Amber

Thump.

Thump.

I can hear my heartbeat in my chest, pounding, longing for oxygen. My feet pound against the hard pavement as I wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand. The cool weather keeps me from getting too overheated. The sun begins to drift toward the surface, the clouded sky getting dark.

Step.

Step.

I can hear footsteps beat behind me, but I can see my house. I snake around the white fence that surrounds my front yard. After closing the gate as quickly as possible, I lock the gate closed with the latch. I back away from the gate and look up to see James smiling teasingly at me. He jumps over the fence, tripping. He falls to the ground, taking me with him in the process.

We begin laughing in the same rhythm, laying on the damp, cool, ice patched ground. I look up at the silvery sky before looking over at James, studying all of his features.

I look into his big, brown eyes; there are lines creasing beside his eyes, indicating that he was smiling widely. I look at his lovely smile, not perfect, but close enough to perfect for me. I run a hand through his newly cut, blonde hair. I lean in to give him a kiss, my hand resting on his muscular chest, but he speaks instead.

"Wanna know something?" He smiles and looks straight into my grey-blue eyes. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You are absolutely stunning. You know that, right?" I roll my eyes playfully at his statement.

"C'mon, babe. Your bright eyes, long, dirty blonde hair. That sun-kissed skin of yours." He leans in closer, brushing a stray hair back.

"Not to mention your sense of humor. The list could go on, I mean-" I interrupt his sentence with a soft kiss on his lips. I pull away as we smile like idiots simultaneously. I hear my stomach growling, realizing that he was being kinda cheesy. But I love cheesy.

"I'm hungry." I sit up, glancing at him with a pout.

"Chips and salsa?" I get up from the cool ground, and he does the same.

"I would love that." He pulls onto my hand, dragging me inside. As we enter the corridor, the warmth of the heated home surrounds me. Goosebumps that had pricked my skin on my arms fade away as I take off my jacket and rub my hands together.

We prep our food and get hot cocoa after entering the kitchen. Unusual for April, it was still chilly enough for warm drinks. I snatch the food from the counter and walk into the living room, cutting on the TV. I plop onto the couch and he sits beside me, wrapping his arm around me while he settles. I move closer to him to give him another kiss, but my twelve-year-old brother comes in and speaks up.

"If I had known you were getting all lovey-dovey, I would've drunken some bleach." He states flatly, looking at me with an unamused expression. I narrow my eyes at his dramatic statement. James looks at me with a mischievous smirk, passing me a pillow subtly. I throw said pillow at Jaspar, it hurdling toward him. He ducks before it reaches his face.

"Oh, shut up, Jaspar. I'm not the only person who has been caught kissing someone on the couch before," I respond with a sneer. Before I know it, the same pillow that I threw is traveling toward me. As it is about to make contact with my face, James catches it. My sigh of relief is short-lived when James slams the pillow against my face.

"James," I say, drawing out the 'a' in his name.

"You know you just declared war, right?" I add, raising an eyebrow. A roguish smile slowly spreads across my face before I continue the pillow fight. The pillow battle we had is short-lived due to a loud crash. My eyes grow wide when I realize it is my mom's favorite blue lamp which is now shattered into millions of pieces across the hardwood floor surface. Mom will kill us for sure, no doubt.

Speaking of my mom, just minutes after the incident, the front door opens to reveal my mom. She smiles widely as she sees us, her eyes glistening with joy. My dad always deploys the same line and says we share the same bright smile. I get up from the couch and give my mom a hug, her giving me a kiss on my head. Right as I plan to say something to my mom, she enters the kitchen.

"What do you guys think about having eggplant parm for dinner?" my mom asks, putting her stuff down on the dining room table. After washing her hands, she begins to take out the needed ingredients for the meal. I nod in agreement even though I know she was planning on making it regardless.

"Do we have to have that?" Jaspar wrinkles his nose at her choice of the meal. James rolls his eyes, putting his hands in his pockets. I just disregard the statement.

"Will your husband be home soon, Mrs.Kennedy?"

"Maddy," she warns, wanting him to call her by her first name. "Brent will be home around six." My mom cuts on the TV for the five-thirty evening news. I grab my cup from the other room and come back. I fill it to the brim with more tea. When the news begins I begin to watch it lazily. One of my classes requires me to watch the news once a week in order to write a weekly paper on current events. I lousily take notes on different things when I hear the front door open. I turn around to see my dad come up behind me and give me a great bear hug. I smile in his nurturing embrace.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey, hun, Jimmy," my dad replies with a tip of his hat. James forcefully chuckles quietly. He hates being called Jimmy but has gotten used to it. James gives me a peck on the cheek before massaging my shoulders. A blush forms on my cheeks. I smile and give one of his hands a squeeze before continuing my homework.

"Hey, Amber," my mom comments, clearing her throat.

"This might be something worth writing about for that daily assignment thing," she adds, turning up the TV quickly.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Breaking news. An anonymous source recently shared that a scientist has gone rogue. Some rumor that it was the result of testing an experimental vaccine of some sorts. Two other scientists who are injured report that in quote, 'it was crazy. It's like a flip switched and he started attacking us.' We will continue to update you with details about this breaking story as it continues to develop." I scribble down the information as quickly as my hands can write.

My boyfriend wraps a sturdy arm around my shoulder, so I lean into him. It is almost as if he was unintentionally pulling me closer to protect me.

"You plan on staying for dinner, or are you gonna eat your mom's... interesting food?"

"Ah, I think I'm gonna stick around here. I can't pass up your mom's gourmet meals. Plus my mom's food can be brutal." He chuckles in his response, so I smack him in the arm.

"Be nice," I nag teasingly.

"How's your brother, Kyle? He doing okay in college?" I smile at the thought of my older brother.

"Yeah, and hopefully when we get a puppy, he'll do check-ups for free. He's already laid a job as some nurse in a family-run vet clinic." I look out the window, wondering what he is up to.

"I should call him, see if he can help with my paper." He grabbed onto my arm softly, looking at me in the eyes.

"I think that would be a great thing to do."

Axel

I ride in the motorcycle that I 'borrowed' from my dad's garage. I take a deep breath in, enjoying the crisp air and the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair. "Woohoo!" I shout without a care in the world, my breath showing in the frigid air. I speed up, passing the speed limit, checking around for the coppers. The roads toward the city stay vacant, unusual for how nice the weather is compared to the cold winter we had. Well, it's nicer than what we've been having.

I pull over to an empty warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Richmond was a breath of fresh air for me. Securing the bike, I break a window with a crumbling brick. I elbow the remaining glass from its frame, swinging a leg into the building. Taking my phone from my back pocket, I turn on the flashlight to watch out for any snakes. I climb up a rusty latter that led to the roof. When I reach the top, I look out into the city and see a cop car slowly drive in my direction. I duck down low, hoping he won't see me.

I look down and see the cop pull up. He's inspecting my bike when he steps on a piece of glass. I cringe at the sound and begin to feel nervous. I can hear someone's raspy breath behind me. I turn around half-expecting the cop to be there, but it isn't him.

A homeless-looking man starts irking towards me. I take a closer look at him to see that his eyes are completely bloodshot, his pupils pale and dilated. This man must be on some hard stuff. I hear footsteps, the copper making it a party.

"You two need to freeze where you are. Now." My eyes keep on flicking between the nut and the police officer. I stand up cautiously, throwing my arms behind my head.

"Hey man, I mean." I let out a forceful cough.

"Sir. I don't think this man is alright. He's high or sick. I don't know." The guy snarls at me, almost like some wild animal. I slowly back away and he continues walking towards me. I feel the back of my legs hit the wall, barricading me from falling.

"Hey, freeze sir." The brainless dude redirects his attention to the officer. I exhale a sigh of relief. The police officer is face to face with the fry-brain.

"Hey, I said freeze." An atrocious growl sounds from the homeless man. I feel myself and the officer getting nervous. I can see the officer's fingers slip as he is trying to pull the trigger. The fry-brain bites into the officer's shoulder. I suddenly hear screaming. I snap out of my gaze and start running towards the exit.

"Oh, shiiit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" I say, not being able to muster up any other words.

The exit I try escaping through is blocked and out of nowhere as I find an escape route, I hear a gunshot. The police officer is standing ruggedly now, and the person is on the ground, shot in the chest where the heart is. The copper is slowly walking over to me, his breathing labored.

"Young man, you're coming with me." He winces in pain. The dead body starts to move again; my eyes practically fly out my head.

The officer turns around and starts to shoot the man, repeatedly. He stays up, despite being shot in multiple places. Before I am able to escape, the fry-brain starts attacking the officer again. I jump off of the roof and into a trash compact, frantically. Shaken up so badly, I don't realize until moments later that I banged my head, the pain hitting me like a truck. I limp, a sharp pain soaring through my leg.

I drop my keys to the motorcycle as my hands shake. I fumble with the keys as I shakily get onto the bike. I speed off as quickly as I can, not even bothering looking back. Once I realize that I am far enough away from that horrifying sight, I pull over next to a park. I stagger off like a drunk man because of my shakiness and my ankle. My hands tremble as I dial in the numbers to call 911. I address what the issue was, my voice wavering.

"Sir, I need you to remain calm, just tell me the location and we will send a dispatch out immediately. Please remain calm." I hear some shuffling before hearing her say, "shit, that's the seventh call tonight." I tell them the location of the incident.

"Thank you very much, sir, stay safe driving tonight. Goodnight." With the end of the call, I drive home as quickly as I can.

As I get into the driveway of my dad's house, I park his vehicle in the garage. I walk inside the house and it is silent, so I just assume that my dad has gone out to the bar with his friends. I walk upstairs and pass my bedroom door, heading straight to the bathroom.

I go into the shower and let myself relax. The water runs down my body and I clean up. I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. I grab a different towel and dry out my hair. Grabbing a cigarette from my nightstand, I light it, landing on the spinny chair with a sigh. I cut on the TV in my room and go onto my laptop.

I go to all of the news websites that I know about in Virginia to see if there are any other cases of the crazies. I proceed to go onto WTVR 6 and see that there has been a case of a scientist going ballistic. It is said that he attacked his co-workers and showed aggressive behavior. I take a drag before opening my phone. I call my best friend, Callum.

"Hey Cal, did you see the crazy story about the scientist dude?" I put the phone on speaker.

"Yeah man, what about it?" He sounds tired, I probably woke him up. Oops.

"I-I-I saw something similar to that. Some guy went ballistic on a copper that caught me at that warehouse. I saw the whole freak show firsthand. He just bit into the copper's shoulder like it was nothing." I shutter, followed by taking another hit.

"Man, it was freaking terrifying." I rush my free hand through my tangled and damp hair.

"Man, that's pants-shitting crazy. You're alright though, right? He didn't get a chunk of you?" Callum says in a jokingly matter.

"Dude, too soon. But seriously, I'm fine. Just freaked. I'ma go get some sleep. What happened was really freaky. I'll see ya at school tomorrow." I yawn, letting the cig burn down.

"Kay man, see ya tomorrow." The line goes dead and I cut off my computer and change into boxers and some joggers. I keep the TV on channel six for the eleven pm news in case the incident I saw is or was broadcasted. My phone dings. I take one final drag before putting it in the tin can. An article popped up about the scientist thing being a hoax. Just someone tryna get a rise out of the freak accidents happening. Thank God for that.

I run my fingers through my hair as I process what I saw and get in bed, only a thin sheet covering me. I stare up at the white ceiling, thinking about the hoax and what happened to me. They are way too similar. I wiggle around restlessly in my bed before drifting into a dreamless rest.