aware it couldn’t be a projectile weapon nothing would be strong enough. A nuclear weapon would be to widespread, They had to make a new chemical. The group formed, and went by the name of Nejire, or Distortion. They kept their organization unknown, any knowledge of the organization in the outside world was like a whisper in the wind, and was quickly muffled. They worked with diligence to craft their weapon. In January 2027, the Chemical was finished. Years of continuous testing and changing was needed. In May 2029 The united states government discovered the organization, and frantically assembled a special operation to eliminate the organization. Nejire was forced to hasten their process and loaded an air fleet with the untested chemical. Over nearly every dense city in the world the fleet went. It was too late for The special Forces, Nejire Dropped their chemical warheads. What Happened next was to everyone’s surprise. The chemical was living. Technically living, it was a chemical with a anaerobic bacteria genetically mutated in the chemical. Once introduced to the body system the bacteria got to work, distorting the the mind rapidly forcing the infected into an unstable dementia. The were irrational violent and contagious. It was a unstable physical schizophrenia spread by contact. Back at Nejire, The chemical was loose, the only chance at a cure infected. Their minds distorted, a sick joke to the organization. Within a few months over half of the world’s population was infected. Only scattered now nomads and tattered civilizations left to go on. no one was safe, from the Nejire’s creation. The bacterial chemical is now known as Nejire to keep the organization fresh in everyone's mind living on, threatening the remaining peoples lives.

And that leaves us here in Southern Wisconsin On a large plot of land and 50 miles separating us from the insanity. The house is our utopia. We kept the outside and inside clean. We have food and supplies, grateful for a grandfather that was a prepper. Its just me and some friends. We were up North when the attacks happened. Because of the low population, there was no attack where we were. Our families are dead. Well not technically, but they aren’t themselves any more. Inside my grandfathers house the fifteen of us are seated around a table debating what to do now.

“We can’t Stay here forever, and you guys know that” I say gazing outside the window, at what was once my normal childhood.
“We can Stay here, we have for a few months now, and we can continue living here. There isn’t any reason to leave. Why would we take the risk, The second we get into chicago or anywhere south of here, we are dead. Those psychos will tear us apart.” Evan remarks, giving us his rebuttal shooting me a cold glare. Evan never really liked me, and the feeling was mutual. But he has a right to give us his opinion, and I won’t take that from him. He was a tall and Bulky 18 year old. A clean face and a dark heart. After the attack he changed, not much, but it wasn’t for the better. He stopped caring about others and grew a temper. His Dark Brown Hair jostled as he darted his eyes toward Maddy, who was slumped forward in her chair.
Maddy Shot to attention by feeling his stare.
“Evan’s right, We couldn’t make it out there.” She raises her head to look out the bay window behind me her thick, plain brown hair falling in front of her face. “ Where would we go anyways, all we know is here and we don’t know what is safe.” She immediately slumps back forward.
“We could”
is all I could get out before andrew spun around in his chair and spat out,
“Think about it. Go someplace with no people. Montana, Maine, anywhere. We could go to Russia if we wanted to.” Andrew is my cousin, Tall and muscular, long blonde hair always hung over his eyes. We were close before the attack; me him and matthew, and the attack made us closer, we are clever though recklessness may run in the family. “Andrew’s right you know. We could go any where and start fresh.” This redundant remark was from julia, a short light blond haired girl. Riley piped up now. “ Yeah we could. We all know we could. But if we did, we might not make it, and if we did; who says we are safe. The safest bet is to just stay where we are.” He slumps back in his chair, an irritated expression on his face. Katrina, Julianna, lizz, conner, and ruthie all sit silently on the couch at this time; deciding not to take part in the debate so they don't pick sides.

After ten minutes of an endless loop I end the debate. “well we have gotten nowhere, but we are running out of supplies and we need to decide something soon. Sleep on it.” I walk upstairs and collapse on the bed. I quickly doze off into a deep slumber. I wake up at 7, with the sun peeking through the shades in my room. I have gotten used to getting up naturally this early. I have alot of work to do and I don't want to waste time. I step outside, pleasant breeze weaving through my blonde hair. I head over to the garden we made, a memorial to my father. the dew soaking my through my shoes, saturating my wool socks. This reminded me of my family, early mornings outside together. A tear builds in my eye and runs down my face. In my opinion, it would be better for your family to be dead than for them to out somewhere, completely insane. The family you once knew is gone and in their place maniacs.
I shake the thought out of my head and keep walking towards the garden. Inside I fill a bag with tomatoes and ripe peppers. We are blessed to have the garden when we got here. If we do leave, the garden will be the number one thing I will miss. AFter filling my bag I head back inside. When I get inside Ruthie and Lizz are awake. They had eggs on the stove fresh from the coup. The aroma filling the house. I ignore that they are even there and walk up the stairs back to my room. I lay back in my bed and think. Me, Andrew, and Matt’s families taught us to think outside the box. and honestly I try to do so. And thats why I hypothesise this.
The disease, chemical, infection, whatever the h*** it is; changes people. They don’t really know who they are anymore, They seem to have regressed and become violent criminals. But as much as I hate to admit it, they are still human. They aren’t just going to stay in one place, wandering in circles. No, they are going to expand and move, and eventually they are going to find our safe haven. And when that day comes, we won’t be able to escape or fight back. I just wish someone could see it. Andrew agrees with me, but that isnt enough for us to leave. I doze off to that thought.

It is 9:30 now, I pop out of bed realizing I fell asleep. I get all my things together. My navy blue sweater, light khakis, and running shoes. A knife hangs from my belt; a six inch simple blade with a wood handle. I didn’t use it much except for work. It hung snuggly at my side. After combing my hair I head down stairs. Julia, Andrew, Conner, Lizz, and Ruthie are all seated in the living room, on the lush carpet sat a map of the earth and miniscule figurines cluttered on different parts of the map. They were laughing and having a good time. I’m glad that they have kept their humor and level headedness throughout the demise. As Andrew Moves a grouping of his figurines into china, he gives a smirk to Ruthie as he takes over her country. Ruthie gives a overplayed frown as her troops are wiped from the board. I was about to sit down next to Julia when a loud bang Rings through the air. Looud but distant. Everyone awake freezes in place like the figurines on the board. “Get everyone awake and down here now.” Andrew says masking his fear with power. I hurry upstairs and franticly wake everyone. in five minutes Everyone is dressed and downstairs. We gather in the living room. The tension in the air is so thick you could choke on it. Andrew begins,” Okay I guess we don’t have an option anymore, we all know it.” he takes a deep breath, sucking in a choking breath. “ We can’t stay here anymore, so everyone pack your bags. everything we need to take with us is downstairs. Grab your bags and fill em, meet back here when you are done.” Everyone shaking stumbles into the basement. Filling there hiking packs with canned foods and clothing. I head into the back room my grandfathers gun room. I never thought I would need one before, but now I know sooner or later I will. I open a drawer labelled sidearms. I reach in and grab the only gun I am framiliar with; a 1911 that was my grandfathers favorite. It was simple but a solid life saver. I grab boxes of ammo and stuff both in my bag. Andrew comes in followed by Evan, Lizz, Maddy, and Matt and they all head to the wall of weapons, too calm and too settled. Matt gives me a bear hug and says “We are going to be okay” he could see the fear in my face. Matt’s face tenses as he grabs a glock 36 from the drawer and a winchester model 37 from off the wall. He swings the shotgun behind his back as he marches out the door to help the others load their bags. Andrew grabbed a remington model 798 and some ammo and headed up to the living room. Evan Grabbed a shotgun and a p320. Evan went out and got most of the group into the gun room to get protection. Everyone either grabbed a simple shotgun or handgun. When Julianna and katrina entered the room, they refused to grab a firearm. I didn’t have time to argue so I shrugged this off and went upstairs.
When we gathered upstairs everyone was dark eyed, in a daze the shock of us leaving not yet settled in. Suddenly wearing a confused face Julianna pipes up, “Why are we leaving, just because we heard a shot doesn’t mean the creeps are coming here”. Almost in irony a Rusted Hatchet Shatters the living room window and skims Julianna. She lets out a churlish shriek as she grabs her shoulder. Outside a voice Snickers, “We are coming You snot nosed f*****”. With that Andrew yells, “Everyone get to the garage”. with that, Everyone rushes to the garage where two trucks and a minivan wait for us. Before I run in I grab Matt and Evan and pull them aside. “There is someone out there. He isn’t going to let us leave alive. We are taking him out. Evan Tell everyone to start the cars and wait for my word. Matt follow me.” Evan nods and bursts into the garage to warn everyone. Matt and I rush out the back door. I peer around the corner of the house and see another Nejire. This one is is turned around Petting a rifle mumblig something to himself. This is the first time I have seen the pure schizophrenic portion of the nejire. I hold Matthew back as I creep on the Nejire, who is oblivious o me behind him. I Slowly ease my knife from the sheath, my hand shaking furiously as I near the Nejire. I Grip the knife harder. My knuckles turned a ghostly white, my knife only a foot from his neck. In one motion, I thrust my knife into his neck, as his blood sprays out of the gash; I feel his life leaving him in my hands. Without a word I continue moving. I wipe my First Life off of my blade, tucking it into my leather sheath. Matt takes the next corner, He leans back and says there are two more. When he says it, both nejires turn around and immediatly start firing. They couldn’t care less if it was their friend. We both tuck around the corner, barely avoiding the bullets. We are done for. There is no way we can make it out. But i want the rest to make it out. “NOW” I Bellow. Immediantly the Garage door is flung open and the 3 cars rush out. The cars barrel down the long driveway and out of sight.
Bullets shatter the side of the house. The white panels splinter, flying through the air with no direction. But then the bullets stop. It is dead silent and me and matthew just stare at eachother. I peak my head around the corner to see both dejires still pulling the trigger. The looks on their faces are maniacal, the smiles distorted stretched across their faces. They are out of ammo and they don’t even know it. Matt caught on quickly and jumped to action. He rips the glock from it’s holster and throw two bullets down wind; one in each distorted figure. One falls with a bullet planted in his now blown out head. His body making a loud thud as it collapses to the ground. The other just screams. A blood curdling scream; the bullet lodged in his arm. And then he ran. The Injured Dejire lunged at us, The maniacal smile replaced with a threathening grimace. Neither me nor Matt could think quickly enough. The Man Springed ontop of me. He began beating me to the ground. Lucky for me he could only land one blow to the face before matt put a round into his skull. I push the Body off of me and scamper to my feet. Without thinking twice I tear off my shirt and get as much blood off of me as I can. Then I shoot a stare at matthew, A new found energy in both of us seeps through our pours. “F*** YES” MAtt screams into the air. I just smile at him and say, “You were right man, we are going to be okay. Lets get out of here.” Matt runs inside and emerges from the house with the hatchet from earlier. “Souvenir” he says with a smile.
We go off sprinting down the driveway to the road. Truly hoping our friends didn’t leave us. As we reach the end of the driveway I see the cars around the corner. Thank God they didn’t leave, there was no way I was going to stay at that house any longer. We throw up our hands and jump in the bed of one of the trucks. Before I can even sit down we are gone. Down the road away from the house and away from the chaos, for now. I lay down in the back of the truck next to Julia. I take a deep breath and wait to fall asleep.

I am shook awake. My eyes shoot open expecting danger, but instead my eyes are greeted by Julia’s warm smile. I smile back and sit up. The sun is just beginning to set and we are at a nice house in a suburb. “We are staying here tonight” Julia says. I get up and help her out of the truck. “How long was I out?”, I ask. Julia tilts her head at me as she starts walking towards the house. “ How am I supposed to know. maybe three hours or so I don’t know.” “Three Hours” I spit out “ Why didn’t you wake me”. “Your face” She says with a half hearted smirk. “My face, what do you mean?” She flicks my face. Immediately I flinch as a shot of pain fills my head. “Ok understood” I wince, “Let’s just get inside”. I open the door and let her in, and then follow. Upon entering I am greeted with smiles, and cheerful faces. Evan Smiles “Day one complete Sean. Congrats everyone”.

I scan the room full of friends, We are going to make it. There are going to be good times and bads, but we are going to make it. We decided on staying the night and just keep going for now. We cleared the house of its food and had a feast. In the mirror my face is bruised, but these bruises will heal. Tomorrow will be a new day. I climb into an open bed at fall into a deep slumber instantly. I slept as long as I wanted, waking up the next morning at 10:00 fresh and ready I head downstairs. “Hey ugly what's up” Matt calls out from down the hall. “You want some bruises to, you piece of s***, come on and get over here. I like to share”. Matt laughs and follows me down the stairs. We are the last ones down stairs, and everyone is packing their things for the journey ahead. We depart at 10:30. Getting into the car, I realize I have no clue where we are going. “So where are we going” I ask. “Montana” Ruthie says, a smile on her face. Ruthie always had a thing for Montana, and I can’t blame her It is supposed to be beautiful. “Yep we decided Montana was out best bet” Lizz follows up on Ruthies thought. “On the way, there aren’t many big cities. We will decide on what to do when we get there. We have all the time in the world.” Julia states. “Sounds like I missed out on a discussion this morning”. “yeah ya did” Andrew responds. We talk for a solid hour before we stop at a gas station. The station seemed untouched, but we have to stay vigilant.
Riley hops out of the truck he was driving with a perplexed expression on his face, his brow wrinkling as he makes the expression. “So how does this work, we don’t have money on us. Anyone got ideas.” “We have all the time in the world, we can have some people figuring it out, and some people can search the store.” Conner says throwing rocks at the building. “Sounds like a plan, Whoever wants to help me figure this out can.” Riley says, attempting to open the pump. I head inside the building with julianna, Lizz, and Matt to find some supplies. We grab a handful of tools. A Hammer and a shovel. Matt walks up the fridge confused. “ I don’t get it.” “What's wrong” I ask. “Well look at it, It is still on, that doesn’t make sense does it, Shouldn’t it be out. All the other buildings were out. Why not this one.” “Ill check the maintenance room to see if I can find anything” Julianna shouts from across the room. I ignore what she says and inspect the fridge, like I am going to solve something. But then I here, “Hey somebodies in here” and then a scream. Julianna collapses to the ground out the door, another hatchet hit her, but this time, it found its way to the skull. Blood quickly fills the tiles on the floor. Me and Matt make a dash for the open door where julianna lay dead. We leap over her body and into the room to find a man. Not a dejire, a man, a sane non infected man. Scared to insanity. Matthew dives at him , his hands at his throat. Tightening his grip around the mans neck. The fear in his eyes swelled because he couldn’t breath. I just left the room and left matt with the man. I refused to look at Juliannas mangled body and brought lizz outside. “HEY” Riley shouted, “We got the tanks full and some extra” He says with a smile holding up a red gas can. His smile quickly retreats from his face, and is replaced with a worried look. “Whats wrong.... What happened Lizz where’s Matt and Julianna”. I could tell riley was growing frantic by his eyes bulging and hands shaking. “ Julianna is gone Riley, guys im sorry. There was a man in the station and Julianna wasn’t prepared. Ruthie and Katrina begin to sob intensely. Everyone tears up besides Riley, who walks to the truck with heavy feet. I close my eyes and remember the first month after the attacks. We lost everything. Our families, which luckily we didn’t see turn or die. We did see friends die though. We lost Brad, Elliott, and Gen when they were shot out of their car on our way south. We had gotten used to the deaths of the people we care. We would get over juliana's death soon because we couldn’t do anything about it. All I hope is the ones we lost don’t leave our memories. Matt comes outside with blood on his one hand, and the hatchet in the other. We file into our cars without a word. Just tear stained faces as we put distance on Juliana's new resting place.

The next few hours were silent, just the sound of the running cars filled our ears. When the sun was setting, we pulled into a driveway of a house. it was a quaint blue house with a large forested area behind it. We lugged our gear inside and began to prepare food. Chayce puts down his pack and heads outside, his head hung. “Hey chayce you should stay inside we don’t want to wander too far” Mitch says, reaching out to chayce. “Yeah whatever I just going outside”. Chayce shrugs away mitch’s hand and opens the sliding door separating him from the back lot. He wanders to the woods edge, looking inside. “I think I here something back there” He says leaning past a Large Red pine. “Get out of there than” Mitch calls to him. “Nah it’s probably just a squirrel or something”. He says, once again shrugging off mitch’s request. “Chayce, better safe than sorry man, come on back in” This time Riley warns his friend. “Fine” Chayce says rolling his eyes. But before he could get even ten yards from the woods line A dog jumped out, A large irish wolf hound lunged at Chayce, chomping its massive teeth down on his arms, Blood began rushing from his veins. The dog begins to foam at the lips, the white foam a blatant sign of infection. Chayce lets out a Blood Curdling screech as The pain settles in. Andrew leaps for his rifle on the wood table resting in the kitchen. He brought the gun up, and hefts back the lever. The scope glued on the dog. He pulls back the trigger, and instantly the dog is down. A bullet through it’s chest. Chayce scrambles from under the dog and sprints for the door. When he gets in evan and Matt Restrain him. They heft the Flailing Boy to the table. They pounded their whole body on chayce. “ Get the hatchet! Now”. Evan spits out mixed emotions behind his eyes, both fear and rage. Mitch works swiftly to get the hatchet to chayce. “We have to Get rid of it.” Evan stutters, his voice growing more frantic. “WHAT. NO NO NO you can’t do that!” “Chayce we have to, its the only way you we have a chance at making sure you don’t get infected.” “Dislocate the elbow and cut it there. Now Mitch there isn’t time to wait!” Matt barks the order to mitch, who instantly snaps chayces arm back. A Low Scream Gargled up from chayce. Mitch raised the hatchet, and beared down on his arm. A Terrifying Noise exploded from Chayce and a Tearing noise from his arm. Maddy Runs over and sticks a rag in chayces mouth, and Lizz Dumps a bottle vodka on his arm. Another Scream escapes from Chayce. Lizz Put a white rag on the bloody stump and wraps it in gauze. Chayces eyes roll back as he passes out. Everything is silent. matthew and Evan get off of Chayce and leave the room completely. Everyone sits there silently and waits. “ What's going to happen to him” Katrina Pipes up, sadly this is one of the first things she has said in the past few days. “We don’t know’ I say ‘We can only wait and hope he pulls through and stays himself”. Someone search the house, fill up on gauze and rags, we have to keep his arm clean and covered. “While he is still out, we should cauterize his arm. It will stop the bleeding and seal the arm more quickly” Andrew points this out as he rummages through his bag for a lighter and rags. “Do it’ Ruthie decides ‘We sure as hell can’t do it when he is conscious”. “Okay’ andrew prepare Chayce’s arm. “Let it rip” Andrew scorches the end of chayces arm. The smell putrid, but chayce stays asleep. “Okay sterilize it and put gauze back on it” Lizz stammers over to Chayce and quickly wraps him up.

Matt and Evan re-enter the room Their hands now clean. “Okay everyone get to bed, we need to leave early tomorrow. It’s obvious we aren’t safe here.” Everyone files upstairs. Ruthie puts a blanket over chayce. “I'll say with him tonight to make sure he is okay”. “Okay, up to you” Evan remarks. We all get into rooms and settle down for the night. I woke up to darkness, I scan the room, to a cool breeze rushing over me. someone left the window open. I stubble over to the open window, and notice someone outside. “Hey’ I whisper ‘who’s there”. “It’s just me” Conner says, with a sniffle. He had obviously been crying. I crawl out of the window, lightly moving towards him. “You okay man”. “I don't know man. I just can’t handle it anymore. Everyone is Getting hurt or worse. I just hope Luke and Elise is okay”. I had to think back to the last time I saw Luke and Elise. The week after the attack, we were separated. They disappeared out of sight, I we couldn’t make it to them. God knows where they are or if they are alive. “I hope so to conner, but like you said we just have to keep moving forward.” “Can I go for a walk Sean, I wont go far. I just need to move.” I want to say no, but Conner is the youngest of us and he is having a hard time coping with all this. I sigh “Yeah sure. But I have to come with. just let me grab something. I scramble back inside, warming up quickly as i creep to my bag to withdraw my 1911 from deep in the bag. I get back to conner quickly and we head down the street. The Breeze Grows stronger, and brings with it a smoky smell. I turn my head down the street to see a set of lights outside a house. The possibility of other people was far to inviting to turn down. I felt like a moth gazing at a light. Longing for the chance to be blessed by anothers company. A friendly stranger was a dream of mine now, and I couldn’t pass up the chance of meeting a new face. I take off down the road, chasing the distant light, leading the way. Conner doesn’t say anything, but he is close on my heels. As we near the house I slow my pace to a walk. Though I’m excited, I don’t want to be reckless, I creep around to the back of the house, the growing grass brushing along my pants. I push my face close to the window, to a disgusting sight. A pile of bodies, mangled cold corpses toppling over eachother. In the pile I recognize a face. The now lifeless eyes staring back at me. It was Elise, her now colorless face layered in a film of dried blood. My face grows hot with rage as I reach for my gun. I am going to clear this house of every living thing. But Conner can’t know, noone can know. Just then conner tries to get up to another window, but he falls. He knocks over a stack of wood propped on the house wall. “I hear a new toy” A sinister voice echoes from the house. Followed immediately by an overwhelming amount of dark laughter. “One gnarly man, tall and built steps out on the porch and looks my way. Without a second thought, I layed a round into his skull. He plummets to the ground. A shrill battle cry reverberates in my ears. “S***” I cry. I grab conners arm and sprint off to a large garage to the side of the garage. I bust into the door and lock it. Conner starts to pile large objects infront of the door as I Slide a two by four into the large swinging garage door. Then the gunfire came. Shell after shell penetrating the Garage walls. Cackling and gun fire that is all I can hear. This is it, Im going to die to the sadistic group of dememted freaks. Sit in the corner, close your eyes sean and wait.