Aiden kept watching the television, growing more nervous with each word he heard from the emergency alert. Near the doorway, his parents continued trying to talk to Jerry, seemingly unaware of how dangerous the situation had become. Then, without warning, the power cut out, causing the lights in the entire house to turn off. The young boy's heart pounded as he looked around, anxious and afraid.
Madison's voice trembled slightly. "Honey, the lights…"
"I know, I know," Jonathan replied, attempting to reassure her. "It's just a power outage. Give it a few seconds."
Shortly afterward, the lights flickered back on. Aiden became less worried for a moment, but his concern returned when he noticed that the television was still off. The silent, blank screen made him feel that something terrible was about to happen.
"See? No big deal," Jonathan said. "Don't get too jumpy."
"I wasn't getting jumpy," Madison countered. "I was just---"
Jonathan interrupted her. "Letting me know? I'm right here, lady."
Jonathan directed his attention back to Jerry, who had also been distracted by the power outage. To his surprise, Jerry's wife and two children were now behind him. They must have turned the corner while Jonathan wasn't looking.
"Oh, there they are. Wait, is that…"
Jonathan's words trailed off as he stared at Jerry's family. They appeared to be afflicted by the same illness. What truly alarmed him, however, was the fresh blood smeared around their mouths and on their hands.
Jonathan was confused by what he saw, but before he could react, Jerry attacked him.
"Jerry, what the hell?!"
Jerry grabbed onto Jonathan and tried to bite his shoulder. But his attempt failed. They wrestled in the doorway until Jonathan was forced back into the house. Madison and Aiden could only watch in fear as the struggle continued.
With a burst of adrenaline, Jonathan managed to push Jerry hard enough to knock him to the ground. "What's wrong with you?! Did you just try to bite me?!"
Before he could catch his breath, Jerry's wife and kids followed them into the house, leaving Jonathan with no choice but to retreat further into the living room. As Jerry got back on his feet, he slowly turned to face Madison, who now stood closer to him than Jonathan did. He started moving toward her, staring at her without any emotion.
"Wait, wait! Jonathan! Keep him away from me!" Madison cried out, panicking.
"Get over here!" Jonathan shouted. "Don't let him grab you!"
Aiden stayed where he was. His legs felt heavy, his eyes tracking every frantic movement his parents made. The more they fought to protect themselves, the more unreal it all felt.
Just as Jerry reached out to grab Madison, Jonathan shoved him away and pulled her out of harm's way. With his wife in his arms, they took several steps back, putting distance between themselves and the infected.
"Something's wrong with them!" Madison yelled. "We have to get out of here!"
Jonathan agreed without hesitation. Thankfully, the infected were slow, giving them at least a little time to come up with a plan. Even so, the situation was so disturbing that it made them even more afraid. Jonathan glanced at the front door, but the sick family standing in the way made escape feel impossible.
Suddenly, Aiden's nervous voice reached their ears. "Dad… the back door…"
"The back door…" Jonathan whispered as he thought about his son's suggestion. It only took him a few seconds to realize that it was a valid option. "Right! The back door!"
Madison and Aiden followed Jonathan into the kitchen. From there, he rushed to the door leading out of the house and swung it open, only to find more infected waiting just outside. Before any of them could get in, he slammed the door shut. The infected began pounding on it over and over, each hit making the door rattle in its frame.
Madison approached the kitchen window, which gave her a clear view of a neighbor's backyard. Her eyes widened when she saw the neighbor being dragged to the ground by the infected. The woman's cries for help soon turned to screams of agony when the infected began to eat her alive. Jonathan saw how shocked Madison was. Wanting to know what she had seen, he joined her at the window. The horrifying sight left them both unable to move.
"They're… eating her?" Madison finally managed to ask.
Aiden looked up at his father, confused. "Dad? What do you see?"
Jonathan didn't answer. He just stared, struggling to think of a reasonable explanation.
Madison leaned in to get a better look, but the infected had already crowded around the scene. "What… what are they? Are they zombies?"
Jonathan couldn't believe it. The idea of a zombie apocalypse had always been fiction to him, something made up for movies and games. But now, with that woman's screams still echoing in his ears, it no longer felt impossible. As he came to terms with this new reality, the infected Jerry and his family stumbled into the kitchen.
Jonathan immediately searched for a way to escape. His gaze went from one part of the kitchen to another before eventually settling on Aiden. At that moment, a cruel plan began to form in his mind. "You know, kid, you might prove more useful than I thought."
"Dad? What do you mean by that?" Aiden asked as he instinctively backed away. "Dad?"
Desperate to survive, Jonathan reached out for Aiden and shoved him toward the infected. As a result, the boy lost his balance and fell to the ground near Jerry.
"Dad! No! Wait! Help me!"
Using his son as a distraction, Jonathan took Madison by the hand and ran past the infected. Aiden was still on the floor when Jerry leaned down and grabbed his leg. The boy panicked and kicked Jerry in the face with his other foot, forcing him to let go. With his heart pounding, Aiden quickly got back on his feet and hurried down the hallway, heading straight for the bathroom at the end.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and Madison stepped into the living room again, but their escape path was blocked. More infected had made their way inside, drawn by the sound of the commotion.
"Damn it!" Jonathan shouted, frustrated. "There's more of them!"
Madison gripped Jonathan's arm tightly. "What do we do now?!"
Jonathan's gaze was drawn to the bathroom just as Aiden went inside and closed the door. He felt relieved, thinking that his son would open it if they told him to. However, his relief did not last long. With Aiden no longer in sight, the infected that had been chasing him turned their attention to Jonathan and Madison.
One of them, an elderly woman, slowly stumbled toward Jonathan and tried to bite his arm. He reacted on instinct, punching her hard in the face. After knocking her away, Jonathan grabbed Madison's hand and pulled her along. "Quick! We can still make it to the hallway!"
As they ran past the infected, Jonathan backhanded Jerry to get him out of the way, then followed it up with a kick to one of Jerry's kids, clearing a path forward. Jerry's wife reached out for Madison as they passed, but Madison moved aside just in time, barely avoiding her grasp.
Once they made it into the hallway, Madison desperately searched for somewhere safe. "Our bedroom! Let's hide in there!"
Jonathan didn't even glance at the door. "It's locked! We keep it that way to make sure Aiden doesn't go in there!"
"Then what about the laundry room?!"
"It's locked too! And we don't have the keys!"
"Then what do we do?!"
Jonathan looked back. The infected were slow, but they had already entered the hallway, preventing them from escaping in that direction. The bathroom at the end, where Aiden was now, was their only way out. Since Madison hadn't suggested it, she didn't seem to have noticed him go inside.
"I saw Aiden go into the bathroom," Jonathan said, explaining his plan. "We'll tell him to let us in. We can get out through the window."
They sprinted toward the bathroom door. As soon as they got there, Madison tried to open it, but the handle wouldn't turn. Aiden had locked it from the inside.
"What?! It's locked!"
Jonathan slammed his fists against the door. "Aiden! Open the door!"
Inside the bathroom, Aiden panicked when he heard his father's voice. He lost his balance on the foldable chair he'd stepped onto in the tub, causing him to fall hard against the surface below.
Jonathan's voice grew louder, filled with anger. "I know you're in there! Open the goddamned door!"
The groaning behind Jonathan and Madison grew louder, which led them to turn around and face Jerry, his sick family, and about a dozen other infected.
Terrified, Madison quickly got behind Jonathan. "They're getting closer!"
Jonathan stood there, overwhelmed and unsure of what to do next. Unable to control his rage any longer, he yelled at his son. "Aiden! You damned useless brat!"
Within the bathroom, Aiden overcame the pain from his fall, still afraid but determined to survive. He climbed back onto the chair, his hands trembling as he struggled with the window. After a few seconds, it finally slid open, giving him a risky way to escape.
The sound of the window sliding made Jonathan completely lose his patience. He began trying to kick the locked restroom door open. "Damn it! Open up!"
After several attempts, Jonathan put all his strength into one final kick, forcing the door open just as Aiden got out through the window. The boy fell to the ground but immediately stood back up, relieved to have landed on grass. Nearby, a few infected had already spotted him and started moving in his direction, but he took off running before they could get too close.
Having witnessed his son's escape, Jonathan became even more upset. "Damn it! Our bait is gone!"
"Jonathan! Please! What do we do?!" Madison cried out in fear.
Jonathan looked at the infected coming down the hallway, then at the open window Aiden had just gone through. He then focused strictly on Madison, and though he said nothing, the look he gave her made her feel very nervous.
"Honey?"
Jonathan's actions revealed the extent of his despair. He forcibly pushed Madison towards the infected, ignoring her pleas for mercy as she frantically tried to resist.
"Jonathan, stop! Don't! Please don't!"
Without hesitation, Jonathan shoved Madison into the horde. The infected grabbed her limbs, their teeth sinking into her flesh. Her screams were raw and unfiltered. She fought back, kicking and clawing, but their grip was too strong. No longer caring about his wife, Jonathan knocked the chair aside and climbed out the window.
Once Jonathan landed outside, he quickly got back on his feet. When he turned around to check on Madison, he saw her dead body among the infected. They were still eating her, but Jonathan had no remorse. He was simply glad to have made it out alive. "I'm safe… I'm safe…" he whispered, trying to reassure himself. But it was not safe outdoors either. He soon noticed a large number of infected slowly approaching him, leaving him with nowhere to go. "No… No…" he said quietly, unable to accept the situation he was in.
At that moment, Jonathan spotted his son in the distance. Aiden was fleeing down the sidewalk, getting farther from his father. Desperate, Jonathan attempted to lead the infected away from himself and toward his son instead. He gestured and shouted, but his efforts were in vain. His pleas were ignored, lost in the mindless hunger of the infected.
Realizing he had no choices left, Jonathan tried to force his way through the right, where there were fewer infected. Unfortunately for him, his plan failed almost immediately. As he pushed one aside, another grabbed his arm, biting into his forearm. Jonathan screamed in agony. He swung wildly, striking the attacker in the face, but then another bit into his shoulder. In a matter of seconds, the rest of the horde descended upon him, tearing into his body and devouring him alive.
Aiden sprinted down the street. Tears blurred his vision as he heard his father's distant screams behind him. Around him, people fled their homes, chased by their infected relatives. Though some managed to escape, many weren't as fortunate. It was as if a switch had suddenly flipped, randomly turning part of the population into zombie-like infected.
The boy refused to watch what was happening throughout the neighborhood. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road ahead, surrounded by chaos. The world he knew was gone.