Chapter 1 - Frightening Realization

The infection was spreading quickly; the whole town by now had known of the disease and did everything in their power to prevent it to the best of their abilities. Many small businesses had started putting reinforced steel doors on back rooms for safety to keep the infected out. Most people believed that the infection was a flu, like any other that had occurred over the past few years. None of us thought it any different than the Swine Flu and Bird flu, some thinking it was just a stupid hoax set up by the government, but neither of those strains compared to this new virus. The Green Flu as it was named, was a whole new virus; it spread so quickly that no one saw it coming. I guess that's why I didn't see it when it was sitting so close to me the entire time.

It was a normal mid summer day when I was sitting at my house with my friends, all of them male. They had decided to pay me a visit and bring with them an Xbox and the new Halo game that recently released. The oldest male was nick named Drake, due to his love for dragons. He was around seventeen, tall, buff, and a little messed up in the head from different drugs and random girls playing with his emotions. His eyes and hair were dark in color and his skin tanned by the sun. It was the same with my second companion, Teagon. He was at least sixteen, always had his dark hair hanging down in his face and was about my height. The last of the boys was larger than the other three of us, named Brion. He was the same age as Teagon, but had dark hair closely cut to his head and green eyes. The most he did with his time was smoke weed and play video games.

I was the oldest out of our quartet at nineteen. I still lived at home with my parents, only because times were tough and it was hard to find a job on a G.E.D. alone. With the economy at a low end and this new virus spreading so rapidly that it put some low corporate businesses out for weeks, making it harder still to try and get my life in gear. Yet these goofball boys still made me feel loved and made me smile in ways others could not. That's one of the reasons they were here right now; my parents were gone for a week or so and I really didn't feel like being alone in the house.

My eyes stared blankly at the screen as the boys were playing the game, something feeling amiss today. I felt it the whole time we were playing that game that something was just off. I kept myself on edge as I looked at the boys, taking a sip from my cup of water before taking a pouch of smokeless tobacco and tucking it into my cheek to keep my mouth occupied. I smiled though as Drake made an assassin kill on his opponent at the moment, that being Teagon. "Oh god damn it!" I heard the younger boy call out, frustrated.

"Ha! One more kill for me and it's game over!" Drake laughed. Brion though was just sitting there, his vision focused on the screen but his eyes blank in a mindless stupor. He looked slightly pale compared to his normal tan that lasted even through the winter months. It may have been withdrawl on his end, due to the fact I would not let him have any kind of substances because he had complained of a sore throat.

"Hey, Ravei, watch this!" I heard Teagon call. Turning my gaze back to the screen, I watched as his character took Drake's down from behind in a stealth kill with a melee weapon. "Got you back!" He laughed as Drake only scowled at him, since he was only one kill away from winning.

Through their fun, my eyes kept flicking back to Brion. He seemed to be acting more strange than he normally did, even if he was going through a withdrawal episode. These boys considered me as a mini on call medic most of the time, since I tended to 'mother' them whenever they got hurt in one way or another. Even if the wounds were old I would try my best to patch them up and prevent scarring. That was the reason I was so startled when I saw my friend looking so sickly; more so since he didn't tend to get sick easily. It hurt me inside not knowing what was going on with him; not knowing if I should give him some cough syrup or one of those shitty tasting lozenges. I couldn't legally get him to a doctor or even to a store to get medicine, and the closest store was at least two or three miles away and it was a small gas station so it probably wouldn't have anything good.

I was so lost in my thoughts that it startled me when Brion stood, looking worse than earlier, and stumbled himself out to the kitchen. The horrid sounds of retching and bile hitting the metal sink made me shiver. I quickly followed my friend out to the kitchen, finding him hunched over and shaking slightly. I rested my hand on his back and started to move my hand in small, soothing circles trying to comfort him. His face was even more pale now and I was so focused on him that I jumped when Drake rested a hand on my shoulder. Turning my gaze to the taller male, his expression was a mix of horror and confusion. He simply pointed toward the sink and my eyes followed the motion.

Taking in a breath of surprise, the sight in the sink was not what I was expecting. The bile was nothing but crimson blood and something that looked like meaty chunks that were in no way food related. They were strikingly pale in comparison to the blood, and the boy above the mess was panting heavily, the red dripping from his mouth. I moved back, passed Drake with my hand over my mouth to hold back my own bile and slowly sat myself down in the large arm chair in front of the computer desk. This could not be happening. I couldn't believe that my friend was vomiting blood into the sink, and felt horrible that there was really nothing I could do to help him.

That was the least of my worries as Drake moved around the corner, his gaze far off and desperate as he watched me. "He's dead…" His voice was so quiet that as I turned to meet his eyes my hair fell into my horror stricken face. Teagon, who was just now coming to find out what was going on, stopped beside me wide eyed. I lowered my head into my hands and started to rock back and forth before resting my forehead on the desk in front of me to try and calm myself down.

This wasn't happening…

It couldn't be happening…

Not like this…

Not in my home…

I was pulled from my thoughts as a scream reached my ears before the sound of wet gurgling followed from the kitchen. Teagon was the first to see what had happened. Brion had lept back to life and attacked Drake. His skin had a sickly gray pallor and his eyes were sightless, white orbs filled with rage and hunger. It frightened me to the core as I watched one friend slaughter another.

"What the hell is going on?! Brion come to your senses!" Teagon tried to reason, but it had no effect on the larger male. The look he gave the smaller boy was murderous. Blood, both his and Drake's dripped from his mouth and hands; he looked ready to pounce on the other boy. He did so with no hesitation, except to flick his tongue over his crimson coated lips.

What kind of hell was this that suddenly befell me?

Brion latched his hands on Teagon with ease as he bit down on the other boy's shoulder, ripping and tearing flesh and cloth in his teeth. I watched on as he continued to mutilate his friend before I realized what had happened and had enough. I drew out the rusted, broken and super glued back together katana that rested against my desk. The damn thing didn't want to be removed from its sheath due to the rust and my frantic struggle to pull it out only grew as screams of agony turned into more wet gurgling.

Every sound seemed to drone on and on as I finally removed the blade. My heart beat was all I could hear as I brought the weapon down on the monster I once called a friend. A sickening crunch and squishing sound followed the blade as it force itself through part of former Brion's arm, cutting muscle and hitting bone. The scream that tore from the boy's throat was completely inhuman. He staggered back from the smaller male as infected blood coated everything, his vice on the corpse loose enough to let it fall to the floor. The adrenaline pumping through my veins fueled me onward, making me feel more alive than I ever have before. The once human stared at his limb in what could be assumed to be shock, until his hate filled, mindless gaze bore into mine.

A feral sounding growl erupted from his throat as he tried to lunge toward me, but I pulled up my blade and held it tightly as I drilled it into his neck. The wet gurgling was once again back as I twisted the sword and put all my force into trying to sever his head from his shoulders. That was the way to kill a zombie, right? Sever the head from the shoulders or a bullet to the brain? That's all this husk standing before me was now, a mindless zombie. There was no more Brion, the boy I grew up with and called a good friend, the brother I never had. I felt the tears start coming as I put more force into the weapon in my hands, screaming to take away the sound of flesh tearing as I finished my task.

My breathing was heavy and my body was shaking as I ran my arm over my face to clear away some of the residual blood. I turned my eyes from the headless corpse to assess Teagon's. There was no way that he would rise up like Brion had with the damage that was done to his throat. My gaze then moved toward Drake, and more tears started to fall as the adrenaline was slowly wearing off. He was the least damaged of the three, and still breathing from the look of things. I quickly made my way over to him, propping his head up on my knee as I crouched down to his level.

"Kill me now." His voice was quiet before he went into a coughing fit, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. Shock filled me as I stared at him. "Please, Ravei, end me. I don't want to become like Brion and not remember who I was… who my friends were." He continued coughing for a few moments as I tried to muster something to say in return. "You know it's the only way to stop it… to keep it from spreading. This is that damn virus…" The blood was dribbling down his chin now.

"I… I'll try…" I laid him back down onto the floor, tears streaming down my stained cheeks. It took all of my nerve to bring the blade down on him and end his life. My vision was so blurry by the time I heard him draw his last breath that I wanted to break down there, but as a precaution I made my way back to Teagon's body and did the same motions.

This wasn't right.

I couldn't believe that this was happening.

All of the best friends I had ever had were dead.

I could not stand the sight of it.

I took off out of the house in a dead run. Running off into the woods as the good memories faded into the horrid ones of a few moments past. The tears kept coming and trees whipped at me with their branches as I ran past them. I found myself in a small clearing and broke down completely; sobbing, vomiting, and screaming all blended together in a chorus of sorrow. After I had finished my episode, I moved away from the bile and curled myself into a ball, muttering to myself about trying to think about kittens. The emotional pain from the whole ordeal cut me far deeper than the blade that rested a few feet away.

~A/N~ Hello lovelies! And welcome to the Chapter 1 rewrite! Because my writing style has changed slightly over the years I decided to freshen up the story just a bit! I'm going to continue working on rewriting the rest of the chapters as well so just hang tight beauties! Much love!