"Somewhere over the rainbow.." I belt, singing at the top of my lungs. The same police officer who hauled me in here swivels in his cracked leather seat and gives me the stink eye, his fleshy face twitching. 

"Shut up." He growls, banging on my cell door. I lift a shoulder lazily as he approaches my cell.

His huge potbelly jiggles when he puts his hands on his hips. 

"Yeesh, dude, you may want to consider dieting. That can't be healthy." His face flushes a lobster red and my stomach growls. I had skipped dinner in anticipation for tonight and hear, in this slimy cell, I'm seriously regretting that decision. 

"Stupid teenager," he mutters, lumbering off.

"Porky," I say under my breath. Sinking against the moldy wall, I rest my head. I just want to go home to the comfort of my soft, plush bed. But knowing my mom, I'd rather stay here, away from her evil death eye. That's what Dad and I used to call the look. I chuckle softly to myself, letting the memories screen leisurely through my head. Dad and I hiking. Having a picnic. Baking disastrous cookies. Celebrating my 10th birthday. Meeting Sam at school. Listening the first song he wrote for me. The first time he asked me out. My eyes mist and I tilt my head back, trying to force the tears back. 

Two unwanted memories play through my head, so vivid it feels as I'm there again.

"Ms. Selburn?" The nurse calls gently, guilt and sympathy shining in her eyes. I follow her to Dad's hospital room warily, knowing that whatever's in the room isn't good. I hastily walk in and my heart seems to stutter. Dad's breaths are labored, weak, rasping. Not normal whatsoever. Every once in a while, he seizes, his limbs twitching before falling silent. I wrap his hand in mine and duck my head, breathing in stuffy air. I knew that when Dad tested positive it was a lost cause. The one vaccine we had is unpredictable at best. Not many people have walked out alive. 

Suddenly, he gasps and I bolt to my feet.

"Dad!" I cry when I see his eyes flutter open. Hope unfurls in me.

"Oh, Liz," he mumbles, his voice so hoarse it's almost unrecognizable.

"You'll be okay. I know it." I promise him. I know it's not true, but it feels good to say it aloud anyways. He musters a dry laugh.

"Depends on what 'okay' means." He adopts a more grim expression. "Take care of your mother, Lizzy. She'll need it. And don't get hung up on me. Live your life. Promise me." 

I can't bring myself to make his promise and just watch as he drifts back into his restless sleep. Mom takes me by the shoulders and marches me away, stifling her own tears. At 17, I'm old enough to know what will happen to him. How he'll mutate to become a creature of the night. 

A terrible week later, Dad dies and we're back at the hospital, this time for a different person. I can't stop the tears as I watch Sam convulse in the flimsy hospital cot. He yelps then falls silent again, deathly feverish. I stay by his side day and night and no one tries to pull me away. They won't do that to me. 

Three days later, when sleep starts to catch up to me, I hear Sam stir. I clutch his hand and dot his brow with a cold cloth. His eyes open weakly and his lips pull into that lopsided smile I fell in love with.

"Hey." He croaks.

"Hey," I reply, my voice breaking. He holds my hand with his other, so hot.

"You'll be okay, love." He whispers to me, eyes peaceful. He's come to terms with this. I haven't.

"That's the understatement of the century." I laugh bitterly. "My father just died and now the man I love is going to be gone too."

"You're the strongest person I know, Lizzy. You'll make it. With or without me, you were meant to do extraordinary things." 

I shake my head vigorously. "I'm nothing without you."

Sam lies back down with a sigh. "So stubborn." He murmurs.

"Always." I choke out. The familiar lines soothe me, but barely.

He lifts a shaking hand to my cheek, clammy and warm.

"I love you." 

"I love you more" slips past my lips. 

"Not possible." He whispers before his eyelids shut. I hold onto that last shred of Sam and watch as his life slowly ebbs away. 

I'm so immersed in that memory that I don't see Fatso in front of my cell. He sneers at me and steps to the side to reveal my mother, a storm brewing in her eyes. I smile weakly but thousands of emotions just flicker across her face. Embarrassment, anger, fear, sadness, pain, and others. The disappointment hurts the worst. 

"I paid the bail. Release my daughter." Porky jingles the rusty keys on his meaty fingers and unlocks the cell.

"Please control your daughter next time, ma'm," he says, acting respectful. The boredom in his voice says otherwise. Mom draws herself up and Porky shrinks slightly. Mom can cut an imposing figure when she wants to.

"You don't tell me how to raise my daughter and I won't tell you how to do your job." She says icily. Fatso scurries off and Mom clamps her hand on my arm and all but drags me out. Fatso comes out, blocking the door. 

"I'm sorry, but we need to the blood draw before you leave." He almost sounds gleeful. 

Mom nods stiffly and brings me over to the small machine that whirs quietly. I slip my finger in and wait for the small pinch. I flinch slightly when it comes but withdraw my finger. Porky tosses my mother a Sponge-Bob bandaid and I watch the officer as he taps away on his old computer. Confusion strikes when his eyes widen in fear.

"She's one of them." He mutters. I wanted to ask him what but Mom pulls me away before I can. She jerks her chin at the officer and gets in the car, holding the steering wheel so tight her fingers whiten. 

"Why are you so insistent on humiliating me?" She grits out through clenched teeth. Anger stirs in me and I scowl.

"Why do you think what I do is because of you?" I toss back, annoyed.

"Don't sass me, Elizabeth."

"I'm 19, so I'm an adult. Which means I can do whatever I want."

"Not while you live in my house. You get your own property then we'll talk." 

"What would Dad say if kicked me out?" She stiffens and I purse my lips, waiting for her to spew at me.

"Don't you dare bring your father into this."

"Answer the question."

"Fine. You want to talk about Dad?" She pulls into the driveway and twists in her seat to glare at me.

"Your father would wonder what happened to his daughter. He would ask why she's acting like this. He would ask if she is even his kid." 

Her words hit me like a slap and I fall against the car door, breathing heavily. Mom gasps, realizing what she said. She holds a hand out and I slap it away. Tears gather in my vision. 

"So that's all I am, huh? A nuisance? Dad would never say or think that." She opens her mouth to say something but I hold up a hand. "Don't even try and justify what you said."

I storm out of the car and towards the door, mashing my fists angrily to my eyes. My own mother thinks I'm a problem, a brat. My friends clearly don't care about me enough to try and help me out. The only people who remotely cared about me are zombies. I stomp up the rickety steps and are about to open the door when three sleek, black cars park at our house. I turn to see a middle-aged, well-groomed man get out of the car. Mom gets out of the car, confusion pinching her features. 

"Are you Chloe Selburn?" He calls to my mother. She nods slowly.

He turns his gaze on me. "And you are Elizabeth?"

"Lizzy." I correct.

"Right," he says in that dismissive voice. I roll my eyes.

"Mrs. Selburn, your daughter has been picked for a government assignment. We've come to collect her."

"Pardon me?" Mom says, disbelief creeping into her voice.

"She has been picked for a government project and we are escorting her to the location." The man repeats calmly. Mom stutters and my mind sparks. It's clear that nothing is left here in Ardmore for me. Nobody here cares about me enough so what harm will it do if I go with them? It's not like I can say no to the government.

"I'll go." I pipe up. The man smiles openly, his face crinkling like a paper wrapper. Mom whips towards me, eyebrows shooting off her forehead.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hisses in my ear as I pass.

"You should be happy. I'm nothing but a problem, a pain in the neck, right? I'll get out of your hair. You won't have to deal with me for sometime." Pain slithers across her face and she takes a half-step back.

"Lizzy..." she watches, a broken expression on her face as I slip into the large limousine. The man sits opposite to me, completely ignoring me as he glares down at his cell phone. I don't bother looking back as I'm driven away from my house, the only home I've ever known. 

"So, what is this top-secret assignment?" I ask eagerly. The man glances up.

"You'll see when we get there."

"Where's there?"

"The border." 

Fear spikes in my chest and I sit back, shocked. We're going to the border? The same border that is crawling with Creepers? I gulp audibly but the man doesn't seem to notice. My stomach seizes, tightening. 

I'm suddenly glad I didn't eat anything for dinner.

Because if I did, it would've been splattered all over the shiny limo by now.