Dave looked at his bags for a moment and wondered what to do with them. There was no guessing what would happen so it was best to take them with him. So Dave went and picked up his bags before walking to the front door and knocking. No one answered. Then Dave noticed a bell button and almost pushed it. His finger hovered over the bell button for a moment while he nervously looked back at the empty street. He decided to not risk it and carefully knocked again. This time he heard someone moving around from within the house.
There were thin glass windows in the frame of the door and through these Dave could see a man approaching the door. The door opened to reveal a tired man. He was probably a middle aged man but had a strange look in his eyes that made the man look older. Dave didn't like the look in the man's eyes as it was what the eyes of a man in which something has broken would look like. Dave pondered leaving but his pesky curiosity stayed any thought of fleeing.
"Hi," said Dave, suddenly not sure what his was doing. "I was just passing by and I heard noise coming from your place."
The man stared blankly at Dave before turning and walking away. "Come in."
Dave stared after the man and stepped inside the house. It was clean and well kept. Dave turned to look at the door, clearly thinking if he should reserve an option to escape and leave the door open. Dave shrugged before pulling the door closed behind him. Dave placed his bags near the door as place where he could quickly snatch them up if he found himself having to flee the house. He followed the man into the lounge room.
The man had sat on the biggest couch in the room and began staring blankly at the TV. There were other people in the room who were also staring at the TV. Dave guessed that the people were the man's wife and two daughters. They all shared the same blank look as the man who had answered the door.
The TV had transfixed Dave. It was one of the News stations and they were showing footage that resembled what Dave had seen from before. What Dave had experienced was obviously happening all over the city - spreading like a rapid infection. A clearly distressed TV hostess was stammering through the descriptions of the footage. There wasn't much new information. In fact the hostess was more confused than informative.
"As you can see there are people on the streets and they are attacking people. It's not really clear why they are doing this. Efforts have been made to talk to these people, but ... no one has survived the efforts to start a dialog. We've been trying to contact the police or anyone for a comment but no one has responded. The phones seem to be working but we've not found many people picking up. Um. The only advice that we can give is that you stay off the streets. Stay in your homes. Wait until the authorities give out further instructions. Try to avoid all unnecessary contact with strangers. Only go outside for essential activities."
Dave snorted. Didn't the TV host understand what she had said? There are no authorities. How can you expect anything from something that didn't exist. It was unhelpful, if not dangerous, wishful thinking.
Suddenly Dave straightened up and began to pat his pant pockets. "Fuck," he exclaimed as he determined that his mobile was gone. It was probably still back on his desk at his office. His phone has run out of charge on his way to work and had failed half way through the journey, and so he had plugged his phone up to the power board on his desk in order to recharge it. Ironically his phone was most likely fully charged up and ready, while at the same time being completely unusable as Dave had no intention of returning to his office.
The man who had opened the front door was looking at Dave.
Dave pointed to the TV. "Crazy stuff don't you think?"
The man starred at Dave a moment before speaking in a slow and detached manner. "It's the only show on TV. The other stations appear to be offline."
"It's not a show. It's a News broadcast."
"Of course it's some show. That can't be happening."
Dave slowly began to realise that there was a terrible reason behind the man's blank stare. He began to fear just how deeply this had torn the man's mind apart.
"I've just come from the street. It's quiet right now, but it was exactly like that earlier," said Dave pointing to TV that showed a group of a few dozen staggering dead.
The man paused as if slowly digesting a heavy meal that disagreed with his stomach. "I think that you should leave."
"What?"
"You heard me. You should go away."
Dave looked at the man and the man's family. Dave felt a strange conflict. On the one hand Dave felt a need to help these people, while on the other hand Dave was terrified that in the process of helping these people that it would lead to his own death. They were obviously not a dangerous group of people, but they seemed like a group of people who had stopped caring. Some sort of switch had failed in their minds. Carelessness can be just as deadly as deliberate malice.
"Okay," said Dave. "I'll leave. But turn the TV down a bit. You can clearly hear it out on the streets. You don't know what might come."
As if calling Dave a liar, the man picked up a TV remote and doubled the TV volume.
Dave reached towards the TV remote. "That's too loud."
"Leave," insisted the man. The petulant tone of denial was clear in his voice.
Dave lowered his arm and looked at the man on the couch. Dave couldn't understand what he was
