• The sun was going down and everything was quiet.

    Almost TOO quiet.

    There I was, picking a fight with Esteban Palacios right after I ran into him. I was suspecting that he was up to something, even though he wanted to fight me just because we've crossed paths once again. Let's just say that he was a bully in our earlier school days, something I can remember. But anyway, I found myself getting into a fistfight with him, eventually getting the upper hand and defeating him in self-defense.

    He got up and, not being able to give up so easily, wanted to take a swing at me. However, what stopped the two of us would be a group of people that we've seen in the distance; they were all carrying various objects like knives and even pitchforks. For a moment, we were thinking that it was nothing more than an angry mob.

    "Hey," Esteban began, "who the hell are they?"

    Actually, they weren't ordinary citizens. From what I can view closely, they were all pale-looking with their eyes all bloodshot. Some had horribly disfigured faces, which would suggest that some of them contrasted necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating diseases. What we were seeing was very horrifying. We couldn't believe what we just saw.

    "That's no angry mob," I said. "Must be a group of crazy people driven mad by diseases. They're probably controlled by the madness caused by the diseases themselves."

    "Disgusting!" Esteban exclaimed. "I wouldn't go anywhere near them!"

    I paused for a sec, then turned to Esteban. Finally, I said, "Wait, if they're affected by the diseases, then could this mean anyone else around may be affected?"

    "We're still immune," Esteban replied. "But I'm not wasting my time with you."

    "Suit yourself," I said. And with that, the two of us briefly parted and went through our separate ways for the time being. There was no time to waste; we had to flee for our lives.

    On the way down the street, an elderly man sprung out at me from the alleyways, trying to stab me with a knife. His face was completely pale and his eyes were bloodshot. Second, his arms had broke out of measles and mumps, which would suggest that his whole body has mumps and measles themselves. Nonetheless, he tried to stab me, but I was able to shake him off of me, snatching the knife out of his hand and stabbing him in self-defense. Besides, being fifteen wasn't THAT easy.

    I turned around and saw Esteban Palacios running right at me; he was being chased by the diseased angry mob.

    "You again?" was the first thing I said to him when we again met.

    "You know what? Let's just put aside our old ways and work together, what do you say?"

    Those words completely left me speechless for a split moment.

    "Then how do I even know you won't turn against me?" I questioned.

    "I won't!" Esteban answered.

    I stared at him and said nothing. Behind him, the mob was approaching and the two of us almost had critical time to flee for our lives. Finally, after a couple moments, I finally said, "Alright, fine. But only if you stop harassing me for every time you see me, or I'll leave your flesh to those zombies."

    "Deal!" said Esteban.

    With that, the two of us were now teaming up, putting aside our "daily antagonism" for one another. We fled just in time. Now, we were desperate to find any survivors.

    Esteban, seeing a gun shop, broke in. I saw as he was ransacking the store for some weapons. He finally came out and tossed me a 9mm Semi-Automatic Handgun while he was loading up ammunition for his Franchi SPAS-12 Shotgun. "Gear up," he told me.

    "Why do you always have to get the strongest weapons?" I asked.

    "They only have one shotgun, OK?" Esteban argued. "Just get over it!"

    In next to no time, the diseased mob was approaching closer and closer. Esteban grumbled, "This is gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you."

    "It's going to hurt both of us," I said. And with that, shots were fired, killing many of the diseased victims that were going insane. I reloaded first and ran while shooting at them, with Esteban following me.

    "Dude, where are you going?" Esteban called out.

    "There has to be a safe area somewhere nearby," I called back. "Hurry!"

    It took us a good ten minutes to find a storage facility. It was hopeless outside. The crazy diseased citizens were growing in numbers... well, more like the disease was spreading in numbers to be exact. Nonetheless, I was able to bust the door down after a few attempts while Esteban was shooting away, trying to provide me some cover while I was trying to get inside. Eventually, we were able to get inside as I was able to shut and lock the door.

    We were safe... at least for now.

    "Damn, what the hell is going on right now?" Esteban began to wonder to himself while saying those words.

    "You tell me," I replied. "I know nothing about this whole outbreak in the city. First, it's swine flu that took the lives of more than two-hundred people, and now it's more than the flu itself. A lot of diseases are spreading and infecting a lot of residents and I can't bare to look at their disfigured faces any longer since they've also contrasted flesh-eating viruses."

    "It's just gross, man," Esteban said. "It makes me wanna throw up!"

    "Well, we're not gonna stand around here for long. Let's go!"

    We were running through hallways and going through various stairways until finally we came across a storage room, even though the door was locked. The ropes had tightened up the door real good and it was difficult to tear the ropes off. Finally, Esteban pulls out a lighter and begins to set the ropes on fire as I stood back.

    "I wonder where you got the lighter?" I asked.

    Esteban chuckled. "I just found it while I was running away from the mob earlier. One of them dropped it, so it's my lucky day."

    I said nothing. We finally had the door open and we went inside. Finally, we found a place for refuge. We also did find our fellow classmates Anthony Martinez, Keyona Green, and even Jordan James.

    "Anthony! Jordan! Keyona!" Esteban and I were relieved to see our fewest classmates still alive, even though we have no idea what happened to the rest of our classmates.

    "Good to see you, both!" Anthony said. "Jordan and I were just treating Keyona to her wounds."

    "One of the old men tried to kill her with pitchforks and metal pipes," Jordan explained. "I was also lost until I ran into Anthony. Then, we saw her being attacked, so we were able to shoot them down."

    "Everyone's gone insane lately," Keyona added.

    "I know, right?" Anthony retorted. "It appears as if diseases are affecting everyone."

    "That's the whole problem!" Esteban exclaimed. "Dave and I recently saw pale people with red eyes and their faces being eaten off. Some of them already died from the flesh-eating diseases."

    I shook my head in despair. "But at least we're the ones alive," I said, and everyone nodded. Then, I added, "Anyway, did you guys find the others?"

    Keyona claimed that she was looking for Donniqua Williams. Anthony and Jordan said they were trying to look for everyone else and even any other survivors out there. Me and Esteban were simply doing the same as the three of them. But even with the five of us reunited, there was almost no possibility of escape. Then again, maybe there is a way to escape...

    "Isn't there any way for us to escape?" Keyona questioned.

    Anthony sighed. "We can't be stuck in here forever," he said. "We need to keep moving from place to place."

    "I'm way ahead of you, man," I added. And with that, we gathered up our weapons and ammunition as Anthony showed us the way he, Keyona, and Jordan first came in, not the way Esteban and I came in.

    "This is how we entered," Anthony explained. "This will be our only way since we have no choice but to fight through the mob of diseased people, if they're not zombies. And it's sure going to be a long fight, so get ready!"

    All five of us began to find our way to the exit of the storage facility we were in, anticipating the danger that awaits us.