"Did you hear?" asked a customer wildly from across the aisle stocking up on Lysol wipes. "About the new virus?"

Milly nodded her head. Who hadn't heard about it? It had been all over the news for months. The new virus that was supposedly worst than the last one.

Cov-25. Dubbed two-five by everyone. It was always: _Did you hear about two-five? Have you got the two-five?_

The lady in the aisle stocked her cart full of Lysol wipes. Way too many for any sane person.

"Do you have any more of these?" The lady asked as she placed the last package in her cart.

"I think you have more than enough ma'am," Milly said. She wasn't going to mention there were any more in the back.

"I suppose you're right," came the lady. "I can never be too prepared though." You would think people would be a little less crazy this time around. Milly left the aisle and headed to the storage room to restock the Lysol wipes.

As soon as she got out of sight, Milly pulled out her phone.

Ten more news notifications. That wasn't much of a surprise.

__

_Cases surpass fifty in North America. Global death toll rises. Is another lockdown necessary? Friday the Thirteenth: Is it Doomsday?_

All the same old. Same old.

Milly took down the boxes of Lysol wipes and went back to aisle three to unpack them.

"Hey, Milly!" came a familiar voice. It was Darlene from cosmetics. "Let me help you with this!"

Milly moved over to make room for the friendly coworker. Darlene had always been nice and willing to help.

"Do you believe the stories?" Darlene asked.

"No," came Milly. "I think we learned better this time. I don't think anything can be as bad as before. I'm sure it will all be over in a few weeks."

"Hon," started Darlene. "We all said the same thing five years ago and look where it got us." Well that part was true. "Besides, it's Friday the thirteenth. Something bad is bound to happen."

Well five years ago everything had gone downhill on the thirteenth that happened to be a Friday. Still. Milly did not want to believe it. There wasn't even many cases yet!

The Lysol wipes were stocked.

"I have to go back," said Darlene. "Call me over when the next overprepared customer comes and clears out the hand sanitizer!"

"Oh, I will!” called back Milly.

_Ping_. Came Milly's phone. _Ping_. _Ping. Ping._

She pulled it out.

_An unprecedented amount of deaths: Is two-five the silent killer? World leaders to make press conference at noon._

A sudden change of events. What was going on?

"Help!" came a voice from the front of the store. Milly quickly stuffed her phone in her back pocket and ran in the direction of the plea. "Help," it came again.

By the time Milly reached the front of the store a crowed had gathered, staying at a safe distance. In the middle was the woman with the Lysol wiped.

"We need a doctor, quick!" yelled one person. The lady lay in the middle of the floor with half her Lysol wipes on the conveyor belt of the check-out stand. Her face was pale and she was gasping for breath. She looked weak, an opposite to the cheery lady who Milly had seen just a few minutes earlier.

"Don't go close," a man warned. "She's got the two-five." The circle backed up a few more steps.

"I'm trying to call for help," came an elderly woman holding out her phone. She was on hold with the emergency line. It was blocked up with calls.

The woman begged with her eyes making gasping breaths. She struggled, but no one wanted to get close. She gasped and gasped.

Still no doctor.

No 911.

The lady took one last gulping breath and then died in the middle of the shopping centre floor.

No one wanted to do anything.

The store suddenly fell silent except for a click as the old lady hung up her call to 911.

The silent killer.

Just as the article had just said.

One moment fine. The next, dead.

Darlene reached over the counter for the box of masks on hand. She took them out and Milly grabbed one.

_Ping._

__

_Ping._

__

_Ping._

All around, phones were pulled out of pockets and gasps were made.

Milly checked her own.

_National Emergency! National Emergency!_

The bright red letters blared in her face.

_Immediate Lockdown Order_

__

__

_National Emergency!_

The two-five had turned around quickly. Milly had been wrong. The thirteenth day had lived up to its name.

What did Milly need before she went back into lockdown? A lonley place with a lot of quality time with her cat Flompy. Eating leftovers for days on end. Catching up on all of her Netflix watchlist. Zoom calls with family members and friends. No good-paying job.

No. Milly needed to be prepared. And she was in the best place to do that.

In the supermarket.

All around her customers and staff had the same idea and chaos erupted.

Toilet paper. Milly needed that. It wasn’t going to be like last time. She would be prepared.

Milly rushed across the hall to the shopping carts where she quickly piled as many toilet roll packages as she could.

_Thump_.

A man was down.

The two-five.

This time no one rushed to help.

Milly ran down aisles collecting all that she needed.

Hand sanitizer. Lysol wipes. Thank goodness she had restocked them. They were already low.

Masks. Lots of them. Paper towel. Cold medicine. Flu medicine. Stomach medicine.

Not that anything seemed to help with these new symptoms.

Lots of beans, canned soups, canned everything.

Rice, rice, and rice. Frozen fruits and veggies.

_Chocolate_.

Lots and lots of chocolate. Miley wound up swiping down the whole shelf.

The store was chaos. Shelves stripped to the bone, stray items falling off over-filled carts and flooding the floor.

Waves of new customers spewed in. All with the same thought in mind.

More bodies fell to the ground. One after another.

There was no stopping the two-five.

What else did Milly need?

Apple cards. She grabbed a row of them.

There was no one at the cash registers. Just an open door into the messed up parking lot.

Milly ran.

She ran, loading all her stolen goods into her car, and drove off.

Milly left the raging flood of chaos behind and headed towards her apartment.

Bound to be her home for the forsseeable future.

To isolation. And Flompy.