Note: This is my first story (Also, first Apocalypse story) that I am putting out. It does get a lot better around the third to fourth chapter. Opinions and feedback is welcomed.

This story is protected under the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.

Nobody is allowed to copy or re-write any content without the author's permission. No one is permitted to use this content for public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public.

Hope you enjoy the story.

     The mother was in the kitchen cooking, while her two boys and one of her grandsons were in the living room playing on the PlayStation, and her daughter was scouring the fridge, looking for something to drink. The mother's other two grandchildren were upstairs play their own video games, when the sound of a door opening and shutting erupted through the house. The mother lifts her brown eyes to watch the hallway to see who was coming in when she was met with her eldest daughter and son-in-law emerging into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" The mother's son-in-law, John, asked allowing his blue eyes to meet the mother's brown eyes. He could see the slight wrinkles in the corners of them.

"Albongila Soup," the mother, Lydia, simply replied from behind the counter as she rolled meat mixed with white rice onto her hands to form a round shape. From time to time, Lydia would have to brush her salt and pepper bangs out of her face so that she could see through her pink-framed glasses.

The eldest daughter, Darla, collapsed onto a chair at the table tiredly, her light brown hair falling in her face as the chair squeaked slightly. The sound was followed by a clicking noise coming from the fridge.

The 5'2" 35 year old woman, who never seemed to look a day over 30 and was mostly mistaken for her 17 year old sister's friend, looked older than her original age today, with droopy eyes and gaunt cheeks.

"What's wrong with Darla?" The youngest daughter, Adira, asked as she leaned against the wall and bit into her apple.

"She's just sick, maybe she has a cold or the flu," John answered lowering his sea blue eyes towards her abnormally light brown ones, with golden rings around her irises.

"Are you sure?" She questioned looking at her light brown haired sister at the table. "She looks ill, like, really ill."

"Yeah, I'm sure," John assured her standing to his full 6'4" height. "She probably just needs some rest."

"Um...Okay then," She said, not sounding very convinced.

"Come on, baby," John said to his wife as he helped her up. "Let's get you to bed. You need some rest."

Once Darla was up and on her feet, the couple walked back down the hall and went upstairs, where they were greeting by their kids' voices yelling out a 'hi.'

A few hours passed before Lydia called out to everyone that dinner was ready. Everyone except Darla came down to grab a plate of food and pour themselves some soda.

"Where's Darla?" Lydia asked, noticing her eldest daughter's absence. "Is she not coming down for dinner?"

"No. She's too sick to get out of bed," John answered her.

The next day, Darla slowly made her way into the kitchen where her younger sister was eating a bowl of cereal and listening to music with her headphones plugged in. Adira looked up from her bowl and gazed at her older sister. She paused her music and took out one earplug before looking back at Darla.

"Are you okay?" She asked, taking notice of her sister's pale, drained face and her slouched posture.

She didn't answer. Instead she looked at Adira with menacing eyes and a straight face, groaning at her before going to the fridge. Adira, confused and slightly shocked, lifted her eyebrows with wide eyes momentarily. She slowly put her bowl in the sink next to her and began to back away, maneuvering around the counter, before quickly walking into the hall and into her room. She did not come out for the rest of the day.

That night, while everyone was sleeping, Adira slowly got off the top of her bunk bed and walked as quietly as she could out into the hall. Half asleep, Adira noticed a light at the end of the corridor. She walked down to the kitchen and peeked, realizing that it was the light coming from the fridge. She looked down, gasping as she found Darla kneeling on the floor eating raw meat with the freezer door wide open. She froze at the sight as her eyebrows knitted together.

"What the hell?" Adira mouthed to herself before slowly walking back to her room and shutting the door behind her.

Adira was in the living room with her mother, separating clothes, when she decided to bring up the events of last night.

"There's something seriously wrong with her, mom," Adira spoke as she leaned against the back of the couch. "She was eating all the raw meat you just bought."

"It was probably just a dream, Adira," Her mother told her. "You were just dreaming."

"No, I wasn't dreaming," she said, following Lydia down the hall. "I would have known if I was dreaming."

"You sound insane, Adira." Lydia began to walk up the stairs.

"Why won't you listen to me?" Adira asked, frustrated at the bottom of the steps.

"I am listening to you," she retorted. "You're just not making any sense."

Adira didn't say any more; instead, she walked away in annoyance.

By the time the evening had come, John and his two kids were sitting at the table. Adira, however, was pacing back and forth.

"There's something wrong with Darla, you guys," Adira said to all of them.

"She's sick, Adira," John reminded her.

"She's more than sick, John." Adira replied. "Tell me exactly what kind of sickness makes someone eat raw meat?" She folded her arms over her chest.

"I don't know." John put his head in his hands."But she'll be fine," he assured her.

"Are you sure mommy is going to be fine, Daddy?" Adira's niece, Madison, asked, looking up at him. Her big light brown eyes looking up at him.

"Yes, Boo Boos, she's going to be fine," John told his daughter. Madison looked like a tiny duplicate of him, except that she had light brown eyes and chubby cheeks, while he was green eyed and had a skinny face. "She will be fine." He looked at Adira.

One day, Adira was alone, walking into the kitchen with Darla up in John's room while her mother and two siblings were at the market getting groceries and John and his kids were getting food for dinner. Adira was standing in front of the stove, opening a packet of Ramen and pouring it into the pot. A soft padding sound on the tiled floor made Adira look up, finding Darla walking into the kitchen, making her way around the counter. She took notice in the way her big sister tilted her head to the side, her eyes looking sinister and her skin paler than usual. Her veins popped out and appeared dark.

"You okay?" Adira asked with a small laugh as she stirred her noodles and separated them, looking from the pot to her sister.

No reply.

"Darla?" Adira said, her voice coming out as more of a question as she eyed her sister.

An uneasy feeling washed over Adira as she kept eye contact with Darla, who still hadn't responded. She swallowed a lump in her throat and let out a shaky breath as her heart skipped a beat. The more Darla stared at Adira, the more she got a chilling feeling about the situation. In a split second, Darla pounced on her younger sister, taking her to the floor.

"Darla!" Adira screamed the second that Darla got close to her.

Adira instinctively started to viciously swing her arms and feet, trying to get her sister off of her. Darla continued to try to get hold of Adira's skin, but couldn't when Adira wouldn't hold still. Darla let out screeches that Adira had never heard her older sister use before.

"Darla, get off of me!" Adira shouted in panic at the same time that she kicked Darla off, causing her fly back and slide next to the fridge.

Adira frantically got to her feet and turned off the stove, not wanting to burn the house down. Her breathing was heavy and her heart had picked up speed along with her shaking body. She slowly took small steps back as she watched her sister's chest rise up and fall down. Her head tilted to the right when she tried to see if her sister was okay.

"Darla?" Adira questioned in a voice barely above a whisper, her breathing slowing down.

Darla twitched before rising up into a sitting position, causing Adira to take a step back even closer to the other side of the bar. Adira called her name once more, hoping that her sister would reply with an actual word or even a sentence, but she only got a sinister look.

"Oh my god," Adira gasped as her sister began to bleed from her eyes and ears. "Are you okay?" Panic filled her voice, worried she had harmed her own sister.

Darla rose to her feet, Adira's eyes following her as she did so, before eventually letting out another scream and running towards the girl before her. Adira darted to the other side of the counter with Darla following. The two sisters ran around the kitchen as if they were children playing tag with one another for a few minutes before Adira took a bench chair from underneath the counter and held it up to keep Darla from getting any closer.

"Stop!" Adira yelled at Darla, out of breath. "This isn't fun and I am getting tired. What is wrong with you?"

Nothing. They just stood there staring at each other: Adira with her back turned to the backyard and Darla with her back towards the front door. Darla ran forward and Adira threw her chair at her to stop her, but it didn't work. Adira ran around the table, into the hallway and to the front door, trying to unlock, it but it wouldn't. By the time Adira looked over her shoulder, Darla was already in the hallway, forcing Adira to ditch the door. She cursed under her breath and pushed off the door, making it upstairs.

She shoved herself inside Darla and John's bedroom, slamming the door on Darla's hand that she had pushed through the opening in that exact second. Darla swung her arm forward at Adira's abdomen, but Adira jumped back before pushing off the door again. Darla slid her arm out of the doorway, leading Adira to believe that she had stopped. She calmed down her heart that was still racing along with her breathing. But once she stopped shaking, the door flew open, knocking Adira back. Darla had rammed herself against the doorway. Adira scattered to the bed and hopped on top as Darla ran towards her and ran into the window.

Darla recovered quickly and jumped onto the bed at the same time that Adira got off and ran out of the door. Darla raced out the door after her and tackled her little sister as she got to the stairs, causing them both to fall forward. Both girls rolled down the stairs: Darla hitting her head on the handles of the stairs and her feet against the wall, and Adira hitting her knees and elbows on the steps as her arms wrapped around her head and her feet hit the wall. When they got off the stairs, Darla shot into Adira's room while Adira laid on the floor in front of her bedroom, face down into the carpet. Adira groaned and shifted as she slowly recovered from the fall, only feeling half of the pain due to the adrenaline rush.

She heard a slight growl, making her open her eyes to see that Darla was now on all fours, her limbs bent and her mouth wide open, showing her shark-like teeth. Adira's eyes widened at the sight as she forcefully crawled away from her room, trying to put as much distance away from Darla as possible. When Adira didn't feel as much pain, she forced her way up, but Darla got to her in no time, grabbing her by her ankles and causing her to fall forwards.

"Darla, stop it!" Adira shouted as she kicked Darla in the face when she saw that Darla was trying to bite her, but Darla refused to give up without a taste of flesh. She didn't feel bad about hurting her sister, especially after Darla had caused them to fall down the stairs, almost breaking her neck.

Darla made her way up and sat on top of Adira, still trying to sink her teeth into Adira's flesh. Adira grunted as she grabbed hold of Darla's arms, holding them up and keeping her mouth away from her skin. Every second that went by, Adira's strength was getting lower and Darla got even closer.

"Mom!" Adira screamed out for her mother, knowing that her mother couldn't hear her but hoping that she would show up out of nowhere to help her. "Mom!" her voice screeched.

Darla kept creeping closer and closer to Adira's neck as Adira had her head turned, not wanting to be any closer to her nor wanting to look her sister in the eyes. Darla's mouth opened wide, only centimeters away from her sister's throat. What felt like hours to Adira was only minutes in reality before the door swung open, laughter coming to a halt.

"Oh my god!" Adira heard a male voice shout. "Mom!"

The sound of items and bags dropping to the floor echoed through Adira's ears. "Darla, what are you doing?"

In an instant, the weight of Darla was lifted off of Adira.

"Darla, what is wrong with you?" Adira heard her mother's voice ask, but all she got in response was thrashing and growling. "Call 911!"

A hand was placed on Adira's cheek as her mother tried to shake her, but she was too busy trying to figure out everything in her head to pay attention to her mother's voice asking her if she was okay. By the time police got there, John and his kids had arrived to witness their mother being handcuffed by the policemen that were there.

"Mom!" Tyler called out. "What is going on?" He questioned the two brothers.

"Mommy?" Madison called out as her eyes started to water. "What are they doing to my mommy?" She asked, still staring at her mom, who only gazed back at her with an evil look.

"Lydia, what the hell is going on?" John asked, confused yet angry.

"We caught her attacking Adira, John," Lydia informed him as she stood in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest. "She was trying to bite Adira."

"Adira!" Tyler and Madison called out in sync once they heard Lydia speak, and noticed that Adira was still on the floor.

"I had to call them," Lydia told him. "She wouldn't listen to any of us."

John just nodded as he watched the two policemen drive off with his wife in the back seat of the police car.

Tyler and Madison were kneeling beside Adira, who was still lying there in shock. Tyler was on her right while Madison was on her left as they both tried to get Adira's attention. Tyler was holding Adira up, trying to shake her, but she didn't budge. She did one thing that no one had expected her to do. She fainted.

Two days later, everyone but Darla and her eldest son were either in the kitchen or in the living room when Adira walked into the kitchen and watched as everyone did their day to day routine. A few days after the incident, the police thought Darla was insane, so they put her into a mental institution. Adira eventually woke up and her mom aided her when she did, even getting what happened out of her.

"Are we really just going to sit here and act like there's nothing's wrong with Darla?" Adira questioned everyone.

"You're still on this?" Adira's older brother, Matt, sighed.

"Yes!" She yelled slightly.

"Your sister is sick. Why can't you understand that?" John asked in annoyance.

"She attacked me, did you forget about that?" She questioned. "Not only did she attack me, but she try to bite me."

"You bite people all the time," Her nephew, Tyler, pointed out.

"She's going through some things," the youngest of her older brothers, Steve, spoke up. "She's not feeling well due to her sickness."

"Mom?" Adira turned to look at her mother in the kitchen. "That's not normal for any sickness, nor is it normal for someone to bleed through their eyes and ears while being sick."

"The doctor says it will all blow over," Lydia said. "She'll be a lot better when the medicine kicks in."

"We have to do something...Anything," Adira said. "She's dangerous. We have to do something. Get rid of her before she gets rid of us."

"She's not going anywhere and we're not going to do anything," John said. "She's fine."

Adira threw her head back and let out a groan as she made her way to her bedroom.

"When she comes home she'll be fine!" John called out, "You'll see."

The next morning, Adira and her mother were walking around a craft store. Her mother only let her out when she knew Adira was well enough to go out. She took Adira to the craft store to make Adira feel better and to get her mind off of things besides her sister. Apparently it didn't work.

"Mom, I'm not safe around her," Adira told her mother, admiring a few charms that were hanging on the aisle.

"Why do you insist on thinking that something is wrong with your sister when she's just sick?" Her mother asked, putting down the beads that she was looking at.

"Well, she ate raw meat, attacked me, tried to bite me and was bleeding from her eyes and ears," Adira answered matter-of-factly, following her mother down the aisle. "That's not normal."

"Okay." Lydia let out a sigh. "What would make you feel safe?"

"Getting rid of her," Adira said bluntly.

"Besides getting rid of her."

"Fine." She groaned and then paused to think of what she would want. "I want wooden boards."

"Wooden boards, Adira?" Her mother looked at her questioningly. "Why would you need wooden boards? How would a wooden board help you feel safe?"

"So that when she tries to attack me again, I can grab a board and smack her with it." Adira grinned as she pretended to swing a wooden board around.

"Wow. Oh my god, Adira." Lydia shook her head. "Fine, then we'll stop by a warehouse and get you as many boards as you want, if that makes you feel safe." She began to walk towards the entrance.

She didn't want her daughter to feel as if she didn't want to protect her because she did, so she agreed to giving her daughter the boards if it helped her.

"Yes, it will," Adira said as she followed behind her and pointed at something. "Oh, and candy."

Adira zoned out when she saw a man that looked the same way Darla did: pale skin and slouched over. He was stood gawking at whatever was in the aisle. The sight caused Adira to stare at him in confusion and she came to a standstill. Soon, she looked away and saw her mom a few feet away, so she took another look at him before running to her.

Lydia turned around to Adira in confusion."Candy? How is candy going to make you feel safe?"

"It won't. I just really want candy." Adira smiled slightly with her eyebrows raised.

"Fine. You can have candy." Lydia turned back around before they exited the craft store.

When the sun had set that day, Lydia and Adira were in the living room, standing by the window and watching as John pulled up to the house. The blinds were open enough for Adira and her mother to see that John was reversing the car to the curb. John just had come back from picking up Darla from the institution after workers there told him she could be picked up due to her lack of violence.

Suddenly, the car drove up the curb and onto the lawn. They could hear screaming coming from the car and they could see as a silhouetted figure in the back seat was slouched over to the driver, and the passenger was pressed against the car door. The mother and daughter watched the scene unfold as the passenger side window shattered into millions of pieces before a long slim male figure crawled out of the window.

"Oh my god," Lydia gasped the sight, "Oh my god!" She gasped, louder tears pricking at her eyes as she watched her oldest daughter feed on her husband. "Why- How- What is..." She began to shake.

"I told you," She replied knowingly.

Adira wasn't as panicked or shocked as her mother. She had already experienced the shock that Darla had made her feel. Her survivalist side overshadowed her weak side, and the panic that she knew she should feel just wasn't there like it was before.

They watched as Darla fed on her husband. The slim male figure ran to the door...but it was locked. He pounded at the door, making so much ruckus that all of the neighbors could hear him, but still, he didn't stop. The mother and daughter noticed that he had caught Darla's attention, as she stopped chewing on her husband and looked at him.

"We have to help him," Lydia cried, her voice shaky from fear and shock. "We just have to." She went to the door and tried to open it, but Adira stopped her.

"Mom, no, we can't," Adira told her.

"We have to!" Her mother yelled at her, trying to pull the door open, but Adira forced it to stay shut.

"No!" Adira screamed back. "You've seen what she did to John. She could do that to us, too."

"We have to!" Her mom shrieked, but became quiet as tears began to fall down her cheeks, the image of Darla killing John running through her mind. "We have to," her mom cried as she banged on the door.

Instead of opening it, Adira yelled at the man who was trying to get in. "Go to the back!" she ordered.

Once the pounding stopped, she looked through the peephole to see if he was still out there. He wasn't. Soon enough, she heard the gate open, and by the time he had gotten to the back, everyone was already downstairs and in the hall, trying to figure out what was going on and what all the yelling was about. Seconds passed before the banging began again, except this time, it was coming from the back patio door instead of the front. Everyone turned their heads to the back door.

"Start boarding everything up," Adira commanded, which made everyone except her mom give her a confused look. "Now!"

Everyone except her mother, who was still crying, ran to the garage and started pulling boards along with nails and hammers before boarding them up.

Adira ran to the door with her Steve behind her. She tried to unlock the sliding door, but the metal leverage would not budge. She tried multiple times, but it wouldn't even move an inch, so Steve tried instead. He noticed how hard it was just to push the handle up, so he had to use all of his strength to force it upwards. The lock finally clicked open. Without warning, the man was tackled to the floor and Darla ended up on top of him.

Adira and Steve froze in shock and fear for a few seconds, but eventually managed to compose themselves.

"Close it. Close it," Adira said, running back into the house with Steve. "Close it!"

They both slid the door closed, and Steve locked it in terror. By now, everyone--Lydia, Madison, Madison's older brother, Tyler, and Matt--were done boarding up the windows and the front door. They stood in shock as they watched Darla struggle on top of the man. She had taken pieces of his throat and abdomen.

They family jumped as the TV came on and flashed a big sign that read, 'Attention: Emergency, Emergency. This is a worldwide broadcast,' with a female robotic voice saying it aloud and the emergency alarm going off. They all stared at the large flat screen television as a white male with glasses and only a little bit of hair around the crown of his head appeared in front of the camera.

"Emergency: this is not a drill. Repeat: this is not a drill," the man said frantically, trying to put his glasses on. "All citizens are to remain indoors. There has been a virus outbreak in major hospitals throughout the U.S. This virus can be transmitted through saliva. We advise you all to keep saliva from any infected person away from open wounds and do not, I repeat, do not allow them to bite you. Some known side effects are bleeding through your eyes and ears, and the symptoms of mad cow disease. If you do come into contact with one, get to a safe place and do not try to negotiate with these individuals. We recommend using violence if necessary. To all citizens, we advise that you stay indoors and stay away from anyone infected with this virus. Military-"

The white male was interrupted when a scream erupted throughout the house and everyone except for Madison turned to the front door, where a loud banging sounded. Adira and Steve were the first at the door, with Lydia and Matt behind them. Adira looked at everyone before taking a step towards the door, creeping slightly on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. She saw a woman running away from her house and onto the street.

The grass in the front yard was a yellowish brown that faded to a lighter green, and then to a perfectly healthy jade color, showing the effects of the recent drought. The grass led up to the door on the side of a pathway. There were two windows that sat above the garage and between the roof, and one could easily climb onto it through the window.

Adira looked past the dirty blonde woman and saw a muscular male chasing her. She watched as the woman ran up to the door and started pounding on it while screaming for someone to help her.

"Um- guys?" A small voice came from behind them, but no one seemed to notice.

Steve tried to take down the wooden boards off the door to help the woman as the man neared her. Adira noticed and looked at him. "No," she said.

"We have to help her," Steve told her. "We can't just leave her out there, especially when she's yelling for help."

"There's a guy right behind her," Adira informed him. "If we open the door, he might come in and get us."

"Shouldn't we at least try to help her?"

"We try and we're dead."

There was a sudden bang at the door, causing Adira to fall back in surprise. They all looked at each other before Steve took a step towards the door and looked through the peephole.

Blood was splattered on the peep hole and blurred the view from outside, covering everything in a light shade of red, but Steve still managed to see the woman on the floor trying her best to fight not only the male, but Darla as well. He watched through the peep hole as the woman got back up only to be pulled back down again, knocking off the black wired shelf on the corner of the walls that shielded the door from the weather. He witnessed the muscular man pulling her out of the doorway and into the stoned pathway that lead from the driveway to the door. The man knocked a few lights that were stuck in the ground over as they ripped her apart, her screams getting louder before eventually fading away as her body went limp. Steve's eyes widened and he gasped as he backed away from the door.

"We have to get to a safe spot." Adira turned to look at everyone.

"We are safe," Matt said. "We're in here while those nut jobs are out there."

"No, I mean a really safe spot," Adira continued, catching Matt's eye. "I highly doubt that the doors and windows will hold very long, and who knows how long it will take for someone to get through the boards?"

Everyone looked at each other but no one said a thing.

"We need some place else, just in case they get through those. If they want us, they're going to have to find us first."

"She's right," Lydia spoke up.

"What?" Matt said.

"If they want us, then they'll have to come and find us." Lydia repeated, shrugging. "Plus, we didn't listen to Adira the first time she tried telling us that something was off about Darla, and I'm not going to make that mistake again."

"We need to find a place to hide," Adira said, glancing around from where she was standing. "Somewhere where they can't reach or would never think of looking."

Everyone began to look around the house to see where they could all hide. Nobody could find anywhere that wasn't an obvious hiding place. That was, until Adira walked into the laundry room upstairs. She smiled to herself, knowing that nobody could get up there.

"What about the attic?" Adira called out to everyone as she walked down the stairs.

"Isn't that yellow sponge stuff that makes you itchy up in the attic?" Steve asked while thinking about it.

"Can't we just take it out and put blankets all over the floor?" Adira looked at Matt.

"That could actually work," Matt replied nodding. "We could do that, but what are we going to do with the yellow stuff?"

"Can't we put that in the garage?" Lydia suggested.

"Yeah we could," Matt agreed. "Or we could shove it in the washer and dryer so we won't have to carry the stuff for long."

With that said, Matt and Steve got started on taking as much foam as they could out of the attic and began to shove it in the washer and dryer, while Lydia, Adira, Madison, and Tyler were downstairs collecting food, since they didn't know how long they would be up there for.

Once everything and everyone was up there, they stayed up there until they needed to.

*Edited.