Light

      The eve of the New Year brought with it the usual, but pleasant fuss: decorating their own homes, endless running in search of gifts. For several days, or even weeks, most of the world was covered by this crazy race. With such concerns, each year was like the last. It was especially difficult in this situation for the bunglers, who promised themselves to change their approach to pre-holiday preparation over and over again, but all plans collapsed on the vine. It might seem that only residents of megacities with eternal queues and traffic jams faced similar problems. Only the truth was different.       The town of Beckley is located in West Virginia. One part of it adjoined a large picturesque lake, and the other touched the hills. Summer in these parts could boast of heat, and winter — heavy snowfalls. Because of the latter, the city was often cut off from the rest of civilization. More than once, the governor promised to solve all the problems, replenish the fleet of snow removal equipment, but everything remained talk.       Because of this, the coming winter brought difficulties with it, as expected. December passed its equator, then snowfalls became more frequent and could not stop for several days. The access roads cleared in the evening became impassable again by morning. To the delight of schoolchildren, the holidays began a week earlier than necessary. The streets and the shopping center — Forest Lake — were filled with teenagers. Ubiquitous decorations were adjusted to a festive mood.       Among the crowds of high school students, couples choosing gifts for each other, two girls ran between the shops. So different, but friendly since early childhood. Kara Hunt is the daughter of a Japanese woman and a Canadian, inherited from her parents not only an unusual appearance — jet-black hair and narrowed gray eyes, but also a character. From her mother, she received an annoying implacability in following the rules. But from the father — the love of fun. In this, Cara was like her best friend. Blonde and blue-eyed Jennifer Jackson caused a lot of problems to her mother. She got involved in school brawls, was rude, disrupted lessons. Amanda— her mother, couldn’t find a place for herself. Talking, swearing and punishments were useless. The young hooligan could only be influenced by a man who replaced her father from early childhood. They rarely saw each other, because Walter worked in Los Angeles for most of the year, Jenny did not know the subtleties of the profession, but for some reason, he was the authority for her. Her own father, due to his young age, was not ready for responsibility and shouldered all the burdens on the shoulders of no less young Amanda. The older Jennifer got, the more she realized that all the difficulties of her daughter’s early childhood were nothing.       — Are you going to visit your dad on vacation?       Both twelve-year-olds were walking around the food court, wondering where to eat. Jenny was carrying a couple of packages with simple gifts, for which she was saving pocket money, but Cara approached the issue more pragmatically.       — Nope. He promised to come himself, — she sighed and changed her hand, pushing straight strands from her face with numb fingers. — Damn, you don’t carry a bunch of packages.       — The Internet was invented for this! she laughed. — Dad got me a card, threw all pocket money there. And I ordered everything online! A few electronic clicks — no clutter.       Jennifer frowned and chuckled.       — What about the smell of new things?       — You’re like our neighbor! The crazy old woman collects all sorts of… — she looked around and lowered her tone, — shit. She’s always babbling about smells, too. You’re an old lady!       Cara burst out laughing, and Jenny shoved her.       — Ass!       From the sight of Jennifer frowning, she cheered even more and hugged her tighter.       — I am glad that we will celebrate together!       They continued to walk around the mall. They enthusiastically examined the decorations, fantasized about how they would spend the holidays. Already in the electronics store, Jennifer stopped. The TV department was crowded with people watching breaking news. She squeezed Cara’s hand and squeezed ahead of everyone with her. Because of the hubbub, it became almost impossible to listen to the words of the announcer. However, the running line conveyed all the basic information. The fact that a mysterious epidemic has already swept several states, that the number of victims has been growing rapidly. The only consolation was that the major cities suffered mainly. They, who live in the distance, should not have been afraid yet. The adults wailed restlessly, and Cara pulled her friend out of the crowd and led her away from the store.       — Wow! — Hunt blurted out. — What will happen if the disease reaches us?       — Wow, that would be a zombie! — Jennifer asked.       — Are you crazy?! — Cara did not share such humor at all. — Come on, dad’s coming soon!       They went out into the street parking lot. The sky was covered with clouds, large flakes of snow were falling. Everything might seem completely ordinary, but not after hearing the news. People seemed to behave much more collected, more fussy.       — Girls! — a car stopped not far from them.       Colin Hunt, Cara’s father, hurried to them with a smile, took Jenny’s purchases and led the friends to the transport.       — How did you walk? — he asked after some time on the way to the house.       Due to the snowfall, once again all the roads were filled with stuck cars, traffic jams and accidents. Colin, perhaps, was one of the rare number of motorists who remained completely calm.       — Have you heard about the epidemic, Dad? — Kara asked.       He glanced at them in the rearview mirror and sighed.       — The usual situation for the winter season. There is no point in paying attention to this.       - I’ve heard that the dead are rising, — Jenny began in a conspiratorial whisper.       — What kind of anti-scientific nonsense? — Colin chuckled. — When Walter arrives, he will tell you that he has not heard such nonsense yet. Cara, don’t you dare to blurt out such a thing in front of your mother — it will instantly limit both TV and computer games.       The girls looked at each other and giggled softly. They managed to escape from a string of traffic jams, the car drove into a usually quiet street, which was bustling with life in the pre-holiday time. The transport stopped near the access road to a bright two-storey house. Amanda’s Jeep was parked outside the garage. There was a light on on the ground floor. The porch was decorated with garlands shining with different lights.       Jennifer hugged her friend, said goodbye to Colin and ran to the house with her purchases. The native walls were greeted with the usual warmth and comfort. Already in the hall there was a smell of fresh pastries and coffee, which Amanda was ready to drink all day and night long. Jenny shuffled noisily at the entrance, knocked the snow out of her shoes and took off her outerwear. Picking up the gifts, she immediately rushed to her room on the second floor to hide them before the holiday.       — Hey, hurry up! — Amanda peeked out of the kitchen. — Don’t forget to wash your hands!       Jennifer ran into the room and looked around. Amanda wasn’t in the habit of rummaging through other people’s things, but she wanted to hide the gifts from accidental discovery. Choosing a place in the closet among the eternal mess, she changed into her house pants with a T-shirt, washed her hands and ran to the kitchen.       Amanda had already laid everything out on the table and was thoughtfully watching the newscast. Jenny sat down beside her and touched her hand.       — It’s okay, baby, — Amanda smiled a little.       - Not really, since adults are worried, — Jennifer said. — The Lake also showed the news. And everyone looked scared.       — Really? Amanda tucked a strand of brown hair behind her daughter’s ear. — Well, they don’t have a scientist dad, do they? He would have called us first thing. Don’t worry your head. Common cold. Let’s have dinner.       Jenny pushed her plate closer and began picking at the food. Amanda turned her attention back to the screen. All her efforts to convey to her daughter that there was nothing to fear collapsed, it was worth looking at the expression on her face. Eyebrows slightly pushed to the bridge of the nose, narrowed eyes. Amanda was biting her lips slightly, a habit Jennifer had picked up.       Dinner ended in silence. Amanda stayed to clean the kitchen while Jenny went upstairs to get ready for bed. Having put the previously scattered things in their places a little, she quickly finished with all the preparatory procedures for going to bed and got under the blanket with my smartphone. Kara didn’t let up all this time. Bombarded with messages. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt never panicked. Cara was brought up in a similar way. Everything that Jennifer was getting from her at that moment was amazing. Her friend’s parents organized her to prepare the most necessary things. They were preparing to break away from their usual place at any moment and rush somewhere.       Jenny sighed and put her smartphone on the blanket at her feet. The regular situation with seasonal diseases for some reason caused a storm of excitement rising inside.       Sleep could not be called calm in any way. Jennifer tossed and turned, startled by the slightest rustle. In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes and did not immediately understand what had woken her up. Amanda’s voice, footsteps in the hallway. Jenny got out of bed, left the room and stopped at the slightly open door to her mother’s bedroom. It was clearly audible how she wandered around the room, sometimes sighing.       — Is there really nothing to do at all? — Amanda asked quietly.       She was on the phone and, unfortunately, the answers of the interlocutor could not be heard.       — I understand. Is it that serious? — sigh. — Yes, good. Walter, and you understand. I’ve missed you. You are our family. Jenny misses you too and is waiting for your arrival.       For the next few minutes, she listened to the answer, and Jennifer could distinguish Walter’s voice. Not words, just intonation. It seems that he calmed his wife, spoke calmly and measured, as always. The ability to calm the hot-tempered Amanda is Walter’s superpower. Even at her young age, Jennifer was amazed at how these two opposites came together. Amanda’s wild temper and his titanic calm.       Another breath pulled Jenny out of the depths of her thoughts. Walter finished speaking, plunging both into silence.       - Okay, Walter, I get you. I hope everything will work out. Listen, is it really that serious? — she made a few noises. — Okay, we’ll be ready. And I love you, Walt. Madly.       Amanda sighed and took a few steps.       —Come in, Jenny, — she called.       Jennifer opened the door and went into Amanda’s bright bedroom. The latter smiled warmly at her daughter and sat down on the bed.       — Isn’t Dad coming?       - I’m afraid not. Don’t take offense at him. They’ve got bigger things to do there. Airports are being closed.       - So it’s not just a cold?” As they said in the news…       - I’m afraid there’s some truth to that. But we live in a small town, so… we have nothing to worry about.       Amanda pulled her daughter to her and hugged her tightly. Jennifer felt the strokes on her own back. Calmness and warmth enveloped her.       The next few days seemed to allow her to calm down a little. The first outbreak of panic subsided, there was no jump in morbidity. Or just hiding well. Amanda, Mr. and Mrs. Hunt were leaning towards the second version. Jenny and Cara have heard that there are already people who have been hospitalized among their parents' acquaintances.       Jennifer and Cara noticed more and more tension in the ostentatious calm of adults. Over time, there were fewer and fewer people on the streets, in various establishments. It was as if they shunned random meetings, their neighbors. It was no laughing matter after a few days. The epidemic was growing, but it turned out to be only the calm before the storm.       — Get up! Jennifer, get up!       Amanda screamed literally in her ear, pulling her out of sleep. Jenny opened her eyes, tried to sit up abruptly, calming her heavy breathing. Mom was rushing around the room, snatching all the things out of the closet and throwing them into the suitcase. Noticing that her daughter woke up, she almost pulled her out of bed.       — Collect only the most necessary things, do you understand me?       — And what…       — Questions later, Jenny! Pack your things, hurry up!       Amanda jumped out of the room and ran down the corridor. Jennifer couldn’t get her breathing back to normal. The sudden awakening made her dizzy, her heart was pounding so hard that you could hear it all over the neighborhood. Flustered, Jennifer straightened her hair, slid off the bed and began to gather her clothes with trembling hands. Jeans, two pairs of favorite warm socks, a change of underwear. She had no idea where or how far they were going to go. Jenny took a turtleneck, her favorite hoodie and a pair of T-shirts. After changing into dark jeans, a shirt and a zip-up hoodie, she closed her suitcase, wanted to leave the room, but hesitated. Her heart ached painfully, it was worth catching a glimpse of the recently purchased gifts. They could leave for a long time, meet the holiday in a completely different place. Jenny shifted from one foot to the other, bit her lip until it hurt, but took out the boxes already packed in kraft paper and hid them in her suitcase. She didn’t forget about a smartphone with charging, an mp3-player with headphones. Without the opportunity to listen to music, Jenny definitely would not have left.       Amanda once again called out to her daughter, went after her and told her to hurry. They went out into the snow falling in a dense veil. The suitcases quickly ended up in the trunk of the jeep. Jennifer got into the passenger seat and strapped herself in. Amanda disappeared into the house, disappeared there for a while. It was possible to guess that she had turned off the electric switchboard in the basement, turned on the alarm and left. She hesitated on the threshold, locking the house and as if saying goodbye to him. At that very moment, Jennifer realized they weren’t coming back.       A sharp blow on the driver’s side window made Jennifer flinch. Their neighbor. A middle-aged woman. Nice, pleasant, always friendly. At that moment, Jenny just didn’t recognize her. Pale face, red eyes on the protrusion. She breathed through her mouth, blood dried on her cracked lips. Her throat felt swollen, and Miss Summers was banging on the glass with one hand, tearing her own flesh with the other. Jennifer pressed herself against the door, her breath caught in fear, a cry of horror rose to her throat, but it stuck on the inhale.       — Lavender, go away!       Amanda’s exclamation brought unprecedented relaxation, but also fright. Mom had a gun in her hands.       - I don’t want to hurt you, Lavender. Get away from the car, — Amanda didn’t flinch. The voice was firm, resolute.       Lavender shifted her bleary gaze to her, stopped tearing her own throat. She froze for a few moments and rushed at Amanda. The neighbor’s scream could not be compared with anything. Like an animal hungry for flesh and blood. There were two deafening bangs. Jenny squealed and clapped her hands over her ears. Lavender staggered back and collapsed on the snow. Amanda trembled, didn’t move, but then pulled herself together. I quickly got into the car, locked the doors and drove out onto the road.       Jennifer did not move, did not remove her palms from her ears and restrained the storm of horror rising in her soul. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She sobbed loudly, and Amanda gripped the steering wheel tightly.       —Jenny, take it easy, — she said. — No need to panic!       —You killed Miss Summers, — Jennifer said through rolling tears.       — No! It’s not like that… it’s not really like that, — Amanda was confused in her words. — Listen to me, we couldn’t help her. She’s already sick!       - How do you know? — Jenny snapped. — We talked this morning…       — Because Walter said he knows about this infection! she blurted out. — Trust me, Jennifer. Lavender wouldn’t be the same anymore. Yes, I had to shoot. I had a choice. I chose to save you…       Jennifer pulled her knees up to her chest, hugged them and began to cry softly. A few days ago, she could not have imagined that an accidentally thrown joke would turn out to be a terrible truth.       Amanda glanced at Jenny, then pulled over to the side of the road and hugged her tightly, stroking her head.       — Everything will be fine. We’ll leave here. We’ll all leave together. I’m sorry I yelled.       Jennifer buried her face in her shoulder, trying to calm down.       They met with the Hunts already on the way out of the city. The authorities organized a quarantine zone at the stadium, even took care to clear the highway from snow. But such measures did not relieve congestion. Terrified residents, as one, rushed to the rescue zone, hoping that they were not infected themselves, and that all patients would simply be isolated during this time.       — What are we going to do? — Colin came up to Amanda’s car. — We are here for at least two hours, and who knows if there will be something good in this quarantine. Amanda herself was skeptical about the organized quarantine zone. A crowd of people. It is unknown how many of them could be infected.       - Did Walter say something? — Colin continued.       — That the airports were closed. But we can get there on our own. They didn’t let us out of the city, but they can let us go to him, — Amanda reasoned. — Walt promised to get us passes.       Colin nodded in agreement. They understood well that it was worth sticking to each other, at the same time, and a person who still understood every infection.       — What if we got sick too? — Jennifer suddenly asked quietly.       The adults fell silent. It became clear from the faces of both that they did not know the answer. They could not be sure for sure that they were healthy. Just admit it — to sow unnecessary panic. Amanda put on a weak smile and squeezed Jenny’s hand.       — We are healthy, do you hear? Otherwise, the symptoms would have already appeared. When we get to Dad, we’ll definitely make sure.       Jennifer said nothing. There was no point in talking or arguing. It was not possible to find out for sure in the field, and jostling among people meant taking risks.       While Colin and Amanda were discussing their plans, a wave of screams of horror swept somewhere in the direction of the beginning of the traffic jam. They could hear cars honking, someone trying to rush away, skidding on snow and ice. After that, the people in front scattered.       —I know where to cut it, — Amanda nodded.       Colin quickly got into the backseat. The jeep pulled out of the general flow into the oncoming lane, drove a few feet and stopped near the Hunts' car. Colin got behind the wheel, prompting his wife to move into the passenger seat, and nodded.       While no one else followed Amanda’s idea, both cars turned off the main road onto a much more snow-covered dirt road. Terrified by everything that was happening, Jennifer did not even dare to make a sound.She just clung to the door handle until her fingers hurt and hoped that her pounding heart just wouldn’t jump out of her chest. Amanda was whispering something, but Jenny couldn’t hear at all. She tried to cling to at least something in these endless snow-covered landscapes. The forest and its impenetrable darkness.       The cars were already approaching another highway. It was supposed to take them to the border with another city, past it to the neighboring state. Colin caught up with Amanda, honked his horn and gave her a thumbs-up. It was a mystery to Jennifer why he had overtaken them. There was probably some kind of agreement, some kind of meaning. She was distracted. Attention was attracted by figures in the forest. Some seemed to be standing, while others clumsily made their way through the snowdrifts, got stuck.       Hit. Loud, piercing the forest silence. Screeching brakes and screeching. Amanda gasped loudly, tried to stop the car abruptly. She stalled in the snow, skidded. Jennifer stared in utter devastation and horror at the mangled sedan of Cara’s parents. Colin’s bloody hand was hanging out of the driver’s seat window. It is not known what condition Mrs. Hunt was in. But I saw Cara. She seemed to have lost consciousness for a while, sat down and looked around in confusion. The bruise on her forehead was bleeding, but her friend did not notice. She turned her gaze to her parents, screamed, judging by her facial expressions, cried.       — We have to help! — Jennifer cried in despair, bursting into tears.       Amanda squeezed her hand tightly.       — Don’t you dare come out!       She jumped out, was rapidly approaching her friends' car, but froze on the approach. Near the rear door of the car, the crown of the driver of the truck, the second participant in the accident, flashed, broken to blood. His movements were somehow sharp, jerky. Amanda saw him open the door, rush inside the cabin. All doubts that this man had become the same as Lavender disappeared as soon as he grabbed the screaming Cara from behind and bit into her neck.       Amanda didn’t move, she seemed afraid to breathe. She really wanted to help the poor girl, her family and her friends. More and more figures were approaching from the direction of the forest. Aggressive, hungry for flesh and blood. At that moment, she realized that it was necessary to save Jenny. Protect your daughter by any means.       Amanda’s car turned around and sped away, and Jennifer looked at the wrecked sedan. And I will always remember the look of horror and tears on her face when Kara was torn alive.