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day 8: home

sam rolled out of bed a little before noon. she went downstairs and made herself a bowl of cereal. she went to get a cup of coffee when she noticed that none had been made.

"weird," she said to herself. her parents always made coffee first thing. as she stopped to think about it, she realized she hadn't seen her parents since she got up.

"they can't still be in bed, can they?" she asked herself. her parents were usually up hours before she was. but after what they'd told her, it seemed unlikely that they'd leave the house.

sam walked upstairs to her parents' bedroom. she knocked on the door.

"mom? dad?"

she heard the sound of rustling sheets inside the room, and soon she heard a raspy voice invite her in.

"hey, how come you're still in bed?" sam asked as she slowly entered her parents' room.

"we're just a little tired," her mom replied, sitting up in bed. blood trickled from her nose and ears.

"oh my god, mom!" sam cried out, rushing to the side of the bed. "you're bleeding!"

her mother was too out of it and just rested her head back against the pillow. sam was about to wake her father and ask for his help when she noticed that he was bleeding, too.

"shit!" she yelled, grabbing at the phone. her hands were shakey as she frantically dialed 911. she put the speaker up to her ear.

"we're sorry, all operators are currently busy."

her panic grew as she redialed.

"we're sorry, all operators are currently busy."

sam threw the phone down to the floor.

"come on you guys," she said, tugging on her father. "come on, we need to get you to the hospital."

she managed to pull her parents out of bed. she grabbed her mother's purse and led her parents out to the car, putting them both in the backseat.

the nearest hospital wasn't too far away. it was right on the outskirts of the city, just a few minutes' drive from her neighborhood. she maneuvered through the wrecked cars littering the streets.

a van sped by her on the road, going straight through an intersection. an ambulance, sirens blazing, raced through the intersection and into the side of the van. the van crumpled and rolled on its sides into a heap of wrecked cars. the ambulance's siren went dead, the windshield cracked and bloody.

sam paused at the intersection to make sure there were no other vehicles coming down the road, then sped on towards the hospital.

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