Katherine Mace's Story

---

It was 6 AM when Kate woke up. It was a habit she had grown into since college and now she can barely sleep past eight anymore. The young woman got up with a bad case of a bed head and tiredly she began to make her bed again. It didn't take her long for her to put the covers in place and pick up the pillows from the floor. Aside from her bed, her room consisted of a dresser that held her undergarments and other objects she wanted to keep hidden; a lamp that stood right besides her twin sized bed; a few shelfs that she had nailed down to hold various books and movies; and in the corner was the large dog bed that Radar slept soundly in.

Kate made her way out her room and headed to the kitchen; it only took a few steps seeing as how small her apartment was. A yawn left her mouth as she opened the fridge and took out the gallon of milk. She set it on the counter that separated her kitchen from her living room before opening the cupboards above the counter and take the cereal out. Scratching her neck, Kate turned around and grabbed a bowl and spoon. With all the things she had, she started to pour the cereal into the bowl. The sound of her breakfast echoed through the house and just as Kate expected, the sound of Radar's tags clashing against each other soon followed. In a matter of seconds the large Bernese Mountain Dog appeared into the kitchen. "Yeah, but you couldn't get up sooner, right?" Kate questioned him with a smile. Radar could spend most of his day laying in his bed but at any sound in the kitchen, he was ready for any food that Kate would happen to drop.

Sighing, Kate poured some milk in the bowl. There was less than half yet, Kate couldn't help but notice, and reminded herself to go buy some more later. She was about to take a seat to eat the well prepared meal when the sound of the phone ringing reached her ears. Her eyebrows draw closer together before changing her direction of course back to her bedroom. "Don't try anything," she hissed at Radar along the way.

When she entered her bedroom, she found her cell phone charging on the floor. She hurried over and answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" Kate answered as she disconnected her phone from the wall.

"Um, Katherine? It's Jason," a unfamiliar voice spoke from the other line. A wave of fear, hope, regret, and excitement hit her all at once, forcing Kate to take a seat on her bed.

"Ah, hey Jason!" Her voice went a pitch higher - it always did when she got nervous. "How are you?"

"Fine, I guess. Uh, a few fights have gotten canceled from overseas so they're moving my flight now," Jason explained. The sound of him moving around muffled his voice a bit. "I'll be there about three hours earlier."

"Oh," Kate said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. She had been hoping he had called her out of his own will, without a legitimate reason. "Okay, I'll see you then."

"Yeah," was all he said before he hung up. A sigh left Kate as she took the phone off her ear. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Radar looking at her from the hallway. Kate turned to face him and sent him a smile as she got up.

"Jason is coming earlier," Kate explained down to him and rubbed his head when she passed him. Jason was Kate's younger brother, by around seven years, who had lived with her mother in San Francisco after the divorce between their parents. The only memory of Jason that Kate could remember was when he was still wearing diapers so meeting Jason now and living with him after their mother's recent death was a really scary thought.

Kate shook her worries off before taking a seat and eating her breakfast.

---

"Come on, Ray."

Radar jumped out from the car at the command and Kate, now clothed and prepped, quickly closed the door. After locking the car, they duo made their way to the small building down the road. Radar tugged on his leash a bit when he caught the smell from the restaurant they were passing. Kate wanted to question him how he was still hungry after just eating but she refrained from talking to her dog in public. People tended to give her strange looks when she did so.

With a small pull, Radar's attention was back on their walk though. Honestly, Radar didn't need a leash and was trained well enough to be without one. People didn't take too kindly on a large dog without a leash though and she was always forced to use one. After one block, the small building came to sight. It wasn't a very big place seeing as it was squished between two buildings but it was where Kate happily worked in. She entered the small animal clinic and, once she was inside, let Radar go.

"Hey, Kate." The said woman looked up to find an older woman smiling at her. Her own face immediately mirrored the smile before making her way over.

"Good morning, Amanda," she greeted the daughter of the owner of the clinic. Amanda was a tall girl, much taller than Kate, with long brown hair and a long face. Although it was her mother that owned the clinic, it was mostly Amanda that ran the place.

"And hello to you, boy." Amanda looked at Radar who had been waiting to be noticed. Once he received the attention he was looking for, he turned around and began looking for a place to take a nap.

The sound of sirens cut through the air at that moment. Both women looked out as ambulances passed down the street in a hurry. "It's been going on for a while now," Amanda said as she grabbed some charts. "There has been so much on the news as well," she added and nodded towards the TV. The volume had been on low so Kate hadn't taken notice it was on. There were snapshots of people being taken in ambulances - something about bites.

"Hm," Amanda snorted when she noticed Kate watching the news, "It's a crazy world we live in."

---

It was past 6 PM when Kate finally made it to the airport. The traffic had been terrible and caused her to be late on picking Jason up from his flight. She was so close to breaking out in a run as she made her way to the airport. It would be the first time seeing Jason since so long and she was late. Her face was burning from the ensnarement.

When she finally got to the entrance of the airport, her eyes caught sight of a tall young boy standing by the wall. He was taller than Kate by a lot; something weird since she was supposed to be the older sibling. He had the same blonde hair she had, a bit more curlier than her own and just a bit shorter. Honestly, Kate felt a bit intimidated.

"I'm so sorry, there was a lot of traffic today," she blurted out in a rapid pace to him. Jason adjusted the bag on his shoulder before walking over.

"Yeah... Where's the car?" Jason questioned and looked around.

"Uh, it's over here," Kate mumbled and nervously began to lead him to the airport's parking lot. There weren't that many people around and thankfully she hadn't parked that far. They made it to the red Ford Range in no time. "Watch out for Radar. He likes to greet strangers by jumping on them," Kate warned as she made her way to the other side of her truck. They jumped into the truck and just like she said, Radar was trying to climb into Jason's lap as soon as he took his seat. "Get back, boy!" Kate called out and made sure to keep the dog in the back.

When she was sure Radar calmed down, Kate started the truck and pulled out of the airport.

---

"So how was the flight?"

Kate's eyes flickered from the road to Jason. He was slumped down in his seat with his eyes watching the scenery out the window. His boredom was obvious to Kate and she was trying her hardest to keep the conversation going. Unfortunately, Jason didn't seem to like that idea and it was mostly one-sided from Kate's part. Unlike the other times, though, Jason responded with something other than one-word answers.

"Weird, I guess. There were a bunch of soldiers when we arrived and they didn't even want to let us land," he muttered with a small frown forming on his face. "It seemed the airport had been shut down but we had taken flight before they announced it so they were kind of forced to let us land."

Kate's eyebrow drew closer together. "Close the airport?" she questioned and tried to find anything in her mind that would cause that. She doubted that there was any kind of threat to the safety of others since she would've most likely seen it on the news. Well, a lot of crazy things had been happening lately so maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

Jason shuffled in his seat and let out an irritated sigh. "How long are we going to be here?" he questioned, obviously tired of being in the same place. Kate's eyes took in the length of the traffic they were currently in and couldn't help but sigh as well.

"I'll get off in the next exit. Hopefully we can get through one of the side roads." It took about five long minutes of awkward silence until the traffic moved enough for Kate to be able to get off the free way. There were a great number of cars already on the side roads but at least they were moving now.

At a red light, Kate wiped some sweat that had began to form over the ride. She was about to turn on the air but remembered it had been broken for a week now. Oh, she wanted to slap herself for constantly procrastinating in getting it fixed. "Um, if it gets too hot for you, you can lower the window," Kate said over to Jason as she did so for her window. She could hear Radar in the back getting closer to her side of the truck in order to get closer to the open window.

The numbers of the cars had lessened after a while for some reason. It wasn't like Kate to wonder why though so she just thanked her luck. As she drove more into the city, she found a number of cars abandoned and some even wrecked. It was weirder when she didn't see the owners of the cars either yelling at other people, looking for help, or just simply being there. It became even stranger when Radar began to move around the back seat more. He would sometimes move around, yes, when something outside catches his attention. This time he seemed restless more than anything though. It wasn't until she heard Radar growl that Kate began to get worried.

"Hey, what's wrong with your dog?" Jason demanded as he got as far from Radar as he could while glaring at him.

"I-I don't know," Kate stammered. She kept trying to eye the road and look over at Radar at the same time who was now beginning to bark. "Ray!" Kate called out to him, raising her voice to get his attention. His eyes didn't even look at her and instead he kept looking outside the window. It was almost like he was searching for something.

"Will you shut him up?!" Jason snapped at her. The barking had gotten worse and it was aggravating him. It was then that Radar bolted out from the back and rushed on Kate's lap. She tried grab him but he slipped right through her fingers and jumped out her window before she could even call out his name. The truck swerved to the left in the process and Kate's heart almost leaped out of her chest at the thought that she could have hit Radar. Her feet stomped on the brake as hard as she could and her body was thrown forward. The belt thankfully kept her in place but Jason was another matter all together.

Jason's cursing was muffled by the ringing in Kate's ears. She blinked rapidly as she tried to recollect her thoughts and turned to look at Jason. He hadn't been wearing his seat belt and had hit his head against the dashboard. It didn't seem to bad enough for the airbag though; it was either that or it just hadn't worked properly. The fact was that it had scratched Jason's forehead and he was bleeding from it. Kate immediately leaned towards him. "I-I'm so sorry! He just jumped and it just-" Kate began to say to him when she remembered Radar. She turned around quickly and looked at the road for any sign of her dog. Thankfully, it didn't seem like he had gotten hurt but it didn't change the fact that he was know where in sight. Quickly, Kate unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door to the truck. She stepped outside and her head searched the thankfully empty road. "Radar!" Kate called out as loud as she could but as much as she waited, there was response.

"Is he there?" Jason's voice asked from the passenger's seat. Kate turned to him and caught his eyes also searching for the dog with his hand covering his injury.

"No," Kate breathed and ran her head through her hair. Suddenly, a familiar sound of barking was heard in the distant. Her body instantly reacted and she ran back into the truck. Without putting any mind on her seat belt, she put the truck on drive and took off in the direction of the barking. They followed the sound until they arrived to the grounds of a UCLA. The barking had come to a stop so all that they were left with were aimlessly looking around for him.

"There's someone there," Jason noted and pointed to where a woman was walking slowly with her back towards them. Kate was careful not to hit the woman with the truck as she pulled up besides her. She was on Jason's side so he took the initiative to talk. "Uh, hey there," he said awkwardly, "Have you seen a, um, big dog?" His eyes flickered towards Kate who whispered the name of the breed. It didn't seem like he caught it though because he simply frowned and continued with "Like, he's black, with some, uh, white and brown on him."

Jason suddenly felt someone grab him. His eyes snapped to see the woman had his hands on his arm that had been resting on the side of the window. His eyes widened when he was the woman's mouth open up, even more when he noticed the red dense liquid around her mouth that he hadn't noticed earlier. His other hand shot up and stopped her head from getting any closer as she tried to take a bite out of his hand. A growling noise came from her that Kate had only ever heard from animals and it left her in a state of shock. "K-Kate!" Jason's voice knocked her back to reality and she quickly stepped on the gas pedal and they shot out of there. Jason's breathing had become uneven and harder as he looked out the window to see the woman had fallen on the ground when they left. The bad thing was that she was trying to get up and her eyes were locked on them still.

"What the fuck was that?! That bitch tried to bite me!" Jason shouted and looked over at Kate who was freaking out internally. Her mouth opened in an attempt to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Her mind couldn't comprehend was had just happened at all. She tried to stop driving to calm herself down but Jason stopped her. "Don't stop! She's chasing us!" he snapped with his head out the window as he watched her from the distance. His eyes caught more movement and his lips parted when he saw at least four more people in the distance. They had the same look and acted the same way that the woman had did. It was then that a thought hit him and he slowly moved to sit correctly in his seat.

"Hey," Jason spoke and turned to Kate. She slowled down a bit as they took a turn in the street that lead them around the UCLA campus. "She tried to bite me," he stated to her.

Kate took an uneven breath before she finally spoke. "I-I saw." Her head shook as she finally brought the truck to a stop far from the spot where they had seen the woman. "Some people are just crazy," she muttered with a sigh as she took the keys out of the ignition.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Jason questioned as she began to leave the truck.

"We've been through almost all the roads and haven't seen Radar. I'm going to go inside and see if they have or have seen him," she answered and shut the door behind her. "I'm also alerting them about that woman."

"What? Are you crazy?" Jason demanded as he stumbled out the car himself. His eyes looked around warily for any sign of anyone as he did so. "The woman could catch up!"

"Look, you can come or wait in the truck, Jason," Kate stated as she looked back at him. Jason opened his mouth to say something but after a few seconds of silence, he simply cursed and quickly caught up to Kate.

"Fine, but let's hurry!"

---

"Where is everyone?"

Once the two had entered the UCLA building, they had come across the fact that there were no one in sight. Katherine was too determined in finding Radar to just leave because of it and had dragged along Jason deeper into the building in hope of finding someone to help them.

"Why don't we just leave? He's probably outside now, looking for us or something," Jason said with a frustrated tone. He was still anxious and alert after the incident outside and all he wanted to do was get the hell out of there. It wasn't like he had wanted to come here, like he wanted his mother to die. As much as he had shoved his feelings deep inside, he wasn't immune to the doses of sadness that would hit him at random times - this time being one of them. He tried to replace the grief with annoyance, though, in order for Katherine not to notice. It was her and her father's fault that everything happened. Ever since the divorce, his mother had never recovered and, unlike their father, who easily moved on and started another family, she just couldn't start over and got stuck in the past. Ever since she got sick, Jason had blamed her sadness for it. And who caused her suffering? Them. The perfect daughter who decided to leave her mother and go off with her father who replaced his mother without hesitation.

Katherine came to a halt and Jason followed the action behind her. A sigh escaped her and her eyes connected with Jason's. "Fine, let's go," she mumbled, clearly not happy about this. All she wanted to do was to find Radar. Jason's face brightened up and he immediately turned around and began fast walking back to where they had come from. Katherine, in a much slower pace, followed. Just when Jason's eyes had met the door, he noticed around three people standing right by. He came to a stop and looked back at Katherine who was feet behind him.

"I found others," he called out as he turned to look back at them to get their attention. He didn't seem to say anything because the three turned their heads towards me as soon as they heard him. His eyebrows scrunched up, suddenly feeling his stomach tighten up. Their mouth opened and a familiar growl left their throats as they began to make their over to him with a look of hunger. Fear correlated through his body and suddenly in the distance, screams could be heard.

"What was that-?" Katherine began to ask as she looked behind her at the sound of the screams. She was cut off when she was grabbed by arm and found herself being pulled by Jason towards the direction they had heard the sound. "W-What are you doing?" Katherine questioned, trying to look back at the people that Jason had pointed out.

"I-I think they're like that woman outside," Jason stammered with a pained expression.

"What?" Katherine, questioned, still dumbfounded. Before either of them could do or say anything but run, a stampede of people appeared out of nowhere and almost ran over the two.

"H-Hey! Don't go that way!" Jason shouted, trying to warn them about the people at the entrance. His words seemed hopeless though and no one seemed to pay any mind to them. "Fuck, what are they doing?" he asked with a strained voice as he watched the chaos ensue before continuing to try to warn them, hoping someone would listen.

BRIANA HAWKE

“C’mon, Brett. Let’s just go,” Briana whined from the hallway. She had to run to keep up with him as he cruised towards the auditorium. Katie and her friend Theo trailed close behind.

“I’m not leaving without Amber,” Brett called back, “she’s got theatre class.”

“I called 911 like fifteen times! Nobody is picking up. I can't even get onto Facebook,” Katie cried out between breaths.

None of them chose to acknowledge how odd that actually was. The group turned the corner and found themselves facing the large double doors of the theatre auditorium. Unlike some of the others in the rest of the school, these doors didn’t have windows. Whatever was happening on the other side, the doors were locked. This was made obvious after several attempts to wrench it open by Brett. A feat even his muscles couldn’t triumph over.

“What the hell!?” He grunted in frustration.

Briana rolled her eyes. “It’s a lockdown, Einstein.”

“What about the other doors?” He protested.

“It’s a lock… down…” Briana repeated.

“This is bullshit!” Brett demonstrated his frustration by kicking the door. Hard. “We have to—“

“Who the hell is out there?” A voice shouted from the other side of the door.

Brett kicked at it again. “We’re students. Let us in!”

“We’re in a lockdown. Why aren’t you in your classroom?” The voice answered. From the pinched, slightly British-sounding accent, Briana guessed they were talking to Mr. Weston, the voice teacher.

“Mr. Weston, something bad happened to Mr. Geoffries. We can’t get ahold of the paramedics or anything. Please let us in…” Briana was pleading. She hoped to God that a less abrasive approach might appeal to his sense of reason.

“W-What happened to him?” Mr. Weston stammered, his voice shaking.

“There was, uh—“ Briana’s words caught in her throat.

“He got attacked, man,” Brett yelled over her.

Briana listened as she heard, Mr. Weston shuffle around behind the door. “Why don’t you just, uh, go down to the office and—“

BAM!

Brett’s foot collided with the handle of the door again, clanging all the way down the hall.

“Stop it!” Mr. Weston cried out.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Again and again he kicked at the door. Briana watched it loosen in its frame a bit as Brett furiously kicked away at it.

“Stop it!” Katie said, tugging at his arm.

Briana was over it. “Forget this,” she said, turning to walk down the hallway.

She stopped dead in her tracks as the muffled sounds of terrified screams overcame her. Brett backed away from the door, as it began to shake violently from the other side. As if bending at the frames, the door burst open with pressure from the other side. A wave of panicked bodies surged out, knocking Brett and Briana back against the walls. Katie and Theo immediately took off in the other direction, narrowly avoiding the stampede of people.

Briana was instantly knocked to her knees by the sobering blow of someone’s shoulder. She recovered as quickly as she could and ran with the mass, straining desperately to keep her bearings as others collided into her. She made it a few doors down the hallway before getting knocked to her knees by the sobering blow of somebody’s passing shoulder. She hit the ground hard and rolled into the person in front of her, knocking them to the ground as well.

“Katherine?!” A man’s voice called from somewhere in the crowd. Briana picked herself up from the ground as well. Whoever had called out, was already lost in the surge of people.

Briana looked to the girl next to her. Blonde and terrified. “I’m sorry,” she began, “I didn’t—“

Ear-shattering screams resonated from even further down the hall in the direction of the herd of people. Parts of the crowd ahead splintered into different directions, some doubling back the way they came. Briana looked around, unable to see any of her friends from before in the swarming frenzy of bodies. The girl next to her seemed to be in the same predicament.

“This way,” she said, grabbing the girl’s hand and leading her down the stairs nearby.. As they delved deeper into the stairwell, the sounds of chaos resonated louder from above.

Suddenly, the woman pulled her wrist from Briana’s grasp. “W-Wait. My brother—“

Briana rounded on her. “Do you really feel like going up there to look?” The woman’s silence was all the answer she needed. Briana turned and continued trotting down the last few steps, the woman following her after a bit of hesitation.

“What’s happening up there?” The woman asked. Her voice shook slightly. Briana figured it probably wasn’t from the her jogging down the stairs, and more from her fear that the world might be ending.

“Haven’t you been watching the news?”

The woman shook her head. “No, I was at the airport…”

Briana slowed down once they neared the hallway. It was likely that there were people still down here. In what condition would remain to be seen. “It’s an infection of some sort, from the looks of it. The media didn’t seem to know how to explain it.” The two of them crept into the hallway in front of them towards the locker rooms, their shoes echoing on the cement floor. “Whatever it is, it’s bad.”

The silence hung for a moment before the woman finally spoke. “Where are we going?” She asked.

“These locker rooms let out onto the football field. We can go around the track to the parking lot,” Briana explained as she ducked into a passing doorway.

“So those… things… up there… those are—?”

“I don’t know,” Briana said, her gaze dropping to the floor. “Did you drive?”

“Yeah… a truck,” the woman replied, “but I have the keys.”

Briana stopped in front of the girl’s locker room door and looked the girl squarely in the face.

“Then let’s hope we get there before your brother does.”