Takeover

(Screaming)

BLACK

“We have to get out of here.” I said.

BLACK

“They’re coming, we got to move faster!” James yelled.

BLACK

“Quickly, up this ladder” Amelia ordered.

BLACK

Everyone followed up as Ava closed the hatch. “Quickly, close it, CLOSE IT!” Ryan exclaimed.

BLACK

2 weeks earlier

1200 hours:

I was on my 2nd km running down the street. I didn’t listen to music so I could focus on my breathing. 3 steps breathe in, 3 steps breathe out, 3 steps breathe in, 3 steps breathe out. I hear a honk, it’s James.

“Kira, get in now!” he commanded. James is my brother, he wasn’t supposed to be home from work till 1500 hours. I listened and got in the car.

“What’s got you all wild up Jay?” I asked him while putting my seatbelt on.

“Ryan is at home, we have to go get Amelia and Ava, call her.” he continued driving as I dialed Amelia.

Over the phone:

“Hello?” Amelia picked up.

“Hey, I don’t know why but James and I are coming to get you, are you free?” I asked.

“Clear your schedule May, you're coming with us.” James commanded. There was silence with clamouring on the other end of the phone.

“I was watching the news when you called, I’m already getting ready, see you soon.” Amelia said then hung up.

“The news? What’s happening?” I asked while looking at James, He sighed.

“Listen, covid numbers are going up, only the rich are getting the vaccine and people are going nuts.” cop cars passed and there was a loud explosion. “An hour ago, the government stated there was a mutation in the covid gene causing people to lose brain function.”

“Watch out!” I screamed as we swerved around a group of people holding gardening tools shouting at us.

“There is no cure Kira. This new mutation, it turned the sick into crazy people, they are violent, they attack others and the worst part..” he paused as he turned the corner to Avas house. She came running out right away and jumped in the back of the jeep.

“Have you seen the news?” Ava asked.

“NO, Jay what is the worst part?” I asked him as he speeded off towards Amelia's house.

“Kira, they are biting and scratching the healthy causing them to get sick too. Within hours, the Toronto hospital was overrun by the sick.” James went silent.

“Amelia lives by the hospital James.” I told him.

“I know.” he spat back. “We have to hurry, Ava did you bring the weapons I asked for?” Jack looked into the mirror to look back at her.

“Yes, I got a bat for me, cause duh. Kira, I know how much you like blades and close combat so I’m giving you my machete, temporarily cause I want it back. And James, you got the best aim. I got you a bow and my dad gave me his pistol before he passed, so take good care of her. I only have 24 bullets here, don’t waste it.” she handed me a sheath over the blade with James bow and arrows. She handed the gun to James and put the ammo in the cup holder.

“Wait, these weapons can kill people, aren’t we going to get in trouble?” I asked while pulling out the machete that has green accents on it. “Pretty knife I must say, Ava.”

“Kira, the government has fallen, who are we going to get in trouble with?” she paused, “and thank you, I got it at green earth.” she smiled.

1230 hours:

“We’re here, I see her coming.” James commented.

“Isn’t the hospital 2 blocks away? I can hear screaming and gun fire.” I stated. I turned my head to look down the street. I can see someone walking toward us in a hospital gown. “Guys…” the door opened and I can hear bags being thrown into the car before the door closed again.

“I made it, is all that noise from the hospital? Most of the people in my building are watching looking out of their windows.” Amelia laughed.

“Guys..” I repeated as I see more people following behind,

“I texted you earlier to bring any supplies you can carry, what did you bring?” James asked.

“I brought first aid essentials, bandaids, gauze, sewing needles and thread, also gretta, my beautiful bow staff.” Amelia smiled.

“Guys!” I yelled.

“What Kira?” James frustratedly asked. I just pointed to the dozens of people running our way entering buildings at will and breaking windows to hunt others.

“Holy fuck, we gotta move now!” Amelia yelled as the jeep jerked forward and took a hard right causing Amelia to fall into Ava.

“Watch it, James straighten this damn car!” Ava screamed at James. We drove by rioters and the infected attacked them.

“We have to get out of the city, too many people, too many cars, too much infected.” James told us as we took a side road going north. We passed by citizens packing up their cars, some broke into stores to steal food and vandalize, some are even just running for their lives. Nothing we could do but watch and keep driving.

“What the hell is happening? It’s like the walking dead!” I screamed, “we just witnessed a hoard of covid infected people running out of a hospital attacking people on the street!”

“Kira, calm down, isn’t this like the books you read? The beginning is always hectic so we have to get away from here. Let's go back to Oshawa and get Ryan, he’s probably freaking out at home by himself.” James spoke calmly trying to pick on me. Being his younger sister, I can tell he’s only keeping his cool to keep his girlfriend Ava calm.

“Don’t tell me we are leaving Harper behind.” Ava said to James with a pouty face. He looked at her and sighed.

“No, we ain’t leaving the dog behind. Ryan loves her and would hate us if we did.” James said.

We continued to drive switching through radio stations, mostly static. Some are warning people to stay out of the city but then there was static. In the end we drove in silence until we were in Oshawa. Everyone was evacuating the area, packing their things into cars and driving away. We continued driving and stopped at a gas station near our house cause it seemed like no one was there.

1300 hours:

“Ok, here’s the plan.” I spoke up.

“I got this Kira, grab essentials, food, water, femenine products.. Ahem'' James stuttered.

“Dude, you don’t always have to be in charge.” I laughed and pouted at the same time.

“Sis, I love you but you can be a little reckless at times” James whispered, “but I’ll let you lead how bout that?” I smiled and pushed open the door slowly not to make any noise with James bow and arrow ready. As soon as we entered, the sensor went off on the door. DING DONG. I noticed a head pop up, James pointed his bow straight at it. It was the store keep holding a bag of chips in his mouth.

“We don’t want any trouble, just looking for some essentials.” I spoke calmly raising my hand up.

“We’ll pay if you want.” Ava snickered but Amelia slapped her arm. James had dead aim on him.

“Are we good here?” James asked calmly. The man nodded in agreement. We lowered our weapons and he backed away into his booth.

“We won’t take everything, remember to keep things for yourself.” I whispered to the store keep as I passed him. Everyone should have a fair fighting chance.

“I got food, Mr. noodles, cans of soup, some eggs and bacon from the fridge and a bag of rice.” James told everyone.

“I got hand sanitizer, some more bandages, and a handful of lighters.” Amelia told everyone.

“I took some medicine from behind the counter, advil, tylenol, painkillers yaknow.” Ava told everyone.

“No one mentioned gas so I put a few gallons in the trunk and 2 gas tanks. I’m also gonna take some of these smokes if you don’t mind.” I said to the store keep. He nodded his head and handed me 3 cartons.

“Kira” James groaned.

“Those are gonna kill ya.” Ava spoke without looking up.

“Kira, I thought you were quitting.” Amelia commented.

“Hey, they city is being overrun by a virus that started off as a flu, smoking won’t be the first thing that kills me.” I snapped back.

“I mean she’s right.” James laughed. “I think we’re done here, let's go.” he told us.

“Grabbing a handful of these for desert.” I said while grabbing some airheads. I looked up and the 3 of them stared at me. “What?” I asked.

“I mean we don’t know when we’ll get something like this again.” Ava walked over and grabbed some chips.

“Save the maltesers for me!” Amelia stated and James rolled his eyes to grab some gum and jolly ranchers for Ryan.

“Now let's go.” I told them.

The gas station was just around the corner from our house. It looked like our neighbours already left, garage doors left open, garbage spilled on the curbs. We live in a small suburban neighbourhood and our house was in a court with only 1 entrance. We left everything in the car and ran inside to find Ryan. I knelt to the ground and pet Harper waiting for Ryan to come down the stairs.

“Ryan, you got my text, you can come down now.” I heard a door unlock and footsteps coming towards us.

“I locked the door and hid in your bathroom, I know you said closet but your dirty laundry was gross.” Ryan snarled at James.

“Yeah yeah, get your butt down here, we all need to talk.” James told him and we sat down on the couch.

“I saw everything on instagram, stupid how they were taking pictures while others were being killed.” Ryan commented.

“Stupid how you were looking through instagram instead of hiding.” I snapped back.

“Aunty Kira chill, we’ll be fine, while I was stupidly scrolling through instagram, I did some research on this new mutation.” Ryan started.

“How old is this little Einstein, doing research?” Ava started playfully making fun of Ryan.

“I’m 15 thank you, and I’ll have you know, you can learn from the internet, just look at my straight As.” he pointed at the wall. “As I was saying, these infected are like zombies, they won’t attack each other but only healthy flesh. They hunt the healthy by seeing and hearing, luckily unlike animals, human sense of smell isn’t strong. They also look like normal people but they don’t talk, only scream and growl which will call others infected. Over time, they decay and it’s more obvious cause they look more undead.” Ryan stopped and waited for someone to say something.

“You can figure all that out scrolling through social media but won’t take an hour of your day to train with me?” I joked.

“What can I say, I’m more like uncle James, the tech geeks.” Ryan shot back.

“Can’t pull me into this Ryan, I train with Kira everyday.” James laughs.

“I’m fit, I work out too.” Ryan said.

“You have strength Ryan but you need skills too. Being able to move around obstacles is easier than barging through them.” I lectured him.

“Aren’t we getting off topic, I’m sure I won’t have any time to look through instagram anymore, plus everyone is dying so nothing to see anyway.” Ryan looked down and I sighed.

“Hey look on the bright side kid,” Amelia began, “no more online school, no more shitty classmates, no more homework.”

“Okaaayyy. Let's focus on what we’re going to do. What got two options right now. We can pack up and leave like everyone and go somewhere else that might be safer.” James started.

“We can go to great wolf lodge, I always wanted to go.” Ryan started.

“Ooh I heard their swimming pools are nice.” Ava added.

“No, too many people have been there, most likely covered with the virus, too high of a chance of getting sick.” I stated.

“What about my cabin, it’s in the middle of nowhere, very unlikely the infected can reach us.” Amelia asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, it would be hard to get necessities, no stores nearby, we’d have to rely on hunting alone.” James denied her. We were all quiet thinking of ideas.

“What if we stayed here?” I asked.

“I thought we were trying to leave here.” Ryan said.

“Yeah we should be getting far away from here, you saw those infected, they’ll take us out if we stay.” Ava told us.

“Ok hear me out, we can block off the entrance using cars, it doesn’t seem like the infected hunt with skill but just their power sooo if a few come to our barrier, I don’t feel like they’ll climb over or anything. There are plenty of stores nearby that we can loot to find food, the country area is not a far drive, that can be an emergency, plus like any zombie book or movie, the beginning is always the hardest so we shouldn’t go anywhere new. Here would be the most logical place to stay.” I finished and they all thought about it, I looked at James knowing he can veto my idea.

“I like it, plus we still have running water. How does everyone else feel about this?” he asked.

“I’m in.” Ava exclaimed.

“Me too!” Ryan yelled.

“I rate it, but where do we start?” Amelia asked.

“I say we start with the cars, move it to the entrance of the court, us 4 will do that while you unload the jeep.” James told Ryan.

“Make sure you wear the medical mask with your cotton one on top.” Ava stated.

I got up with the others following me, I put my mask on and headed outside to our neighbours house. They had two cars in their driveway so I knocked to see if anyone was home. No one entered so I opened the door and listened but I couldn’t hear anything.

“Hey, I'm your neighbour,” I said loudly, still no one answered. “Ok” I am just speaking to myself now. I entered and looked for car keys, the house has been torn apart so they must’ve left. I found the keys in a drawer by the front door.

James came up to me when I was exiting the house. “What’s up dude?” I asked him.

“Hey, I know we’ve been joking around about this… situation but it seems like we're going into the apocalypse. This is shitty but I’m glad I got my little sister with me.” he said to me.

“I’m glad I gots my big bro Jay.” I smiled.

“Anywho, I noticed that you got an SUV and truck, got the keys?” He asked.

“Which one do you want?” I fanned out the keys like cards.

“I actually had something else in mind.”