I wake up to a frantic Nolan shaking my shoulder.

I sit up and rub my eyes, dazed and very confused.

"Six more people are dead." Nolan's serious tone sends my brain a shock, jolting me fully awake now.

I place my head in my hands, tears starting to swell up in my eyes. "We need to get out of here."

"Justin and some of the other men are collecting the supplies we need to travel. Everyone else has been instructed to stay inside." Nolan explains.

My eyes go wide. "Wait.. Who are the people who died?"

Nolan's face is sober, his sorrowful eyes locked on mine. "Heather, Sara, Jacob, Ella, Will, and James."

"Heather is Tyler's mom..." I whisper softly.

"And he is in Quarantine right now." Nolan's words hit me like a slap to the face.

"Is he sick?" I ask, pulling myself out of bed.

"No, we are just trying to prevent this thing from spreading. We don't know until he shows symptoms."

"Tyler said that it takes time to know if someone is infected." I state.

"From what we know about this virus, is that it doesn't take longer than twenty-four hours to show itself."

"So we won't know if he's safe or not until this time tomorrow?"

Nolan nods. "Miss Violet was released from Quarantine this morning, though. She is perfectly fine."

"How many people are in Quarantine?"

"Three, Tyler, Jessica Madison, and Jenny."

"What happened to Jenny?" I ask.

"She was in a sewing group with Heather yesterday afternoon. She didn't go home, though. But she was the one that discovered Heather getting sick."

My face goes pale. Jenny and I were close. Since my mother had passed away, Jenny has taken me under her wing and treated me like her own child. Back when my cellphone worked, I had her listed in my phone as "Mom #2."

The news of both Tyler and Jenny shattered my heart. I had to keep reminding myself that they weren't sick, just under watch.

"We will be heading towards the city first, to see if the CDC did any sort of research on this sickness. Like what Mom used to do."

We never talked about Mom. Partly because we weren't allowed to. Dad never told us the reason behind Mom's death. Ever. He always told us she just died. No if's, and's, or but's.

But Mom used to work with the CDC before this thing ever started. Only for a couple of months, but she did work there. We were planning on moving closer to Atlanta before the outbreak happened. And before Mom died.

"Then, we will head up to the mountains. Find a place to set up a camp. And start living again."

The way Nolan said the last couple of words made me want to barf. As if us, a colony of thirty people can just carry on with their lives after fourteen people have died. As if the remaining can go on without the others.

"What do we do now?" I ask.

"We pack up. We leave first thing tomorrow morning." Nolan ruffles my hair, and leaves my room. Little sprinkles of rain fall, tapping on my window. The day was gray, bleak clouds covered the sky like a blanket.

I get dressed into a long sleeve shirt and some jeans, and brush my teeth and hair. I grab a satchel, and begin filling it with clothes, two pairs of shoes, a hat, and my hair brush and tooth brush.

In another bag, I fill with supplies. Some cans, bottles of water, my knifes, some extra bullets, and Dad's old gun.

Nolan walks in. "We have to leave the cat and dog here."

"What?"

"We can't take them." Nolan says softly.

"No, we can't just leave them here. They'll die!"

"If we stay here, we will die." Nolan snaps back. He takes a deep breath. "We will leave them with food and water. It's the best thing we can do."

I nod, reaching over to pet my sweet little dog. Her name was Lila, and she was the sweetest little baby a human could ask for. I got her for my birthday a couple of years ago. My cat I've had since I was seven, and was very lazy, but a sweetheart. I loved them both so much.

I finished packing up my things, and I hear yelling coming from outside. I drop my bag, grabbing Dad's old pistol, running outside. Nolan, Justin, and Mr. Baker, and what looked like a couple of more people standing around a woman yelling something.

"I am NOT leaving my only home!" I recognized the voice. Her name is Jane, and she was always known for being a bit odd. But also terrifying. She was even more terrifying with a gun in her hands, waving it around like a madwoman.

"Jane, please just put the gun down." Justin held his gun in his hands, eyeing her carefully.

"I'm not leaving!! I'm not leaving! If ranger die than leave!" Jane yells. She points the gun at one of the men without guns, I believe his name was Robert. He shivered, and tried to run. Jane didn't hesitate firing the gun, the bullet hitting his side.

I ran up to the end of the driveway, my gun stretched out in front of me. "Jane! Stop!" I yell.

Nolan glances behind, glaring at me. He turns back to Jane. "We can work this out together. We will talk about what needs to be done. I just need you to put the gun down. We can't hurt anymore people." Nolan holds his hands up, then leans down to place his gun on the ground. I grip mine tightly in my hands.

Just as Nolan leans back up, two shots ring out. Jane lay on the floor with a bullet to her neck, while Nolan lay on the ground, gripping his ankle in pain. I rush over to him, ripping off my jacket. I begin tying it around his ankle, blood seeping through the jacket. "Someone get Doctor Erin! Now!" I scream.

Jane took her final breaths, dying there, in front of everyone. Some people were gathered around Robert, the harmless elderly man who had been shot.

People wept.

Justin put his gun away, and began sprinting to get Doctor Erin.

"Did...Did you shoot her?" Nolan grits his teeth in pain.

I shake my head. "No. I think it was Justin."

Nolan nods, taking deep breaths to distract himself from the pain.

All I could think about was what set Jane off, what was her stressor? The sickness? The thought of leaving? The only word that came to mind was one that Jenny had stated a long time ago.

Paranoia.