“Let’s go!” I shouted at Lucas as the two of us turned and ran up the stairs to the first floor.

As I turned the corner to get to the next staircase, another one of the infected stood in my path. The lumbering monster was snarling, grunting and very visibly and disgusting salivating as it held its arms out and tried to get a hold of me.

“Christ!” I exclaimed before instinctively whacking it over the head with the hammer and toppling it over the barrier down to the floor below. I heard its body crash down to the ground with a loud thud.

As I climbed the next staircase to the second floor, I yelled out to Lucas.

“Still with me, Doc?”

“I’m right with you, but there are a lot of these bastards following us!”

I heard their aggressive groaning and gargling as the herd of them had followed us up the stairs. They looked to be moving quickly but were held back by each other as they all frantically jammed into the corridor, almost racing each other to get to us first as they salivated and frothed at the mouth. I snuck a look at them as I got to the top of the stairs to the second floor.

“Jesus…” I couldn’t begin to believe what I was witnessing.

“Keep it moving, Craig! What floor do you live on?” Lucas shoved me on.

“Fourth floor!” I shouted out as another one of the infected stood in my way. I quickly dealt with it by jamming the sharp end of the hammer into its forehead, taking the life straight out of it, causing blood to splatter onto my face and glasses lenses, making my vision obscured.

Lucas and I made it to my apartment and after I jammed my key into the lock and turned it, we were inside. I locked the door the two of us caught our breath.

“Help me move the bookshelf, Doc.” Lucas and I dragged the bookshelf over to in front of the door so the infected would have a harder time getting in.

“You think that’ll stop them?” Lucas asked me while trying to regain his breath and composure.

“I hope they’re not smart enough to figure out where we went.”

I turned around, facing away from the door towards the living area. It was a reasonably sized space, at worst a little bit on the small side. I had a small TV on top of a similarly small stand against the right-side wall with a couch in front of it. I had a desk against the back wall next to the window with a desktop computer underneath and a monitor on top. My walls were adorned with black wallpaper and various posters of movies and Red Sox players. I slowly crept away from the door and gently called out.

“Zoey? It’s Craig, honey. I’ve come back for you.”

No reply, this wasn’t good. I went to the bedroom door and slowly opened it, hoping to Lady Luck that she hadn’t been infected. The door creaked open and I eventually opened it all the way, Zoey wasn’t inside but the wardrobe and dresser drawers had been left open, and it looked like things had been taken out of them in a rush. The bed had been left unmade and was in a mess. It looked like the place had been completely flipped upsides down. I walked back out to the living area and looked at Lucas.

“She’s not here, is she?” He asked sombrely

“No, she’s not. Looks like she maybe packed some stuff and left. The bedroom looks like it’s been raided.” I put my hands on my head and sighed.

“Craig, mind if I put the TV on?”

I shrugged. “Sure, I think Frasier’s usually on at this time.” I dryly joked. “I’m going to the bathroom to clean myself up.”

Lucas picked up the remote, pressed the power button and TV went out with a click as the screen flicked on. As I went into the bathroom and grabbed a cloth out of the cabinet to clean my face with warm water, I overheard a voice on what sounded like an emergency broadcast.

“…are advised to avoid contact with the infected and maintain good hygiene to prevent the spread. Your local evacuation centre is…”

I took my glasses off and ran them under the faucet to try and clean the blood off them. I hoped that this disease wasn’t bloodborne because if it were, I’d definitely be infected by now. I stared at myself in the mirror as I processed what had just happened over the past hour or so. I squinted my eyes to try and see better past my blurred, short-sighted vision. This still didn’t feel real, I told myself that I must be in a dream – or nightmare, rather. The scenes I’d witnessed outside felt completely hellish and like they’d been plucked from the nightmares of someone utterly deranged. I gently dried my glasses lenses with a soft cloth and I dried my face off. I took one last look at myself in the mirror and walked back out to where Lucas was stood watching the emergency broadcast on the TV in the living room.

“…recommended that you pack the following essentials before reaching evacuation…”

“Anything?” I asked Lucas rather vaguely.

“It’s just telling us to get to Fenway Park for evacuation.”

“Where will they even take us?”

Lucas shrugged “Wherever’s safest. Maybe Boston’s the worst of it and other cities aren’t so bad.” He took a brief pause and looked around at me before speaking again. “Or maybe the rural areas are safer.”

He turned his attention back to the TV

“…bottled water, prescription medication, hand sanitisers, face masks…”

“What do we do now, Doc?”

“You’ve gotta pack yourself a bag of supplies, Craig.” Lucas turned back to me. “We need to make our way to the stadium.”

“And what if everyone’s already been evacuated or the place is overrun?”

“We don’t know that’s happened until we get there.”

He had a point. I looked down at the floor and ran my hand through my hair with a sigh.

“Hey,” Lucas spoke to me with an encouraging voice. “Maybe Zoey got there. She might be waiting for you.”

I nodded at what he said. That was out designated evac point after all and perhaps it was the salvation from this nightmare that we need. Deep down, though, I felt a crushing doubt about the viability of Fenway. I also felt an even bigger doubt about Zoey being there waiting for me.