We had found our way over to a corner with some cots and claimed it as our own. As I slid my backpack off my shoulders, much to my back's relief, I looked around the area we were ushered to. The main gym had been full so they started putting people in this multipurpose/lunch room, which is where we were currently located. The cheap florescent lights made everything appear clinical and I wondered how long they expected us to stay in here for.

All the family's and groups of people mainly stayed to their own area, no one was in the mood to socialize. It was extremely loud in the cramped area with kids screaming all over the place. It reminded me of going to the mall on a weekend; I hated malls for that same reason.

"We should have just stayed at the hotel," I said as a screaming herd of kids ran by, "At least it would have been quiet."

"Yeah but at least we have supplies and protection here," Zoe pointed out.

Which was true but being among so many people was making me nervous. I was never a people person and being around this many people, in this smallish space was not my forte; especially in light of the situation. I found myself eyeing up people, looking for any telltale signs that they were sick.

"You keep looking at people like that, you're going to freak them out," Darren grinned at me.

"So? I don't want to be attacked in the middle of the night," I said, "Not that I will be able to sleep in this anyways."

"I'd be more worried about getting robbed," Darren said.

"Thanks, now I really won't sleep," I muttered and Darren chuckled.

A table was set up that had an emergency worker handing out wrapped sandwiches to people so Darren and I went to get in the line before the crowd of people amassed over to it while Zoe stayed behind to watch our stuff and claim our territory.

We grabbed our sandwiches, taking an extra one for Zoe and headed back to our corner. I took a bite and chewed, grateful for some real food. We sat in silence eating, just looking around. Cots and people were everywhere; the space was extremely loud as a result. I hoped that maybe we could sneak off into a classroom to escape the noise that would no doubt carry through the night. Why did I always seem to make these types of decisions and end up instantly regretting them? Kind of explains the English degree....

I finally noticed all the police presence stationed all over the large room. None of them seemed to be helping, just looking around with a stern eye with their hands on their holstered guns. I found that odd, it was almost like they were just waiting for someone to turn. One uniformed officer went around to the others saying something to all of them and then pulled the megaphone he had in his hand to his mouth.

"Quiet down please everyone. In a few minutes we are going to play a broadcast from the national news due to the numerous requests for information," His amplified voice boomed over the room causing the noise level to fall considerably.

"Do you think it will be real?" Zoe asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well if they are just playing it over the intercom it could be anyone," Zoe pointed out as if it was obvious, "You know to placate people and not cause panic."

"For once you could be right," I said and Zoe punched me in the shoulder.

I rubbed my sore arm as Darren chuckled at us. My sarcasm aside, Zoe could be right. Isn't that what the government did in emergencies? Lie to the public and justify it by saying they did it so not to cause panic? A few minutes later, the intercom crackled to life, a feminine but stern voice carrying through the now muted noise:

The President has declared a state of emergency, we advise all citizens to stay inside their homes and avoid all contact with the infected individuals. Emergency teams have been sent to the major cities to deal with the situation and will span out to rural places soon. If an infected is spotted please call the local law enforcement and do not engage the infected, we repeat do not engage the infected. If an emergency shelter has been put up in your community, you should get there immediately. Again avoid all contact with the infected and......

The recording cut out and all that was left playing was the hiss of the radio frequency. Then suddenly the lights went out and people started screaming and running around in the gym.

"People! Please do not panic we have everything under control. We are working on getting the back-up generator running right now," Announced a policeman from his megaphone. All three of us jumped up as people started to move all around us. I was knocked from behind as a man shoved his way through the people and managed to catch myself before I hit the ground.

"Bailey you alright?" Zoe asked from right beside me.

"Yeah some panicking jackass just bumped into me," I grumbled as I rubbed my still sore shoulder.

Man, I don't think I could afford any more injuries with the hospitals being useless. My eyes were swamped with light as the emergency lights came back on, which happened to be right above where we were situated. People started to calm down or at least stop running around, screaming like idiots.

"Well power outages aren't a good sign," Darren muttered and I wasn't even sure he was talking to us.

"None of this is a good sign," I rolled my eyes.

The broadcast wasn't what I had expected. What did a state of emergency even mean? The planes and trains had already been down the day before so what else happened?

"So now were to call the sick people infected?" Zoe asked.

"What else would you call them?" Darren replied, "Zombies?"

"I don't think any self-respecting newscast would use that word," I said.

"Fair enough," Darren shrugged.

"They are zombies though," a little voice said from behind us.

I turned around to see a little girl who must have been no more than ten years old.

"And how would you know that?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at the strange kid.

She was dressed in those little kid jeans and a t-shirt that had Scooby-Doo on the front. I half expected to see light up runners on her feet, but she just had a pair of old Nikes on. Her brown eyes matched her mousy brown hair that was up pulled up into scrunchie. I wasn't aware they had even made any of those past the 90's.

"Cause, I've seen all the zombie movies." Her voice was tinged with a country twang that made me crack a grin. I guess we were in the south after all.

"Which ones?" Zoe asked kneeling down to the kid's level.

"Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, that zombie TV show," she listed off.

"Wow, you've just about seen them all," I grinned and she narrowed her eyes at me.

She was about to say something else when a deep voice yelled out, "Chloe!" She looked panicked for a second then a guy, somewhere in his mid-twenties, burst through the crowd to her.

"Chloe what the heck did I tell you about runnin' off like that?" His country twang accent much more prominent.

Great more southerners. They seemed like they were related, both had similar features like the brown hair except his eyes were blue unlike the little girls. His hair was cut short, very all-American boy style. His T-shirt was faded with many washes, the words New Orleans Saints almost worn off. Although I had to admit, country boy was put together nicely; for lack of a better term. The shirt was on the tighter side, show casing his athletic physique and muscled arms. The equally as faded jeans showed long legs and a skinny waist with work boots to finish off the 'I'm a country boy' look. I was willing to bet good money, if I had any that is, he had a farmers tan under that shirt.  

"I'm sorry Ethan." The way she said it sounded like she wasn't sorry at all.

We all grinned at her insolent, childish tone.

"Sorry, hope she wasn't bothering y'all," he grinned, flashing his straight teeth. "I'm Ethan by the way and this little kid is Chloe."

"Little kid!" Chloe said indignantly. "I'm nine and a half."

Why did kids always insist on adding the 'and a half'? It sure didn't help her cause.

"Naw, she was just telling us about all the zombie movies she's seen," I said, stamping down the urge to use my poor excuse for a southern accent.

Ethan rolled his eyes at Chloe, "How many times do I have to tell ya to stop talking about the dang zombies?"

I inwardly grinned at his use of censored swear words.

"What are your names?" Chloe asked.

"I'm Bailey, this is my friend Zoe and this guy is Darren," I introduced us.

"Where are you from?" Chloe prodded.

"Me and Zoe are from Canada. Not sure about Darren here," I answered.

"Wisconsin," Darren added, not sounding enthused about that at all.

"If you're from Canada what are you doing here?" Chloe asked bluntly.

"Chloe," Ethan sighed.

Zoe chuckled and answered for us, "We were here for Mardi Gras."

"My dad said Mardi Gras is for drunk college students," Chloe said cocking out her hip.

"Well he's not wrong," I laughed before Ethan could chastise her for saying anything.

"True that," Darren grinned sitting back down on his cot.

The full lights came back on and I could hear the sigh of relief from the people in the lunch room.

"Can we stay by you guys?" Chloe asked, looking up at me expectantly.

"Sure, pull up a cot," Zoe smiled and I narrowed my eyes.

I had a nagging suspicion Zoe was the type to bring home stray dogs as a kid. Chloe clapped excitedly and ran off to grab her things with Ethan in tow. I gave Zoe a look.

"Shut up," she said.

"I didn't say anything," I grinned.

"I know you well enough that you don't have too," Zoe said plunking down on her cot.

"Touché." I lugged my suitcase over to the side so they would have room for their cots.

A few minutes later, Chloe came bounding over with her rather large backpack and I wondered how her tiny body was able to hold it up without falling over. Ethan was a few steps behind her with the cots folded under his arms. Chloe took the cot beside me winging her backpack down and Ethan set his up across beside Darren. For the next hour, we were barraged with questions from Chloe, ranging from what was our favorite food to did we live in igloos.

"Sorry about her," Ethan said apologetically to me when Zoe became the recipient of the new round of questions.

"No problem, kind of takes your mind off everything," I shrugged.

I wasn't great with kids having not been around them a whole lot throughout my life. I had a brother who was two years younger but we basically fought the whole time. I still remember when we were kids when he hit me with his hockey stick, so I chased him around to get my revenge and he ran straight into the couch corner, giving him a huge black eye. Of course he ran to our mother saying it was me and I was grounded for a week. You know, come to think of it, I don't think I liked kids.

"So you're here for Mardi Gras?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, celebrating finishing our degrees."

 "Congrats," he said mildly impressed.

"Don't be too impressed," I snorted. "It's a 'would you like fries with that?' degree."

"Still it's something."  

"So is Chloe your sister?" I asked, hoping I was guessing right.

Ethan chuckled, "Do I look old enough to have a daughter her age?"

"Hey you never know. 16 and pregnant is no longer scandalous; in fact it seems to be a trend."  

"Well to answer you, yes she is my sister." Ethan leaned back on his cot.

"Where are your parents if you don't mind me asking," I asked.

"Mexico," he sighed. "My dad and step mom always go there for two weeks around this time. Looks like they will be there for a while now."

"Yeah, Zoe and I are stuck too. Our plane was cancelled and trains aren't an option now either," I frowned as my words sunk in.

We really were stuck unless we could commandeer a car along the way and drive back to B.C. Which seemed daunting as well.

"Well you're welcome to stay with us for the time being," Ethan offered.

"I wasn't aware you owned the school," I smirked and Ethan rolled his eyes,

"No, I mean we can't stay here forever. My family has a huntin' cabin 'bout three hours west of here."

"Well how nice of you. Is that the famed southern hospitality I've heard so much about?" I grinned.

"Yes mam," Ethan smiled, purposely exaggerating his southern accent.

"How come you didn't just head there in the first place?"

Ethan ran his hand through his hair, "Well for one, the school was closer. And I wanted to see just how bad the situation was before I headed out by myself, with Chloe."

"Did you get your answer?"

"Unfortunately."

"What's a poutine?" Chloe's questioning voice carried over to us, but the last thing we felt like doing was laughing.