As Danny made his way towards the theater his phone rang.

RESTRICTED

He answered it and a familiar voice immediately spoke.

"Hey man, you alright?" Tyrone asked quickly.

"Yeah. Fine. Why?" Danny asked suspiciously. It was also a lie. He wasn't fine at all. But he had no intention of mentioning the call or his planned meeting with Carol. As far as he was concerned, if Carol had called to confide in him than it was between them and no one else.

"You haven't heard? Man, shit is hitting the fan down at the hospital. ScarLo was worried and I told her I'd call to make sure you were okay".

The hospital, that's right, Danny thought. With the call from Carol he'd totally forgotten about it.

"Uh, I saw the post about it yesterday from Dante" Danny said. "And I saw the cops race in that direction after leaving your... house yesterday. What's happening now?"

"Broooo..." Tyrone said. "Shit has really hit the fan. Apparently two dozen are dead and not from the virus, but from at least 2 people attacking and killing anyone in sight. The entire hospital is surrounded, blocked off. The Governor called in the National Guard. According to the news, this is happening at least three other hospitals across the country as we speak..."

The new strain, Danny thought. It was here.

"Where are you?" Tyrone asked. "Where are you headi... are you driving?"

Danny paused for a moment.

"How did you know I was driving?"

"Because you just told me. Actually, I thought I could hear the noise of driving...like... you know... the wind..."

Danny raised an eyebrow. His Subaru was pretty silent in the cabin.

"It's my day to shop" he lied. "I was just going to pick up some things at Wal-Mart..."

Danny listened hard into the phone. He thought he could hear cabin noise too, come to think of it. Maybe Tyrone could hear him driving.

"Are you driving?" Danny asked.

"Uh, why?" Tyrone asked. "I mean... yeah, how'd you know?"

"Same reason" Danny said cooly.

There was a moment of silence.

"Surprised you can hear it in the Rover" he said finally. "But, yeah, I went out to get some supplies too before shit gets any crazier..."

Danny turned the corner. He was about fives minutes from the theater.

"By the way, man, be careful. They've got road blocks everywhere... Not sure which direction you're headed but you're going to Wal-Mart you might want to watch out for the one on Beverly Boulevard..."

Beverly was the main road to Wal-Mart if you weren't taking the highway, which he usually did. But since he wasn't going to Wal-Mart really it didn't matter.

"Also... 1st Street, Briarwood and Laconya..."

Laconya? Danny thought. Fuck. He'd have to take Laconya to get to the theater. He took a left at the light and mapped out in his head how he'd have to get to the theater now. He devised a route but it would require him to take a long way around.

"Well, look man. ScarLo's calling on the other line. Be safe man. If you need anything, let me know".

"Will do, thanks" Danny replied and quickly hung up. He took a deep breath and started paying close attention to his surroundings. The coast was clear. Minimal traffic and no road blocks but a glance behind him revealed a familiar sight: a black Sedan following him.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He turned right and it followed. He sped up and so did the car. He took a deep breath and did swerved into a U-Turn. His tires squealed. The Sedan did the same.

It wasn't in his head. This was for real.

He sped towards the theater but the Sedan was catching up. He started to slow down as he passed the entrance to the back alley but he knew the Sedan was too close and would see him dart down the alley so he sped back up. He couldn't see Carol now.

He swerved left and then right and prayed there would be no road blocks. There weren't. A line of police cars blew by him, sirens on.

In his head he imagined them breaking hard, turning and coming after him but they didn't. They were headed in the direction of the hospital. Behind them a line of National Guard Humvee followed, soldiers in full uniform and what looked like gas masks were in the backs of large military transports.

It was here. This was no place for living life or painting baby's rooms, Danny thought.

That made him think of Carol. He looked behind him and it looked like he had lost the Sedan. He called Carol's phone. No answer.

He'd wanted to tell her not only that he couldn't meet her there but that she just needed to get out why she could. Take her and her unborn child and head for Maine. Maybe she could come with Tyrone and them. But if not, she needed to get out on her on immediately.

He thought of calling her again but suddenly worried: What if they're listening to my calls?

He arrived home. He looked around, but saw no one and no Sedan or other suspicious vehicle.

He entered his apartment and tried to catch his breath, leaning against the door he immediately locked.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

He stood straight up.

It was coming from Luis room.

He walked towards his closed bedroom door.

"Luis? Man? You alright?" he asked nervously, tiptoeing towards the door.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

This time the entire door shook.

What the fuck!? Danny thought.

He got to the door and reached for the handle and waited.

Nothing. Silence.

"Louis?" he spoke into the door.

Again silence.

He took a deep breath and slowly turned the door knob, his heart racing as he did. As soon as the knob turned enough to allow the door to open it burst open and knocked Danny on his ass and to the floor.

"HOLY SHIT!" he shouted out loud as Louis, or what was left of him, spasmed trying to crawl his way towards him. His arms flailed towards Danny like a hungry wild beast with claws would. He was drenched in sweat and dried blood was stuck under his nose. His eyes were wide and blood shot. He was making a moaning gargling moaning noise, thick green fluid oozing from his mouth and nose. There was also orange mixed in and Danny had thought this was blood but realized it was Cheetos powder. Danny noticed he wasn't wearing shoes and his toes were black with red spots all over them like frost bite.

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

Danny had put up two arms to brace himself but Luis didn't come further. It wasn't for a lack of trying. Luis desperately and hungrily tried to crawl forward but something was holding him back in the door way.

Danny scrambled to his feet, propelling himself backwards. He thought about how contagious he must be.

He noticed an extension cord tired around Luis frame. Behind him it was tied to the towel holder on the other side of Luis bedroom in the bathroom.

Had Luis done this? Had Luis known what was happening to him?

Danny stood carefully, catching his breath, staying far back.

"Luis? Can you hear me man? It's Danny?" he spoke slowly, clearly.

The creature snarled in response... and that's what this was -- a creature. It wasn't Luis any longer. Luis was dead.

Danny move his way to to where the bed room door was. The creature had flung it open so had the knob had busted a hole in the dry wall and chips of white and powder were all over the floor.

In one swift move Danny ran line a line backer and grabbed the door, slamming into it and forcing it into the creature trying to shut him back in the bedroom.

It also worked flawlessly but the creature's arm got stuck in the door and he began to fight back. It was strong, stronger than Louis had been. Danny struggled to keep the door closed, groaning. It was now are never. Sweat beaded down his forehead. Not knowing what else to do he lifted his leg and removed his shoe and began to beat the creature's arm with it. Over and over and over.

To Danny's surprise, it responded to the pain and began to withdrawn until only it's hand was left.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

He beat the hand over and over until finally it reluctantly retreated behind the door and it shut into place.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

As the creature immediately went back to beating on the closed door Danny stumbled backwards, hit the ground and scrambled back to his feet. Breathing heavy and not taking his eye off the door he scrambled backwards until the back of the couch stopped him.

He ran into the kitchen, grabbed a chair and propped it against the door to keep the creature inside.

Creature? No. This was a fucking monster. There was a fucking monster in his apartment.

He tried to catch his breath and pull himself together.

BLING.

He jumped and cussed. He raced over to the computer without thinking in total panic.

There was a new message from Dante. He opened it.

I'M BURNED. GET OUT NOW. THEY'RE COMING. I'M SORRY MAN. IT'S MY FAULT. IT'S ALL ABOUT TO GO TO SHIT ANYWAY. SEE YOU IN THE PROMISED LAND MAYBE. STAY SANE OUT THERE.

Danny was breathing heavy. He shut his eyes and opened them again as if doing so would make the message disappear. It didn't.

"What..what....what..." he muttered to himself over and over in heavy breaths.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Danny jumped and swiftly turned. The door rattled and moved and then so did the chair.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Without giving it a second thought he sprung into action. He covered his hands with hand sanitizer, put on his precious N95 mask and grabbed his travel bag from his bedroom and packed it quickly with whatever he could think of.

He took it into the living room and spun around, surveying his apartment to see if he was forgetting anything.

Then it hit him. He raced back into his bedroom and pulled the lock box from under his bed and stuffed it into his bag. He couldn't believe he'd almost left it behind.

Back in the living room, he looked around, taking it all in. Taking one last look at his apartment. As his home for the last few years.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

He moved towards the door, opened it and walked out but stopped in his tracks, looking back at the door to Luis bedroom.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

"I'm sorry Luis..." he said quietly, shaking his head. "I'm really sorry man"

He shut the door and locked it behind him and began to walk away but stopped in his tracks and walked back, pulling a Sharpie from his bag. He wrote and then made his way down the stairs and towards his car parked outside. Surveying his surrounding as he did. He jumped in his Subaru and sped off, glancing up at the door to his apartment above the landing, the words staring back at him:

INFECTED.

DO NOT ENTER.

He called Tyrone. He immediately answered.

Tyrone began to speak but he was immediately cut off by Danny.

"How fast could we leave if we needed to?"

"Today" Tyrone replied without hesitation.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes" Danny replied and hung up, pressing the peddle to the floor.

He thought about Carol. He decided to call her again. She needed to get out. What did it matter now if his phone was bugged?

He called her and there was still no answer but this time it went to voice mail.

"Hi this is Carol..." the voice mail began.

"And this is Jack, mate" Jack's voice interrupted.

Danny sighed. She hadn't changed the message.

The message played and then the beep came and Danny spoke loudly and clearly as he could.

"Carol, it's Danny. I'm sorry I couldn't meet with you, but listen: you need to get out of the city. It's not safe. Take you and your unborn baby and get out. Head towards Maine. Maybe I'll see you there. I'm... I'm sorry about Jack. Please, Carol. Listen to me. Please ................... Goodbye".

Danny hung up, swallowed hard and pressed the gas.