Cimorelli's Surviving

The Beginning

Mike Sr POV

The family had just gotten back from a cook out at the neighbors.  It was about 8:30 and the sun had gone down just after 7.  They stayed out in the dark, making s'mores.

As soon as they stepped through the doors the girls marched up stairs, "Dad we are going to Skype a friend" they called out.

"Okay, but not for too long" I shouted back.  We had a busy day and most of us were all tired.  I wondered why they had to call someone this late, but there were times that I never understood teenage girls.

"Can we say hi?"  Joey asked the girls, running up after them.  Christian and Nick followed closely behind. 

I sat on the couch and turned on the TV.  Mike and Alex sat in the chairs and watched also.  As I flicked through the channels the news caught my eye and I stopped on it.

"It appears that what we initially reported as riots seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic." the news women was downtown. "we've received reports that victims afflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression and-"  she was interrupted by some men in police uniforms.

"We need to move everybody out of here now, there's a gas leak"  one of the policemen said.  He then spotted the news lady and rushed towards her "hey! move! get out of here!"

The news women continued with her report, unaffected by the potential threat "there seems to be some commotion coming from beh-"    

BOOM!  The TV turned to static and there was a flash outside the window not far from our house. A few seconds later the house shook a little.

"Dad that was close to us" Alex panicked.  He stared out the window as if he was waiting for another explosion.

I tried to turn the TV back on.  "calm down" I tried to settle his nerves.

"Dad!  Somethings wrong with the computer!"  Amy hollered.

"hey Lynne can you help the girls?" I shouted for her because I was trying to fix the TV.

Sirens raced down our street. "What in the world is happening?" I mumbled.  I was getting worried at this point.

"Dad I'm going to take a look outside" mike went out front.

Lynne ran down with the boys.  She was on the phone. "Your brother Tommy is on the phone.  He's really panicking about something"  she hands me the phone. The girls then come down, looking scared.

"What is it Tommy?"  I walk to the window and looked out to see if I could see what was going on.  Besides the constant firetruck and police car zooming by, the streets were very quiet. 

"i don't know, somethings happening." he said.

"i know that."  I replied kind of annoyed.

Just then Mike ran in the door.  "Dad we need to get out of here.  David next door isn't himself.  Nobody is acting right."  he was really scared.

"What?" I was confused.

"Dad believe me we're going to want to leave!" he ran into the other room.

"hey, meet me at the high school."  Tommy hung up.

"Come on!" Mike hustle everyone out the door and to the big van.  I sat in the drivers seat, Mike in the passenger seat and Lynne and the other kids in the back.  

I started driving down the road.  The kids were asking questions and crying.

As we drove down the road and into a more populated area there were people running all around and police cars everywhere.  

"Mike! Where are we going!? What's happening?!" Lynne finally got a chance to ask when the kids stopped asking all the questions.

"We are going to the high school to meet Tommy. I don't know what's happening exactly" I made a sharp turn.

"People are acting weird, they look sick.  David next door wasn't himself.  He.. he attacked me." Mike said, still in disbelief. "We just have to get out of here. David wasn't the only one like that." He looked around.  

Suddenly a surge of people infested the street and blocked the road, "move people!" I yelled, honking the horn.

"Just go!" Mike shouted.  What ever happened to those people, he was obviously really scared of.

"I can't! I'll hit them!" I said. 

A second later a telephone pole fell down and hit the hood of the car.  "No! everyone out!"  I hollered

We all got out and ran. "Stay close!" Lynne held onto Joey.

We ran down the street, now there were only a few cars.  We picked a big car and started to load up when we realized there wasn't enough space for all of us. So I took Alex, Lauren and Nick.  "Go to the high school no matter what and find Tommy" I told Lynne before we started to drive.

We had to drive on a bridge, that crossed a large river, to get to the other part of town where the school was.  The other car was ahead of us and the people in the streets ran all over the place.  I had to slow down so I didn't hit anyone.  

From behind us a large bus was coming at full speed and looked like it had no plans to stop. Flames spilled out of the bus windows.  The bus ran into our car and sent us off the bridge and into the water.

The car was filling up with water and we had to get out.  "Kick out the windows!" I ordered.

"Dad help!" Nick was trying to keep from drowning since he was still strapped into his seat.  

I swam back to him and tore off his seat belt.  Then I started to kick at a windows again.  Alex and Lauren did the same.  Soon the water almost filled the whole car.  We all took one last breathe before we were completely underwater.  I kicked and kicked at the window and finally got it.  I grab nick and swam out, Alex followed behind with Lauren.  We reached the surface and gasped for air.  

"Dad!" Lauren struggled to swim to me as the current was really strong.  

"I'm coming!" I swam to Lauren and grabbed her.  Alex brought Nick over and we got hold of a plank of wood and floated down the river.