More of the popping noises echoed in the distance but I didn’t hear any screams this time. To our right, I could see more people running, this time sprinting away from something. I took a step forward. There were three people near the stop sign at the end of our road. Two of them were women, and one was a man. One of the women fell to the ground, perhaps twisting her ankle. The man bent down to help her, but he wasn’t getting up. I stepped out onto the porch even further and I saw that the man wasn’t helping her at all. The woman on the ground screamed out in pain as the man bit her ankle. The woman left standing just turned, crying her eyes out as the man ripped away tendons and flesh from her friend’s leg. I gasped loudly as I took it all in and Hattie’s arms wrapped around me as she saw it unfold.

“Get inside, Waverly,” she said slowly, pulling me away from the porch.

I didn’t protest. When we got inside, I slammed the door shut and locked the doorknob and deadbolt. I rested my back against the door and slid to the ground as hot tears rolled down the side of my face. “What was that? What did he do?” All I could see was a blurry, dark room with a form standing in front of me, shaking my shoulders, almost yelling for me to get to the basement.

Finally, I got up from the ground and Hattie led me to the basement door. There was no lock, but the house was secure, wasn’t it? We ran down the stairs and into the basement living room. With all the windows and a door to the outside, there were several exits down there and Hattie ran to each of them, making sure to lock them. I immediately walked toward the television and turned it on. Every channel displayed different versions of what I had just seen out in the street. The news anchors all seemed as spooked as I was.

“The question I have,” one of the anchors said, “is what are these things? They are people…but they aren’t! They are acting like vicious animals.”

“That’s right, and there have been multiple incidents,” a reporter said. “We had been tallying the reports from throughout the city, but now we’re into the hundreds, and we can clearly see that there is some unknown sickness that has taken over these people. Another thing to note is that we aren't the only city experiencing this catastrophe. There have also been sightings in Conway, Elkhorn, and even Dawson Springs.”

“What are they saying?” Hattie asked as she walked up behind me.