Chapter 1

Beth opened her eyes as she felt the soft sunlight, filtered by the ivory-white curtain touched her skin, she couldn't help but sink under the warmth of the sheet for a moment before gathering enough determination to get out of bed.

There was no need for an alarm clock since she was so accustomed to waking up at this time of the day that, a slight change in brightness alone is enough to bring her out of the daily slumber, not that it mattered because it was perfectly fine for her to sleep in a little late.

"Cold day today." Beth thought to herself as she slowly descended from the top bunk, not wanting to disturb her roommates. Although she was trying to be careful, there was still a creaking sound when she made her way down, which she had little control over. Fortunately, they are insignificant enough that nobody noticed. After that, the room was back to being quiet, almost too quiet, as the other girls were still fast asleep at that hour.

It was raining yesterday so when she stepped outside, Beth could smell an earthy scent, you know, that familiar and pleasant smell you get after the rain. A couple of steps from the dorm there was an old pine tree, she saw that it was sparkling brightly under the morning sun, covered with hundreds of tiny rain droplets, and somehow, it filled her with a sudden feeling of serenity. Under the tree was a wooden bench where Beth decided to spend her time snacking on a bag of cheese puffs and surfing the internet. While she was on her phone, she stumbled across an interesting conspiracy theory that had been gaining attraction on the internet.

"Zombie Apocalypse Incoming!" Beth traced through the title of the article, her eyes narrowed in disbelief as soon as she learned the premise of the theory. The author argued that the ongoing global pandemic; the H4Z1 flu, commonly known as the H Flu, was a cover-up for a worldwide zombie outbreak and the government's decision to enforce the nationwide lockdown was just an effort to decelerate the spread. To support his claims, he cited evidence of increased military movement, homicide cases, missing person reports, and argued that they were signs of the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. "Please make sure to stock up of food and water. Finally, May God bless America. " The article ended on an eerie note that sends a chill down her spine.

"Zombie outbreak? cover-up? No way this is real" In her mind, Beth entertained the idea of a real-life zombie apocalypse for a moment before she laughed at how absurd it was, not realizing that from behind, a figure was closing its distance on her. "AHHHHHH" Beth let out a shriek and her entire body jolted when she noticed a hand on her shoulder, as she turned around she saw her friend Kate, who was giving her a concerned look.

"Relax, it's me. Geez." Kate calm her friend with a soft disarming tone, her face turned perplexed, she wanted to get a reaction out of her friend but what she got was a lot more intense than what she had expected.

"Oh my god Kate, you scared the crap out of me," Beth said, quickly regaining her composure. "Please never sneak up on me again.".

"Sorry, I didn't know you would get startled that easily." Kate laughed.

"I'm not..." It was because of the article Beth read that made her extra jumpy, she tried to explain but was disrupted by an approaching voice from afar.

"Hey, it's everything okay?" The boy said as he made his way to the two girls, his name was Trevor, he was also one of the camp's attendees. "I heard a weird noise." Trevor panted heavily, his body covered with sweat, it was clear that he had just finished doing exercise.

"Oh, Trevor." Kate's eyes glowed when she saw him and began fidgeting with her hair. "We were just chatting."

"Is that so? Sorry I interrupted."

"It's fine." Beth said.

"By the way," Kate said shyly. "We're going hiking this afternoon... Would you like to come?"

"We are?" Beth was confused. She turned to her friend and saw a pleading look on her friend's face, realized what was going on, she rolled her eyes and said. "Oh yes, we are, I forgot..."

"Well, that sounds fun, I'm down." Trevor said, looking a little amused.

"That's great! We'll group up here at three okay?" Kate gushed, Her face brightened and she couldn't help but smile.

"Sounds like a plan," Trevor said. Then the voice of Miss Pam; the camp's director echoed across the camp, notifying everyone that breakfast was ready. Trevor's expression changed and he appeared to be in a rush, he said goodbye to Beth and Kate before exiting in a hurry. "Gotta go now, see you guys later".

As soon as Trevor left, Beth turned to her lovestruck friend. "Hiking? Seriously?" she teased.

"Come on, It will be fun." Kate beamed. "It's not like you have anything to do today anyway right?."

"It better be." Beth said. She wanted to be a good friend and support whatever her friend was doing and, as much as she wanted to deny it, Kate was right, she didn't have anything else to do that afternoon, or any other afternoon at all if she was being honest with herself.

Breakfast was served in the wooden veranda located in the center of the camp. Beth and Kate made their way to an empty table and wait as everyone else settled in. "Alright, Alex Patterson." The woman said in a soft tone but loud enough to grab everyone's attention. It was Mrs.Morrison, a 52-year-old woman who was the co-owner of the camp together with her husband, Mr. Morrison. As per usual, she took out a list of all camp attendants and started the roll call.

"Here."

...

"Elizabeth Parker"

"Here." Beth said raising her hand.

"Catherine Hood"

"Here." Kate talked over the sound of her chewing on cereals.

"Don't talk while you eat Catherine." Mrs. Morrison's voice was assertive but kind. "Eric Huang."

Eric was also busy chewing his food, but he did the right thing by waving his hand at Mrs. Morrison instead.

"Trevor Miller." Mrs. Morrison looked around the tables since no one responded, she raised her voice again. "Trevor Miller?"

Trevor hurried to where Eric was sitting as he yelled. "I'm here." Mrs. Morrison looked at him for a bit before looking down at the paper again and continue the roll call.

"That was close." Trevor sigh in relief as he poured himself a bowl of cereals. Eric looked at Trevor in amusement and saw droplets of water on his friend's hair falling down into the bowl he was eating from, it was clear that Trevor just came right out of the shower. Well, that's one way to soften your cereals, Eric smirked.

"What's so funny huh?" Trevor asked, pointing the spoon at Eric, he could never get used to watching his friend eating cereals and drink milk separately, Eric told him he likes the crunch but like, who even does that? Psychopaths? He swore Eric might be plotting for his death right now and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

"Nothing." Eric said as he crunched on dry cereals and cleared it all down with milk afterward.

"Psychopath." Trevor muttered.

"Sorry?" Eric said, his head tilted slightly to the side in confusion.

"I'm going hiking with Beth and Kate this afternoon, Wanna join?" Trevor quickly changed the subject.

"Beth and Kate?" Eric squinted at the two girls and saw the redhead, Kate, waving to Trevor with a bright smile on her face and Beth, stirring her food indifferently. He then turned to Trevor who was returning a smile back at Kate. "Since when did you start hanging out with those two?"

"Well...Now I guess?" Trevor scratched the back of his head. Now that he thought about it, although he had had a couple of casual conversations with the two girls, this will have been the first time they hung out together.

Having finished the meal, Beth leaned forward and rest her head on the table, half of her face perfectly hidden behind the bowl as she gazed at Kate, who was in a state of daydreaming while eyeing Trevor.

"Do you think zombies are real?" Beth murmured.

Caught off guard by Beth strange question, Kate's raised her eyebrows in disbelief before coming up with an answer. "Of course they are not real, same as Santa Claus, Tooth fairies and Mermaids. Wait, you don't happen to believe in Santa too, do you?"

"Of course I don't, I'm not 12." Beth exclaimed, she tried to be realistic, and realistically a zombie apocalypse would never happen, but she couldn't help but think about it so she just needed confirmation. After all, She believed that ghost was real and was scared of them to death, because of this, her having the slightest faith that walking corpses did actually exist wouldn't have been out of character for her.

The 6'4 Heavy-bearded man parked his truck and struggled to maneuver his large frame outside of it. The truck wasn't close to being small but compared to him; the giant, it was indeed pretty small. It was Mr. Morrison, who just got back from the weekly trip to the city, stocking up on necessities for the camp. As soon as he was indoor, He took off his medical mask to let out a heavy sigh, and then called his wife. "Jane, I'm home."

Mrs. Morrison was sitting in the living room, solving crossword puzzles on her iPad when she heard her husband. She turned around to look at him, her face turned pale, Petrified by what she had seen. "David, what on earth happened to your arm?"

On Mr. Morrison left arm, was a circle of torn skin and blood, deep holes with even more blood oozing out of them. The wound seemed painful, it hurt Mrs. Morrison just to see her beloved husband in this state. Ms. Morrison, on the other hand, was calm and composed, as if the wound was not even there. Not wasting another second, Mrs. Morrison rushed to the bathroom and brought out a wet cloth, a bottle of spray antiseptic, and a box of large band-aids. As she traced the cloth around the wound, she said in a concerning tone, demanding the answer. "tell me what happened."

"I got into a fight with a junkie and he bit me. The motherfucker was standing in the middle of the road, I honked at him and he attacked me, so I beat his ass." Mr. Morrison said. He was just driving back to the camp, minding his own business when he saw a stranger standing in the middle of the road. Upon the encounter, the stranger dashed to Mr. Morrission's car in an awkward motion while making a loud animalistic grunt.

Bewildered by how the situation on unveiled, Mr. Morrison did nothing as the stranger approached his seat, when close enough, the stranger pushed his head through the window and gnawed on Mr. Morrison's left arm. As pain registered, fight-or-flight kicked in, Mr. Morrison threw three full-force punches at the stranger in quick succession until his arm was released and he just drove the fuck out of there. It was probably just a druggie doped up on some hard drugs he thought, that would explain the aggression, the weird grunt, and odd movements.

"Jesus Christ, Dave." Mrs. Morrison said as she finished applying the antiseptic to the wound and covering it with band-aids. "Did you call the police?"

"No, I didn't." Mr. Morrison answered. He was never a "call the police" kind of guy so to say.

"Well, you better ring them up." And you need to go to the hospital too, Peter will take you there first thing tomorrow, you might need a stitch a two." Mrs. Morrison said in a firm and assertive voice, berating her husband.

"I can go there myself." He grumbled, slightly annoyed by the fact he has to make another 6-hour round trip to the city, and that his wife was treating him like a toddler, he had been through much worse and could at least handle a bite. "Now if you excuse me, madam, I'm going to take a nap."

Early in the afternoon, Beth and Kate strolled to the meeting point. "Are you sure you want to wear tight jeans? It's a five-hour hike." Beth said.

"I told you already. As long as I look nice, I'm fine." Kate rolled her eyes.

"You gonna regret it." Beth smirked. "Oh, hey it's Trevor."

When they arrived, Trevor was already there, but not only Trevor was there, sitting beside him was Eric, eyes glued to his handheld console like a hawk.

"Hi guys." Trevor greeted the two with a bright smile, he then turned to Eric, tap him on the shoulder and got his attention.

Eric turned his head up and saw Beth and Kate. "Hi." He greeted with a straight face, not in a non-welcoming way, just rather unexpressive.

"Eric is tagging along today, I hope you guys don't mind." Trevor said.

"It's cool." Beth nodded, followed by Kate's.

"Well then, let's go shall we?" Trevor beamed.

Mrs. Morrison found her husband in bed, coughing furiously. "I'm thirsty." He muttered, his voice was weak and he was struggling to get up. She checked his temperate quickly with the back of her hand, he was fine not long ago but now his body was burning up and he was sweating heavily. She brought him some water and wipe off his sweat with a cold towel until he fell back asleep, then decided to go cook some chicken soup for him.

There was only canned chicken, but this wasn't the time to be picky, Mrs. Morrison thought to herself as she opened the can and boiled some water. She had never seen him in such bad condition before, what if he had caught the H flu? Mrs. Morrison's was deep in her mind, then Bang! a loud noise echoed from upstairs made her leap out of her skin. Cautiously, she made her way upstairs, where she was met with even louder sounds, sounds of stuff falling to the ground, breaking, and they were coming from the room her husband was in. Worried, she rushed there and called him. "David, are you alright?"

From the room, a loud ferocious growl exploded, it sent a chill down Mrs. Morrison's spine, every single brain cell, every muscle in her body was telling her to run as far from there as possible, But, her bedridden husband was in there, probably hurt, and she couldn't bear the thought of abandoning him. So she took in a deep breath, gathered all of her courage, and opened the door.

Inside, was, Mr. Morrison, just standing, looking at the wall. Mrs. Morrison was about to let out a sigh of relief but something was off, something about his skin, it was pale and lifeless, and his ghoulish posture, he was hunching over, his fingers were twitching in an awkward motion, when Mrs. Morrison finally noticed, it was too late. Her husband, or whatever what was left of him turned to her, it let out the horrendous growl like the one she heard from before and her heart stopped, the thing closed its' distance on her, its' jaw stretched wide open, wider than humanly possible, tearing of its' skin in the process, Mrs. Morrison let out a loud scream, followed by continuous smaller shrieks, and then...silence.