Kevin vomited heavily into the toilet for the third time in three hours. All that was coming out was green bile. All he felt was stomach cramps. He sat on the floor then leaned against the wall, sweat beading on his forehead.

At least his eyes had stopped weeping out blood.

Amanda was in the shower cleaning up after he accidentally threw up on her. She was as healthy as ever.

She had sat by his side for three days. She took sick leave to look after him. He had endured a high fever, bleeding eyes, and constant vomiting. Things she deemed as real sick, not man sick.

Usually, bleeding eyes meant visiting the hospital in a panic. When Amanda told him about the disease and its symptoms, it was beginning to rampage its way through the country.

In fact, the entire world.

As Kevin phased in and out of sleep, she would provide updates on the progress of the virus. By day two, there was fear in her voice. Kevin was too sick to ask questions because he was too busy feeling like death, vomiting, and bleeding.

As he leaned against the toilet wall, he began to feel like he was getting better. Still sick, but better.

The toilet door opened, Amanda stood there wrapped up in a towel. She said, “Shower, now. You stink to high heaven, and since you are moving, I no longer have to put up with it.”

She closed the door and walked back to their bedroom.

“Well, good to know she’s still healthy, I suppose.” He dragged himself up the side of the wall because he was getting waves of mild dizziness. He made his way to the shower. When he stripped off, he became painfully aware of how right she was about the smell.

After he had washed up in hot water, he felt human again. He got dressed, brushed his hair, then decided today was going to be a good day. Even if he still felt terrible. He staggered to the TV room to see Amanda watching the news.

Before he could say anything, she said, “Shut up and listen. While you have been sick, the whole world has been going to hell in a handbasket. You need to see this, then tell me everything is going to be okay.”

Kevin looked at her for a moment. She wasn’t someone who worried about the world, disasters, or anything. Yet here she was, watching the news and looking pale with fear.

He dreaded taking notice of the news presenter because he had a terrible feeling it was not going to be okay.

Not even close to okay.

He really had no option, so he turned his attention to the TV, opened his ears to the words, then allowed his eyes to see what was happening.

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“…… Redeye is highly contagious. It is killing 90% of the people who catch it, and when the person appears to die, they are not dead. This is important. If someone dies from Redeye, they are not dead. They wake up between five and twenty minutes after apparent death. When they do, they are highly aggressive to the point of killing loved ones. They are attacking people. Their movements are reduced, so they walked slowly and look, for want of a better word, like a zombie…..”

As the presenter was talking, images of victims of the disease were shown on the screen. Kevin was mortified because it was clear that he had just recovered from a deadly disease.

He looked at Amanda, then said, “I could’ve died and killed you.”

“Yes, and if they were saying 100% chance of death, I would have ended it quickly for you. But, until I knew for sure, I did things like, and please don’t hate me, but I tied your legs to the end of the bed. I also carried the meat cleaver with me all the time and locked the bedroom door.”

He frowned at her, “That is why I love you. So practical, so pragmatic. What else did you do while I was sick?”

She looked uncomfortable as she said, “This disease, it's global. It’s everywhere. Zombies are starting to turn up on the streets and in buildings. Hospitals are in trouble, and some have been overrun. Darling, the army dropped bombs on one hospital to stop the zombies from escaping.”

She had tears coming down her face. Kevin felt a growing sense of terror.

She continued, “I’m not sure if I’m crazy thinking this, but I look at this, and I think the world is going to come to a grinding halt soon. So, and please don’t be angry with me, but I withdrew all our savings and bought $2000 worth of dried foods and stuff. It’s in the spare bedroom. I figured that if I’m right, we can stay here. I’d be able to look after you until you woke up alive or dead. I couldn’t move you, and nobody was able to help. I believe I did the right thing.”

Kevin looked at her in amazement, “Hun, this is why I love you. Not only did you stay next to me, but you also bought us time to think. You saved our lives.”

Amanda smiled and relaxed.

She knew she had done well, but it was such a strange thing to do that she felt weird doing it. The idea that the world was in serious trouble because of one disease seemed crazy. But it was happening in front of her on the TV.

Kevin asked, “How bad is it? I mean, the news is still happening, power is still on so, it’s not terrible, right?”

Amanda said, “Well, it seems that it is global. Every city in the world has cases of Redeye. It is everywhere. It turned up on the news the same day you got your bloodshot eyes. When you collapsed into bed, reports were coming out about zombie outbreaks in hospitals. When your eyes started to bleed, I called the ambulance, but they said it was better to stay at home. At the moment, it seems the disease is already everywhere. It just appeared out of nowhere. Yesterday, they estimated there were over one million new cases worldwide. The day before, it was one hundred thousand. That was when I bought the food.”

Kevin’s mind was reeling. He wanted to escape the city now, but he wasn’t physically capable of moving much. He said, “It’s days like this that I wish we had a car and not just our bicycles.”

He couldn’t quite comprehend the idea that this was happening, that life was about to change for the worse. The idea that they could work, save for a house, have kids, and grow old had changed to potential disaster within one week.

He felt constrained.

Amanda asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I mean, shit. Surely this will sort out somehow. I’m sure it’ll be okay, we just ride it out for a few weeks, right?”

Amanda reached over to give him a hug, then whispered into his ear, “Nine out of ten people have died from the disease. All nine that die return as zombies, and they begin to kill anyone they can get their hands on.”

“……. and this just in. The WHO has released a statement that there are over ten million new cases worldwide. A global emergency has been declared. All flights around the world have been canceled. This is going to change the world forever…..”