text: COVID-19 was just the beginning. By the end of 2030, 15 new viruses had ravaged the world and killed off almost half the world’s population. Since the early ‘20s, no one has been able to leave their state or country; all air and boat traffic was suspended. Traveling to another area became illegal. There were still those who did it, of course. The viruses still managed to spread. Americans had it the worst. Of their population of over 300 million in the early ‘20s, less than 50 million were left by 2030. Some residents tried to illegally immigrate to Mexico or Canada, and boarded ships illegally crossed the ocean. This is how this last virus started. Back in 2029, a new virus appeared in North America. It started in North Carolina when a cat infected its owner. This virus was a strain of rabies that had combined with a parasite that attacked the brain. The result was a pale, lethargic state with an overwhelming desire to bite others. The parasite reproduced quickly and spread its eggs via the infected wounds caused by the bites. The owner decided to have the cat put down and called Animal Control to pick the cat up. The cat bit 5 others in the attempt to be caged. At that time, no one suspected rabies due to the cat’s lethargy. However, one of the Animal Control employees had recently had a rabies vaccine (due to issues with another animal) and treated his infection with some strong antibiotic ointment. The two in combination seemed to save him (for the time being). Fifteen months later, the WHO was able to track him down and transmit their findings of a possible vaccine...before the employee and entire WHO team were killed via a zombie attack. Zombies - as they have thusly been named - are not naturally cannibalistic, they are omnivores just as we are, but a lot of food sources have dried up. Zombies don’t work, see, and therefore there are now twice as many mouths to feed and half the workers. After reports of zombies started popping up all over the US, farmers began to cordon off their fields with electric fences. Mayors began to build walls. NYC blew up their bridges and screened people heavily before allowing them through via ferry. So the zombies ran out of readily available food. First, they turned to the livestock and wild animals. Then, they turned to the people. There are barely any safe places left. At the time of the first cases, I was living in a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania. Living in the middle of nowhere has its benefits. For one, about half of the viruses that had destroyed the world never reached our small town until after the vaccines had been developed. For another, the new “zombie” pandemic seemed very unreal and hard to believe at first. Reports reached us that major cities in North Carolina had been lost to zombies. The National Guard had tried to control the situation, but entire units were lost. Virginia spent its entire yearly budget on building electric fencing on its border. The border between it and North Carolina was secure, but it failed to secure all the fencing needed to protect itself along the Appalachian mountains. Zombies made their way (very slowly) across the mountains into Virginia. The President decided to bomb the majorly affected cities, but it wasn’t enough to stop the flood of zombies, especially because it would take days for new patients to turn. With the failure of the bombs, my friends and I decided to leave. I suggested moving to my Grandpa’s old farm: it was large, had food sources (corn, gardens, chickens, pigs, and cows), and had a water source. Plus he had old electric fences that were no longer running but could be rigged to work again. We packed necessities and left the next day. The farm was being run by my Grandpa’s current tenants. But when we got there, the tenants were nowhere to be found. “Oh, they left days ago, heading for Canada,” Grandpa told us. A lot of people had been leaving for Canada lately. The first thing we did was feed and water the animals. One of my friends and his brother were comfortable with animals as were my sister and I, but my other friends knew nothing about how to care for animals. My friend Tom, his brother Dan, my sister Jess, and I each took one friend along to show them what to do. Then we inspected their enclosures for any breakages or weak points. We each contributed to the farm in our own ways. Megan B took up veterinary medicine. Jess learned animal husbandry. Marty and Dan learned how to set up the electric fences and got them working. Tom set up traps outside and inside the fences, for game and for larger creatures. Alek set up an internet system and called people to set up backup systems if our main one failed. He also ordered laptops and phones for each one of us. Stef was in charge of drawing a map of the farm and developing a plan (and several backup plans) should things go awry. I learned the ins and outs of gardening, cooking, and canning for the future. Grandpa helped where he could, but his health made it difficult to do much. Still we were grateful for his expertise. Our biggest problem with our plan was the cats. Grandpa had a ton of barn cats living in and around the barn, free to come and go as they pleased. Within two weeks, 5 of them came back as zombie cats. Megan B and Dan put down any who were bitten and managed to catch the zombie cats. Megan B decided to keep one in a cage to watch and document what happened as the illness progressed. Of the over 20 cats left, I decided to adopt a few and put the rest in the tenant house for safety. Megan B managed to spay and neuter over half of them. But the cats weren’t the only things that made it through the fence. One day, we discovered 5 deer had jumped the fence and made it into one of our corn fields. We managed to herd them into a smaller barn we had decided to reserve for sick animals. We watched them carefully for any symptoms. On the 3rd day, Dan noticed one of the deer acting slow. He went into their enclosure to inspect further. The other 4 deer scittered back into the barn, but this one allowed Dan to approach. Too late, Dan saw the festering bite mark on the deer’s left flank. Before he made it two steps, the deer had bitten Dan hard on his left arm. Dan screamed with frustration and pain, throwing his arms up in the air. The deer tried to bite him again. Shots rang out from behind Dan. He quickly ducked and covered his head. The deer dropped to the ground, twitching a little, then lay still. It had been hit in the head. Tom was standing on the other side of the fence with a gun aimed at the deer. He slowly put the gun down and asked Dan, “Did it get ya?” Tom made as though he was going to hop over the fence, but Dan held up his hands to stop his brother from approaching. “Don’t come any closer, Tom,” Dan said in a restricted voice. “I’ve been bit.” He let out an almighty sigh. “Go tell the others.” Tom went inside the house and told Grandpa, Jess, Megan B, and I what had happened. He collapsed in a chair; Jess tried to comfort him. Megan B and I went around the farm to tell the others. I let Megan B find most of the others, though. Instead, I went to the buildings behind the tenant house that now held the cats. My Grandpa’s farm was a very old farm built before electricity. Back then, the tenants did the majority of the work. They even had three extra buildings in the back. One was being used as a storage shed. The other two were a spring house and a summer kitchen. The spring house’s main floor was empty and would possibly be a good place to house Danny for the time being, but there was a giant pool of water the bubbled from the spring in the basement. And though there was little I knew about rabies, I did know that it caused an irrational fear of water. The summer kitchen had an old stove in it, but that could easily be removed. The only problem was the basement level (that I was honestly too scared to check out). Maybe we could cordon it off somehow? When I got back to the house, they were already discussing the matter. Marty and Stef had suggested the practical, but hard suggestion of just shooting Danny now. Tom walked out of the room and couldn’t handle it. Megan B suggested that we use antibiotic cream to treat the wound and see what happened. Jess suggested putting him in the basement in Grandma‘s old painting room. That’s when I suggested the summer kitchen. I took the other people out to look at the building, while Megan B went to put antibiotic cream on the wound. We decided the best place for Danny was the summer kitchen. Then, Alek had a great suggestion about putting an electric fence around the summer kitchen. Jess went to break the news to Tom. At this point, we had no idea how soon the virus presented itself, just that it was like rabies. We gave Danny things to do, books to read, and machines to work on in the kitchen. We also moved a twin-sized bed, a comfy chair, and a small table and chair in there. Alek set up a two-way video feed running to the house. Megan B and Grandpa were set the tasks of watching him for any changes. While we waited for the worst to happen, Alek discovered a way to set up a remote control electric fence. We set one up inside the door of the summer kitchen so that we could bring food to Danny without risking ourselves. The change happened on the fourth day after he had been bitten. He complained early in the day about a headache and fatigue, so he took a nap. Upon awakening, he just sat on his bed for hours at a time. The only times he showed any signs of life were when people would bring him food. Dan would rush towards the person, mouth open, then yelp with pain as he encountered the electric fence and back away. He would do this over and over again until the person left. Then he would attack the food, eating it without his hands and with food going everywhere. Eventually, we decided to get a feeding trough like the ones we used for the pigs and a shatterproof glass feeder for water. About a year later For those who still keep track of time My friends and I have really settled into this communal farm living. We share almost everything, except for size-specific clothes and partners. Everyone has paired up with someone. Megan B and Marty were the first to start “dating”. With no priests or officials to marry someone, we decided as a group that whoever you were sleeping with was your husband or wife. Jess, Tom, and Stef went off to do their own things. I believe Jess just chose whomever she wanted, and Tom and Stef were ok with that. Alek and I appreciated solitude more than the others. We decided to move into the “cat house” and claim it as our own. We still helped out the others as much as before, but now we had a little place to simply be alone. Megan B, Jess, and Stef had thought enough ahead to bring birth control pills and condoms. But Alek and I wanted none of that. I am now about 3 months pregnant (or so estimated by an OBGYN we were able to video-chat with in California). Yes, we worry about the baby: how it will grow, how we will be able to feed and care for it, and how to frankly get diapers! Megan B has at least helped birth several calves, piglets, and kittens now, so maybe the actual birthing won’t be so bad? We have heard worrying reports on what few news stations are left about a hoard of zombies ravaging the middle of Pennsylvania. We have taken to sleeping in shifts and have packed the four vehicles we have full of provisions and necessities. We have also taken turns going on raids of neighboring farms for feed and any trailers we can find. Thus far, we’ve managed to find three. We keep animals in the three trailers on a rotating shift so that no animal spends more than 3 hours in the trailer. We created a driving schedule and plotted routes to Canada in case of the need to escape. We chose meeting points in abandoned areas in case of separation. Danny is much the same. He still only eats, sleeps, and tries to attack whomever entered the room. Megan B has tried putting a few basic meds in his food to see if he would act the same. Nothing has helped. “Ugh,” I sigh as I sink into a comfy chair. “I really don’t want to deal with Danny’s food today. Just the smell of that room makes me nauseous.” “What doesn’t make you nauseous?” says Alek in a joking voice. “Don’t worry, Megan, I’ll handle it.” I had fallen asleep when Alek burst suddenly into the room. “Megan, come quick! Something’s happened to Danny!” I run as fast as I can to the summer kitchen (though I have to stop and vomit after just a few paces outside). Danny is nowhere to be seen. Then I hear some yelps coming from the basement...the basement we had never cordoned off. I freeze. I do NOT want to go down into that basement. Alek grabs my hand to help me towards the stairs, but I do not budge. Alek sighs, and says, “Call the others.” He turns the flashlight on from his phone and carefully peeks down the stairs. I call the gang. Even Grandpa manages to come. Tom and Marty bring a rope. Alek manages to scare whatever is living down there away from Danny, and Tom lassoes Danny. Together, the men, Jess, and I manage to pull Danny up. Megan B prepares her med kit. Grandpa shouts encouragement from the doorway. They bring up a dead Danny. Or at least, that’s what he looks like. Jess and Stef place him on the bed while Megan B gives him a shot of antibiotics. Megan B says to hope for the best; there’s no broken bones, but it looks like he’s been bitten by a snake. He lays unconscious on the bed for two days. The 3rd day of Danny’s unconsciousness starts with a rude awakening by Tom and Marty. “Our large perimeter traps have gone off. They’re coming.” I rush around, getting the loaves of freshly baked bread and the baby clothes I had been knitting. Alek picks up the cages with a few of our cats inside and takes the fencing remotes with him. We leave the door open so that maybe some of the other cats would have a chance to survive. Stef and Tom rush around to open the animal enclosures. Megan B and Marty are hurriedly picking some fresh fruit and veggies from the garden. Jess is arguing with Grandpa. “What do you mean you’re not coming?” Jess yells. “I’m too old,” Grandpa replies. “I don’t want to slow you down.” “Grandpa,” I butt in. “I need you.” I look down and pat my belly. “And more importantly, my child needs you.” Jess glares at me in shock. Alek and I hadn’t told anyone besides Megan B yet. Life was too uncertain to be proud of bringing a child into the world. Grandpa slowly nods and agrees to get in the car. I rush inside the house to get Grandpa’s medicine and a picture of Grandma. Stef and Tom and Marty and Megan B have already started to leave. I’m heading out when I hear a loud, “Wait!” I look around confused, thinking maybe Grandpa left the TV on, when I notice Danny looking right at me from the two-way video feed! “Danny?” I ask, confused. We hadn’t heard a single word from Danny since he had gone zombie. “Don’t leave without me!” I dash out through the garage without stopping, putting the things down on top of Jess’s car as I run past. I wave my arms and yell, “Come back! Turn around! It’s Danny!” Tom makes a vicious u-turn that almost hits Marty and Megan B’s car and speeds towards the back part of the farm, where the summer kitchen is. Marty and Megan B turn around and head in the same direction. I run to catch up to them. Alek starts to run but turns around. He goes back to the car, and, next thing I know, he’s running next to me with an empty cage. I look at him questioningly. “I’m going to get that snake.” “Why?” I ask. “It’s not like it’s...” I trail off. “...the cure,” he finishes. When we get there, Tom is giving Dan a big hug while Stef is urging them to get in the car. Marty comes out of the shed with a long pointed stick, and Megan B tests a flashlight. “Ready to go save the world?” Alek asks. Marty and Megan B open the door in answer. Minutes later, we all speed away, heading towards Canada with the cure in our backseat.