The LastConnection

I hadn't heard from Leo in three weeks. Ever since he made varsity lacrosse, my former best friend had been ghosting me harder than a bad WiFi signal. I was rotting on my bedroom floor, Bear (my cat) curled against my side, while I marathoned zombie apocalypse shows until my brain felt like mush.

The ethernet cable connecting my gaming console was the only thing tethering me to reality. I'd spent hours memorizing zombie survival strategies - head shots, board up windows, never split up. Useless info, or so I thought.

Bear started growling at 2 AM. Then my phone buzzed - an emergency alert. "Stay indoors. Lock all doors. Do not open for anyone." My stomach dropped.

A scream from outside shattered the night. Not like in movies - real and raw and terrified. Bear hissed, his fur standing straight up. Another scream. Then... silence.

I grabbed my phone. My thumbs were shaking as I scrolled. Leo's Instagram story: a photo of his street, empty except for... something shambling toward his house.

"Leo," I typed. "Leo, are you okay?"

"They're inside," he messaged back. "My parents. They're... they're not themselves. I'm hiding in my closet."

"Zombie?" I sent, half-joking because that was impossible.

"Worse," he replied. "Faster. Stronger. And I don't have any weapons."

I grabbed my backpack. Canned food. Baseball bat. The emergency flashlight Dad gave me. Bear followed me to the front door, still growling.

"Stay," I told him. "I'll be back."

But Bear slipped out. And when something lunged at me from the darkness - something that used to be my neighbor Mrs. Henderson - Bear didn't run. He fought.

I made it to Leo's house. Found him in his closet, pale and shaking. We heard them downstairs - the things that had been his family ten minutes ago.

"We need to move," I said, all those zombie strategies finally clicking into place. "Stay quiet. Stay together. And never - ever - split up."

He looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time in weeks. "You know this stuff. You were preparing."

"I was just obsessed," I said. "Turns out, obsession comes in handy."

Bear appeared in the doorway, unscathed. He rubbed against Leo's leg, and my friend - my real friend, not the stranger he'd become - finally smiled.

"Okay," Leo said. "Okay. What's the plan?"

"Survive," I said. "Together."