The next few minutes were a blur. Run, stop and hide, run, stop and hide. Rinse and repeat. Finally we got to the front of the eleven hundred building, waiting for Jack to arrive with my car. We stood in front of the building, only to find more of those things. “Damn it.” I cursed under my breath. We backed up. I reached for the door to find it had locked behind us. “Damn it!” I repeated.

Just as I began to prepare myself for the unpreparable, a pale blue pickup truck came to a screeching stop in front of us. The zombies unfortunate enough to have been in its path were flung across the street, skidding on the hot pavement. Jack immediately got out of the car and went around to the passenger’s seat. Driving was obviously not his favorite activity. I quickly made my way to the driver’s seat, while Emily got into the back. Right as I began to drive away, Jack nudged me, pointing out the window.

“Is that who I think it is?” He asked. I squinted, trying to get a good look at a kid who was running away from a group of those things. My day just kept getting better and better. I wish I was heartless, but this unfortunate burden pounded in my chest. I turned the wheel, cutting through the grass to quickly get to the boy running from the twelve hundred building. I swerved the car directly in front of the kid. This shocked him, causing him to fall on his ass. Emily quickly opened the car door and pulled him in. I slammed on the gas just as those undead freaks began clawing at my car.

“Hey John.” I glanced up to my rearview mirror to see his face. “Hey.” he panted. He acted as if I hadn’t just saved from a bunch of flesh eating monsters. Even while the world was ending, I managed to hold a grudge.

Minutes that felt like hours had past as we sat in silence. Only the engine spoke. Jack had been messing with the radio, trying to get a signal. After a couple of minutes, a rusty voice clouded by a thin layer of static began to speak.

“Attention all remaining residents of Columbus, Ohio, we have evacuated the city to a quarantine located in Worthington. Come unarmed.”

After the announcement ended the channel returned to static and the car was quiet again. Ambulances and police car sirens blared past us towards the chaos we wished so dearly to leave behind. The drive from the high school to Worthington was normally a twenty minute drive, but since the freeway was shut down, we had to take all the back roads. Most of the neighborhoods and schools we passed by seemed almost abandoned. Vacant cars left in the street, items sprawled along yards and driveways, doors left wide open, it sent chills down my spine. The few still gathering their essentials were shoving family members into cars and stuffing the remaining space with luggage. I had to admit, I was just as messed up as the other three kids in my car.

It was hard keeping my eyes on the road. Every time I glanced into the rearview mirror I caught a glimpse of reality trying to catch up with us. Smoke rose from the city we had just came from. The far sound of explosives being set off made me grip the steering wheel even harder than before. Was this really happening? When was I going to wake up?

For the first time since I had started driving, I looked at the others faces. Suppressed fear glazed over their eyes and shock painted their faces. I found comfort in the fact that I was not the only one internally freaking out. Jack was in fact shaking. I felt bad for them. For myself.

The quarantine was easy to spot. With all the military vehicles and barricades, you might as well put a neon sign over it. We were directed to the front entrance and then forced out of my truck. They pushed and prodded as if they were herding livestock. It pissed me off, but I kept my mouth shut. I figured I shouldn’t start something with a military officer. Honestly, It felt more like being arrested rather than saved.

Once we got up to the entrance on foot, they stopped us. My hands were stuffed in the pockets of my navy blue hoodie. The only things I had left were my phone, my wallet, and my backpack, which I had dumped all the school supplies out of. Unless 8x=12 could kill a zombie, I didn’t need my algebra homework.

Two officers searched us. Thoroughly. After they deemed us “safe”, they proceeded to force us into the camp. It was crowded. Uncomfortably so. Another couple of officers lead us through some sort of sanitary station. We were instructed to remove all clothing and let a doctor examine us. Emily was sent behind a curtain with a female nurse. What ever they were looking for, we didn’t have. They let us get dressed and left us to explore the camp on our own. Of course military personnel were at every corner watching everyone intently.