Survive

Chapter One

I woke with a start to my brother shaking me, when I sat up I could see the sweat running down his face.

"What's going on?"

"We have to move, Euna, we have to leave now. No time to get changed, get up, get a jacket and your shoes." He upturned the backpack near my door and started grabbing at clothes from my dresser haphazardly stuffing them inside. "The Go bags are already in the car but anything else you can fit in this in the next 30 seconds is all we can take"

"Mac, what's going on?" I got up and grabbed the bag as he handed it to me, and took my watch off of the nightstand with my phone and charger. "Has something happened at work? Are we in danger?" Mac was a police officer, he was always very protective despite him being younger than me. He made sure we always had backpacks in the garage ready to grab in an emergency, and never enough possessions to become attached.

"No, and yes." He turned and left the room, I heard his heavy footfall down the stairs and open the front door. After wiping my eyes and becoming adjusted to the darkness I got up and took handfuls of clothes from various drawers. I had no idea what it was I was choosing but made sure I reached in to get socks and underwear as well. I swung the bag on my back and slid my slippers on before rushing down the stairs. Out of the open door, I could see Mac pacing up and down the driveway, I grabbed my boots, jacket, and purse from the side table and headed to the car; it would be quicker just to go and put them on in the car. Mac saw me coming, jumped in the driver's side, and leaned across to open the door for me.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I got into the passenger side, throwing my bag over into the back seat, "Mac you haven't told me what's going on. Why do we have to leave?"

He started the car, "It's complicated,"
"How complicated can it be?" I fumbled with my slippers and boots in the dark, "Is this about Dad?"
"No."
"Are you sure?" Mac's grip on the steering wheel tightened as we started to drive away.
"Positive."
"So what's happening?"

He stared at the road ahead of him ignoring my endless questions until eventually, I slumped back in my seat in defeat. The clock on the dashboard flashed two forty-six, no wonder I was tired. I decided to lean my head against the window and close my eyes, I had no idea where my brother was taking me and if he wasn't going to speak then I might as well have gotten some rest.

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Mac's fists came down hard on the steering wheel, waking me up for the second time tonight.
"Sorry," he apologised before I had a chance to speak, "we're out of petrol - I didn't think," The clock showed five fifteen, we'd been driving for two and a half hours.

"Is there anywhere nearby? If you tell me where we're going I can drive the rest of the way once we've filled up, you should sleep." I took a second to look around and work out where we were, it was a busy motorway heading out of London, traffic almost stood still but some lanes had a very slow crawl; the other side was completely empty. Something definitely wasn't right, and it was worrying, "It's a bit early for rush hour isn't it?" I tried to lighten the mood, "and everyone's heading in the wrong direction,"

Mac laughed, it was shallow and uneasy, "Yeah, a bit easy I guess," I could just about see a sign up ahead - Dover - we were headed to the channel crossing.

"We're leaving the country? This is serious Mac, you need to tell me what's happening right now!" I tried to keep my voice steady but I couldn't mask my panic, "Is it terrorists? Riots? Why is everyone leaving? What happened?" I had too many questions and hadn't had enough sleep to process it all. Mac was silent as his hand reached for the car radio, he flicked through multiple stations, they all seemed to be relaying a similar message.

"We ask everyone to remain calm" - "The virus is said to spread through bite" - "Keep your family close, those of you that do not have family, find one" - "Those affected by the disease become irrational, they will not listen to reason" - "Hospitals are overwhelmed, do not attempt to visit them" - "The virus affects all, young, old, healthy or not, men, women, and children alike. No one is safe" - "The Government is asking that you do not evacuate, please think of others in this time" - "Nowhere is safe" - "Stay in your homes" - "Run. For God's sake run"

"Stop. I get the idea, Mac." He turned the radio off and there was silence again; until he filled it.

"We should have left earlier, we got reports at work. People going crazy, biting people, tearing them apart. It started a few days ago, it was just a couple of isolated incidents, couple of mad bastards lost their minds; gone rabid." Mac's eyes began to glaze over as he was talking. "Eric he uh, he went to a call tonight. Some drunk in an alley seemed beat up and bloody. He got there and there was a puddle but no person." He took long pauses as he spoke, and sharp breaths as if his words were hurting him. "It was only when he was leaving that he saw. There was this woman on the floor, phone in hand. The drunk was on top of her, face buried in her. Eric thought he was.. doing something else. When he got close he saw the blood pouring from her neck. He was eating her Eu, the psycho had attacked her and was eating her." Mac looked physically sick, "Eric kicked the shit out of him, but not before he got bit. It was like nothing I'd ever seen, it was just a bite. It looked infected when he got back, less than an hour later he was sweating, and had a fever. We wanted to take him to the hospital but Chief Constable said not to, said it was new protocol with this thing. Shove him in a cell, keep him isolated and wait it out. I went back to him before leaving but.. it wasn't him any more. His eyes were white, the veins in his face were just crazy, and he couldn't talk, just these mumbles and groans. He put his hands through the bar and just - they shot him. I knew we had to leave then, I knew we had to go, I sped all the way home."

Eric was like a brother to Mac, they were in school together, then college, and then the MET, they did everything together. They'd joined at 18 and have been there a couple of years now, neither of them was even 21 yet, still learning. Eric and his family had invited us around for Christmas the past two years since our mum passed, he has sisters, two of them younger than him. I wondered if they knew.