"There's not great service out here" complained Rose. I nearly laughed. The apocalypse could be upon us and that is what my friend was worried about? She could see my amusement and punched my side.

"I'm serious, we need to stay updated on what's going on." she said.

"Alright, alright. You're right. Don't worry too much, at the very least my cousin will have a radio."

We went up a hill and slammed on the brakes. The road was turning grey. I pulled a U-turn as fast as I could, but in my rear-view mirror I could see it had already caught onto my wheel before I could speed away. Rose and I ditched the car and started running away, we were fortunate that the greyness could only move at an inching pace. We sat down beside the road to catch our breath. When I looked back up at my friend, my heart nearly stopped.

"Rose, y-your foot." I stammered. Looking back to my car, I could see a line of grey footprints swelling outwards on the ground.

"What about it?" She asked, but when she looked down she knew exactly what I meant. She screamed and pushed me away from her. She tried to throw off her shoe, but that only caught it on her fingers too.

"Oh shit. Oh shit, I'm done for." She panicked. She tried to brush it off with her grey hand, but nothing would slow the pale progression.

I tried to reassure her from a distance. "We don't know that, it doesn't seem to kill anything remember?" But her tears wouldn't stop. It was up her legs and onto her shoulder now, relentlessly draining the color from my friends' skin and clothes.

"Listen Rose, I'm not going to let you face this alone." I said. I closed my eyes, pulled her in by the arm, and hugged her tightly.