This Is Not a Test (2025)

In December 1998, Sloane Price reads her suicide note in her bathtub when her abusive father calls her for breakfast. A frantic woman screams for help at the door as zombies overrun the neighborhood. One of them breaks through the living room window and bites Sloane's father before he kills it with a shard of glass. Shocked, Sloane flees the house, abandoning her infected father. On the streets, Sloane escapes a zombie by climbing into a neighbor's backyard, where she joins two high school classmates, Rhys Moreno and Cary Chen, in their search for sanctuary. They soon encounter classmates Grace and Trace Casper and their protective mother, who argues with Chen over safety measures. That night, the group sleeps together in an upstairs room of a house. Sloane remembers her older sister Lily, who once gifted her with a birthday letter in a yellow envelope, which Sloane tucked into the glove compartment of the family car to read later. Their father's abuse eventually drove Lily away.

The group escapes from the house after a zombie breaks in and attracts more. They flee to the local high school, where Mrs. Casper sacrifices herself to save the teens. Inside the building, Cary kills a zombified Principal Lively, and the group barricades themselves inside. In the gym, Trace angrily confronts Cary, blaming him for his mother's death, and they briefly fight. While waiting for rescue, the teens discover their English teacher, Mr. Baxter, sleeping in a closet with a gun, which the boys take for themselves. When Baxter awakes and is given food by the teens, they notice his unusual behavior and discover a bite wound on his arm. Despite his denial, they force him outside, but Baxter bites Cary before being ejected. As a precaution, Cary is isolated in the nurse's office.

Patrolling the school, Sloane finds a severely injured Baxter in a hallway. As Grace approaches, the now-zombified Baxter attacks. Trace fires Baxter's gun to stop him, but accidentally shoots Grace, who dies in Trace's arms. Trace blames Sloane and attacks her before Cary and Rhys restrain him. Later, Sloane visits Trace as he stays by Grace's body. Sloane apologizes and says she would have done the same for Lily. Trace gains Sloane's forgiveness before shooting himself in the head. Deciding they cannot remain in the school, Sloane, Rhys, and Cary head out to get a car and drive to a safe location broadcast on the radio. In one of the town's homes, Cary volunteers to distract the zombies outside while the others escape. He runs into the street and disappears down the road as zombies pursue him.

Sloane and Rhys return to her home, where they find an infected Lily in the basement; Sloane kills her with a crowbar to the head. Her father's body lies nearby, implying he had attacked and infected Lily. The pair takes the family car and prepares to drive to the safe area. As Rhys finishes details with the car, Sloane takes the yellow envelope from the glove compartment and reads Lily's warm words for her. When Rhys starts the engine, Sloane discards her suicide note, and they depart together.