I follow my usual routine: get dressed and ready for school, drive myself to school, then drive myself home afterward. It is my senior year of high school, and some of my friends are coming home with me to hang out for a while, and, of course, a few of my online friends are here for a while just visiting.

On the way home, it is just me, Damien, Rae, and Aimee, seeing as that is all I can really fit in my car. I have two rusted out seatbelts in the backseats so it is three of us up front and one person in the back, I've been meaning to get the seatbelts fixed but I don't have a job yet so I can't do so. Yeah, I'm a senior in high school who has a car, a license, but no job. Anyways, on the short drive, I notice that everything is more deserted than usual. Every day, on my way home, traffic is buzzing everywhere, especially at a 3-way stop where it is just so backed up that it takes like five minutes to pass it if you are at the back of the line. The other three don't see it as weird, but I do. I go through here twice a day, every day, and it is almost never like this. At the stop sign, I stop and look in all directions for anyone, but I can't seem to find anyone around but me and my friends in this car.

"This is kinda weird..." I say, continuing on with the drive.

"What's 'kinda weird,' Ash?" Damien asks he's seated between me and Rae because he's smaller than Aimee. The boney little sophomore.

"Usually there's a lot of traffic there, but no one's here. It's kinda weird, and not normal." I reply, pulling into my driveway.

I shut off the car and grabs my phone and wallet, I wear my lanyard that has my keys around my neck. I open up the left back door of my car and pull my backpack out, all the while my friends hop out of the car with their things and go inside the house. I look over the front yard and see Alex and Carlie, two of my visiting online friends. They're talking and cuddling on the bench swing at the far end of the yard and I smell and wave at them, Alex stands and lifts up Carlie into his arms and walks inside right behind me.

I place my backpack on the ottoman and kick off my shoes, putting them below the television. I step into the kitchen and grab a soda from the table and I take a sip of it while heading to my room, and once I enter my olive green bedroom, I remove my jacket and switch my t-shirt for a Supernatural tank top. I leave my room and make sure everyone is okay and settled in, then I travel to the backyard.

That is where I find Landon and Dylan.

"Dude, you need to calm down!" Dylan tells Landon, dodging a couple of punches.

I clear throat and cross my arms over my chest, Dylan quickly hides behind me and I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. Landon looks at us, then turns around and walks towards the workshop. I can hear the forge going from here and I follow him.

The workshop is my dad's, everything in it is his. Every tool, shelf, and screw is his. He bought each one and taught me how to use them. My parents left with my sisters on a road trip, I decided to stay home and go to school to finish my high school education and graduate. A seventeen-year-old in charge of the house while everyone else is gone for a trip, I decided to invite my friends over for a while, including the ones who were planning on visiting.

I walk into the workshop and see that the forge is, indeed, on and there is a piece of metal in it. It's a simple propane forge, I and my dad used a heat-resistant, metallic silver spray paint on it to paint it. Landon removed his shirt because of the amount of heat that is being produced by the forge and takes the metal out of it, then he bangs on the hot-white metal on an anvil with a small sledgehammer. I tie my tank top up a little bit, my stomach showing, and I watch him work the metal out, making it into a knife shape.

"What had happened?" I ask once Landon places the metal back into the forge.

"He was being a dick," Landon says, keeping it short between us.

"Well, I got the others here. Was there anything on the news?"

"More people becoming cannibals, an officer had to shoot a man in front of his wife to keep a child safe."

"It's getting worse. My parents took my sisters and pets on their country trip a week ago, and all this started a couple of days after they left." I rake a hand through my shoulder length, deep red hair and tug at it a bit, obviously uneasy about this mess.

Landon cups my cheek and I look up at him in the eyes, his blue eyes looking down at me with concern and I lean up on my tip-toes and give him a quick peck on the lips before going flat on my feet again, and I earn a smile from him.

"I'm just worried about them, I know my dad can keep my mom and sisters safe and they have the dogs and ferrets and each other." I cross my arms over my chest again and sit on the workbench. Landon shuts off the forge and stands between my legs, I rest my arms around his shoulders and just look at him. Without a shirt on, it's obvious he is well built with biceps and abs, granted he has like a six-pack, but it's still something that's easy on the eyes.

"If this is a zombie apocalypse, which it probably isn't, I bet they are perfectly fine, Ash. Plus, you have guests that need to be entertained." Landon says, looking down at me with a smile.

"Well, I know how I'd entertain you," I smirk as I push him back a little, and I hop off the workbench and walk out of the workshop through the front door instead of the back. To be honest, I like being a bit of a tease and I know Landon knows this.

I walk back into the house and notice that Aine is making dinner, I gave her permission to cook whatever she wants here as long as everyone else enjoys it, and so far everyone has. Alex, Carlie, Landon, and Aine have been here since all the cannibal stuff started and they've been helping me with homework as long as I let them stay here. I sit down on the couch, my feet on the ottoman, and relax. My head resting on the top of the back cushion and my eyes closed, a yawn coming from my mouth. I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep since my online friends arrived here, I've been staying up late playing video games and talking with them, and luckily I can function on a few hours of sleep or me wouldn't be able to drive myself to school, or get to school at all. In my friend group, online and in real life, that can drive other people legally.

I allow myself to drift to sleep, lack of sleep finally getting to me during the day.

I wake up late in the night, but not on the couch. I sit up from my bed and rub the sleep from my eyes before standing up and turning on my bedroom light, and that's when I notice who was laying next to me while I slept. Landon sits up and looks absolutely exhausted, all the while I pull a book from my shelf and sits in the back corner of my sunbed closest to the window and start to read it. Landon lays down right next to me and falls back to sleep, but sooner or later I get bored of reading and look out my window instead.

The sky is clear, free of clouds, and the moon is full. There used to be an apple tree right next to my bedroom window, but my dad had it cut down this past summer to plant new fruit trees. I glance over at the other buildings and see that one is on fire and there's no firetrucks or other emergency vehicles around, I don't even hear or see any sirens or lights. I quickly get up and wake Landon on accident, but I rush out of my room and wake everyone else up. I slip on my shoes and put on my jacket, everyone looks at me like I'm insane, which I probably am. Anyway, I tell everyone that there is a fire close by and I sprinted out the door without thinking twice.

I took a right, another right, and then a final right. I finally stop running, out of breath, and walk the rest of the way. Being an asthmatic who is out of shape sucks, big time. I make it to the burning building, the RV Park nearby, and I don't see anyone, just the fire. I can feel the heat on my face, see the flames, yellow and orange and red, as they climb higher and higher into the dark night sky. How did this fire start? Why isn't there anyone here trying to stop it?

That's when I heard a groan. A man came out of the fire, covered in flames, and was stumbling right towards me. He wasn't screaming in pain, he wasn't trying to extinguish the fire, he was just trying to reach me. I took a step back for every step he took forward, all the way across the street. I turn around and sprint back to my house, and slowly I see more and more people stumbling around and coming after me.

A woman grabs onto my arm, by I yank it back quickly and make it past my gate and I close and latch it quickly. Alex and Dylan are standing in the front yard, near the half fence on the east side, fighting off some people. Aine and Carlie, with Aimee, are packing up Landon's truck with weapons and supplies. Landon, Damien, and Rae are nowhere to be seen. I go inside the house and see the three boys looking everywhere for anything that could be useful for whatever it is that is going on. I lean against the wall by the couch, where the ferret cage usually is, and try to calm my breathing and heart. God, I need to get into shape.

Damien stops what he's doing and hands me a bottle of water, then proceeded to ask me what happened.

"There was a huge fire and I went to check it out, but when I approached the RV Park, a guy on fire came out and started chasing me, so I sprinted back. On the way back," I take a sip of water and take in a deep breath, "a lot of people started chasing me, and a lady grabbed onto my arm but I got away."

Damien asks which arm was grabbed and I said my right, he looked at it and saw that there were no scratches or bite marks.

"The apocalypse started," Rae says from the kitchen, holding several bags full of our clothes.

"They tried to get inside when you left the door open, Dylan and Alex drove them back and the girls started packing the truck up with supplies. We're looking for anything else that could be needed." Landon explains while he's holding several crates of food in his arms.

"Anything I can help with?" I ask them, and they all shake their heads "no."

I sigh and close my eyes, regaining control of my breathing and heart rate ever so slowly. The apocalypse, the zombie apocalypse, has started. Everyone knows how in the movies and tv shows the zombie virus spreads like wildfire as it had spread in a mere day or two. In reality, it took a week to spread, a week for people to notice, a week to doom us all. I slam my elbow into the wall multiple times, tears stream down my cheeks, I slide down into a sitting position and slam my head into the wall behind me, I grip my hair and tug at it, I curl up into a ball.

I pull myself together and stands up, tie my red hair back into a low ponytail, and walk into my room. I grab a small purse and fill it with everything I need: my rocks and gems, a handkerchief, a small first aid kit, and several necklaces I have been given over the years as well as my watch and a picture of my family. I add in a few hair ties and a hairbrush, as well as a toothbrush or two, toothpaste, and some other essentials. I leave my room with my purse hanging down at my side, the strap going across my chest, and I grab some crates from Landon's load and bring them to the truck. Once we're all packed and ready to go, I open the gate and hop into the bed of the truck with Landon and my .22 long rifle and a thing of ammo.

We back out of the driveway and make a few turns until we hit the highway, then we're off.

"Where it ends, it begins," I say, shooting an undead in the head, a perfect shot in the forehead.

This was the end of the world, and it was the beginning of an adventure.