My ears twitch in response to a low voice underlaid by crackling static. For a moment I’m back in my bed at home groaning as I’m forced out of bed for work. But then I remember that hasn’t been the case for a little over a week now. Everything comes back to me as sleep drags its claws from my mind with torturous memories. It jolts me up, blanket flying off me in a panic as I look around for danger. Instincts in overdrive urging me to run. Except, there is no danger. At least this time, instead there’s just a startled cat with frizzy fur and wide eyes.

  “Oh shit sorry, I forgot you were in here,” Merlin says, looking at me for anything more than panic.

  “No. No, it's fine. Just didn’t have a good morning yesterday,” I wave his concern off. My hands rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

  “Yeah uh… I was trying to listen to the radio. Maybe some good news will keep this from being the shittiest Halloween ever,” He explains, turning the radio up so I can hear. I reach down to pick my blanket off the dirty van floor as a reporter’s voice fills the air.

  “-riots in the capital have been- fzzt- cases reported worldwide- zzzt-” The radio cuts in and out, static accompanying the few words that get through. Merlin shuts the radio off with a decisive click. He lets out a long drawn out sigh, worry working across his face. Tail flicking in unpredictable patterns and a far off stare growing in his brilliant blue eyes.

  “You know, I really only feel bad for Rylan and Hazel. They’ve both always loved Halloween,” His voice sounds flat, his posture withdrawn. He doesn't deflect with a joke this time. I’ve only known him for about a day, yet it’s so obvious there’s something off with him. Though I guess there’s been something off about the world as a whole lately.

  A knock on the window next to me draws our attention. Tara stands outside, her expression matching the overcast grey light of outside. She motions for us to get out of the van before walking around to the front. I look at Merlin who shrugs and turns to get out. Knowing I’ll have to brave the biting cold morning sooner or later, I follow.

  The crunch of the frost covered grass beneath my feet is quite unpleasant, though it shocks what little sluggishness I have left from my system. Looking around at the forest, leaves and bark painted in early morning light, I satisfy the more primal part of my brain that has been nagging me to be on the lookout. The whole group is standing around the hood of the van as Merlin and I join. Jonah has a map spread out, a large penciled in circle surrounds the city which marks the quarantine zone.

  “Bruno, could you do us a favor and take a look at the engine again before we leave here soon?” The dog asks, hand lifting to pat the hood a few times. “Don’t want a repeat of yesterday,” He adds.

  “Sure, I could uh do that I guess. What are- what are you looking at?” I ask, feeling a little awkward. Like I shouldn’t be intruding on their meeting even if I was invited.

  “We’re trying to figure out where we should head after we get out of the quarantine zone,” Tara chimes in, pointing at the road we’re on before tracing it to the border of the circle.

  “Why would they let us out though, I mean it’s a quarantine for a reason. They’re trying to prevent anyone from leaving, not just the visibly sick,” Nadia adds, ears twitching in confusion.

  “I don’t know, but they did call Littleridge an evacuation camp so the government clearly had an intention of evacuating some people,” I explain. “They even said they were evacuating all medical professionals when they brought us there from the hospital,” Everyone looks at me when I say that, perplexed looks on their faces.

  “The military said that?” Jonah asks with his head tilted.

  “Yeah uh they said that all medical professionals were being brought to Littleridge Elementary to be evacuated when they were dragging us out of the hospital,” All of the attention makes me shrink into myself a little. I fold my arms and curl my tail between my legs.

  “Why would they shut down a hospital, especially so soon after the news broke?” Nadia muses hand on her chin.

  “You said you were a mechanic though, why would they take you as well?” Jonah asks me, his pointed expression giving me a feeling of distrust.

  “We were visiting my Mother after work, she was having a ton of sudden complications and was surrounded by nurses when they started pulling people out. They must have thought we were staff at first. We tried telling them but they already had us on the trucks so they just went with it,” Even though it was over a week back the memory isn’t exactly a pleasant one and it shows on my face. “The soldiers seemed frantic and disorganized, like they didn’t have a lot of time to prepare,” I remember that afternoon well, I could hear screams echo through the halls as uniformed soldiers pulled nurses and doctors from their patients. There was even a man, a tiger with snowy white fur, who was dressed in full surgery scrubs. He was still holding his hands in the air as if he’d be allowed to scrub back in shortly.

  “We’re getting off topic, we have to have some sort of plan whether or not we get through,” Tara steers us back, patting the map for emphasis.

  “If we do get let through I say we get the hell out of dodge, somewhere real out of the way,” Merlin finally butts in.

  “Where though?” Tara asks

  “There’s that little town near where you guys normally go camping,” Nadia suggests, pointing to a town called Greyson Hills near the edge of the map. Jonah and Tara take a second to think.

  “It’s a good idea, small, rural, not well known. But it's pretty damn far and Bruno said the van won’t hold out very long,” Jonah says while looking at me. I nod, startled to have a focus back on me so soon.

  “Well it's only a general idea, first stop out of quarantine should probably be the auto parts store,” Nadia says as everyone nods in response. What I saw yesterday was one of the messiest engine compartments. Their van clearly hasn’t been taken care of very well, in fact I’m quite worried about whether it’ll even make it out of the zone.

  Getting on the road again is relieving, stopping for too long the past few days has seemed to always lead to something bad. The wheels crunch the frost covered grass and leaf litter as we roll off the field. Returning to the pavement feels like embarking on an odyssey with no end, a sense of overwhelming melancholy filling my mind. I’ve always liked overcast days, they’re a source of comfort for me. A way for the world to tell me that it'll be okay in the end. It doesn’t feel like that today, instead it feels more like an omen. An omen that the world is trying to relay to all of us.

  However, the cold is fought back eventually. It seeps out through the van’s exterior, just as welcome conversation fights its own way in. The people I’ve found myself with talk and chatter like old friends and family. Despite their kindness I am still an outsider, an outsider without a connection. Tara and Jonah try to cheer their kids up, promising them as much candy as they could want as soon as everything is over. Nadia jokes at Merlin for his constant procrastination on fixing their van, a smile crawling across his snout while he drives. A far cry from when I woke up.

  Looking at my hands makes the skin beneath my fur crawl. My hackles raised as though I’m staring a threat down with a snarl on my face. Except I’m not, the only threat right now is my own mind. I am aware of the trauma that I’ve experienced yet I can’t linger on it properly. Worldly concerns are what pull at my mind for the moment, physical things that must be addressed first. It pulls at me like a loose threat on a sweater, something that promises an unraveling yet to come.

  “What was your favorite Halloween costume Bruno?” Merlin asks me, including me in a conversation I didn’t know was happening. It takes me a second but I remember one I did multiple years in a row.

  “Doctor, I went as a doctor 3 years in a row,” I say with a chuckle, brain grasping at the distraction.

  “Three years in a row! Why would you do that?” Nadia looks at me with shock, giving me that look you give someone when they say they don’t like something everyone else loves.

  “I was 8, went through a phase of wanting to help everyone and it was the only Job I could think of that helped everyone,” A faint smile pulls my lips upward in nostalgia.

  “Hazel did something like that, there were a few years she kept asking to be a wizard because she thought I was the actual wizard from the fairy tales and wanted to be like me,” We all laugh as he pulls a hand from the wheel and strokes his chin like an old man.

  ---

  The rest of the journey to our destination is uneventful, though filled with talk of old holiday memories. Yet pulling up to the quarantine border, disproves any guesses or expectations we might’ve had. Blocked from getting too close by clusters of abandoned cars, some of which have run into each other, all with zero activity. In fact it looks eerily abandoned, like something pulled from a movie.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Oh hell no, this looks even worse than yesterday’s fiasco,” Merlin speaks first, waving at the dented and smashed up vehicles in front of us.

  “Where is everyone?” Tara says what we’re all thinking. The scene laid before us is abnormal, a potential glimpse into what the future could entail. No one else speaks, looking between each other with worry. We know the only way forward is to get out and try to find a way through, but recent events fill us with unease. Taking the plunge, I decide to be the first to get out.

  I grip my crowbar for reassurance, eyes flitting across the jungle of metal before us. The sound of the door is the only thing I can hear as I step onto the asphalt road. No wind, no words, no breathing. Nothing, there is nothing out here, at least nothing I can hear. My ears swivel back and forth, scanning for something unseen. The quietness unsettles me, each step forward bringing instinctual reactions to the forefront of my mind.

  They scream at me that there’s something nearby, that a lack of sound this permeating is indicative of one thing. Danger, a predator, something hunting, something hungry. I try to ignore them, telling myself that it's fine, that nothing bad will happen. A gentle click sounds behind me as the others get out.

  “Rylan, Hazel. You stay near one of us at all times, am I clear?” Jonah warns his children, his voice in a low stable tone. They both nod and say yes.

  “Either we’re going to have to find a way through or turn around, and I don’t exactly want to go back towards that other checkpoint,” Merlin says while rubbing his arms and hunching over in the cold. His jacket is much lighter than the other’s, made from flimsy fabric with a graphic on the back.

  “We can try looking around this mess and see if we can get the van through,” Jonah suggests.

  “There might be something up near the front, and maybe we could see if any of these cars have the hose we need,” I add, pointing towards the trailer and fences where there should be guards. From what I can see a few of the cement blocks have been pushed out of the way by crashed cars and the fences have been torn down in spots.

  “Alright, why don’t you and Merlin go do that while the rest of us stay back here?” He says in confidence, looking to Merlin, who simply nods and pads over to me. We both share a nervous look, his eyes are a beautiful seafoam blue, it’s a calming color. Reminds me of when we’d visit my mother’s family on the Brazilian coast.

  Breaking off from the rest of the group happens in silence. I make sure to scan all of the cars and trucks for one that might have a hose I could take on the way back. The group’s voices grow quieter and quieter as we walk farther ahead. The winding maze of vehicles makes it harder to hear them. Our heads stay on a swivel, keeping an ear out for something out of the ordinary.

  Which we find the moment we get close to the fenced in trailer office near the front. A quiet sob, soft gasps laced with unintelligible mumbling. Merlin stops first and looks up at me with wide eyes. I raise my crowbar in fear, trying to reassure both myself and the cat next to me that we’re safe. If whatever’s there could get to us it would already be here, I tell myself.

  “Should we- Should we investigate, or?” Merin whispers with a hand pointed at the trailer where the source of the sound appears to be.

  “Probably, maybe it’s just another person,” I respond even though the idea is little better than a pipe dream. Forcing myself to take another step forward after yesterday is hard, but I manage it. We advance at a slow methodical pace, winding around mangled fences. The sobbing grows clearer as we get closer to the trailer. Its door, covered in scratch marks from base to peak, is left ajar.

  “Are you sure about-” Merlin goes to speak but I shush him, the sobbing coming from inside the building stops. My arms tremble in fear while they raise the crowbar higher on instinct. The cat steps behind me as we progress, our paws pressing onto the creaking wooden stairs. I place my hand on the door, and with a nod to Merlin, push it open. We step inside, swinging my crowbar around as precaution.

  While my swings don’t connect with anything my ears twitch in response to a horrifying sound. Gurgling, like someone choking on their own saliva. Across the small metal room, underneath a pile of shelves and desks and more, is a person. An opossum, or something that resembles one. They lie on the ground in a shallow pool of crimson blood, misshapen heaps of metal pinning them down. Behind me Merlin heaves, recoiling at the putrid smell of their rotting body. Their skull is half caved, one eye popped out and hanging on by the optical nerve.

  Yet they still move, arms and claws scrabbling like a beast against the pockmarked floor. Tears rolling down from the intact side of their face. Raspy wheezes and growls forcing through fluid filled lungs and out their broken maw in hunger. This person should be dead, but they aren’t, an unnatural refusal of nature. It’s strange, seeing someone infected up close like this. So far every time I’ve seen someone this far gone they’ve been sprinting at me or I’ve been too busy to pay attention to little details.

  “That- That’s just unnerving. How the hell are they even alive! I mean, fuck man, their brain is almost caved in!” Merlin says with a hand covering his nose. I follow suit, putting my snout in the crook of my elbow. While making sure to stay at a safe distance, we both work up the nerve to get closer. As we do I notice their clothing, its camo, they must’ve gotten trapped when whatever the hell went down here happened.

  “Do you uh, see anything useful?” I ask with a muffled voice.

  “Not really, just a shit ton of paperwork,” Merlin manages to look away from the growling marsupial for a moment, sweeping over the rest of the metal coffin.

  “Wait? If this is the exclusion zone border then-” I don’t finish my thought, a bit of shining metal catches my eye from the pool of blood in front of the infected person. It’s a blood coated revolver, just out of reach. I pad over and reach for the cleanest part of the handle, trying to keep from getting too close to the swiping claws guarding it.

  “Oh damn, sweet find. But uh, you think it’s safe to touch that?” Merlin says, noticing me stand up with the gun.

  “Probably not, hand me something to wipe it off,” I respond, arms extended and holding it away from me. Blood trails across its surface and drips onto the floor. He hands me a bunch of the scattered papers. They don’t work very well to wipe off the blood but I get enough of it that I can hold the weapon properly. I keep it squarely pointed at the wall, too distrusting of my lack of experience.

  “Does it have any bullets?” He asks me. I turn it over in my hands as the cat watches over my shoulder. Fiddling with the revolving part for a second lets me push it open. There’s one bullet, one metal cylinder with tiny words engraved on its back. The message is clear, the soldier was saving it for themselves. We both stand in silence staring at the morbid object, facing down the reality of the world we’ve been thrust into.

  Both of our heads snap up, an ear piercing scream echoes through the air, bouncing just enough to reach us inside the trailer. We look at each other for barely a moment before taking off back towards the van. I narrowly weave around a desk, following Merlin outside. The cat hops a concrete divider and rounds the fences, leaving me in the dust. Thinking on instinct I skirt around the obstacles, taking just a second longer. Hands gripping around the two weapons I now have with panicked strength.

  My taller height allows me to catch up with Merlin, both of us panting as we stumble back through the maze of cars and reach the van together. Darting my view to the source of the screaming I see Hazel, her golden fur scuffed as she struggles on the ground with an infected. A bear with bloody hands and patchy fur grabbing her ankle with vicious force. Her father struggles next to her, trying to pry and kick the larger man off her in a panic.

  “Cover your ears!” I scream. The gun in my hand feels cool against my pads as I act without thinking. Bolting forward I raise the revolver, getting it as close as possible to the man’s head. I grimace, pulling the trigger with a hope that it works, not knowing if the safety is on or if the blood jammed it. A loud crack fills the air accompanied by the acrid smell of gunpowder. Blood splatters out to the side and paints the road like a grim canvas. He’s dead and I’ve killed him.

  Ringing fills my ears with a disorienting tang of pain. My mouth drops open in disbelief, heart pumping in force with adrenaline. Jonah scrambles forward to pick up his daughter, the girl now sobbing in fear. I look down at the gun and then back up at the group as the ringing subsides. Someone begins saying something before stopping as rustling from the brush at the side of the road cuts them off. A guttural snarl punctuates a figure jumping out, stumbling as it runs into the side of the van.

  This time everyone reacts much faster, adrenaline still pumping through our veins. Tara, holding the rifle, acts first. She aims downwards and goes to shoot it. I snap my hands to my head, folding my ears down and covering them. Jonah pulls Rylan behind him as Nadia jumps in the van. The shot rings out, much quieter this time, and hits the infected in their neck. The blood covered figure spasms and twitches on the ground but does not still. A sputtering rumble breaks through. The van isn’t starting.

  Nadia continues to turn the key, but the shitbox refuses to turn over, engine mocking us with a cruel laugh for each attempt. More growls and choked sobs come from behind us, the gunshots having brought more than just a little attention. Merlin yanks on my hand, spurring me to action as he pulls me over to the trunk. Popping it open, I reach for my duffel and pull out a wrench, thankful I hadn’t zipped it up. I hand the tool to the cat before helping him drag other bags out.

  Abandoning my own bag, filled with frankly useless tools, I sling a pink children’s backpack over my shoulder and stuff the revolver into another larger adult sized one. Grabbing it in my newly freed hand before turning around and ducking in surprise. Another bloody figure dives at me, flying into the trunk of the van with unnatural screeches.

  “Shut it! Shut it!” I shout at Merlin, who slams down the trunk door seconds before the infected slams into the rear window. Ignoring the slamming on the window we both slink back around the other side of the vehicle and begin sprinting off as we notice the rest of the group doing the same.

  “No, No! Keep going, we’re coming!” Merlin yells as Tara looks back towards us, having noticed us lagging behind. Screams and snarls fill the air behind us as we dodge around cars once more, heading back through the maze of metal. I stumble over myself as I’m forced to jump over a man crawling out from under a sedan.

  Rocks dig into my foot pads causing me to wince in pain. Risking a glance over my shoulder reveals that the forming group of mangled and injured monsters are hot on our tails. They sprint after us with feral abandon, faster than they should be able to with how injured some of them are. I force myself to look forwards again, hoping we can lose them through the labyrinth of obstacles. Both times I’ve seen them they’ve struggled with obstacles, not understanding how to get around things in the heat of the chase.

  Hearing slams and smacks against metal and pavement prove myself right as we continue dodging through cars. Up ahead Nadia waves the dogs through a chain link fence gate before holding it open for us. Bolting through, she shuts it by a razor thin margin and slams the lock down. All of us begin running without hesitation, knowing that if we linger around the swarm of infected will either tear down the fence or get around it.

  Sweat starts wetting my fur as we sprint down the road for a good few minutes. After we’ve heard not a sound of our pursuers we begin slowing before stopping outright. Everyone pants and hunches over in exhaustion. Expletives are dropped and pained groans tumble free. Catching my breath takes a second but I manage it. I look between my companions, their ears are all pinned back and tails drooping. But we’re here and unharmed.

  Without a doubt, I can solidly say that this is the worst fucking Halloween ever.