After finishing a long shift as a nurse at the Milwaukee County Hospital, Ana Clark returns to her suburban neighborhood and her husband Luis. Caught up in a date night, they miss an emergency news bulletin. The next morning, Vivian, a girl from the neighborhood randomly enters their bedroom and bites Luis. Ana forces Vivian outside and tries to call for help. While she is dialing, Luis bleeds out, reanimates and attacks Ana. She flees in her car, crashes, and passes out. Upon waking she joins police sergeant Kenneth Hall, electronics salesman Michael Shaunessy, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant wife, Luda. They break into a nearby shopping mall and are attacked by a zombie security guard, who slightly bites Luda. Three guards — C.J., Bart, and Terry — make them surrender their weapons in exchange for refuge. They split into groups to secure the mall. On the roof, they see another survivor, Andy, who is stranded in his gun store across the zombie-infested parking lot. A broadcast from a television features a group of police officers burning the corpses of zombies and instructs the viewers to shoot zombies in the head to kill them quickly, prompting the survivors to heed this advice.