Zocopalypse by Angel Lawson

back. A familiar face pops into view.
    “Matt?”
    He lifts the window an inch or two. I notice the dark purple marks under his eyes. He’s exhausted.  “Hey, Alex.”
    “What are you doing here? Where’s Liza.”
    “Upstairs,” he replies. “She’s…she’s locked in her room.”
    My stomach twists in a knot. “Why?”
    I know why.
    He knows that I know why.
    “It happened after the party. Everyone got sick. Someone there must have been infected and contaminated the punch.”
    “But I saw her—did she know?”
    He shook his head. “No. She didn’t know. I broke curfew and snuck around some. I went to all the houses of the kids I knew. They all have—no had the E-TR virus. Most are dead.”
    Most but not all.
    “But you’re okay?” I search his eyes. They look clear, no sign of the spidery infection.
    He shrugs but looks over his shoulder. “No. I’m not okay. You should probably get out of here.”
    “Is there anything I can do? Do you need help?”
    A loud thump comes from behind him and I hear a low, hungry growl. “Matt?”
    “We’re all dead, Alex. Our families, our friends. We signed a death warrant the minute we went to that party.”
    What is he saying? That we’re all infected? Me too?  It’s too late to ask though because the moan turns to a guttural roar.
    “Run while you can,” he says calmer than he should.
    He slams the window shut but his hand catches in the curtain, tearing it off the rod. A thin arm reaches for him, teeth bared. I step back, terrified I’ll see Liza. Eater Liza. For some reason, Matt doesn’t fight back.
    Why?
    A figure moves close to the window and it’s not the sheet of long blonde hair I expect from my best friend. Black, black eyes skim past me and her hand scratches the window. It’s not Liza. It’s Patricia, Liza’s sister.
    Blood drips from her mouth. Matt’s blood.
    She screams and I stumble backwards, over the rake and piles of tools. I reach for one and my hand lands on something heavy and sharp. I struggle to my feet and hold up the tool—a hatchet, panicked and freaked. I’m caught in my own struggle. Do I finish them? Do I let this happen?
    Before I can make a choice I hear the sound of a blade slicing through flesh. The solid thud of something heavy falling to the floor.  The screaming stops and another figure moves in front of the window. I recognize the profile.
    “Jason?”
    Matt’s brother faces me, grief settles over his features.
    “Get out of here, Alex,” he says clutching a long knife between his hands.
    “Are you okay? Do you need help? Where’s Liza?” The questions tumble out.
    “Go. Run. Let me take care of this.”
    “Alex?” I hear from across the yard. We both look toward the voice but when I turn back he’s gone. Having little other choice, I run, furious with myself that I’ve brought my mother here.
    “Mom?” She comes running from the dark.
    “What’s happening?”
    I glance up one last time and see that same shadow hovering just inside the room. Matt and Olivia are gone. I had to assume Liza was as well.
    “They’re gone.”
    “Who? Liza’s family? I heard a scream.”
    “That was just me—I’m just upset.” That wasn’t a lie. Tears piled up behind my eyes and I walked through the backyard back to the woods.
    “Maybe they got to the emergency shelter.”
    We step into the darkness, hands shaking. How close had I become to being Jason—killing my friends and loved ones. Exposing myself. Running was the cowards way out, but it was the only way to survive. I lead my mother into the woods and once again say goodbye to that life. For real this time.

Chapter Twenty-Nine
    ~Now~
    They introduce themselves as Cole and Chloe. Twins, it seems, right down to the way their lips turn up at the edges of their mouths and their slow moving gait. You’d think they hadn’t just annihilated two dozen Eaters’ and saved our lives.
    “That move with the fire was pretty cool,” Chloe says as an opening.