

Emergent

By

Robert P. Sullivan

© 2017 Robert Patrick Sullivan
Chapter 1

I never thought of myself as a hero... Hell, I still don't. So when I heard the police had quarantined off a city block due to the suspicion of an outbreak in our town, I didn't think too much of it. I mean how was I supposed to know that it was going to be the end of the world? It all just seemed like something that was going to blow over.

It was still the first days of the outbreak, and everyone was jumping at shadows... I guess they were right in hindsight. I was living in my first place. It was small for a studio-apartment, and a shit hole at that. But still, I was happy to be there, living on my own for the first time in my life. I remember I was taking out the trash when I first saw one of those... things. It was early in the evening, but still dark. I moseyed out my front door and had to shut it behind me with my foot because the garbage bag was so overfilled. I wasn't in any kind of a hurry when I walked around the corner of the complex and into the alleyway.

At the end of the dark little street, I could see someone walking towards me. I thought he was drunk by the way that he was stumbling. I lived right next to a bar so shit like that wasn't uncommon in my neighborhood, and as a result I didn't pay any mind. Fighting to get the dumpster open when both hands are just trying to keep the garbage from spilling is always a trick, which is why I was taking so long to get it in there. I managed to get the lid of the dumpster open only to have the bag snag on something and tear wide open spilling half of it on the ground. I was so disappointed at the mess I wasn't even paying attention to the dark figure approaching me.

I was hunched over trying to pick up the pile of trash when I peeked up to see the face of the advancing zombie for the first time. Its face had just come into the light which peered through the neighbor's fence slats. I held my gaze on it trying to get a clear picture when it finally passed into the light of the alley. There was blood running down from its torn up mouth, it looked as if it had been mashing its face into what... or, I guess who it was eating, so hard that it had accidentally taken a few bites of its own lips. When my brain finally caught on to what was happening I felt my chest tense. I stood up from the pile of garbage and took a step backward. I was breathing heavily, and my heart was racing. It was panic, and that's never a good reaction in a life and death situation. I realized it and started asking myself What are you doing standing there? I was trembling as it continued to shuffle towards me. Run... the voice inside called out, but I was still frozen. Run! It was only six feet away when I finally took another step back.

That's when things went bad. I stumbled on a piece of garbage that had spilled out from the bag and fell backward on my ass. It would have been embarrassing had it not nearly killed me. The zombie lunged... or maybe I should say fell on me. It pinned me to the ground with its weight. I was just a skinny 18 year old at the time, hardly a man at all, and the monster bearing down on me could have been twice my weight. I grabbed its throat with both hands to keep it from biting. But that didn't stop it from trying. It kept snapping its teeth at me and clawing at me with its hands. Blood was dripping from the torn lip and painting my face red.

I struggled with it for nearly half a minute before my muscles were burning. I desperately started to look around for something, anything that could help. And that's when I caught a glimpse of what had tripped me, it was a plastic bottle. I gave as strong a shove as I could muster, and reached for the bottle in desperation. I just barely grabbed it from the back end, when the zombie pushed back. I jammed the bottle straight down its throat, which was surprisingly effective at neutralizing a zombie's mouth. It kept biting down on the bottle making a crinkling plastic noise, but it couldn't bite through it, which had given me the opportunity to force us to roll over. With me on top, I started to punch it in the side of the head. After about five or six I got the impression that it didn't care, as it just kept on trying to grab at me. So instead of fighting it, I ripped myself from its clutches and clamored to my feet.

I ran this time, as fast as I could back to my apartment. I didn't even try to look back. I was just so focused on getting inside. I slammed the door behind me with enough force to shake and rattled the windows, and I collapsed with my back to it. I was gasping for air, trying to calm down and collect myself. I rubbed my face with my hands and stared down at the blood I had just wiped off. My hand was shaking from the adrenaline. I reeled my head back against the door and aimlessly cast my eyes at the ceiling. I shut them and tried to regain my composure. It took a moment before I could think clearly enough to decide what to do. As far as I was concerned, I was just attacked by a strange man who was injured, we were still in denial at those times. I pulled my phone from my pocket and called the cops.

The phone rang, for longer than I would have liked it to, but someone eventually answered. "911 what's your emergency?"

"Someone... just attacked me outside my apartment. I made it inside, but... something isn't right with the guy who grabbed me."

"Sir are you ok?" There was urgency in her voice, but I could tell there was some underlying fear shaking her just a little.

"Yeah, I think. Listen though the man who grabbed me, he was injured."

"How was he injured sir?"

"He was... I mean... Look half his face was torn off!" The phone fell silent. I asked "Hello?"

"I'm here, stay on the line sir." It took a few more seconds for her to get back to me and ask for my information. I told her who I was and where I lived. She was adamant about me staying inside, and not answering the door for anyone but the officer they were sending out. I agreed wholeheartedly and hung up the phone.

The waiting was miserable. I took the few minutes I had to go into the kitchen and wash my face and hands clean of the blood. I noticed that my shirt had been stained from the attack when I could see the police cruiser pull up through my kitchen window. The officer who got out was about six feet tall with black hair. He seemed very nervous about what was going on. He kept his hand on his gun ready to use it at a moment's notice. He walked over to the side of the apartment where I had been attacked and pulled out his flashlight. I could see him shining it, looking for anything that could be a threat. When he was satisfied that whatever had done this was gone he seemed to relax a bit. He took his hand off his gun and finally came to knock on my door.

I answered, and when he saw the blood on my shirt he stepped back. "Sir, you haven't been bitten have you?" He wouldn't look me in the eyes. He was too focused on the blood stained shirt I was wearing.

"I don't think so." I responded, but I still didn't really understand the weight of the situation. I took a small step forward.

"Sir!" He had become more forceful in his words, and it was obvious he didn't appreciate my actions. He reached for the grip of his gun. "Have you been bitten?"

I stopped for a second to give a careful response. "No, I wasn't bitten. The man who attacked me tried to bite me, but this blood-" I pinched at the soaked collar of my shirt before I continued "was his... His face was really shredded."

"You're sure?" He was still hesitant.

"Yes, I shoved a bottle in his mouth and got away." His tension melted slowly, and he pulled his hand off his gun. He took a deep breath. "Why... does it matter?"

"I think that's a question best answered at the station. It's Mark right? Mark Williams?" I nodded in agreement. "I have orders to bring you in."

"Why I didn't do anything?"

"It's not about..." He was frustrated. "Look, you didn't do anything wrong, we're just getting a lot of reports... Just come with me please."

"Alright, I guess that's ok." I grabbed my keys and wallet off the end table and locked the door as we left.

He opened the back of the squad car and said, "Get in."

"Do I have to get in the back?"

The officer rolled his eyes and spoke under his breath. "Why do people always ask that?" It was then that I started to notice his unprofessionalism. It's not that he struck me as someone who was impersonating an officer, it was more that he seemed distressed. He returned his voice to normal before continuing. "Yes, don't worry about it. It's just standard procedure." I got in the car and he closed the door behind me. After he walked around the car and got into the driver's seat we drove off.
Chapter 2

The seat was horribly uncomfortable, and the radio was chattering the whole time we were driving, it was constant police codes and addresses, though I didn't really pay it much mind, that is until it said something I understood. "Officer down!"

"Shit!" The cop said not taking his eyes from the road. "That's the fourth one tonight."

I looked at his face in the rear view mirror, he was on the edge of panic but didn't want to show it. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing we can't handle." I could hear the uncertainty in his words, but it was still comforting to hear them, whether or not he believed they were true. I looked out the side window and tried to determine how long it was going to be till we got to the police station. We were about half way there.

I tried to ease the situation. "So, a police officer huh?"

His focus was elsewhere. "What?"

"I was just asking, what it's like to be a cop?" He glanced up at me in the mirror, then back to the road.

"Yeah, it's not all it's cracked up to be."

I adjusted my position in an incredibly ineffective attempt to get comfortable. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well..." He was trying to find the right words to answer. "I guess you sign on thinking about the honor and justice of it. But when reality sets in it's just another job, and sometimes a dangerous one at that."

"I thought a lot of people become cops to try and serve the community?"

"That's a better reason than why I signed up-" I felt the car slowing down. "Hold on." He was looking out the front window in an attempt to make out the figures before him. He pulled the car over and flicked on the lights. "I'll be right back." He opened the door and stepped outside. I couldn't make out what he was saying, his words were muffled, but I did notice him reaching for his gun again. I could only see flickers of what was going on in front of the car. The lights flashed over a few hunched figures in the dark. I squinted to try and make out the scene. I couldn't get a good view of it till the officer pulled out his flashlight and shined it on the small group of people.

I saw blood, entrails, and body parts strewn across the ground in a mess. Two men and a woman were devouring what I could only assume was once a person. I saw the officer rear back in disgust, and that's when they started to get up. He pulled his gun from its holster and pointed it at the people coming toward him. He waved it between them as they advanced, shouting louder as they got closer. He fired at the first one, planting a round right in its chest. Then a second shot, and a third. I could barely make out his words when he said "What the fuck?" He started to retreat towards the car never taking his eyes off his assailants. He aimed again, this time putting one in its head. It fell to the ground by the time he made it back to the car door. He aimed one more time, but nothing happened. He dropped the flashlight and tried to mess with his gun. After a few seconds passed he looked up at his opponents. Instead of firing again he opened the door and got back in the car slamming it behind him. "Of all the times to fuckin' stovepipe!"

He threw the car in gear and smashed on the gas pedal hard enough that I could hear it hit the floorboard. The tires screeched violently as the car lurched forward running into the two zombies that were in front of the car. The woman smashed into the glass hard enough to make a thunk noise, while the man went under the tires. I could hear him squish and fumble around under the car. As we picked up speed he dislodged himself from the under carriage, but the woman was clawing at the window, till we reached the intersection which split off in a 'T' to the left and right. The officer slammed on the breaks sending the woman flying. The top half of her hit a window, while the bottom smashed into the brick wall that the window was mounted in. Her legs flipped up after the impact, causing her to tumble inside.

We both sat there waiting for a second, wide eyed, just to make sure she was down. She stumbled back into the light, with large shards of glass stuck in her body. Several large gashes disfigured her face. She tripped over the bricks that her legs had hit just a moment earlier. "Holy crap!" The officer exclaimed. "How the hell is she still moving?" He put the car in reverse and pulled back enough to turn the car to the right. He put the car back in gear and took off down the road till he felt we had gotten a safe distance away.

"What the hell was that?" I asked frantically.

"I don't know! Drugs maybe...? Nah, that doesn't sound right." He wiped his forehead bringing his hand down to cover one eye. "That shit's just not right. Someone hopped up on the right drugs might be able to shake off bullets for a minute or two, but that's usually just one guy tweaked out of his mind. I've never seen it affect a whole group of people like that. I guess this explains what's going o-" He was cut off by the sound of shrieking tires when a car clipped the back corner of ours at high speed. It wasn't a direct impact. The driver of the other car tried to swerve out of the way, but it still tore the trunk wide open, spilling various equipment on the ground, and turning the car nearly sideways in the road. "Shit!" He looked at the other car which had lost control and plowed into a stop light. The driver looked at us only for a second before he pulled his car back, and sped off like it never happened. "Are you ok?" the cop asked looking back at me.

I had been thrown to the other side of the car from the impact, but after a second or two I had assessed myself. "I'm fine."

He grabbed the radio's receiver and pulled it to his mouth hesitantly. He hadn't pressed the button to talk yet when a voice on the other line came through. "We have another officer down, I repeat offi-" It cut to static then quiet.

He put the radio back down and got out of the car. He walked over to where we had been hit and crouched down to get a better look at the tire. After a few seconds, he got back in. "I think it's only cosmetic damage, the car should drive fine."

"Ok, so what are we doing? Still going to the station right?" He grabbed at the radio again, but his eyes caught the attention of a few more shadowy figures coming our way out of the darkness.

"More of 'em?" He said. We both looked around and could see about six of them coming toward the car, slowly shambling. He pushed the button to speak over the radio, but our eyes locked in the rear view mirror. He slowly released the button, hung up the receiver, and started driving instead. "Nobody wants to say it kid, but this town is going to hell... and fast."

I looked out the window as we drove. "We just passed the turn off to the police station?" I questioned him to gauge whether or not he knew.

"Yeah... I know."

"So where the hell are we going?" I leaned forward in the seat trying to get his attention, but his eyes were fixed on the road.

"You heard the radio right? Did you watch the news? Whatever the fuck this is, is already out of control. We didn't have enough officers to even maintain the quarantine zone. But this shit? It's too much."

"So what? We're just not going back?"

"I'm saying, we've already lost control. I don't know if this is a virus, or some kind of terrorist attack, or who the fuck cares what it is! It's spreading too fast for anyone to figure out what. And I'm not dying for this shit!"

"You're just going to cut and run?" It didn't sit well with me that someone who was sworn to protect and serve was so willing to abandon the people. But he was quick to call me out for feeling the same way.

"You want to get out of the car? Be my guest! But, the military is probably going to roll into Ashville any minute and set up a quarantine around the whole city. If we're lucky we can beat 'em." There wasn't a whole lot I could say to that. If things were as bad as he suspected, then he was right, getting out of town before we got locked in would drastically increase our chances of survival.

I sat in the back of the car waiting as we kept on rolling to the edge of town. I caught brief glimpses of terrible things out of the window as we drove. When about three minutes had passed since the silence between us set in, I looked out the window and noticed the small coffee shop that I worked at. It was open, with those monsters slowly making their way down the street to it. "Officer! Stop the car!" I yelled startling the man behind the wheel, and causing him to cover one ear with his hand and jump in his seat.

He cocked his head back toward me to respond. "Shit don't yell kid! I'm sitting right here." He took his hand from his ear. "My name is John, by the way, John Maxton. No matter what happens I probably won't be a cop after this, so just use my name."

"Sure whatever, turn the car around John. We have to go back."

"No Mark, I'm not stopping to save every random person in trouble along the way, we don't even have the time, or room for more than two or three more people anyway."

"It's not some random person, it's someone I know." We were silent for a few seconds before I continued. "It's my coworker."

"Listen, I don't care if it's your cousin, brother, or even your grandma! We've got to go." He was checking back in the mirror every couple of seconds to gauge my reaction.

"She's not just a... I mean." I was stumbling over my words, trying to figure out what to say.

"She?" He questioned me with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, she's this girl I work with, and I... um..." I wasn't sure what to say about her at the time. It wasn't like we were dating. In fact, we didn't really talk all that much. I guess you could say I had a crush, though when you're young you always think it's more than that.

John rolled his eyes, pulled the car over, and turned around to face me directly. "She's your girlfriend."

"No, that's not really-"

He cut me off. "Oh so you want her to be your girlfriend, but you're too chicken shit to ask her."

He saw right through me, but it hurt my pride to admit that he was right. "No! It's more like-"

"What it just hasn't come up yet? That's bullshit!" He stared at me waiting for me to respond. "Nah we don't got time for this shit."

"Then let me out of the car." I was scared shitless to get out of the car, but I could tell, even though he was trying to run away, there was still kindness in his eyes.

"Ok." He got out of the car and opened the door for me.

I stepped out and started making my way toward the coffee shop. When I heard him close the door, and get back in the car I started to panic. All of the sudden I realized that my gamble, might have just got me killed. After about ten seconds I could hear one barely audible muffled word come from inside the car. "Shit!" The car swung around. He rolled the window down to talk to me. "Get in the car."

"Really?" I was so relieved that he didn't just up and abandon me.

"Yes really, you stubborn little shit. But let's make this quick we have to go!" He was mad, but his insult came off more like a compliment.

I was elated by the gesture of kindness. "Thank you." I said opening the back door of the car and gladly jumping back inside.

He let out a heavy sigh. "So where is she?"

"She's at that coffee shop about a block back where we came from."

"Fine." He started driving. "But she better at least be pretty."

"It's what's inside that counts though, right?" I answered back.

"The outside matters too and everyone knows it!" His answer gave me a bit more insight into who he was. He viewed things as they were, rather than through rose colored glasses. It was neither pessimism nor optimism that defined his perspective, merely what he saw and expected. And this made me realize that his decision to leave town was not out of panic or fear, he just knew what was coming.

When we had pulled up to the shop I worked at I was bothered by a nagging question in my head. "What did you mean when you said stovepipe earlier?"

"Huh? Stovepipe?"

"Yeah, when you got back in the car just before you ran those... um... things over, you said something like 'of all the times to stovepipe?'"

He grabbed the shotgun mounted in the center console of the car, pumped it to load a shell into the chamber, and looked back at me with flat eyes. "It means my gun jammed."
Chapter 3

We stepped out of the car and heard screaming. It sounded like an older woman, which I know shouldn't have made it any better, but somehow it did. John quickly moved around the car and ran inside the front door. It was still light inside as the café didn't close until eleven at night. I got inside just in time to see John pull the shotgun to his shoulder and blast one of them right in the arm. It didn't go flying or anything like that, instead it just stumbled slightly to its right and looked over at us. It started heading for us instead of the women behind the counter. "What the hell?" John shouted while he pumped the shotgun. The shell flew out, smoke drifting from it as it swirled through the air, then it collided directly with my face. I gasped at the impact and was still wincing from the sound of the gun firing. To which John looked over and said "Sorry."

He took aim again and this time put sights straight on its head. I covered my ears this time in anticipation of the gun shot. It was still loud through my hands, but I guess that was the underwhelming part. The shell blew its head practically to bits, what was left whipped back, then rolled forwards. There wasn't much left of its face after the shot. I wouldn't say its head exploded, more like caved in from the front. Although it did still paint the tables behind it with bits of skull, brain, and a copious amount of blood. It fell to its knees first, then to the ground. When it didn't show any signs of stirring, John got the idea. "Alright, shoot them in the head I guess." He worked the pump action on the gun again, this time lifting the barrel of the gun so as not to hit me with the shell. There were three more zombies trying to crawl their way over the glass counter to get to the women behind it. John raised the gun, then put it back down. "I can't get a clean shot."

He rushed over to the counter and tried to pull one of them back so he wouldn't have to risk shooting one of the girls. They were doing their best to keep the zombies from coming over the counter, shoving them back with the cash register, and whatever else they could grab. John yelled at me. "Mark help me pull 'em away so I can shoot the fuckers!" He was having trouble because he only had the use of one arm while holding the gun. I ran over and grabbed a hold of one of their legs. With a hard yank, it fell face first onto the floor. I lost my balance when it let go of the counter and I dropped backward. John pulled the gun to the back of its head and blew red paste out the other side.

The zombie that was closest to us stood up from leaning on the counter, turned and grabbed John. He was pushing it back with all the strength his arms could muster, but when he reeled back and put his foot to its ribs he sent it flying, almost comically into the other zombie knocking them both down to the floor. John put two more shells into each of their respective faces. "You fuckers." He said under his breath and wiped off his forehead. "Are you two ok?" He looked over the counter at the women who were still frightened.

"Y-yes I think we're fine." Said the older of the two. She was a brunette with hair that went just past her shoulders, and I called her boss when I wasn't using her name, Shannon.

"Thank goodness you two are alright."

"Mark is that you?" The short haired blonde asked.

"Yeah, we stopped to save you."

John rolled his eyes and started to talk to himself. "That's what, four shots right?" He was too busy trying to keep count of what was left in the gun, but he eventually snapped out of it. "Ok, we're good Mark?" I knew what he was really asking, She's the one right?

"Yeah we're good to go."

"Good, let's get the hell out of here before things get..." He turned toward the front door, only to see another zombie coming inside because of the commotion it heard. "problematic." He shouldered the gun again and fired. This time he just barely missed shaving the left side of its face off. It didn't seem too thrilled about it. It made that gurgling hissing noise, that just didn't sound right. John made a grimace. "That's five." He slung the gun over his shoulder on the strap and reached for his pistol again. He pulled it out and took his time to aim. Right dead center of the forehead, it was a good shot. "As I was saying, let's go!"

The women climbed out from behind the counter. I helped them down on the other side. I was trying so hard to be a gentleman, but in hindsight, I was no knight in shining armor. John did most of the work saving the girls, and if it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have been there to help them. We ran outside to the car. Shannon got in the front with John, while Elizabeth and I got in the back. John started the car and we were moving.

"Ok, no big deal... We've still got time." John was talking to himself again.

"Thank you." Elizabeth said to John. I was a little jealous that I wasn't the one getting the thanks, after all, I was the one that convinced John to help save them. But I didn't think it appropriate to tell them that John was trying to dodge his duties.

Shannon was breathing heavily. "Yeah... Thanks." Her voice was quiet as she spoke, which I thought was odd at the time. I always remembered her as a very loud and brash woman. She collapsed backward into her seat.

"So where are we going?" Elizabeth asked.

John sighed. "We're heading out of town."

"Is she ok?" I asked no one in particular. John looked over at her and took a hold of her wrist.

"Weak heartbeat... Does she have a bad heart or something? It's like she's in shock." John said putting his eyes back on the road.

"Not that I know of." Elizabeth answered.

"Is she going to be ok?" I leaned forward to ask him.

"Maybe... maybe not."

"We've got to get her to a hospital!" Elizabeth cut in loudly.

"Oh no." John was resolute in his words. "We are not going to a hospital, not now."

"What are you talking about? Of course we're going to the hospital." At that moment Shannon started to stir.

John glanced over "See, she's fine."

I interjected. "I think he's right..." I didn't want to say why, but I had my fill of violence for the night, hell for a lifetime, and at that point, I was starting to agree more and more with John, running was our best option.

Elizabeth was unsettled by the conversation. "You too? I understand that she's always been thick headed and doesn't want to see a doctor..." She broke her train of thought to address the woman in the front seat. "No offense Shannon, but we should at least have them look her over. Besides, she said someone bit her on the arm earlier. I imagine a doctor would want to at the very least have it disinfected and bandaged."

Shannon started to make that gurgling noise we had heard earlier, followed by a long drawn out moan. John slammed on the brakes, causing the tires to shriek. The car's rear end lurched to the side as we slid to a halt. Shannon had not put on her seatbelt, which sent her smashing into the dashboard, while Elizabeth and I did much the same into the steel mesh that separated us from the two in the front seat. John reached for his gun, but Shannon... or I should say it, reached out and grabbed a hold of him.

We could tell the struggle was not an easy one for John. He was trying his best to keep her from taking a bite out of him while attempting to get a spare second to grab his weapon. Meanwhile Elizabeth and I watched from the backseat. "Shannon? What are you doing?" Elizabeth cried, not fully understanding what was going on.

"It's not Shannon anymore!" John yelled still trying to force her back.

"What do you mean it's not Shannon?" But John had since stopped trying to answer her.

"We've got to help him" I tried to open the door, but found myself confused. I looked at the side panel desperately. "Where's the door handle?" I reached around and fumbled in the dark hoping that I just couldn't see it.

"There isn't one!" John grunted. "It's a cop car, the door has to be opened from the outside." John punched his attacker in the face trying to stun her for a second, but it had little effect.

That's when the panic set in. There was nothing we could do to help, we were stuck there, trapped... If John couldn't do this on his own, then we weren't getting out of that car till someone else came to help us. That's when I remembered what I did in his situation. "Jam something in her mouth!"

"Huh?" John didn't quite grasp the concept.

"Put something she can't bite through in her mouth! They don't spit things out!"

John got the message but struggled to find anything in the car worth grabbing to stop her attack. It wasn't as though he had time to look, but the car was kept clean either way. That's when he reeled back and pushed her hard. It gave him only a fraction of a second, but he was able to get a hold of the car's radio receiver and thrust it down her throat. She chewed and gnawed that radio in her attempt to consume it. This gave John the little bit of time he needed to wrest his gun from its holster. He pulled it up to her head and sprayed red chunks all over the passenger side window.

"No!" Elizabeth cried out in terror of the situation. I would have been more startled by it too, but I was already starting to get the picture. Things were bad, as John said, and this was just the beginning. Elizabeth turned her head from the scene.

John was gasping for air, and obviously riding the tail end of an adrenaline rush. "Fuckin' bitch..." His words were not hard to hear even though my ears were still ringing from the sound of the gunshot.

After a few seconds John turned toward us. "Did either of you get bit?"

I waved him off, but Elizabeth was panicking. I grabbed her shoulder. "No..." she replied softly.

"Good..." He turned back around and sat there staring out the front window. When he had regained his composure he checked to see that the car wasn't surrounded by those things. "I'm not riding around with this next to me." He got out of the car and walked around to the other side. He pulled the corpse out and let it flop to the floor with a sickening wet thud.

When he got back into the driver's seat Elizabeth spoke up. "You're not just going to leave her there are you?"

He locked the doors on the car and turned around to face her. "Do you want to drag her back into the car?"

She didn't like his response. It was clear she was not taking the situation well, but I couldn't imagine a person who would. It was nerve wracking, watching things break down around you. The world as we knew it was coming to its end, but we were still alive. And the moment you quit trying is when you end along with it.

John put the car back in gear, and we took off.
Chapter 4

Three minutes of driving in silence can do a lot to calm you down. Elizabeth had sat back in her seat correctly and started looking out the window. She would wince and close her eyes as we passed the horrors that were becoming more common.

"We're not stopping to help them... are we?" Elizabeth asked already knowing the answer.

"There's nothing we can do for them now." John wasn't wrong when he said it. "Even if I had the means to fight that many of them, we've only got one open seat anyway."

"So we're just leaving?" She asked almost lifelessly.

"Yeah..."

Screaming, gunshots, and crashing noises filled the night as we passed by. It was quickly getting more out of hand, and I could tell by the way John had to drive. He slowed down and was driving around the wrecked cars and growing mass of zombies. He even had to backtrack a few times because the roads were blocked. It was Elizabeth that broke the silence between us. "So you're saying we can save one more person right?"

John was immediately on the defensive. "No! We don't have time for that. We have to get out while we can."

"But it's your duty isn't it?"

He was getting more uncomfortable by the second. "Duty...?" He looked at her in the rear view mirror as he had done for me.

"Yeah, you're sworn to protect and serve isn't that right?"

He contemplated her words. "Yes, I was sworn to protect and serve the people of this city. But it doesn't help anyone if we all die here." She could see the cracks in his armor.

"What if it's just one person, on the way, and we know they are ok?"

He was quiet for longer than she wanted, but he finally sighed. "Fine, one more person. If!" He shouted. "If! They are on the way, and if they haven't been bitten. I'm not going through that shit again." He pointed to the blood and chunks slowly dripping down the window.

"I need to make a call." She was surprisingly more... I wouldn't say comfortable, but she had pulled herself together in the wake of things. Her phone rang, till a voice on the other side answered. I couldn't understand the voice from the sound of the car. "Hello?" She kept going. "Listen to me. Would you listen to me for a second?" The voice on the other end of the phone kept chatting on and on. "Listen!" We both jumped in our seats a little bit when she yelled. "First off, have you been bitten by anyone?" A wave of relief washed over her when she got the answer. She put her hand over the receiver. "He doesn't know what I'm talking about." John rolled his eyes, knowing as well as she, it meant he didn't even know what was going on outside, and that he had most certainly not been bitten. "Ok stay inside. I'm coming over with some-" She paused to look at us. "Friends, we're going to pick you up. Be ready, do you hear me? Be ready." She hardened her tone of voice at the end of the call.

John was frustrated as he listened to her. "Shit... Where am I going?"

"It's about four blocks from here, make a right at the intersection and cut over one street."

"I can't believe this shit." John was talking to himself. "So who is this anyway?"

"Will. He's my boyfriend." Elizabeth's mood had changed quite a bit since she had her small victory, but even small things can really count when odds are stacked against you. I was crushed on the other hand.

I sat back in my seat hard and stared at the ceiling of the cab. I rubbed my face and let my eyes fall down to the mirror just in time to see John scowling at me before he shook his head. He started to drive more aggressively cursing under his breath.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth gave the order to pull in behind some apartment complex. It was a nice place and seemed untouched by what was going on, which we knew wouldn't last long. "There 203, stop the car." John obliged, though not to his pleasure. He got out of the car and opened the door for Elizabeth to get out. She started running over to the door when I scooted over to follow behind her. I saw John's hand reach down and grab my shoulder to stop me.

I looked up at him as I had not quite gotten out of the car yet. "Boyfriend?" He asked me, perturbed and quiet enough that Elizabeth couldn't hear me.

My eyes sunk to the floor. "I didn't know."

"I figured that." He brought his hand to his face and rubbed his forehead. "Let's make this quick." He let me get up and we followed after Elizabeth who was knocking on the door.

"Will hurry up and open the door."

We could hear him from the other side. "Hold on babe."

She had only started to say, "Now's not the time!" when the door swung open and he was standing there all dressed up in nice clothes, designer pants, an unbuttoned over-shirt and drenched in some kind of body spray that made me realize I hated him. Although looking back it may have been more because he was the kind of guy I thought I wanted to be, or maybe it was just because he was dating the woman I was interested in, or even because he was about two inches taller and a lot more handsome. Shit, it was all of the above, but that didn't make liking him any easier.

"What's going on?" Will asked immediately confused. "I thought you said we were going out with some of your friends. Who's this guy?" He took an aggressive stance and pointed at me, I could tell I was encroaching on his territory, and he didn't like it. But I can't blame him for that, I did want to be with his girlfriend after all.

"Will, we have to get out of here, things are-" But Elizabeth was cut off as John was standing behind us, his hand on his gun, ready for something to come popping out of the shadows.

"What's with the cop?" His aggressive behavior was checked immediately, and he started acting defensively.

"I'm your escort out of town, now get in the car." John didn't realize that his being brash would only serve to further increase Will's resistance.

"What? No man I didn't do anything wrong."

"I doubt that." John said under his breath again, it was obvious he got the same impression that I had.

"Will, we need to get out of here. Things are getting bad."

"I'm not going with no cop." He was so oblivious to the situation.

We heard something rustle in the bushes at the corner. John pulled out his gun and pointed it ready to fire, which only made Will even more resistant. "You don't have to do that man, just-"

"Shut up!" John whispered forcefully. A cat came from the bushes not even paying attention to us, which made John relax only for a moment. "Alright let's go."

"No! I'm not going if I'm not under arrest. I know my rights."

"You know what, yeah you're under arrest get in the car." John grabbed him by the arm to pull him from his apartment.

Will yanked his arm free. "For what? I didn't do anything."

John was done. "Alright, fine! Get yourself fucking eaten. See if I care. We're leaving." He began moving back toward the car when Elizabeth grabbed his arm.

"Please don't leave him." She begged.

He looked at her and exhaled deeply. What I saw after this was one of the most terroristic acts of kindness I have ever witnessed. John turned around and put his gun directly in Will's face. "Get in the fucking car!" Will just about shit his pants, and I was loving every second of it.

"Whoa man calm down!" Will had put his hands up.

John grabbed him by the arm again and jerked him from the door nearly throwing him on the ground. "Shut up and move."

"What the hell, aren't you supposed to read me my rights?"

John kicked him in the ass enough to get him moving in the right direction. "You have the right to shut the hell up! Anything you say or do will result in a gun being held against you! You have the right to an ass kicking for being such a shit! And most importantly you have the right to be shot for not doing what I say!" He was still pointing the gun at him with one hand. "Now I'm only going to say this one more time, get in the fucking car!"

"Ok man, ok!" Will had gotten in the back of the car with Elizabeth following behind him.

She turned around to face John and silently mouthed the words "Thank you."

When the door had closed, John looked back at me with a grin on his face. I was trying desperately not to smile, but it broke through after a second or two. "I always wanted to do that." John said, trying not to let them see his face. "This job's full of shit heads, it would be so much easier if we could just kick someone's ass or put a gun in their face whenever we need to."

"I don't think that's right though." I replied trying my best to act like the good guy.

"Oh don't give me that. I see you smiling. You enjoyed that just as much as me."

"Whatever." I said shaking my head still grinning like an idiot.

"Let's get a move on, time's still ticking. Go ahead and get in the front."

That's when I looked at the window, still covered in blood. It wasn't exactly an inviting sight. "You mean I have to sit next to that?"

"Quit your bitching Mark, unless you want me to read you your rights too?"

"Ah man!" I opened the door, and that's when I realized that it wasn't just the window, the entire passenger's side was a bloody mess. Shannon had bled quite a lot into the seat, and the entire side panel had been sprayed with a thin layer of blood, brains, and bone chips. Sitting down was disgusting, and it was certainly not how I imagined ending my relationship with my boss, regardless of how little I had liked her. But I was in no mood to piss John off again. So I tried my best to live with it. Closing the door got blood on my hand, but at this point, I had enough blood on my clothes that I didn't care anymore. I just wiped it on my pants and tried to go on with my life.

"You can't do this man!" Will was still being annoying but at least he wasn't causing any more problems. "I have rights, and you can't arrest someone without reading them."

"You're not under arrest! Would someone explain to him what the hell is going on so he'll shut up already?" I don't know if it was because John was too frustrated, or because he wanted another person's opinion on it before he called them zombies.

"Um..." I started. "Just look out the window Will." I figured that would get the point across pretty fast.

"I don't see anything."

"Keep looking, you will..." I added.

John nodded at me in agreement, and after a few minutes went by sure enough he started to see what we had been dealing with. "What the fuck?" Will asked himself quietly. We passed another group, then another, then John accidentally hit one. "So these are what? Zombies?" Will was the first person to say it.

"Well I wasn't going to say it because it sounds stupid, but yeah. I'm pretty damn sure they're zombies." John followed up.

"I think so too." I said backing up John.

Elizabeth wasn't as convinced. "What? You've got to be kidding me, zombies? You've all been watching too many movies."

"Elizabeth," I turned around in my seat to face her while I spoke. "Think about it for a minute. What do we know? We know that if they bite you, you turn into one of them, they're slow, uncoordinated, and try to eat people, and if you shoot them in the head they die. Whatever this actually is, is only a semantic difference. As far as we need to know they're zombies." She seemed to accept that answer, though I wasn't sure I wanted to believe it either.

A few minutes had passed by and we were getting close to the edge of town. "This is bad..." John said.

I replied. "What is?"

"The radio's gone quiet." I listened and he was right, there was no noise at all coming from the radio. The constant chatter that we heard before was now dead. "That means dispatch got taken out."

"So the remaining officers have no direction?" I asked.

"It's worse than that, no officers are even trying to call in. I think it's over. Ashville's toast." We were all shocked when he said it.

"So then, what's the plan officer... um." Will asked.

"It's John, just call me John. And the plan is to get the hell out of here while we still can."

I wasn't too excited about his idea to leave when we first started out, but after seeing what we had been through that night, I had changed my mind. I wanted to get the hell out of there, and fast. The others were coming around to the thought of leaving too.

"Where are we going exactly?" Will asked John.

"I don't care so long as it's not here." It didn't take a genius to see that John hadn't had the time to think this through, but I suppose it took an idiot to question him on it.

And lucky for us Will was that idiot. "So... We're just leaving town? Then what?"

John was annoyed. "I don't know. I didn't exactly have a contingency plan for this shit. I mean look at this!"

The cab was silent for a few seconds before Will interrupted again. "So?"

"Really?" John spit out the word viciously.

"What happened to the car?" He pointed at the blood on the window.

John cracked a wicked little smirk. "Our last passenger wouldn't shut up." I didn't get to see it, but I bet Will's eyes bulged out of his head. Elizabeth on the other hand, didn't take the joke too well.

"That's not funny." She said in disgusted voice.

John realized he stepped into the wrong. "I'm sorry..." Was his only response.
Chapter 5

The number of abandoned cars started getting thicker as we got toward the edge of town, but the zombies continued to thin out. We could finally see what we were after in the distance, but it was not so easy as we were hoping for. "Shit shit shit!" John could see the fences blocking the roads from about a quarter mile away. "Let's try to get around." He kept on driving, but each time he reached another exit it was more of the same. Cars blocked the road up to gates where a mass of civilians could be seen trying to make their escape. "Come on there has to be a place where they haven't barricaded it yet!" John was getting more frantic by the minute, and it was starting to wear off on all of us. "Fuck!" John slammed on the brakes. "This is why I wanted to hurry..."

"There's a military base right outside of town isn't there?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's why I knew they were coming." He held onto the steering wheel at ten and two, hunched over.

"My point is, maybe we never had a chance of getting out of here so easily." It wasn't the most optimistic tone, but we couldn't just keep sitting there. "What do we do now?"

John crushed his eyelids together while he thought. "Ok, I guess we're going to have to go through the blockade like everyone else." He started looking through all of the mirrors and windows. "Anyone see any of those things out there?" We each checked the surroundings of the car and sounded off as we couldn't find any. "Ok good let's go." He grabbed the shotgun again before he stepped out of the car. I got out and opened the door for Elizabeth and Will to get out, while John popped the trunk of his cruiser.

I walked around to see what he was doing. "Looking for something?"

He was struggling with the busted trunk, but he managed to pry it open. "I had a couple of boxes of shells somewhere in here. I think most of them fell out in the wreck though. There!" He pulled up a box of shotgun shells and opened the top. He loaded his gun one shell at a time, then started patting himself down, checking to see if his pockets had room. "Screw it." He took handfuls of cartridges and shoved them in any place where he could fit them. He grabbed a box of pistol ammo and did the same. "Is everybody ready?" He asked, getting nods from the group. "Good... let's get moving."

We started walking toward the quarantine screening area. It was about a quarter mile off, but we couldn't get the car any closer due to the gridlock before us. We were moving slow, as none of us wanted to find ourselves surprised by a set of hungry teeth jumping out in the night. "We just had to stop, didn't we...?" John was asking himself rhetorically. Other people were walking with us, or I should say by us. We were all heading to the same place, but as we got closer fewer people were rushing past and a small group was following us directly. I think the sight of a police officer with a gun was giving people a sense of comfort in a night that held so many terrors. We were about half way there when someone up at the road block had the bright idea to use a megaphone to address the people.

"If you'll all remain calm and come through the checkpoint in an orderly fashion this will go a lot faster." I heard the voice boom down the street, and it was followed by the sounds of moaning behind us. I turned back to see where the sound was coming from, and we could see them coming out of the woodworks. Panic set into the crowd of people and they began to rush toward the gate up ahead. John got pushed over by someone. Elizabeth and I stopped to help him up. The majority of the people had passed us by when we had gotten him to his feet, which put us between the zombies and the crowd.

We ran toward the gate as fast as we could but there were at least a hundred or two people blocking the path. They were pushing against the chain link fence, trying to get free. When we had caught up with the main group I turned around to see what was coming when the man on the megaphone piped up again. "If you don't stop pushing we can't get you through."

But fear had gripped the crowd. "They're right behind us!" they yelled and screamed. I could see a horde of zombies amassing. It wasn't a small one either. The sound of the loudspeaker was drawing them all right to the crowd, and we were still caught in the middle.

"There's no way." I said to myself before raising my voice so that our group could hear me. "There's no way we can get through the gate before they reach us!" A few of the faster ones were drawing close, and I don't know whether it was my words or just the sight of them that caused the crowd to go into a frenzy, but they began forcing the gate.

"If you don't stop we are going to have to take extreme measures to ensure quarantine procedures!" We heard the megaphone blared again.

"We can't stay here!" Elizabeth yelled.

She was right, there was nothing we could do to defend ourselves against that many, and there was just no way they were going to let all of us through the gates in time. "She's right!" I said following up on her words.

John yelled back. "I'm all ears kid!"

"We charge back the way we came and cut down an alley. There's no way you can kill them all before they get here, but maybe we can fight through a few to get away!"

He looked at the crowd, and then to the zombies that were getting closer and closer. "It's better than staying here! Let's move!" Elizabeth and I were ready to go, but Will hadn't been paying attention. He was at the back of the crowd still trying to force his way toward the gate.

Elizabeth grabbed Will by the arm. "Come on Will we have to go!" John was already starting to make his move till I stopped him. He turned around quickly and grabbed Will alongside Elizabeth jerking him free and getting his attention.

"If we stay here we die!" John yelled in Will's face. "We have to go now!"

Will was shaken but quickly fell in line with the plan. We began running from the crowd with John leading the way. When we had gotten about ten feet from the first zombie he readied his shotgun and tore its face off. He started moving again, but slower so he could reach in his pocket and feed the gun another shell. When he had finished he got back up to speed. Three more of them were between us and the first alley we could reach, and the shotgun made short work of them. John took his time reloading after each shot. I couldn't blame him there was no telling what was around the corner. And when we made the turn it was dark, not so much that we couldn't see what was just before us, but enough that we couldn't find the end. There were curbs lining the alleyway. It must have been used as some kind of parking area judging from the meters in the sidewalk, but other than that there was little more than the walls of the businesses with a reinforced door here and there. John dispatched another two zombies as we made our way forward.

It was a dead end. A brick wall rose higher than any of us could climb, even with each other's help. When we turned back we found that our little plan had been just a little too late. We saw the zombies walking in the entrance. They had been attracted by the gunshots, and they were coming.

"What are you waiting for? Kill them!" Will yelled at John.

"Shooting might just bring more our way, and I don't have enough ammo to kill them all."

"We can't just stay here, we have to at least fight back!" Will was right, but John was too. Neither option gave us a chance at survival. That's when I saw it, just a simple drain in the gutter. It wasn't very big, but it got me thinking. I looked around and sure enough on the cement beside it was a manhole cover.

"Maybe I can get this open." I stamped down on it to point it out.

"Not without that... you know that tool they use? Those things aren't light!" John replied focusing on the zombies heading our way.

I got down on the ground and began climbing into the drain. "I meant from the inside."

By the time John looked at me my legs were already halfway inside. "That might work... are you really skinny enough to fit in there?"

I was trying my best to shimmy my way in, it wasn't hard at first, but my chest was a tight fit. It hurt, scratching me terribly, but it wasn't as though I had a choice. When I got my chest free I fell the rest of the way. I had hit my head against the top on the way in though. In the dark, I rubbed the spot where I had hit, till I was brought back to my senses by the sound of John firing again.

"Hurry up Mark! We're in real trouble up here!" John said.

I reached around in the blackness till I found a rebar ladder that had been built into the side. I could see just a point of light peering through the small opening in the manhole cover. I climbed the ladder up to it, only to find it practically immovable. My arms were useless, I just couldn't get it to budge that way. I climbed higher so I could use my legs and push at it with the top of my back. When I had given it just about all of the strength I could muster I felt it pop free.

"Good work! Help me move this." I heard Elizabeth say above me. I started climbing back down. I stopped to look up and saw both Elizabeth and Will moving the cover. The sound of it scraping against the concrete echoed in the tunnel that I was in, but not nearly as loud as the gunshots John was still firing.

When the path was free they climbed down too. It wasn't very deep inside, maybe six feet tall at best, and there wasn't a lot of room either. We watched John step into the light of the hole and make his way in. He handed the gun down. "Someone take this!" Will grabbed it and John began moving the cover to seal the hole. "These things really are heavy." He grunted as he pulled it back into place. It fell back into its slot with a metallic clunk.

That's when we heard the loudspeaker for the last time. "Open fire." The sounds of gunshots and screams filled the night as they fired on the crowd to maintain the quarantine.

"Oh my..." Elizabeth covered her mouth, or at least I imagined she did, there wasn't enough light to tell for sure.
Chapter 6

We all took a second to breathe a sigh of relief and dread. "That was close." John said. "Give me my gun back."

Will kept quiet a little longer than he should have. I could tell that he was reluctant to give up the gun. "Here." He finally said. "But maybe I should keep it, I don't see why one person should have both guns."

I couldn't see the expression on John's face, but I'm certain it wouldn't have been a pleasant one judging from his response. "Ever shot a gun before?"

Will was hesitant again. "Y-Yeah, once."

"You're full of shit. As far as I can tell, I'm the only person who could shoot anything with either of these. I'll be keeping 'em." None of us could argue with his assessment. "Ok..." John sighed again. "Ok, what now?" We were all quiet. "Don't just stand there look for a way out of here!"

We all shambled in the dark feeling around. "Don't you have a flashlight officer?"

"I told you, it's John, and... I dropped it."

I cut in. "Hold on, my phone's got one." I pulled it out of my pocket only to feel shattered glass. "Fuck, it must have broke when I fell. Does anybody else have their phone?"

"I left mine at work." Elizabeth stated plainly. "What? It was in my purse, and phone's don't fit in girl's pants. I'm lucky if I can fit chapstick in these."

"Don't worry babe I've got mine." We waited for him to flick through his menu and turn it on. When it did the flash revealed John rubbing his temple with a look on his face that screamed what have I gotten myself into? Will looked around the small concrete box we were in and found an opening. "Alright, let's go." He sounded frustrated.

We all followed behind him cramming into the small opening, Elizabeth first, then me, and finally John. It was barely big enough for me to walk hunched over. I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for the others. Our shoes splashed lightly in the small amount of water that was at the bottom of the pipe.

"Great, I have to crawl through people's shit in my nice shoes." Will wasn't happy about the situation.

"That's all you care about?" John had anger in his voice. "We almost died how many times? And you're worried about your shoes?"

I spoke up. "Calm down both of you. Besides it's not sewage Will."

"Um hello! We're in the sewer." His response was irritating.

"No, we're not. Take a breath, it doesn't smell nearly bad enough for that. It's just a storm drain. The sewer system doesn't connect to it. This just catches rain water and drains it out to either a ponding basin or river."

"Oh... It's still getting in my shoes though."

"Live with it." John cut back snidely. "What the hell are we going to do now?" He asked himself out loud.

"Beats me." I said back.

"See this is why I didn't want to stop. Maybe if we had just left when I said to." John's irritation was showing.

"Then where would we be?" Elizabeth interrupted him.

"Well you wouldn't be listening to him bitch about his sneakers." John replied.

"Seriously?" I asked. "We have to put our heads together here, what are we going to do when we get out of here?"

"You mean if we get out of here." Will said.

"When!" I was firm. "Worst case scenario we can always go back in a couple of hours and get out the way we came when it's safe. The real issue is what we're going to do when we are out."

After a few seconds John spoke. "Well, the real chaos is setting in up there. I'm going to guess all of the quarantine checkpoints are going to be crowded deathtraps for a while. Our best bet is to hunker down somewhere and wait till we can get through easy."

"Ok." I said. "Where's a good spot to wait?"

"Anywhere safe with food and water." John's answer was simple, but left us wanting.

"Anywhere specific in mind?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nope, and I'm not so sure it's going to matter all that much." John said back to her. "With things the way they are we aren't likely to make it more than a couple blocks safely, so we're going to go with whatever meets our needs at the end of this pipe."

He had a point. There wasn't any good reason to be picky, anything with food, water, and study doors was good enough, and getting our hearts set on something too far away would just pressure us to get into more danger than we were equipped to handle, but not knowing was still uncomfortable.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see..." I replied. We didn't talk much after that, but it wasn't as if we were quiet. John and Will kept cursing every time they stumbled or stepped in something disagreeable. It turns out even a storm drain has some pretty disgusting things floating through it, mostly garbage, but that can be nasty in its own right.

It must have been nearly a mile. My back was killing me, and it wasn't hard to tell that no one thought it was a charming life experience. We finally saw just a hint of light at the end of the tunnel, and it was more than just a metaphor for us. Although when we got closer we found our way into another box like the one we had entered from. When I looked up I saw the same little speck of light peeking its way through the small hole in a manhole cover above us. "Look up there." I said.

"Oh, my fuckin' back" John was just happy to stand in a position closer to straight. I started to climb up the ladder. "Hold on." He stopped me. "There might be some of the bastards up there, let me go first." We shuffled out of the way for him to get to the ladder. His shoes squeaked and clanged against the bars as he climbed, he realized it and stopped. "We should be more quiet, if they are up there we don't want them to know we're here." He whispered back to us. He climbed the rest of the way carefully and tried to lift the cover. "How the hell did you get one of these open? It won't budge."

"I climbed higher, and used my legs to push it open."

He did the same, his shoes slipped letting out a long squeak. "Damn it." He adjusted his footing and tried again. "Fuck it's really stuck. Hold on." He pounded against it with his back. It was loud. "I felt it budge." He hit it again, to which it popped free bouncing up and slamming down on the concrete, which made a horribly loud noise that echoed throughout the tunnel. "Shit... and here I said to be quiet." He took a few steps down so he could lift it out of the way. He cautiously put his head out into the open and looked around. "Phew, we're good."

We climbed out of the hole one at a time and out into the fresh air, each one of us stretching our backs from the cramped journey. We stood on the bank of one of the town's canals, there was very little light, and it was backed up against the fences of people's backyards. The canal went on for about half a block in either direction before it connected to the main streets where it went underground.

"Alright, where are we?" John asked looking around for any distinguishing landmark.

"I have no idea." I said back to him.

"This way... I guess." John took the lead and we followed behind. The sounds of gunshots and screams filled the night, even from the houses we were walking by, but the waterway was clear of any zombies, which made traveling fast enough. When we got to the end of the canal it went under the street where it connected to the road. There was a small fence to keep people from climbing inside, but it was meant as more of a deterrent rather than a security fence, as such it was easy enough for us to hop over.

We took a left jogging down the road, but it was a nightmare all around us. "Where are we? Does anyone recognize this street?" John asked, but no one answered. We kept running until we saw a street sign. "Maple and Brooks huh?" He looked up and down the street. "I know where we are now, there should be a grocery store back the other way." We ran for about a quarter block together before John slowed down. He was panting, and it wasn't a surprise, while he wasn't in bad shape, he definitely wasn't the fittest of our bunch. "Let's slow down a bit." He said between breaths. "We need to be able to fight if we have to." We kept to a slow jog, which was still more than John was comfortable with.

Some woman, she must have been in her early thirties came running out from one of the houses toward us. "Oh thank goodness! Officer! You have to help my husband!"

John pointed the end of the shotgun right at her. "Stay back!"

"What?" She was shocked by his behavior. "No, officer, he needs your help! Please!" She started to take another step forward.

John fired a warning shot over her head. "I said stay back!" She screamed.

"John I don't think she's one of-" but I was cut off.

"Have you been bitten?" His question was forceful.

"N-no! B-But my husband he got bit on the arm trying to fight off one of those things."

John winced. He didn't like the response he was going to give, and he knew it wasn't going to end well. "He's already dead Ma'am. You can come with us if you like, but we're leaving now."

"What are you talking about? He's not dead, it was just a little bite!" John turned from her and began moving toward the grocery store.

"It's your last chance Lady..." He kept walking.

"O-ok! Just let me get my husband!"

"No..." John's words were cold.

She was hesitant to talk at first until we kept moving. "You bastard! How can you call yourself a police officer! You piece of-" She trailed on in the night behind us.

"What kind of cop are you? That's not the first time you've pointed a gun in someone's face tonight." Will ended hinting at himself.

"The kind that's going to live... We're getting close don't fall behind."

It didn't take much longer after that. John had to shoot a few zombies on the way, but we were able to get to the intersection where the grocery store stood. Seeing it though didn't inspire much confidence. The glass doors had been shattered in, and the lights were out inside. But the worst of it was the zombies pouring through the front door.

"It looks like someone else had the same idea... and it didn't work out too well." I said.

"We can't just stay out in the open." John was trying to figure out what to do. "I wish we hadn't left the car." He muttered to himself.

"Hey I know where we're at." Will chimed in. "We're only like a block away from the mall.

"That's... not the best plan." I commented after realizing the mall he was thinking of.

"Why not?"

"Sure there's water, but there have to be a lot of people that thought to go there, and to make things worse it's got entrances all over it. Barricading them is going to be a nightmare. It's also not very big... There isn't going to be a lot of food there."

"Yeah, that sounds like a dumb idea alright..." John said. "I can't think of anything better though... Anyone else? No?" He waited for our response, when there wasn't any he spoke again. "Let's get going then."

The next block was harder than the last. There were more zombies, more piled up cars, and less living people. It was dangerous to move through that many with so little means to defend ourselves, so we had to keep moving fast. Stopping would have been a death sentence. When we finally got to the end of the street we could see it, Mountain View Shopping Mall... It was a mess, but there was no turning back.
Chapter 7

The mall was in shambles. Cars and trucks were parked and crashed on the east side blocking the entranceways. The lights above showed the masses of zombies trying to get through them. Most of the doors and windows were broken out to the west, and the lights were out. Though even in the dim moonlight we could tell the number of zombies to the west weren't even a hundredth of that in the lights.

"We'll have to get in that way." John said. "If we're lucky they won't get us."

There were still too many of them for that, and we all knew it. "Hold on!" Elizabeth stopped the group. "I come here all the time. A lot of people don't know this, but there's extra parking and a smaller public entrance around the other side. It's walled off back there, so there should be less of them."

"Good thinking."

"But... the doors might be locked." She added. "They close them early."

"I can break a glass door." John replied.

We ran to around the edges of the parking lot, trying to attract as little attention as possible. It didn't work as well as we should have liked. John kept having to stop to shoot a zombie to clear the path, and we were getting more and more surrounded the closer we got to our destination. If this plan didn't work it was the end for us.

When we finally got around the corner of the building we found the back side almost empty. We ran past the shutter doors which closed off the loading bays. It wasn't too much further when we had our eyes on the entrance. It was small, just one glass double door, and not even an automatic one at that. John grabbed the handle and gave it a tug. "Yup locked." He looked around. "Hang on." He grabbed the concrete ash tray and swung it like a battering ram through the glass. It shattered into a million little pieces but didn't make a hole big enough to crawl through. John used the barrel of his shotgun to clear out the broken glass, and we were in.

We couldn't see any zombies from where we were. It was a long hallway that led out just behind a small clothing store and into the main strip of the mall. On the right there was a closed shutter door, it was the spot the cars had been used to block. We looked to the left. "Shit they're coming!" Will spouted.

We could see them in the distance maybe a hundred feet off moving our direction. "We have to get this shutter open!" I yelled looking for a control panel.

"I hear people over by the big door." We heard someone say from somewhere in behind the metal mesh.

"We're here! Someone open up the gate!" I yelled and pounded on the screen. We could hear people mumbling to each other until finally a young security guard approached. "Yes! Open the gate those things are right behind us!"

"Sure let me..." He looked at my shirt. "You've got blood all over you."

I reached down and pinched my shirt between my fingers to look at it. "Oh yeah, it happened earlier."

"We don't have time for this open the damn gate!" John was justifiably impatient.

"I'm not letting anyone in that's been bitten!" He shouted back.

"What? No, I haven't been bitten, it's not my blood!"

"I can't take your word for it. It's too risky..."

John hit the butt of his gun on the gate to get his attention. "Hey! You see my uniform? I'm a cop, I picked him up like this, but he wasn't bitten. Now open this fucking thing up before we die!"

"Are you sure?" He waited for a reply while the zombies got closer."

"Yes! And if he's lying I'll shoot him myself!"

His response was delayed while he thought things over. "Ok I'll open it, but only enough to crawl through." He walked out of sight to the control panel, and we heard the motor starting to whir. The steel wall creaked as it started to rise. True to his word he only opened it about a foot and a half so we could crawl inside. It was wide enough that we all crawled under at the same time.

"Alright close it close it!" Will shouted.

"I'm on it." The wall came down slowly, and it was just in time. The zombies started grabbing at it not a moment after it was fully closed. "I don't suppose anyone else is getting through this way." He walked over and locked the gate down to the floor. He jumped back when he looked up to see a zombie drooling over him on the other side of the gate.

We all collapsed on the floor. We had just run maybe three or four miles without taking a break, and it was hard on all of us. "Thanks kid." John said between heavy breathing. "This part of the mall is completely sealed off right?"

"Yes Sir. We were able to seal off the other entrances by pushing vending machines, benches, you know, whatever was heavy and sturdy in the doors."

"What about the cars out front?" I asked.

"Oh those didn't stop them all that well, also they weren't really intended to be a barricade, people just wanted to get close to the door before they got out of their cars."

"People? How many are there?" John asked.

"Nobody's sure yet. It's a lot though."

"Great..." John was not excited to hear it. "You can go back to doing whatever you were doing, give us a minute to rest here." The guard nodded his head and walked off. As soon as he was out of earshot John started talking again. "I know I should be grateful more people lived, but this isn't good. There likely isn't a lot of food here, and depending on how many people a lot is, we could have problems."

"Like what?" Will asked.

"Like fighting. Being alive doesn't help anyone if we all just tear each other to pieces. I'm sticking to the plan. Wait a few days then get back to the quarantine zone." John said searching through his pockets to get an idea of how many shotgun shells he had left.

"What about us?" I asked.

"I'm not your mommy, do whatever you want. You're welcome to follow me, or stay here. I don't care." He was still catching his breath when he got to his feet again. "We're not getting out the way we came in, that's for sure. He gestured to the zombies behind the cage. " I'll have to find another way out of here." He got up and walked in the same direction the guard had walked off in.

"Something not quite right about that cop." said Will.

"I'm not so sure, he's just in a bad situation. I wouldn't put it past anyone to act weird with what he's going through." I replied.

"No..." Elizabeth chimed in. "He's right, there's something... off."

"Like what?" I asked.

"He' just..." she continued. "Just off... I can't put my finger on it but something is definitely wrong."

"Hmm." I wasn't sure what to make of their perception. "Well there's no sense sitting around here. Let's go see what 'a lot' of people means."
Chapter 8

I got up and followed John, while Elizabeth and Will went off on their own. This side of the mall didn't have any damage. It was pristine. As we walked we could see more and more people sitting around, till we got to the section where they were reinforcing the barricades. There must have been a hundred people in total, more than the mall could sustain for more than a few days.

"Who's in charge here?" John asked the people working.

"I wouldn't say anyone's in charge." One of the men answered him. He was tall with short brown hair, clean shaven, brown eyes, muscular and overall well kept. He stood extremely straight but had a friendly demeanor, which was odd considering what had happened that night.

"Well... What's your name?" John asked.

"It's Dennis, Dennis Myers, and you're... You're Officer John Maxton?"

John squinted and drew out his response. "Yeah... Do we know each other?"

Dennis laughed. "No, I can't say that we ever met. But you were in the papers a few weeks ago right? The big drug bust?"

John rolled his eyes while he nodded. "Yeah, that's me."

"Hey glad to meet you." He took a hold of John's hand and shook it firmly. "Glad to have a police officer here. People are looking for leadership, and I was the closest thing we had, being in the Army reserve and all."

"I doubt I'm the best bet for leading these people..." John closed one eye while he scratched the side of his head.

"Seriously? I'm sure people would be glad to know a hero cop was the one in charge." Dennis said.

"I'm not looking to step on anyone's toes... I'm just as out of my element as anyone else here. I'd rather you keep charge of things." John was clearly uneasy at the topic, and it made sense with the plan he had in mind.

"You're sure?"

"Yes. The papers did a good job of making me out to be more than I am. Besides, I'm sure you'd be better at it anyway."

"Alright, if you say so..." He waited for John to talk. "I don't believe I've met your friend here." Dennis said gesturing to me.

"Mark Williams, nice to meet you." He grabbed my hand and shook it firmly giving a slight nod.

"Are you alright?" He was looking at my blood soaked clothes.

"Yeah I'm fine, just had a rough night."

He almost snickered. "Yeah who hasn't?" There was a tinge of sorrow in his voice.

"Ok. Hey I could use a map of this place." John cut in. "Know anyone who might have one? Or where one would be?"

"There're maps all over the place, it's a mall." He pointed to the board behind John that gave details about the various stores and their locations.

"No, I don't mean like that. I'm looking for one that has all of the back rooms on it. You know like a maintenance map."

"Hmm, well Steve might know where to find one. He's a security guard for the mall. Or I guess he was." Dennis scratched his chin while he talked. "Hmm, where is he?" He looked over the crowd.

"Yeah I think I've met 'em, sort of. He's the one who let us in. I'll see if I can't find him. Thanks for your help Dennis." John turned to walk away.

"Sure thing. Actually, mind if I come with you?"

"No... I guess that's fine."

Dennis asked a few people where Steve was as we were making our way from the main entrance of the mall. Many people were distraught over the things that had happened to them. Some people were crying, others were just trying to ignore everything and come to terms with it. It only took a few minutes to track down the mall's security guard. "Hey Steve!" Dennis was rather loud. "Do you know where we can find a map of this place?"

John added to Dennis' question. "A detailed one, that has all of the security, maintenance, and storage rooms on it."

Steve was indeed the person who had let us in, and he didn't have to think too long to get his answer. "Yeah, there's one in the security office. Here I'll show you where it is."

"Thanks." John said, and we followed him around the corner and a few stores up. There was a break in between the stores that lead to the room plainly marked as security. He unlocked the door and let us in.

Steve pointed to the map on the wall once we were inside. "There it is. Is there anything else you guys need?" He asked surprisingly courteously.

John looked around the room for a second before his eyes came to a chair that had many monitors in front of it. "Yeah, can you show me how to work these cameras?"

Steve shook his head. "I'm pretty new here, and I've never got to touch 'em. Wade was the guy who worked the cameras, but he ran out of here before things started getting really bad. I think I'm the only one of the security staff that stayed behind."

"Why did you stay?" I asked.

He looked embarrassed by the question. "I'm the only one that didn't have a car."

"Hey Steve." John got his attention. "You may be the only one left alive. And you're the only reason we're not dead either."

It was a small gesture of encouragement, but it sat well with the young guard. "Thanks... Is that all?"

"John was looking at the map. Yeah I think we're good thanks." Steve closed the door behind him as he left.

A few seconds later Dennis started talking. "You sure you don't want to go check on your friends Mark?"

John could tell he was trying to get rid of me. "There's no need for that. Mark's smart enough to keep his mouth shut if he needs to. What do you want?" John was running his finger over the map trying to look for an exit we could use.

Dennis' response was devoid of his usual friendly demeanor. "We've got a problem."

"No shit. A wall of teeth stands between us and freedom." John tapped his finger on the map, turned around and sat down at the camera station.

"It's not just that. There's too many people here. I don't think we're going anywhere soon, and we don't have a lot of food here in the mall."

"I figured as much." John was fiddling with the controls.

"It's worse than that." Dennis continued. "Even if there weren't so many... whatever those are-"

I cut in. "We've been calling them zombies."

"Thank you!" Dennis was almost too happy to hear it. "Everybody's been dodging the word, but we all know what we're dealing with here. Anyway, as I was saying, even if there weren't so many zombies, and we had enough food to last a few weeks, there's no way out of here."

"That's why I'm looking for one." John managed to get one screen to switch to another camera. "How the hell did I do that?" He asked himself quietly.

"No, even with a secure exit, there's still too many people. As far as I can tell, we've only got three guns between the whole mall; your shotgun and pistol, and my 1911." He tapped the side of his pants where the weapon was concealed. "Which is running a little dry mind you, you wouldn't happen to have any ammo?"

John replied. "Forty-five?"

"Yeah."

"I've only got nine-mil."

"Damn..."

John stopped what he was doing and spun around in his chair. "So what are you getting at anyway?"

Dennis sighed heavily. "You and I both have the same job here... We're supposed to save these people, but there's no way we can get them out of here safely all at the same time. We just don't have the capacity to do it. We can't keep them safe here either. Even if we keep everyone inside there's no way we can stop them from killing each other over the last scraps of food."

"So what do you think we should do?" John turned back to the screens.

"Honestly? I have no clue. We can't leave with everyone, and we can't stay here..." Dennis leaned against a small table. "Look, I've got a family out there."

"So, what? You want to go rescue them?" John said off guard.

"No, not out there." Dennis waved his hand. "I meant in the mall. My wife and daughter are here, we were out eating dinner when all this happened, and this was the closest safest place we could get to. I need a way to save them. I can't have them here if things go south."

John exhaled deeply. "I'm not sure we could protect them out there."

"Maybe, maybe not, but it's better than staying here and having everything go to hell around us." Dennis slumped his shoulders.

"So what's your plan?" John asked.

"I don't have one, but I know you do."

John froze. "What makes you say that?"

"You're too glued to those screens. You're not just looking for a way out of the mall, you're looking to get out of this mess."

John spun back around and looked him in the eyes with his annoyance, furrowing his brow. "Alright! You got me, but we can't tell anyone that doesn't need to know. As you pointed out, if everyone gets word of this they'll all want to try and leave with us, and we can't protect them all."

"So what do we do?" Dennis asked.

"There's a military quarantine just a few blocks away from here. If we can get past that, then I think we're in the clear." John paused. "Things didn't go too well when we first tried to make it out. There are just too many people trying to get through. We have to wait for things to calm down a bit, maybe a few days. Then we make our move, a small group gets to the quarantine zone, passes through, and then we tell them about everyone here in the mall."

"It sounds like a plan. So it's just you two, me and my family?" Dennis asked.

"Not quite... Mark?" John got my attention. "Elizabeth and Will already know the plan, but we need to stop them from telling anyone else. Go get them and bring them back here."

"I'm on it." I opened the door to leave the security room.

"Oh, and Mark." I turned back to look at John. "Get a change of clothes while you're at it. There's no sense causing a panic because you're covered in blood."
Chapter 9

I walked through the mall calling out for them, well, I guess I was more interested in finding Elizabeth than Will. She held my thoughts captive at work for more hours than I would like to admit. It was something about her kindness that drew me to her, the way that she genuinely treated people with care, rather than just faking it for the sake of the job. I think that's what made finding out she had a boyfriend suck so bad. It didn't help that she was beautiful either. Although, I don't think she saw herself that way.

"Elizabeth?" I called out walking past the empty stores.

"Mark over here!" she finally called back. I started to jog, but my legs were too tired from all of the running earlier, so I walked the rest of the way. When I approached I found her sitting in a chair in front of a desk in some jewelry store. "Did you need something?" she asked resting her head on her hands, with her elbows on the counter. She was hiding it, but I could tell she was shaken.

"Yeah. Good choice by the way." I said taking a chair next to her.

"What do you mean?" She leaned back in the chair.

"The jewelry stores always have the comfiest chairs." I snickered. "It helps increase sales."

She smiled briefly. "What did you need?"

"John wants to talk with us, is Will around?"

She pointed to the cell phone store across from where we were. I looked over and could see him rummaging through the shelves. "What's he doing?"

"He started off looking for a charger, but I think he's stealing a new phone now..." She sighed.

"Well, I don't think anyone's going to miss it." I said back to her.

"We shouldn't keep John waiting." She put her hands on the armrest of her chair to get up.

"It's not like it's time sensitive, he just wants to go over things before we talk to anyone else. Take a moment to rest..." I watched her slump back down in her chair. "Are you ok? You don't have any family out there do you?"

She rubbed her eyes. "No, I'm not from around here. I just moved here for college."

"Hey we're in the same boat then. At least no one we care about is in danger." I said just a little too cheery.

She scowled. "I still have friends you know."

"Oh, yeah... I'm sorry." I broke eye contact to look back at Will. He was still shopping for a new case. "I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about. I know you were trying to cheer me up."

"It's still inconsiderate." We fell silent. "How is Will holding up?"

A grimace slipped across her face for only a fraction of a second. "He's fine."

"Sweet!" We heard him yell from the store across from us.

"Maybe too fine." She added in a whisper that I wasn't supposed to hear.

"Hey babe! Check it out!" He was holding up the phone with pride so she could see it while he walked over. "What are you doing here?" He was clearly upset by the fact that I had been talking to Elizabeth.

"John wanted to talk to us before we talked with anyone else. I just came to get you."

"Uhuh, right." He was glaring at me.

"He's waiting for us Will, let's go." Elizabeth stood up and grabbed his arm to drag him away.

He looked her in the eyes. "Yeah ok. Where is he?"

"He's in the security office, but let me get a different shirt before we get there." I said leading the way. We stopped at some small clothing store in the mall, and I grabbed something plain in my size. I replaced my shirt, throwing the old one into the trash and began to walk out of the store. I stopped, not quite feeling right about taking it.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

I rolled my eyes feeling like a goodie two shoes as I took out my wallet and placed the cash on the counter next to the register. Will looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. "Dork." He said to Elizabeth's dismay. She punched him in the arm. "What? It's not like anyone is going to know."

"That's not the point." She added following after me.

It was only a short walk to the security room. When we got inside John was by himself, he appeared to have some ability to control the cameras at this point, as he was switching through them. "Took your sweet time didn't you?"

"Sorry." I replied. Elizabeth wasn't thrilled with the fact that I made John wait when we could have left sooner, and her face showed it. I looked at the ceiling to avoid the awkward situation. "Where'd Dennis go?"

"He went to get his wife and kid." John didn't bother to look at us while he talked, he was too absorbed in trying to find a clean exit through the cameras. "Sit down they'll be here in a minute." There was a small table that ran the length of the room, it must have been used for meetings with the security staff. We took a seat, Will and Elizabeth sat opposite of me.

"Any luck finding a way out of here?" I asked John.

"Yeah, I'm just doing this for fun now." His words dripped with sarcasm.

We waited for a few minutes. Will was still fiddling with his new phone, and Elizabeth was sitting there trying her best not to stare at anyone. I have to say it was a longer wait than I had expected, but sure enough, Dennis opened the door with his family in tow. "Sorry about the wait, Jill was using the restroom." He gestured to his daughter, she was eight years old, with brown hair like her father's, and obviously not at all comfortable with what was going on, not that I could say any of us were. "And this is my wife Helena."

She was a short blonde haired woman with kind eyes, and a timid voice. "Hello, nice to meet you."

We shook hands, but Will didn't seem to care. "So what are we doing here?" He asked impatiently.

John turned around to face us. "Alright here's what's going on. What we say in this room doesn't leave this room, you got that?" I nodded, but already knew everything they were going to say. When nobody answered him John continued. "Ok? Good. So here's what's going on. We're going to make a break for the quarantine zone."

Helena spoke out. "Wait why just us?"

"It's not because we don't want to bring everybody else and their dog along, it's just that we can't. From what we can tell we've only got three guns between the lot of us, and we don't even have a lot of ammo to boot." John leaned forward to rest on his hands. "We may be able to get there by ourselves, but we can't take everyone. Plus, we had a situation when we tried to get through the quarantine the first time. There were too many people for the soldiers to check quickly, and the... zombies, were right on top of us. It didn't work out so well for those who stayed behind. We can't have that situation happen again." He leaned back and closed his eyes.

"So what happens to the people who stay here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Who cares?" Will's words were only full of self-interest. "At least we'll be safe."

"We're no-" John started speaking but Elizabeth interrupted him.

"That's just like you." She said with malice in her words.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Will asked.

"You don't give a shit about anybody but yourself!" Her words were becoming heated. Helena covered her daughter's ears.

"That's not true, I care about you."

"No you don't! You only care about having me as your 'girl!' You never gave a damn about anything I ever cared about!" We were all just staring shocked at the train wreck that was happening before us.

"I put up with so much of your stupid ass shit! You have no idea how much bullshit I've gone through for you!" They were yelling over each other's voices at this point.

Dennis grabbed a hold of his wife and pulled her to the side. I could barely hear him whisper in her ear. "Take Jill and wait outside."

"You fucking piece of shit! I can't believe I ever even bothered with someone like you." Elizabeth stood up from the table, her shoulders tensed.

"Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it?" Will stood up yelling in her face.

"I'm breaking up with you, you dumb motherfucker!" Elizabeth's words brought a flush of blood to Will's face, he was beet red.

"No you're fucking not!" Will screamed.

"Alright break it up!" John tried to interrupt, but they were too busy yelling to even notice him. "Help me out here Mark." He said to me, and we grabbed a hold of Will pulling him back.

He struggled violently, elbowing me in the face. "Let me go you fuckers!"

"Elizabeth get out of here, you've already made your point! There's nothing more to say." John said getting her to back off.

"Fine!" She yelled and walked out slamming the door behind her.

"Let me go!" Will screamed at us till John forced him into a chair.

"Shut up! We've got bigger shit to deal with than your stupid relationship bullshit right now! People could die if you don't keep your shit together!" John was yelling down at him. "Now you're going to take this shit like a man! Do you hear me? You can settle things later. For now, we're going to focus on getting out of this city alive."

"But I-" Will started.

John cut him off though. "No 'buts' just shut up! You can deal with this later." John was authoritative in his words.

Will looked around the room frustrated. "Alright!" He was still red in the face. "Can I go now? I want to be alone."

John looked at Dennis and I to make sure we weren't going to add anything else. "Yeah, get the fuck out of here." He let him up, and Will stormed out of the room. John closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Is he going to be a problem?" Dennis asked in a serious tone as soon as he was sure that Will couldn't hear him.

John opened his eyes and looked over at Dennis. "Yeah! He's been a pain in my ass the whole night, I'm sure he will. But if he causes too much trouble I'll just have to read him his rights again. Right Mark?" He looked over at me and stopped talking for a second. "Go change that shirt."

I felt my nose where Will's elbow had hit me in the face and I was bleeding. It ran down onto the new shirt I had just put on. "Awe, come on!" I said to myself.

"Well if you think you can handle it I'll leave it to you." Dennis added, and left the room to be with his family.

John sat back down at the computer. "Are you alright?"

"I think so, it's just a nosebleed." I paused.

"Good!" He started looking through the screens again. "And at least you've got a shot now."

I was embarrassed by his comment. "Now's not a good time."
Chapter 10

I had found a roll of paper towels in the office, and jammed half of them up my nose to stop the bleeding. I was sitting down at the table where I had been during the fight and was resting my head between my hands.

"Hello." John sounded happy.

"Um... Hello?" I said back to him. My words were nasally because of the paper wadded up my nose.

"Shut up." He shook his head back and forth. "Come take a look at this." I got up from the table and looked at the screen he was pointing to. "See that?"

"It's a door alright."

"Ok smart ass." John paused before he continued. He pointed his finger at a second monitor. "That's the other side of that door." There was nothing on the other side. No zombies no trace of anything. "That could be our way out of here." He tapped the screen. "Yeah... Go get that Steve guy, I want to ask him some questions." I gave him a disgruntled look. "That reminds me, go check on the idiot and make sure he's not harassing that poor girl."

I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back. "Do I have to?"

John stared at me. "Just go."

I departed with a heavy sigh. I was in no hurry while I walked to find Will. I didn't want to talk to him, but that was an understatement. I only met him a few hours ago, but I never liked him. My nose especially didn't like him. It was throbbing at that point. "Maybe I can find some painkillers." I said to myself.

Walking the mall was strange, people were beginning to calm down, but it didn't mean things were easy. They were waiting for help but knew that no one even knew where we were. I could see the desperation on people's faces, and I tried to mind my own business. I asked around to find Steve, as I would've rather talked to him, and I didn't want to be alone with Will. It didn't take very long to track him down.

He was a nice guy, and surprisingly calm. "It's Mark right? What happened to you?" He gestured toward the paper towels still crammed up my nostrils.

"This? I got elbowed in the face... Look I'd rather not talk about it." I replied.

"Ok... So what do you need?"

"John's back in the security room and he wants to ask you some questions. Can you come with me?"

"I don't see why not, there's really nothing to do around here." He walked beside me back toward the security room.

"You seem to be handling this well."

"Are you kidding me? I'm freaking out on the inside." He was showing more emotion the longer we talked. "Don't get me wrong, unlike most of the people here I still haven't been in any immediate danger. "

"What do you mean?" I asked keeping an eye out for Will should we come across him.

"Well I was in the mall to begin with, so I was here when they built the barricades. I never came within twenty feet of a zombie, well besides the one at the gate when I let you in. I guess a few of them did get in here though."

I was confused. "Wait, how did they get in, if they built the barricades before it was a problem?"

"We let some people in that had gotten bitten... Luckily some people were able to smash their brains in before anyone else got killed. But it still set us on edge. That's why I didn't want to open the door for you at first."

"I can't blame you for that." We were quiet for a few seconds. "So how long does it take? You know, to turn into one of them?"

"I don't think anyone's sure. The first girl turned in maybe ten minutes, but she was chewed up pretty bad. Another one of them was barely bitten, more like teeth marks. It just barely broke the skin. It took him about two hours, I guess."

"So the size of the bite is what makes the difference?"

"I think, but it's not like I really know. A person's weight might have something to do with it too."

"That makes sense. Everybody is a little different." That's when I saw Will out of the corner of my eye. He was leaning head first against a glass wall, but he wasn't looking in the store. "Hold on Steve. Hey Will? Are you alright?"

He didn't even look at us. "Fuck off!" He yelled still standing there. I could see him muttering to himself.

"Ok, I'll get right on that. " I wasn't about to get him any more pissed off than he already was.

We continued on our way, and after a minute or so Steve asked me about him. "What's his problem?"

"His girlfriend, you know the blonde girl that was with us, Elizabeth? She just broke up with him."

"Oh... That's harsh" He shook his head.

"Eh," I shrugged my shoulders. "He's kind of an asshole. He busted my nose. I don't think he meant to do it on purpose, but I get the feeling he wanted to anyway. I doubt I'll ever get an apology out of him."

"It still sucks."

I looked away because I didn't want to admit it. "I guess you're right."

We got back to the security room. When we opened the door John was still searching the monitors. "Here he is." I said plainly.

"Oh, good hold on a second." John fiddled with the buttons till the screen switched back to the door he was looking at earlier. "Steve, I just want to ask you a quick couple of questions."

"Um sure, what is it?" He replied.

"This door." John tapped on the screen. "This is the other side of it right?" He flipped a second monitor to show what he was talking about.

"Yeah, that's right, what about it?"

"Where does this lead outside?" John continued his questioning.

"That's the area where they charge and store the security carts for the night?"

"Security carts?" I asked not quite catching his meaning.

"You know, golf carts with the word security painted on them."

John shook his head before speaking. "Anyway... So where is that on the map here?" He got up and walked over to the map bringing Steve with him.

"It's uh, right here." He pointed to the small area behind the mall near where we came in from. It was on our side of the barricade.

"Great! Thanks. Hey Mark let's go check it out."

I opened the door, but Steve asked us a question before we could leave. "Wait, why?"

"Oh, you know..." I was trying to come up with a lie, but couldn't before he caught on.

"Don't go bullshitting me. You're looking for a way out. You two better tell me why." Steve's eyes were darting between us looking for an answer.

"You're pretty sharp. But we've got no reason to tell you." John smirked victoriously and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's a security area..." Steve interrupted and gave us a disconcerting look. "You're going to need a key." He raised an eyebrow and jingled the small flanks of metal in his pocket.

John ran his right hand through his hair until it stopped at the back of his neck. He was wincing. "Shit..." He paused unusually long. "It looks like we're bringing one more."
Chapter 11

It didn't take long to get Steve on board with the plan. In fact, he made it clear in the first place that he would have left if he had a car, so all in all it made sense. We checked out the area in which they charged the golf carts, and it was a perfect location to make our break from the mall. It was small and walled off, with a chained gate that led out back of the mall. From there we could see there weren't many zombies making their way around the back, as we had already come to expect. But they were swarming either side of the parking lot, which meant that the safest way out was for us to climb back the wall and head out from there.

And with the plan set, the only thing left to do was wait. The first night was hell, not that it was too crowded, though the mattress store was swamped with people trying to get a good night's sleep. I instead found myself sleeping, or I guess I should say trying to sleep, in a recliner which no one had paid any mind to. Sleeping was hard for everyone. Not a single person was comfortable knowing that if the barricade didn't hold up those things would be in there with us in a moment's notice. We stationed guards who would sleep in shifts of course for the sake of warning us should anything go wrong, but it barely helped calm us.

The next two days moved as slow as molasses. Sure there were plenty of things to do in a mall, but they tend to get old really quick, even more so when they are the only things that you can do. Still, we all wanted to find a way to distract ourselves from the monsters just outside the door, so we all desperately tried to make the most of the entertainment at hand. The department stores had big screen T.Vs in them, which were playing movies nonstop, and people huddled around them trying to ignore the fact that our food stores were running thin quickly. I think the odd part was that few people amongst the group had any sort of plan other than to wait it out, and I can't say I would have thought much differently if it were not for John and the others.

It was nearing the end of the second day when Steve came to talk with me. "Hey Mark."

"Yeah what is it?" I was busy trying to distract myself with some video game when he came up. I didn't look at him as I was too involved.

"Tomorrow morning... Early before everyone wakes up." He tried to leave it at that, but I hadn't caught his meaning.

"What about it?" I asked still playing away.

I could hear him sigh. "That's when we're." I caught him out of the corner of my eye stopping to make sure that no one else was nearby. "That's when we're leaving. John wanted me to tell you."

I paused the game. "Oh..." I looked about to make sure nobody was listening as well. "Does everyone else already know?"

"Yeah, you were the last-" But he was cut off by the sound of John yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Dennis! Dennis!" We could hear him practically screaming. "Where the fuck are you?" He ran by the opening of the store looking inside for only a fraction of a second before running off.

"What was that about?" I asked hoping that it was something Steve knew about that I didn't.

"I have no clue." Steve was beginning to look worried.

"He sounded frantic." I added and rose from my chair. "Something's wrong."

"Let's go." Steve said. We both ran after him keeping an eye out for zombies. We were concerned that they had broken through a barricade, but it wasn't the case.

When we caught up to him he had found Dennis. "We've got a fucking problem!" John shouted as he checked the function on his guns.

"What, what's going on?" Dennis asked.

"There's some men out around the back, they just pulled up in a big ass truck, and they're breaking into the loading bay of the department store." John was panting, but it didn't stop him from speaking clearly.

"Who are they military?" Dennis asked with some gleam of hope in his eye.

"They've certainly got the guns! But the black masks make me think they aren't here to help."

"Oh shit. Helena!" He pulled out his pistol and turned to face his wife.

"What?" She asked nervously.

"Get Jill and hide in the changing room over there. We've got to go take care of this." He followed after John who led us towards the store they were coming in through.

"How did you find out about them?" Dennis asked. We had slowed to a walk as we entered the store.

"I was checking the cameras, just in case there was a better way to get out of here." John said.

"What should we do?" I asked.

John looked at me wide eyed. "Well, pull out the gun you've been keeping up your ass for the past couple days and give us a hand, otherwise you better get the hell out of here!" I turned to run but felt John's hand pull me to the ground. "Never mind! Get down!" We were behind a counter. Dennis had taken cover one counter over, and we could see them walking in, guns drawn and ready to fire.

"We heard you!" The one in the center called out as he took cover quickly.

"You better get out of here, we don't have enough to go around as it is!" Dennis yelled back at them.

"I'm afraid we won't be doing that." The man had calmed his voice down.

Dennis yelled out again. "If you make one move you're going to get an ass full of lead, you just get back in your truck and leave!"

"If you want a firefight, you've got one!" He yelled back shooting his gun into the counter where Dennis was hiding. He quickly dove out of the way, with the glass of the display case shattering in his wake.

John popped up for a second to shoot a couple rounds from his pistol. "Missed!" he yelled to himself ducking back down. "Move move move!" He yelled to us and motioned to the racks of clothing off to the side.

I was hesitant. "Those won't stop a bullet."

"Neither will this counter! Go!" He shoved us out into the open. We kept our heads down and somehow managed to not get hit with all the bullets whirring around us.

The clothing didn't provide any protection other than there was a lot of it, and keeping low meant we could hide. I looked back to see where John went but I couldn't find him. He must have moved in a different direction from behind the counter because when I turned around he had made his way between our attackers and us. "Keep moving." He whispered. "And keep down."

We worked our way through the clothes stopping every so often for John to try and take a shot. Steve and I kept a rack or two of clothing between John and us. John fired again and after three shots his gun clicked.

He immediately crouched back down and took the magazine out. He was reaching for his spare when a man came up beside him. He pointed his gun at John. "Drop it."

"Fuck!" John tossed the gun on the floor away from him.

"Up." The man said as he waived the point of his gun.

"Hey I know you..." Another masked man came up beside the first. "If it isn't the hero cop John Maxton. You cost us a lot of money."

Steve and I were still hiding when the first one spoke again. "Should I just shoot him now?" He pulled his gun up to his shoulder and got ready to fire.

"No!" the second one replied. "He's worth more alive. I'm sure the boss will want to have a word with him."

"Turn around." The other masked man said and pulled the shotgun strapped across John's shoulder off. "Get out there." He held the gun to the back of his head. "We've got your friend here! You might as well come out!"

"Yeah you're not the only one!" We looked across the store and could see Dennis holding one of the men captive.

"Let him go, or your friend dies!" The man near us yelled.

"I don't think so! There's nothing stopping you from opening fire after that!" Dennis had already moved to a more defensible position.

"I guess we're just going to have to do this hard way." I heard the man next to me say "Shoot hi-"

I didn't understand what was going on yet, but Steve had caught on and made a move. "Wait!" He yelled from behind clothes.

"Come out!" They yelled back at Steve.

"What are you doing kid?" John asked with anger in his voice.

He put his hands up and walked out from behind our hiding spot. Steve was greeted with a gun to his face. "Dennis let him go!"

"Like hell I will!" He tightened his arm around his hostage's throat.

"They won't shoot!" Steve yelled back.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Dennis asked.

"They don't want to waste the bullets! They're only in this for the money. They're looters, they don't give a shit about who's here, or our food."

"Smart kid." I heard one of the men in front of me say.

"Yeah? Well if that's the case, then let John go! If you're telling the truth then you have no reason to keep him at gun point!" Dennis was still worked up.

"Let him go." Steve said.

The masked men looked at each other. The one pointing his gun at Steve shrugged his shoulders. "It would be better if we didn't have to fight."

"Alright! We'll be the sensible ones." They dropped their aim from John and Steve. "Now let him go."

Dennis was torn by the decision, but he made his choice and released the man from his arms. "Ok, are we good then?"

"So long as we can take the cash, we've got no reason to bother one another." They replied.

John let out a deep exhale before speaking. "Can I get my guns back?"

The men looked at each other and debated it. "Should we?"

"I don't think so, but he's not going anywhere."

"Yeah it's hell outside. Then again he might have to defend himself, should any of those bastards get in here."

"It'll keep things smoother for now too... Alright here." He handed him back his shotgun and let him pick the pistol up off the floor. We all came to meet in the middle of the room. "Just stay out of our way and we won't have a problem."

"Deal." Dennis said with a hint of malice in his voice. "I better go tell everyone so it doesn't cause a panic."

One of the men chuckled. "How many people do you have in here?"

Dennis stopped. "About a hundred." He walked off to spread his message.

I was going to follow him but I stopped when the man who had put the gun in Steve's face grabbed his shoulder. It startled him as he was still jumpy. "Hey kid?"

"Um, yeah?" Steve hesitantly asked.

"It looks like you prevented a massacre. And you made our job easier. Good work." I don't imagine he was too thrilled where the praise was coming from, but it was well deserved.
Chapter 12

"You two." John got our attention when the men had gone about looting the various stores.

"What?" Steve asked. His knees were still barely shaking.

"Go get Will and Elizabeth and meet me in the security room when these guys take off." John started walking away but stopped.

"Oh, and I would appreciate it if what those masked sons-a-bitches said about me stayed between them and us. No sense getting everyone worked up at the thought of them coming back here."

"You don't think they're going to take you with them when they leave?" I asked.

"I don't think so, they are loading way too much cargo into that semi-truck. I would wager they're already going to be sitting on each other's laps for the ride home." He stared at us blankly. "Well don't just stand there, go find Will and Elizabeth."

We did as we were told. Walking through the mall we could tell that the recent events had really stirred people up. The look of worry on their faces was incredibly worse than before. A lot of the folks in the mall were upset that we would just let people loot it for cash, but I don't think that was what was really going on. I think they were mad at the looters for not ditching the cargo and helping us leave, and that I could understand.

"Hey Steve?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Why did you put yourself at risk back there?"

"Hmm, I'm not really sure." He thought it over for a couple seconds while we were walking. "I guess it's just something you do, rather than think about. I mean yeah, I could have died, but not doing anything would have been worse."

"I guess..." My reply was hesitant. "I just don't see how though... I mean I understand it all in hindsight. What I am really asking is, in that moment what made you do it?"

"I couldn't sit back and watch good people get hurt. Truth be told, I didn't even think about myself till afterward." His response stuck with me. It wasn't something that I understood at all. It was selflessness to the full degree. But as I was, I couldn't just throw myself out of the equation, and I couldn't fathom how to do it. It was foreign to me, yet admirable.

"I guess..." I accepted his answer without much thought after that, and went back to the task at hand. "I think we should split up."

"Why?" Steve scratched the side of his head.

"If we split up, we can cover more ground and get back to John faster."

"Alright, sounds good."

"You go look for Will, and I'll see if I can't find Elizabeth."

Steve jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow. "Oh I see what's going on here! You're trying to get sweet with her, aren't you?"

"Har har." I mocked his gesture, even if it was partially true. "I'm more concerned about Will. I haven't spoke to him since... Well you saw what happened last time. I'm thinking he might be a little nicer to you than me."

"He sure doesn't seem to like you, if that's what you mean. So I guess you've got a point there... But you owe me!" Steve pointed his finger at me to emphasize his words.

"Yeah yeah, I owe you one." We separated as the plan was finalized. I walked through the mall checking the shops and calling for her. I occasionally asked one of the friendlier refugees if they had seen her, though I eventually found her on my own.

"Hey?" I asked getting her attention.

She looked over at me from her chair. "What is it Mark?"

"John wants to see us."

"Again? What is it this time?" She slumped back in her chair.

"He wants to..." I stopped to make sure that no one was listening, but when I saw a few people nearby I rethought my words. "He wants to talk about the quarantine..."

She didn't catch my meaning. "What about it?" She raised her hands in confusion.

"Let's just go, and bring your stuff. You know... All of it." I wasn't as smooth as I would have liked but it got my point across.

"Oh." She paused to look around and make sure she had her things, which by all accounts wasn't much. "Ok let's go then."

We were heading where we needed to go when I broke the silence. "So... is everything alright with you?"

She gave me this look of disapproval and disbelief. "No... Nothing is alright..."

I bit my lip after realizing just how stupid a question it was. "I meant relatively speaking, as in... how are you doing after, what happened with Will?"

She crushed her eyes together, only briefly before opening them back up to see where she was going. "I guess... I'll be ok."

"Good good..." I didn't know why I thought bringing that up was a good idea, and it certainly wasn't the best time, but it was at least a minor distraction from what we were about to do. And even if we agreed that leaving was the best option, it certainly wasn't an appealing one.

When we made it to the room we found Steve had already brought Will back. "Alright that's all of us." John said checking his weapon to make sure it was in working order. "Those fuckers just took off. Is everyone ready to go? I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to."

Most of us nodded in agreement while Dennis spoke for his family. "We're good." He clutched his wife and child trying to steel their nerves. It was a harrowing concept heading out there, and we all needed the moment to ready ourselves.

John cut us short however. He tapped at the monitor. "The door is clear, we should get moving before that changes." He led the way out of the room but addressed us while we walked down the hallway. "Try not to draw attention to us, I don't want anyone following."

His attempt to remind us only made the situation worse because we were now focused on the people who were looking at us. Their glances were more of confusion than anything else. I don't suppose they could have known what we were doing, but at the same time, it must have looked strange to them that we were all walking together as a group.

When we came to the door, which was fortunately out of sight, John motioned to the handle. "Steve." Was all he said.

Steve got the meaning and began fumbling for the key in his pocket. He inserted it into the hole, then rested his hand on top. I saw him take a deep breath and a gulp before turning the key, and opening the door slowly.

John held his gun toward the opening ready to fire if it was needed. When it was clear that it wasn't, he lowered the weapon. "Let's go." He walked out first. When I was outside I could see why the door was clear, the area for the carts was surrounded by brick walls on all sides, with only one gate from which they could enter or exit. The walls were about six and a half feet tall. "Steve, close this door and lock it."

"Yeah." Steve replied then did as he was instructed.

John had a serious tone in his voice but was notably frustrated that he forgot to explain what he was about to say inside. "Everyone stay close when we're out there, and try not to make any noise. We're going to be moving fast and quiet. These things seem to be attracted to sound, so I don't want to fire unless I have to. Got that?"

"Yes..." Will was the only one of us dumb enough to answer out loud and I would be lying if I said that I was the only one to roll my eyes at his response.

John peeked over the wall to make sure that our path was clear. "There's no clear way out on either side. We're heading for the wall, I think it's backed up against some houses, so the other side should be empty, from there we can make our move. Ok let's go." He scaled the wall with little effort, though few of us were so capable. When the last of us had made it over the wall, we could see that there were zombies in the distance that we had alerted by our presence. I could see Steve standing there, dumbfounded. I could tell that unlike everyone else in our group, he hadn't actually had the experience of being in their presence, even if they were a couple hundred feet away.

"Steve we've got to go." I tugged on his shoulder. It was enough to snap him out of his stupor.

We were running to get to the back wall of the parking lot. It wasn't very far, but none of us wanted to stay out in the open any longer than we had to. And to top things off we were going to have to climb the wall when we got there. Dennis stopped for a second to pick up his daughter, as her tiny legs couldn't carry her fast enough to keep up with the group. "Come on Sweety." I heard him say quietly.

We were lucky that there weren't any zombies close enough that we had to deal with them, at least not yet. John got to the wall first and hopped up on top of it. He scanned the other side long enough to make sure that there was no apparent danger. "Alright, it's clear, come on." He reached down a hand to help us out. One by one he hauled us up and over into the back yard of a house. Dennis made sure to hand his daughter up before he climbed the wall himself.

As soon as we were over John stopped us from going any further. "Hold on, we've got a problem." He spoke very quietly and motioned to Jill. "We're going to have trouble keeping a good pace if someone doesn't carry her."

Dennis was quick to reply. "I've got her, it's really no big deal-"

John cut him off. "You need to be ready to shoot if you have to, and something tells me you won't be able to hold her and fire very easily." Dennis nodded in agreement, though he wasn't happy about it.

"I can do it." I said getting ready to pick her up.

"No." Helena stopped me. "I'll hold her. I think it would be better if I did it."

Helena wasn't a large woman, she certainly didn't appear very strong. So thinking that I was somehow weaker than her, was slightly discouraging to me. I didn't mean to let it show on my face, but John could tell and took me with him to the front gate. "It really is better if she does it Mark." He whispered to me.

"Why is that?" I was keeping my voice down, but I was still upset.

"It has nothing to do with whether or not you could do it." I was caught off guard by his words. "If Jill panics out there she'll cling to her mother. On the other hand, she might just jump off your back." He put his hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing personal. Now stay focused."

I felt the weight of the situation slide off me. He had a point and I knew it, even if I was a better option physically. "Alright..." I replied hesitantly.

John peeked over the fence to see if it was clear enough to head out into the street from there. He held up a hand and waved the group over to him. "Ok everyone, let's move." He whispered just loud enough for us to hear him. He swung open the gate and we followed behind him. When we ran into the street it didn't take long for us to see zombies. Although they were sparse in the neighborhood, we knew it wouldn't take long for us to get surrounded if we stopped.

We moved quickly and tried to stay as quiet as possible, but we were still drawing attention. It would have been easy enough for us not to get pinned down, but none of us knew the street we were on, and soon enough we ran into a cul-de-sac. "Shit" I heard John whisper to himself. He turned back to see the way we came in getting more and more crowded.

"Great! What do we do now?" Will's attitude came through in his voice.

"Would you keep it down!" John's voice was hushed but forceful. "I'd rather not-"

"Fuck it man, we'll just jump one of these fences." Will cut him off and ran to the nearest house before throwing himself over the fence.

"Wait till we-" John barely had to open his mouth before Will cried out from the other side of the fence.

"Oh shit! Get the fuck off me!" I could hear him struggling.

John immediately sprinted to the fence. "I fucking knew it." I heard him say. He pulled himself up to look over. He was muttering to himself when he pointed the gun over the fence and took a second to line up a clear shot. The sound of gunfire rang through the neighborhood for miles, and we knew it was a mistake immediately. The sound of groaning rose around us. Not that any one particular voice stood out, but in the dead quiet, the noise of hundreds, or maybe thousands of those things calling was terrifying. "Everyone over here!" John yelled at us.

We followed him over the fence into the yard where Will had jumped. He was still struggling to push the corpse off his body. "That's fucking gross!" He had been sprayed with the innards of his assailant's head.

John grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out from under the body. "What were you thinking?"

Will shook his head back and forth. "What did I do?"

"Just shut up Will, you fucking idiot." I muttered in an attempt to get us moving.

"What did you say to me?" He shoved me into the fence, but Dennis grabbed his shoulder and pulled him off me.

"He's right, shut up, we don't have time for this. You hear that noise?" Dennis paused for a second for us to listen. The sound of their shuffling feet getting closer was enough to sink his point in. "They are going to break down this fence any minute, we have to go... Now!" He pushed him toward the rest of the group. I could barely hear Will muttering his disdain under his breath while we ran into the backyard.

"Check over the fences." John ordered. We split up, each of us going to the sides to determine if the path was clear.

I didn't even have to look over mine, I just saw a hand reaching over as I got near it. It startled me to say the least, but it didn't get a hold of me. "This way's no good." I reported.

Elizabeth hopped down from her side and complained. "I don't think we're going to find an easy way out of this.

John griped along with her. "Yeah me either." He was looking over the back fence and took a second to think it through. "Alright, we'll go this way. It should lead us to another street at least. Just let me clear it first." He took a few shots over the fence, cursing at the ones he had missed. "Come on, up and over."

I could hear the hands grasping at the fence we had come from while we climbed over into the new yard. When I hit the ground I slipped on something... awful. The mostly eaten remains of a dog didn't make for the sturdiest place to put your feet. "Oh... gross..." I grumbled and cringed, pulling myself back to my feet.

John dashed to the front of the house to see if the path was clear. "Well, there's less of them, but I still don't think we should go that way."

Dennis peaked over the fence beside him before giving his two cents. "We don't have a lot of options... Maybe we should just take them out-"

"Wait!" I cut him off and looked back at the mangled corpse on which I had fallen. I winced at the thought of what I was about to do. "I've got an idea." I reached down and took a hold of the bloody mess. It was disgusting. The dog was missing its left legs, and entrails were strewn from its torso. I couldn't even pick all of it up without it falling in two. The looks I was getting matched my own, but it was the best shot we had. I walked over to the fence and reeled back, tossing it a good twenty feet. The three of us popped our heads over the fence to see the reaction.

John patted me on the shoulder when those shuffling bastards turned to what was left of the dog. "Sorry you had to do that, but not bad kid."

"Yeah." Dennis agreed. "It's not going to buy us a lot of time though." He spun around to the group. "Come on, this is our window."

We jumped over the fence but scarcely drew any attention as the zombies huddled around their meal. We rushed down the street with John trying to make heads or tails of our desired direction. He didn't take much time to decide, which was definitely the best move. Even though we weren't sure how to get back to the quarantine zone, indecision was sure to lead to death out in the open, and after a few wrong turns, we made it to the main street.

We were sure to move fast, which was working well being that there weren't any large swarms out on the street. We pushed forward, but the pace was taking its toll. We were all panting by the time we saw the quarantine line. It was a clear shot to the fence. I saw men behind it pacing with rifles and the bodies of the dead from the time we were there before, but something was off. There were even more bodies now than there were back then, and not just zombies, fresh ones too.

"One final push!" I heard Steve yell, he had made his way to the front of the pack, he was sprinting for the gate when I realized what was happening.

I saw the men shouldering their weapons and barely had time to call out "Steve wait!" I was too late though. Shots rang out, and red holes began to riddle his body.

We took cover behind the abandoned cars in the road. "What the hell was that?" Dennis raged. "They just shot him!"

Elizabeth was shocked by the scene. "Is... Is Steve going to be ok?"

Dennis grabbed her by the shoulder and shook his head in response.

John peered over the edge of the car only to have more shots whiz past his face. "Shit! You've got to be kidding me!"

"What's going on? Why did they shoot him?" Will asked.

"We can talk about it later! For now, just keep your heads down." John's words snapped angrily. He looked back where we came from, and sure enough, we were being followed.

"What should we do?" I asked nervously.

John took a second to survey our situation. He crushed his eyes together and sighed. "Well... If it worked once." he mused to himself. "Alright here's the plan, we're going to wait till the zombies are right on top of us, those bastards behind the fence will have more targets to worry about that way. Then Dennis and I will provide covering fire while we sprint into that alley."

"Oh not this shit again!" Will was irritated.

"If you've got a better plan then- no never mind, you don't."John looked at me before continuing. "Mark, get that manhole cover open again, it's our only shot." I nodded in reply. "Wait for my signal." He waited until the shuffling corpses inched forward. It wasn't but thirty seconds before they were right on top of us, that's when the men behind the fence opened fire on them. "Go!" John shouted popping his head up and returning a few shots of his own.

I ran as fast as I could down the alley trying not to pay attention to what was going on. The gunshots kept coming while I wriggled my way down the same storm-drain I had been in just a few days earlier. I caught a brief glimpse of Dennis and John darting from behind the cars and narrowly avoiding the zombies' grasps while I turned my head to fit it inside. Once again I used my back to force the cover open. Hands reached down through the crack and slid it to the side while I jumped down out of the way. They piled in behind me and we closed the cover while the sound of gunshots continued to litter the street above us.

It wasn't exactly comfortable, all of us squished together in that concrete room. I wasn't sure if another person could fit, but I still had to ask. "Everyone made it right?" My voice was jittery from the adrenaline.

"I made sure we all got in." Dennis sounded out in the dark.

"Everyone but Steve..." Elizabeth said.

"Yeah I know..." Dennis continued. "What the hell do we do now?"

"This way." John replied. "This tunnel leads to another manhole cover near a canal."

"Do I even want to know how you know that?"

John released a heavy sigh. "Let's just say it wasn't fun the first time we were here either."

"Is it clear? Maybe I should go first."

"It should be..." John said, his words sounded exhausted. "I'll go first, I've got more ammo. Dennis you take the rear. If something does happen we'll be covered from both ends that way."

Shuffling against each other we squeezed our way back into the tube. Will was the first to break the silence. "I thought you said this isn't a sewer, what is that fucking smell?"

"Think about it kid..." John hesitated before speaking again. "With all those bodies up on the street... It's blood..."
Chapter 13

Will was right, the stench was awful. The floor felt almost greasy beneath our feet, our shoes slipped and struggled to keep steady as we hunched our way through the drain pipe. We might not have been able to see it, and I think that was a good thing for our already dwindling morale, but the blood that flowed from the street had been there a few days, which meant that it had coagulated and rotted, making the texture beneath our feet seem... chunky. It must have mixed with water runoff at some point, seeing as it sloshed more the farther we got.

"My back is killing me." Dennis muttered to himself. "How long is this thing?"

I swear I heard John suppress a snicker before he replied. "It's something like a mile, not exactly sure. It takes a while at this pace."

"So... what's the plan?" I asked trying to keep myself distracted from the fluid filling my shoes.

It was quiet for a lot longer than I was hoping for. "I'm not sure." John sounded tired.

"We should try and find a way around those assholes at the gate." Will said all too loud right in my ear.

"I don't think that'll do any good." John paused to think before he spoke again. "It's a quarantine, the whole point is to keep things in. If there were a way around, well it would be a pretty shitty quarantine now wouldn't it?"

"We've got to do something." Dennis added.

"I know I know! Just let me-" John trailed off and stopped moving.

"We can't just stay in here John, and we're not-" Dennis was cutoff.

"Shut up." John's voice was a strained whisper. Sure enough, I could hear what he was afraid of. The light splashing noises echoing down the pipe from in front of us. "Crap, we're not alone." I heard him fiddling with his gun. "I can't see shit, does anyone have a light?"

"Will, you charged your phone at the mall right?" I asked.

"Yeah hold on." I could hear him trying to dig it out of his pocket.

"Hurry up, the noise is getting closer." John blurted.

"Just a second, here." Will's phone lit up the tunnel. I felt him push it into my hand, but I didn't get a good grip before he let go. It fell, bouncing around for a moment off the curved pipe before sinking into the murky water and flickering into darkness. "Shit my phone!"

"I can't see a thing!" John yelled at us. "Does anybody have anything else?" A barrage of no's and other disagreements were returned, much to his dismay. "Oh come on..." He calmed down after he thought of what to do. "We'll just wait for it to get closer, I'll squeeze off a shot, and hopefully that will give me enough light to line up a second one." It wasn't much, but it was a plan, and none of us objected to it. The seconds passed by with the splashing getting closer, and closer, each one seemed longer than the last, until it was right on top of us. John never fired his shot, instead he just waited until the sound of the splashing went beneath our feet. I felt something, or maybe I should say many things, brush against my legs, which of course made me jump into the ceiling.

After a few seconds, John laughed. "Holy crap, phew, it was just rats. I should have told you, but I figured you heard the squeaking too." He let out a huge sigh of relief. "Fucking rats, what the hell were they doing anyway?" He was musing to himself at that point. "Running past us like that, it's like they were afraid of something..." He stopped dead in his words, and we could hear a moaning sound coming from up ahead. "Shit!" John pulled up his gun and fired into the blackness. I could only barely catch a glimpse of what was going on. Again and again he fired. I could see new holes getting closer and closer to the zombies head appearing with each subsequent flash, until the last few shots revealed it falling to the ground lifeless.

I was breathing heavily in the dark, not that anybody else was calm, but my focus was drawn inward. "Is it dead?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so." John seemed shaken too. "Did we remember to put the cover back when we got out of here the first time?"

It was hard to hear him, the sound of the gunshots had echoed off the walls louder than anything I had ever heard before, my ears were ringing. "I guess not." I gulped. "What now?"

Dennis called from behind us. "Well we're not going back. There's nothing back there but more of these bastards and hail of bullets."

John sighed before speaking. "He's right, the only way is to press on." I felt him pull away from me. "Let's go." The rest of the trip was brought to a crawl. We didn't want to run into another one of those things unprepared. As things were, distance was the only thing which made them manageable, so moving a couple of feet and stopping to listen was our only viable tactic. We tried our best to keep quiet for the rest of the journey. It was slow, it was painful, it was disgusting, and honestly, I wish I could forget it.

When we finally made it to the ladder, all of us were glad to just be outside of that mess, but we kept ourselves from exiting the pipe too hastily. Just because we didn't run into any more down in the drain didn't mean we couldn't be surrounded when we got out. Luckily for us, the canal area was still clear.

"Where are we going?" Dennis was looking around to make sure the area was clear.

"I'm not really sure." John said doing much the same as Dennis, but his face was full of uncertainty.

"We can't just stand around in the open like this..." He waited a moment. "John?" Dennis asked again. When he didn't get an answer he continued. "John!"

"I don't fucking know! Ok?" John threw his arms up in defeat.

Dennis grabbed his wife by the arm and lead her along. "Come on, we're going into one of these houses until we can come up with a plan."

"Alright, whatever." John thrashed his arm in defeat.

We climbed into the nearest backyard. It was backed up right against the canal, so we weren't seen entering. "We'll make sure the house is clear." Dennis said and gestured over to John. "Everybody else wait here and stay quiet." We could do nothing but agree. Dennis tapped on the glass of a sliding glass door and waited for a few seconds. "If anyone... or anything is in there, it's not making a sound." He checked the handle to see if the door was open. "No luck." He walked around the side of the house. "Let's break through this window."

When they smashed through the window it wasn't exactly silent, though it didn't seem to get anything's attention. After they entered, we waited outside for a few minutes, light shuffling could be heard from the inside. I saw them for a brief moment make their way past the glass door we saw earlier. I didn't like just sitting there, waiting. I don't think any of us did, to tell the truth, but there wasn't a lot we could have done if there was any trouble anyway.

Finally, after what seemed far too long, John came back and opened the door for us. He waved his hand and spoke softly. "Come on, it's clear."

It wasn't a very nice home, on the cheap side of middle class, but saying it was better than being out on the street would be an understatement. I went to sit down on the couch but was stopped by Dennis grabbing my shoulder. "Don't rest just yet, we should barricade the doors and windows. No sense taking any chances while we're in here."

I was frustrated and tired, but he was right, we needed to know we were safe, or at least safer. Truth be told, it didn't take that long to get the place at least somewhat secure. We mostly just moved the furniture around to block the doors and windows. And when that was done I took my seat. I felt disgusting. I had blood all over me, my shoes were soaked with a fluid that I didn't even want to know what it was, and even though I felt absolutely gross, I just wanted to sit there and take a long rest. Nobody made any attempt to bother me while I laid back and waited for instruction. Soon enough my eyes got heavier than I could hold open.

When I did finally open them again it was light outside. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it didn't seem to matter. I looked around to find Elizabeth looking through the pantry and John hunched over at the table. I got up and walked into the kitchen. My pants and shoes had dried out more or less, which meant that they were crusty. "Good morning." I said softly.

Elizabeth stared at me coldly. "Not really." She said under her breath.

"That's a fair point I guess..." I tried to avert my gaze but couldn't help notice her clothes were different. "Did you change? Where'd you get the clothes?"

She grabbed some cereal from the pantry and shut the door. "In one of the dressers. I couldn't stand being filthy anymore." She continued to make herself breakfast with her back turned toward me. "The shoes don't fit quite right, but at least they don't have blood in them."

"Did you notice anything I could wear?"

She turned back to face me with frustration in her voice. "You know, I wasn't really paying attention. Why don't you go look for yourself?" It came off as rude, but I could understand why. None of us were in the best shape, especially not emotionally.

I didn't say anything when I left her there. I noticed John was snoring face down on the table. My guess is that he was trying to keep watch when the night finally caught up to him. As things were, there was no reason I had to wake him, so I just moved on by. I went to check the back rooms in the house, the first one had some clothes that were mostly my size, and seeing as I wasn't in too great of a mood to keep looking I took the first thing that looked like it would fit. There weren't any shoes that seemed reasonable, but something stuck out to me when I opened a drawer looking for some socks. Just the corner of a small red cardboard box peeked out from under a shirt. I pulled it out and looked at it. It was heavy and I could hear metal clinking inside as I moved it. I flipped open the side to see the easily recognizable brass casings of bullets. I put it in my pocket, though it barely fit, and kept on looking for socks, which I was thoroughly happy to find.

After that, I went looking for the bathroom and was relieved at the sight of a shower. I hadn't had a chance to get clean since I first left my apartment, and even though it wasn't much I didn't hesitate to jump it. All the grime blood and sweat from the last few days took a while to wash away. I kept picking chunks of... I didn't even want to think about what it was, to be honest, but I had so much of it stuck in my hair it took forever to get it all out.

I was feeling better after the shower, not a hundred percent but certainly better. I quickly realized I had forgotten to grab a towel. It wasn't a big deal though, I just put on my new clothes anyway. When I got out I found Elizabeth sitting in the living room, staring straight into the now empty cereal bowl. I stopped and looked at her, waiting long enough to get her attention, though she never looked over at me. "Are you ok?" I asked.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Of course not..." Her chest raised with a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

She rolled her eyes before looking at me. "For being mean earlier, I didn't mean to..." She let her head hang low, then raised it up to make eye contact once more. "Things have gotten really bad out there, and we haven't exactly had it easy, but that's no excuse for treating other people poorly. Especially not the one who saved your life."

"I don't know about me saving your life, I mean I just kind of-"

She interrupted me. "Mark, where would I be if you hadn't come to get me?"

I smiled and drew my hand to the back of my neck nervously. "I guess that's one way to look at it."

A chair screeched from across the room as John got to his feet. He stretched his back while he was shuffling toward the hall and he was mumbling something under his breath which I couldn't make out till I heard him say "Get a room." My face turned the color of a beet, and I looked at him wide eyed, not that he was paying attention.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, took it in better stride. "Why don't you get a room?" She sneered back.

John stopped, rubbed an eye and responded only slightly less groggy than he was when he first got up. "I think I should get a room." He mirrored what he said before so we could understand it. "I was talking to myself." He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them with a yawn. "Since you two are up there's no reason I can't catch some 'Z's. If anything happens wake me up." With that he walked off into the back of the house.

"He's kind of an asshole." Elizabeth added when we could hear the door shut down the hall.

"Hey he's not all that bad, I mean he saved most of our lives." I continued when she didn't respond. "Not that he really wanted to... Still, I think we owe him a chance?"

"Still? Mark, did you notice what happened after we made it out of the sewer?"

"Storm drain."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You fell asleep almost as soon as we got inside, but you probably saw it as soon as we climbed out of there."

"He was confused and angry. Every plan he had went to crap, I can't exactly blame him."

"It's not just that. He stopped leading us. It's like as soon as he realized he had no plan he just fell apart."

"I get it though, from his perspective it's pretty hopeless. Every shot we had to get out of here slipped through our fingers."

She rubbed her forehead. "I understand that Mark, I really do, but he just locked up with us standing out in the open. Even if he was a perfect role model, we can't rely solely on him."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying if he locks up like that again, and we're in danger... And it's not just him, if anyone of us breaks like that and it puts us in danger, then we may have to cut and run."

I didn't want to admit it, but I knew I had to. I scratched my chin. "Yeah, we may just have to."
Chapter 14

Half the day had passed when I got a chance to talk to Dennis in the kitchen. "Hey, I heard you were short on ammo back at the mall will these help?" I revealed the small red box from my pants and handed it to him.

He took it from me and looked it over. ".357 magnum huh? Sorry Mark this won't work for either of my or John's guns. Hold on." He flipped open the side and pulled the bullets out. "Hmm, six rounds are missing." He was more talking to himself than me at that moment. "Where did you find this?"

"It was in the master bedroom, in the dresser? Why, what's up?"

"Chances are there's a revolver around here somewhere. Let's go take a look." He got up from the kitchen table, and I followed him down the hall.

I pointed out the dresser where I found the box. "It was in there, on the top shelf."

"Good, let's have a look." He pulled it open and began rummaging through the contents.

I was just standing there, feeling like a useless idiot, so I felt inclined to talk. "So... How's your family holding up?"

He took his time to answer. "Not well... Helena is scared shitless, but she's tough. Don't take me wrong though, it doesn't mean things have been easy the past few days."

"It's rough... to say the least."

"Yeah." He had finished with the top drawer and moved onto the next one down. "Hey check the nightstand. Tons of people keep guns in their nightstands."

"Ok." I walked over to it and pulled open the drawer. There wasn't a lot in there, so it made searching simple enough. "What about Jill?"

"Jill? I think she's too young to really understand what's going on. I'm not sure any of us really get it come to think of it, but to her, they're just monsters. Hell, maybe that's really all there is to it. Kind of a scary thought, the whole world reduced to a childish nightmare... I really wish she didn't have to see this shit."

"Me either... It's not in here by the way."

"No luck over here." He closed the dresser and turned around. "Let's take a look in the closet." A brief search revealed nothing once again. "Well, it was probably whoever lived here's carry gun. It's really not all that surprising, especially with what's happened." He shook his head. "It's just odd though..."

"Why?" I cocked one eyebrow higher than the other.

"If you knew what was happening, why wouldn't you take the box of ammo too?"

I was a little smarmy in my reply. "Well why didn't you take your box with you when this all started?"

"I was already out when this whole mess got started..." It took him a second to catch on. "Ok, I see your point, whoever owned it probably was too." He pointed toward the door to the hall. "Let's get back out there."

"Hey?" I asked following behind him.

"Yes?"

"What made you think it was a revolver?"

"Two things really. The first was the fact that you found a box of .357 magnum rounds, which are a very common type of revolver ammo. And the second, six bullets were missing, and most revolvers hold six rounds."

"You got all that from looking at a box?"

"Yup."

I was a little off-put by the frankness of his answer. "Ok..." I followed him back into the living room. John had woken up and was sprawled out on a recliner, while Elizabeth was playing with Jill. Helena was watching over the two of them with a hopeful but still worried expression on her face. Will was busy looking in the kitchen for something to eat.

"Everybody's here?" Dennis asked getting our attention. "Good we need to figure out what to do."

"There's no point." I could feel the defeat and unease in John's answer.

"Don't talk like that." Dennis said back coldly. "We have to keep ourselves together."

"I mean there's no point in trying to figure out what to do. That blockade is city wide, and they obviously aren't letting people through anymore."

"So what we just give up and die?" I asked.

John sat up in his chair. "Of course not. There's just nothing we can do." He was looking at the ceiling when he spoke.

"Listen," Dennis began. "In times like these we have to keep ourselves from thinking we're up shit creek without a paddle. I agree, our good moves are gone, but that doesn't mean we should just plan for nothing." John rolled his eyes at the comment before Dennis continued. "The quarantine line seems to be shoot on sight now."

I interrupted him. "Yeah about the quarantine, how did they get that set up so fast? It seems like it should have taken them a lot longer."

"You might be aware of this, but our home town of Ashville was not the first place to be hit." John's words were condescending, although not particularly malicious. "The military base isn't far from here, and I'm betting they were listening in on the police radio chatter. Chances are they were gearing up and moving out as soon as the first report came in. I suspected it, but I thought... hoped we could contain the situation. That's why..." He gulped before speaking again. "That's why I wanted to get out of town as soon as I realized we were losing control. And now the military is out there trying to kill us."

Dennis stopped him. "I don't think they are trying to kill us. They may still be trying to help."

"Well turning one of us into Swiss fucking cheese is a strange way to offer their assistance." John's words were cruel.

Will followed up. "I'm with John on that one. We're only alive because we got away from them."

Helena patted Dennis on the arm before he spoke. "Yes, you're right, they are trying to contain the situation as much as possible. But what makes me think it isn't over yet, is the fact that we still have power and water. If they wanted us dead, they would have shut off the utilities already. Without water most of the survivors would die within a couple weeks, depending on what they could scavenge. I'm guessing their plan is to wait until some support comes, then sweep through the area. Until then they can't risk the outbreak spreading."

"Makes sense..." John folded his arms. "So... What do we do then?"

"Hold up, and wait for the sweep. This neighborhood should have more than enough food for us to survive, even if we have to change houses a couple of times." Dennis said.

"Anyone have any other ideas?" John shrugged his shoulders. "Alright." He reclined back in his chair. "I guess we're staying put."

We didn't exactly stay put. We made our way from house to house throughout the neighborhood, never traveling more than one house at a time. It was a strange time. There was always the looming threat of everything going wrong, and us having to fight our way out, but as the days passed we got a little more comfortable with the situation.

I think it helped that we got our hands on a few good weapons as well. We didn't find any more guns, but finding a sturdy machete and a few other tools for each of us, did a lot to make us feel safer... I can't say we ever truly felt safe, but it was better than feeling helpless.

I can't remember exactly how many days had passed, maybe ten or eleven, but that's when things went to shit. We were sitting around a table playing cards when the power finally cut out. It flickered at first, then black.

"Um..." I broke the silence. "Quick, Will pull out your phone!" I joked.

"That's not funny! You owe me a new one dick."

"Yeah yeah, if both of us live through this it will be right at the top of my to-do list." We still weren't on the best terms, but I had gotten used to the way Will was at this point. I realized that you could poke fun at him all you wanted, and he would never do anything but argue, although if you insulted him directly, that's when he got aggressive.

"Keep it down." Dennis said interrupting us. "We talked about this." I could do little but nod in agreement.

"Aw hell..." John chimed in.

"What is it?" I asked being more careful to mind the volume of my voice.

"It's just like you said... we talked about this. We can't just stay here." John continued.

Dennis tried to stop him. "Now wait, just because the power went out, doesn't mean that the military is going to come bursting down the door."

"Oh yeah? Do you want to wait here and find out?" John let him linger.

Dennis didn't really want to think about it. I could tell he wanted to hold on to hope just a little bit longer, but he had no choice. "I don't know what to do then. Unless you have any bright ideas?"

John was more than hesitant to answer. His face furrowed, obviously torn from his situation. "I..."

"Do you know a way to get out of the city?" I asked.

"It's not-" John started but was cut off as soon as we realized he had been holding back.

"Oh my gosh!" Elizabeth said. "You knew a way out the whole time?"

"It's not what you think!" But John was cut off again.

Dennis was fuming. "You know a way to get out and you've been holding it back from us. How can-"

This time John was quick to cut in. "It's not-"

"It's not what?" Will practically yelled.

John took a deep breath. "It's not safe." He made sure to emphasize his words.

"Oh and living in a ruined city, surrounded by men with orders to shoot us, and filled with flesh-eating monsters is?" Dennis snapped.

"No that's not safe, but maybe safer. Look I didn't bring it up because I thought we had a better chance to wait it out." John was obviously uneasy about the whole situation.

"Well... What is it?" I asked when nobody else spoke up.

John released a long and exasperated sigh. "Might as well... The men who looted the mall, they knew me, but I also knew them." Our focus was solely on him. "They were part of a smuggling ring, drugs, weapons, you name it. The way they got things in and out of town was... through an old subway tunnel near the rail yard." He was covering his eyes with his hands while he spoke.

Helena pointed out what most of us knew. "But Ashville doesn't have a subway, it never has."

John continued. "That's right, but it had plans for one. You probably didn't hear about it though. Back in the late sixties, the city was planning to put one in. Construction started, then the economy went to crap. The project was cancelled, but not before a handful of tunnels were completed. Then of course subsequently sealed off. So not a lot of people know about it. These guys though, they broke open through the ceiling and took it as their own. Here's the kicker, one of the tunnels leads outside."

"If the police knew about it, then why didn't you shut it down?" Dennis was concerned.

John gulped before going on. "We had plans to, we just didn't get around to it."

"So why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"Because the smugglers are obviously still there! You saw them, they're armed to the teeth, and taking every last penny this city has before they pack it up. Plus, the rail yard is half way across town, and even if we get there, we still have to deal with them."

"If they are still around." Elizabeth commented.

"Oh they're still here, it takes a while to clean out a whole city." John muttered.

"I get it now..." Dennis grumbled. "We don't have the firepower to bring them down. It's pointless. But if that's the case, why bring it up now?"

John griped to himself for a second before continuing. "I didn't exactly, but... we may not have to fight them."

"And how do we do that?" I was confused.

John bit his tongue for a moment. "We make a trade."

"We don't have anything they would want." Elizabeth added.

"I have access to the evidence lock up back at the station..." John avoided eye contact. "It has all the meth, heroine, cash, and weapons we seized during my big bust... They'll want it back."

"Holy hell..." Dennis said rubbing his eyes. "You don't mean to actually give that stuff back to them?"

"What other option do we have?" John replied and nobody could argue.
Chapter 15

Nobody was comfortable with the situation, but we were out of other options. "So where is the tunnel anyway?" I asked.

John seemed to regain most of his composure once we had a plan, though he wasn't comfortable with the idea, not that I could blame him. "It's over on first and..." He held his tongue. "Hold on." He walked into the garage of the house and came back in a minute or two. He unfolded a map and set it down on the table. "I found this in the car out there. Ok so... Here!" He pointed it out for us to see. "It's not going to be easy, we've got about fifteen miles between us and the rail yard."

"Fifteen miles is nothing, we can get there in no time." Will was quick to respond.

John gave him a condescending glance but decided it was best to explain things instead of attacking him. "It's not that simple, with those things out there fifteen miles is gonna be hell. The shortest route-" He pointed it out on the map. "takes the freeway, but the way things are out there, I really doubt we're going to be able to make use of it."

Dennis agreed. "Yeah, a lot of people were trying to drive out of here at first, it's going to be clogged with abandoned cars. Plus, it's a raised freeway, so even if it wasn't jammed, we'd have no place to go if we get stuck up there."

"Exactly." John continued. "Our only real option is to go there on surface streets, which are going to be full of zombies and who knows how many car wrecks. We can probably work our way around, but... Well we have to keep moving."

"So what's the big deal?" Will interrupted.

"The deal is we nearly died more than once trying to make it just a couple of blocks." I said, pointing out what I thought would be all too obvious.

"We're going to need a vehicle." John said.

"What about the car in the garage?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well there's seven of us, so we would still need another one." I added. "We could sit on each other's laps, but if the car gets stuck we would want to be able to bail out quickly."

"Good thinking Mark." Dennis chimed in.

"Alright, so that's settled then, we need to find either a second car, or something big enough to hold all of us." John said. "I guess everyone who's coming should get ready."

Not all of us came. Dennis wasn't too thrilled with the idea of either taking his child or wife outside, at least not until it was time to do so. And furthermore, he wasn't about to leave them undefended. "Take the gun Honey." Dennis told his wife.

"Are you sure? You're going to need it more than me." Helena was hesitant to speak, but I could tell she honestly thought it would be of better use in her husband's hands.

"Listen Hun, remember the first time I forced you to go down to the gun range." He was smiling at her. "You didn't want to come."

She chuckled back at him. "Yeah."

"But then you had fun."

"I tolerated it." She chuckled back to Dennis.

"Awe come on, you know it was more than that." Dennis said back to her. I think that was the first time I really heard them talk to each other. The weight of the situation was straining, so it was nice, albeit a little stomach churning to see two people actually be cheerful, but it didn't last too long.

"Dennis I really do feel more comfortable with you having the gun. It's dangerous out there."

"That's why I want you to take it Dear. If we're going out there then I don't want you and Jill to be defenseless."

"But..."

"I'll be fine, I have a nice baseball bat here-" He tapped against the wooden head with his free hand. "And using the gun only seems to draw more attention anyway. We're trying to keep things nice and quiet." He smiled while looking directly into her eyes.

I think his cheesy grin was what finally put the argument to rest. She let out a deep breath. "Alright... If you think that's what's best."

"Good, we'll be back before you know it. Come here." He pulled her into a long embrace. "You too Jill." He was almost happy as he said the words and snatched his giggling daughter up into his arms.

"Don't go Daddy." She said after her laughter has ceased.

"Awe Jill, you know I wouldn't if I didn't have to."

"I know..." It wasn't an answer that she liked, that was obvious enough, but she didn't put up any more fight after that. It was probably due to the fact that she was used to having him leave when he had to go off for his duty.

"I'll be back before you know it." He pulled her in for one last embrace then set her down gently. "Ok, everybody ready?" We sounded off one after another until Elizabeth chimed it too. "Wait-" Dennis continued. "You're coming too?"

"Of course I am." She said playing fun at the fact that she could have been offended, but it was obvious that she genuinely wasn't. "I'm not just going to sit around here when I can help."

John replied to her. "Are you sure? It's pretty bad out there, and we aren't exactly sure if all of us..." He held his words when he glanced over to see Jill's worried face. He cleared his throat. "I meant when all of us are going to make it back."

"I know it's dangerous out there, but I can't stand being stuck indoors any longer. It might not seem like the best idea, but we could use all the help we can get." We couldn't exactly argue with her. "And besides, I've been wanting to crack one of their skulls open for what they did to my boss." She swung her pipe-wrench playfully as if in a batting stance.

"Can you drive?" John asked.

"More than you know." She added and let the wrench rest on her shoulder.

It was a pretty blatant expression on John's face that showed he didn't want her out there, but I could tell he wasn't in the mood to argue. "Alright, fine. Let's get moving."

We left cautiously. It was early in the morning, which was a little bit of a worry for us because we knew we could be seen from a mile away. But the street was practically empty, only a few of the shambling bastards were anywhere near us. Which gave Dennis all the opportunity he needed to try out our new weapons.

"Come on, we're going to kill this one." Dennis said and walked up behind one that was just barely noticing that we were there.

"Maybe we should try to avoid fighting if we don't have to." I said.

"No, this is the best chance we've got."

"Chance for what?"

He stopped about ten feet away from it to more closely examine its behavior. After taking a second to figure out when it was going to lunge he took a step back. "Did you all see that? You want to keep a distance between you and them. They don't move fast, but they lunge when you get near." He took a deep breath.

"Ok..." He cracked it upside the head with his bat. The zombie fell to the ground but was still moving and groaning. It looked up at him with its left eye crushed in. I was still a bit squeamish back then, but I couldn't look away. "A little harder this time." He swung again this time with enough force to finish the job. A spattering of blood shot across the pavement, and the zombie fell limp. "I think that did it... Oh and as for your question, it's a chance to see whether or not these weapons are going to work. Imagine what would happen if these didn't do their job when we needed them."

John had his gun in his hand ready to fire but was set at ease when he looked at the motionless body. "He's got a point."

"Alright, you're up next Mark." Dennis said.

To say I was taken back would have been an understatement. "Wh-What? No, you've got to be kidding me."

"I am not, everybody needs to do this. It takes a little more strength than you might think to get the job done."

"Oh boy..." I gulped and gripped the handle of my machete.

"That one's got your name on it." Dennis pointed one out that was walking our way.

It was still around fifty feet away when I got a bad case of the nerves. "Are you sure I have to, 'cause I mean, it's not like."

"You're doing it Mark." John answered. "And don't worry, I've got my gun ready, just in case."

My hands were trembling just a little, but I knew they were right. If I couldn't handle this, then what good would I be when they needed me. "I can do this." I said to myself and got into a defensive stance. It took longer than I was expecting for the zombie to travel the distance. Which in hindsight, meant I probably should have just walked up to it myself, but I wasn't in a hurry to get it over with. It was opening and closing its mouth as if it was practicing chewing me up, when it finally got close enough it lunged, just about when I expected it to. And thanks to Dennis' little demonstration earlier, I was prepared. I swung down hard, sinking the blade into its skull, with it coming to a stop just over the left eye. Unlike when Dennis took his down, mine was finished on the first blow. It collapsed to the ground with the blade still stuck inside its head, and me still holding the handle.

"Not bad." Dennis said, a little too cheery for my taste. It took me a few seconds to work the machete free. I kind of had to rock it back and forth to get it to loosen up before I could pull it out. I was unsettled by the whole experience, but I knew what it took and how it felt to hack into a human skull. I wouldn't say that was on the top of my things I've wanted to know list, but it was something I needed, and I realized why then made me do it.

"So...?" John asked. "Who's next?"
Chapter 16

We all made sure to get used to killing the zombies before we had to do it in a desperate situation. Will took to it well enough, although he was a little more enthusiastic, hitting the body quite a few more times after it had gone limp. I think it was his way of venting off some of the steam that he had pent up after a stressful couple of weeks. John took his turn after that, it didn't seem to phase him in the least. Elizabeth I think was the big surprise, I was embarrassed to admit it at the time, but she actually handled bashing their brains better than I did.

We took a couple more rounds to make sure we really had the hang of it. I can't say that I really enjoyed it, but it is something you get a little more used to each time.

"I think we've had enough." Dennis said.

"So long as everybody gets the idea, yeah I think we should get looking." John added to Dennis' remark.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" Will asked.

"A car?" I asked back shocked that he could have forgotten what was going on.

"I know that dumbass! I mean what kind of car. I don't think a sports car is the best idea." When he jabbed back at me I was astonished that he had actually thought something out for once.

"Um..." John was nearly as stunned as I was. "Glad to see you're thinking ahead. The car in the garage is a four-seater. There's... how many of us again?" He counted out on his fingers without looking at them. "Seven of us? So we need something that at least has three more seats which are easy enough to get in and out of, that means four doors. And the sturdier the better, off road capabilities would be a plus. If you can find a truck with an extended cab that would be perfect. But I'd rather not stay out here any longer than we have to, so if it's got the keys, or hell even if it's just easy enough to hotwire, we're taking it."

"Sounds good." Dennis said. "We'll stay on the same street as each other, that way we don't get too far apart if we come into trouble. We'll split into two teams each team covers one side of the street."

"So who's going with who?" Elizabeth asked.

"I really wouldn't care, but you and Will-" John looked at both of us. "have been giving each other shit the whole time. I'd rather not deal with your problems ever, but especially not out here. So Mark you're with me, Will you go with Dennis."

"That's fine." Dennis replied.

"What about Liz?" Will asked.

John rubbed his eyes. "That's a whole 'nother can of worms..." He mumbled under his breath. "Let's just keep this simple, I don't want people getting all emotional out here, so Elizabeth you're with us."

Will wasn't too happy with the arrangement but didn't have enough time to express his disgust before Elizabeth cut in. "Sounds good to me, let's just get this over with." She was already walking toward a house when she continued talking. "We'll take this side."

I shrugged my shoulders. John tapped my elbow to get my attention. "Let's go." He said and we followed after her.

I could hear Dennis speaking behind us. "Come on Will let's do this."

"Whatever..." Will said back to him, and the sound of them trailed off behind us.

Elizabeth was fiddling with the door handle of the first house. "It's locked... I guess it would be though."

"Actually it's not a bad idea to try it first." John said as he walked up behind her. "Most break-ins happen because the owner left the front door unlocked."

"You're kidding right?" I asked a hint skeptical.

"No really, that's the number one method of robbery and home invasion." He added before turning around to keep an eye out behind us.

"So... What now?" Elizabeth asked.

John looked back at her with one eyebrow cocked. "Break the window. Just try to keep it down."

I snickered to myself before John asked me "What's funny?"

"Oh, it's just odd having a cop tell us how to break into a house you know?"

"Eh...? Wouldn't be the worst thing I've done." He paused for just a second, but not long enough for me to respond. "Hey Liz, break the glass out all the way so you don't cut yourself, and make sure there aren't any zombies in there before you go climbing in. I'd rather not have to shoot if we can avoid it."

She rolled her eyes, and said "Of course." She smashed the glass with her wrench, gave it a few seconds to be sure it was clear, and climbed through into the kitchen.

We waited a few seconds for her to open the front door, and we stepped inside closing it behind us. "I'm going to check the garage for a car, you two start looking for keys. Start in the bedrooms, even if the garage is empty, there's a car out on the street. So we might still be in luck here." John said before walking over trying to find the door to where he wanted to go.

John was wrong, in fact we didn't have much luck at all, and had to keep searching for a while, house after house, it was a struggle. It wasn't that there weren't cars around, but this area had been mostly evacuated, which meant that the people who left took their keys with them I suppose. As a result, it was more difficult than we thought to find one that we could easily get working.

It was Will of all people who wound up getting us another vehicle, and we were surprised to say the least. When we walked outside to see, it was... Well it was one of those vans with a dragon and some scantily clad woman painted on the side. The kind that you would imagine a high-school band would go from gig to gig with. But the good news was that it would fit all of us, with plenty of room, even if it was a bit over the top.

That's when we heard a gunshot off in the distance. "That came from the house." Dennis said with a look of dread crawling over his face. Two more shots echoed off through the neighborhood. "We've got to go! Get in!"

We had traveled a lot further than we realized while we were out searching, and it actually took us a couple of minutes before we could get to where we left his family. When we pulled up, the house was surrounded by maybe a dozen or two bodies, trying their hardest to work their way inside. One of the windows was broken with the body of a dead one half-way inside. It had pushed over the dresser that we blocked it with.

Dennis didn't say a word, he just pulled the van to a stop by screeching the tires. Which got the attention of most of the zombies. We got out and ran toward the house. Most of us were calm enough to keep our distance and try to pick them off without getting surrounded, but Dennis was in a rage, he was furiously bashing his way through them.

"Hey be careful!" John shouted. "Don't get yourself killed!" He managed to finish just before Dennis disappeared inside. We were still dealing with the ones outside. We managed to kill about half of them before we noticed that things were going south, and fast. The zombies heard the sound and were pouring in from down the street. We had to move, and fast.

"This isn't good. We've got to-" I started to say, but Dennis came back out leading his family to the van. He already knew that we were out of time, pushed right through the few that stood between him and his goal. Will ran back to the van and got in the driver's seat, which meant that we were all ready to move as soon as we got inside. I slammed the door behind us. "We're all here, hit the gas!"

Will was quick to oblige, he floored it but shortly after smashed on the brakes. "There's too many of them." He said and turned us around. He started speeding down the street, until we saw the same thing on the other side. "Shit! What do I do?"

"Just plow through 'em!" John yelled from the passenger seat.

There weren't any other seats in the van. So when he gunned it and started running through the mass of flesh and bone it jostled us around in the back. We could feel each one of them as they passed beneath the tires, thudding against the underside of the van, getting thicker and thicker. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it, the front windshield had gotten so covered in blood I couldn't make anything out. But then the ride went smooth. Will hit the wipers and the path became clear, we had broken free.

"Holy shit!" John said exasperated. "That was a close one... Is everyone ok?"

"No..." Helena's voice was quiet be we all heard it clear as day.
Chapter 17

We were hesitant to ask what happened, but the answer came soon enough. "I got bit..." Helena said grimly.

"It's ok honey, you're going to be ok." We could hear Dennis whispering to her in the back of the van. I could see the blood running down her arm and dripping from her hand into a small puddle. Jill was crying, and all of us were worried.

"No Dennis... I'm-" But she was cut off.

"Don't say that, we'll do something. We have to, we-"

"No Dennis!" I think that was the only time I ever heard her raise her voice. She was always soft spoken, so it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up a bit. "We've seen this before. We both know what's going to happen."

"Don't..." He was holding her in his arms.

"What do we do?" Will asked from the driver's seat.

"Don't ask that." John said back to him, trying to keep out of the situation as much as possible.

"I mean what do I do? I don't know where I'm going." Will said, but this time he wasn't trying to stir up trouble.

"To the train depot. Were you not paying attention when I was going over this on the map?" John said back in a snide tone.

"Of course I was, I just don't know what street this is! I've never been in this neighborhood."

"That's a fair point." John replied. "I'm not too sure either come to think of it. Make a right here I guess." They continued trying to navigate, while we dealt with what was going on in the back.

"How long do you think she has?" Elizabeth whispered to me.

"I'm not sure. Back at the mall Steve told me the time is different for every person. I guess some can fight it a bit longer than others." It wasn't the most comforting answer, but it was all I had.

The drive was rough. We struggled at every turn. There were so many wrecked cars and swarms of zombies that it took a long time just to make it a couple of blocks. We had to keep turning around and finding a new path, which was making things more and more pressing. I could hear John murmuring to himself in the front seat as Helena's breathing became more labored. I knew just what he was thinking we're going to have to do something, and soon... And no one wanted to walk down that road.

"How did this happen? Dennis asked his wife.

"We were waiting for you to come back... Everything was going fine." Helena began. "We were keeping quiet and trying to kill time. But... we were playing a game, and Jill fell down. She couldn't help it, it hurt and she cried." She stopped to make eye contact with her daughter. "It's ok baby, this isn't your fault, I want you to remember that Jill."

Jill had a hard time looking at her mother, I think she was afraid of the blood. But at the same time, she nodded in response.

Helena continued. "I tried to console her as best as I could, but one of them had heard us. I don't think it would have been that big of a deal, except it was pounding on the window, getting more and more of their attention. When they broke the window the dresser we had blocking it toppled and they started climbing in. I rushed to get Jill out of the room, but the dresser wedged the door open. I tried my best to push it out of the way and close it. I had it just about shut when I heard one behind me. They had broken in through another window. It was so close to Jill... I shot it right in the head, just like you said, but the one behind the door got its head through the opening and bit me."

Nearly thirty minutes had passed since we left the house, and Helena was getting worse. Her normal color had left her, she was pale, and struggling to hold on. "Dennis..." She barely whispered loud enough to hear.

"What?" His words were almost as defeated as her own.

"I don't want... I don't want Jill to see this."

"No!"

She pulled her hand up to his face and caressed it gently. "Dennis, we both know what has to happen."

Dennis gave the slightest nod and crushed his eyes together. "Find a safe place to pull over."

Will was even starting to show some strain. "Ok man..."

Helena made an attempt to sit upright on her own. "Jill baby, come here." She said with a small smile.

Jill was scared and sitting next to Elizabeth. "It's ok Sweetey, come over here with us." Dennis added and managed to coax her over. She crawled across the van and sat with her parents.

They spoke quietly amongst themselves. Even though I couldn't really hear them, I knew exactly the kinds of things that were being said.

It didn't take too long after that for Will to say. "This spot looks ok."

John chimed in. "Yeah, but keep it quick, it won't be too long before they come crawling."

The Van came to a stop. "I have to say goodbye now Jill..." her mother said with tears in her eyes.

"Where are you going Mommy?" I knew she was just a child, and maybe that helped, but she just couldn't understand the situation.

"I'm going away Sweetey..." She pulled her daughter into a long embrace. "I need you to stay in the van and be good for Daddy. Ok?"

"Uhuh." I could barely hear Jill's muffled words.

"And Jill..." She was having the hardest time choking out the words.

"Yes Mommy?"

"I love you Sweetheart... I really really do..." She held her for a few more seconds before she could bring herself to her senses. "Elizabeth hold onto Jill for me."

Dennis opened the van's back door and helped his wife out. I was amazed at how much strength she had lost in such a short period of time. She couldn't even support her own weight. Dennis picked her up and walked around the side of the van so that no one could see what was going on, but it's not like we couldn't tell. Even though we were all waiting to hear the sound, the gunshot still caught us all off guard.

Nobody wanted to think about it, and I can't imagine how Dennis felt. So when he came back around the corner and got in the van his expression... surprised me. His face was deadpanned, cold, completely devoid of emotion and spattered in blood. He didn't say a word, he just shut the door behind him and sat down. There were no tears, no sobbing, no... life... It was his training you see, he knew he couldn't break down, not now, he had to keep going. Even if he was dead on the inside he still had to take care of his daughter, and that became his sole mission.

"I think we can go now." I said in a sorrowful tone.

Elizabeth was fighting off tears. "I'm so sorry Dennis." But he didn't even acknowledge us. He was just waiting for us to arrive at our destination, he didn't even bother to wipe the blood off his face.
Chapter 18

Other than Will and John arguing over directions, not a word was said the entire rest of the trip. It took another half hour until we finally made it to the rail yard. We got out of the van to make our final approach.

"Everybody be careful, I'm not really sure what to expect." John said as he examined the area.

It was strange, this area had almost no damage or wrecked cars. I suppose that had something to do with the fact that it would have been closed down for the night when the outbreak started, but it was more than that. There were almost no zombies, at least not living ones.

"There's a lot of corpses around here, I'm guessing they're keeping the area clear so they can unload the trucks in safety." John continued. He stopped to take a closer look at one of the bodies. He used his foot to move the head so he could see the wound that had done it in. "It looks like they aren't shooting them, but they were armed to the teeth when they came to the mall so let's take it slow. Everybody behind me, and don't make any sudden movements." We walked behind him cautiously. It was nerve wracking thinking we were in someone's crosshairs the whole time. "Alright, that's the one. If we're lucky they've already left."

As we got closer to the building we noticed several men pop up from behind cover. They pointed their rifles straight at us, getting ready to fire. John waved his arms up in the air in an attempt to get them to realize who he was, an attempt that worked.

"Is that you John?" One of the men shouted out.

"Yeah, it's me. I need to talk with Harry!"

The man on top of the building pulled out a radio before he replied. "One second!" We could hear him using it, though I couldn't make out what he was saying. "Wait right there."

The men never took their guns off of us, and John was obviously distressed. "Shit I was hoping it wouldn't come to this."

A few moments later and the front door opened. Out walked five men, four dressed in black but not wearing masks. The man in front was different. His clothes were expensive, his hair was slicked back and judging from his age it might have been to cover a bald spot, though he only faintly had any gray hair. He kept a smug smile on his face as he walked toward us, carrying a bit of arrogance in his steps.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Or is that really you?" He cocked his head to the side. "Johnny Boy!" He was acting chipped though I could tell his words were masking malicious intent. "Johnny John John John... It's good to see you."

"I can't say the same Harry." John's words were full of disdain.

Harry shrugged off John's comment. "And here I thought you were dead. See the boys went ahead and told me you were at the mall." He began pacing back and forth in front of the group. "I figured, according to what they had said, that it could wait overnight. That I would just pop in bright and early in the morning to say 'hi.' You know... catch up for old time's sake." He was enjoying every second he could tease John, and it showed. "But then! I come up to the place, and it's full of corpses. And not the lazy good for nothing kind like in the good old days. No, it's these bitey fuckers!" He paused to kick one of the heads of a nearby body.

"Aw shit." Harry looked down at his foot. "It's hard to get blood stains out of these shoes. Anyway where was I? Right right, the mall. So we roll in, turn the walking corpses back into the regular kind, and start looking around. Not a trace of ya! Although, there were a lot of bodies eaten beyond recognition, so I figured that was the last I was gonna hear about you. But then you show up right at my doorstep! So my question is... To what do I owe the privilege?"

John was clearly frustrated. "We need to use the tunnel to get outside of the city."

"Of course! So I take it you met the G.I.'s keeping a lid on this. Great guys when they're not trying to blow your head off." He paused for a second to look over our group. "I suppose I haven't introduced myself. Harry Monroe."

"I'm Ma-" I started to say, but their leader cut me off.

"I don't really care! That was mostly for the lady." He winked at Elizabeth. She gave back a look of repulsion.

"Ha, I like her! She's feisty. But then again I would surmise that everyone left alive in this city has to have a bit of fight in them." Harry was musing to himself.

"Can we use the tunnel or not?" John was trying to keep things moving.

"Right right, the tunnel, here's the thing. I'm a generous man John. You know that, hell I paid you a shit ton of money. But then! Oh but then, you went and stabbed me in the back. I lost a lot of money because of you." Harry waited for John's response.

"It wasn't my fault, I wasn't the one who called for backup. It was my partner." John was rubbing his eyes and clearly bothered by the conversation he was having.

Harry folded his hands and twiddled his thumbs while thinking. He stopped just before speaking again. "I can believe that. You've always been willing to play ball. But even if that is the truth, and there's no way to prove that now, let's say you still owe me a favor."

"Fine, I'll tell you how to access the evidence lockup. Everything is still in there and more."

Harry started laughing, he turned around to his men and lifted his hands to gesture them to laugh alongside him. They joined in awkwardly. "Alright, now shut up." His men fell quiet again. "That's not gonna cut it Johnny Boy. See I had the goods in my possession, now they're halfway across town in a locker. Here's the deal, you get them back for me, and then we'll all take a nice long trip out of town." His face and voice became serious. "That's the only deal you're going to get."

John let out a heavy sigh then looked back at us to see if there was any opposition. "I guess we'll take it."

"Mag-fucking-nificent!" Harry was elated.

"But we're going to need help." John shot back.

"I'm aware." Harry replied. "We were planning to get our things back anyway before this whole mess started. So I already know the locks are electronic. Don't you worry your pretty little head about that part." He patted John on the cheek, much to his disgust. "We stole some massive generator, I think it was used to power outdoor concerts or some bullshit, or maybe it was construction sites? Whatever. Anyway, my man Anthony used to be an electrician, he'll hook it up so the station has full power. But the thing is fucking loud! You'll need a distraction to keep those ravenous sons-a-bitches away from the station while you do your work."

"I'll do it." Dennis said. His voice was still vacant, and hollow.

"Eager beaver! I like that." Harry was quick to respond.

"But I need a gun." Dennis seemed to focus more than he had during the entire car ride. "One of those M4's" He pointed to one of the guns the men were holding. "And I need four thirty round magazines, with an extra 500 rounds of ammo. It could take a while to load the truck, but I can keep it clear with that."

Harry squinted his eyes. "Who the fuck is this jerkoff?" He asked John.

"Dennis, he's in the Army reserve. He's just trying to save his daughter man." John said back to him.

"Think of it as an investment." Dennis added.

Harry pondered things over for a moment. "Yeah fuck it." He turned to his men. "Round up what he asked for, we'll be getting back more than that anyway." He motioned to one of his men and he walked off. "Now there's still one more tiny issue. I've still got half of my men out rounding up more shit, and the guys around here... well, they've got lives too you know? Bill has to get to the post office before it closes, and Teddy had to do his taxes!"

John was less than amused by Harry's antics. "Get to the point already."

Harry smirked. "I'm already giving you a generator, a guy to set it up, and a gun. I'm not supplying any more man power. So one of you either better know how to drive a semi-truck, or at least be willing to learn quickly. Because let's face it that, what is that?" He started laughing to himself. "A dragon van? That thing is not gonna cut it."

"I can drive a big-rig." Elizabeth piped up.

"I knew I liked you." He gave her another wink. "Alright, there's an ass load of extra trucks around here. A lot of cargo came through this train depot, so we picked up the keys to about twenty or so extra. They're out back, take your pick, but don't scratch the paint!" He let it linger awkwardly for a second. "Just fucking with you. The truck can burn for all I care, just make sure to bring back the stuff." He let out a shrill whistle. "Weapons down boys, we've got a deal!" He turned back to us. "You can wait here we'll bring your stuff around, that is unless you're absolutely adamant about picking out which truck you want, in which case you can come with me honey."

Elizabeth let a grimace creep across her face. "I'll just wait here."

"C'est la vie." He shrugged his shoulders and turned walking back to the building from which he came.

We waited outside while the men gathered up the supplies we asked for. As soon as he was sure that none of them could hear us Dennis spoke quietly to the group. "This isn't going to work."

"Yes it is, we've just got to get our hands on the stuff from the lockup." Will said.

"I mean after that." Dennis replied.

"I know what you mean." John was rubbing his neck.

"Once we give them what they're after, they have no reason to keep us alive." Dennis' cold words were all too true.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"I'm the decoy, my job is to keep them off of you long enough to load up the truck. If I fake that things go bad, pretend to die, then they won't expect me coming. If things go south, I can attack them." Dennis said.

"We don't even know how many of them there are." John growled.

"It's better than nothing." Dennis said not too comfortable with the situation himself.

"I guess so... Make it happen. We'll leave you the van, so you can get back from the station. We'll all have to pile into the truck. Everybody got that?" John asked, and we nodded. "Good."

"Hey wait a minute?" Will said looking over at one of the men who were now standing by the door. "Hey! Is that you Gregory?"

"Do I know you?" He asked back to Will.

"Yeah man you sold me some..." Will looked over at John cautiously. "Uh... Stuff once. You wouldn't happen to have any more on you?" Gregory confirmed his suspicions, and Will walked over to talk with him.

Elizabeth was shaking her head and I brought my hand to my forehead covering one eye. "You've got to be kidding me." I said quiet enough that he couldn't hear me.

"Fuckin' whatever." John said he was too worn from the day's events to even try to stop him. "Just don't get high before we do this!" He yelled to Will.

"I'm not...! Whatever man." Will went about his newfound business.

We waited a few more minutes until they pulled the truck around. Harry had come back outside with a large duffle-bag and handed it over to Dennis. "Hey there big guy, make sure the gun in there is in working order. We looted it off some dead folks, so you know-" He tilted his hand back and forth. "could have been the reason. I also threw some walkie-talkies in there, should help you coordinate with my man, and each other." Dennis checked it out while Elizabeth and I walked over to look at the truck.
Chapter 19

I was riding in the truck with John and Elizabeth, and though I certainly wished that John had went with the others in the van, I was still in a rather good mood about the current situation, even if it wasn't the best of times.

"So...?" I asked from the passenger's seat. "You can really drive one of these things?"

"Obviously." Elizabeth looked over at me with one of the most condescending gazes I had ever seen. We had already been on the road for a while, so it was, of course, a stupid question.

"What I meant to ask-" I was still tripping over my words around her sometimes, I guess that kind of thing just happens when you're young and nervous. "was, how do you know how to drive a big-rig?"

She gave this slight nod which gave the impression she now understood where I was coming from. "My Dad is a long-haul trucker. He always thought it was a good job, or at least that it paid well for something so simple. I guess it's sort of a family profession. He made sure that my brothers and I were more than capable of driving these things. Heck, I learned how to drive my Dad's truck way before I ever got my hands on a car."

"Hey slow down Elizabeth." John interrupted. "This thing doesn't have the best turning radius, I can't imagine you want to try and turn it around on one of these city streets. We'll let the other's find a clear path first." He pulled the radio up to his mouth. "Hey is First clear for the next couple of blocks? We're just coming up on Maple."

We heard Will's voice come from the radio. "Nah man, there was a bad wreck up there. We had to cut over to Mason on Sierra. We're still looking for a way through."

"Let us know when you find a path." John said, and laid back down in the back of the cab. "Make sure to give them plenty of time, but keep us moving too. I don't much feel like getting surrounded."

"Yes Sir!" Liz mocked him, but it wasn't enough to bring a response. "Anyway... So I wanted something a bit more exciting than sitting on my ass for 12 hours a day and collecting a paycheck."

"I can understand that." I said back to her.

"It's kind of funny though, this is definitely going to be the most exciting part of our lives, with zombies eating people, the whole city going to hell, and working to break drugs out of a police station, then here I am, sitting in a truck." She let her head slump low but quickly pulled it back up to keep her eyes on the road. "Aw shit!"

"What?" John asked sitting up frantically.

"You don't think my college credits are going to transfer, do you?" When he heard her question John rolled his eyes and slumped back down.

"Probably not, the records are going to be hard to get." I replied.

"Well that's just shit..." She pursed her lips together and brought them up the corner of her mouth. "That's a year and a half down the drain then..."

"That sucks."

She kept talking. "So while my brothers got their own trucks, I went to college, which was apparently a big waste of time! My Dad always said he was proud of me for it... But I kinda get the impression that he was a little disappointed that I didn't follow in his footsteps." She shrugged her shoulders. "But I would rather do something I like, even if I have to start over, than do this for a living."

"Is..." I started. "I mean, do you think your family is ok?"

She rolled her head to the side. "Yeah," She eeked out the word slowly. "Physically they should be. They're a bit further west, so unless this thing kept spreading they should be ok... But they have to be freaking out..." Her tone grew somber. "I know Daddy's gotta be a wreck right now. He was always a little over protective... I haven't even got to call them since this all started you know? As far as they know I could be..."

The radio crackled to life again. "Mason goes all the way through to Belmont. We can see the station up ahead. Dennis says we're going to head back your way and meet up."

"Sounds good, we'll see you in a few." John sat up. "You can speed up now."

It didn't take but a few minutes to see The Glory, a name I started musing about for the van, come around the corner. We pulled up next to them at a clear spot and Dennis got out of the driver's seat. "Elizabeth." He said opening up the rear door. "I need you to look after Jill for me while we do this."

"Sure thing." She opened up the door, and helped her climb up."

"Keep her in the cab. There's a pawn shop that has a clear view of the station. It has barred windows. I should be able to provide good covering-fire and the noise should keep those things away from the truck." He turned his attention to his daughter. "You hear that Jill, stay in the truck with Elizabeth, even if one of these monsters comes up they shouldn't be able to get in. Daddy will be right down the street protecting you." He gave her a smile though it was clear that it took great pain to let it out.

"Ok Daddy." I couldn't really read Jill's expression. She seemed sad of course, but I think she was more confused than anything.

Dennis was quick to give direction. "Will and I already got inside the pawn shop, but I still need to lock the front door when I'm in there. Give me a few minutes to get set up. Will once I get in through the front I want you to drive the van around the back, so I can use it to get away. Once that's done you pick him up in the truck. I'll radio you when I'm ready, then we can get this over with."

Will got into the driver's seat of The Glory with Dennis taking the passenger's side. They drove off while we waited. After a few minutes we got a radio call from Will. "Come pick me up."

We drove to the alleyway that connected to the back of the shop, but we didn't manage to turn in before we saw Will running right toward us. "Hurry up get in!" I shouted from my seat. When he got in I asked. "Why didn't you just wait by the van?"

"Um..." Will was still catching his breath from running, so it took him a couple of seconds to answer. "It's real tight back there, I didn't think you would be able to drive the truck back out."

"I could have just backed up." Elizabeth said.

"Oh... Didn't think of that." Will finished, and we were ready to go.
Chapter 20

"Hey uh..." John took his finger off the transmitter. "What was that guy's name again? Anthony!" He pushed the button on the walkie-talkie again. "Hey Anthony, we're ready to go on our end."

There was a moment of silence before an answer came through. "It's going to take a little bit to get the generator connected and running. You should be able to clear the inside of the building while I'm doing that."

"Sounds good, be ready to get to work as soon as you hear the first shot." John waited for a reply but didn't get one, he took this as a sign Anthony was already prepared. "Dennis are you ready?"

"Affirmative." He said back to us through the radio.

"Ok let's do this." John clipped the walkie-talkie to his belt. When the shooting started Elizabeth put the truck in gear. "Hold on there." He stopped her. "Let's give it a few seconds, let those things walk down the street a bit so they aren't focused on the truck." We waited about a minute or so before John tapped her on the shoulder. "Ok, let's move."

Elizabeth drove the truck right down the street leading to the entrance but turned left at the intersection right in front of the building so she could back it up. I had to hand it to her, she was actually quite good at maneuvering that trailer. She backed the rear end right up to the door. "Here's your stop." She said almost playfully.

Before John got out he made sure that Elizabeth knew what she was doing. "Stay in the truck with Jill."

"I can hel-"

He didn't even let her finish. "We're already up shit creek without a paddle, but if something happened to you we'd lose the boat too. Besides Jill needs company."

Elizabeth was hesitant but knew he was right. "Alright, just don't take too long."

I opened the door without paying too much attention only to have a zombie right on top of me. I reeled back my arm to give it a hit with my machete, but I didn't get the chance to hit it before Dennis sprayed its brains out of the side of its head. "Phew."

Dennis' voice came through the radio. "If you get in trouble come outside where I can cover you."

John grabbed the walkie-talkie from his belt. "Ten-four."

I shook off the shock and got my head back where it needed to be. When we got out of the cab and looked down the street we could see the pawn shop. It had high windows, which were now busted out, but the bars kept the swarm of zombies at bay. Luckily, or perhaps Dennis chose that building because of that, the height of the windows meant he could get a clean shot over the mass that was surrounding the building. "You think those bars will hold?" I asked.

John looked at the building. "The bars are made of iron and bolted straight into the bricks, they should hold no problem. I'm not so sure about the front door cage though. We should hurry."

"Right." I replied and turned to follow John toward the station which he was already heading to.

It wasn't long before we had a bit of a problem, once we opened the front door we could see there were quite a few zombies inside. It wasn't just the police staff either. John bashed one of their heads in. "Shit, these guys must have been trapped in here the whole time. I was hoping they would have cleared out by now." The faces in the room all turned toward us, and we could see the wave of them heading our way.

"What do we do?" Will asked nervously.

"We'll lead them outside, maybe we can get them to join the rest of them down the street." I said thinking it was our only option.

"Good plan, let's go!" John yelled and propped the door open with a planter so they could follow us.

We ran back outside into the street and turned around to look at the horde of them coming through the door. "Why are there so many of them?" I asked.

John glanced over at me. "Remember when I brought you in, the station was full of people who had been exposed that night. We were flooded, I guess they didn't make it out of there. Kind of makes you glad we didn't make it huh?"

"No shit!" I was astounded at the number of bodies that were flooding into the street. They just seemed to keep coming and coming. "Hey!" I yelled out to them.

"What are you doing?" Will asked.

"We need to keep their attention so they don't go after the truck. We also have to walk them down the street, so make some noise!" I answered.

We all started shouting and jumping up and down, to get keep their attention. It must have looked odd, but we knew it was the only thing we could really do. Elizabeth and Jill had hunkered down in the truck when they noticed what was going on, which honestly made me feel a lot more comfortable about them walking right past it. Still, it wasn't the best situation, especially since we were nearing the end of the street.

"Hey, let's not get ourselves trapped here!" John yelled as after he turned around he noticed we were drawing some of the attention of the ones from the pawn shop. He grabbed the radio. "Dennis! We need you to start making some serious noise. Smash shit around, scream at 'em, anything you can do."

"Copy that." I could just barely hear him respond.

The number of shots increased and we could hear him shouting between shots. It was enough for us to be able to slip down an alleyway and beat a hasty escape. "Ok we should work our way around back to the truck." John said quietly trying not to get their attention again.

We managed to climb over a small wall in the back which led to a side street. We ran down that road until it connected with the one the station was on, and luckily for us, there weren't that many zombies in our way. We got back into the station just in time to hear the generator out back come to life and see the power flicker back on.

"You should be good to go." We heard over the radio.

"Good, we should be able to get to the evidence locker here pretty quickly." John clipped the radio back onto his belt. "This way." Even with the majority of the zombies out on the street, the back rooms were still full of them. It wasn't nearly as many, but the ones back there were in uniform. I could see a look of dread fall over John's face, but he snapped back to reality quickly. "We've got to take them out."

Even though we were in a bit of a hurry, we took our time to face them one on one. The last thing we needed was for another one of us to get chomped, especially since we were so close. We worked our way further back until John finally pointed it out. "In here." He punched in his code to the locker and swung the door wide open. "Oh shit!" A zombie from inside the locker lunged on him, knocking him to the ground.

He managed to get his hands around its throat, which gave me the chance to finish it off. Will and I pulled the body off of him, only to see more coming out. It was a mess in there, but we were able to close the door. "Why is the evidence locker full of zombies?" Will asked nearly panicked.

"I don't fucking know, they must have hidden in there when shit went south!" John was wiping blood off of his face. "It doesn't matter, we've still got to get in there. Here's what we'll do, you two man the door, and I'll take them out one at a time. If we can keep it that way this should be easy."

We did as we were told, letting one, or sometimes two who were a bit more ferocious out into the hallway at a time. We were all surprised at the number of officers who tried to hide in there when things went bad, but if you didn't have anywhere to go, I guess it made sense.

When the last one fell John asked "Is that all of them?" We opened the door slowly, peeking inside, and finally we managed to see that the room had been cleared. "For fuck's sake! Alright help me move these bodies so we're not tripping over them. We pulled the corpses out of the way. It didn't help that each time we had to deal with zombies they had gotten more ripe, but I guess I should never have expected something like that to smell decent.

"See that big pile over there?" John pointed to the massive pile of drugs in the corner of the room. "We're taking that, and all this shit on this table too."

"Woah..." Will was flabbergasted. "How much is there?"

"I don't know about five hundred pounds or so total, plus a bunch of odds and ends." John was busy grabbing an arm full of packages.

"What is all of it?" Will jumped in to help him.

"Meth, heroine, I think there's some pot in there too. Look I'm not really sure we're just putting it in the truck alright?"

"Yeah." Will said back, and I rolled my eyes before grabbing my load. It took quite a few trips to move all of it, from the back of the station over to the truck, and we kept having a couple of zombies pop up from the woodworks when we were making the trips. It took more time that we were hoping it would, but we managed to do it. Will closed up the back of the truck and we ran back around to the front. We hopped in the cab and shut the door behind us.

"Is that it?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, we got it." I replied.

John pulled the walkie-talkie to his mouth and pushed down the button. "We're all good here Anthony, Dennis, you can bug out."

"I'll see you back at the rail-yard." Anthony said.

"It's no good." We heard Dennis say after that. "There's too many of them, I'm not gonna make it out of here. Just go without me... and tell my daughter... I love her."

"Are you really gonna leave your own guy behind?" Anthony asked.

John rolled his eyes and tried his best to sound serious. "We got what we came for... Fuck him." Dennis went off in a tirade of curse words to sell the story. John smiled turned the radio off and clipped it to his belt once more. "I think he bought it."
Chapter 21

We pulled up to the rail-yard with Jill crying. John had instructed us not to tell her what was going on because he wanted her reaction to seem genuine. It was cold, but we knew it was the right move. One of the men told us where to pull the truck to. We backed it into a loading ramp on the other side of the building. When we opened the door Harry was there to greet us.

"Hey! So you pulled it off, great for you. Hey, where's the other guy?" He waited with the cheesy fake grin on his face.

"He didn't make it." I said, trying my best to sound genuine.

"Aw shit, that sucks, sorry to hear it." His words almost sounded like he cared until he opened his mouth again. "Oh well! Not my problem, now let's get this shit unloaded."

"Where are we putting it?" John asked.

"There's a fancy service elevator that should handle the bulk of it no problem, well that is unless you want to climb down one of the ladders with all that crap. It's over here."

I remember there being more men when we originally met with them, but I wasn't about to say anything, if it came to a fight, the fewer the better.

It took a while to unload everything onto the elevator, not as long as it took to load it, but we were dragging our feet to buy Dennis more time. Still, we got it all in place, and the elevator took us down into the tunnel. It was dark in there, with the exception of the few places that they had set up lights, you couldn't see a thing.

"Alrighty righty right!" Harry broke the silence, we're going to be moving all of this crap over onto that small train car over there, so let's get this done!" We did as he said.

When the work was finally over John asked "So is that it? Are we ready to go?"

"I know it sounds a bit cliché, but not so fast there Jonny Boy. Don't get me wrong but..." Harry hung on his words.

"You're fucked." Will cut in, then walked over to stand beside the men.

"What are you talking about Will?" I asked.

"It's nothing personal, well maybe a little. But let's face it, these guys weren't going to let us walk out of here." Will was cocking his head to the side and acting just like the piece of shit he was.

"What did you do?" John growled at him.

"Come on, you can't honestly have thought that one guy with a rifle was going to make that big of a difference. I just made sure he's not coming."

"You fucking bastard!" Elizabeth's shouts echoed off the walls.

"Oh don't worry baby I made sure you're taken care of too. You know the funny thing is, it wasn't even that hard. When you all thought I was scoring drugs, I set up this little deal. Then all I had to do was park the van against the door so Dennis couldn't get out. It was fucking easy! You all put way too much trust into this stupid little plan. Sorry you guys, but me and Liz have got to go." Will was as smug as I had ever seen him when he walked over to grab her arm. She shrugged away from him.

Harry cleared his throat. "About that kid... It behooves me to ensure that this whole thing isn't going to bite me in the ass later, and witnesses tend to have sharp teeth from my experience, so..." The men at his side pulled their weapons to the ready.

"You can't fucking do this! We had a deal!" Will yelled at him.

"And you trusted me?" Harry raised his hands to emphasize his words. "See that was your first mistake right there. No, no that actually wasn't your first one. Your first one was trusting this piece of shit." He walked over to John. "Yeah, that's right. This little bastard was your real problem. Do you know what he did? He wasn't just dirty, he was the worst. Why don't you tell 'em there Johnny?"

"What does it matter, you're just going to kill us anyway." John spit the words out.

"Well it'll buy you a couple more minutes of time, which I don't think I need remind you it's in short supply." Harry grinned like a maniac.

"Fine! I..." John was breathing heavily with anger. "I was out on patrol one night with my partner Dale. Things were going fine, then we get this call. Some unusual activity in a business park late at night. I knew the place, it was where Harry was moving his drugs from. I knew if we went in there, things would go bad... So I convinced Dale to wait in the car, he was kind of a slacker so it was easier than I thought it would be... I came in, and sure enough, Harry and his boys were there. I spent a minute or two waiting, just trying to act like everything was normal. But then shit I didn't expect happened. Some jackass was trying to steal a car out front, so Dale called in for backup. There was nothing I could do.

The guy went running, right toward us, and when Dale came around the corner he got his eyes on this mountain of shit!" John waved his hand at the load of drugs and other contraband. "One of Harry's men got the drop on him, bashed him right over the head, he was out of it. Harry and his boys were about to split, but Harry stops, turns to me and said 'You know he saw us together... Finish it.' He put a gun in my hand... There was nothing I could do... It was either me or him..."

"And?" Harry forced it out of him.

"And I pulled the fucking trigger! Is that what you wanted you sick son of a bitch!" John could barely keep himself under control.

Harry raised his arms up to gloat. "That's what I'm talking about! See? He stabbed him right in the back! What a sick mother fucker he is..." He popped his neck. "Now wasn't that fun? Doesn't it feel good to have that off your chest before you die John?" He raised his hand to motion his men to fire. "No wait! I've got a better idea." Harry smirked to himself.

"What more could you possibly want?" John was exhausted at this point.

"There's no sense getting rid of a perfectly good pawn. The way I see it, I still have all the evidence I need to keep you on your leash John. So why would I shoot myself in the foot? You-" Harry paused for dramatic effect. "Are going to kill them. Just like you killed your partner."

"I won't do it!" John yelled at the top of his lungs.

Harry smiled and waited patiently for a second. "Yes you will. You've done it before, and hell practice makes perfect right?" He grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. "So who should it be? You!" Harry pointed right at me. "What's your name kid?"

"I thought you didn't care." I choked out the words.

"I didn't at the time, but now I want to know for dramatic effect! So what's your fucking name?"

I couldn't do anything but give him what he wanted. "It's Mark, Mark Williams."

"Good!" Harry reached down and grabbed the gun out of John's holster. "So here's what you're going to do John you're going to take your gun, like a good boy." He forced the gun into John's hand. "And you're going to shoot Mark right in the fucking head!"

John looked down at the gun in his hand. My heart was beating out of my chest. I could barely breathe. I watched John he was struggling to pull the gun up, but slowly he did. John pointed it right at my face. "I'm sorry Mark..." I heard the sound of a gunshot bounce loudly off the walls of the tunnel.
Chapter 22

"Son of a bitch!" Harry screamed out falling to the floor clutching his arm. Everybody turned to where the sound of the shot came from, but we couldn't see anything past where the lights cut off. Harry scrambled to his feet and began running. "Don't just stand there! Shoot the fucker!"

The men barely had a second before shots started raining down on them as well. The first one got three rounds in the chest and collapsed. "Get to cover!" One of the remaining men called out. They rushed behind the makeshift train car and began returning fire.

Harry had pulled out his own pistol and looked around to see where the shots were coming from, but other than a brief flash every time a shot came their way they couldn't make anything out. And from what I could tell, the person shooting at them was moving each time so they couldn't pinpoint his location. I looked over just in time catch a glimpse of Harry's face behind the train car, he was grinning. "Draw him out! Shoot his friends!" The men took a second to register his words, which might have been our only saving grace.

"Get out of the light!" I yelled and sprinted as fast as I could to the cover of darkness. I couldn't really tell at the time, but from what I could see we all managed to escape before the shots started raining down on us.

More gunfire came toward Harry and his men, with another one catching a bullet in the shoulder. "We're sitting ducks like this!" Harry grabbed one of his men and started pulling him along with him. "If you want to play hide and go fucking seek then so be it! Come on!" He led his men into the shadows.

I tried to suppress my breathing so they couldn't hear me. I could hear their steps in the tunnel. I knew they were coming right for me, so I turned to move away, but my foot caught the track and I fell to the ground. I tried to catch myself, but I knew I still made too much noise. I thought they had to hear me.

But then I heard one of them whisper. "Did you hear something?" It didn't take me long to catch on to what was happening, their ears were still ringing from shooting their guns, which gave me an advantage.

I got to my feet and snuck around the side of them. When I realized I had made my way behind them I gripped my machete hard. This was the best chance I had to fight them and I knew I had to take it, but I couldn't see them. I snuck around trying to figure out exactly where they were when finally I could see their silhouettes appear when they came between me and the area that was lit up. It was my chance.

They were all just as blind as I was, so I knew they wouldn't see me coming. I took a deep breath and tensed up. This would be the first time... the first time that I killed a person. My heart was racing, but I knew that if I hesitated I might not get another chance. I stepped forward and swung my blade at his neck. I felt it sink into his flesh, but it stopped near the halfway point, not enough to consider him decapitated, but certainly enough to kill him. He let out a sound that was somewhere between a gurgle and a scream. That's when I heard the rest of the men turning around. I pulled on the handle, but the blade was stuck, I gave it up to dive out of the way. Just in time too, as they didn't hesitate to open fire, even on their own man. Then the other shooter sent more shots their way. He hit one of them, I couldn't really tell where, but I heard him hit the floor.

I thought for a second that I did all I could. I was without a weapon, I killed one of them, and they would definitely hear me if I tried to fight one of them with my bare hands. All I had left to do was stand back, hope and watch, no one would blame me... But I wasn't about to go down without trying. I had to think about it, but I realized I still did have one weapon at my disposal, my mind. I reached down and felt along the ground, but it was smooth concrete, there was nothing to find. That's when it hit me, my shoes, I still had those. I pulled one off my foot and took it in my hand. It felt kind of dumb, but I threw it just on the far side of the men. It hit the ground with a loud smacking noise which immediately got their attention.

Sure enough, they opened fire on the shoe, which was just what I was hoping for as once again it drew the fire of the other shooter. They got hit hard this time. Two more men fell to the ground. One of them was still breathing, but the others moved on. So I did it again, another shoe, another man down.

There were only two of them left, and I was out of things to throw. I couldn't think of anything else to do, anything but what was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I got between them and the light again. I drew in a long breath and yelled. "They're over here!" I dove to the ground just in time to see them turn around to face where I was. Then I saw another figure fire his gun from the side while running, he tackled one of them to the ground. They were struggling when the shots came. The one that was standing was hit enough times to do the job. Then I could hear the other two fighting. A few rounds went off from their guns, and finally, they went quiet. The figure who had tackled the other one brought himself to his feet, but was obviously winded. I could tell it wasn't one of Harry's men from the silhouette.

"I think that's all of them!" I cried out with joy in my voice.

"Good!" Dennis yelled from the darkness across from the lights.

"Are you sure?" The figure who had fought the man on the ground was John.

"Pretty sure, well..."

"Well what?" he asked me.

"One of them was shot, but was still breathing."

"Still breathing means still dangerous, let's find him."

"He was over here." I led John to the area where the man was shot. "He went this way."

John was whispering now. "How can you tell?"

"I had to throw my shoes so I could get their attention, and well... I can feel his blood on my feet. He didn't get back up, he's dragging himself across the ground." I padded the ground with my feet to get the trail. It led into the light. The train car was attached to one of those trucks which converts from normal tires to track wheels, and the blood was leading right to the driver's seat. When we came around the corner we could see him. Harry was pulling himself with one arm, trying to get away.

"Freeze you piece of shit!" John said pulling his gun on him. He was clutching his chest with his other hand. John walked right up behind him, and Harry rolled over as fast as he could with his gun in his hand, but John just kicked it hard enough to send it flying. That's when I got to see just how bad Harry had been shot up. There was the bullet in his arm, one in his thigh, another near his hip, and one more near the outside of his ribcage. He was a mess.

"Alright John... You got me." Harry was having a hard time speaking through the pain. John didn't say a word, he just pulled his gun up to Harry's face.

"Y-you wouldn't! John! You can't do this." He winced in pain before continuing. "You're a cop, come on, you know that's not the right thing to do." John kept quiet. "John! Johnny Boy! Look it was all business, it wasn't anything personal! You can go! It's over, I'll even give you all the evidence I have against you! Come on!" I could see the panic turning his face pale. "You can't do this John! You can't! You're better than this!"

"No, I'm not..." John said before letting loose one single round, right into Harry's left eye.
Chapter 23

The rest of the group walked out of the shadows to meet in the center. We formed a small circle. "I can't believe we got all of them." I said exasperated.

Dennis was scowling as he looked over the group. "Is everyone ok?" He asked giving particular attention to Will.

John was the first to reply. "I caught a bullet in the chest." He scratched the area which had been hit and was wincing in pain. "My vest stopped it, but the fucker must have been using a hand cannon. It hurts like a bitch!"

Will was hesitant to answer and for good reason, the entire group was mad. "I guess we should go then."

Fury welled up in Dennis' eyes. "You're not going anywhere with us." I wasn't about to blame Dennis for his anger, I felt pretty much the same way.

"Come on man!" Will had gotten defensive. "I was just doing what I had to. It's not like I wanted to do it!"

"Bullshit!" Dennis yelled back to him.

"Dennis has a point, there's no way we can trust you." John added with nearly as much malice in his voice as Dennis.

"Like you have the high ground to give me shit!" Will screamed back at John. "Last time I checked I've never killed someone who trusted me!"

John was furious. "It's not that simple! I never planned that shit!"

Dennis was doing all he could to hold back his rage. "As much as I hate to admit it he's right, you're no better than he is John."

"It's not like-" John said but was cut off by Dennis.

"Don't you fucking dare defend that shit! If I had been a moment later you would have shot Mark in the face!"

"Guys we all need to just calm down." Elizabeth tried to defuse the situation.

Will tried to go with Elizabeth's suggestion. "Yeah, we can deal with this later. Once we're out of this tunnel, we can all go our separate ways. Dennis can take his daughter, John can go with Mark, and Liz and I will go our own way."

Elizabeth couldn't even keep it together. "You've got to be fucking shitting me Will! There's no way on earth I'm going with you after the shit you pulled!"

"Don't be like that. I was trying to save you!" Will shouted.

"Oh bullshit!" Elizabeth screamed. "Once again you were only thinking of yourself!"

Will's face faded from anger to panic. "I honestly didn't think Dennis could pull it off, what other options did I have?" Elizabeth fell quiet, after hearing his words she couldn't quite argue with his logic, but at the same time, I could tell she knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

"You can't trust him Elizabeth." Dennis said, gripping his weapon tightly.

"I know that..." She added.

"No, I mean you can never trust him again." Dennis continued. "Even if we go separate ways after this. He's already tried to kill just to be with you. Do you honestly think he'll ever leave you alone?"

"Don't go dragging our personal life into this!" Will yelled back at him.

"I ought to just kill him now." Dennis stared right into Will's eyes for a moment. Slowly growing angrier by the second. He raised his rifle to fire, but Elizabeth grabbed it sending the shot somewhere into the ceiling.

"Come here!" Will shouted during the struggle.

"Let go!" Dennis hissed struggling with Elizabeth.

"You can't just kill him!" She yelled still trying to stop him.

Another gunshot echoed through the tunnel, but this time it wasn't from Dennis. When we looked over Will was crouching down, holding Jill hostage with a stainless steel revolver glinting in the dim light. He was holding it straight at her head. She was crying, but too afraid to move.

"Everybody shut the fuck up!" Will snapped. "Drop your gun!"

Dennis was only barely able to keep himself in control. "Fuck!" He said throwing it to the ground.

"You too John! And don't you dare fucking try anything!" Will waited for him to comply.

John shook his head. "Shit..." He said under his breath. "Ok, I'm putting it down." He slowly pulled it out of its holster and set it on the ground.

"Good, now kick them over here!" Will said and they did as he said.

"Where did you get that gun?" I asked him.

"I found it in the first house we stayed in after the mall." He said back a little too pleased with himself.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Dennis asked.

"We're getting out of here. You just stay right there." Will was smiling at this point. He must have been enjoying the feeling of power.

"You're not taking my daughter!" Dennis yelled. He was sizing up Will the best he could. I knew he was looking for an opening but just couldn't find one.

"Not so loud! You wouldn't want to startle me and have the gun go off now would you?" Will tapped on the handle of the gun with his pinky finger. "Elizabeth, go start the truck, we're leaving."

There was so much disgust in her voice it was hard to make it out when she said. "You bastard." She walked over to the driver's side of the truck to do as she was told.

I knew this wasn't going to go well unless someone did something. As things were, if we rushed him he would either pull the trigger or shoot whoever made the first move, either way was bad. But then I remembered something...

"Will," I said getting his attention. "You are the stupidest, butt fucking ugliest, piece of shit I have ever seen! I'm surprised you even know how to work a gun, or did it take you a week to figure out how to pull the trigger? I guess that's how long it takes when you've got shit for brains!"

Will looked shocked for a second. I was worried until his face turned into the smile of a mad man when he spoke. "Oh, I've wanted to kill you since the moment we met."

See, you could poke fun at him all you wanted, and he would never do anything but argue, although if you insulted him directly, that's when he got aggressive, just like I was hoping. He pulled the gun from Jill's head and began trying to point it at me.

I ran to the side trying to keep him from being able to get a shot off, and it bought the chance we needed. John lunged at him from the side and took them both to the ground. Jill fell too but managed to scurry off. A few shots were fired during their struggle when John yelled "Fuck!"

John rolled off him to the side just in time for Dennis to rip the gun straight out of Will's hand. He didn't even try to use it, instead he tossed it somewhere into the darkness. He grabbed Will by the collar of his shirt and punched him hard. Then he hit him again, and again. Will reached up with his hand and drove his thumb into Dennis's eye. Blood gushed out as Dennis screamed in pain. He grabbed Will's hand wrenching it from his face and breaking several of his fingers.

Will kicked Dennis off of him and clamored to his feet, but Dennis was right on top of him again, grabbing him by the arm then punching the back of his elbow, which caused it to bend backwards with a disturbing snapping sound. Will howled in pain. Dennis kicked him right in the hip causing Will to tumbled to the floor.

"You hold my daughter at gun point?" Dennis shrieked at the top of his lungs. "You fucking bastard!"

Will was trying to scramble back away from him, but Dennis grabbed his foot and yanked him back toward him. He locked his foot in his arm and twisted it till he shattered his ankle, causing the foot to fall limp.

Will was barely able to spit out the word "Please," before Dennis kicked him in the jaw. Blood, teeth, and a chunk of Will's tongue came gushing from his mouth. He clasped over it with his hand that had broken fingers. Dennis kicked him in the side, which caused him to roll over onto the train tracks. Then Dennis curb stomped Will's face right into the steel beam.

Dennis was slurring obscenities and hatred while he continued to stomp down on Will's head over and over again. It wasn't until there was nothing left but little chunks of skull and a puddle of blood that Dennis finally stumbled backward. He grasped at the hole where his eye once was and allowed himself to collapse.

When it was obvious that it was over I approached him. "Are you ok? Your eye is bleeding a lot."

He didn't even acknowledge the question, his concern was elsewhere. "Is Jill ok?" He asked me. There was no longer rage in his voice, it was more like all of the emotion had drained from his body.

"I'll find out. Jill?" I called out to her in the tunnel. We had never really spoken to each other much, so I wasn't surprised that she didn't respond. "Elizabeth?" I looked over, she was holding her hand over her mouth and crying while looking at the ghastly scene. I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder. "Elizabeth, help me find Jill, we need to make sure she's alright." She struggled to nod but managed to somewhat compose herself so she could start looking for her too. It took a few minutes to coax her out of hiding, but when we finally did she was obviously shaken by the events which she had just witnessed.

"Dennis, she's fine, we're getting her in the truck. You should get in there too." I said to him. It didn't elicit any actual words from him but he got to his feet and climbed in the passenger's seat.

"Elizabeth can you drive this thing?" I asked.

"It shouldn't be that hard, I'll give it a shot." She made her way to the driver's side and got in.

John had walked over to the bed of the truck, which was half full of mounted tool boxes, and was sitting down looking over his arm. "Shit... This is bad..." He said to himself.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"That fucker managed to shoot me in the arm. It just winged the inside, but... I'm bleeding a lot..." I looked down to see the puddle he had made beneath where he was sitting, and I knew he was right to be alarmed. "It must have just barely nicked an artery... I need help, and fast."
Chapter 24

Elizabeth had figured out how to operate the truck, apparently it wasn't all that complicated, so we were rolling down the tunnel in no time.

John was in the back seat with me, he had removed his over-shirt and was looking at his left arm where he had been shot. "It doesn't matter how much pressure I put on it, it's still bleeding."

He was starting to grow a little pale, I couldn't tell if it was from worry or blood loss but it wasn't good. "What should we do?" I asked.

"I'll need someone to stitch it back together. None of you would happen to know how to do that, would you?" When no one answered he shook his head. "Didn't think so..." He closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. "Alright..." He took off his belt and began wrapping it around his arm. "If I don't tie this off I'm not gonna make it out of this tunnel, let alone to a surgeon." He had to strap it on tight, tighter than I would have imagined to get the blood flow to slow down. "That's the best I can do for now." He leaned against the window.

"So where are we going?" Elizabeth asked from the front seat.

"I don't know, I don't think we ever planned this far ahead." I said back.

"We need medical attention, or at the very least medical supplies. And I get the feeling we're not going back to Ashville." She added.

"I have an idea." John said. "There's a prison not far out of town. If the staff is still there they have an infirmary. They usually aren't the best equipped, especially not for our situation. I know they send people to the hospital for more serious surgery all the time, but I still think it's our best bet."

"Ok, I know where it is." Elizabeth replied.

It was a few minutes before I asked John "Were you going to do it?"

"Do what?" He asked me back, still looking into the darkness out of the window.

"Were you going to kill me?" I had to wait a long time for his answer.

"I don't know... maybe..." It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but if he had denied it outright I don't think I would have believed him. He continued "I certainly didn't want to if that makes you feel any better."

I waited a little bit to ask my next question. "So... Why did you ever take money from those assholes?"

John drew out a long exhale. "I guess I owe you that much." He took a moment to collect his thoughts. "When you first start out as a cop, it all seems so simple, right is right, wrong is wrong... but then things change... Or maybe I should say you change. I never wanted to take a bribe Mark... I just got into a bad situation."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Alright, so one day I'm out on patrol. It was early in the morning, and things were kind of quiet. That's when a call comes over the radio. It's a domestic dispute, and I was hoping that it wasn't who I thought it was.

See, this shit head Gregory Shills was a real piece of work. He was the scum of the earth, but I think the worst part was that he was just smart enough to not get caught... When you're a cop you get to meet a few of these people, they just keep popping up, but never seem to go away for good.

Anyway, I guess his girlfriend had a penchant for running her mouth, whereas he had one for closing it, with his fists... Piece of shit. But she never filed charges so... There was nothing we could do. I knew one day we were either going to find out she went missing or come upon her battered corpse. And that's just the way it is sometimes.

Well, things were different that day. When the address came over the radio I was the closest unit by a long shot. I knew if I could catch him in the act we could at least do something. So I rushed to the scene thinking that this time I might just get him. Well, that's not what happened.

I came around the corner to Shills on the ground surrounded by six guys. He was beaten within an inch of his life. So Harry is there, and he walks up to me and gives me some bullshit. 'Morning Officer. Me an' the boys were just out for a walk when we came upon this gentleman in need of some help... I think we've got it covered though.' He pulled out a fat stack of cash and shoved it right in my hands. Then he says 'I think we'll be done by the time you take a ride around the block.'

It wasn't even about the money, I couldn't have cared less about that, but seeing someone finally take that bastard down... It just felt right, even if I knew it was wrong. Shills called out to me 'Help, they're going to kill me. Please help.' Yadda yadda yadda, he was begging me.

But I just looked right at him and said 'You earned it.' So I took the money, rode around the block and sure enough, they were gone.

What I didn't know was that one of the bastards had caught me on camera taking the bribe. So Harry comes to me and gives me a deal, take money to look the other way and try to keep attention away from them. I couldn't exactly say no, if I didn't take the money they were just going to force me to by threatening me with the evidence. It was a shit deal, but my only other option was to turn myself in...

That's part of the reason I was so willing to skip town. I was already planning to before all this shit started. When the drug bust happened, I knew he would come knocking... It was only a matter of time.

If it wasn't for this zombie shit I would've been long gone. Since my partner died I shouldn't have even been at work. They give you time off for that kind of shit. Hell, you get a couple weeks just for having to fire your gun. But emergency services get the shit end of the stick in situations like this. We weren't staffed to handle this crap, so they called me in. That's just my shitty ass luck I guess."

He paused for a moment before bringing up the elephant in the room. "If any of you aren't comfortable being around me... I understand. We can split up after we make it to the prison, one way or another."

"No, that's alright." Dennis said, his voice still emotionally drained. "You risked your life to save Jill when it mattered... You made mistakes, but I don't think you're a threat. So long as everybody else is ok with it, I won't push you away."

"I'm fine with it." Elizabeth said nearly as drained as Dennis. "What about you Mark?"

As I looked at John I could tell he was genuinely remorseful. And as I didn't think he had anything else to hide I didn't want to hold it against him. "I guess... he can stay with us." We were quiet for the rest of the ride.
Chapter 25

When we got out of the tunnel it didn't take Elizabeth long to figure out how to use the truck's knobs and levers to make its normal tires come down, though it was a little bit of a hassle to get it disconnected from the train car. Lucky for us there wasn't anyone guarding the exit, even though there were a couple of trucks waiting to be loaded up. Outside of the city was a different world, yes there were still wrecked and abandoned cars here and there, but it was mostly empty. I don't know if it was because the quarantine was still in effect or what, but we weren't going anywhere near the city to find out. We were grateful for how much easier it was to travel. It only took us near half an hour before the prison came into view. It was trashed.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked.

Elizabeth answered me. "It looks like this place was hit too." A huge section of the fence was torn down, and there were zombies inside.

"That's not what I meant." I paused for a moment to really survey the scene. "Look over there." I pointed to a small huddle of zombies gathered around a gnarled figure. "Is that a person on a pike?"

"Oh my..." She let out horrified. "It's one of the guards." The body was propped up on a makeshift spear running straight through the center of its body and out the top of its head. It was only mounted a few feet higher than the zombies, just high enough for them to have eaten its legs. As we got closer I could make out what was left of the blood-covered uniform. She was right.

"Zombies don't do that..." I said quietly. "He's been there a while though."

"How can you tell?"

"He's rotting." There wasn't much of the body to really tell, but his face was missing its eyes, a huge swarm of flies surrounded it, and maggots were crawling all over it.

"Everybody be careful." John said in a dull tone. His voice was weaker than normal, and when I looked at him I could tell why. He had lost a lot of blood. The color in his face had faded, and he was slouching back to rest as much as he could. "We don't know if whoever did that is still here."

"Great." I said.

John continued. "If I had to guess I would say they aren't around. If that really is a guard over there then it was most likely the prisoners. If that's the case, then they wouldn't want to stay here if they could leave."

Dennis finally spoke again since back in the tunnel. "Don't let your guard down. We don't know that for sure." His voice was still empty as if he were doing his duty from beyond the grave. "Where is my gun?"

"Here." I passed it to him in the front seat. "I grabbed it when we were leaving."

John reached for his holster. "Shit... I was too concerned with my arm when we were leaving. I forgot to grab mine."

"You're telling me we didn't grab any of those guns but this one?" Frustration broke Dennis' apathetic tone.

"I..." I started.

"Fuck!" Dennis shouted and paused for a moment. He made sure the gun was in working order and checked how many bullets were left. "I've only got half a mag..."

"That's it?" John asked.

"Most of the ammo was in a bag. I put it down during the firefight in the tunnel. We should go back."

John rubbed his eyes, before speaking. "I don't think I have enough time for that..."

Dennis looked back at John holding his tongue for only a second. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" He opened his door and stepped out of the truck. "We're going in. I'll get their attention, you drive as close to that open door as you can." He pointed exactly where to go. "I'll meet you inside."

He didn't even give us time to agree before he slammed the door and started shouting to get their attention. It didn't take long before he had their undivided attention. We waited just long enough for the door to be clear when Elizabeth hit the gas. We were able to get remarkably close as the truck went over most of the obstacles with ease, but we were stopped by a concrete barrier and had to get out.

We hustled to the door as fast as we could. I was the first one to make it inside only to be greeted by a zombie grabbing at me from the dark. Elizabeth came in with Jill in tow, she shoved the zombie that I was struggling with to the ground where I stomped its head in.

A few seconds later John made his way through the door behind us. It was obviously hard on him in his condition. He was breathing heavily and looked wobbly to say the least.

"Hold up." John said. "Guard my back, I'll wait at the door for Dennis." It took longer than I thought it would. We tried to keep as quiet as possible for the sake of keeping the door free from their attention. A few muffled shots came through the door and finally Dennis emerged. They slammed the door shut behind them and locked it.

"We'll have to do the same thing to get back to the truck when we're leaving." Dennis murmured under his exhausted breath.

We looked down into the hallway, and it was dark. I shouldn't have been surprised really, prisons are built for their security, and windows are a weakness, so the small amount of light which crept through the cracks of the door quickly faded into the blackness of the concrete walls. "Nobody has a flashlight do they?" I asked knowing the answer all too well.

I was half expecting John to snap at me sarcastically but all he said was "Let's go."

We crept slowly and quietly into the blackness, though as our eyes adjusted to the light, we found we weren't completely blind. There was just enough light to make out a good section of the hallways. "Do we even know where we are going?" I whispered.

"No, but keep it down. We don't know if any of those things, or anyone for that matter, are in here. We'll just figure it out as we go." Dennis said quietly.

After maybe five minutes or so of walking around, going through doors, and killing the occasional zombie, John broke the silence. "Something's not right."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Nothing is locked..." He was looking around. "If nothing is locked then. Hang on, we should go back." We didn't question him when he led us to what was some kind of holding area, with a glass wall. "There, we need to get to the other side of that window." We walked around looking for a door that led where we wanted and sure enough it was unlocked. "Good, I didn't think it would be unlocked, but, give me a second." He was rooting around in a locker until he found what he was looking for. He flicked on a flashlight which was more than bright enough to light up the room.

"Nice." Elizabeth said.

"Yeah." John continued. "It looks like there's a few more of them. It's too bad there isn't any riot gear left... It looks like this place was looted."

Dennis grabbed a light of his own and opened the door. "Let's keep moving."

"Hold on." John had since given up on the locker and instead turned his attention to a desk. "There might be a map in here, bingo." He pulled the paper out and sprawled it out on the desk knocking everything off of it. "Let's see... We are-" He was running his finger over the map to try and make out the path we had taken. "Here. And the infirmary is over here. Ok let's go... Hopefully it's in better shape than the rest of this place."

Moving through the halls was much less daunting when we could actually see clearly, plus the map showed us right where to go. There were a few zombies along the way, but at this point they were nothing that we couldn't easily deal with. It was the concern that other people might be there that slowed us up. If it weren't for that it would have only taken but a minute or two, but as things were we didn't want to walk into something we weren't prepared to handle, so we took it slow.

Finally our flashlights bathed the sign for the infirmary, and we breathed a great sigh of relief, that is until we opened the door. The room was trashed, most of it had been looted, and what was left was thrown on the floor by whoever had been here.

Dennis was obviously not happy with the situation. "This was a waste of time."

John on the other hand looked as if he had been fully defeated. "Well..." He slumped his back against the wall and slid down the ground. "I guess... that's it then."
Chapter 26

We were pouring through the pile of what was left of the medical supplies trying to find something that might help. "Don't bother..." John said lifelessly.

"We have to try something, it's not over yet." I replied trying to keep my mind on the task at hand.

"Listen Mark, even if somehow you find everything I need... Do any of you know how to stitch me back up?"

The room fell quiet except for the sound of us searching, which slowed down to a halt. "So..." I said trying to find the right words. "You're quitting, just like that?"

John chuckled just faintly. "It's not like I want to die... I just don't see a way..." He took a deep breath. "Can I have a word with Mark?" He waited for everyone to get his meaning, when they didn't he spelled it out. "Alone..."

"Sure." Dennis said and opened the door to the hallway.

"Alright..." Elizabeth stood up from the pile of junk she was looking through. I could barely hear her speak with Dennis when she left the room with Jill right beside her. "I found some gauze, we can at least wrap your eye up while we wait." They closed the door behind them.

"What..." I started. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"First things first, help me lay down on that table." I helped him get to his feet. He was a lot weaker than he would have liked to show the others. I think a part of the reason he wanted them gone was to spare his pride, but I knew it wasn't just something that simple. He took a seat and rolled onto his back, getting into the most comfortable position he could on the patient's table. "That's fucking better." He barely let out.

"What did you want to talk with me about?" I asked after a few seconds.

"Well it seems I'm gonna die here. There's a couple things I want to get off my chest first." He rubbed his forehead. "Damn it my arm fucking hurts... Well whatever. This isn't the way I thought I'd go."

"And how's that?"

"A massive heart attack on my yacht while banging my smoking hot wife!" I couldn't help but laugh alongside him at his stupid joke. "I can't say I'm too upset about this though, a crooked cop dies, and a little girl lives... I'll take that as a win."

"You didn't really think that thing with the yacht was going to happen, did you?"

"Nah... But I always really hoped." He smiled at me.

"You're not married are you?"

"No..." He looked up at the ceiling. "I was always too busy with work, and I guess I never felt the time was right to go looking... Shit I should have just taken the chances when they came." He paused for a moment. "That's one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. Mark I don't know how fucked up the world is out there, hell it could be... well... hell out there. This shit could spread to every corner of the world for all we know, so anyway... You need to tell Elizabeth how you feel."

My face turned bright red, as I wasn't exactly comfortable talking with other people about it. "I don't think now is a good time."

"Have you not been listening? There may be no other time. I'm not saying it's ideal... or even good timing, but come on. If you don't make a move then you'll never know.

"Dude she just watched her ex die..."

John smirked for a second. "Yeah, but he was an asshole. I'm just saying one day you're going to wake up and realize that it's the things you didn't do that you regret more than the things you've done. And trust me, I've done a lot of bad things!" He laughed. "Just do it. If she says no, she may say yes later, but if she says yes... Well, you get the idea."

"I guess so... I mean if that's your dying wish."

"Don't go putting it that way..." He turned his head away from me. "But still, do it... There's one more thing that I wanted to bring up."

"What's that?"

"Listen Mark, you're smart, you have a good sense of what's right and wrong. Now I don't know if the world is ever going to get back to the way it was but... Mark, you'd make a good cop."

"You don't really mean that do you?"

"Shit yeah I do... You'd make a better one than I ever did. Don't get me wrong, you could use a lot of training, but you've got more potential than anyone I've met on the force."

"Thanks John... I guess."

"I'm not telling you that you have to become one. It's certainly not an easy job. Just consider it, alright?"

I didn't know what else to do but agree. "Sure, I'll think about it." I waited for him to say something else that obviously wasn't coming. "Is there anything else?"

"No I think that's it for now..." He took a deep breath trying his best to relax. "I'm getting really tired... I think I'll take a nap now... probably the last one I'll ever get."

"Alright, I'll let you be then."

"Keep it down!" He joked as he turned on his side. "I just told you I'm trying to get some sleep."

I began to walk out the door. But stopped when I heard John laughing to himself, it was quiet but I could make it out clearly. "What's funny?" I turned around and asked.

"Oh it's nothing... I just realized that, I am going to die in prison." He chuckled again. "I guess there's justice after all."

I made it clear that John just wanted to rest, so Elizabeth, Jill, and I waited in a small room across the hall from the infirmary while Dennis checked out the prison. He wasn't comfortable being there if he thought there could be a threat lurking just around the corner, and I completely understood his rationale.

It was somewhere around half an hour before Dennis came back. "The prison is practically clear. There doesn't seem to be anyone here other than a few zombies, and I think they came inside through the open door."

"What about John?" Elizabeth asked.

"I just checked on him, he's still breathing but it's labored. I don't think it'll be much longer."

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked still holding on to some glimmer of hope, even though I knew the truth.

"I don't think so. At this point he has lost so much blood, the only way to save him would be if we had a couple bags of his type... And even then we would still have to sew him back together to stop the bleeding..."

"Well then what do we do now?" Elizabeth was holding Jill, who had fallen asleep while waiting.

"We should leave the prison as soon as we're ready. But there's something you should see first." We weren't sure what to make of his request, though it wasn't like we were doing anything else, so we followed him. He led us into a cellblock. "Notice anything strange?"

"Well there's a dead guy in the middle of the room." I said pointing out the guard lying face down on the ground with a shiv sticking out of his back. There were cuts going diagonally across his back forming a big red X with the makeshift blade dug down right in the middle where they met.

"He was murdered, that much is obvious." Dennis continued. "But there's something else. All of the cells are open. There isn't a single prisoner in the entire compound. And there's more..." he pointed his flashlight on the walls. "If you follow the path to the exit you'll see it." He started walking and there it was, a large X drawn in blood, then another, and another. "We didn't notice it on the way in because we couldn't see, but whoever did this had themselves an obsession. The halls leading out of here are covered in them."

"So what? Prisons are known to have some crazy bastards." I added.

"It's not the work of a handful of people... Follow me." As he led us back to the door from which we entered we could see what he meant. The walls were coated with the ominous Xs, hundreds or maybe even thousands of them. "It seems they adopted this as their symbol. When we leave we should be sure to avoid places, or anyone that has an X on it."

"Good thinking..." Elizabeth said under her breath.

"Before we go, we should eat something. Come on, the cafeteria is this way." Dennis said and led us to where we needed to go. The meal was most appreciated, it had been a good while since any of us had eaten, and we were all getting quite hungry. Even if we were more focused on trying to keep ourselves alive.

When we had finished, I brought some of the canned stuff back just in case John was hungry too, but... When I opened the door he was laying there motionless. He wasn't breathing anymore. Dennis grabbed a hold of his neck. "He's dead... We should go."

"Wait! Shouldn't we burry him or something?" Elizabeth chimed in.

"It's not that I don't think the same..." Dennis said coldly. "But we need to be ready to fight should the time come. I don't want us tiring ourselves out digging."

"We could at least say something..." I added trying to get at least some closure on the subject.

Dennis took a deep breath and looked at us with the slightest hint of remorse in his eye. "Fine..." He turned to face the body. "I can't say that John was a good man. I can't even say that I particularly liked him... The only thing I can say is that he gave his life to save my daughter's... and for that I respect him... Is there anything you want to add?" When we didn't answer, he finished quickly. "May he rest in peace." With those parting words, we left the prison.
Chapter 27

We had to do the thing where we led the zombies away from the truck before we could all get in and safely away. After that it was as if we were lost. We had no plan other than to survive. We lived on the outskirts of town for about two weeks, moving from house to house in the country. As things went on it was getting harder and harder to find food.

"Have we been here before..." Dennis said.

"I don't know, this house looks kind of familiar." I said back to him.

"We really need some sort of method to mark these so we aren't searching them over and over.

"That makes sense, I'll check the garage and see if there's any paint." I finished with Elizabeth following behind me. When we had gotten into the garage we had already started digging around for paint when I considered what John had told me. "Elizabeth?"

"What is it Mark?"

"I was just thinking... I mean... Is there any chance that..." I was rubbing the back of my neck embarrassed as I could be.

"Spit it out Mark."

I took a big gulp and blurted it out. "I like you... like, like like you..." I certainly could have said it better but it got the point across.

She crushed her eyes shut. "Shit..." Her response was disheartening.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you, I just-"

She cut me off. "No Mark, it's not that... I knew. I knew the whole time. I'm not an idiot."

"So..."

"Look Mark." She grabbed me by the arm and sat me down on the washing machine. "It's just not a good time."

"Yeah I'm aware of that. I thought the same thing."

"Then why did you decide to say it now?"

"I don't know... I guess it's because there may never be another time, you know?"

"Geeze..." She stopped for a second to collect her thoughts. "Alright Mark, it's not that I haven't thought of it. It's just... Things are fucked up! I mean you can't seriously think this is the best time to start a new relationship. And yeah I get your point, there may not be a tomorrow, but I think that just makes things worse." She directly avoided eye contact with me. "I guess if things ever calm down, then maybe... But, I just can't afford to be in that kind of situation right now. So I think we should just pretend like this never happened."

It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I knew better than to push it, and in hindsight, it really was for the best. It didn't take long for us to find the paint after that. Just a few minutes and we had made our way back to the front door.

"What should I paint on here to mark it?"

"Anything really it doesn't matter." She said back to me. I wasn't in the best mood, but I still wanted to play around a bit, so I took my time, and really put in the effort, and elbow grease to draw the best possible dick I could on the door. Elizabeth snickered, although she clearly didn't want to. "Real mature Mark."

"What I thought it came out really well."

Dennis called from around the side of the house. "Hey, can one of you two come help me? There's an old truck back here that we missed last time, maybe we can siphon some gas out of it."

Elizabeth pulled the truck around while I sat down and waited on the front porch. It was a nice day other than the fact that I felt like crap. I didn't know what we were doing, and I certainly didn't know if things were ever going to be the way they were again. I guess that I just didn't have much hope left, and so I just wanted to sit down.

But I realized that doing nothing wasn't going to help us, so I found myself some busy work around the side of the house. There was an old shed which I figured might have something of use inside.

I was rummaging through some old tools and car parts that had clearly not been touched in years when I heard the sound of an engine off in the distance. As it came closer I could tell it was more than one. Four cars popped up over the horizon coming down the old dirt highway, and I knew it was trouble right from the beginning. I could see the giant red Xs painted on the hoods of the cars and as they got closer the men inside them were clearly armed with heavy weaponry.

They pulled up right out front and got out of their cars. "Welp, it looks like someone's been here." One of the men said pointing to the door. I couldn't see them while they were at the front, but soon enough they came walking around the corner toward the shed that I was in. "Surround the place, let's make sure we've got all the exits covered this time."

They were heading around the back, and I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before they would see my friends. I had to do something, and in all likeliness I was going to be caught anyway. I thought back to what Steve would have done, to what John would have done, and I finally understood why they did what they did. In a bad situation you either act like a hero, and maybe you die, but if you act like a coward then chances are you die anyway, and other people get hurt too.

I stepped out of the shed. "Hey!" I called out getting their attention. "Thank goodness you're here. I've been alone for weeks. Do you guys have any food or water?"

It startled the men who were right by the shed, they turned around and pointed their guns at me.

"Holy shit kid! Don't sneak up on people like that!" One of them shouted at me. "You said you were alone right?"

"Yeah, I'm real hungry. Do you have anything to eat please?" Pretending to be alone and hungry was the only thing that came to my mind, so I figured I would stick with it, at least until Dennis and Elizabeth had enough time to get away. There were maybe ten or twelve men, each with a rifle. Even if Dennis had the jump on them I knew it was over if he got into a fight.

"Hmm..." The man who addressed me first looked around. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm just looking around from house to house for supplies... Isn't that what everyone out here is doing?"

"Yeah... But..." He looked at his men. "Hold on boys 'cause I've got a question." He grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me around the front of the house. "I've just got to know." He gestured to the front door. "See we've been using this house as a sort of, what'cha call it? Staging ground. So I know this fine piece of work wasn't here yesterday. Was it you who drew this?"

I let out a sigh. "Yes."

"Well I have to say you drew one heck of a pretty penis there... um, what's your name?"

"It's Mark."

"Ok Mark, now here's the million dollar question... Why did you draw a dick on our front door?"

"I've... I've been using it to mark the places that I've been to before. That way I know not to bother with houses that are already empty."

The man's serious expression gave way to a smile. "I like that! That's great! Boys we've got to start doing that, it'll save us time on supply runs anyhow." The sound of the truck starting out behind the house put everyone on edge. "You said you were alone!" He shoved me to the ground.

"That's right, I did." I said letting them know that I was lying the whole time.

"Shit! Boys get-" But he stopped himself as he saw the truck speeding away over the hilltop out back. "Well we fucking lost that one." He turned back around to face me on the ground. "So... Care to tell me why you lied Mark?"

I didn't see a reason to hold back the truth. "I was at the prison, I knew what kind of people you were the moment I got a look at your cars."

The man chuckled and stepped on my chest holding me down. "Boy, you're gonna learn not to mess with the Red Xs." The butt of his rifle came down on my forehead, and I lost all sense of consciousness.

I awoke in darkness...

Find out the fate of Mark Williams, the Red Xs, and the world in the exciting sequel The Red X by Robert P. Sullivan, available on Amazon.

Thanks for reading this book, I really appreciate all of the feedback from my fans, and I am glad that I got to write this for you. Now you may be wondering why the sequel is only available on Amazon, and that is because in order to get it to as many people as possible for free (and still get paid in the process), I had to put it up on the Kindle Unlimited program, which means that if you have a Kindle Unlimited account, you can read the next book for free! I hope you enjoyed this book, thank you again. You truly make this all worthwhile.

Oh, and sorry for the cliffhanger... But that's just how the story goes.

I also want to give a special thanks to all the people who helped me make this book possible. Those would be my sister Katie for proofing the book, my good friend Mike for helping to push me to keep working on it (and for help with parts of the plot) and of course the rest of my family and friends for all their support.
