Apocalyptic Love

A Broadcast

The day was like any other, but if I knew it would be the last normal day I would have memorised each second.

Ashley was beaming over her first crush "I can't believe Tyler spoke to me today" The blonde was already planning their lives in her head whilst me and her sister Melanie laughed.

"Calm down Ash, you realise you are blushing over a guy we all know is emotionally unstable" Her sister laughed bursting the bubble she was wrapped in.

The three of us have been inseparable since the moment we met; the two were polar opposite twins and with me we were practically triplets. Ashley was shy but around us her personality grew; A girly girl through and through, never going a day without her makeup or bright coloured clothes. Whereas Mel was outgoing; tough as nails, the only time her soft side came out to play was around her family. The dark hair and blue eyes matched her aura, but to us she was golden.

I was a mix of both personalities, I was the joker, the one who brought us back together when we disagreed. It was a perfect mix and for us it worked.

"Careful Ash, you realise he sells smokes to the younger kids at school" Me and Mel were laughing to ourselves that we didn't even notice the blonde attached to the Tv.

"Hey, are you seeing this" Ash spoke but still we laughed "I said Hey!" the rise in her voice caught us off guard, the girl never shouted. She grabbed the remote turning the volume up until we all heard the loud siren echoing through the small bedroom.

"This is a worldwide emergency broadcast; a viral outbreak has been reported and is spreading quickly. The virus is a fast-acting strain and is passed through the blood of the infected, once infected it attacks the bloodstream and brain. The symptoms from infection include profound sweating, fever and nausea".

Our trio was hooked to the screen; shaky hands gripped tightly together as fear rushed through us. Life was simple; go to school and come home. Never once had we dealt with anything close to this.

"The virus is fatal and there is no cure as we speak; we have reports coming in now that the infected that have passed are rising and attacking the non-infected. Please stay in your homes and do not get close to anyone sick, in severe cases that you need to protect yourselves, the only way to stop them is damaging the brain. Do not try to come to emergency services or hospitals and wait for more information".

The moment the broadcast ended we heard the commotion around us "Mum" Ash shouted from the doorway of her bedroom.

"Stay up their baby, we are locking up the house".

I stood in a trance, surely this couldn't be real "I need to go" My shaky voice managed "My parents, my brother, I need to find them" the girls linked their hands with mine in an effort to comfort me, but I don't think anything would work right now.

"We don't know if its safe outside Kate" I looked to their blue eyes for comfort but all I saw was fear "Just keep calling them".

Each time I got no answer my panic grew, my body trembling under the harsh reality that my family could be in danger; somehow I'd gone from spending the day with my friends to a horror situation. The three of us jumped backwards as a banging sounded through the house, the door was being hounded while we slowly crept backwards waiting for the worst.

"Katie" My body relaxed at the sound of my father's voice "Come down, we need to get home" I looked to the girls I called sisters wondering if this would be the last time I saw them and I couldn't bare the thought of that, I took a minute to take in each detail of their faces that I loved before slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"I love you both. So much" Tears washed over my eyes as I pulled them into a embrace "Once this is all over we will be back together, I promise" A promise that I didn't know if I could keep but we all needed it.

"Be safe"

"We love you" The two said clutching to me one last time, I stole one last look at their ashen faces before I pushed myself downstairs and into my father's arms. His lightly tanned face was now pure white with dew dripping from his hairline, he was the calm one out of the two of my parents but in this moment he was a ghost to that.

"Where's mum and Kyle" My brother was only nine and he stuck to my mother's side like a shadow whereas I was a daddy's girl.

"In the car bub, we need to go. Now" his larger hand latched to mine pulling me towards the car.

My mothers face instantly soothed the moment I was reunited with them; my mother was a worrier, permanent frown lines etched along her forehead. When it came to me and Kyle she was like a bird protecting her young, there isn't anything she wouldn't do for us. Her hands reached back stroking along my face with a touch only a mother held "Thank god you're okay".

My brother snuggled himself into my sides, his tiny body shaking against my own as I brushed my fingers through his ashen blonde hair "Katie. I'm scared" The small boy whispered.

"I've got you duckie" I whispered back, rolling down until he could rest his head against my shoulder.

The small town we called home was carnage; Cars were piled up along the sides of the road, door left open by those in a rush. The traffic out of town travelled for miles and our once peaceful place was now filled with sirens and chaos.

This was real and it was only the start.

Edited