The Infection

Chapter 1

John Henderson jolted awake when he heard the startling sound of his German Shepard barking furiously in his cage. He looked at his clock. 'Midnight.' John suddenly realized that he could hear police sirens and shooting outside. And some screaming. 'What's going on?' John thought. Dazed and tired, he shakily got out of his bed and stood up. He had a headache and his tall, muscular body and his dark, black hair felt as if they weighed more than a ton. He was sick and planned on staying home from school tomorrow. When he reached his blinds at his window, he pulled them apart, and gasped at what he saw outside. Police cars were parked at the intersection right outside John's house, with police officers standing, pistols drawn and firing at staggering, blood covered pedestrians. Their flesh looked like it was rotten and decaying by the minute. Some were attempting to break into houses for a reason unknown to John. The bullets seemed to do no harm. They slammed into the bodies of the pedestrians, leaving open holes where blood started spraying out of, but the victims didn't even flinch. 'Why would the police officers be firing at them?' One of the staggering nightmares managed to get up close to one of the police officers. When he got the chance, the blood covered pedestrian bit into the police officer's neck. The officer screamed in pain as the man chomped down on his skin. The gun spit bullets that whizzed past the man as he continued to dig into the now blood covered officer, who finally went limp as the monster eating him alive ripped into his stomach and started to dig into his internal organs. But before the thing could do anything else, another police officer fired his gun at him. He got up to his feet, looking, again, unharmed by the bullets, and started staggering towards the new police officer. John looked away. He ran into his bathroom and threw up. He felt nauseous. 'Am I dreaming?' he thought. He pinched himself. He was hoping this was all a bad dream. He was sure he would wake up any second now. There would be sunlight spilling through his window. He would look outside and see everyone walking or driving to work. It would be a normal day. He would get up to go to school and nothing out of the ordinary would happen. John slowly opened his eyes, only to find he was still sitting up against the wall of his bathroom, still living in this nightmare. "MOM? DAD!" John finally screamed, knowing this wasn't a bad dream. It was reality. John's parents ran in the room.

"What's going on?" John asked, terrified.

"We don't know." his father, William, said, also sounding terrified. "We just saw what was happening outside too.

"Are you okay John?" Ann, John's mother, asked with a look of concern on her face. John nodded, too shaken up to speak. He looked in the mirror and saw that his face was as pale as a sheet. Josie, John's 5 year old sister walked into the bathroom too, gripping her teddy bear so tight her knuckles turned white. "Mommy? Daddy? What's happening?

"I don't know Josie. But I promise everything is going to be okay." Ann said, trying her best to comfort Josie.

"Are those bad people outside? Is that why the police are here?"

"I don't know sweetie, just don't look outside again. We'll figure something out." Ann replied. John looked back out his window. There was still chaos in the streets. But there was one thing that was different. The body of the police officer John saw when he first woke up wasn't where the man had left him. There was nothing there but a blood stain and intestines where he used to be. 'Weird.' John thought. Just then, glass shattered downstairs. John froze. "What was that?" he asked, feeling more fear then he had ever felt before. John started to hear moaning that was coming from downstairs. "Get to the closet! We'll hide there! Keep quite!" John's father whispered. As John's family was heading towards the closet, they passed the stairs that lead to the first floor, and John gasped. Josie screamed. The thing at the foot of the stairs was covered in blood, like the other ones outside. There was a bite wound in its neck. It had yellow, rotten teeth, and it was wearing a torn police uniform. Scariest of all were the black, unfeeling depths of its eyes blankly staring at its surroundings as it started up the stairs. The stomach was ripped open. It was the police officer from the street. John was puzzled, but at the same time terrified. 'I thought he died. But he's walking. He's walking!