Amidst the smoke

Riley sighed as she spray painted an X on her front door, or what was left of it.
"What about Jay?" Riley squeezed her little brother's hand and carefully tightened the mask around his face.
"Jamie's gone, Bear. Now we have to be gone to, yeah? But we have to be brave, can you be brave for me?" She felt her heart break slightly as Bear nodded determinedly, tears streaming down his face.
"Good, let's go."

The Australian fires filled the air with smoke. Months after the flames had been extinguished it was still hanging over everybody's heads, people wore masks and stayed inside, no biggie right? Wrong. Things started changing, first it was the animals. Three eyes, wings, too many legs or an appetite for human flesh.
One person died, and then another, and another.
It was a manageable problem.
Then people started changing, for some it was their appetite, others their appearance.
One person got killed, so did another, and another, and another, and another.
You can't manage something when the people that are meant to manage it are dead.

Fifteen year-old Riley lives on a farm with her mum, dad, her older brother, Jamie, her younger brother, Bear and her horse, dog and cat. Or at least, she did. Her horse killed her mum, her dad killed her horse, her older brother killed her dad and she killed her older brother. The cat disappeared, literally, and the dog grew an extra head before running off into the bush.
So now it's just Riley and Bear.
But with supplies on the farm running scarce, Riley is forced to move closer to what's left of the shops and houses to look for food. Two problems,
1. That's what anything that's still alive is doing.
2. Anything that's still alive is either dangerously smart or dangerously hungry.