Broken

1

May 19th, 2010

3:15pm

King County Public School #21, King County, GA

"Riley!" My brothers and sisters yell as they rush to me from the fountain and I scoop up little Tyler as we begin to walk back to the house when a county police car pulls in and Officer Walsh exits.

"Miss. Madison, are you guys doing okay?" He asks as we begin to walk home.

"Yeah, I just got out of school earlier today than I typically do." I say and he nods as he walks over to Mrs. Grimes, his partners wife.

I watch as she begins to cry, and I usher the children out of the school yard before anything bad happens.

A month passes and I manage to pass to the twelfth grade, my senior year. At home, things are getting tense because my mom is just about due with a baby girl who will be named Mikayla Braylin.

In the paper, I read about what happened to Mrs. Grimess husband, Rick. There was a third shooter over in Mason County after a car chase was ended in a firefight. He got shot in the left side, the bullet hitting his stomach and going right through his left lung. He was last reported in stable condition, but also in a medically induced coma for the time being.

"The virus, now dubbed Wildfire, is spreading rapidly in Liberia, Kenya, Southeastern Asia, Japan, and Thailand. Reports of the casualties caused by the virus coming back to life and feeding on the living have been heard from Kenya and Thailand." My radio says as I sit on my bed drawing and I scoff as thats not even remotely possible.

"Attention seekers." I mumble as I continue to draw, labeling an envelope with the address of an out of state college.

One day, Im at the park with Harley, Hailey, and Tyler when my best friend, Sierra Bramsen, comes over to us, and I notice shes acting weird.

"Sierra? You okay?" I ask her and she doesnt respond, alarming me as I see that shes got this huge gash on her right side that is bleeding profusely.

"Kids run! Now!" I hear someone yell and turn to see officer Walsh aiming his gun at Sierra, shooting her as we run towards his car.

"I'm taking you guys home and you need to get your families to Atlanta. The Wildfire Virus has gotten out of control. CDC can't keep it contained." He says and I nod as he drops us at our house.

"Mom! Liam! Hannah! Mikey! Pack your stuff! We gotta get to Atlanta! Officer Walsh is coming back so we can follow him!" I yell and everyone is rushing to grab what we need to go to the shelter in Atlanta.

"What's going on?" Liam asks me and I look at him after I zip my suitcase up and shake my head.

"The Wildfire virus, it spread to the US a few days ago and the CDC was able to contain it until about twenty hours ago. The person left and died. He came back to life a bit someone. Its spread to here". I explain and hear a horn blare from outside.

"Come on! Mom, you and Liam take Harley, Hannah and Tyler. The rest of you in my car, now!" I say and we all race to the cars, following Shane, Lori, and her son Carl to I-81 to get to Atlanta.

We get a decent way there before we get stuck in this giant traffic jam about two hours from the city. Hailey and Mikey are playing on their tablets while I scan the radio stations, getting information on what is going on in the world and Atlanta.

"The safe zone established in Western Atlanta is temporarily closed now due to overcrowding. All arrivals are being redirected to the Nunez Big Spot cordon or West Willow County High School cordon. Fort Benning has recently opened their own military based safe zone, but space is limited. Many who are arriving in the main safe zone inside the city are being redirected to the Woodbury Safe Zone or Nunez Penitentiary, both are filling fast." The radio station, 104.9, says and I change stations to 100.5 for national news.

"The Wildfire virus has spread all over the east coast and has moved rapidly to the central US and part of the west. On the east coast, most deaths have come from New York, Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. It has been reported that people who have been confirmed dead are coming back to life and attacking and eating the living alive. Those who have been attacked either die or become one of the dead themselves. The symptoms of Wildfire that have been confirmed by the CDC are a raging fever, vomiting, weakness, muscle atrophy, and tiredness. The fever has been reported to kill the host before reviving it after some time. Time varies between 15 minutes and 9 hours. The longest it took for one to revive was 9 hours 19 minutes and 33 seconds." It says and I sigh as I shut my car off and exit the vehicle. I walk over to where Lori is with Sophia, Carl, Tyler, and Harley. Hailey and Mikey fell asleep, as did Hannah, who moved into my vehicle because Tyler wouldnt be quiet.

"How are you doing?" Lori asks me and I sigh, worried.

"They've closed the western zone and the one on the east side is filling up quickly. The main one has had to expand again, but theyre redirected those with larger families to Woodbury or the Nunez Penitentiary. Both have set up zones for civilians. Jesus, I hope this can be contained again before it gets worse." I say as we wait for traffic to start moving again. Lori walks over to where Shane is, who seems to be frustrated with what the radio is saying.

He walks over, and I see him and Lori come back to Carols van. I ruffle Tyler's hair as he watches Carl and Sophia play checkers.

"I'm hungry sissy." Tyler says to me and I sigh as I kiss the top of his head.

"I know bud. Let me check to see what I got in the trunk." I tell him as I walk to my car. As Im rummaging through the trunk of my car, about four or five planes and six helicopters fly overhead and I slam my trunk shut and rush to the edge of the woods, watching as they drop bombs on the city of Atlanta.

"They're dropping Napalm in the streets." I say as Shane holds Lori close, her being distraught as that was their destination.