Chapter 1

Everything hurt. I could taste blood and my arms and legs ached like i'd ran a marathon. I opened my eyes to see leaves and mud. I lifted my head slowly and groaned
as the pains all over intensified. I was confused for a moment as i sat up and gazed around. There was blood everywhere. Splashed across the woodland floor, across the
trees' and all over me. My clothes were ripped. Confused memories fluttered through my brain and i frowned trying to recall what had happened.
A shadow of a memory, screaming and crying, not just from me. Running through the trees' my hair caught in branches. People shoving me out the way, i fall and that's
it. My memory goes blank. I frowned trying to remember more but nothing came. I slowly stood up ignoring my protesting limbs. There was blood all over my clothes. I reached down and picked up my back pack, laying a few feet away from where i woke. I had a feeling something bad happened but my brain was too fuzzy to form any feasible memories.
I hoped it was just my friends playing a joke. I could remember sitting out here smoking with them and then it all went hazy. Maybe they were just sitting in the trees', hiding, waiting for me to freak out. I bit my lip hoping that i didn't look afraid. It'd kill my reputation if i looked scared and it was just a joke. No way was i that easy to scare. "Come on guys. You're not funny!" i circled round "The blood looks fake anyway. Come on Robbie! I'm going home." I turned and headed back towards my house. I wasn't going to stand there and look like an idiot. I'd kill them at college tomorrow. I stormed through the woods getting angrier and angrier. I took my mobile out my backpack and dialled Robbie's number. It wouldn't dial out, i tried several times before i gave up.
I was almost home anyway and it was getting dark. I'd probably missed tea thanks to those idiots. I ran the last few minutes preparing an apology to my mum and some lame excuse that she'd believe because she was too busy to argue.
My street was on the outskirts of a small village. There were only fifteen houses' on my road so it was always pretty quiet but tonight it was exceptionally quiet. Mrs Daniels wasn't chasing her gobby kids around the garden, swearing and throwing things at them, which was the usual routine about now. Mr Simone wasn't stood on his front step smoking a cigarette and moaning about the world. That man spent every hour of every day standing on his front step nosing at everyone and making rude comments.
There was no noise at all. No radios playing. All windows were shut despite the stifling heat. It was uncomfortably quiet.
I reached my front door and hesitated. I couldn't hear a thing. Dad's car was parked in the street and Louisa's bike was leaning against the fence and mum's car was just visible behind the butterfly bush, growing uncontrollably, across the drive. I didn't hesitate for any other reason than this odd feeling settling in my chest.
This strange anxiety that spread from head to foot. It set off warning signals in my brain telling me to run. Just to turn around and run as fast as i could. I closed my eyes and told myself i was just being ridiculous.
There was an inky darkness inside my house and a deep impenetrable silence. Alarm bells started ringing and i stepped inside the house leaving the door wide open.
"Mum?" i called out softly. I wasn't sure why but i felt like i needed to be quiet. "Dad? Lou?" I stepped quietly through the hallway heading for the kitchen where there should have been the sounds and glorious smells of dinner. Instead of the smell of food there was something else. A clogging sickly smell that stuck inside my nose and made it hard to breathe.I gagged. I recognised the smell. A deep seated primal instinct told me it was death.
I fumbled for the light switch and flicked it on. There was blood everywhere. Smeared across the cupboards and all over the floor. My eyes took in the pans scattered across the work surfaces and the broken glass glittering amongst the red.
An arm stuck out on the other side of the table. I crept towards it. The floor was sticky and i held my breath against this strange yet familiar stench. When i reached the table and peered around the edge I cried out. My mum lay on the floor, eyes empty and mouth stretched in a final scream. I knelt next to her, the blood soaking through the knees of my jeans. Her stomach was torn and her insides were spilling out. I covered my mouth and clutched her hand. The police. I had to call the police. I ran to the phone and dialled the emergency number. The engaged tone bleeped continuously in my ear and i slammed it down. I ran to my backpack searching through for my phone.
"Come on!" i threw my mobile onto the floor in anger as it wouldn't even dial out.
I froze as i heard a sound from upstairs. What if whoever did this was still here? The thought scampered round my brain. Maybe it was Louisa hiding? I ran back to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and crept up stairs as quietly as possible. A bloody smear across the cream wall set my heart pounding. My bedroom door was padlocked shut, exactly how i'd left it this morning, my parents door was open and i peered inside seeing no-one. My sisters door was open an inch. I leant against the wall counted to three and slowly, silently eased the door open.
My sister sat on her bed, back to me playing with something. I called out her name softly. She froze, slowly stood up and turned around. Her arms were covered in blood and in her hands she held my dads head, his empty eyes stared at me. I screamed in horror. A noise escaped her throat that wasn't quite human. A screeching yet guttural sound. There was something wrong with her eyes. They were dark, the pupils dilated so they covered the iris completely. Her face was coated in blood and her mouth stretched wide.
She took a step towards me and that was when i noticed her ankle, bent at an impossible angle, yet she still walked on it. I dropped the knife and cried out. She rushed at me reaching out with blood stained hands. She grabbed my shoulders in a vice like grip,stronger than a girl of ten should be, pushing her face towards mine she tried to bite me. I tried to step back but slipped and landed flat on my back with Louisa on top, trying to rip my face apart with her nails.
I felt a sharp sting as her hand raked across my face and she growled lowering her face towards mine trying harder than before to bite, gnashing her teeth together. I scrabbled about with my free hand trying to find the knife. I grabbed it and brought it up, stabbing her in the throat. She gurgled but didn't loosen her grip, screeching and growling like a rabid animal. I wrestled with her using the knife as a lever trying to push her away. It worked momentarily and i yanked it free and pushed myself up using the banister. She raced towards me, her ankle bone now protruding through her skin, in panic i raised my hands. She ran face
first into the knife.
She stopped moving completely and crumpled to the floor, the sounds she was making disappearing on her blood stained lips. I pulled the knife free and ran to my bedroom fumbling with my padlock. I knew what was happening. Zombies. It was the only answer. At least i knew that the films were right about destroying the brain. I wasn't sure about anything else. Could blood into the mouth change you? Blood on your skin?
I ran through my bedroom to my bathroom and turned on the shower. While the water heated i grabbed my camping backpack and threw in some clothes. I raked through my drawers for the hunting knife i got last Christmas and put that on the bed. I ran into the shower and scrubbed as quickly as i could, grabbed a towel and pulled on comfortable clothes. I tied my dripping hair up and as a last minute thing i put my shower gel and toothpaste into the bag too.
Clipping my knife on to my belt i grabbed my bag and ran down stairs. Holding my breath and keeping my eyes off my mums broken body began pulling tins out of the cupboards and a big pack of bottled water. I found a torch in one of the drawers and took a pack of matches just in case. I ran through a quick check list before deciding i should take the laptop too.
I stopped before i reached the door. Maybe i should stay in the house? Surely its safer? A low growl from behind made me freeze. I turned to see my mum dragging herself across the kitchen floor. Eyes black and teeth gnashing. I had to go. Leaving my screeching mum behind I scurried down the hallway and out into the dark.