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"I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best" - Benjamin Disraeli

I swerved out of the way of a parked car in the middle of the road and tried not to feel pity for the trapped person inside who was surrounded by the monsters infesting town as I drove passed them. I felt awful, I wanted to help them... But if I stopped now, I would die too and there would be no point to any of it.

The radio cut out suddenly and I thought about changing the station until I heard the shrilling tone of an emergency signal begin to play and then a man's voice. "This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. A state of emergency has been declared, all citizens must return to their homes and barricade themselves inside until assistance arrives. Help is on the way," he said.

"Thank God, we're not screwed," I murmured. "Hopefully the government knows what it's dealing with."

I took a quick left and drifted onto the street that lead to my home and when I saw it, I could swear a wave of relief washed over me. Now all I had to do was get out of the safety of my car and hide myself in my house until help arrived.

As I parked, I thought more on that plan and wondered just how smart that was as I looked at my 2 story, white house. I could simply open the garage door and park inside, and, as I'd planned, hide until help arrived, but how smart did that sound? How often did that work out for people in horror movies? Why was my gut begging me to reverse back into the street and hit the road?

I quickly pulled out my phone and used an app that allowed me to control the security of my home to open the garage door automatically and watched the large door slowly open, whirring loudly as it moved. At the loud noise, the infected people began lurching toward my car and began surrounding it, pounding at the windows and leaving streaks of blood behind.

As soon as I could, I mowed over a crowd and closed the garage door before hopping out of my car and running into my house, slamming the door to the garage behind me and slumping against it, forcing myself to breathe and bring myself out my panic.

Behind me, I could hear the gentle gurgling of the infected people and then jumped as they began to pound on the door.

"I can't stay here," I murmured to myself. "I can't stay here... I have to get out of here."

I swiveled around and regained my sense of rational thinking as I glanced around my house.

'Get supplies, find what you can grab and get out,' I thought.

That's where I began my wild scramble for anything I thought would help me survive. Canned foods, lighters, medications, body spray (I can't stand the smell of my own sweat) and a stray hammer I'd brought into the kitchen from the garage when I tried to pound a nail above the fridge for a small painting my friend had given me. It was still sitting on the counter, waiting to be hung.

I smiled gently at the small dog painted with mixed oil paints. "Sorry bud, not today."

Somehow, telling the painting that gave me enough comfort to leave my house the way it was. That little corgi would protect my belongings until this whole situation was figured out.

With all the things I needed in a green backpack on my back and my hammer in hand, I pushed the slider back door open and ran to my indigo Subaru parked in the backyard. It wasn't much of a yard really with only a small square of green grass surrounded in concrete, but I was more thankful than ever that I had decided to park my other car here.

I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door before hopping in and sighing in relief in the driver's seat. 

Now I just had to figure out where to go from here.