CHAPTER 1: Monday
Maggie had been practicing for months for the upcoming cheerleading competition. It was in exactly a week, next Monday, and it was the only thing on her mind. She had been dreaming of winning the trophy for years and was determined to make her team the best in the state. But fate had other plans.
There was a growing pathogenic threat which was already widespread across the planet. It was caused by a neuro-parasitic infection that spread through bodily fluids, and it had unique mechanisms to ensure its continued spread.
Scientists were still working toward developing treatments, and schools were closed down for two years. But last year, schools reopened. Capitalism required parents to be at work, and for parents to be at work they needed schools to be open so their kids had somewhere to go all day. Also, kids really needed to prepare themselves for the real world, to support themselves financially through the apocalypse.
Sure, half the population died and the undead wandered the streets, but things had to go back to normal eventually. Anyway, the infected didn’t like sunlight, so they weren’t really a threat on a sunny day, and with any common sense they were easy to avoid. Some privileged people who could afford to remain quarantined also viewed the pandemic as a form of Social Darwinism. They’d just wait it out, have their groceries delivered to their gates, and attend a few Zoom meetings a day, no problem.
As Maggie walked home from school on that warm spring afternoon, she decided to take a shortcut through a dark alley. It was a mistake that would change her life forever.
Out of nowhere, an infected jumped out from behind a dumpster and lunged at her. Maggie screamed and tried to move out of the way, but the creature was too quick. It sank its teeth into her arm, and Maggie felt a searing pain shoot through her body.
“What the hell! Get off me!” Maggie shouted, trying to shake the infected loose. But it was no use. The infected had a firm grip on her arm, and it wasn’t letting go.
Maggie struggled to get free, but it was too late. It had already infected her. As she watched in horror, the infected creature’s eyes began to redden.
“Um, excuse me, can I help you with something?” Maggie said sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood.
The infected just growled and continued to gnaw on her arm. Maggie knew she had to act fast if she wanted to survive.
“Okay, okay, I’ll give you my allowance money. Just let me go, okay?” Maggie pleaded, hoping to reason with the infected.
But the infected was beyond reason. It was now fully focused on turning Maggie into one of its own kind. As she felt her body starting to change, Maggie knew she had to get help fast.
Maggie used her free hand to jab the infected in its sunken eyeball and stumbled out of the alley, clutching her wounded arm. She could feel the infection spreading through her body, slowly turning her. She had to find a way to stop the transformation, or else she would be doomed to roam the earth as one of the undead forever.
As she stumbled down the street, Maggie caught sight of her reflection in a shop window. Her eyes were turning bloodshot, her skin was starting to peel around the wound, and her arm was covered in a thick layer of pus and gore. Also, her hair was a mess. She stopped for a second to fix her long blonde ponytail. She was turning into a monster, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. But she wouldn’t be a monster with bad hair.
Maggie’s thoughts turned to the cheerleading competition. She had been practicing for months, and now she was changing into an undead monster just a week before the big event. She couldn’t let her team down. She had to find a way to stop the transformation, no matter what it took.
Maggie stumbled down the street, her arm throbbing with pain. She knew she had to find her uncle Jerry, the mad scientist, er, freelance biochemist who lived on the other side of town. He had been working for years on an inoculation to prevent infection spread, and he was her only hope.
As Maggie approached her uncle’s lab, she could hear strange noises coming from inside. She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was making the right decision. But then she reminded herself that this was her only chance to save herself and her cheerleading team from a fate worse than death.
“Uncle Jerry, it’s me, Maggie!” she shouted, pounding on the lab door.
A few seconds later, the door creaked open, and a cloud of smoke billowed out. Maggie coughed and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to clear the air.
“Hey there, kiddo. What brings you to my neck of the woods?” Uncle Jerry said, grinning from ear to ear.
Maggie glared at him. “I got bit by an infected, Uncle Jerry. I need your medicine to stop the transformation.”
Uncle Jerry’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, slow down there. You got bit? How the hell did that happen? Did you go in the dark?”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “It just happened. Can you just give me it or not?”
Uncle Jerry stroked his chin, looking thoughtful. “Well, I do have a treatment that might delay the transformation. But it’s not foolproof, and it might have some side effects. It’s still in development.”
Maggie didn’t care. She just wanted to stop the transformation before it was too late. “Give it to me, Uncle Jerry. I don’t care about the side effects. I just need to make it to the cheerleading competition.”
Uncle Jerry nodded, pulling a vial of cloudy liquid from his refrigerator, and filling a syringe. “Okay, hold still. This might sting a bit.”
Maggie gritted her teeth as Uncle Jerry injected the fluid into her arm. She felt a strange tingling sensation spread throughout her body, and then everything went black.
When Maggie woke up, she was lying on the lab floor. She looked around, feeling disoriented. “Uncle Jerry? What the hell did you do to me?”
Uncle Jerry chuckled. “Relax, kiddo. You just passed out for a minute there. It’s a common side effect. “
Maggie groaned, rubbing her head. “Great. Just what I need.”
Uncle Jerry patted her on the back. “Hey, at least you’re not turning anymore, right?”
Maggie had to admit, he had a point. She felt a little better already, like the medicine was fighting off the infection inside her. She knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet, but at least she had a fighting chance.
“Thanks, Uncle Jerry. You’re a lifesaver,” Maggie said, getting up from the floor.
Uncle Jerry grinned. “Ah, no biggie. Just doing my part to keep the world safe from zombie cheerleaders.”
Maggie couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, I guess I owe you one for that.”
As she walked out of the lab, Maggie knew that her life would never be the same. She had been bitten, injected with a mad scientist’s concoction, and she was soon competing in the cheerleading competition of a lifetime. She had no idea what the future held, but she knew one thing for sure - it was going to be a wild ride.
Maggie stumbled into her bedroom, exhausted from the day’s events. She couldn’t stop thinking about the strange side effects that Uncle Jerry had warned her about. She hoped that they wouldn’t be too severe.
As she crawled into bed and closed her eyes, Maggie felt a strange tingling sensation in her limbs. She brushed it off as fatigue and drifted off to sleep.