Sara pulled back the curtain that covered her front window. She watched as the creatures who she recognized stumbled around the street. A few were in her front yard, and one was absentmindedly walking around her front porch. The third time she had checked outside, the creatures had moved on. All of them except one were down the street, bothering another house. The one that had stayed at her house, however, was slowly making its way up to the front door. She had seen it before, standing with the creatures that had been at the sidewalk in front of her house. It had been the one that was staring at her house.

She was confused as to how it managed to go up her front steps without falling, seeing another creature do the same task but fail down the road. The creature stood perfectly in front of her door for several minutes, and her heart stopped beating for a millisecond when it looked directly at her as if it had known she would be looking at it. The piercing blue eyes that stared back at her made her heart shatter.

Joseph stood at her door, his skin a sickly pale grey and small red boils littering his skin. There was blood on his lab coat, and it was torn as if he had gotten it caught on something in the time since she last saw him. Sara hesitated before she walked to her door. She glanced through the peephole before opening the door, and Joseph growled at the sight of her. She stepped to the side, and she raised her eyebrows as Joseph slowly and carefully walked into her house.

“I am so stupid for doing this.” She whispered.

She closed the door and locked it before any of the creatures outside could notice that she was in the open, and she turned to face Joseph. She hadn’t heard his fall, but he was laying on his stomach in the middle of the floor. He didn’t attempt to move from the spot, simply flailing his arms around. Sara rolled her eyes before carefully stepping around him and heading to her bedroom.

“I’m going to believe that you’re going to be normal in the morning. Good night, Joseph.” She said, closing her bedroom door and locking it before laying down to sleep.

Sara took a deep breath as she placed her hand on her bedroom door. She had gotten dressed, the living room entirely silent the entire morning. The thought of Joseph leaving after returning to normal filled her head seconds before the smell of eggs and bacon infiltrated her nostrils. She pulled the door open, and she smiled at the sight she was greeted with. Joseph’s bloody lab coat was haphazardly tossed over a chair that stood at her table, along with his shirt and the bandana that had been tied around his arm.

“Joseph?” Sara called out quietly.

“Yes?” His voice came from the kitchen.

Sara took her time walking to the kitchen, noting the blood that was on the floor of her living room. She stopped in place when she could see Joseph. He stood, bare chested, at her over with a towel on his shoulders.

“I hope you don’t mind. I took a shower to get the blood off. I kind of made a mess while I was, uh, on the floor?” He smiled as he looked at her. “I’m making breakfast as a way to pay you back.”

“Breakfast?” Sara smiled.

“Bacon and eggs. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really learned how to cook and not burn.”

Joseph motioned his hand toward the plate of freshly cooked bacon that sat on the counter, and Sara happily skipped over to him. She forgot about the world that was crumbling to pieces around her as a man she barely knew stood shirtless in her kitchen making her breakfast.

“You said that the creatures aren’t bright, yet you came here as one of them and didn’t attack me.” She stated, picking up a bacon strip and breaking off a piece as she leaned on the counter beside him.

“I know the information that I collected during the research. The original creature that was being studied was brilliant. It would attack the moment something living was in its sight, and it could move incredibly quickly. The people that have been infected since then, like the man that let the disease out and all of his victims, seemed to be less agile and more aggressive. It seems as though the effects of the general infection have evolved while it’s being spread through the city.” Joseph explained.

“Information that you collected? You were working on this?”

Sara wasn’t sure what to expect as an answer. She had known that Joseph worked in the Department of Disease Experiments and Control. The department name itself gave away what he was doing at the CDC, but she hadn’t thought about the chance that he had worked on the disease that was overtaking the world every minute.

“I was one of the people who was working on this, yes. I had nothing to do with the actually creation of the disease. I was only one of the people who documented its effects on living organisms.” He replied.

Sara found comfort in his explanation even when she shouldn’t have. He had been a part of the disease’s creation, his observation in it possibly being the reason why it had left the CDC. Joseph’s look of sorrow and depression made Sara feel guilty for questioning him.

“As much as I like what I see, I don’t really think it’s wise for you to be shirtless while cooking bacon. The grease will pop and burn you if it lands on your skin.” She finished eating the bacon strip and retreated to the guest bedroom.

It took her a few minutes to find a shirt in the closet of the guest bedroom, the room once belonging to her younger brother who wore the same shirt size as Joseph. She was trying her best to find a shirt that was as normal as possible, finding a black t-shirt that was almost the same as the one Joseph had been wearing. She returned to the kitchen and handed the shirt to him, earning a small smile from the man as he took it and put it on.

“Thanks.” He whispered. “Mind if I ask why you have men’s clothing in your house? You were written down as living alone.”

“I am living alone. My brother lived here a few months ago, but he moved out after finding a cheap apartment.” Sara explained.

Joseph nodded in understanding, finishing breakfast and dividing the food on two plates. Sara raised an eyebrow as he pulled open the utensils drawer like it was his own house. Joseph noticed her reaction and chuckled.

“I live down the road. I believe my house has the exact same layout as yours. I only guessed which drawer you used for utensils. I didn’t snoop around during the half an hour of time I had between being normal again and you waking up.” He laughed.

Sara found comfort in Joseph’s presence. It had been a long time since she had someone in the house with her for more than a few hours, and Joseph would continually answer her questions without hesitation even if it seemed to bother him. She had learned that he was the last one to see the first victim alive, and he had been the one to inform his department of the entire situation after seeing it on the news. When she wasn’t asking about his work, she was asking about his personal life. He lived alone like she did, and he had recently gotten into painting during his free time. He even took the chance to show her pictures of his paintings on his phone. Many of them were sophisticated landscapes or strands of DNA overlapping.

“What do you do in your free time?” Joseph asked after their long conversation that revolved around him.

“I actually didn’t really do anything. I was working at a local toy shop, and my free time was usually spent on relaxing after shifts. Children were always screaming and crying in the store. It stressed me out really quickly.” Sara answered, fiddling with the tea cup she was holding.

“Not everyone needs a hobby to relax.”

The two were content with how they had ended up after the initial outbreak. Cooped up in the small house was incredibly boring, of course, but they had each other to keep them company. It wasn’t until they had ran out of food and the running water had stopped that they realized they’d have to leave. It was getting close to night time, and Joseph feared the moment he turned into the monster he had helped make.

“Look, we can’t stay here anymore. We’re out of food, and we haven’t eaten in twelve hours. We need to get going.” Sara mumbled.

“If you go out there, you’ll be attacked!” Joseph snapped.

“And? I’ll have you with me. They stayed away from you when you came here the first night you turned.”

“How would you even keep me close to you? What if I wander away from you?”

Sara took a moment to think, and she smiled as she walked to her brother’s old room. She rummaged through his dresser, giggling to herself when she found something hidden underneath the clothes he had left behind. She walked to the living room with the object in hand, smiling as Joseph’s eyes widened when he looked at it.

“Why do you have that?” He asked.

“It’s not mine. My brother was a bit of an odd man.” She explained, the rattling of the chain causing her to giggle once more.

“That’s a leash! What was he into?”

“I didn’t really have the patience to ask what he did behind closed doors. I only knew he had this because he had a girl over one night and forgot to take the collar off the morning after.”

“I am not wearing that.”

“You can take it off when you’re normal again. This is the only thing I have that can keep you with me.”

“That’s humiliating.”

“So is having to drag you around with it. Get over it, Joseph.”

That was how the two had ended up on the road, Joseph collared and leashed and the end of the chain hooked to Sara’s waist as they walked. His soft growling and shuffling were all she could hear as they wandered through the night.

Sara looked in the direction Joseph was trying to go, and she huffed as she tugged on the chain. He was focused on a house, the front door wide open and the surrounding area quiet.

“I’m not going there. It’s too quiet, and the door is open. There could be creatures in there.” She said, pulling on the chain once more.

Joseph growled in protest and attempted to pull her in the house’s direction, but one more hard tug was all it took for him to give in and follow after her.

While Sara slept during the few hours of sunlight in the morning, Joseph stayed close to her and kept his eyes out for anything that moved. The two had stopped somewhere in the middle of the woods, and Sara had put up a tent after tying the end of Joseph’s chain to a nearby tree. Even though he remained chained to the tree from the lack of caring about the leash he wore, his eyes continuously scanned the forest for any source of threats that could put himself and Sara at risk. At the sound of movement, Joseph’s hand immediately went to the knife he kept hidden in his boot. He let out a sigh as he discovered that the movement was coming from Sara’s tent, and his uneasiness was resolved as the girl crawled out of the tent and stretched as she stood up.

“I’m surprised you’re still wearing that.” Sara mumbled as she looked over at the man.

Joseph tugged at the chain. “I’m tied to a tree, and the clasp is too hard for me to do since you put it at the back, and I can’t see it.”

Sara laughed as she walked toward him, and he looked down at her as she effortlessly removed the collar from his neck. She put the chain and collar into her bag after removing the chain from the tree.

“Can you tell me a little more about the creatures? What do you call them? Why do they avoid you?” Sara asked.

“Well, there are different forms that the infection can take. The common form was called ‘Boilers’ by one of the staff members, but it’s only because of the boils that appear on the infected’s skin. I’ve only ever seen two other forms since the outbreak began. One of them was called a Cadaver. The human host died from the infection instead of turning, and it was changed into a creature that was completely overtaken by the glowing red boils. The other form is what I am. I believe what the others called it is a Sufferer. I think it refers to how we’re forced to change at night and stay that way.”