Episode 9: A New Day

The door to the warehouse burst open, and Ness and I flew in. Ness released an arrow into one of the walker’s heads as I swung my machete down on another. Robert and Reed came in after us, Reed with a limp in his leg. He grasped a metal bat, and Robert wielded his sword. We moved throughout the vast warehouse room, taking out walkers here and there until the room was clear.

                At the far side of the room was a sliding door that was closed. I raised my hand and motioned to the door. They followed me. I put my ear against it, hearing several sounds of moaning and shuffling. Robert went to the door handle and nodded to me as the three of us pulled out guns. Ness had a hunting rifle, I had a shotgun, and Reed had a handgun. Robert pulled the door open and then scooted back, pulling his assault rifle around with the strap across his shoulder.

                As soon as the door was open, walkers poured out, and we unloaded on them. Very soon, there were so many bodies that the walkers couldn’t help but trip over them. When the last one came out and was killed, I raised my fist and twirled my finger, signaling for Ness and Robert to close up all entrances. As they left, Reed and I took out knives and put down the walkers that were still twitching.

                Ten minutes later, Ness and Robert came back, driving the truck through the largest of openings. They got out, and Robert slid the garage-like door closed. He whipped out a chain and padlock, wrapping them around the door handle and clicking it into place. Ness walked up to me.

                “The rest of the warehouse is secure,” she said. “There were a few walkers in the rooms upstairs. There are some beds, blankets.”

                Reed spoke up, limping into the room.

                “I found some canned food in the kitchen. They should last us a few days.”

                “Good,” I replied.

I saw Robert walking back from the truck with four duffel bags.

“Okay, get your bag and head upstairs,” I said. “Get settled in.”

I walked up to Robert.

“Would you mind taking mine up for me? I’m going to check the perimeter one more time.”

“Need any help?” Ness asked.

“No, I’ll be fine alone.”

Ness and Robert exchanged worried glances.

“Guys,” I said. “I’m fine. Really.”

I turned and walked away. I understood their concern. I really did. It had been only two days since…But really, I was fine.

I closed the door behind me as I walked out. The warehouse was rather small compared to some of the others we had passed, but it was better than the McDonald’s and the bank we had stayed at. It had a main building and then a smaller attachment on the north side. Most of the windows were broken, and the brick walls were littered with graffiti. There were four doors on the building, one on each side. I noticed that the second floor was partial, opening to the main room of the warehouse. I rounded the west wall and then the north, but as I walked down the east wall, something caught my eye.

Close to the wall with tall grass all around was a little pond. I walked slowly towards it. The water was clear, but with a thin layer of algae growing at the top. I dropped to my knees. Scattered among the water were beautiful lilies.

I reached out with shuddering hands and picked up one from the water. I looked at its ridges, its pedals, its center, but all I could see was her face. She smiled at me, and I smiled back. Then suddenly her face became pale and bloody. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving. Sluggishly, her eyes opened, but it wasn’t her. Her eyes were grey and dead. She lunged at me, and I watched as another me put a bullet in her brain.

The tears came, but I choked them down. With the flower clenched in my hands, I tore it to shreds. Quickly, I stood, turned around, yelled, and slammed my fist into the brick wall. I didn’t even feel it, but the skin over my knuckles burst open. Blood ran down my arm. I was breathing heavily as I laid my head against the wall.

I heard a twig snap behind me, so I quickly wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

“Oh,” I said. “Hey.” Sniff. “I didn’t hear you.”

I turned around, and the walker tackled me. We fell backwards into the pond. It held me down beneath the water, but with all of my strength, I held it back. It was missing an arm, so I held the other in one hand and put my other hand against its neck. I shoved my knee against its abdomen.

I was running out of air. Water went up my nose. The walker thrashed around. In a mighty heave, I pushed us both out of the water with my legs. I landed on top of the water on the bank of the pond. I struggled beneath my, but I pinned it down. Its mouth snapped. Its fingers wrapped around my bicep.

I reached out and grabbed a large rock nearby. It was heavy, but I picked it up and brought it down hard on the walker’s head. Its skull burst open, but it still moved. I hit it again and again and again and again. Eventually, I was covered in blood, and the walker’s head was reduced to a pile of mush.

Rolling over, I laid my back against the brick wall, breathing heavily and burying my head in my hands.

Back inside, Ness wiped my face while Robert wrapped my nearly broken hand. They didn’t say anything, but I could feel their concern.

“Where’s Reed?” I finally asked.

“Upstairs,” Ness said. “Sleeping.”

“Already? It’s not even dark yet.”

“He’s had a really rough few days.”

I nodded. Reed was hurt, he lost people he was close to, he was only eleven, and this was his first time on the road.

“We should probably turn in, too,” I said.

We walked to the stairs, but Ness stopped me. As soon as Robert was out of earshot, she began.

“Hey, are you okay?” she immediately laughed and added, “What am I saying? Of course you’re not okay.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “I’m fine.”

I started to walk past, but she stopped me.

“Look, I know it’s hard, but we’re all feeling the loss of Lily, you know. You don’t have to—you can’t shut down like this.” I looked down. “We need you. Reed needs you…”

I was silent.

“You know he looks up to you,” she continued. “He thinks of you as his big brother.” I smiled. “And Lily as his big sister.”

I sniffed and put my hands in my pockets.

“Erik, you’re our leader whether you want to be or not, but you need to be strong. We depend on you, and I won’t let you fall apart.”

Her were logical, but they seemed impossible. I smiled at her anyway. She smiled too and gave me a hug. I wrapped my arms around her, and we stood there for the longest time.

When I woke up the next day, it was quiet. I went downstairs to find Reed and Ness eating canned vegetables. She smiled at me as I sat down. Reed handed me a can of green beans and a can opener. Robert came in several minutes later carrying a large cage containing a few trapped squirrels still alive and scurrying around. We went past us to the back room while raising the cage and saying, “dinner.”

After Ness was finished eating, she bent over and examined Reed’s leg. She pulled off the bandages and cleaned the wound. It was healing rather quickly, but Reed still winced whenever Ness touched it. When she was done, she wrapped his thigh with fresh bandages.

We were cleaning up our empty cans whenever thunder rocked the building and rain began to fall. The rain hitting the tin roof echoed loudly throughout the warehouse. Robert came back out and sat with us.

BOOM!

Reed jumped, then laughed at himself. Lightning flashed outside.

BOOM!

Robert opened his can of vegetables. Another flash.

BOOM!

The windows rattled. Ness brought out a book and began to read. Robert sharpened his sword once he was done eating. Reed sighed and laid his head down. Lightning flashed several times.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BAM!

BOOM!

Reed lifted his head, and I stood up.

“What was that,” I asked.

Ness gave me an odd look. “Um…thunder?”

“No. I think it was—”

BAM! BAM!

Now, they were on alert.

“Those were gunshots,” Robert stated.

Ness grabbed her bow and a couple of arrows from her quiver beneath the table. She went to the window and peered out.

“I don’t see anything,” she said.

I ran to the far wall and got my machete and gun from where I left them on the workbench. I stuck the gun in the holster at my thigh and went to the main doors.

“Reed,” I began. “Get your gun and stay clear of the windows. Get somewhere safe. Robert, go upstairs and use the scope on your rifle. Cover me, and keep a look out. Ness, lock all of the doors after I leave, and keep Reed safe.

“What are you doing?” she questioned.

“I’m going out there,” I stated. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back. When you hear four knocks on the door, you’ll know it’s me.”

I walked out the door before she could protest.

Outside, it was pouring rain. I could barely see twenty feet in front of me. Waves of rain smashed against me. I really reconsidered my choice to go out there.

BAM!

I heard the shot again and followed it. I came to a long, empty street that extended out in front of me. With the rain obstructing my view, I couldn’t see the end of the street, but I saw small shops lining the sidewalks, boarded up and abandoned. I heard an odd sound coming toward me and seconds later, I saw headlights breaking through the mist. An SUV pulled into view. It was heavily armored with scrap metal and was sporting a large machine gun through the sunroof on top.

It was going slow, as if it were searching for something. I made the quick decision to dash into one of the shops. The first door was locked. The second was as well. I opened the third just as the SUV passed. I closed it behind me and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, there were hands all over me, taking my gun and my machete. I was pushed to the ground. I turned my head and saw six figures in the small bookshop. A large Hispanic man had a shotgun pointed at me next to a smaller girl with blonde, wavy hair going down her shoulders. She held a handgun and both my gun and machete in the other. Her cool-grey eyes bore into me. Behind the two of them was a tall, Asian guy that looked to be about my age, standing in the corner. Near him was a man on the ground, unconscious. There was a little girl on her knees next to him and a woman hovering over him, pushing towels onto his chest.

My eyes fell back upon the girl with the gun pointed at my nose. She was beautiful. Her skin was flawless, and her golden hair fell perfectly around her.

“Mara,” the other woman said. “David’s losing a lot of blood.”

The girl looked back, then back at me. She sighed and looked over at the Hispanic man. “We don’t have time for this,” she said. The man nodded, and I saw her turn to the injured man just as the big guy hit me with the butt of his gun.

Everything went black.

Episode 8: Picking Up the Pieces

John watched Erik, Lily, Reed, Robert, and Ness drive away. He had seen Lily get bitten. He had seen Erik abandon Rebecca and Carly. Luckily, John had been there to make sure they had gotten to safety. He’d shot the walkers from the roof to clear them a path.

                Spencer was with him. Joshua, Brett, and a grief-stricken Cynthia had made in safely inside. The attackers were driving away by now, but the walkers were everywhere. He saw Logan running, and he decided to help him out.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

John shot the walkers that pursued Logan who made it safely inside. John stood and peered over at Spencer.

“Let’s get down there,” he said and headed to the ladder.

Inside, Brett was holding Cynthia back from Brett.

“You killed my son!” she kept screaming.

“I didn’t! No!” he kept replying.

“Whoa!” John shouted. “What’s going on here?”

“He killed my son!”

“I swear I didn’t!”

“LIAR!!!”

This time it took both John and Joshua to hold her back. Cynthia’s fury emanated her like heat from a light bulb.

“Let’s all just calm down,” John said.

Cynthia broke from his grip, but she didn’t go for Brett. Instead, she stormed off.

“Is this everyone?” Spencer asked.

John nodded.

“Where’s Erik?” Brett asked.

John frowned at the sound of his name.

“He, Ness, Lily, Robert, and Reed were running for a car last time I saw them,” Rebecca said.

“They made it out. Well…Lily didn’t,” John stated. “I’m not sure if they’re coming back.”

“What about Albert?” Logan asked. “Principal Berm?”

John shook his head to both of those.

“Ellis?”

“I saw him go down,” John replied. “It was a feeding frenzy.”

John saw Rebecca put her hands over Carly’s ears.

“We don’t need to talk about this anymore,” she said.

Joshua looked outside. Walkers were still all throughout the parking lot, but they were thinning out. Groups of walkers huddled in different spots of the parking lot, feeding on their kills.

“We should be able to leave later tomorrow,” Joshua said, “as long as we don’t draw much attention to ourselves tonight.”

“All right everyone,” John began. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Just head to the back of the store, and try to get some sleep.”

They all meandered to the back, but John stayed, looking out the window. He kept expecting Erik to drive up and get out, but he never did.

John woke up to a loud shriek. He launched himself off of the floor and grabbed his bat. He joined up with Spencer and ran through the halls. Near the electronics section of the store, they found Joshua standing over a dead walker with a knife in its head. Joshua’s left arm had a large chunk bit out of it.

“Oh my god,” Spencer breathed. “Joshua.”

Joshua looked up and backed away.

“It’s Brett,” he said, motioning towards the walker.

John knelt down and examined the body. It was definitely Brett, but as far as he could tell, there were no bites or scratches. The only injuries it had were a knife to the brain and a slice in its throat.

“No bites or scratches,” John said. “Someone slit his throat.”

“How is that possible?” Spencer asked? “How could he have turned without getting bit?”

“I’m not sure, but we have bigger things to worry about.” John eyed Joshua. “Joshua, go get Rebecca and have her wrap that up.”

Joshua nodded and turned away, beginning to walk away. John was quick. In a few quick motions, he pulled the knife out of Brett’s head, ran up to Joshua, and shoved it through his brain before Joshua even noticed what was happening.

Joshua sunk to the floor like a rag doll. John turned to Spencer, whose eyes were wide.

“Get Rebecca, Logan, Cynthia and Carly ready.”

“That’s it?” Spencer asked. “You’re not even going to try to find out who murdered Brett?”

“We don’t have time for that,” John said. “Those men are going to be back once these walkers move on. We need to leave, and I’d rather face a bunch of walkers than intelligent men with guns.”

Spencer eyed John fearfully

John raised his arms. “GO!”

Cynthia got up from her sleeping bag, and she walked towards the front of the store. She had grabbed the keys from John’s bag, and she left her bloody knife by her pillow. Rebecca, Carly, and Logan were still asleep.

Cynthia hadn’t slept all night. She had waited for the opportunity, and she took it when Brett wandered off to the electronics section of the store. She snuck up behind him and slit his throat. Then, she went back to her bed before anyone had even noticed her absence.

She approached the front doors of Target and stuck the key in the lock. She had nothing left to live for. Her whole family was dead. Her son had been shot by the one person she had found comfort in, and she had just brutally slaughtered him. She did nothing to contribute to their pathetic group. She had nothing.

She pulled the chains off the doors and threw them open.

Walkers immediately poured into the store, and she let them. They bit into her neck, her shoulders, her leg, and her arms.

She cried out as they ate her alive.

John, Logan, Spencer, Rebecca, and Carly all heard the screams. They ran to the front of the store to find a horde of walkers surging through the store. Many of them were crowded around a single body.

“Cynthia! No!” Rebecca called. She picked up Carly, and they ran back deeper into the store. John, Logan and Spencer followed.

“Go to the back door! Go through the storage!” John commanded.

They ran as fast as they could through a set of swinging doors to the storage area in the back. They weaving through shelves until they finally found an exit sign. Outside, walkers had not yet reached the alleyway where they were. They circled around the store to the parking lot. Most of the walkers had either moved on or were inside Target. Having no trouble getting to the large white van, John took the wheel, and Logan got in the front seat next to him. Everyone else got in the back. John roared the engine and drove forward. The walkers growl and snarled and pounded against the van, but John pushed on to the road. It was a bumpy and bloody ride.

Suddenly a figure ran out in the middle of the road. It was a limping man, covered in blood and guts. He was waving his arms and shouting: “Help! Help!”

“Who is that?” Rebecca asked.

“That’s one of the men that attacked us,” Spencer said. “I remember his face.”

“What should we do?”

They were getting closer.

“Run him over,” Logan suggested in a dark voice.

“What—?” Spencer began just as John floored it with a smile on his face and insanity in his eyes.

The man’s body flew over the top of the van. He landed on the concrete as they kept driving. If he didn’t die from that, the walkers converging certainly made sure of it.

John never looked back.

They drove down the highway, heading east. Silence was blanketed over the van. Rebecca held Carly in her lap, eyeing Logan and John in the front nervously.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Carly chirped.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” John said. “I ain’t stoppin’”

“Oh, come on,” Rebecca said. “It won’t take that long.”

“No.”

“Really, man?” Spencer pleaded. “I know you’re trying, but we don’t even know if we’ll catch up with Erik.”

John shot Spencer an angry look in the mirror.

“You think I’m going after Erik? I’m trying to get away from him. He obviously left us all behind, and all he did was get people killed. We’re all better off without him! Besides, without me, he’s probably dead by now! I’m doing what’s best for all of us.”

He slammed on the brakes and turned around, looking at Carly.

“Just get out and pee.”

Episode 7: Fear the Living

        I bolted down the ladder and ran through Target waking everybody up like I was Paul Revere. I went to the front doors. By that time, the cars were all pulling into the parking lot. Everyone woke up quickly, gathering weapons and belongings. Soon, they were crowding around me, peering out the windows toward this potential threat.

        With eighteen of us against too many of them, we didn’t stand a chance.

        Lights flash across our faces as the cars pulled up to the entrance. Twenty or so men got out of the cars carrying assault rifles.

        “All right everybody,” John whispered loudly, appearing out of nowhere. “Get your stuff together and fast. Spencer, Gabriel and I will go to the roof and try to talk to them. Ness, you lead Lily, Cynthia, Reed, Berm, and Carly out the back door. Try to sneak around them and get to a car. Everyone else, get ready to fight if necessary.”

        Everyone nodded in agreement and scampered about. I faltered. After earlier today, I figured John would be done giving orders, but now I was just confused. However, I put it out of my mind. Now was not the time to debate leadership.

        We were armed and ready to go in less than two minutes. John, Spencer, and Gabriel had made it to the roof and started talking just as men started tugging at the locked doors. We were ready to burst out of the doors at any second. I couldn’t hear anything, but I watched all of the men point their weapons towards the roof simultaneously. One of them shouted but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. This went on for a while. John would shout something, and the man would shout something back.

        It looked like thins would go smoothly. Even some of the men started to back away. I thought maybe we could avoid this. Then the man aimed his rifle and took a shot at the roof. All of the men outside took cover from return gunfire as Gabriel’s body fell from the roof to the concrete below.

        “NO!!!” Albert shouted behind me. He ran past me and blasted through the doors, opening fire upon our attackers. We all followed. Most of the men took cover from the incessant gunfire behind their cars, but still a few were hit by whizzing bullets.

        I took cover with Brett and Sam behind an old carcass of a car. Brett looked so scared; his hands shook, and Sam looked angrily determined. Even for a teenager, he had a look that I hope never to see again. It was one of hate—as if he was willing to execute every one of these men—and one of carelessness, like he had nothing to live for anyway.

        I looked around. Ellis, Rebecca, and Joshua were behind another car. Robert and Logan were behind an overturned metal bench. Albert’s lifeless body was in a heap in front of the Target doors. A bullet whizzed right past my head, shattering the glass door behind me and raining shards down upon us.

        Sam leaned over to Brett. “Cover me!”

        He snuck around the corner of the car and advanced towards one of the men. The man noticed him and ran cowardly back behind a car. As he went, Sam stood upright and fired round after round. Brett, too, stood and shot at the others to keep them away from Sam who had just blown the guy’s brains out when—

        “BRETT!!!”

        I looked to my right and saw Lily and Ness leading Cynthia, Principal Berm, Carly, and Reed towards them. What were they doing? I could only guess that they hadn’t found a way around the enemy.

        Brett looked over, smiled, and lowered his gun slightly.

        “Cynthia?”

        BAM!!!

        I had just enough time to see the accidental bullet leave Brett’s gun and ricochet off the top of the car we were behind before I blinked. When I opened my eyes, Sam was falling like a rag doll with a bullet hole in the back of his head.

        “Sam! NO!” Cynthia cried.

        “Oh God!” Brett exclaimed.

        He backed away from the body just as Cynthia knelt beside it.

        A spray of bullets hit the side of the car, and we all ducked. Lily and Ness were behind the car beside me.

        “We couldn’t get to a car,” Ness said.

        “Yeah I figured,” I replied.

        “Well we need to get out of here.”

        “What about the supplies?” Lily asked. “We still haven’t loaded most of what we’ll need into the cars.”

        “There’s not a lot in the cars already, but there’s enough,” I said. “The only problem is getting to them.”

        I peered over at the ready cars all the way across the parking lot.

        “We’re trapped here for now.”

        That’s when we heard a loud crashing sound coming from Home Depot. The front doors had shattered, and walkers began to pour into the parking lot towards the commotion.

        “No,” I said. “No, John said he would put wood over it…”

        “Biters!” I heard one of the looters shout.

        The men scrambled. Some of them started shooting at the walkers. Some of them continued to shoot at us. And a few of them got into their cars and fled.

        “Well…that’s lucky,” Ness commented.

        “Umm…how so?” Lily asked.

        “She’s right,” I said, taking the moment to reload my gun. “We have to make a run for it, and our enemy is preoccupied.” I cocked the gun. “Just follow me.”

        I stood up and shot a looter who was moving towards us. “Let’s go!”

        Lily, Ness, and Reed followed closely behind me. Then Berm and his little girl, Carly came after them. I saw Brett tugging on Cynthia’s shoulder, but she would not leave her son.

        “This is your fault,” I heard her say softly.

        Brett looked over at me solemnly. “You go on ahead.”

        I nodded, and we were off. We went to an overturned car, dodging bullets. There we found Rebecca shooting oncoming walkers and Robert ramming his sword through a looter’s chest.

        “Come on! We’re making a run for the cars!” I shouted to them. Robert nodded and pulled out his bloody sword from the dead man.

        “What about John and Spencer on the roof?” asked Rebecca.

        I remained silent. To be honest, I didn’t want to save John. He was the reason the walkers were out here. I looked down at Carly, who was hiding behind her dad’s leg.

        “We’ll come back for them,” I said, “but we need to get her to safety first.”

        “Okay,” Rebecca agreed.

        I peered round the edge of the car we were behind. I could see our cars waiting for us on the other side of the parking lot. There weren’t any more possible barriers to hide behind, but the looters were falling back. Unfortunately, the walkers were taking their place. They were everywhere. I saw Ellis among them with and assault rifle, mowing down walkers.

        “Ready?” I asked everyone. The seven of them looked at me with scared and determined eyes.

        "Okay, on three.”

        They nodded.

        “One.”

        Ness nocked an arrow, and Robert readied his sword.

        “Two.”

        Lily wiped a tear, and Berm picked up his daughter.

        “THREE!”

        Chaos broke out immediately. We burst forth, and walkers spotted us. As we sprinted, I hacked off a walker’s head.

        BAM! BAM!

        Rebecca shot two in the head. I saw an arrow hit a walker right beside me. Reed ran past and put quickly put down three walkers. Suddenly, Robert was beside me, lopping off a walker’s head and left arm in one swing.

        “AHHHHH!!!” It was Ellis, about 100 feet away, and a walker was biting into his shoulder. He threw the walker off of him and started unloading bullets in all directions.

        “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

        Some of the bullets whizzed past us, and we ducked. I saw Reed fall. I heard a shout behind me.

        “Daddy!”

        I turned and saw Principal Berm on the ground. Rebecca was picking up Carly and shooting walkers. She tried to move toward us, but she was cut off. She began to move back towards Target.

        Ness ran past me.

        “Come on! Let’s go!” she called to me. She nocked two arrows on her bowstring and let them fly, hitting two separate walkers right between the eyes.

        Robert swooped in and picked up Reed with one arm. Lily grabbed my hand. I looked into her eyes. She was terrified, but she gave me a reassuring smile.

        “I love you,” she said softly, and I kissed her.

        We turned and started to sprint towards the cars. Walkers lunged at us, and we dodged around them. She clutched my hand so hard it hurt.

        BAM! BAM! BAM!

        Three more walkers went down. Ness, Robert, and the injured Reed were already at a silver truck.

        “We’re almost there Lily!” I called.

        Suddenly I felt her lurch back. She screamed at the top of her lungs. I turned in horror as a walker bit into her neck.

        “NOOOO!!!!! LILY!!!”

        BAM!

        I shot the walker and caught her before she fell. Blood was already everywhere. Tears flowed down her face.

        “No…no no no no no…please no!” I pleaded to I don’t know who as I cradled her in my arms.

Walkers were approaching, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to live without her. I held her closer. A walker reached for me.

        BAM! BAM!

        The walker’s head burst, and Robert appeared. He wielded a pistol in one hand and his sword in the other. He hacked and slashed and shot all the walkers around us.

        “Move! Now!” he shouted.

        I nodded and picked up Lily in my arms. Her breathing was slowing, and her blood was all over the both of us. I ran to the truck with Robert fighting his way after me. Ness helped me get Lily into the truck bed, and Robert climbed into the driver’s seat.

        Reed was awake, lying in the truck bed beside us, and Ness was wrapping bandages over his left thigh. A bloody bullet was next to them. Lily had her eyes open. She placed a hand against m teary face. A weak smile spread across her lips.

        “It’s okay.” She said it so softly I could barely hear her. “It’s okay, Erik. It’s okay. It’s—”

        Her last breath left her lips, and her eyes glazed over.

        “No no…no,” I breathed.

        I hugged her body close and cried as we drove off into the night. 

Episode 6: Disease Control

            Robert and I walked in front of the glass doors of Home Depot. Walkers pounded against the glass, desperately and thoughtlessly. The cracks in the glass had been growing since we shut those doors a week ago.

            “We’ll need to leave soon,” Robert stated. “That glass won’t last another couple of days.”

“I’ll ask John to put some wood over it later today. That will buy us some time” I said. “How are the repairs coming along on the cars?”

Robert and I walked towards the edge of the parking lot as far as we could put them from the store; we didn’t want the noise to bring walkers to our doorstep.

“The truck you brought in seems fine,” Robert said. “It just needed some gas. The station wagon is a little iffy. I’m not sure if it’ll run yet. Albert’s working on it now. Spencer’s taking some of the parts from that school bus you went back for and is putting them in that van.”

He pointed to a black van where Spencer was working under the hood. Rebecca stood close by with a shotgun. Several feet away, Albert was underneath a wood-paneled station wagon, and Ness stood on the hood with her bow at the ready. Her quiver on her back was packed full of new arrows she had made from the supplies we had recovered. I waved at her, and she waved back.

Robert and I turned and headed back towards target.

“Is everybody all packed up?” I asked

“Almost.”

“We should start putting our stuff in the cars as soon as possible.”

“I’ll go tell John.”

“Don’t worry, I got it. I need to talk to him about reinforcing the home depot doors anyway.”

Robert nodded and walked off as I stood in the middle of the Target parking lot. Things were going well, I mean, as well as they could be. We were taking control of the situation and making the best of it. We hadn’t seen a walker in a few hours which was nice. Everybody was pitching in and helping out, except John, who had been strangely quiet for a while. I had unofficially named Robert as my number two since Logan had been avoiding me as well, but that didn’t bother me as much.

At the far edge of the parking lot I noticed two figures approaching and walking quickly. After a while I recognized them as Lily and Reed. They came to a stop before me, breathing heavily and sharing worried glances.

“Where were you two?” I asked, concerned.

“Well…we…uh…we were scouting for some more…um…cars, and we saw…we saw…” Lily was openly flustered.

“We saw another group across the highway,” Reed stated.

I started dumbly as Lily nodded her head and Reed looked up at me with wide eyes. I didn’t know what to do. What approach should I take? Defensive? Accepting? Paranoid?

“Did you get a good look at them?”

“They had some pretty heavy weapons and several cars,” Lily replied.

“How many people?”

“Fifteen? Twenty? I’m not sure. We left pretty quickly.”

I let that sink in.

“What are we gonna do?” Reed asked.

The truth was: I didn’t know what to do.

“You guys go get something to eat” I told them. “I’m going to go talk to John.”

I found him in the alcohol aisle of Target, drinking a case of beer and leaning against a shelf. He stared off into space, mindlessly taking swigs every two seconds. The sight only made me angry. It only reminded me of my dad and the way he drank himself to death.

“What are you doing?!” I shouted.

He looked over resentfully.

“What does it look like?” He took another swig.

“It looks like you’re trying to kill yourself!” I kicked away the almost empty case of beer. “You need to stop. There are people looking up to you for God’s sake. What do you think they’ll do if they find you here, like this? You’re our leader!”

His eyes bore into mine, and I could feel his anger.

“Am I?” he asked.

“Of course you are—”

He moved, quick as a snake, shoving me against the shelf and pushing his forearm into my throat. I could smell the liquor on is breath.

“Don’t patronize me! I’m onto your little games you little twerp!”

“John, what are you—?”

“SHUT UP! Don’t tell me I’m your leader and then go around ordering everyone around!”

I punched him in the ribs with my knuckles and kneed him in the stomach. He fell to the floor and sat there for a few seconds, stunned.

“You know why I’m ordering everyone around?” I asked him. “Because you’re here getting drunk. You don’t want to live? Fine, but don’t think for a second that I’m going to let you drag us down with you.”

I began to walk away.

“Whatever you say oh fearless leader!” he called after me in slurred speech.

That night, it was my turn for guard duty. I sat, perched, on the top of the target building. Albert was close-by with him rifle.

“Night nice,” I said.

“Mm” he replied.

So much for conversation.

I made another patrol around the roof, thinking. There were two more of us now. Ness and Robert had proven themselves, but we were still so small. We couldn’t afford to lose any more people. When I got back around, I sat it my folding chair and opened the third Harry Potter book. So far, it was my favorite.

“What is that?” I heard Albert ask.

“It’s The Prisoner of Azkaban. Ness recommended it.”

“No not that. That!”

I followed where he was pointing and stood up. The book fell from my hands onto the dirty roof. In the distance, I saw several pairs of lights. As they got closer, I saw guns, lots of them.

They were armed to the teeth, and where were they going?

Target.

Episode 5: Settling In

Ness threw me the duffel bag of weapons.

“The place is really open,” she explained, “so we need to be careful and quiet. I don’t know what’s in there, but it wouldn’t be hard for a biter to sneak up on someone who’s not paying attention.”

I pulled out my machete and strapped the sheath to my thigh. Then I took out my pistol.

“No guns,” Ness stated. “Too loud. Also, I’ll only be able to take a small group. We’ve got to be as stealthy as possible.”

I nodded and put my gun back in the bag.

“I’ll take no more than four,” Ness added.

John stood up and walked over. “All right, well, Erik this was your idea, you should go. Logan, you too. Also, Ellis and Rebecca. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.”

Logan, Ellis, and Rebecca dug knives, bats, and metal pipes out of the bag. Robert stood in he background, eyeing John suspiciously. Lily gave me a kiss goodbye before we walked out the doors. Ness led the way with her bow at the ready. Logan and Ellis followed behind with metal bats at the ready. Rebecca and I took the rear.

There were only a few walkers in the parking lot today. Ness fired an arrow that hit a walker right between the eyes. One walker approached me, and I swung my machete, slicing its head in half. We killed a few more as we came to the doors of Home Depot.

They were closed, but they slid open easily. Inside it was dark. Very dark. High shelves were disorganized. Some were knocked over. Items were spilled everywhere ranging from  tape measurers, to paint cans, to door knobs, to screwdrivers. It looked as though the place had been looted, but only lightly. We waited, silently, for several minutes, listening.

Finally, I relaxed. “Okay, Logan, you and Ellis take those shelves over there. Rebecca, you take the front counters, Ness, you and I will take these shelves over here. What we’re looking for is…well…anything. If you think we can use it, take it; specifically tools, axes, duct tape, tarps, survival gear, or batteries.”

They nodded.

“If you hear anything,” I continued, “run.”

We separated on that note and carried our duffel bags to our positions. Ness kept her bow at the ready as I went through the shelves. I found an empty flashlight, nuts and bolts, a wrench, nails, and…

“Oh yes!” I said, and Ness shushed me. I smiled as I picked up a 24-pack of D-batteries. I quickly shoved two batteries into the flashlight, and it flickered to life. I put the rest in my bag. “With this, we could go deeper into the store.”

Ness agreed, still tense with an arrow nocked on her bowstring.

In the shelves near the back of the store, I found a toolbox, a hatchet, another pack of batteries, and a pair of bolt cutters. I also found a box of long, thin, wooden rods.

“Hey, Ness,” I said and showed her the rods before putting them in the bag. “You could use these for new arrows.”

She smiled and lowered her bow when we heard it: a steady moan, joined by a chorus of others. I whipped my flashlight around, peering into the hallways. The alarm bells in my head were deafening.

Ness and I crept around the corners. It was pitch black, and I wouldn’t have been able to see anything without the flashlight. We came across a dead body, bitten and picked clean. We found several more down the hallway, and we went around the next corner.

“Ungh!!!”

The horde of walkers moaned and moved slowly, but once they saw us, they advanced.

“Run!” I yelled, hoping Ellis or Logan would hear it too, if they weren’t dead already.

We ran as fast as we could, zigging and zagging through the hallways. We would often be cut off and forced to change direction. They were everywhere. It was as if we had rung the dinner bell, and walkers had come from everywhere. Ness had said before they got here, this place had been swarmed by walkers. How could I have been so stupid?

We rounded a corner, past a model of a kitchen, and ran into Ellis and Logan. They were startled and raised their blood-covered bats. Once they realized it was us, they relaxed, and we continued running. We were faster than the pursuing herd, but we needed to find the exit. Finally, I saw the glow of light. I ran for it. The others followed. Walkers reached for us, but they were too slow. Rebecca was at the glass doors, jamming a knife into a walker’s brain.

“Open the doors!” I screamed frantically. Rebecca heard me and slid the glass door open.

We ran through, and Rebecca slid the doors closed quickly. The herd wasn’t at the doors yet, but they were close.

“Here!” I heard Logan yell. He handed me a chain and a padlock, and I wrapped it tightly around the door handles. She clicked the padlock into place just and the herd hit the glass.

They hit hard. The glass cracked, the chains were strained, and we readied our weapons for a fight.

But it held.

We waited for several long minutes, but the glass held. We were safe.

For now.

While Ness led Logan and Ellis around to lock up the other entrances to Home Depot, Rebecca and I hauled the new supplies back to Target. Rebecca was in her twenties, very pretty with short brown hair always in a ponytail and dazzling green eyes. She had been one of the soldiers guarding the school when it fell along with Joshua and Samson. They had never talked about what happened that day, but considering those three were the only survivors, I can only imagine how horrible it must have been.

We got to the front doors, and Robert let us in. I handed off the supplies to him and was greeted by Reed.

“Hey bud,” I said to him. I looked around.

“Where’s Lily?” I asked.

“I think I saw her looking at clothes,” he replied.

I smiled at him and walked past.

Lily was sitting against a wall with some shirts in his lap. Her nose was red, and she was looking down. Her brown hair was hanging loosely. I sat down next to her and placed my hand in hers, but she pulled it away.

“What’s wrong?” She sniffled. Her hands were running over a silk shirt.

“I saw Cynthia kiss Brett today,” she said softly, and before I could say anything, she continued. “How could she do that? We only buried her husband and the rest of her family two days ago.”

“Well,” I said, “some people cope in different ways.” I looked at her, but something wasn’t adding up. “What’s really bothering you?”

She faltered.

“It’s just,” she began, “we’re fooling ourselves into being happy. I mean, how can we be happy? We’re eventually gonna become one of those things. It’s all just hopeless.”

Fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. I reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Hey.” I turned her face toward me. “You love me right?”

I noticed a slight curve in her lips as she nodded.

“And are you happy with me right here, right now?”

Her smile grew, and she nodded again. I smiled too.

“Then there’s hope.” I leaned in and kissed her. “We’re gonna make it. It’s not hopeless.”

We hugged and kissed again.

It’s not hopeless.

Right?

Episode 4: Death and Target

        “…and may they rest in peace.”
        We were all there, standing in front of eleven wooden crosses pegged into the ground in front of a bank. Cynthia was on her knees, weeping openly. Brett, a tall and skinny man with long brown hair, stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder. Cynthia’s fourteen-year-old son was several feet away with his arms crossed and an angry look on his face. Berm sat on the grass with his daughter crying in his shoulder. He was trying not to cry, but I kept seeing tears roll down his cheeks. Spencer stood near the back, expressionless. I stood beside Lily with my hand in hers. She was crying too, but I wasn’t.
        The only thing I could think was: what next? I couldn’t think about the dead when I was so focused on the living. Where would we go? What would we do? The bus had broken down right there in front of the bank, so John figured it was a good of a place as any to do the ceremony. Our destination was Target. Lily had suggested it.
        “If any place would have any supplies, they would be there, right?” she had said.
        Without the bus, we would have to make the journey on foot. But it was hard enough just standing there at the funeral with all of the guilt on my shoulders. I had decided we would leave. I had come up with the plan. I hadn’t shut that classroom door tight enough. And now, eleven people were dead because of me. It was my fault, and I knew it. John knew it too. He kept giving me cold looks and intimidating stares.
        Albert, who had given the ceremony, closed his little Bible and nodded at John.
        “All right everyone,” he called. “We’re heading out in ten minutes. Get you gear together, and make sure you’re armed.”
        Slowly, everyone migrated away from the crosses until all that was left was Spencer. I saw him kneel next to his brother’s grave and mutter quietly. I didn’t know much about Spencer, only that he had owned a gun shop with Daniel. They came to the school one day a few weeks in, and they just gave us much-needed weapons. After we had accepted them in, they immediately started to contribute to the group.
        Lily and I grabbed our packs stepped in front of the group. I noticed a small boy, Reed was his name I think, struggling with his backpack. I walked over and helped him fasten his backpack.
        “Thanks,” he said.
        “What’re you doing out here alone?” Lily asked. “Who’s supposed to be taking care of you?”
        Reed looked down. “Well, Roger used to take care of me and Chloe, but now they’re…”
        We were silent. John began to walk, everyone followed him.
        “Well…” Lily said. “Why don’t you stay with us? We’ll take care of you.”
        She smiled down at him and took his hand. “Come on.”
        I gave Lily a look as she went past. Why would she do that? We can’t take care of a kid. We’re only seventeen! She gave me look back that said, shut up. We’re doing this.
        “How old are you Reed,” I asked.
        “Eleven,” he replied. “How old are you?”
        “Seventeen.”
        “That’s a cool sword.”
        “It’s a machete.”
        “Oh.”
        “Yup.”
        Why was I so bad with kids? I can’t even keep a conversation going! What was I supposed to do? I never had any siblings or any younger cousins. I didn’t how to deal with an eleven-year-old. Luckily, Lily did. They talked and talked, and I was silent.
        We were walking for about ten minutes when we came across our first few walkers. They came out of nowhere.
        “No guns!” John called.
        I pulled out my machete and ran up to a walker. It lunged at me, and I shoved my blade through its face. I whirled around and decapitated another.  I saw John kill his own walker and Spencer kill his.
        “Erik!” came Lily’s voice.
        I turned and saw a walker coming toward her and Reed. It gnashed its teeth and reached out to them. I rushed forward with my blade raised, but Reed beat me to it. He whipped out a knife and rammed it up into the walker’s forehead. The walker fell forward, and Reed had to dodge out of the way or it would have fallen on him. There was blood splattered all over his face.
        I smiled. Maybe we did have some things in common.
        About a half an hour later, we walked onto the Target parking lot. Trash was everywhere, there were ten to fifteen cars parked in various places, and there were only a few walkers here and there. The whole place was quiet. We approached the front doors of the Target store, and the first thing I noticed was the thick, heavy chains and wood plating on the doors.
        John walked up to the chains and tugged on them. They didn’t budge, and he turned to everyone else.
        “All right, everyone. Be on the lookout while we try to get these chains off.”
        I walked up to the chained doors, and Reed followed close behind me. There were two sets of door with chains with a padlock on both of them.
        “Bolt cutters aren’t going to work on these,” I said to John. “They’re too thick.”
        John looked over, but he didn’t say anything. I leaned in and put my ear to the door, and after a few seconds, I heard something move.
        “There’s someone inside,” I said and backed quickly away. I pulled out my gun, and Reed pulled out his knife.
        “What?!” john pulled out his gun as well. “How many did you—”
        Suddenly, a door burst open about twenty feet away. It was the same color as the building, so I didn’t even see it. A girl rushed out. She wore a black tank top, cargo pants, boots, and a quiver full of arrows. She held a simple bow about three and a half feet long. She looked to be around my age and about 5’10”. She had dark black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and caramel colored skin.
        Just as she nocked an arrow and stepped forward, the door to the shoe store on the opposite side, between the Target and Home Depot opened, and another figure stepped out. This one was male, and he was big. He was about 6’2 with big arms, broad shoulders, and a thick neck. He had a hunting rifle strapped to his back. In his hands, he held a 3 foot long, medieval looking, double-edged sword upright and ready. He looked older than me, maybe in his twenties, with short, light brown hair and beard stubble. He had fierce eyes that made me think he could tear us all apart.
        We were surrounded.
        “Drop you weapons!” shouted the girl.
        “Like hell we will!” john yelled and raised his M16.
        I don’t know why I stopped him, but I did.
        “Wait!” I shouted as I placed a hand on his gun and forced it down. I looked at the girl and walked forward. “Look. We just need a place to stay. We’ve lost a lot of people recently, and we have to leave our home. Now, I know it’s crazy, but please. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”
        A few seconds passed. She and the guy shared a look. She looked back at me.
        “We’ll let you in, but your weapons stay with us. We don’t want any trouble once you’re inside.”
        I nodded and slowly put my gun and machete on the ground. I looked back and saw everyone else doing the same. Soon everyone’s weapons were on the ground, and the girl kept her bow aimed at us as the guy went around, shoving our weapons into a duffel bag. Once he was done, the girl relaxed and put the arrow back in her quiver.
        “Robert,” she called. “Open the doors.”
        The big guy named Robert stuck his sword into the sheathe at his side and pulled out a ring of keys. He walked towards the doors.
        “We’re not actually going in there with them unarmed are we?!” Ellis asked. “There could be more people waiting in there to ambush us!”
        I looked at the girl, but I couldn’t see anything that would lead me to believe they were going to ambush us. In fact, I saw something else.
        “It’s just you two isn’t it?” I asked.
        She was silent. I studied her closely. Something about her looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
        “We don’t even know these…these…kids!” Ellis shouted.
        “I do,” I blurted out, without even realizing it yet. I walked to the girl, and she took a defensive step back. Suddenly, it hit me. “We went to school together.”
        She looked at me as if she just realized it as well.
        “Yeah,” I continued. “We went to the same elementary and middle school.”
        She blinked and nodded slowly.
        Her name came to my lips.
        “Jen—”
        “Stop!” she interrupted. Her eyes went from curious to stone cold. “That’s not me anymore. I’m not the person you remember.”
        She stepped in close, looking up at me fiercely.
        “I’m not a child. So don’t you dare underestimate me…or I will kill you.” She softened just a little and began to walk away but stopped. “Call me Ness.”
        She walked away toward the doors that Robert had just opened.

        Luckily, there wasn’t an ambush waiting for us inside. Instead, we found a Target store untouched by anyone, probably since this all started, besides Robert and Ness. They truly were the only ones there.
        We took our gear and set up in the outside furniture section of the store. Reed, Lily and I set up our sleeping bags in the gazebo. John took a couch. Gabriel and Spencer took a rug, and the kids all the kids took a fluffy recliner. Everyone else spread out on the floor.
        Logan, Spencer and I brought over a bunch of food from the other side of the store. All of the dairy products, frozen food, fruit and vegetables had all gone bad, but there were still chips, soda, water, canned food, and candy. Glorious candy. I grabbed a bunch of boxes of Reese’s Pieces and stuffed them in my backpack. They were my favorite. I also grabbed some Red Vines for Lily and a box of Cherry Coke for Reed, Lily, and I to share.
        That night, I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the books section of the store after everyone was asleep. There, I found Ness with a candle, reading a book. She looked up for a moment then went back to her book.
        “Hey,” she said.
        “Um, hey,” I replied, moving to the bookshelves.
        I hadn’t read a book since I read The Great Gatsby in English class. There were books at our camp, but I never found the time to read them. I was always practicing my shooting, going for supply runs, or hanging out with Lily.
        “Erik?” came Ness’s voice. I turned to her.
        “Yeah?”
        “I’m sorry about earlier today.”
         I shrugged and went back to looking at books. “It’s fine. I get it. You have to look intimidating to the rest of my group. Good job by the way.”
        She didn’t say anything, but I saw her smile.
        “I do have some questions for you though.” I continued as I sat down across from her. “Why would you let us in? Why would you have given all of this stuff when we could have just killed you for it?”
        “Well why didn’t you kill us, Erik? You could have, but you didn’t.”
        I shrugged. “That’s just not the way I prefer to deal with things.”
        Ness sighed.
        “I let you in because Robert and I used to be part of a bigger group that was paranoid of everyone. They never helped anyone we came across. They never…cared for anyone else or each other. When the biters came, no one helped each survive. It became every man for himself. They even abandoned the kids. Because of that, almost everyone was killed.” She paused. “I helped you today because I guess I just hope, if the time comes, you’ll do the same for me.”
 I didn’t know what to say. I looked down at the floor and then back up at her.
        “Thank you,” I said. She nodded. “Here’s my second question: what kind of supplies are at Home Depot?”
        “When Robert and I found this place, there were walkers everywhere. Another guy had let us into this place. He had been manager and locked this place up from everyone else from the start.”
        “Where is the guy now?”
        “Dead. Anyway, he had chained up Target but not Home Depot. I’m not sure what’s left, and last time I checked, it was full of biters. But that was a few weeks ago.”
        I thought for a few moments.
        “If you’re up for it,” I suggested, “could you take a few of us in there tomorrow? To see what we can find?”
        “Sure,” she replied
        I smiled.
        “One last question.” I pulled a book off the shelf. “Is this any good?”
        “Never read it.”
        “Why?”
        “Because it’s a part of a series that isn’t finished, and I know that it most likely will never be finished. It’s depressing.”
        A few silent seconds passed until she picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
        “Here.” She handed the book to me. “This one’s good.”
        I took the book, smiled, muttered a thank you, and stood up. I went back to the gazebo where Lily and Reed were sleeping. I laid down between them and slept more soundly than I had in a long long time.

Episode 3: Escape

        “Oh yeah. That gunshot really set them off. There are tons of them.” Daniel poked his head out of the steel trapdoor. Logan, John, Albert, Spencer, Lily, Gabriel and I crowded around. “They’re all crowded around the door,” Daniel continued.
        “How did they get up here?” Lily asked.
        Daniel shrugged. “When there’s a will there’s a way I guess.” He looked at John. “It’s gonna be a while before we can make another run for supplies.”
        “But we’ll be okay right?” Albert asked. “I mean, we have enough food up here to last right?”
        John and I exchanged a look.
        “We’re fine on water,” John began. “But we’ll be out of food in a few days.”
        Logan stepped forward. “But if we could get down to the kitchens—”
        “Even if we got to the kitchen, it won’t matter,” I said. “We only have enough food down there for maybe a few more weeks. I hate to say it, but this place may have run dry.”
        Everyone looked over at me.
        “What are you suggesting, Erik?” John asked.
        I sighed. “I’m saying…we need to leave.”
        Everyone was silent, giving me looks of shock and worry. I saw Albert turn and walk to the roof’s edge. Daniel climbed up out of the trapdoor.
        “You can’t be serious!” Daniel said. “There’s no way we’ll be able leave right now. Even if we got through those walkers, what will we do then?”
        “We can drive away in those,” came Albert’s voice.
        We all rushed over and looked down. There, in the parking lot down below were two yellow buses. There were only a few walkers wandering the lot, and the buses seemed untouched.
        “If we can get past those walkers, we could get to those buses and drive away,” Gabriel said. “Everyone could fit.”
        “It’s perfect,” I said.
        “What?” John asked. “Why do we have to leave? This is our home. If we can get to the kitchens, we can survive longer, and if we can go on more supply runs, we’ll be fine.”
        “No. We won’t,” I replied. “How long do you think we can last on just supply runs? We’ve already gone through most houses around here. Other places have already been picked clean. We can’t survive here!”
        Silence. John sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He walked up to me and got close.
        “Fine,” he breathed. “But just know that I will not be responsible if something goes wrong. This one’s on you.”
        He backed off and walked away. I shuddered and sighed.
        “Okay…well.” My eyes fell on Daniel and Spencer. “How many guns do you have from your gun shop?”
        Daniel shrugged. “About a dozen or so.”
        “Good.” I started to walk away. “Get a gun in everyone’s hand if you can, and tell them to pack everything up. We’re getting out of here!”

        It wasn’t too long after that when everyone was armed and ready. The tents, any remaining food, and the water were all packed up and in various backpacks. The women and children huddled together while the men with guns encircled them. At the front of the pack, John stood with his M16 and baseball bat.
        “All right everyone, listen up!” John yelled. “The hallways are going to be tight. Only advance in groups of four or five. Wait at the end of each hallway for the rest of the group before moving on. The people who are unarmed should only follow once the hallway is clear. For those of you with guns, fire only when necessary. We don’t have much ammo, so we can’t mow down every walker we see. Push as many as many as you can back into the classrooms then close the doors. Understood?”
        Everyone nodded solemnly.
        The first group down was John, Daniel, Spencer, Gabriel, and I. We descended down the ladder to a small room closed off by two grey doors. At the moment, I couldn’t hear any walkers right up against the doors, but I still heard moans from the hallway. I took a deep breath and took a ready stance. I had my fully-loaded gun in my left hand and my machete in my right.
        Don’t get afraid now, Erik, I told myself. There are people depending on you.
        John and Spencer stood at the doors, ready to open them. John looked at everyone and nodded. He and Spencer threw open the doors and immediately began to fire into the walkers.
        BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
        The monsters closest to the door were dead in seconds, and the five of us poured into the hallway. I noticed about twenty or so walkers in the hallway itself. Many of them were coming out of a single classroom.
        “Erik! Get that door!” John called.
        “Got it!” I rushed to the door, decapitating a walker on the way. I kicked a walker into the classroom, causing the others to get pushed back as well, and I slammed the door shut. The class was packed full of walkers, and they all pushed against the door trying to get to me.
        We made our way down the hall, killing walkers, as the next group came down. Albert, Logan, Samson, Joshua, and Rebecca came down the hall picking off the walkers that we had either missed or had not fully killed. As soon as the hall was clear, everyone else began to come down the hall. Roger Black came down with Reed and Chloe. Next came Lily, who had her gun out, and the Brooks and Berm family. All of the adults had oversized backpacks, and all of the kids were grasping the hand of their parents. They all walked down the hall slowly, and I turned my attention to the next hallway. It was completely clear.
        Everything was going as planned.
        Little Sarah Brooks screamed as a walker bit her neck. I turned around to find walkers filing into the hallway from the classroom I had shut. They quickly filled the hallway, surrounding the helpless families. I saw Sarah’s dad try to push the walker away from his daughter, but he was tackled from behind.
        There were so many that I couldn’t tell what was going on or where anyone was. I heard Principal Berm’s wife scream, and Berm himself yelled, “Sandra! No!”
        I ran towards the chaos, and my group followed me.
        “Lily!” I called. “Lily!”
        BAM!! I shot a walker in the head as it reached for me.
        Just then, Lily and Logan ran out of the swarm. Lily grabbed my hand and tugged at my arm, trying to get me to go down the hall.
        “Run! Everyone get out of here!” John’s voice boomed. He started to run as he took out another walker with his bat. He gave me a dirty look as he passed.
        I watched as Berm and his son and daughter emerged from the mob. Walkers grabbed his little boy, and Berm had to rip his daughter away from her brother and run.
        Everything was happening so fast. There were walkers everywhere, and I didn’t know who was dead or alive. I just ran with Lily’s hand in mine. We made it to a stairwell and descended. John, Logan, Daniel, Spencer, and Berm with his daughter were following behind the two of us.
        We came to the bottom of the stairs and to a set of glass doors. The two buses were in sight. With a mighty kick, Logan blasted the doors open, but before we made it out, John stopped us.
        “Wait,” he said. “Erik, Daniel, you’re with me. There’s still some food in the kitchens, and we’re going to get all we can. Everyone else get to the buses.”
        At that moment, Albert, Ellis, Gabriel, Cynthia and her son, Reed and Brett came down the steps. John immediately pointed at Albert.
        “Albert, you and Ellis get to the buses and see if they’re working. Everybody else, get in the bus and stay safe.”
        Everyone ran outside, but Lily wouldn’t let go of my hand. She looked into my eyes and kissed me.
        “You come back,” was all she said. I nodded, and we kissed again.
        The cafeteria was just down the hall. It didn’t take long to get there, and we didn’t run into a single walker. The kitchens were clear except for one body that had hardly anything left of it. It vaguely looked like Lucas. Its mouth and eyes opened, but it couldn’t move. I raised my gun, but John stopped me.
        “Don’t waist the ammo,” he said. He raised his bat and brought it down hard on the walker’s head.
        We got the rest of the food without any problem, stuffing it into duffel bags. We left quickly. I was on point with my gun and machete at the ready, but we weren’t attacked. John stood behind me, and Daniel was about ten feet back.
        We were almost out when I heard Daniel scream. A walker bit into hit shoulder. John quickly shot the walker, and Daniel fell to his knees, crying and whimpering. His shoulder gushed blood.
        “Oh God no!” Daniel kept saying. “Oh G—”
        BAM!!!
        John lowered his smoking gun and grabbed the duffel bag Daniel had been carrying. More walkers began to appear at the end of the hallway. John grabbed my shoulder, and we ran outside. We hopped on the bus that everyone was in. Albert was at the wheel, and everyone else was sitting in the leather seats.
        Seconds of silence felt like years. Eventually, Cynthia spoke up.
        “Is this all who made it?” she asked sadly.
        No one said anything, and she began to cry. Berm and his daughter began to cry as well.
        Albert sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll best be going.” He started the bus and started to go when something caught my eye.
        “Wait!” I called. Down the steps near the side of the school came Joshua, Rebecca, Spencer, and Brett. In each of their hands they carried an assortment of handguns, assault rifles, and magazines and boxes of ammo.
        “Open the doors!” John shouted, and Albert did.
        The four of them ran onto the bus.
        “Go! Go! Go!” Brett called. “They’re right behind us!”
        I looked back and saw a horde of walkers stumbling down the steps.
        “Drive Albert!”
        Albert pulled the bus out onto the deserted road as the rest of us picked through the new weapons.
        “We got ‘em from those soldiers out in front of the school. Usually we couldn’t get to ‘em, but we saw a chance,” Spencer said. He looked around. “Hey Daniel!” No answer. “Daniel?”
Albert eyed him in the mirror.
        “Spencer,” John began. “He—He didn’t…”
        Spencer’s eyes welled with tears. “He’s dead?”
        John nodded.
        Spencer swayed and collapsed into an empty seat. He broke down and wept.
        No one said another word as we drove down the deserted road.