Dawn of the Dead 1. Chapter 1

It was cold and the wind was blowing fiercely across the packed parking lot of the Danville's YMCA. Many people with the aspiration to begin living healthier lives are scurrying towards the main entrance located on the south side of the building. They are all carrying bags filled with extra clothes, towels and other accessories necessary as their legs cart them the short length up the stairs and through the double doors.

The lobby is warm and greeting as the delightful people behind the counter take ID cards and slide them into their computers to confirm the memberships of the aspiring health aficionados. Many people shed their coats and other extra clothing as they make their way down the main hallway to the stairwell that leads down to the locker rooms.

Coming out of the locker rooms with a bright smile shining on her nicely kept face was Taylor. Slung over her shoulder was a small towel with a nice emblem stitched into it. She headed up the stairs and back into the main hallway. Half jogging half walking she made her way to the end of that hallway and through the double doors that lead to the fitness room.

She stood looking around at the various treadmills and stationary bikes before finding the person she was looking for. He was keeping a moderate pace on one of the treadmills hugging the wall on the far side like he normally did. He'd sit there jogging with his head phones in, starring out of the giant windows stretching along the wall at the road that runs through the entire city; Route 1 was its proper name.

Route 1 is the heart of Danville and its neighboring cities. It is probably the sole reason as to why the infection hit Danville so fast and continued to spread even quicker afterwards.

Trying to make sure he didn't see her, Taylor crept up next to his treadmill and hopped on to the one next to it. She started it up, set it to the same pace as his and began to jog along side of him trying to match his footsteps. A smile splayed across his face as he set the pace up a few notches.

The game they would usually play was cut short by the most terrifying and life changing event either of them had ever witnessed. As quick as Taylor had appeared next to this guy, she was taken screaming as loud as she could. He watched through his blue-green eyes as disfigured hands grabbed at Taylor's legs and forced her to fall face forward on the treadmill. Her body, after connecting with the conveyer, was shot back onto the hard carpeted floor.

The creature that had ran in, biting and clawing several people quickly adding themto the undead population, was over Taylor trying its hardest to turn her into one of them. The boy she had been running with didn't even give it a second thought as he kicked as hard as he could at the beast that was trying to kill a dear friend of his. His foot connected with its head, knocking it clear off of her. It wasn't dead of course but that wasn't what the boy was aiming for.

Taylor was gasping for breath as blood filled her mouth. She tried to scream but she couldn't, she could hardly even figure out what had just happened. She was on the treadmill and the next thing she knew was that she was being carried out of the room and into a stairwell.

The boy sat her down at the bottom of the stairs and began rummaging through her pockets until he found her cell phone. Taylor watched as he nervously dialed three numbers onto the numeric pad before holding the phone up to his ear. He had blood on his hands, she felt guilty for some reason; most likely because it was her blood.

His mouth began moving but she couldn't hear anything he was saying. She panicked momentarily before realizing that there was music playing in her ears. She chuckled as she realized that the guy had put his headphones into her ears, most likely so she wouldn't have to hear whatever it was that was going on.

Everything seemed so chaotic but she couldn't help but feel fine. Her body was pumping all of its natural pain killers into her blood stream and she had the soothing sounds of a piano in her ears. He always used to show her nice piano songs. She smiled again, the nostalgia filling her head and blocking out the organs that were hanging out of her body.

The phone met its end as the boy slammed it on the ground and fell to stairs. His head found his hands and there it rested, his dirty blonde hairs looking like spider webs strewn across his head. His chest was rising and dropping exponentially fast and it looked like he was shaking to Taylor.

"Tommy." She tried to say it, but it came out sounding like she was six feet under water. He heard it though and he turned to look at her with his slightly blood smeared face. Without fully standing up he slid over next to Taylor and looked into her eyes. He knew she was going to die and she could see that in the reflection of his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said, turning to sit next to her instead of in front of her. As his back lay against the wall Taylor's head fell to his shoulder, her faded blonde hair becoming stained with blood. He did his best to brush it from her face but it just seemed to make it worse. She made an attempt to stop his hand but she was weak, she could hardly move.

Tommy reached down onto her lap and grabbed the MP3 played that had the soothing music on it. He turned the volume up forcing Taylor to block out everything else as her body went into a numb state. She wished she could talk, she dreamed of being able to stand and she hoped that maybe Tommy could save her if she could do those things. But that's all she could do was dream, and wish and hope.

That's all she did as she died.


	2. Chapter 2

Act 1

Chapter 2

The infection hitting was one thing, but the infection hitting while you are in the middle of church with your father was a completely different ball game. Or at least that's how Coleen felt. It struck like a mallet on a gong for her as she sat silently bouncing her knee up and down in one of the back pews, her father glancing over at her every now and again. She was counting the minutes before she could leave and return home to hopefully find an acceptance letter to one of the many colleges she had applied to.

As this metaphorical gong was struck, the huge wooden doors at the back of the sermon hall burst open with the maniacal screams of the just recently living. Coleen almost immediately ducked down in the shelter of the wooden pews and her father followed suit, keeping one arm on her back as if to show her that he was still there.

The hall was soon filled with screams of terror and the clawing sound that she would never forget. After what felt like hours of cowering Coleen's dad grabbed her shoulder and said that they needed to get out of there, and Coleen agreed. Her mind was so cluttered with emotions and thoughts that she couldn't even seem to question the situation.

She was led from behind the pew out the wooded, now broken, doors into the long carpeted hallway that leads either direction. Knowing the correct path to freedom, her father continued to guide her until they came out into the parking lot accompanied by several other children and adults trying to get out before getting infected. (Of course at that moment no one really knew anything about an infection).

Her father fished for the keys to the green mini-van as Coleen took in the surroundings. There was utter chaos in the most serene of manners. The view looked nice, it was a very well kept highway in a very well kept part of town, the part that held all of the upper-middle class people and the closest thing to a mansion she'd ever seen, but there were people screaming and cars abandoned and Coleen could swear she saw a fire off in the distance.

She witnessed a complete stranger get eaten by another complete stranger and then that stranger going off to eat another stranger's dog. It began to sink in and she began to feel hopeless. The sinking feeling in her stomach came way too fast and she curled over the car to vomit the breakfast she didn't eat onto the pavement. By that time her father was able to get the door unlocked and get the car started.

The van roared to life in a little burst of glory and Coleen hurriedly climbed into the passenger seat. Her dad was beginning to close his door as the stranger who ate the other stranger's dog came tearing across the parking lot and wedged himself in between the door and the van. The stranger wiggled and squirmed as it let out its hoarse scream and spat blood all over her dad and the interior of the van.

Coleen was screaming too as her dad tried to fight off the creature that this man had become. He smashed the vehicle into drive and slammed on the gas. The van hopped over the parking block and cut through a small patch of grass before connecting with pavement again. The creature would not let go.

Her father continued to push and shove as he tried to steer the wheel and Coleen continued to panic and scream. A trivial jerk of the wheel, due to a slight hiccup in Coleen's screaming, caused the creature to lose its grip and drop from the now moving van onto the pavement where it's skull splattered itself.

The screaming silenced itself and both Coleen and her father looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief. Upon turning back to the road though they both found that a car had been precariously parked and left right in their way. The van went from 60mph to 0mph in nothing flat as it collided with a ford pickup truck left in the road by the stranger who ate the other stranger's dog.

Coleen's father was killed on impact due to his lack of seatbelt, Coleen survived for several different reasons one of them being that she always put her seatbelt on whenever entering a motorized vehicle. Many might call her dad lucky because the blood that had been spat on him carried the infection and if he had been alive for exactly forty five more seconds Coleen would have had to watch her father kill her slowly and painfully with his bare hands. I guess that would make Coleen lucky, not her dad, but it's quite sick to call either of them lucky.

With the van rendered useless and her father's bloody body in the driver's seat Coleen fell from the van onto the pavement clutching her head with a sprung wrist. That was probably her only notable injury besides the large bruise that now stretches across her torso from where the seatbelt had set. She was crying unconsciously as she laid there unmoving for several moments before she finally tried to crawl.

She tried to muffle the scream of agony that made its way up her throat but to no avail; she had leaned right onto her sprung wrist. Dropping down onto her elbow she tried to catch her breath. For some reason the only thing going through her mind were the possible college acceptance letters, or it was until she heard a number of roars echo out from behind her.

Before even turning to see what had made the sounds she was forcing herself up through moans of pain and beginning to run. She was never a very athletic person, and her skinny legs wouldn't be able to carry her far but she didn't care. The pain and the fear was enough to keep the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Her long brown hair bounced up and down as her uneven pace carried her down Route 1 back toward the center of Danville. She had to spit out the hair that kept flinging into her mouth and brushing away the sweat stained locks that got attached to her face and that seemed to annoy her more than the running did. Then she'd hear another scream and forget all about the hair and the pain and keep running.

Thoughts of her family and friends kept bursting into her vision, but she just kept shoving them off as she tried to concentrate on surviving long enough to see her family and friends again. Her train of thought began to focus on her breathing, trying to keep it even. She remembered a good friend of hers had told her something about the key to running was breathing. The information seemed useless at the time, now she felt grateful.

Her raggedy black and white converse made loud flopping noises as the connected with the concrete and she matched her breathing with each foot step making a sort of beat. It reminded her of the high school band, and how this year was her last year to be a part of it. She shoved the thoughts out again with a shake of her head.

The sinking feeling returned again when she approached the YMCA on Route 1, not that it was a completely bad place it was just that she had felt like she ran further than that. The YMCA was only a few blocks from her church but her legs, and her head, felt as if she had ran for miles and miles. That's when the exhaustion hit her like a tidal wave, almost making her collapse right there on the ground to be devoured by hoards of the undead.

It was their roars that kept her moving. She looked both ways before crossing the street, which was probably a smart idea with all the people panicking to get out of the city. It only took maybe thirty minutes for the entire city to get wind of the infection, and another thirty minutes for everyone to have witnessed it. There wasn't a single soul still in a twelve mile radius.

After hopping the curb on the other side of Route 1 she began to run toward the entrance to the YMCA hoping that maybe it was safe. It didn't hit her that there were plenty of people running out of it already, carrying their loved ones bloody bodies or being chased by some stranger with a hunger for blood and the insides of the living.

That's when she spotted it; the emerald green mustang that she had come to know for many years now. The owner of it was someone she knew all too well but hadn't spoken to for a while. Supposedly he had moved out of state, some even say that he had died and now that Coleen thought about it she wasn't even sure if it was his mustang. There are plenty of green mustangs in this city alone.

She had a gut feeling though, and those gut feelings always seemed to be correct, so she went with it. While rushing across the small patch of grass a few blood thirsty creatures from hell got whiff of her scent and began to chase after her, keeping their blood shot eyes aimed on her pale skin. She stumbled a bit and began to let out little shrieks as the zombies grew ever closer and the mustang seemed to stay the same distance.

Reaching the driver's side door she prayed to god that it was unlocked, and luckily for her it was (it had to his car, she thought). She instinctively lowered the seat and dove into the cramped back seat like she always used to, turning just in time to kick at the zombie that was trying to join her. After a few kicks from her already exhausted legs she reached forward and pulled the door shut, cutting off a finger or two from the decaying hand that tried to grope her.

She would have been able to relax then if the monsters outside would have left her alone, but they kept screaming and pounding on the window causing her to curl up in a U-shape in the back of this mustang. She silently prayed that the windows would hold under the pressure and tears began to stream down her face. Her life began to splay before her eyes but she was too tired to sit through it all and she fell asleep. She found her life boring anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

Act 1

Chapter 3

Leaving the stairwell was probably the hardest thing Tommy had ever done in his entire life. It was harder than graduating high school, harder than moving out on his own, harder than starting a new life, and even harder than witnessing one of his closest friends die.

Taylor shouldn't have been there. He kept telling himself that over and over again as he sat on the cold concrete with his head in his hands and the faint sound of the piano coming from the headphones on Taylor's limp head. It wasn't that he had dragged her there per say, but if he hadn't have been there then she wouldn't have shown up and maybe then she'd still be alive. Maybe…

It seemed unfair for her to die like this. She had only come to the gym to welcome him back to town, not to get clawed to death by some monstrous beast. Tommy continued to ask himself why he had to tell her, of all people, that he was coming into town for a few days. He hadn't warned anyone else, not even his own parents, so why did he have to open his mouth to her?

He recalled how excited she had sounded when he texted her out of the blue those few days ago while he was sitting in some god forsaken hotel in the middle of Florida. Tommy hadn't had much contact with anyone from his hometown (which is located due south of Danville) since he moved, so he was sure Taylor hadn't expected such a well informed text.

She put one of those lame smiley faces after and before every sentence, asking things like "where have you been?" or "how was life?" Tommy had simply just replied saying that he was coming into town and that he'd be at the YMCA around noon that Sunday, today. She said she'd be there most likely and now she was dead and he hadn't got to tell her where he had been.

As he sat there, her lifeless head leaned on his shoulder, he talked to her. He told her everything he had ever wanted to say, and he answered every question she would have asked. Hopefully she was somewhere where she could hear him, and maybe even answer him.

He had her blood on his hands in the most literal of senses. He didn't dare catch a glimpse of himself in the reflective glass of the door as he pulled the handle to exit out into the distorted hallway; he was afraid he'd see a monster. The hallway that he stepped into looked as if a special effects junkie from Hollywood had painted it for a horror movie. The streaks of blood arching up from the few bodies that were lying haplessly on the ground reminded him of the zombie movies he used to watch as a kid.

Stepping slowly like a kid trying to sneak a snack, Tommy made his way down the hallway holding back the urge to vomit the entire way. He didn't make it far before he keeled over, letting his stomach empty out its contents onto the blood stained floor. He felt exhausted, like he had been awake for days on end and for all he knew he might have been.

Standing back up he began to jog towards the stairwell located at the far end of the hallway. The stairs were smelly, but barren, so he leapt up the flight of them coming out in the main lobby. The sight shocked him, there were several bodies scattered over the main desk, and on the floor, with their insides hanging out of them and their skin tattered and torn like worn leather.

He could pick out a few families, and even a few couples, who had torn each other to pieces while the still sane ones screamed for mercy. Imagining all the chaos that must have ensued inside this very room made Tommy's head spin and again he felt like vomiting, and again he did.

Rubbing his scruffy face with his bloody palm he tried to regain some focus, not that he had any focus to begin with. He had to do something, even though he only felt like dying. Memories of his friends began to fill his mind as if God himself didn't want him to give up. Tommy began to start thinking clearly.

He reached for his pocket and heard his keys jingle around. Good, he thought to himself, I still have my keys. That was his first goal; find his car, but what about after that? Find help, which sounded like the sanest thing he could think of. But where, he thought, and again it seemed as if God himself had answered.

The sounds of a radio began to fill Tommy's ears. He looked around hoping that it would be setting up on a table in the open but of course it's never that simple. But he did see it lying on its side next to a man and what looked to be his son wearing matching shirts, the only thing different on them was the pattern the blood had made. Rushing over to it, he almost tripped over a few overturned chairs and left over corpses but he made it without falling.

He pulled the radio from the man's grasp and held it close to his ear, listening through the static.

"Citizens of Vermilion County, this is your representative speaking. As you may have already witnessed we are faced with a life threatening disease. I urge you to seek shelter immediately and barricade yourself in until the National Guard can quarrel this problem. "

"There isn't much that we know as of yet, but it is spreading so we have issued a quarantine of northern Danville; no one in and no one out unless you are cleared at one of the quarantine zones. If you are in northern Danville and have yet to reach a quarantine zone please do so now. "

"The two quarantine zones that the National Guard has set up are the Danville Mall, located on Vermilion Street, and the Wal-mart located a few miles north of the mall. I implore that you seek…."

That was all Tommy listened to before turning the radio off and tucking it under his arm. He dug into his pockets and withdrew his keys as he stepped over to the double doors that led into the world that had given birth to this monstrous disease. He pushed them open and hoped for the best.

Coleen dreamed for the first time in years. It was glorious too. She dreamed of a man, too shadowy to recognize, but she could feel who he was. This man saved her from a shadowy creature that was lurking under her bed as she slept. The dream was that simplistic but it felt so magical and amazing that she awoke with an unrecognizable feeling of hope; one she hadn't felt in ages.

She had forgotten all about church, and her father and even the short sprint to the car (the one that was oh too familiar to her). That was until she awoke, curled up like a ball in the back seat starring toward the side of the driver. She might have panicked, and she probably should have, but the overwhelming sensation that she felt was both good and bad, so they seemed to cancel each other out.

On the bad side, the church incident hadn't been a dream so her father was in fact dead and she was in fact alone right now. She reached for the outer edges of her hopelessness as she thought about her mother, sister and brother possibly being dead too. Her stomach churned and buckled as she pictured their corpses broken, beat and scarred as they tore at each other.

She needed fuel in her. Her arms felt like they were shaking out of their sockets and she could barely keep her eyes open. She tried to focus on the driver, the man she hadn't seen in over two years, the man who owned the car that she had ridden in so many times.

That led to the good side. She wasn't alone, he was here. After all the times he had said he'd always be there for her, he had actually pulled through and showed up, without a proper invitation of course, when she truly needed him. This moment seemed to make up for the time he had been away from her, the time where he wasn't there for her.

Her brain wasn't working properly though, it needed food. She tried to reach out and touch him, to make sure that he was real but she was too weak. The only thing she could do was sleep. Sleep and dream.

It wasn't until he was out of the YMCA parking lot and driving along the junky city roads towards the mall that Tommy realized there was someone laying in the back seat. At first he jumped but he quickly noticed that this person wasn't moving, so he began to panic thinking maybe they were a zombie and at any given moment they would pop up and claw at his neck.

That didn't seem to be the case though. They had some blood on their faded black jacket but that was it, there didn't appear to be any wounds or any injuries really. He began to think that maybe they were dead anyways, but he saw that their chest was rising slowly before collapsing back to its original state.

The way the person's long brown hair was laying made it so that Tommy couldn't look at the face that belonged to the frail body. He didn't need to though, not after a moment of studying the hair. His heart felt like it was going to implode on itself and Tommy had to stop the car to make sure that he was right.

He lowered the back seat and gently rolled the sleeping body onto its back, moving the hair and revealing the exhausted face. He silently told himself that he had been right as he starred at the pale, freckle dotted face. There were dark rings hanging under the purple shaded eye lids which signified just how tired this girl was, but it didn't stop him from smiling. Coleen was still beautiful.

She had grown up a lot in two years. Of course, the two years he had been gone are two of the most crucial life shaping years of anyone's life; those two being the span between turning sixteen and becoming eighteen. He'd changed a lot in those two years as well, but he could hardly think straight as he looked at her. She looked so peaceful as she slept.

He shook his head, clearing the thought process and trying to figure out what he was doing. Heading to the mall on the desolate city streets of northern Danville as thousands of blood thirsty creatures roamed around looking for victims. That sounded about right to him so he put the seat back to its original position and started the car up again.

He sped off toward the mall with visions of Taylor in his head, and thoughts of Coleen trying to push them out.


	4. Chapter 4

Act 1

Chapter 4

Coleen awoke to a serenity that hadn't been felt in years. The sun was shining down on her face ever so slightly and the position that she was laying in, on her right side with her knees tucked in and her hands together under her head to make a pillow, made her body feel refreshed. The only thing that was missing from this picture perfect awakening was the birds chirping and the smell of freshly baked pie, but she hated pie so that wasn't missed very much.

It took her a moment to realize she wasn't outside, even though she should have noticed from the tile floor and matching walls, it took the skylight to make her actually see it. She, in fact, was in a bathroom; one that she recognized almost as quickly as she could point out a song that was playing on the radio station she knew.

She was alone, and that scared her for a moment as she sat up and stretched her neck and spine, rubbing her eyes to rid them of the crust. The mirror that ran along a good chunk of the fancy-ish bathroom showed her a reflection that she was all too familiar to. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked, and felt, heavy. The dark circles under her eyes were a little faded, but she could hardly notice because her skin was a sickly pale color.

Realizing that is when her stomach convulsed, telling her that it wanted some food and it wanted it now. If she was in fact correct, and in the women's bathroom at the Mall, then there had to be food just outside of the wooden door with the "remember to wash hands" poster plastered to it.

She tried to stand but something seemed to be holding her down, like a hand was clutching her thighs and pulling them toward the ground. They felt like that too, probably from all the running and the lack of food but Coleen wasn't sure which. She felt as if she should be asking questions but her stomach was taking over for her brain at the moment, and all she could think was "food!"

The door opened slowly, as if someone was trying to keep from waking another someone and they probably were. The person that stepped in, with various food stuffs tucked under his arm, was a familiar one and she felt a little relieved to not be alone anymore. A weak smile crawled its way across her face.

"I brought some food." Tommy said, stating the obvious while whispering as if he was still afraid to wake her.

Coleen wanted to say something, even a witty comment would do, but she could only clutch at the food as she began to massacre the array of bread, cheese and meat he had brought with him. Tommy didn't look alarmed, just tired and worn like the leather jacket he was currently wearing. The very same leather jacket he had worn to his high school graduation, the very same one that he wore to her fifteenth birthday party, and the very same one that he had worn as he said goodbye, promising to return, and boy did he return.

After the food was gone and her stomach still wasn't fulfilled Coleen sat quietly, almost afraid to break the serenity. Everything seemed so perfect, yet so screwed up. He was here like he promised he would be, forever and always, but why did it have to be during this thing, whatever it was. She felt a little angry that she couldn't fully enjoy and old friends return, but she was still too hungry to show it.

Tommy knew, so he stood and exited the room again promising to return. Coleen stood, feeling a little strength returning to her body, and walked over to the door that had just shut behind Tommy. She pulled at the handle and it obliged, letting her exit the bathroom into the noisy food court at the Danville Mall.

The sound was a little overwhelming at first. There were too many groups of people, all talking about the same story just at different parts, and the sounds of hammers hitting wood came from most directions. It made her feel claustrophobic at first until her ears and head adjusted to the recent influx of activity.

She spotted Tommy compiling some more food stuffs on a table near the opposite end of the food court so she began to walk her way towards him, her sneakers softly scuffing at the floor as she went. She passed a few groups of people that had faces she recognized, and even a few old school friends but she didn't stop to have a chat or anything like that. She kept her head down and counted the footsteps that it took to reach Tommy's table. About 47 give or take a few.

He only greeted her with a smile as he pulled out a chair for her to sit in. She coerced and slid into the chair placing her gaze onto the food that was laid out before her. On most occasions she would need someone to tell her it was ok to start eating, but this wasn't most occasions, so she dug in. She ate like it was the last time she'd ever eat and for all she knew at the time it might have been.

Tommy picked up a sandwich and began to eat as well as he took seat in an identical copy of the chair he had pulled out for Coleen. His eyes looked like they were seeing ghosts as he stared directly at her, as if he was trying to remember exactly who she was. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was staring up at one of the skylights that are strategically placed throughout the Mall.

"How'd we end up here?" Coleen asked between bites. "I mean, like here, together."

"I don't know." Tommy said looking back down at Coleen, who was now going for her third sandwich. "I drove us here from the Y, but I don't know how you got into my car. It was very alarming to find you sleeping back there. How'd you know I was back?"

"I didn't." She was remembering how she ran from the screams and spotted the green mustang. "I just saw your car and knew it was yours, as cliché as that sounds."

"Where were you?" Tommy's eyebrows had risen in a questioning way as he asked. "When this all started happening I mean."

She thought for a moment, remember the beautifully cold Sunday morning. Awakening to the sound of her mom's voice was a luxury she felt like she was going to miss after she moved out to go to college, now that thought seemed just short of pointless. She remembered getting dressed, and breakfast, and then the discussion about why her mother and sister wouldn't be attending church with her father and her.

She remembered the silent drive to Burger King for breakfast, and the even quieter drive to the church. The sounds of the sermon were like faint whispers and the screaming that erupted from the mouth of the undead stood out like a nuclear explosion on a peaceful backdrop. She wanted to tell him about all of it but her brain wasn't functioning quite right so she just summarized.

"Church," She said, taking another bite from a sandwich. "I was at church when this started happening. I ran to the Y, saw your car, and prayed that it was unlocked."

"Yeah, I always leave it unlocked." Tommy said, half forcing a smile. "Who were you with?"

"What do you mean?" Coleen knew the answer, but she didn't want to give it so she just played dumb.

"Well you don't go to church alone."

"How would you know?" Coleen asked, feeling a little anger build in her chest. "You haven't been around to really know."

"I know." Tommy said, his eyes still appearing to be seeing ghosts and he stared at her. The conversation seemed to die there, mainly because Tommy had no idea what to say. Coleen felt a little bad since he was right, she never went to church alone and she had no idea why she had chosen now to get angry. She watched as his gaze went from her to the sandwich he was eating, his bites becoming more spread out and less vivacious.

"I was with my father." She finally said, setting down her last sandwich.

"I'm sorry." Before Coleen could even say what had happened Tommy seemed to already know. He had a knack for assuming things that turned out to be true and she hated it almost all of the time, or she used to. Honestly she wasn't sure what she hated about him at that moment. "I'm sorry about leaving too."

"No need." She said, waving a frail hand at him. "You're here now, and that means more to me now than you not being here in the past."

He smiled slightly and that made her face pull back into a smile, revealing the teeth that she used to be ashamed of. Remembering back two years ago she realized how much, and how little, she had changed. Of course she looked differently somewhat, more mature and adult, but she also felt differently about a few things that had sort of defined her when Tommy had left. She wondered if he knew that she had changed so much just by looking at her, and was almost positive he did.

She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, some of them dealing with him, some dealing with her, and some dealing with what was currently happening. She was completely and utterly lost and she didn't want to feel like that, but from the look on Tommy's face he didn't have a clue either.

She knew this wasn't the right time, or place, to start a conversation that could possibly last hours, so she began making a mental list of exactly what she wanted to know and stored it for later.

That's when she heard the gunshot.


	5. Chapter 5

Act 1

Chapter 5

Tanya was afraid. She had been stuck at this store at the Mall with her uncle since the disease had begun spreading and she was completely clueless as to what was going on. Her cell phone was in her car out in the parking lot so she couldn't call her parents, or even just one of her friends, to see if they were all right. She was completely, and utterly afraid.

James, her uncle, helped with that slightly. His strong demeanor sort of made her feel safe even if safe isn't what she needed. She needed knowledge; she was going crazy being kept in the dark like this. James had his cell phone and he was constantly texting someone or another and anytime Tanya would ask about it he'd simply says, "It's nothing to worry about".

That made her furious. So now she was furious and afraid, and that's normally a bad combination for anyone, but Tanya could get a temper when she needed to. James knew that, but James could also control it in his own way. Being only three years older than her they had been best friends since they were kids, so he knew her and she knew him. It kind of made them the perfect combo.

James was pacing back in forth in the computer shop that he had been working at since he was a senior in high school, which was almost four years ago. It still didn't seem like a very long time for James. His cell phone kept buzzing every few minutes and he'd stop, look at it, type a response and continue pacing. Tanya was sitting in a very uncomfortable chair, her eyes affixed on James' large brown boots as he walked.

There were groups of people crowded at several stores, some still using currency and making purchases. Each group seemed to either be a family or a group of friends. Some of the smaller groups met with other groups to increase their numbers. James immediately thought of the saying, strength in numbers, and sort of chuckled to himself.

The National Guard had been here for a few hours now, blocking off the exits and setting up a quarantine entrance for those people still on their way here. James knew a few of them from his short stent at the police academy in Chicago, where he decided that carrying a gun and driving a car for a stupid little town like Danville wasn't what he wanted to do with his life, so he was allowed to keep the gate of his store down so no one else could get in.

There were already a few people, but they were all regular customers or relatives of the regulars so James was fine with that. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening since he hadn't so much as stepped outside since the infection began spreading four hours ago, but he knew that it might get ugly and he didn't want some sort of problem on his hands with his store. Better safe than sorry.

Tanya stood up and walked to the gate, her brown hair bouncing on her shoulders with each step. James walked up next to her and easily put his arm around her shoulder. Tanya stood around 5'7" but James stood a mighty 6'2", so his arm could rest on Tanya's shoulder without as much as a problem. Tanya's head leaned onto his side and they stood there, looking out into the mall that was currently safe.

All the people, most familiar faces to James, standing and walking and talking all had the same tired expression on their faces. Of course some were smiling, or maybe laughing, but they were tired smiles; the kind that made you wish they just hadn't smiled. Everyone looked afraid but safe at the same time. Little did they know that soon their safety would be broken, and all that would be left would be their fear.

The mall quarantine was almost perfect. The National Guard had almost blocked off all exits and had almost made sure that no infected could get it. They had almost started making successful evacuations by helicopter and they were almost ready to issue a full city quarantine to halt the further spread of this infection. Almost.

Three infected were in the mall. One was a little boy who had blood spat into his mouth by his dying father sever hours ago as he kneeled over him, begging him to get up. The infection process hadn't quite kicked in yet, it would take a sudden burst of adrenaline to get it into full action. That would come soon.

The second was a janitor whom, beyond all possible reason, opened a security-access-only door that lead to one of the back alleys of the mall where an infected prowler had immediately jumped him and tore a nice chunk out of his neck. He was instantly turned into one of the undead beasts, and the third and final is of course that prowler that attacked the janitor.

There were three, and that was two more than needed to turn this entire mall into a battlefield of chaos and fear. The janitor and his zombie pal were running at a full sprint toward the food court, attacking every scattered group of people that strayed off into the desolate, unlit parts of the Mall. By the time the food court came into view there was a small mass of about fifteen zombies. That would be fourteen more than needed of course.

At first no one mad a yelp because no one was sure what was going on. But after the blood began pouring from a National Guard's torso people started screaming. First it was the woman, who owned the small bakery on the food court, then it was the group across the way that had the janitor tearing at them, and then everyone else followed suit.

Everyone started getting up and running which made it impossible for the National Guard to pick out who was infected and who wasn't. They had their guns up and ready but by the time an infected came into their sights it was too late and they would be on the ground with teeth and claws sunk deep into their bodies.

The small sniper team on the roof with the makeshift helicopter landing pad had taken aim and had successfully shot and killed ten infected, but their numbers had grown to the thirties by that time. It was already too late to quarrel this. Everyone was panicking, and everyone was getting killed.

Some stores were trying to lower their gates as the infected crawled their way under the small gap to get at their flesh and tear it. Many people rushed for the exits which were currently barricaded, and others ran for the quarantine exit where the National Guard had dropped one of the larger gates, cutting off the movie theatre (which was being used for the quarantine) from the rest of the Mall. People were banging and smashing on the gate, hoping that it would come down, but it wouldn't.

James had a small caliber pistol under the desk and he was shooting anyone with blood dripping from their mouth if they came up to the gate wanting some more infected to aid them. So far he had successfully taken out three of them with four bullets, the first bullet missed due to never using the gun before but the second one had split the zombie's skull in half.

He became faced with a dilemma though, one that was very strange to him. Someone without blood dripping from their mouth came up to the gate with someone in tow behind him. This person wasn't infected but James still looked like he was staring straight at a ghost. 'It couldn't be him could it?' He thought to himself, 'He's been gone for years'.

"James!" It was Tommy, and he was frightened, just as James was. "Open the gate!"

James was paralyzed, so luckily Tanya was a little faster on the uptake and she shook James asking for the keys to the gate, and quickly. He shook his head to clear the clots that were forming up there from all the chaos and rushed behind the counter to grab the keys. There were there, hanging up on the little key tree that he had made several months ago. He tossed them to Tanya who fumbled for a moment before fitting them perfectly into the slot.

"Tommy!" James was the one yelling now and for a good reason. As Tommy and the person who was currently hiding behind him were standing there, backs to the chaos, a zombie (the janitor) was making a bee line trail straight for them. James took aim as Tommy turned around.

When the first gunshot rang out through the clustered mall Tommy and Coleen had been finishing the last of their food, quietly. Either of them didn't feel like this was the proper place to talk so they just stayed silent.

Tommy had half dragged, half pulled, Coleen out of her chair after he heard the gunshot, making his way toward the southwest corner of the food court. Coleen caught up rather quickly and was soon running right next to him instead of behind him; she kept her hand meshed with his though so as to not lose him in the chaos.

They were running into all different sorts of people running in all different sorts of directions and Coleen prayed that Tommy knew where he was going. The thought that he might not made her heart sink even further down into the ocean of her chest. He always knew where he was going right? No, she thought to herself, he was the type of person to 'wing it' and just hope he made it out alive.

The bright letters spelling out "Fortress PC" made her realize what he was doing. James worked there, she knew because she'd visited him on a few occasions to talk about Tommy, to see if he had heard anything from him and he never had. The gate was down and the lights were off but Tommy didn't even seem to notice as he shoved through a small group of people to finally get in front of the store.

"James!" Tommy's voice startled Coleen, maybe because she had hardly ever heard him yell and maybe because she was standing right next to him. All the other sounds, the fighting, the chaos, all seemed to be far off in the distance, like she had shell-shock.

The next thing she knew Tommy was half hugging, half tackling her to the ground as James screamed his name, taking aim with the pistol he held in his hand. It didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, she supposed he tried to cushion it somehow and it had worked. She'd have to thank him later, if they survived until later that is.

Tommy noticed that James' gun was empty after her heard the familiar click of the chamber trying to shoot out a round that wasn't there, so he swept his foot around and it connected with the right shin of the janitor. He fell face first into the gate before hitting the ground and screaming his blood curdling scream.

Trying to make sure the janitor couldn't get up again Tommy lashed out a few kicks with his leg before hopping up onto his own two feet again. The Janitor was beginning to roll over so he could lift himself up into a standing position so Tommy pulled his foot back and released it into the zombie's stomach, flipping him back onto his back.

Coleen was lying on the ground, hoping that no one stepped on her as they ran by trying to find an exit or maybe even someone to run with. Tommy held a hand out, she took it and he yanked her up on her feet. Now that hurt a little, maybe she wouldn't thank him later and they would just be even now.

The zombie was finally starting to get up again when James put a bullet into its skull, causing its brains to spill onto the nicely tiled floor. Tommy looked at the zombie for a moment before looking to James with a giant grin. James returned the grin by opening the gate slightly so he and Coleen could slide under.

"Took ya long enough to load that gun." Tommy said walking up to James with that grin still plastered on his face like a movie poster.

James didn't say anything, he just held out his hand and Tommy grasped it before they went in for a hug. Best friends, no matter how long they've been apart, are always best friends, and Tommy hadn't change much at all. Of course he had gotten a smidge taller, he was still shorter than James, and he had leaned out a bit but he was still Tommy. James smiled remember the old saying 'people never change'.


	6. Chapter 6

Act 1

Chapter 6

There wasn't any time for greetings as Tommy and Coleen slid under the gate into the dimly lit Fortress PC computer and video game store. Tanya was simply stunned that he was here, and she was sure James was as well. He had been gone for what seemed like forever, but she was sure it was only about two years, give or take a few months.

She wanted to hug him, or ask him questions, or even get angry with him, but she didn't feel like doing any of that. She felt like getting out of this store before she went insane wondering what was going on outside these walls. To keep herself quiet she toyed with the hair tie she had been using, so now, every few minutes or so, she'd have to brush her light brown hair from her eyes and that helped keep her mind off of his return and everything else.

Her foot bobbed up and down as she sat and listened to the conversation that had started up between Tommy, James and a few of the other people sitting in the store. She couldn't make out any of the words, and she wasn't any good at reading lips, but she could pretend.

She felt someone sit down next to her on the small leather couch that was pushed back again one of the walls. It wasn't a stranger, thank god, but a good friend she had had for a while. They hadn't spoken as much since Tanya had graduated high school but like James and Tommy, no time apart could falter the friendship that was there.

"Are you ok?" Coleen asked vaguely. Tanya found it hard to articulate an answer because she knew Coleen wanted to hear 'yes' but who would honestly believe that in a situation like this. So she told the truth.

"No, I want to find my parents." Her green eyes twitched as she said find, the thought of them being 'lost' made her feel uncomfortable and she immediately wished she had worded that better.

"Me too." Coleen was looking down at her beaten to death converse as she tapped them on the ground. "Where do you think they are?"

"I have no clue." Tanya said, letting out a long sigh. "I've been here with…"

A loud crash on the gate cut off Tanya's sentence and made everyone in the store jump frantically. A lone undead creature had found its way to the store but the gate kept him from actually reaching his goal. James, after recomposing himself, grabbed the pistol he had used to kill the others and walked to the gate, pulling the trigger twice to force the zombie's brains out onto the floor.

"We need to leave." It was Tommy who spoke first, making sure he made himself heard by anyone in the room. His words were followed by silence; everyone sat pondering the thought of leaving and going out into the world, if you could even call it a world anymore.

"That's insane." James said it, but it was faint and quiet almost as if he agreed with Tommy.

"Yeah," Tommy said looking down at his feet. "But it's either that, or we sit here and wait to die. This Mall isn't going to be brought back under control if anyone hasn't noticed."  
"Maybe the National Guard will get it handled." Some guy with five o'clock shadow and a plain red t-shirt spoke up. "They've got weapons. Maybe they can kill all of these things."

"Listen," Tommy said, almost too loud. "None of us can really say that we know more than the other. We are all clueless here, and we are all pretty much screwed either way we choose. So we just have to make a decision together and go with it."

"Tommy, I know what you're saying man, but do you really want to risk all of these people's lives out there?" James asked with a little hint of fury in his voice.

"I'm not the one making the decision here." Tommy looked at all the faces of the people, all he saw was fear, and all he felt was fear. "We are making a decision; all of us, not just me, and not just you. I'm not going to risk anyone else's life but my own. Every one of us has to make that decision for ourselves. Do you want to sit here and wait for the National Guard, or do you want to leave?"

Everyone sat silently for a moment until the man with the five o'clock shadow and red t-shirt walked forward from what was most likely his family and said that he was staying. Two other guys who appeared to be related to the five o'clock man also said they were staying, standing next to him in front of their families.

Tanya wanted to leave, but she waited to see what James had to say. He didn't have much to say it seemed, as he stood gripping his cell phone tightly in his hand while he stroked his goatee. Then he looked up at the group of people who had decided already that they would stay, then to Tommy.

"I'm going with you man," He said nodding his head toward Tommy. "I can't let you be an idiot on your own." Usually Tommy would have grinned or chuckled in a situation like that, but both he and James kept their stern demeanors.

"Me too." Tanya said, speaking up for the first time since the gate first shut. James gave her an acknowledging nod.

Coleen was conflicted, but she knew what she wanted. She had spent the past year trying to get away from it but now it was all she wanted.

"I'll go wherever you guys are going." Coleen said, looking from Tanya to James then to Tommy. All four of them sat silently for a moment, thinking back at the decision they had just made. None of them were one hundred percent certain that this was the right choice, but it was the choice they had made and they were going to try as hard as possible to make it the right choice.

"So when do we leave?" Tanya asked. Somewhere in the vast parking lot for the Danville Mall sat a green 96' mustang, waiting for the answer.


	7. Chapter 7

Act 1

Chapter 7

Ideally the plan was as simple as exiting the building and getting to Tommy's car. Unfortunately all the main exits were in chaos or blocked off, hell the entire Mall was in chaos. The screams of the infected and their prey rang out as loud as the bullets penetrating their skulls, so their plan had to become a bit more complicated.

Learning the ins and outs of the Mall was something James had accidently done during his working time at Fortress PC. He knew every single door and where it led so finding an exit that was relatively close was not a hard task. Actually, there was one that connected directly with Fortress PC.

On the west side of the Mall was a small facility that was used for the shipping and unloading dock and in the back room of Fortress PC was a door that led directly to it. James had used it to sneak out late, after the mall had already closed, to run a few gaming tournaments or to just escape from his life. It was chosen to be their means of escaping the 'quarantine' that was happening at the Mall.

Very quickly the four exited out of the Fortress PC back entrance into the large and spacey unloading bay. There were several towering stacks of fully loaded boxes and even a trailer or two that had previously been emptied out filling the normally empty space, meaning that, when the infection hit, there had been a lot of angry people in comfortable clothes unloading and distributing merchandise.

Entirely on edge the group of survivors, following one behind the other, navigated the maze the boxes had created until they reached one of the large bay doors. It was similar to a garage door in the way it was lifted up onto the roof with the simple press of a button. That would be their key to the outside world, a world they weren't entirely sure they wanted to see. It was a world completely unlike the one they were born into.

Young and restless could have been the only way to describe the looks of eagerness each one of them wore. Coleen was eager to find her parents and her thin eyebrows, sitting delicately above her shining blue eyes, showed it. Tanya was almost identical in her look except her eyes shown green through her sweat stained brown hair.

Only James could hide his eagerness behind his brown eyes and thin scruffy face. Tommy was probably the worst of them all. He stood behind James; knee's quaking, continually brushing his sandy blonde hair from his face. There were beads of sweat running slowly down his face and he counted them as they went.

Usually in these kinds of situations there would be some sort of moral countdown before one of them actually pressed the shiny red button that would lift the door, but James wanted it done before the infected spotted them. So he hit the button with his hairy hand and turned to shout some 'orders' before the door even began its noisy ascent.

Coleen, being the smallest in relative weight, would go first, sliding under the large steel door as soon as her stomach would allow. She had the keys and a generalization of where the car was setting in the parking lot, so she would try to get it unlocked and located before the others had slid under into this new world. She was nervous; the entire thing seemed to be riding on her bony shoulders.

Obviously, James would follow next using the small pistol to aid Coleen as best as he could. He was in no way a great shot but he had been partially trained at a police academy so he was the best qualified. Then Tanya would slide under to join James and try to catch up with Coleen, whom would hopefully be halfway to the car by then.

Last would be Tommy. He was a bulky guy for the most part, but two years of jogging every morning and eating less than sufficient meals had left him with a body that he could make go pretty fast when needed. He was in no way the fastest guy out there but he was at least the second fastest of this small group, maybe even the fastest depending on if James was wearing his huge brown boots or not (which he was). James trusted he could get to the car safely.

Earlier on, during the period of time when Coleen and Tommy were sitting and eating Coleen had slipped a napkin in her pocket thinking that she might need it later on. Well now she did, her hands were sweaty and she didn't even want to risk dropping the keys at any point in time after she was outside. She slipped the napkin out and dried her hands, reassuring herself that she would make it.

Embracing the cold cement floor Coleen shimmied her tiny body into the surprisingly warm outside air. The sun was out and it took her a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness before she stood and looked around at the parking lot. There were several people, infected of course, running across it towards the mall, or some were even running away from it. She began to panic.

Nearly hugging the edge of the parking lot that connected to Route 1, sitting at the bottom of the rolling green hill, was Tommy's car. She cursed at him silently as she began running, remembering how he always seems to park as far away as possible. The keys were gripped tightly in her right hand as her entire body bobbed up and down to the beat of her feet. She heard yelps from living people and previously living people and she herself let out a scream or six.

James quickly dropped to his stomach and crawled his way out of the cold unloading bay. Tanya gave Tommy a fretful glance before doing the same. Tommy was a little paralyzed with what they were doing, but he was able to bring himself to the ground and out into the sunny Danville morning.

The gun went off once and Coleen let out a scream as one of the infected that had began to dart towards her dropped to the ground missing its head. She began feeling around for the 'unlock' button on the keys when she knew she was close enough for it to work and that's when she screwed up. A piercing alarm rang out from the green mustang as she accidently pressed the 'panic' button which is stupidly placed beside the 'unlock' one.

Needless to say that drew the attention of the undead horde that was forming in and around the Danville Mall. Their combined roars blotted out the alarm and each one of the survivors began to run faster, hoping that this wasn't the end. It couldn't be the end; they weren't going to let it be.

Tanya ran past Coleen, who had all but stopped in her tracks, screaming at the top of her lungs for Coleen to get her ass moving. James followed close behind shooting one or two more of the infected as he went. Coleen still hadn't budged. She felt an overwhelming sense of failure and guilt; she honestly hopped that someone would pick her up and eat her slowly.

Someone did pick her up, but it wasn't a blood thirsty undead beast and this someone didn't plan on eating her. Tommy, who was catching up to James at the time, didn't even stop. His arms wrapped around her and lifted her up as he kept going like she wasn't even there. He even took the keys from her still sweaty hands and re-hit the panic button to shut off the whiny alarm. Of course it was too late to alter the path of the zombies, but it did relieve their ears slightly.

Coleen was half crying half screaming about how sorry she was but Tommy couldn't even begin to try and listen over the sounds of hate behind him. He was running as fast as he could and that didn't seem to be enough compared to the speeds some of the blood thirsty monsters were running. Luckily James still had a few bullets left and he dispensed them into the closest ones allowing Tommy to reach the car safely with Coleen in his arms.

Tommy basically tossed her into the backseat before hopping in himself, pulling down the driver's seat to allow James to get in and start up the car. It roared to life, raising the four survivor's spirits slightly, and James slammed it into reverse.

The infected hoard began to converge on the car, hitting the windows and just thrashing about hoping to stop the green car from escaping their grasps. James, with Tommy and Tanya screaming in his ear and Coleen trying to apologize for the now silenced alarm, shoved his foot onto the gas pedal which shot the car backwards through a mess of blood and gore.

"Buckle up for safety mother fuckers!" James yelled with a hint of glee in his voice before putting the car in drive and heading for the exit, dodging cars and hitting infected as he went. Tanya was all but screaming, Tommy was doing pretty much the exact same and after realizing that her apologies were going unheard Coleen joined in. It was the closest thing to fun that they could manage.

Exiting the parking lot was as simple as smashing through a small barricade and landing safely on the road on the other side. The car skidded sideways as James aimed it east, away from the city and towards the sparsely populated country side. Maybe there they could get some gas before the needle, which was already on E, stopped the car in its tracks.


	8. Chapter 8

Act 1

Chapter 8

Vermillion Street ran east out of the heavily populated section of Danville and into the field covered country side. Several undead and massacred bodies lay at the side of the road each with its own tale of tragedy and woe. The bodies most likely belonged to the residents of the large housing complex that was the last sign of civilization before the acres of corn and wheat took over, blotting out everything and leaving the usually evil feeling of Danville behind.

The sounds of gunfire and screams from the Mall could hardly be heard by the four survivors as they pulled in through the gates of the housing complex, justly named Sunset Housing. Coleen hadn't wanted to stop, but as James had pointed out "It's going to be utter chaos for a couple of days at max, so we need to lay low and not get killed before we can try anything that stupid again." She couldn't quite argue with that logic.

Of course she could try; Coleen was a horrible person to argue with. If she couldn't win with her wit and knowledge alone she'd use her innocent sounding voice, or girly whines to persuade whomever happened to be the idiot who went against her. James wasn't someone she could win against though. Besides him being stubborn and normally correct, he intimidated her, and she knew he was right this time.

She did want to survive, which was James' whole point. They would most likely die if they kept going like they were invincible. Coleen knew she wasn't invincible, but she wanted to know if the rest of her family was ok. It was slowly cutting up her heart not knowing where they were and if they knew that she was in the most trustworthy hands at the moment. These three were probably the only other people she'd rather be with in a ridiculous situation like this, even if she hadn't seen one of them in a little over two years.

Speaking of Tommy, he had technically saved her life multiple times in the span of twenty four hours and she still hadn't thanked him. Honestly she didn't feel like she should; thinking about him being gone for so long, without so much as a proper good bye, made her furious. She almost wanted to hit him, but she restrained. Further conflict would most likely not turn out for the best.

Coleen was the last to get out of the car after James put it in park in the middle of the road that ran through the housing complex. She stood, feeling a little cramped from the small back seat, behind Tanya whom was looking at James for direction. James was simply looking at the multiple houses, or it was more likely he was looking at the chaos that ensued around and in the multiple houses, as Tommy spoke up.

"Anyone will do." He said looking to James, then to Tanya and finally to Coleen. He held his gaze at Coleen for a moment and she was immediately reminded of that phrase ("people never change") that he had always told her. "But I say we get one on the second floor though."

James nodded and, pistol in hand, began walking toward the first wooden staircase he saw. Tommy continued to look at Coleen until she was tugged along behind Tanya, then he followed in suit. Coleen could hear Tommy's panicky breathing behind her as she walked and it made her feel some reassurance to know that someone had her back, even if that person seemed to be scared shitless. So was she.

Coleen wanted to grab his hand, but she didn't. She grabbed Tanya's instead, and Tanya didn't seem to mind as she squeezed slightly to show that she was there and afraid too. Her hand was cold, but Coleen didn't mind because hers were as well. She was almost certain that Tommy's would be warm; they always seemed to be warm. Or at least they used to be.

She didn't want to keep assuming that he was completely the same, but she also didn't want to just assume he had completely changed. The only thing she wanted to do right now was sit down and ask him questions, a lot of questions. The story was missing two years worth of chapters and for some reason she felt they were big chapters, ones with lots of plot and character building. Maybe that was because she'd changed a lot in those two years.

Her waist length brown hair had been cut moderately shorter, now only brushing her shoulder blades. She kept it put up in a pony tail more often because of her busy schedule that used to hold school, work, dance classes and trying to keep up with her parents. She tried to keep her body busy so her mind would stay clear, but at night, while she was sleeping, she'd dream. More often than not, it would be of him.

The bags that used to hide under her eyes had become excruciatingly gloomy before eventually beginning to vanish. She started taking his advice, forcing herself to eat breakfast (usually something that he liked) and she began to walk. There was never a designated location, she just walked along Route 1 like he used to, usually with her headphones on and an MP3 player with "My Chemical Romance" somewhere on it tucked into her pocket.

The walking wore her out at first, but it helped her to get a deeper sleep. The extra food in her body kept her going, helping her metabolism jump start and her body to start shaping the way she had always wanted it to. For the first time in a long time she enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror after a nice long shower.

Her acne stint had come and gone, luckily while Tommy wasn't around. That was one thing she was glad he wasn't here to see, even though deep down she wished he had. It had gotten extremely prevalent right after he left, when she didn't have the confidence boost that he always gave her and that she had hardly noticed. It started to fade after she began walking, and she commonly thanked Tommy in her dreams, and sometimes nightmares, for the good advice.

Listening to him almost made him stay with her. She began to feel better about herself because she felt and looked good, and it was because of what he had said. Anytime she'd be walking, or at dance classes, and she felt like she wasn't good enough his voice would ring into her ears saying something encouraging or sometimes just funny.

She matured a lot, while also clinging to her childish nature. She began to see the side of life Tommy had always told her about, the side that did things just to make itself feel better. She found a balance, an almost Zen-like state, where she could be responsible and take care of herself and her family while still remaining to keep herself happy. She felt good that she did what Tommy hadn't been able to do.

Bumping into Tanya at the top of the stairs made Coleen pop out of the trance-like state she had been in. Tommy put a hand on her shoulder to keep from running into her and she was right, it was warm. She could feel the heat through her cruddy little jacket, the one she put on in the morning because it used to belong to him. The one that was a few sizes too big and had a large white crow representing the band "Shine down" on the front of it. Whenever she'd awaken from a nightmare, or just have a bad day at school, work, etc., she would take it from her bed post and crawl inside of it, his smell still lingering after all that time. It made her feel safe, loved.

James lifted his leg chest high and put his boot down hard on the handle of the door causing it to fling open and reveal a darkened mess of a living room. Tommy made a somewhat witty remark and James chuckled before stepping through the door with the pistol still at the ready. He didn't bother to turn the lights on, not until he was halfway into the house when he turned back and told Tanya to get them on the way in.

The door would never shut the same, but they barricaded it nicely enough to keep anything outside where it belonged. Each of them found and claimed a respected place to sleep, Coleen favoring a bedroom that looked as if it had belonged to a little girl, probably five or six. The walls were painted a bright pink and the bed matched it with its pink sheets and pillow cases. It looked so innocent that Coleen couldn't help but shed a tear as she imagined what might have happened to the little girl who used to live here.

She dropped to the floor, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep in the bed, her feet staying inside of her beaten shoes. Curling up into her favorite position, legs tucked in and her hands under her head, she heard James, Tommy and Tanya chattering away in the living room. She heard her name mentioned, and several other names she recognized, but she was too tired to care. The list of questions ran through her head again, and she promised herself she would ask them in the morning, if it ever came that is.

She awoke from a nightmare to the smell of eggs. She didn't hear her mother or father arguing, neither did she here her sister going on and on about something that Coleen didn't necessarily care about. She was worried for a moment that she had awoken in a stranger's house and that her parents were probably worried sick trying to find her.

Then it all began to come back to her; church, her dad, the Mall, the daring escape, the house, Tommy. It hurt for it to rush into her head all at once, her chest clenched together to absorb the blow but it only made the pain ubiquitous. She realized that everything hadn't just been a dream and she was in fact in someone else's house trying to survive against blood-thirsty creatures from what seemed to be the depths of hell.

She pushed it all out of her mind, and she was moderately surprised that it had let her do it so easily. Her mind was probably tired of thinking about it too, it had other things that it wanted to make her mouth say, or ask rather. She stood up and followed the lingering smell of cooked eggs out of her room and into the living room where she saw the place James had slept, or more than likely just laid awake, the night before.

She continued to follow until she reached the kitchen, the source. There stood Tommy in front of the stove, his hair wild as a Californian brush fire. Blood stained his clothes and neck so much that it looked like he was an extra for a terribly written horror movie that Coleen would normally watch just for the laughs. She tried to ignore the stories that might lie within the stains.

"What's for breakfast?" Coleen asked pulling out a chair at the small yellow table in the corner of the kitchen and taking a seat.

"Well it's actually almost ten o'clock at night." He said turning with his eyebrows raised. "You went to bed almost immediately after we got here, which was around nine in the morning."

She was shocked, almost astonished. Her internal clock had gotten its ass kicked after she fell asleep in the back of the Mustang. How long had it been since she heard the screams in the sermon hall? How long had it been since her father died? How long had it been?

"It's been about a day," Tommy said, reading her mind like he did sometimes. "Give or take a few hours or so. I found you in my car at around one or something yesterday."

She began to piece it together in her head. She left the church around noon, running for her life, before finding the green mustang and passing out in the back seat. She slept until the sun was up, so she'd guessed it was around seven or eight in the morning considering they wound up here at nine.

"Gosh," She said letting out a large sigh. "It seems like it's been weeks."

"That's what happens when you sleep a lot." Coleen was sure that wasn't really an insult of any manner, but she couldn't help but feel that it was. Tommy looked like he hadn't slept at all and he probably hadn't. He most likely had been up early on Sunday morning and hasn't gotten a wink of sleep since the infection began spreading.

"You need to sleep." She said it quietly, weakly.

"Here's your eggs madam." Tommy said ignoring the comment with a tired smile on his face and sliding a pile of scrambled eggs onto a nicely washed plate in front of her. She didn't know he could cook. In fact she had never seen him, or even heard of him, cooking before in the entirety of their friendship. She rethought the saying "People never change".

She began to eat them, savoring the taste of a freshly cooked meal. It reminded her of the occasions when her mom would cook for her. She, again, quickly pushed the thought from her mind, trying to re-focus on the list of questions that was compiled in her head. Then she decided that this wasn't really the place to do it either and compiled a new list, one that was appropriate given the circumstances.

"Where are James and Tanya?"

He told her about how James had been setting outside of the now un-barricaded door for the past few hours, holding his gun and taking a pop at anything that tried to work its way up the wooden stairs.

"Tanya just went to sleep actually," He said, taking a scoop of Coleen's eggs with a spoon. "She started crying a little and just wanted to be alone, so I let her."

Coleen looked down at her eggs and suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore. She prayed that she would never have to eat again and that these eggs would keep her body going for the rest of her existence. They wouldn't of course, but she prayed. Sometimes it was all she could do. Sometimes it was all she wanted to do.

Then Tommy's phone rang. He jumped straight out of his skin, knocking the plate of eggs off of the table. The plate shattered leaving the eggs to huddle against the nicely tiled floor. He threw his hand into his jacket pocket and retrieved the tiny flip phone that he had apparently thought he had lost. The look on his face was one of bemusement and relief; it was a nice change from the exhausted look he had been wearing.

"Hello?" He asked flipping it open to receive the call. His face went blank for a moment, his eyes wide with shock and his mouth unmoving until he looked up at Coleen. "Yeah, she's right here." He held out the phone for her and she almost shit out the eggs she had just eaten, but she reluctantly took it, holding it up to her ear and hearing her mother's voice.

"Coleen?" The terrified voice called out, hoping for a yes answer and it did receive one.

"Yeah it's me, mom." Coleen's lip quivered and a tear rolled down her cheek. Tommy left the room and she almost broke down immediately. Her mom sounded as if she had been crying for a while before she made the phone call to Tommy, praying that he was with her daughter. That asshole must have called for her when she was at school, or work, earlier on in the week. Otherwise her mother would have had no clue to even try calling him. She knew he had left, and know she knew he had returned. She cursed Tommy under her breath.

The conversation was relatively short but its meaning lasted longer than any increment of time. Her mother was alive, and so were her brother and sister; they had been evacuated to Champaign earlier on that day. Her mom kept asking if she was alright and if she was safe. Coleen wasn't sure how to answer at first, but after seeing Tommy standing in the doorway she said that she was safe, and definitely alright.

Coleen told her about dad, and what happened at church and how she ran. She told the whole story, or at least the abridged version, of how she had found the car and escaped the Mall and how they found themselves here. Her mom told her that they were safe there for now, but they were going to have to try to get out of the town. The National Guard and the Army were preparing a quarantine of the entire city of Danville, and if they were still in the confines of its borders when it went into effect there was no telling what might happen to them.

That made Coleen worry, but she needed the worry. It would motivate her, keep her moving on, trudging through the mess that the city had made itself in just a matter of days. The conversation was ended when the voice of a man came in from the background saying that her mom had taken her thirty minutes on the phone and that it was someone else's turn.

"I love you Coleen." Then the phone line went dead.

"I love you too mom." Then Coleen began to cry.


	9. Chapter 9

Act 1

Chapter 9

The house was desolate; desolate and alone. Even with its four beating hearts still inside of its confines it felt more like a cemetery, just a mourning ground for all their lost memories. The survivors stayed apart at first, sticking to their own separate corners of the house, keeping their own visages of hope to themselves.

After the first few days of waiting, Coleen crept into the room that Tanya had been locked in since the phone call, and slid into bed with her. They slept and talked and reconnected on a plane of friendship that had long been lost, scattered in their constantly growing lives. They didn't emerge from that room until Tommy knocked on the door, asking if they were still alive.

They found seats on the couch that the family whom used to live there probably shared many a good time on, and Tommy put in a movie. The power was still on and the previous inhabitants had a plethora of movies to choose from so they flipped the lights off, curled up under several blankets and glared past the movie as it played across the screen.

James was still outside. Tommy had been out there for a good majority of the past few days talking to him, but he seemed set on sitting on the small awning, shooting at anything that tried to climb the wooden stairs. During the movie though, he came in, placing a large dresser in front of the door and plopping down in between Tommy and Tanya on the couch.

Drifting into sleep seemed all too easy for them as James went first, followed by Tanya on his shoulder. James snored quite loud as did Tanya but Tommy and Coleen sat quietly, their eyes glued to the TV even if they weren't really watching it. Coleen's eyes closed and sleep took hold of her momentarily.

It felt like only a few seconds, but she awoke to being sat down on the bed she had been sleeping in for their entire four day stay in the house. It was almost midnight, which meant that it had been way more than 'only a few seconds', and she saw that it was Tommy who had carried her to the bed.

He was standing in the doorway, his hand on the light switch as if he was going to turn it off but his eyes were glued to her. She shifted and he flicked the switch off, but he sat there for a moment longer. Coleen felt like she should say something, but she didn't know what. He began to turn and she threw all caution to the wind.

"Tommy?" She asked in her half sleepy daze. He had stopped his turn and was again facing Coleen from the doorway, his hands tucked into his faded jeans.

"Yeah Coleen," He said it almost in a whisper. "It's me."

"Where have you been?" Her voice sounded tired and whiny as she rolled over onto her side, her body now facing the doorway in which Tommy stood. He walked over to the bed and her hand reached out, trying to grab his, but it fell just short. Luckily he caught hers, interlacing his sun warmed fingers with her ice chilled ones.

"It's a long story." His voice sounded so distant, like the voice she heard when he talked to her in dreams.

"I've got time." Coleen was sure it didn't come out as clear as she would have hoped, but she was exhausted. Tommy slid into bed next to her, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders and wrapping his arm around her. She felt a warming sensation roll over her, almost as if the sun was rising in the room, as she pushed herself up against him, hugging the arm that was currently over her stomach.

"Go to sleep." He whispered it again, like he had done so many times before, both in dreams and before he left. "I'll still be here in the morning."

Coleen made another whiny sound and Tommy was sure that she was trying to say "you don't know that for sure mister" so instead of arguing he just tucked the blanket in under her and laid his head down next to hers. She rolled her body over, using the last of her strength, and looked into his eyes before closing them one last time.

"Sweet Dreams." He whispered before the coma-like state of sleep covered her like the blanket had, and embraced her as gently as he had. She would not dream, her brain was too beaten from nightmares to allow her to dream, and she didn't mind.

Tanya hadn't planned on being awoken at six thirty in the morning, but then again, she also didn't plan on an infectious outbreak rivaling that of "Dawn of the Dead" to be unleashed on the town she had lived in for her entire life. She wouldn't have been shaken awake if it weren't for James though. She had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder, so when he got up she fell to the arm of the couch.

She would have complained but there wasn't a point. After standing up James went to the bathroom and when he returned he shook Tanya's shoulder, so either way she would have been awake at six thirty. Sadly it was the first time since she graduated from high school almost a year ago.

No dreams were on the brink of her memory and she took that as a good sign, because if there were any they most likely would have been nightmares. Visions of creatures with blood dripping from their fangs, and claws so sharp they could tear her to shreds in a matter of seconds, flashed in her head and she began to wish she hadn't even thought about dreams, or nightmares.

She chuckled a little though remembering what Tommy had used to say to her when she'd smile. He'd always get this weird smirk on his face and he'd squint his eyes a little, as if trying to figure out what she was doing exactly. Then he'd go back to his normal expression and say "don't flash your fangs at me" before they both broke into laughter. Remembering that pushed the bad memories out and she suddenly had the urge to talk to Tommy, to find out what the hell he had been doing and why he came back now.

"Catch!" Her hands went up quick to catch the fully loaded gun that James had tossed toward her."Go wake up Tommy and Coleen. We have to go." She didn't question him; James always seemed to know what he was talking about.

The door to the bedroom Coleen had been staying in was slightly ajar and Tanya pushed it open with the butt of the gun. She half expected to see that creature from her nightmarish visions, but instead she saw Tommy pressed up against the wall and Coleen lying up against him, her arm hanging over his chest and her hand playing with the hair on his arm.

"Coleen?" She whispered it, even though she knew she was awake. It made Coleen jump and she rolled over faster than Tanya had ever seen someone roll over before. "James says we have to go."

"Why?" Unlike Tanya, Coleen was willing to question James' opinion.

"Dunno, just wake Tommy up and come out here." Tanya turned and exited the doorway before Coleen could say anything else.

Coleen rolled over again, placing her hand on Tommy's shoulder. She didn't want to wake him, he had only just gotten to sleep a few hours ago, but what Tanya said sounded urgent. She supposed anything would sound urgent at a time like this, in a place like this. In a situation such as the one they were in. She shook his shoulder, calling his name quietly into his ear.

No noise, only sight. It was a limited sight though, one that only showed pain, a sharp emotional pain that struck deep in the core of his brain. His eyes saw her, Taylor, being attacked over and over again, her body being mangled beyond recognition a few times, every time actually. Her blood was being splashed on his hands in the bucket loads, lathering them like those of a murderer.

He watched her mouth tear open but he could not hear the screams that came from it, nor could he hear the screams of the creatures that were tearing at her. There was no sound, and it was because of the headphones in his ears, they blocked it all out acting like a soundproof barrier for his head. No matter how badly he wanted to rip them from his ears he couldn't, they stayed locked in place as if there were invisible hands pressing against his ears.

"Tommy," A soft, almost too quiet, voice entered his seemingly closed off ears. "Tommy, wake up."

He couldn't quite recognize the voice, the screaming of the creatures began to seep into his ears along with it and they meshed together in a sort of indistinct harmony that made him want to rip his ears from his head. Taylor's voice began to scream too, adding to the chaos that we know as sound.

"Tommy," There it was again, almost begging for him.

"Thomas," Everything went quiet again, his head blocking out all sound and waiting for the voice to sound off. "Wake up Thomas."

The first thing he saw when his eyes pried open was the pink coated wall and the little rainbow stickers that dotted it. The first thing he felt though, which happened to be the only thing he wanted to feel, was Coleen's hand on his shoulder, rubbing it slowly as if it would jolt him awake. He rolled over and found himself starring straight into her eyes, those explosive blue eyes. The nightmare melted away as if she were draining it from him with that stare.

"Coleen?" He asked, not even realizing how out of breath he was. "Where am I?"

"You're with me." Her face changed from that of non-credited happiness, to one of un-extensive worry as the rubbing of his shoulder became a little quicker as if it would ease his fright. "It was just a dream, its ok."

He looked away and up at the ceiling, his chest rising at a fast pace. Coleen could almost feel the fear radiating from him, bursting forth like an atomic explosion from his brain. Her hand went out and touched his chest, the feverous heartbeat soaking through his shirt onto her cold palm, and his breathing went still for a moment, his heart rate dropping dramatically.

"James says we have to go." She said it in a whisper as if he were still sleeping. "It sounded urgent." She reminded herself, again, that everything seemed urgent and it drove her crazy.

Tommy just nodded his head and closed his eyes, placing his on-fucking-fire hand on hers. It almost burned her, but she didn't move it, she only squeezed hoping that she would cool him down like she was always able to do. She was worried now, more so than she had been, and she really just wanted Tommy to comfort her. But that can't happen when he needs the comforting, when he needs the help.

"We should go then." He said it in a ghostly voice that echoed back to the nights when they stayed on the phone till they could both hardly think let along make coherent words. Coleen just nodded as she looked towards his fading eyes. "After you."

Coleen obliged, sliding off the bed and hopping up onto her still shoed feet. Tommy followed, the color returning to his skin and the heat dying down a bit, reduced now to just a warmth that made Coleen feel a bit less worried. That worry returned though when they both stepped out into the darkened living room and James tossed them each a gun saying that they had to leave, and quickly.


	10. Chapter 10

Act 1

Chapter 10

The siren pierced the sky creating a semi-seductive soundtrack to the four survivor's frantic means of escape. Each now in possession of a gun, they prepared themselves in their own minds as James went over the plan several times, making sure Tommy, Tanya and Coleen knew exactly what was going to happen after they left the safety of the housing structure.

Even with a plan it didn't feel like much of well thought-out ordeal but, if the siren is any indication, they needed to get out of the city as quickly as possible. The quarantine was underway, from what James had heard on the radio before the National Guard cut off all transmission and power to the city. They were now and forever alone. Reliability was something that could only be found within the small, four person group.

"I'll go first," James started, his hands gripping his newly acquired shotgun. "Tommy, I'll cover you while you rush to the car and get it started."

Tommy only nodded his head as he checked again to make sure his gun was in fact loaded. It was, and it was ready to do some form of killing.

"You two," James pointed toward Tanya and Coleen, whom looked out of place with the guns they were not used to holding. "Follow behind me and pile into the back, I'll get in the car last and when the door shuts just gun it."

They repeated it to themselves. Once, twice, three times, and it was time to open the barricaded door and pray that there weren't many life sucking zombies waiting outside to well….suck their life.

"Go!" James screamed and he flung the door open and stepped out onto the wooden staircase, his gun raised at a firing position. He pulled the trigger and as Tommy stepped out the door to join James, he saw a decaying corpse begin its bloody decent down the staircase.

Tommy tried to ignore it but images of Taylor flashed into his brain, causing his legs to seize up for a moment which made him trip over himself. He began to join the twice dead corpse as he stumbled down the stairs but luckily he caught himself just in time to raise his gun up and knock another corpse right on its ass. James pulled his trigger once more and the dazed corpse Tommy had hit was now just another blood stain on the concrete.

At the bottom of the stairs, Tommy slung his gun over his shoulder and went into a full sprint toward the car. He heard the shotgun in James' hands go off twice more and felt blood splatter from a brain-hungry zombie on his back as he went, trying to keep his mind focused on the music he had heard in his dream.

The keys were still in the car so the only thing Tommy had to do when he reached the door was dive over the hood to the driver's side door and yank on the handle, revealing the messy interior of his beaten, emerald green mustang. Another shotgun shell hit the wooden staircase as a roar from the undead standing right behind Tommy was silenced.

Fumbling with himself, Tommy slid into the driver's seat and tried miserably at controlling his panic as he reached for the keys that were already in the ignition. He heard James yelling something about his door, but he couldn't hear it over the sound of his own heartbeat, so he assumed he just wanted Tommy to unlock the other doors so that Tanya and Coleen could get in.

Tommy was wrong, they had yet to even step out of the house yet. James was currently feeding more shells into his empty shotgun and Tommy's driver side door was wide open, a blood thirsty infected bolting straight towards his ferociously beating heart.

It dove on him, its screams filling Tommy's ear and cold blood flailing from its mouth onto the interior of the car and Tommy's body. He tried to kick at it but his legs were pinned, he felt its teeth grace his arm but he jerked it free before any skin was broken. Tommy tried to scream but his throat was locked up and someone had misplaced the key. Janitors were quite careless sometimes.

Trying to reach for his gun, Tommy continued to jerk his arms and torso, hoping that the zombie would eventually get knocked off of his body or at least his legs so he could kick out at it. There was no such luck, and his gun was wedged between the seat and his back. He watched as the razor-teethed monster opened its corroded jaw to engulf a large chunk of flesh before its head exploded into a flash of blood and masses of brain and bone.

Tommy pushed the headless corpse off of his body and looked up to see James still fumbling with shotgun shells. Midway down on the staircase stood Coleen, her rifle held clumsily in her hands and a shocked expression drawn onto her pale face. They were officially, and forever, even.

Coleen rushed the rest of the way down the stair case, slinging her gun over her shoulder as Tommy had, allowing Tanya and James to take up the rear guns blazing. Tanya, in front of James, pulled her well polished trigger three times in a row, completely annihilating a single zombie that was in Coleen's way. She let out a slightly insane whoop as James ushered her down the rest of the stairs.

The engine of the mustang roared to life as Tommy finally got his hand on the key for a long enough period of time to twist it forward. He reached over and yanked on the handle to the passenger side door, allowing Coleen, who was now out of breath and practically gasping for air, to lower the seat and slide into the back. Tanya soon followed after, taking down another zombie to join her first kill.

She lifted the seat up and popped it back into place just as James dove into the door and Tommy slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. James wasn't even fully in the car as the tires squealed on the pavement before throwing them all against the back of their seats. He began to pull his body in as Tommy steered his way further into the complex hoping to find a place to turn around.

The thought that everyone except for him had killed at least one undead monster blinked into his mind as he got a clever idea. A lone infected was standing ineptly in the road so before James could close his door, Tommy swerved over and hit the infected with the currently open door, throwing it close and sending the zombie flying backwards and smashing its brains on the concrete.

"Damn." James said, giving Tommy an amazed look that said 'you really just did that?'

Tommy smiled and he jerked the wheel to the left, sending the car into a spiral and amazingly landing it facing the complete opposite way. He had the wet pavement and a small class on advanced driving to thank for that little trick. This time it wasn't just James who gave him the awe-struck look, it was all three of them. Tommy smiled again, letting his foot press the pedal to the floor.

They roared out of the housing complex onto Vermillion Street heading away from the Mall, the siren getting fainter and fainter as they went. They drove until the siren was nothing but a faint hum and they reached an intersecting road that led north and south. North led to Hoopeston, south kept them in Danville. South also held gas stations, and considering that no one knew what to expect in the small town of Hoopeston, they chose south.

"So what's the plan?" Tanya asked after they made the choice of going south.

"We need gas." Tommy said, almost as if she had asked a stupid question.

"I mean after that. What are we going to do with the gas?"

"Go home." James said, keeping his gaze pasted out the passenger side window into the long stretching fields that made up the country side.

"I agree." Coleen added in, keeping her gaze at her feet before looking up at Tanya then to the rear-view mirror where she could see Tommy's blood streaked face. Tommy looked up momentarily and met her gaze, and she saw how bright green his eyes were. She had never seen them that green before, but he had always talked about it, mentioning it like it was some sort of natural wonder. Honestly, it seemed like it at that moment.

"It's unanimous," Tommy said, gripping the steering wheel even tighter. "Gas, then Westville. Let's hope someone did something right."


	11. Chapter 11

Act 1

Chapter 11

Billy wasn't afraid as he lifted the sludge hammer over his head, letting it fall onto the recently knocked over zombie's head before pulling a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lighting it. He took a long, hard puff and out of his mouth came a large cloud of smoke that drifted up and away from his face. He let out a sigh around the still lit cigarette as he looked back to the small line of cars that were on the road behind him.

He gave them a wave as he heaved the sludge hammer back onto his shoulder, the rust on the handle scuffing his flannel jacket giving it a weird tint. As apathetic as he looked, Billy actually cared about the people in the cars. They included his family, his sister's family, and their ma and pa. Those people were the only thing that mattered to Billy anymore.

After he heard his mom screaming from the kitchen several days ago, nothing had been the same. His world had been shifted and changed to one of blood and gore, one that he wished he hadn't been a part of. His memories of his family and his life before the infection had hit took a back seat to the hate and anger he felt for the demonic disease that was rampaging through his home town.

When the infection hit he had been helping his mother move her stuff into his already cramped trailer. The process had been moving rather quickly but it still felt pathetic that they had to squeeze into such a small space. He had rushed past his half-asleep father into the tiny cooking space after he heard the high pitched yelp from his mother. She was staring blankly out the window when he stumbled in, putting his arm around her shoulder and asking what was wrong.

Joining her in looking out the window showed him why the scream had been formed. In the small garden their neighbors kept was a little boy with newspapers in a small bag slung around his shoulder, and on this little boy was a large man with blood dripping from his face and hands. The boy's intestines were being slowly pulled from his body and the man was nibbling on them causing the waste that was traveling down them to fall out into the mess of blood.

That's when he had to take control, for his mother's sake and for his own sake. The gun cabinet was opened so Billy just grabbed a few and cleared out the little trailer park in which he and his family lived. He led his wife, two sons, and his mother and father to the two vehicles that laid outside in the drive and loaded them in, killing a few more infected on the way.

He got in the first one, a rusty pickup truck, with his parents while his wife drove the one behind them, an almost new mini-van, with their kids. Billy didn't know what to do at first, he was just trying to get them away from the trailer park, but the radio told him about the Mall and the quarantine. A quick phone call to his sister led him to her nice house on the outer edges of Danville, where her and her four man family piled into their van before joining Billy's tiny caravan.

The radio kept talking about the Mall so Billy began to lead them down the long country roads towards the mall, and that's where he is now; his feet keeping him walking outside of the pickup truck as he clears the infected off of the street with his sludge hammer and a shotgun when it becomes necessary. Everyone else sits and waits in the three vehicles while they watch the brains of old friends and new strangers become paint on the concrete canvas.

Billy, cigarette still in mouth, strode over to the first vehicle, the pickup, and hopped into the bed of it. His wife slowly put her foot on the pedal causing the truck to begin its roll toward the small clump of gas stations that was just up ahead; the very same gas stations that she had worked at for most of her life.

There were three of them, each at their own corner of the same intersection. On the fourth, non-gas-station-held corner was a bank, one that was normally busy. Billy had an account set up there so that hopefully one day he could buy her a house and they could leave that god forsaken trailer park behind.

Not that any of that mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was that when the gas station infested corner came into view so did masses of zombies. There were crowds of them forming around each of the three gas stations and loud gunshots were ringing out from non-infected people located inside of them.

Billy wanted to tell his wife to just turn around, or to just go around so that they could keep safe. He wanted to say gas wasn't an issue, they could get some in town, so just avoid the zombies at all costs, but he couldn't. He wanted to help those people that would most likely die in those gas stations, and they really did need the gas. Most importantly though, he wanted to kill the infected, he wanted to kill every last one of them; with his bare hands if totally necessary.

He heaved his sledgehammer once more, slung his shotgun over his shoulder and tossed his barely clinging ash pile onto the ground, landing on it with his worn down cowboy boots as he hopped from the back of the pickup. His hand went into his shirt pocket instinctively and grabbed another cigarette. He lit it, took a nice puff, and began walking toward the first gas station he saw.

Several miles of road gave one time to think. Tanya was pondering on the thought that if Coleen's mom was still alive and well, and that they were still alive, then her parents were most likely doing just fine wherever they were. She still felt sick thinking about the opposite side, the side that had them nibbling on each other's flesh as her sister was being torn apart by her neighbors.

Her mind tried to stray from the whole concept but some things are harder to shake than others. Images of her family in tatters kept finding their way into her brains wood work, making her wish she could throw up out of an open window, but of course there aren't any in the back of a mustang.

Tanya brushed the hair from her face as James rolled down the passenger side window, letting the cool, damp morning air into the musty car. It was almost as if James had read her mind in a way, and this was his try at helping her, and it did help, more than he will know. Her head found refuge on the back of her seat and she closed her eyes, letting the air wash over her and new thoughts to enter her brain.

Flashes of life before this disease started spreading began to play out before her like a scrapbook photo slide on a computer. Her parents were having fun in the house that they had renovated practically built, and her sister was running around with her friends while also still finding time to mess around in Tanya's business.

Then she looked at the engagement ring on her finger and remembered him; the way he made her laugh and the way he embarrassed her in all the right ways. His face, his eyes and his hair, all of it came crashing down on her in one giant wave. She felt like crying but she didn't want anyone else to see it. She'd wait until she was in the gas station bathroom before letting it all out.

Coleen was feeling anxious. Her mom was alive and well, and so were her brother and sister. She was praying that she would live long enough to see them again, but with a group of people like this she didn't see any reason why she wouldn't. She loved all three of them, Tommy, James and Tanya, even more so than she had before. Her life was in their hands and vice versa.

Having that kind of trust made her feel like she hadn't felt since Tommy had left, leaving the town empty of its greatest resource. The thought still made her furious but she was able to drown out that anger with nervousness and glee, as weird as that may sound. She actually felt happy, even if the city was being torn apart she was with him, and soon she'd be with her family. For some reason that made everything seem ok, even if it wasn't.

A weird feeling gripped her stomach as she remembered the way he'd always try to keep her warm, and how it had always worked. She felt cold now, most likely because of the rolled down window, and she was wishing he was in the back with her in place of Tanya so that he could give her his jacket and wrap his arms around her. Just thinking about it made her feel a little warmer.

She looked over to Tanya before glancing up to the rear-view mirror to see him. He was staring at the road that lay before them, the long, hilly stretch of road that didn't make so much as a turn before hitting the building structures that set right outside of the large strip mall that had become all but barren. His face looked tired and surprisingly scary. She wanted to make him go to sleep but that didn't seem like an option now, and she wasn't sure when it would be option; most likely not for a while.

"There's a gas station up ahead." James stated the all-but-obvious as he glanced around the car at the others, almost waiting for someone to chime in with some guidance. After no one did he continued talking. "So, what's the plan?"

"Get the gas then continuing on our way?" Tommy mocked James' question by answering it with a question that wasn't quite a question. James gave him an angered look and Tommy just sort of grinned, his head lowered a little.

"What if there's zombies genius? That's what I mean." James' voice didn't sound pleased by Tommy's little joke, or his smirk; his voice meant business. Tommy went silent, his face turning to stone. "We need a plan. We can't just barge in there and hope that there aren't any threats. The world is fucked right now and I can't have any of you dying. It's way too early for that shit to be happening."

James' voice sounded a bit shaky, so Tommy tried to take over talking for him.

"Well," He started off nicely, but his mind went blank. It took him a minute or two to formulate a plan, the grin on his face signifying that it was a good one. "I'll pull us up next to the gas station and let you three out. All three of you go inside and make sure it's clear, give me some sort of signal, then cover me while I pull up to one of the pumps."

"One of you will have to get behind the counter, there's some sort of button or something that you have to press to allow the pumps to work. I'll start pumping the gas and come join you guys in the building. After it clicks off we'll run back to the car and drive away, safe and sound."

James nodded his head in agreement and Tommy looked back at Coleen and Tanya in the rearview mirror. Their expressions were those of fright, but they had been like that since this had all started, so Tommy just assumed they were ok with it. Even if they weren't they'd still have to do it. The needle was below the red E.


	12. Chapter 12

Act 1

Chapter 12

The car rolled to a stop, the passenger door opening to allow three of the four occupants to exit out into the sunny Thursday morning. They rushed to the set of doors at the entrance and peeked through the glass before stepping into the lonely gas station. The lights were still on and a few of the machines were still working, cooking hot dogs and cooling the plethora of drinks. The whole place looked like it had yet to be touched by the zombie outbreak. All three of them prayed that it hadn't.

Tanya and James wandered around, browsing down the aisles with the barrels of their guns raised, while Coleen slid over the counter to look for the button that would start up the gas pumps. She saw Tommy had already pulled up to the first one and was standing outside unscrewing the cap of his tank, so she hurriedly searched the cash register for some sort of gas button.

As she pressed an accept button, Tommy gave her a thumbs up before dashing toward the gas station to join her. The leather jacket, which had been lying in his back seat, covered up most of the blood on his shirt and Coleen hoped that she could find him something to change in to. The blood didn't go well with him; it made him look deranged and frightening. She worried for him and about him, and she couldn't help but want to hug him and tell him everything was ok, even if it wasn't. She felt like a kid again, and she didn't mind.

Tanya slowly crept down the hallway with the large "restroom" sign hanging above it, her shotgun dangling loosely on her shoulder. Her left hand wrapped around the door handle as her right hand gripped the shotgun tightly, her heart racing at the thought of a possible infected being behind the bathroom door. Yanking back on the handle, the door swung open and she raised her gun up to meet anything that might be lurking in wait.

There was nothing. Nothing but empty stalls and freshly cleaned tiles filled the abnormally large bathroom. She let the door fall closed behind her as she stepped toward the first stall. She put her hand on it and continued walking, going past it and the second stall before stopping at the third and opening the door. It was empty, like the rest, so she stepped in and locked it behind her.

Her thoughts were cluttered as she browsed the library of her mind, the only thing sticking out being her parents. She sat down on the lip of the toilet, her gun falling to the floor with a loud clank. The empty bathroom reverberated the sound as she lowered her head to her hands, tears streaming down her face. She would try to hold in the sobs.

James' hands glided over the several different brands of chips before stopping on the Cheetos. He grabbed the bag and tore it open, spilling several of the cheesy snacks in the process. His hands immediately shoved as many as they could into his mouth, the hunger not even beginning to be quenched. His stomach roared in appreciation.

Continuing his monstrous eating, James moved his way down the aisle towards the refrigerated section that holds the variety of drinks. Snatching the first thing that was in his grasp (a Pepsi) he tore the cap off and drank a good portion of it without stopping for so much as a breath. He let out a sigh of relief, feeling good for the first time since the infections began spreading.

Tommy came in through the door, his breathing a little ragged from fear and an accelerated heart rate. Coleen embraced him in a hug leaving him mildly surprised as he put one arm around her to pull her in closer, the other arm kept his gun from swingy wildly on his shoulder. She broke it off quickly, turning away as if she was embarrassed. She whispered sorry under her breath, making sure he couldn't hear.

"No need to be." He said it louder than a whisper, loud enough for her to hear and no one else. She looked at him, and he at her. They stood silent for what seemed like an eternity as the world melted away, leaving only them standing alone in nothingness. Tommy knew what he wanted to say but now wasn't the time, he wasn't sure the time would ever come.

"We should join James," Coleen was the one who broke the silence, ushering the world back into their perception. "He looks like he's having a blast." Tommy glanced over and saw him downing the bag of Cheetos and they both erupted into laughter. Their sounds reached James and he stopped to look up at them, beginning to laugh himself.

The laughter was pure and strong. It broke through the infection and brought one tiny ray of light into the three's hearts, making them feel a little bit lighter; still barely carry-able, but lighter none the less. They felt happy, or at least as close to happy as one could get at this junction.

Tanya on the other hand, she heard the laughter from her little cell in the woman's restroom and it only made her cry harder. She was trying to silence herself so that Coleen, James or Tommy would not hear her gut clenching moans. The tears felt heavy as they traveled down her face, she could have sworn that they hit the ground like rocks after falling from her cheeks.

Then suddenly she heard something and the tears stopped. It was faint at first, but as she concentrated it became clearer. The tone was high pitched, almost like a whine but it wasn't human. It was mechanical and droning, almost blending in with the ambience of everything. It was an alarm, but Tanya wasn't sure where it was coming from, or what it was coming from.

She wasn't the only one who heard it either. Tommy, Coleen and James halted their laughter after the sound worked its way into their ears. They all stood silently, unmoving as the corpse that lay outside of the gas station, bludgeoned to death by a dear friend. James was the first to move, throwing down the bag of Cheetos and tossing the Pepsi aside.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." James said as he rushed to the front of the gas station, opening one of the doors which caused the alarm to sound exponentially louder. "Something tripped the fuckin' alarm over at that bank. This is bad, we have to leave now."

Neither Coleen nor Tommy said a word. They sat quietly, watching as James feverously looked out the window as if he was waiting for something to come up over the small brick wall that surrounded a small portion of the lot that the gas station was built on. James turned towards them, a look of sheer terror laced across his face.

"Did you hear me?" His voice was loud, as if he couldn't control it himself anymore. "We have to leave."

"Why?" Tommy blurted out, completely taken aback by James' sudden change.

"Are you dense?" James said, looking out the window on the entrance doors again. "Those infected will be rushing here any minute now. Everything is attracted to sound; these once-humans won't be any different. Actually they will be, they'll try to kill us. That's why we have to leave."

Tommy gave Coleen an I-totally-agree look before walking over to James, fumbling around in his pockets the entire time.

"Shit. I left the keys in the car."

"Did you lock it?" James' voice wasn't in the mood for stuff like this.

"No," Tommy said reluctantly. "I don't believe I did, but the gas is still pumping."

"That doesn't matter right now. We'll have enough to get us far away from this damn beacon."

Tommy went silent again as James paced quickly down one of the aisles, the Cheetos returning to his hand. It seems his hunger couldn't even be quenched by fear.

"Where's Tanya?" Coleen chimed in with an all-too-worried voice that made Tommy and James' hearts sink a little further into their chests. They looked at each other, then to the store, then back to each other. Tanya was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm right here." Tanya's voice came from the tiny hallway with the bathrooms connected to it. It was shaky but they didn't have time to ask questions. "What's going on?"

"Zombies, here, any second, us, leaving." James said, putting little breaks in between each word. Tanya gripped her shotgun as she breathed heavily through her nose to bring up the dribble that was beginning to run down it. She nodded in agreement and it was settled. Or it would have been if they would have acted sooner, and by sooner I mean if they had been in the car when the siren went off.

"Wait," James said, his voice sinking to where his heart was. "We can't leave."

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, his voice acting the opposite to James'. "You just said we were leaving."

"Look." That's all James had to say because Tommy did look, and what he saw made him agree with James' new decision. The first infected came up over the brink wall by itself, but it was followed by a group of three and then a group of seven, and then a group of twenty. Within three seconds there were over fifty different blood thirsty zombies hopping down from the top of the five feet high wall and rushing towards the gas station.

"Why aren't they running to the sound?" Coleen's voice was shaking like chocolate milk in the hands of a thirsty twelve year old. "I thought you said they'd be attracted to the sound."

"They smell blood." James' voice was monotone now, his hands wrapping around the gun that was on his side. "And they want it."


	13. Chapter 13

Act 1

Chapter 13

James didn't waste any time, he began barking orders like he was the general of a brigade of troops, except his troops weren't prepared for war. He guided them each to a position that he deemed "Home", which would act as their final tier of defense.

The way James planned it, amazingly quick even in his mind, was for three tiers of defense that they would use to help stave off the infected. He was surprised the idea of fighting was the first thing that came to his mind. Coleen looked like she had never held a gun in her life, he was sure Tanya wasn't a killing machine and Tommy, well Tommy was the only one he felt safe with. Tommy was in no way an amazing marksman, but the way he held his single shot M16 showed James that he knew what he was doing.

James himself was trained at a police academy, which isn't a huge feat but it put him light-years ahead of the others in the knowledge of combat and tactics. James always found himself to be a tactician, always planning and plotting, even for little things. Now it seemed all those years of making strategies might actually save his, and the others, life.

As for the three tier defense, it was something he had used whilst playing War Hammer 30K when he played against an overwhelming amount of opponents. The idea of it was to use a spread out defense, everyone on their own until it became prevalent that they needed help, and then you would fall back to a point of contingency with another and thus gain a slight advantage on the enemy.

You would continue to do that, falling back to join more soldiers, until your army was amassed, then you would attack full force for the first time, normally wiping out the enemy in a matter of a few turns. That was James' plan, a three tier defense.

First tier would consist of Tommy and James at the front of the store at the windows, picking off anything that was getting close and stopping anything from getting inside. Tanya would be behind the counter getting anything that managed to get inside of the door, while Coleen would be behind the first aisle, taking out anything she could hit from there.

Second tier was when Tommy and James were overwhelmed and they would fall back, one to Coleen and the other would meet up with Tanya whom was also falling back. They would stay in the aisles then until they again were overwhelmed. That's where the third tier comes in, or "Home" as James called it.

"Home" was the hallway with the bathrooms connected to it. From their they could either push into the bathroom and hold out there, the zombies being able to only come in through a tiny doorway, most likely one at a time, or they could go outside through a side exit and try to get to their car. All of this came out of James' mouth before the first infected reached the door and was decapitated by a shell from Tanya's shotgun, her now sitting behind the counter as per the plan.

Tanya let out a gasp as she watched the lifeless corpse hit the pavement with a nice squishing sound. James smiled at her and then began firing his fully automatic assault rifle out of the window at the oncoming horde of zombies. As accurate as he was it still took a second or two of bullets on each zombie to bring them to the ground, and even then it might take a few more to actually kill them.

Tommy's finger pressed the trigger rapidly, using three bullets to bring a howling infected to the ground dead as the air that he breathed. Using up his first clip he took out ten infected. He struggled with the clip for a moment before he could actually pop it out of the gun and drop it to the ground. Tommy turned to James.

"Please tell me you brought ammo from that house." James' face went blank and he stopped firing his gun which caused Tanya to have to continued firing to pick up for his slack. Coleen even fired off a few shells from her aisle, killing a few and leaving a few others without legs or arms.

"Yes," James was still thinking, he wasn't quite sure yet. "Yes I did. I put it…" He didn't have to finish the sentence because where he looked told Tommy everything. The green mustang, which now had a few streaks of blood from the now-dead zombies, was setting silently in the parking lot, gas still pumping into it at a slow rate. In the trunk, where only old jackets and useless items are held, was a bag. In that bag was ammo.

"We need it." Tommy said, looking back to Coleen who looked terrified, even more so than she did before. James just nodded to him.

"You run, and you better run fast." James walked over to the door with him. "I'll kill anything that gets near you. Tanya, you kill anything that gets near me. Coleen, move up and take my spot and help me cover Tommy."

Coleen dashed around the aisle and leaned up against the wall with the now broken windows and aimed her gun out of one. Tanya broke out a few more windows to give her a better sight on the sides of the building, and she told James she was ready. It didn't matter though; he had already opened the door, stepping outside of it a few feet as he began firing at the infected near the car.

Tommy, gun slung on his back, ran out of the gas station toward his mustang. His feet seemed to bounce off of the pavement as he went, his jacket barely clinging to his body and the gun bounding around on his back. An infected that was lunging out to get him got a hole blasted in to its chest from James' rifle and Tommy leapt over the body as it fell to the ground.

Getting to the door he yanked it open and dove into the car, the sound of the battle becoming slightly muffled by the interior. He needed the keys to open the trunk so he looked around frantically for them, hearing the infected crawling over the car and rushing around it didn't make him any calmer. He found them though, setting in the cup holder over the emergency brake, and he grabbed them as he hopped back out of the car.

The click that signifies that the trunk had opened could barely be heard over the moans and screams of the zombies that were surrounding Tommy. A few more holes in chests and heads decapitated and he was at the trunk, lifting it open to see the large black duffle bag that James had to have put the bullets in. It was large, and Tommy was sure he wasn't going to be able to run with it on his back.

When he lifted it he almost dropped it immediately from the weight. Bullets could weight a lot, especially when there is a huge duffle bag full of them. Tommy decided it would be best to reload his gun so he could aid in his protection on the way back. James killed a few more as Tommy opened the bag and reached in for a clip, which luckily he found rather easily.

He shoved it into the slot and prepared the gun to be fired again. Then, slinging the enormous bag over his shoulder, he lifted his gun up and walked backwards towards the gas station, killing anything that James didn't, or couldn't get.

"Run!" He wasn't sure who yelled it, but when Tommy turned around he saw James had completely turned away from the car and was trying to knock back a group of infected that had come up from behind him.

Tommy lifted his gun and fired two bullets, taking out the one that was about to hop on James' back. Two more bullets and the one he pushed back was dead in front of the others. James, now being able to heft his gun up, held down the trigger until the group of infected was just mush on the sidewalk. Tommy fired a few more bullets to get a few that were coming up from behind James again as he began to try to jog towards the gas station.

Something collided with the large pack on Tommy's back, sending him soaring towards the ground. He collided rather quickly and immediately felt something heavy setting on top of him besides the bag of ammo. Coleen and Tanya's scream was followed by frantic gun fire as Tommy tried to move but couldn't. He was pinned down.

The sound of a machine gun sounded as if it was right in Tommy's ear as he felt the weight on his back get lighter. Something tugged on the bag once, before a hand grabbed Tommy's jacket by the collar and began dragging him with the enormous bag still on his back. Thinking that this was the end Tommy just let his head hang towards the ground as he let go of his gun.

"What're you thinking idiot?" James was yelling as the hand that had his collar let go. Tommy dropped to the floor again. "Get up and grab your fucking gun. This isn't over yet!"

Tommy did as the voice commanded, hefting himself into a kneeling position and grabbing his M16 which was lying just a few feet away. He was shocked that James dragged him that far and when he looked back at where he had been there was just a small pile of infected. Tommy's eyes widened as he realized that that had been the weight on his back, they had dog piled on top of him trying to claw at his flesh but they couldn't because the bag had been there.

His face widened to a smile as he pulled the trigger a few times before standing up clumsily and walking into the gas station, dropping the ammo bag and grabbing yet another clip from it. The chaos that was surrounding them was surreal, almost like it was a videogame. Tommy continued to fire into the mass of zombies that was forming at the door as James yelled for them to fall back. It took Tanya's hand tugging on his shoulder to cut him from the trance he seemed to be in.

Coleen sat with her shotgun half propped on the aisle as she watched Tommy rush back to join her, setting his gun alongside hers. Tanya, after getting Tommy free from himself, hopped back over the counter as James too slid over it to join her, not even looking at each other as they began firing towards the first infected they saw.

Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, James kept racking up more and more kills as he tried to keep track of each one in his head. He felt like he was going to explode with all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, his brain was in knots and his hands were working on their own. Tanya could hardly fire her gun, for each one she aimed towards was already falling to the ground dead by the spray of bullets James was letting forth.

It's strange what happens when Instinct starts to kick in, controlling your body like a puppet. You lose sight of your hopes, your dreams, your fears, and the only thing you focus on is survival. Suddenly you can fire a gun accurately; suddenly you can see clearer and hear like you've never heard before. There's this force that guides you, but it isn't a force, it's you.

You've had this knowledge your entire life but it's been locked in the deepest chasm of your head, waiting for the day when, in this case, a horde of zombies is pilling on top of you like a conglomeration of death sent straight from the bowels of Hell. Coleen had no fear at this point, she had no dreams of getting her college acceptance letter, she didn't want her family or her friends; she only wanted to be with Tommy.

Death brings out who you really are, whether you believe that or not. It's only when faced with extinction do you find out what you really want, and what she really wanted was Tommy. It may seem strange and odd to only want one person, and a person that has been gone for two years without so much as a goodbye if that, but he's all she thought about.

Of course there were other things, like school, family and school, but her mind floated to him whenever it wasn't busy. It seemed sad to her that it took this type of scenario to make her realize that she had missed him so much, and that she was angry at him with an undying flame that rose in her chest, making her heart hot with fury.

_Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_

Her finger pulled back the trigger once, the recoil hitting her shoulder hard and leaving a bruise to go with the one stretching across her torso; but she liked it. The thought that she was killing a once living human being never crossed her mind, the only thing that graced her brain was the knowledge that she and Tommy could survive if they kept shooting, only stopping to reload before shooting some more.

Tanya and James didn't seem to exist to her, neither did the gas station. The only things her mind brought into focus were the zombies with blood streaked torso rushing towards the gas station, and Tommy's gun in her peripheral vision, which was recoiled quickly as he finished off a clip. The fire in her heart dwindled a little with each zombie dropped to the pavement. She couldn't believe it, but she was smiling.

Tommy's clips didn't seem to hold quite enough ammo for he had dispensed three or four of them in what felt like a minute, maybe two. The zombies just kept coming, no matter how many began to pile up outside of the door. A few began to work their way in through the windows and Tommy was waiting for James to call out for them to return to "Home", but it wasn't happening.

It would though; they weren't going to be able to stave them off for much longer. With every glance at the ammo bag it became more evident that they were running low and would have to run or give up. Tommy wasn't one for giving up, neither was James, Tanya or Coleen at this point, so running seemed to be getting closer and closer to them as the infected too got closer and closer to overwhelming them.

"Go home," James finally yelled, tossing an empty clip at the zombies. "We have to leave!"

Everyone listened, heaving up their guns and dashing back towards the hallway with the bathrooms connected to it. First Tanya, then Tommy followed with Coleen, then finally James, who was walking backwards holding down his trigger to help keep the zombies from getting in just a little bit longer. No one said anything; they all waited for James to talk. He seemed to know what was going on even if he was just as clueless as them.

"Do we stay here or run for it?" Tommy began to ask before James answered without even getting the question.

"We can't stay; the ammo's getting too low. We'll die in a bathroom and I'm not leaving this earth like Elvis." James stopped to fire a few more shells. "We're just going to have to hope we can reach the car alive."

They all looked at each other, sure that they would never see each other like this again. Fear broke through instinct and sent shivers up their spines. Death hadn't even occurred to them, they had felt invincible standing there, firing into the seemingly endless wave of undead creatures. Now it was time to face the facts: They were not invincible, they were alone, and they were going to die.

That is, they would have died if it weren't for Billy. Good ol' sledgehammer swinging Billy.


	14. Chapter 14

Act 1

Chapter 14

"Get the boys and go back to the car with Ma." Billy's southern draw accompanied him as he said the sentence to his wife, whom was terrified in the passenger seat.

"But William…"

"There ain't no if, ands or buts about it woman." The southern draw began to scare his wife. In the ten years of their marriage he had never talked with any sort of accent unless it was a joke; this time it didn't seem like a joke. "Now get the boys and get outtah here. I've gots some business to attend to."

Billy hefted the large truck into drive as he waited for his wife and their two sons to hop out. Visions of them before the disease began spreading seemed few and far between for Billy, but for William they were all he could think about. Good thing Billy was in control right now, William was a push over anyway.

William couldn't hold a gun, let alone leave his wife and kids behind to fight an onslaught of walking dead corpses. Billy was the brawns of this operation, carrying a fully loaded shotgun on his back, two side arms, held in nicely decorated old-western-looking holsters, and of course his home made sludge hammer. Those zombies didn't stand a chance as long as Billy could stay in control, which wasn't a hard thing to do considering who he was up against.

Not giving his wife one last glance, Billy floored it, sending the truck on a collision course with the front of the gas station. It bounced and bobbed as it went over the first curb and into a small grassy patch before the long drop from the brick wall into the area where the gas pumps were located. Plummeting onto several in-sprint zombies, the truck landed with a large thud as Billy swerved to avoid the first gas pump and then swerved again to avoid a green mustang parked at the adjacent pump.

The mass of zombies transformed into broken heaps of bone and flesh as the truck began to smash through them, crushing the ones in its wake instantly. Comically, Billy turned on the windshield wipers, smearing the thick, gooey blood across his vision. Then, not being able to see, he continued to keep the gas pedal pushed to the floor until he hit something, jerking him violently in his seat and causing William to take control for a moment.

Looking around at the carnage, William realized what he had done. The dual doors at the front of the gas station had been impaled by his now smoking pickup truck, leaving a pile of rubble and debris in its place. If Billy had been in control he would have cheered knowing that the plan had worked, the zombies were now either dead or simply confused as to what had just happened.

The alarm was still blaring at the bank to the left of the gas station, so soon, as in a several seconds, the zombies would snap back into their blood thirsty howls and gut retching screams, bringing the onslaught back onto this tiny gas station. It was in that time that Billy would have to take control again, kicking the door off of his broken pickup and heaving his sludge hammer onto his shoulder as he dropped onto a legless infected's head, crushing it to smithereens.

That's when Billy noticed them, the four that had the smell of blood that attracted the infected from the alarm. They were standing, the two females behind the two males, their guns lowered in awe. The look in their eyes suggested that they had starred into Medusa's eyes and were now forever frozen in those positions. Billy just snickered as the rest of William went away.

"I take it ya'll aren't infected?" Billy asked looking at the group with one eyebrow rose; they didn't say a word. "I'll take that as a yes."

The roars appeared out of thin air as the infected began their mindless charge towards the blood-scented gas station. Billy was waiting for them; sludge hammer ready for the taste of the partially coagulated blood that flows through the infected's veins. He gave one more glance to the four faces that he hadn't properly been introduced to.

"My name's Billy and I'll be your savior for today." He tipped the straw cowboy hat on his head to the four before continuing. "Now if you'll please exit out the back and take yawl's seats in ya car, I'll be right with you as soon as I can. Thank ya, have a nice day."

They still didn't move, so Billy just assumed after the first infected had its head smashed by his rather large sledge hammer they'd understand and get on their way. The first one was killed rather smoothly in Billy's eyes, its scream triggering the muscles in his arms to tighten just the right way so that the hammer collided perfectly with the side of its skull. The four were gone after that. Billy smirked yet again.

He could count at least fifty zombies crowding around the hole in the gas station wall, and he planned on killing every last one of them. Dawning a killer's glare and dishing William out of his mind entirely, Billy stood and waited for the rage filled zombies to find their way through the gaping hole that was before them.

The first batch consisted of three separate infected, each charging towards Billy with blood dripping from their evil looking mouths. He immediately crushed the leading one with his blood stained sludge hammer, letting go of it in the process. It spiraled through the air, landing several yards away on the dropped bag of Cheetos that James had left behind during the invasion.

Slipping his shotgun from his shoulder he aimed it toward the next closest zombie, pulling the trigger and sending the guts of the previously living onto the third infected that trailed close behind. The final one clutched onto Billy, pinning his shotgun to his chest. They struggled, Billy trying to shove the zombie off and the zombie trying to get a nice gooey chunk out of Billy.

The nicely decorated holsters that held his two side arms were pried open as Billy lifted one of the pistols with his right hand. The barrel found a home on the underside of the infected's chin, and that's when Billy pulled the trigger. The struggle ended in a fountain of brain matter and blood as the zombie's lifeless body dropped to the dirty floor with a loud thunk.

Without re-holstering either of his weapons, he pressed the butt of the shotgun to his chest while he held the pistol out with a decently straight arm. He fired them simultaneously towards the thirty-some zombies who had finally found their way through the giant opening in the building. Their bodies dropped like flies as Billy let out a seemingly endless reign of bullets.

Billy knew this would never end, unless he could kill every infected human within a ten mile radius, which he would try but he knew he would not succeed. William was yelling at him for even thinking that he could try, but William was always like that. He was always trying to take the easy way out; the road most traveled was the one William preferred to walk. Billy liked the roads that had yet to be made.

That's when an Idea hit him. How do you stop an alarm that you cannot reach? You blow it up. William's shrill, little voice was trying to burst Billy's eardrums but Billy wasn't going to allow that. He fired the shotgun into the air, as he re-holstered his pistol, as if to say "shut the fuck up and listen to me!" and William got the hint. He would go along with Billy's plan, knowing that he would probably die in the process. As long as he took Billy with him, it was all ok.

How are you going to do it? William though, so of course Billy heard him. Billy wasn't quite sure, and to formulate an answer of that caliber would take several hours of deep though. So Billy just decided to blow up the gas station.

William threw a hissy fit over that, saying stuff like "You might kill our family," or "You could hurt those people that you just scared off". Billy's only reply was "Tough luck", as he beat back a few more infected with the butt of his shotgun before flipping the barrel towards them and pulling the trigger, the empty casings hitting the floor.

The zombies didn't know what to expect when Billy dashed forward towards them, his shotgun held tightly against his chest; suddenly their pray was chasing after them. It didn't falter them from what they wanted though, they roared and sneered as they prepared to devour their next meal, sucking every last drop of blood from its corpse.

Billy jumped; placing his nicely styled boots in an infected's face, causing it to fall straight backwards. Its skull became further grime on the floor as it cracked and split upon impact, spurting blood and more brain matter onto Billy's abused boots. His next move, a hardly planned one, was for him to tuck his shoulders in and "football-tackle" his way through the small crowd.

Shoving his body towards the crowd, the slimmed rows of zombies seemed to part for him, allowing Billy to come out on the other side mostly unscathed. Inertia carried him to the sun warmed pavement but that did not stop him from turning to face the zombies, shotgun in hand, pumping a few shells into their chests.

The first few dropped to the ground easily but to take out the rest, Billy, while still lying on the ground, dropped his shotgun and tore his two side arms from their holsters, pulling both triggers simultaneously. The bullets ripped through their corpses, turning them into zombie-Swiss-cheese. Billy smirked and William gave a thankful little yelp as the last zombie in the doorway (door-hole I suppose) fell to the ground.

If it wasn't for the still-happening zombie infection and the screams of said infected, Tommy, Tanya, James and Coleen might have found their little "meeting" strange. They did at first of course, thinking that the man was naturally crazy and the spreading infection just made it worse, but after they stepped outside into the slightly sun warmed air to the sound of a zombie's growl they forgot all about their 'savior'.

Tommy pushed Tanya out of the growling infected's path with one hand as he fired a single bullet into its knee with his other. It fell to the ground, still alive, and James placed his assault rifle barrel to the back of its head and pulled the trigger. Tommy and James gave each other a look that said 'nothing-can-stop-us', and they were right for the most part.

Standing in the front of the pack, James, followed closely by Tommy, began to lead the way toward the front of the gas station towards their escape, which was hopefully filled to the brim with gasoline now. Any infected that got within range had a bullet placed in its chest, then another in its head, and if needed, a second one in its head just to make sure. James was still counting. He was at forty-two.

As they all rounded the corner of the gas station they saw Billy laying on the ground unloading his pistol ammo into the dwindling crowd of zombies. James aided him by putting a few rounds into the infected that were charging towards Billy's back side. The area became silent after that. Of course there was still the alarm, and the sounds of scurrying feet and heavy breathing, but the sound of the infected has ceased momentarily. It seemed almost unbelievable.

"Ya'll need to get outta he-ah." Billy's voice startled the survivors whom were getting accustomed to the serenity. He was lifting himself to his feet, using his shotgun as support. "I'm gonna shut off that there alarm and it ain't going to be pretty."

"What're you planning on?" James asked with a hint of eagerness in his voice. "Maybe we can help."

Billy let out a short fit of laughter before turning his attention towards the survivors, James in particular. "You'll see. It won't matter how far away you get, you will see what I've gotta brewin' in this here noggin'."

James' face looked expressionless as if he knew what Billy was planning, as did Tanya's. Coleen's looked frightened and whether that was from the roars that were piercing the air again or the fact that she too knew what Billy was planning is still up for speculation. Tommy was getting the car started up.


	15. Chapter 15

To Tanya, the only thing that mattered, as she was forcibly shoved into the back of the familiar green mustang, was whether or not she would be comfortable as they drove away. The zombies dropping like flies around the car, and the possibly insane man with a plan to stop the siren weren't even ranking on her importance scale. She just didn't want to be cramped.

Coleen slid in next to her, which made Tanya feel relieved and a bit more secure at the same time. After the other seats were filled by Tommy and James, and the car began rolling, Tanya clutched Coleen's hand. She squeezed back and gave her a look that Tanya thought she could take as either indulging, or fearful. It was probably a little of both.

The one thing Tanya was thinking about as the car pulled out of the gas station, running over a few undead menaces on the way, were all the times that Tommy had driven Coleen and her around the back roads of Danville, taking turns way to fast and going through every giant puddle he could find. Thinking about it made her want to cry.

Tommy turned the car east towards the hub of Danville, which ironically led them closer to the mall, but the mall wasn't his plan at all. Tanya was worried for a moment that he might try to head there, but she remembered that, even if he didn't show it, he always had some sort of plan or sense of direction. He knew these streets like the back of his hand, as cliché as that may be.

The gas station erupted into flame behind them, and as the flame caused the abundance of gas to explode into a colorful display of recklessness Tanya flinched, as did Coleen and Tommy. James stayed still, as if his head were in some other universe, looking at some other infected road than the one they were on.

Tommy drove fast and Tanya tried to take her mind elsewhere, as James was apparently doing. The places it began to go weren't the ones she was hoping for. They were all plagued with visions of her parents mutilated, and of him. But the places with him began to change and morph, until she was with him, lying out on her trampoline half naked as he whispered to her, like he was afraid someone would hear that he loved her.

The place began to change as he carried her almost flawlessly into the house, where they began to undress and press against each other. She remembered their first time, and their second, and so on and so forth, until it was like all of the memories of him were piling into one and her brain was feeling every second of it.

She felt like she was swimming in ecstasy, or at least in some form of temporary heaven. Her eyes didn't want to open; they wanted to keep seeing him and his features. They wanted to be with him; she wanted to be with him.

Then the car jerked to a stop and Tanya was flung from her place like a body through a windshield. They were heading south now, and it took her a while to recognize where she was at. It made her feel angry at first, before thoughts of fear came upon her at the sight of camouflaged men standing around the car, ushering Tommy to roll down his window. He did, and one of the men in fatigues spoke.

"You need to get out of the city," He said, his voice muffled by the gas mask. "Quarantine is going into affect shortly, and if you're stuck inside you might as well be dead."

Tanya shuddered and she felt Coleen shake as well, their hands squeezing together tightly. For a moment she felt her hand in his, gripping hers tightly as they walked a dark path.

"Where can we go?" James spoke up before Tommy even thought about saying anything.

"Keep heading east and get on the interstate. Head to Champaign, there are military facilities set up there that can get you out of the infected area."

Tanya could tell that James was about to ask about the "infected area", but the man walked away and Tommy rolled up his window before he could utter a syllable. Tanya was glad. To be perfectly honest, she didn't want to know how big the "infected area" was. It hurt badly enough knowing that it had reached Westville.

Tommy urged the car forward, pointing it east as the man instructed. He knew where he was going, and Tanya was assured with that fact, which made her feel safe, and protected. She turned to Coleen, who was looking particularly unsure about their current position. Tanya assumed Coleen had dozed off just as she had, probably thinking about Tommy, just as she thought about Kyle.

Tanya began to spill her guts, quietly, as the car went down the spacey roads that lead in the direction of I-79. She told Coleen all about her family, and how she feared for them, she told her about how she had cried in the bathroom and she eventually got into the story of where she was at when the infection hit.

In a half hour of weaving between abandoned cars and infected, Tanya had told Coleen everything that had been building up inside of her ever since she was locked inside of Fortress PC with James. She wasn't looking for anything in return, she just had to tell somebody, and Coleen seemed like the perfect "somebody".

"I'm afraid too." Coleen said, as Tanya concluded her prose. They embraced, and cried as silent as they could as Tommy and James stared intently onwards. Tanya and Coleen hoped that neither of them could hear it, but when Tommy finally turned on the radio just loud enough to block them out, they both looked at each other a little embarrassed, but continued crying anyways.

They were moving slow and the music seemed to lighten the mood that hung heavily in the car. There were no breaks in between songs, so Tanya assumed it was a CD, one of the many that Tommy always seemed to have in his car. She was almost urged to ask him to turn it to the radio, but the fear that it might be filled with talk of this walking disease made her mouth clamp tight.

She continued to talk to Coleen as the car rolled past the final turn that would allow them to turn around. That was it, they only way to go was forward. Tanya prayed it wasn't dangerous, Coleen just prayed.


	16. Chapter 16

The whole gas station incident seemed years behind them when in reality it had just happened. Watching that gas station, which was so familiar to him, just go up in flames like that was breath taking for all the wrong reasons. Even though it was unlikely, Tommy hoped that the crazy man with the shotgun was ok. He saved their lives, and they never got to repay the favor.

As he drove the emerald green mustang away from the carnage, a thought dawned on him; where were they going to go now? Westville was the key answer, but how? There were many different routes and each one seemed to have its own benefits and weaknesses.

There were the winding back roads that led around into forest glen, the nature preserve, and then there was also the straight through Danville approach, which seemed to be where he was headed. To him, it seemed to be the quickest way, and he knew that at the moment no one would question him. In fact, Coleen and Tanya were asleep in the back seat after they were a few minutes away from the gas station.

Tommy steered, hardly turning the wheel until they reached route one, where he turned left, away from the YMCA, which he could see in the rear view mirror. Before the haunting memories could plague him, Tommy shoved them out of his brain and looked steadily forward, just as James appeared to be doing.

The car continued down Route 1 towards Westville for several miles until they were stopped abruptly by several camouflaged men wearing gas masks and holding fire arms. The conversation that they initiated was short and sweet, with the basis of it being "keep heading east", so that's what they did.

Turning at the junction of Route 1 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Tommy aimed the car and all of its passengers east, towards Champaign. In the back of his head he hoped no one would mention Westville, and it seemed that everyone else was too preoccupied in their own affairs to even notice the direction change.

Coleen and Tanya were chatting silently, Tommy could hear sobs, and James was just staring out the window to his right, watching as the once bustling landscape of Danville gave way to scattered houses and larger yards. Everything seemed so surreal to Tommy, as everyone seemed to just be shells of what they were before he left.

He flicked the radio volume up, letting the CD music be heard throughout the car. At first no one noticed, but when he looked into the rearview mirror he saw Coleen staring at him with her big blue eyes. He held the gaze for a moment before she broke it and continued talking to Tanya.

The road began to grow into a highway and Tommy had to slow down to navigate through the abandoned vehicles and other items that littered the pavement. Driving became next to impossible and fearing that they might have to walk Tommy steered them off onto the shoulder of the highway which was relatively clear, and continued to go as fast as he could.

Then, as if a sign from god, the interstate on-ramp appeared in the distance, but there was one problem, cars were backed up all the way to the top of it, and when he pulled up next to it he saw that the interstate was un-traversable. Stepping out of the car, Tommy and James walked over to the overpass and looked down onto the long stretch of straight road known as I-79, Tommy saw the mass of cars that were abandoned, blocking the pathway to Champaign.

Before anyone could say anything relating to how desperately hopeless their situation looked, it got even worse. The roars of infected pierced the sky, and cracked the silent bliss that the car had been filled with since it pulled free of the gas station. Tommy began to turn back for his rifle, but he saw the first of the infected was already too close to the car.

He started yelling for Coleen; for her to get out of the car, but there wasn't time. James was rushing back toward the car, hoping to beat the zombie, and Tanya was trying to get out of the car just as Coleen was; Tommy was unmoving, frozen with fear.

Then a gunshot came from the side of the road, and then another, a few more, and the infected dropped dead. Three men in what looked like any normal office job's uniform came out from the ditch on the opposite side of the highway, and rushed towards the car that held Tanya and Coleen, who were still trying frantically to get out.

Tommy began running too, hoping to catch up to James as he made his way to the car. By the time he reached it, James and the three office men were already there. They were well armed and looked like they had seen some action before, so Tommy felt a little easier about the situation, but it seemed like nothing was easy anymore.

Tanya and Coleen finally got out of the car after fumbling with the seats that blocked their exit. Coleen took a spot next to Tommy who was breathing heavy and looking as tired as ever. Tanya walked next to James, and they all looked at the three men who had just taken down the infected. For a few moments, no one spoke.

"I take it you're not infected." One of the men in office clothes spoke up, his voice sounding soft and completely unfit for a zombie apocalypse.

"Nope," James said, taking his stand as the self appointed leader of their little group. "Apparently not. Who are you, and what're you doing out here?"

"We were sent out here by the military who're station in Danville," A different, more wise in stature and voice, spoke up, moving in front of the other two. "We saw the interstate was blocked and took the Shang-ri-la road over to Caitlin, hoping to find another way to Champaign, and instead we found a large group of survivors holding out in a church supported by a little red-cross organization."

"We're out here to redirect others that are misled to the interstate, to head for Caitlin and get some assistance at the church. It's the safest place we've seen, and it has the biggest supply of food we've come across. They can hook you up, and most likely get you ready for a possibly caravan to Champaign."

Caitlin was a generally small town, similar to Westville except for the large railroad track running straight through the middle, splitting it in half. The church they were talking about was on the North side, only a few blocks from the railroad, and it was enormous. It could easily hold a few hundred people, and from what any of the four survivors could remember, it was one of the nicest churches in the area.

Normally when someone gets advice they tend to ignore it and just go with what they feel, but when half the populace is blood thirsty, you can't help but want to trust the other, non zombified half. After a few quick introductions and a small summary as to how the survivors ended up where they were now, the three office men went to a vehicle that looked as if it were abandoned and got in. The one who seemed wise started it up and began driving down a road that branched off at a four way intersection, heading south. Tommy followed with James in the passenger seat, and Tanya and Coleen in the back, looking slightly confused at the second change of direction.

They all had the slight hope that they might be able to reach Westville from Caitlin, but for some reason, they all highly doubted it.


	17. Chapter 17

The route from the long stretch of highway to Caitlin involved back tracking to the four-way intersection that was about a half mile back. From there, one would turn right, if they had came from the interstate, which would put them heading south. This road was a short lived one that served as a connector from the highway to the "shang-ri-la" road. The only other feature noticed about the road was the bridge that crossed over the interstate, revealing the mess of cars that seemed to stretch on infinitely.

The connector road curved drastically, so that when you turned left onto the Shang-ri-la road you would again be heading south. The Shang-ri-la stretch was one of the most well renowned "country" roads in the Danville area, and is definitely the most interesting. It's very curvy, winding like a snake through a valley, and it also consists of two large, and steep, hills (one down, one up). There is no way to avoid them, and they are very precariously placed, causing multiple accidents a year.

The hills lead down, and out, of the valley that Shang-ri-la was named for. The valley is complete with wide open fields, the large and omnipotent vermillion river and its Cliffside, and the very secluded country club known as Shang-ri-la (hence the name of the road). The road itself deserves a tour guide, and its beauty is unmatched by any road within the vermillion county area.

It seemed the infection couldn't even touch it, making it an easy route from the suburban villages to the rural Danville. That's what Jack had been using it for ever since he and his two brothers were herded towards the interstate by the armed forces that were trying to contain the breakout. They had been in the same predicament that Tommy, Coleen, Tanya and James had been in, except they didn't receive any help when the infected ambushed them.

Jack lost his older brother that day, before finding the Shang-ri-la road that seemed to be laid out by God, leading him to his salvation, to his purpose in life. He had led his younger brother, Stephen, down the road into the valley, where they buried their brother and continued on their way. Coming out of the valley they ran into a small caravan that had been stopped dead in its tracks by the infected. Grabbing his brothers hunting rifle, Jack killed thirteen infected that day, and saved twice as many lives.

From there he led Stephen, and the survivors of the caravan, into Caitlin where they took refuge in a small grocery store that had already been drained of its supplies. They stayed for days until people began to get hungry and just generally unnerved. That's when Jack looked out into the parking lot and across the street, at the large church that stood as a monument for his and everyone else's, salvation.

Large enough to hold a thousand people, Jack led the survivors and his brother to the entrance, where he pulled the doors open to reveal the location of the grocery store's products, and a priest who welcomed them, thankful for the news that he wasn't the only survivor. From then on out, people looked to Jack as the leader, and their savior, the person that would keep them alive through this crisis, and Jack did (for awhile).

When a slowly stopping train with a dead conductor rolled into town followed by hundreds of crazed infected, Jack led a few decently trained men to the train, where they killed the infected and opened the train, half expecting to see some useless material. What they saw instead was an abundance of food and supplies, which had been heading for the train station, where it would have been shoved into trucks and driven to several hundred Wal-marts across the Midwest.

The train also served as a guard wall, cutting the town in half practically, and allowing Jack and anyone willing, to keep the infected away from the church without so much as a single living human casualty. Jack was their icon, and as he began going back to the interstate where he had been wrongly led, bringing back with him more survivors (some even friends and family of people already at the church) no one doubted that he could lead them anywhere. They put their lives in his hands, and he held them with care.

Then people began talking about Champaign, saying things like "It's safe there", and "With Jack guiding us, we can make it without a problem". Jack began to get worried, because if they did leave the sanctity of the city he might not be able to protect them, which would be letting them down in the worst way imaginable. He did whatever he could to try to make them think it was better to stay at the church, and for the most part it was. They had food, shelter, running water, and little to no infected activity. But still, it's hard for a lot of people to stand still for more than a few minutes, let alone a few days.

Slowly people began forming groups and voyaging out of the church, hoping to find something, anything. Anyone that set foot outside of the church never came back, because Jack made sure of it. He followed the groups, by himself, until they were out of town, and from there he would either have a trap for the infected to get them, or he would kill them himself. He hoped that by doing this he would insure that no one would want to leave, and that he would get to stay here and protect them.

The ironic thing is that it only made people want to leave more. In their heads, since no one came back or made contact through radio, they must have found a way to Champaign, or some other form of safety. So more people began leaving, and it became increasingly harder for Jack to get them all before they got out of reach.

That's what Jack had been doing when he ran into Tommy, Tanya, Coleen and James, the four survivors that seemed to weathered for their ages. He was hunting a couple who was heading for the interstate, hoping to stop them before they got off of Shang-ri-la. He brought with him his brother Stephen, and his right hand man, who he called Eagle, because of the all the eagle tattoos that littered his body.

He didn't catch them, but he had found four more people to protect. Two for the price of four seemed worth it for Jack as he escorted the beaten green mustang out of the valley into the country side that kept Caitlin separated from Danville.

The Shang-ri-la stretch turns into a straight away after you come out of the Valley, and as Tommy followed behind the disgusting truck that apparently belonged to the three men that had helped them, he couldn't help but feel that he shouldn't trust them. He tried to push it out of his head, telling himself that he was just being paranoid, but the feelings wouldn't slide.

He could tell by the look on her face, that Coleen was thinking the same thing, so was James. Tanya seemed to preoccupied looking at a picture that she had in her hand to even realize what had just happened, let alone where they were going. Caitlin connected to Westville, and if they could rest for a bit, they could be there by tomorrow morning. Thinking about it made Tommy's head spin.

He hadn't told his parents he was home, so for all he knew they could already be gone, or dead, and they'd never know he was there to witness it all unfold before him. He began to think about two years ago, after he left, and how much it must have hurt them. It was vain to hope that his mom hadn't cried, but he still hoped. That was the one thing Tommy hated more than anything, and that was letting someone down.

"I don't trust em'." James spoke up, turning the volume knob down so everyone could hear him. "They seem shifty, even if they did save us."

"Yeah," Tommy said, thankful that James distracted his mind. "Why were they out there hidden in a ditch? I don't know if it's just me, but that's a bit odd, even for a situation like this."

"What're we gonna do?" James asked, looking back towards Coleen and Tanya, who was still looking at the picture she had held tightly in her hand. They stared back in awe, all possible thoughts draining from their memory, like water down a drain.

"I guess we can get some food from them and then head for Westville in the morning." Tommy said, slowing down for a large pothole that jerked the passengers around anyways.

"I'd rather not." James spoke up again. "I say we skip the detour and head straight for Westville."

"I'm hungry," Tanya said, her voice sounding slightly hoarse. "And so is Coleen, and both of you look tired as hell. We're stopping."

James, looking taken aback, averted his eyes back to the road before them, noticing that they were now in the city limits of Caitlin, driving through the rows of houses for the Church in the center of town. Tommy snickered slightly as did Coleen, and Tanya all but let out a fully fledged laugh. James just smirked and kept his eyes on the road, half embarrassed and half impressed.

Caitlin seemed almost untouched by the infection. Houses still stood, there weren't corpses littering the streets, and there wasn't that ever present smell of death. The unnerving feeling that these people shouldn't be trusted only got stronger as they approached the church, and even Tanya was beginning to rethink her take-a-stand plan.

As the mustang pulled into the empty church parking lot behind the torn-to-shreds truck they began to feel like they were being watched, which struck them as odd, as if they were somewhere they shouldn't be, somewhere they didn't belong. Putting it in park, and pulling the keys from the mustang's ignition Tommy slid out of driver's side, pulling the seat forward to allow Tanya to step out, joining James and Coleen in the oddly sunny afternoon.

Coleen made her way to Tommy and stood behind him, as they followed James up to the church doors, where they were greeted by a priest and Jack, the wise in voice and stature man who had helped save them. They opened the doors for them and said "Welcome to salvation". Tanya turned to Coleen and mouthed the word "sorry", regretting her decision.


	18. Chapter 18

There were no rooms. That was the first thing James noticed about the church. Of course there were rooms, but there weren't any bedrooms, and that's all James wanted; a bed to himself so he could rest for a little bit before having to pack up in the morning. He was tired, and he could tell everyone else was as well, especially Tommy. He didn't think Tommy or him had slept since this whole thing started, which was…

How long has it been?

James wasn't sure anymore. In fact, he didn't think he had ever been sure, he just knew day from night and that's all that seemed to matter. He back tracked, starting with the Sunday morning at the mall with Tanya. They had spent the night there and left sometimes Monday morning with Tommy and Coleen. He knew they went to a little apartment near the outside of Danville, where he had sat out on the balcony/stair case for…

How many days was I out there?

Trying to figure it out seemed easy enough, just count the number of times it changed from day to night right? Well, the thing was that James didn't quite tell which was day and which was night because of the cloud cover; it screwed with his judgment just as much as the zombies did. Then he remembered he had slept, at least once. That was the day before the siren, which forced them to leave quickly and urgently.

He figured it had been a week maybe, since the infection hit Danville. That seemed good enough for him as he threw the conversation out of his head, realizing it didn't really matter what day it was anymore. It's not like he had to be at work or anything.

Searching for a bed, James continued to walk down the hallways; his shotgun was still gripped in his hand as if a zombie might pop out from around the next corner. Churches always gave him an odd feeling, and it was prevalent in him then as he stepped past the sermon hall that held the bulk of the survivors, and holy crap there were a lot of them. James guessed around seventy just from what he could see passing by.

There were a mix of different faces, some old, some way too young, and some just battered and bruised. He knew everyone there had a story, and he was sure that every story was worth telling and worth the hassle of getting to hear. Personally, he didn't want to hear any of them, he just wanted a bed, but he wouldn't mind hearing them in the morning if he had the time.

He didn't notice anyone, which mildly disappointed him. Tommy, Coleen, and Tanya were the only people that he knew were ok, and he wasn't going to be satisfied until he knew what happened to everyone. He wasn't quite sure who 'everyone' was, but that wasn't the problem, it was finding anyone he could recognize that formed the most difficult barricade.

Passing the small section of bathrooms, and taking a right, led James into a kitchen of sorts. He could tell it used to be a Sunday school room, but the new inhabitants of the would-be-church-of-wayward-survivors had decided to store all the food they could into this moderately large room. He made a mental note, knowing that they would need food for the trip to Westville, and continued on his search.

"What're you doing?" It was Jack, or at least the guy who introduced himself as such. James wasn't sure about the people who saved them, they all seemed…

Crazy…

"Looking for a place to sleep." James said plainly, not even turning to look at the rather large man in the office clothes.

"Everyone sleeps in the sermon hall." Jack stepped in front of James, blocking his path.

"Yeah well, I don't like the sound of hard wood on my ass, so I'll keep looking for a bed." James tried to work his way around Jack, but Jack kept blocking him.

"I said everyone." Jack's voice sounded…

Crazy…

James stopped trying to work his way around him and turned back towards the sermon hall. There was something wrong with this man, and for some reason James felt like Jack would have no problem beating the shit out of him to keep him with the others. He wasn't sure why he couldn't go back there, but now he was sure that these people shouldn't be trusted, or at least not Jack. He was crazy after all.

"Sure thing Jack," James said in a mocking tone. "Mind if I grab something to eat on the way?"

"Go ahead and help yourself." James looked at him, noticing his face grow from being intense to soft almost instantly.

James stepped back down to the make-shift kitchen and picked up a bag a chips he knew Tanya would like, then he slid his shotgun under one of the counters, concealing it from the world. He had a feeling Jack was going to want it sometime soon, and he also had a feeling that he would need it more when Jack finally snapped. It's always good to be prepared.

Tommy, Coleen and Tanya found a decent spot against one of the walls in the Sermon hall as James went off to god-knows-where to find god-knows-what. They didn't say much at first, they were all too afraid too. They felt as if they were being watched, and they were. Jack's right hand man Eagle was keeping an eye on them from the front of the chamber, making sure they weren't doing anything suspicious. His definition of suspicious was quite different that of the dictionaries though. The word he was looking for was conspiring; he was making sure they weren't conspiring to leave.

They eventually sat down, Coleen in the middle of Tanya and Tommy as they began to talk about their plans for Westville: how they were going to get there, who's house was to be first, and general stuff like that.

"I think it all depends on where we are going afterwards," Tommy started, glancing to see if the creepy guy with way too many tattoos was still staring at them (he was). "If we are in fact going to try to make it to Champaign, then we need to decide which route we want to take to get there. That will decide whose house we hit first."

"What routes are there?" Tanya asked, looking slightly confused. "Isn't the interstate the only way to get there?"

"It's the main way, yes, but it's not the only way. Besides, it's blocked remember? So we need to find out how we want to get there, if that is where we want to go."

"Where else would we go?" Tanya asked again, still confused.

"I don't know, but who knows what could be happening…" Tommy was cut off by Coleen, who decided to join in.

"We are going to Champaign," She said, looking into Tanya's eyes, then Tommy's, to show that she was dead set on going there. "My mom's there, and so's my sister and brother. Who knows, maybe your guys's parents are there too. It's the only way we should go."

"I understand that, but we don't know what might have happened.." Again, he was cut off.

"It hasn't even been a full day since the phone call yet," Coleen said, sounding taken aback. "They are still there, and they are still ok." Her voice started to shake towards the end of her anger fueled statement, and Tommy regretted mentioning it, even though it was possible. Tanya shot him a nasty look.

"Champaign is the only way to go Tommy, and you know it. So what are the routes we can take?" Tanya put her arm around Coleen, who was stopping herself from tearing up.

"There's the back way, which goes through Caitlin, which would mean we would hit your house first, Tanya, and then Coleen's, then back to mine. There's also the way through Georgetown, which would also mean we hit mine last. Or we could try our luck with the highway and the interstate, which means we'd hit yours last Tanya and do mine first."

"Or we split up," It was James; he tossed a bag of chips to Tanya as he spoke. "I know what you're thinking, but it's the best way. It's safer, because having two groups of two split out over an entire city draws less attention that four people making a lot of noise in one area, and it's quicker because we can be at two places at once, literally cutting our time in half."

"I know you'll want to argue with me and tell me I'm wrong, but it's the best way, and I'm sure Tommy will agree with me." He looked to Tommy, who simply nodded solemnly.

"Good. We can split with me and Tommy each taking a car. Tanya you'll come with me and Coleen you go with Tommy. That way you two can hit your houses quicker since they are closer together, and I can protect Tanya since she has to go further."

"What about after the houses?" Coleen asked, looking to Tommy, then to James.

"We meet back up." James said assuredly.

"But where?" Coleen always knew the questions to ask to make a plan full-proof.

"Have you decided on which route to Champaign we want to take?" James asked, looking directly at Tommy. Even if it was sexist, the guys had basically become the leaders of the group, with James as the back bone. Tanya and Coleen didn't seem to mind at all.

"That's what we were discussing actually," Tommy looked to Tanya and Coleen, waiting for an answer.

"Well since we'll be in two groups, why don't we just meet somewhere in the middle?" Tanya had a plan, somewhat. "You two can take the back roads towards my house, and we'll meet near Forest Glen. From there we can take the Georgetown route."

"Tanya, you're a genius sometimes." James said, feeling proud for his niece. "That should reduce the amount of infected we run in to as well, considering we'll be out in the country for most of the journey. So does everyone agree?"

James looked around, first to Tommy who simply nodded his head and gave a weak smile, then to Coleen, who turned away from Tommy and shook her head 'yes', and then to Tanya who was the one who came up with the brilliant plan, so she of course agreed.

"Good, we'll leave in the morning, when we're all up."

"Leave?" The voice startled them for a few reasons. The first was that it seemed to have come from nowhere, and the second was that it belonged to Jack. "You can't leave; it's not safe out there. Anyone who has left has never come back."

"Of course they haven't," James said, beginning to get a little pissed off at this guy. "Who would come back after they left? The whole point in leaving is to leave." James' voice got a little louder than he intended, and the crowd of people began to turn, interested in seeing what had developed.

"I do not wish to argue with you stranger," Jack started, obviously trying to make himself look like the better man. James didn't get it, why was he acting like that? They weren't in some kind of who-ever-is-nicer-is-more-fit-to-survive contest or something, this was a disease, a walking apocalypse and this guy was treating it like a beauty pageant.

"Quite being an idiot." James said, this time taking a step closer to Jack. "There are creatures out there that want to kill us, and staying in here is only going to make it easier for them. We have to leave and find a way out of this whole infected area. If you stay here, you die, it's as simple as that."

"If you stay here you're saved!" Jack was yelling now, trying to out due James in any way he could. Again, James wondered why he was acting the way he was. Now he sounded like a grade schooler who was trying to win and argument by yelling louder than the other kid. What Jack didn't know, was that this 'other kid' could yell louder than anyone else.

"Saved? You call this saved? The world isn't over people, you can still get out!" Everyone seemed shocked, as if they hadn't thought that themselves. James was completely baffled at the apparent ignorance that had been surging through this church because of this Jack fellow.

"We are leaving in the morning, you can't come with us, but I suggest you go towards Champaign! Staying here will only get you killed." James gave Jack one more look before sitting down next to Tanya, who was staring at him with a big grin on her face.

"You bad ass." Tommy said slyly, taking the words out of Tanya's mouth.


	19. Chapter 19

Sleeping was little less than satisfactory, and greeted by the hard wood floor of the sermon hall. The pews had been pushed together in several spots in the hall to make make-shift beds, but they had all been occupied long before any of the four survivors stepped inside. No one seemed to sleep very well, tossing and turning or just lying awake, staring at the ceiling, half hoping it would collapse upon them. It was noisy as well. Everyone was either shifting positions, or breathing heavy, some were even snoring. Coleen couldn't believe that anyone was getting any sleep at all, and it made her furious that Tommy seemed to be sleeping perfectly sound, not even snoring like he used to all the time when he'd doze off during a movie. She was lying on her side; half staring at him, half wishing that she was next to him. In her head, she wasn't sure if she should, even though they had slept in the same bed back in the apartment. Maybe she wasn't welcomed anymore? She didn't know the rules for relationships-during-the-zombie-apocalypse. She must have missed that brochure when she signed up for zombie death-camp.

Fuck it, she thought, throwing all caution to the wind and sliding slowly across the hard floor, her skin catching once or twice causing her to clench her teeth in pain. When she made it to his side, she gently placed her head upon his chest, feeling his heartbeat through the bloody shirt and letting her head be carried up and down by lungs that kept him alive. She smiled until she was startled half to death by his voice.

"Thank you." He said it quietly, but Coleen could have sworn he was asleep. She felt her cheeks glow red as the feeling of embarrassment hit her hard. Sensing that she just wanted to crawl away and die in the corner, Tommy wrapped his arm around her, pulling her as close as he could. "I missed you."

His voice sounded shaky, as if he was trying to let little bursts of water out and not the entire damn; it didn't seem like it was going to hold for much longer. Coleen felt tears sting her eyes. For some reason her entire body felt lighter, as if those were the only words she had wanted to hear for those two years. The tear rolled down her face, and she breathed in hard through her nose.

"I prayed every day." Tommy said, holding back the tears and the shakes. Coleen knew Tommy wasn't a religious man. Of course, he had been to church with her on several occasions, but he never took part in the hymns, or the offerings, or the discussions, (he never even said amen), so it felt like what he was saying meant a lot more than it normally would have to anyone else. She knew that's how he meant it, and he knew that she knew.

"Where have you been?" Coleen couldn't hide the earthquake that was happening to her vocal chords. Tommy could hear every tear, and every sob that escaped her through those four words. She felt him start to shake too, also feeling a tear drop from his cheek onto hers. Squeezing tighter he took in a big gulp of air, as if ready to let the damn burst once and for all.

"Hey, long-lost-lovers," It was James, his voice was a harsh whisper with a hint of sarcasm laced on top of it (don't forget the cherry). "Let's save the sob-story for a later date. You might wake the neighbors." With that he jabbed his thumb towards the large couple who appeared to be making out with each other's hands, whilst simultaneously sleeping (drool caked their mouths, and they both snored horrendously).

Coleen couldn't help but laugh through the drying tears, and hearing her laugh caused Tommy to snicker. James turned over so that his back faced them both and continued his not-so-deep slumber, smiling to himself at the wise crack he had just made.

At first they both just lied there in silence until Tommy hugged her tightly, pressing her head against his chest and laying his head on hers. He kissed the top of her head, not taking notice of the grime and muck that comes from not bathing in several days, and released his hold on her, which allowed her to pull her head back and lock eyes with him.

"I love you." She didn't even mean to say it, but she did mean the words. She knew she did. Every day since he left he told herself "I love him", and every time she did, she felt happy. She might have cried, gripping the jacket he had given her as her body quivered, but she was happy; for the most part.

"I told you that I'd never be able to stay away from you." He said, hugging her again. "No matter how long I could be gone, I'd always come back for you. Because I love you." They both cried, the tears stinging like needles on the wounds they had previously sustained, and staining the clothes that were already ringed in blood and sweat. They both cried until they fell asleep, this time not waking up until the morning sun pierced the stain glass windows that lined the sermon hall.

James ignored their further talking and sobs until they finally drifted off into a sleep deeper than that of anyone else within several miles. It wasn't that he was disgusted or ashamed that they were crying, he just didn't want to feel like he was intruding. He felt genuinely happy that they were basically "finding" each other, even though he had wanted to say "With you fighting zombies" when Coleen had asked "Where have you been?"

After they finally went to sleep he felt jealous. He wasn't going to get a wink of sleep, let alone a jerk-less sleep like they were getting. They might be refreshed enough in the morning to actually make some progress, him on the other hand wouldn't be of much use at all. He glanced over at Tanya, wondering if she was sleeping fine. Hopefully the zombies wouldn't chase her in her dreams; she needed a break. In James' eyes, they all did, and not just them four, but everyone in the sermon hall. Everyone in Danville, Champaign and Westville should just get a timeout so they could get some rest. We can pick it back up in the morning.

Tanya was flinching, her eyes ringed in darkness. Her forehead was wrinkled and her arms were wrapped around the hard book bag she had been using as a pillow. Now her head just lay against the wall in an obviously uncomfortable angle. James stood up, using his arms to re-position Tanya so that she slept, and looked, more contentedly. He smiled at her, proud that she had made it this far. Hell, he was proud that he made it this far. He could even go as far as saying he was proud the world had made it this far, but that was just him being dramatic.

Still standing, James felt the slight jab from the barrel of a gun on his back. He stood, still and rugged, as the barrel slid up his back until it was probing his hair, finding the perfect spot to line up with.

"Don't move." The voice was nothing more than a whisper, but James knew who it was; the big guy who always stood next to Jack, the one with all the eagle tattoos. "Walk to the food storage area, slowly."

James obliged, taking careful steps over the sleeping bodies. He wasn't sure what was going on, or what was going to happen, but he did know that it wasn't good and that it most likely was going to cost this church some lives. He also knew that his life wouldn't be one of them.

Stepping out of the sermon hall and into the hallways James continued toward the food storage area near where he had confronted Jack earlier. He knew that Jack was behind this, whatever "this" was. If he really planned on Killing James then there was something seriously loose in that shaved head of his. Jack truly underestimated James, and James wasn't going to let him make that mistake again.

He was practically shoved into the food storage area where Jack and his brother Stephen stood; Jack held a gun, Stephen held nothing but his own hand. James stood in front of Eagle as Jack stared toward him, a big smile painted across his five-o'clock-shadowed face.

"Glad you could join us." Jack began.

"Oh cut the bull shit," James said, raising his voice a bit louder that Jack wanted it to be. "Why the hell am I here? What stunt are you trying to pull?" James' frustration was evident as his voice began to boom through the hallways. The funny thing was that he wasn't trying to wake anyone up, he was just genuinely furious.

"You made everyone want to leave; I thought it only suitable for you to be part of the reason why they won't be able to." Jack's voice was calm, way too calm for James' taste. "The infected are attracted to the smell of blood, and, like most normal people, loud noises. A gun can produce both of those." Jack raised the gun he had held tightly in his right hand. He studied it carefully before aiming it straight outwards at his brother Stephen. Stephen, hardly getting the chance to look surprised, had his brains plastered all over the make-shift food storage's wall.

Before James could even make a coherent thought, he was dropping to the ground, foreseeing the next move that Jack was going to make. Jack's arm, staying straight as a board, re-aimed itself towards James, and his finger collapsed onto the trigger. The bullet that was meant for James though, missed, hitting what was behind him, which just so happened to be the eagle covered right hand man to the person holding the gun.

_Two's company._

As James hit the ground his arm stretched under the cabinet that he was in front of. His hand grasped the handle that he was familiar with, and out from the dark depths of under-the-counter came the amazingly well used shotgun James had come to be slightly attached to. He referred to it, in his own head, as Susan.

Jack's aim was quick and precise, but James' was better. James had the shell exploding into Jack's chest before Jack began to send the signals to his brain to pull the trigger of his puny side arm. Jack's body fell to the ground in a bloody heap next to his "brain dead" brother.

_I'm Jack's massacred diaphragm. _

Jack let out one last gasp of air, and James swore on his own life that it was a laugh. He wanted to get up and stomp his boot into the already dead man's face, but what jack said was true; the infected were attracted to the smell of blood, and all it would take for this safe haven of a church to become the next outbreak center of the apocalypse would be one stray infected to come bursting through the doors to the sermon hall.

James tried to act quickly, but he was exhausted. Stumbling as he stood up, the shotgun barely hanging from his hand, he looked down at the three corpses that were bleeding onto the nice carpet, leaving dark, crimson stains imbedded into the fibers.

_Three's a crowd. _

His brain was in a rut that, in trying to dig itself out, only kept digging in deeper. It was like a perpetual motion device in his brain had finally snapped, sending little bits of off-brand-plastic everywhere, and now he had a headache. No, it wasn't a headache, it was a migraine; full blown, head-in-the-hands, on the verge of tears, migraine.

Dropping the gun he walked out of the storage room and into the hallway. People were stirring, most likely awoken by the gun shots, and they began to slowly make their way to James. As he sat, migraine striking his brain in painful surges, he pondered what would happen when they discovered Jack dead, or the tattoo guy, or Jack's brother. He had a feeling it was going to be messy, and not really worth the hassle.

The sun was shining, James noticed as he looked past the few people who were walking towards him and out the stain glass windows. He decided to stand, and address the people, hoping that, if they knew why Jack was dead, they would understand and hopefully have a means of escape.

"Listen," He began, stepping in front of the few people who were there, looks of anger and fear on their faces. "There's a problem…a really big problem." With that, James was cut off, but not by one of the bystanders whom looked upon him like they did Jack when he was alive.

There was a slamming sound…then another…then a breaking sound, as if something wooden (a door perhaps) had just been smashed by a fist-shaped hammer , showering the sermon hall in splintered wood and leaving the inhabitants of that very same sermon hall screaming in terror as they watched the owner of that fist-shaped hammer lunge upon the nearest living human, an old police officer named Derrick.

Derrick bit Zach, who scratched Lucy, who then, with the help of Derrick, ripped out the organs of Good ol' Mrs. Rodgers and her husband. Then those five split amongst the crown, clawing and tearing and biting as they went. In a matter of seconds, half the sermon hall was infected and the other half could see their turn coming.


	20. Chapter 20

Tommy and Coleen could see it all unfold before them; as if it were a movie and they had VIP passes to the preview showing. They saw the first infected burst through the door and pass on the disease to someone else, and they saw those two infect another person and thus began a chain reaction that seemed never ending. Not even thinking about fighting back, Tommy jerked Tanya awake and, without saying anything she knew what was happening. She was up and moving faster than even Tommy was, and her and Coleen looked to him for an idea, as they racked their own brains trying to come up with something; anything.

"Outside!" Tommy yelled, realizing that everything seemed to be focusing on the inside of the church, which meant it would actually be safer to be outside; at least for now. He only saw one infected come from outside, which meant more were sure to follow, but weighing that against the hundred that would be inside this church in a matter of minutes made anything look like a blessing.

Tanya and Coleen listened, immediately heading for the exit, shoving anything and anyone that got in their way. Tommy was close behind, keeping his eye out for James. He hated to admit it, but he was worried. James had been gone since before Tommy awoke and who knew what he could be up to. Tommy wouldn't have been surprised if he was out finding the cure for the infection or something ridiculous of that sort.

The sun had not quite pulled itself up from the horizon yet, as they dashed outside, but it was poking its head out to see if the coast was clear, which sent a brilliant shower of colors into the clear-blue sky. It was cold, but not see-your-breath-as-fog cold, and the world around them showed it. The trees didn't sway, no lights, besides the sun, could be seen, no sounds made their way into the survivor's ears, and no life seemed to be present in anything. Everything was still; still and cold.

They paused in the parking lot that surrounded the front side of the church and looked around, hoping to see James or anything really. Deep in the pit of their minds they were hoping that they would see the military in the distance, charging their way towards the church to save the survivors, but they knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Where's the car?" Tanya was still trying to catch her breath as she forced the words out, aimed towards Tommy of course.

"We parked it around back," His breath was mildly calm but still ragged as he continued to scan for any sign of James. "Where's James?"Tommy looked to Tanya, who looked from him to Coleen, and she looked from Tanya to Tommy, all of them hoping that someone had the answer when it was obvious that no one did.

Then they heard it; a loud crack blasting its way into their ears. The sounds of the infected screaming as they dropped to the ground followed it, and then the crack came again, this time closer. They wanted to smile, because they knew what the crack was, but they found it hard to. They had all found it hard to smile recently. Not even the cloudless morning sky could lighten the hearts of the young survivors.

Tommy rushed to the nearest window that looked into the church, Coleen and Tanya followed, pressing their eyes to the glass to get a glimpse of what laid behind it. They saw a room that resembled a class room, lined with desks and chairs. It was dark in the room except for a light that came in from the doorway, and through that doorway they saw James, standing with his right side faced the door, firing his shotgun towards what they assumed were infected. What came across their faces wasn't a smile, but more of a smirk; a really relieved smirk.

"James!" They began yelling, hoping that they wouldn't gain the attention of the infected, and also hoping that they wouldn't cause James to get too distracted. Luckily he seemed to be waiting for his name to be called, for he leapt through the doorway into the class room and slammed the door behind him, laying his back against it to keep it shut.

"Took ya long enough." He said, grunting while the door rattled and shaked as the infected rammed their bodies against it. "Open the window so I can get out."

Tommy looked at the window curiously, searching for anything that might be a latch or a lock that held the window in its place. There wasn't anything, and Coleen could tell from the look on his face that he was feeling a little too hopeless to have this happen right now. His eyes got big, and she could almost feel his heart beating faster than it ought to. She went to lay her hand on his shoulder when the window was knocked back into the room that held the smirking James. Tanya, leg raised chest high, kicked the window straight out of its place. She looked surprised with herself, as if, in her head, she expected it to go completely awry, leaving her with a sprained ankle or something of that sort.

Not having the luxury of time, Tommy began formulating a plan.

"Ok!" He yelled to get James' attention. James was grunting as he tried to keep the door from breaking under the pressure of the zombies. "On three, run for the window!"

"If I move," James began as the door got one big shake, causing him to pause before continuing. "This door comes down and then I'm dead!"

"We'll cover ya!" Tommy shouted back, bringing his rifle up to a firing position, aiming directly next to James. "So, on three!"James nodded in approval.

"One…" There was no use counting because James immediately dashed away from the door, going into a full sprint as the infected broke through behind him. Tommy fired into the small crowd that had gathered at the door, and Tanya and Coleen sat and prayed that James was fast enough and that Tommy was quick enough, since there wasn't much room at the window for three armed people.

James leapt through the air, stretching his body out perfectly flat as he made his way through the hole where the window used to be. Tommy let off a few more rounds and got out of the way as James tumbled through on the other side, rolling before hopping back up on his feet, shotgun at the ready. He looked to Tommy and they both began to fire through the window at the infected that were beginning to climb out. Not a single one was allowed to feel the cool morning air that hugged the survivors' lungs soothingly.

When that little group fell to the ground of the classroom, the survivors wasted no time as they hurriedly made their way towards the car that was around the other side of the building. They hardly noticed how out of breath they were as they forced their bodies to keep running, their guns bobbling up and down on their backs, or in their hands, as they went. Then Tommy came to a sudden stop, sliding a few more steps forward before inertia let go of him.

"Keys!" He yelled, turning back towards the entrance to the church and taking off running. James looked at Tanya and Coleen with a "get-to-the-car" look and took off after him, knowing that this wasn't going to be easy at all. By the time they would get to the front doors, more than half of the inhabitants of the church would be infected, and when they got back to their little corner of the sermon hall and grabbed the keys, James estimated that more than three fourths would be fully turned and blood thirsty.

Tommy was going fast, his gun hanging on his back unused, so James, instead of trying to catch up, decided to keep Tommy safe as he went. James slowed his pace and raised his gun, taking aim and firing at the first infected he saw. It's stomach blew out its backside before crashing down on the pavement with a unappealing thud. Then he fired on the next, and the next, and the next, and he continued that pattern until he was in the doorway of the sermon hall, firing at anything that wasn't trying to grab a set of keys to a green mustang out back.

It was chaos in its purest state as Tommy rushed to the right-hand corner of the sermon hall, ignoring anything and everything as he went. The infected leapt at him, and clawed at him, but he dodged, and ducked, and dipped, and just kept going, not letting anything slow him down. Right now Coleen and Tanya were outside alone, waiting for him to get back so they could drive out of here and hopefully leave this whole incident behind them, there wasn't any time to stop or slow down.

As an infected, targeted by James, was blown into smithereens right next to Tommy, he saw the little area that they had set up, complete with absolutely nothing except for a crappy book bag and a couple loose articles of clothing they had used as blankets and pillows. He already knew where the keys were, and he could see them. The key ring itself was inside the pocket of a button up shirt Coleen had been covered with, but the lanyard that was attached to it was hanging from that pocket, allowing Tommy to yank on it and bring forth the shiny metal that he needed.

He turned and began to run back to James when something jumped on him, knocking him flat on the ground. His head connected with the ground rather brutally, leaving him in a semi-dazed state as this former-human flailed its body on top of his. The growls that came from its mouth were followed by little spurts of blood, and the smell that covered it was that of vomit and previously living tissue. For some reason Tommy found himself remembering what happened to Taylor. This is what she must have felt like; helpless, hopeless, prey to the hunter. He tried to get up but he couldn't, his body was too weak, and the infected appeared so strong. He was no match.

James' voice pierced the gunky feeling of Tommy's brain, as he shouted some kind of curse word, most likely because if he tried to take a shot at the infected that was barreling down on Tommy, he would kill Tommy as well. Two birds with one stone never looked worse than it did then. Tommy chuckled at the thought. Well, it was meant to be a chuckle, but with a two-hundred pound, blood thirsty creature from hell laying on him, the chuckle sounded more like a blunt form of suffocation.

Then everything went quiet as a piercing pain shot through his side, and he noticed that the weight wasn't all spread throughout his body anymore. It was all localized on his lower half, most of it on his groin, making everything so much more uncomfortable. The silence seemed never ending as the pain got stronger, and deeper. Tommy felt the warm feeling of blood as it poured down his side onto the carpeted floor. _It'll take more than Oxy Clean to get these tough stains out…_

This time the chuckles that followed the hysterical comment came out in gasps of blood filled air, causing Tommy to gag and swallow a lot of the blood that now filled his mouth. He felt it slide down his throat and into his lung and he prayed that he wouldn't drown in his own bodily fluid, that wasn't the way he had seen himself going. In fact, he had never seen himself going any way, whether it heroic or lame. He realized that the entire time, after he found Coleen lying in his back seat, he had felt like he was immortal, as if it wasn't even possible for him to get injured.

Well now, laying on his back with blood filling his mouth and an infected digging its teeth into his side, he realized he wasn't immortal. He was just human, maybe not even that anymore; he wasn't sure what being infected felt like, but he supposed it might feel like dying, but constant and never ending. They do call it the living dead don't they? He tried to chuckle again, but he didn't have the spirit for swallowing more blood.

He watched as James' boot connected with the infected's side, its teeth tearing some of Tommy's skin off as it collapsed. James pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of the zombie's head and let the shell enter into its skull, leaving nothing but mush (if that even). He leaned over his bloody friend, and looked into his eyes, seeing the endorphin dulled pain he was in.

"Come on," James said, not even believing that Tommy could. "Get up, we gotta get going." Tommy shook his head; the blood was now running down his cheek and onto his neck. James knew that it was too late, even if Tommy wanted to get up and keep going, he wouldn't be allowed to. He was bitten. He was one of them now. James stood up, and aimed the gun toward Tommy's head.

"Don't waste that on me." Tommy said, pushing the barrel out of his face. "Just go." His shaky hand held out the lanyard with the keys to the mustang on it, and James took it; he took it and ran.


	21. Chapter 21

The parking lot was eerily empty as the two girls made their way towards the green mustang that was parked three spots away from the corner of the church. They rounded it sloppily as they heard the high pitched scream of an infected, the sound originating from somewhere behind them; they didn't turn and look for fear of seeing a half mangled body with its jaw hanging loose as it spat blood up with every screech or groan. They did however get a hold of their guns so that they weren't just flopping uselessly on their backs, making them feel a bit safe when in reality they were just as screwed as they had been.

Reality struck at the very same moment they reached the mustang that they had loved for as long as they could remember, their hands fiddling with the door handles until they realized it was locked (not only did Tommy forget his keys, he also had locked it. He never used to lock it). They didn't have James, and not only did they not have James but they didn't have Tommy either. The two people that knew how to fire a gun properly were both risking their lives for a set of keys that, in the end, they might not need if they get killed. Tanya and Coleen were on the edges of panic, it shook their hands and made their legs feel like jello as they stood, trying to contemplate whether they should turn around or not.

Coleen did first, rearing her entire body around in one messy motion, bringing the shotgun that was way too big for her, out in front of her. Something big collided with her as soon as she finally got her balance, knocking her back against the car and pinning her gun to her chest. She began screaming and kicking but her sounds were drowned out by the sounds of the crazed, massacred form that lay on top of her. Its voice was like nails on a chalkboard compared to Coleen's.

Reacting quick, Tanya pushed at the creature that was trying to eat her friend. The zombie came free of Coleen but it was still moving, still clawing and trying to grab either of them. It almost snatched Tanya's arm, but Coleen slammed the butt of her gun into its stomach, sending it back a few feet and giving them a few seconds to think of a plan. And in those few seconds, while Tanya tried to think of a quick plan, Coleen's brain sent electrical signals to the rest of her body, saying one word, and one word only; "Shoot".

The shell erupted from the end of the barrel and completely, and utterly, eradicated the stomach area of the infected that had threatened their lives. Its body fell into two separate parts, the top half falling backwards and landing several feet away from the lower half, which walked around for a few more seconds before collapsing. The pool of blood was immense and for some reason, the only thing that Coleen could think about was that the human body only held ten pints of blood (or something like that) and that definitely looked like more than ten pints. Then again, she didn't know how much a pint was precisely, but still, it was a lot of blood.

Tanya looked at her with bewildered amusement for only a moment before she heard even more infected coming, bustling their way across the parking lot towards Coleen and her. This time she raised her gun and fired, the machine gun spouting to life and letting loose a stream of bullets into the first zombie she saw, tearing it into tiny bits that now littered the pavement. There were still five more by her count, but Coleen dwindled that number to four with one more pull of her trigger, letting the empty shell hit the ground beside her.

Coleen began to reload, but of course, in her panicked state, it was hard for her to even locate the extra shells she had, let alone actually get them inside the gun and ready to fire. So Tanya, remembering something James had taught her a long time ago while they were playing a video game at Fortress PC, fired the gun "from the hip" (that was the term James had used), which meant she wasn't aiming down any sort of sight, or even picking any kind of target, she was just pulling the trigger and pointing in the direction that the infected were coming from. It was used (in the game) to cover someone while they reloaded, and to just hold back a large number of enemies at once, and Tanya thanked God that James had forced her to play that game.

The bullets whizzed through the cold morning air, several connecting with the zombie, but most of them ricocheting off of the ground, or the church wall. It knocked the first infected that was taking up the lead, to its knee, causing it to slow its pace and get mixed back in with the other three that were running toward Coleen and Tanya. The bullets did nothing but slow the zombies down momentarily, and the ironically funny thing was, that even with a trained soldier reloading Coleen's gun, they wouldn't have been able to finish before the zombies were upon them. Coleen swore she saw her life flash before her life, for the second time.

Then there was a loud crack, and blood was sent flying from one of the infected's chest and onto Tanya, who was then out of bullets, joining Coleen in her "final moments". Then another crack, and another, and one final crack, each crack spraying more blood onto the pavement, or the car, or one of the girls. They both stood paralyzed, fresh blood on both of their already stained clothes, their guns empty and useless. They looked back to where the infected had stood, relishing the fact that they were still alive. James had just come around the corner at a full sprint when he stopped, aimed, and fired four times before continuing his full sprint towards the car.

Where's Tommy? Coleen and Tanya both thought. Where's Tommy? James and Tommy had gone to retrieve the keys but they only saw James.

"Where's Tommy?" Coleen finally asked, looking as distraught as her voice sounded. James didn't give a vocal answer, he simply looked at her, his eyes like video screens replaying the terrible attack on his friend that he had witnessed. She didn't believe it, he was invincible wasn't he? They were all going to make it through it together? Wasn't that the plan? Weren't they all going to live? "Where's Tommy?"

This time her voice was barely audible, sounding more like a sob instead of syllables. She was crying before she asked it the second time, and before she knew it her body was already shaking. She couldn't move, she didn't want to move. She felt like she wanted to die, she felt like she could die for the first time since the gas station. If Tommy could die then she could die, and so could Tanya, and even James. It was overwhelming to her brain, and her weakened body.

"We have to go." James spoke softly, unlocking the doors and starting to slide into the passenger seat. Tanya and Coleen didn't follow, they just stood, the feeling of distraught racking their bodies like hammers on steel. "We have to go now!" James yelled it this time, making their heads turn towards him. His face was tired, beaten and afraid, and they could see it clear as the day was becoming.

"If we don't leave then we die, and I know you feel like you want to right now, believe me, I know, but we are alive. Don't fuck that up. Get in the damn car or I'll have to come over there and force you in, because I'm not leaving you two here."

James continued getting into the car, putting the keys in the ignition and starting it up. The roar of the engine seemed to kick Coleen and Tanya back to life, as they sprawled to get into the car with James, Coleen getting in the back by herself, allowing Tanya to sit up front. Coleen curled up into her favorite position, laying her head on the jacket that Tommy had given her all those years ago. She didn't cry, she only sat there. None of them cried. The car was completely silent as they drove out of the parking lot, turning west onto the road that leads out of Catlin and towards Champaign. To be honest, James didn't know where he was going; he was just driving and hoping.

The sun continued to rise as they drove down the long stretch or straight road that had been recently re-paved, making the ride smooth. By the time they left the limits of Catlin the sun was fully alive, shining bright in the cloudless sky like a diamond in the rough. It was behind them, seeming to almost push them forward like a guide, even though they didn't want to go anywhere. In their heads they just wanted to go home, wherever home was; they weren't sure anymore. To them, home was any place where all four of them (Tommy, Tanya, Coleen, and James) were together, enjoying themselves as much as four friends could during what seemed like, and might possibly be, the end of the world.

Home didn't exist anymore, as dramatic as that sounded. The four of them could find home, only the four of them, not just three of them, or two of them. Only together could they feel safe, and whole. The infection changed everyone, and the major change that came upon these four survivors was the sanity that only the four of them could keep. It seemed like the fabric of their brains were unraveling now that they had lost one of them. They could feel the world slowly breaking apart underneath them, right where they stood a giant tear in the Earth's crust was splitting their group of four, to a lack-luster trio.

James wanted to stop the car, and he did, but it wasn't because he didn't feel like going on any further, it was because there was something blocking the way. A white car, an old police cruiser to be exact, with a person standing behind it, gun raised at a firing position, was in the road, halting their progress. James smiled, despite all the horrible stuff that had happened in only the past half hour. He knew who's car that was, and he even knew who the person standing behind it was. Alex, the guy who joined the army after graduating high school, and not even a year later, was part of a scout sniper squad stationed in Iraq. At that point in time, Alex was probably the most qualified person to fight the infected, that James had come across, but he still didn't feel safe; he still wasn't home.

"What's going on?" Tanya asked, Coleen sitting up from her back seat, half expecting to see Tommy standing there, back from the dead. James stepped out of the car, not answering, and started to slowly walk towards the white car that was parked sideways in the road. It's long shape blocked a little more than three fourths of the pavement. "Coleen?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was quiet, nearly a whisper.

"I'm afraid." Tanya said, and Coleen could tell that she was holding back tears, just as she was.

"Me too Tanya, me too." Coleen reached to hug Tanya but they both saw that James was walking back to them. The man that had been standing by the large white car was following with him. They halted the would-be-embrace and said they'd get a rain check, taking their seats and waiting for whatever news was coming.

James opened the driver's side door, and got in, while Alex, who Tanya and Coleen now recognized, stood at James' window. They could see that he had aged, and mostly for the worse. His rinkles (which shouldn't have been there to begin with) looked heavy, while the skin that barely clung to his bones looked tattered and worn, like an old jacket; like the jacket that Tommy had given Coleen.

"You've got a whole party with you, huh?"Alex asked, smiling to reveal his feeble teeth. His sunglasses were as weak as his skin, not reflecting anything, but instead, showing his eyes as shaded circles on his pale skin. "Where's Tommy?" Alex asked, nonchalantly.

No one answered, and the air around the car seemed to get heavy, as if some almighty being was pouring invisible cement into the sky, letting it harden slowly as time ticked on. The silence, which in reality only lasted a few seconds, seemed to drag on forever until Alex, who seemed oblivious to the awkward-ness, spoke again.

"Didn't you say that he was with you?" Everyone was silent except for Coleen; she finally started crying.


	22. Chapter 22

A thick, black sheet of darkness covered Tommy's vision as he stumbled, not walked or ran, but stumbled, his way through the church. There was a churning sensation in his gut that elicited gurgling sounds and made him feel as if someone had a firm grasp on his throat, not choking him but leaving him short of breath and wanting to halt his body, allowing him to rest. But he couldn't, for he was being pursued by several hulking heaps of disease ridden flesh with keen senses of smell and the knack for hunting down anything with "clean" blood and tearing it to shreds with ease. They were fast, and they had his scent, coming down the hallway after him with blinding speeds.

Coming around a corner, Tommy tripped over his own feet, the exhaustion finally catching up to him, bringing him to the ground with his pursuers on his heels. He began to yell, or he tried to yell. The only sounds that came from his mouth were scratchy cries and ragged moans. He had been bitten, and he could only think about how long it might take for the infection to run its course, turning him into a zombie, hunting for blood and fresh food.

The veins on his arms and legs began to stand out of his skin, as if they were trying to break free of their restrains and form their own body to support. They were followed by the rest of his cardiovascular system, producing bulges on his chest and back, and even a few on his face, mainly aiming towards his eyes, which were as blood shot as they could possibly be without blinding him, but that didn't matter much because the objects that were in his view of sight were blurred beyond recognition. His brain was one giant, pulsating migraine which left all of his senses either useless or dulled.

He gripped for his face, the veins, which were normally of a bluish tint, were slowly become filled with a dark, crimson red liquid, making the blue turn to purple before shifting to the almost-jet-black shade. If he could have made out what the bulges on his body were, he most likely would have panicked, but with an all-mighty hand gripping his throat tighter and tighter by the second, and a violent, turn-neighbors-into-enemies disease slowly coursing through his body, he barely found time to slip into unconsciousness.

As Tommy's eyes slowly rolled back into his head, he had flashes of Taylor. For a moment he was back at the YMCA, hopping off of the treadmill to try and assist his dear friend. She was screaming, her face to the ground, as the infected who was bitten by the first infected to run in through the front doors, was on top of her, clawing at her, blood dropping in big, clotted clumps from its mouth.

He was afraid, his legs freezing up as if seized by solid ice, his lungs practically collapsing in his chest, making breathing a thing of the past. The odd thing, besides the zombie on top of his friend, was that he didn't need to breathe. It was as if he was just a ghost, revisiting some past experience, and for all that Tommy had been through in the past few days, he wouldn't doubt for a moment that he was dead. In his head, being dead was better than becoming an infected anyways.

The infected finished its run with Taylor, leaving her on her stomach, her back lashed and bleeding like someone who had the misfortune of being whipped by a nine-tailed-whip. If Tommy hadn't have been watching the attack as it happened, he would have had no idea that the bloody mess that was on the floor in front of him was once his friend. No one would have been able to realize that it had once been living. Even Tommy had a hard time believing it.

His ghostly body, still wracked with the all-too-familiar feeling of fear, dropped to its knees beside Taylor. He hovered both hands over what he imagined was her back, trying to understand what he had let happen right before his eyes, when he heard the soft sounds of a piano. Being confused by the sudden sound development, Tommy's eyes shot around the room, looking for anything that might be making the beautiful music that was deafening his ears. Then his hand brushed a chord hanging from his head, and he remembered the MP3 player that was tucked nicely into his pocket.

He pulled it from its place holder and set it down next to his friend's body, taking the headphones out one by one. The corpse began to move, first its legs twitched, then its arms tried to prop itself up, failing at first. After a few botched attempts at sitting up, the corpse of his friend got itself into a poorly supported, upright position.

Tommy's jaw dropped, seeing the face-beautiful and unscathed-of Coleen in place of Taylor's. But it wasn't taking its place, it was Coleen's body now, and in Tommy's head it had always been her. He felt a few tears sting the edges of his eyes, remembering every single moment that he had spent worrying about her while he was away. Now she was dead, and it was his fault. But she wasn't dead, she was sitting up, and her face looked as if it had not been harmed in the attack at all. Her body told a different story, but Tommy didn't notice. He was transfixed by the radiant blue eyes that latched onto his, keeping him paralyzed.

"Do you know what you have to do?" Coleen's voice echoed inside of itself, making it sound like it was skipping, and repeating, almost like a scratched CD.

"I have to take you home." Tommy said it without wanting to. His mouth worked on its own, as if it were a separate organism that was just sharing the space on his face. He wasn't even sure why he had said that. When the words reverberated out of Coleen's mouth, Tommy had been baffled. He had no clue as to what she meant, or even what she was getting at. When he answered, it felt like he was watching an actor read from a script, and this script seemed to be forged from a b-side, Stephen King novel.

Coleen nodded, just before her mouth spread open, the skin covering her teeth tearing with a loud ripping sound that matched that of paper. Her vocal chords shook and the sound they made was piercing and agonizing, like all the pain she had gone through in her entire life was being forced into a split second yelp. Tommy's vision blackened, he felt his ears filling with blood until all sounds were drowned out, and when he tried to breathe in, nothing happened.

Hearing his heartbeat, and using it as a timing system for his attempts at breathing, he continued to try to compress and expand his lungs. It was as if the electric pulses that told his lungs to work were being redirected out of his body into the apparently empty vacuum that he appeared to be in. The beating began to slow, the thumps growing further apart until one final thump halted his heart, now matching his lack of breathing.

Everything was kicked back into action in one crippling blow. His eyes opened to the darkened interior of a once safe haven from the infected, his lungs expanded, drawing in one giant gulp of smoke filled air, his ears became drowned in the surprisingly loud presence of silence, and the feeling awoke in his body, letting the cold of the ground, the warmth of the air, and the liquid feeling of blood to coarse across his body before he finally adjusted.

He breathed, forcing himself to calm down, until he felt he was able to sit himself up. Struggling, just like Taylor (Coleen) had done in his dream, he got himself propped up against one of the walls in the sermon hall. He was confused, almost to the point of panic, because, when he looked around, he saw infected scattered throughout the wreckage of the sermon hall. They didn't seem to be aware of him, but who knew when they would be. Tommy sure as hell didn't want to wait and find out.

One groaned only a few inches behind him, causing him to jump up into a standing position. He stared at it for a moment as it slowly whirled around on its heels, facing him with its blood coated eyes primed on his face. Tommy didn't waste any time, he just took off running, heading for the door. The infected roared, blood splashing out of its mouth onto the floor, before it followed in hot pursuit.

As Tommy made his way out of the sermon hall the other infected that were present got whiff of his sudden re-birth, turning towards him and lunging their bodies after him, hoping to get their claws dug into his skin. Tommy, being rather quick on his feet, avoided any further injury, bursting through the entrance to the church out into the bright sun-lit sky. He squinted his eyes and tripped over himself, falling to the ground and scrapping his hand on the pavement.

He looked down at the small trickle of blood that was forming on his palm before he pushed himself back into a standing position. Letting his legs do the rest, he took off down the sideway, east, towards the small town park. He heard the infected close on his tail but they couldn't seem to catch up. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe it was just luck, but these infected weren't faster than Tommy. He forced a smile at the thought.

Then, as he was running, he felt a sting in his side from the bite mark, and he almost stopped dead in his tracks. _Shouldn't I be infected? _Tommy thought, over and over again, going over the whole incident, the infected leaping on him, and the feeling of teeth penetrating his skin, followed by his body's slow breakdown and eventual, but short, death. None of it made sense, but then again, after that Sunday, nothing ever made sense. It was as if the laws that the world ran by were completely abolished and replaced with random nonsense.

He didn't quite shake the thought, but he pushed it towards the back of his mind as he focused on surviving long enough to come up with some kind of explanation. Sprinting faster than he had ever gone before, Tommy continued his way down the sidewalk and into the wide open Catlin Park. Leaping over a fence, and jumping over a set of teeter-totters, he blasted his way into the small sandpit and out into the spacey pavilion that held the bathroom and several, double sided benches. Everything seemed to blur and mesh together, like an oil painting, making Tommy's head spin for a moment before everything sharpened in his vision. It was like he had been pumped full of adrenaline, and it was beginning to take effect, pushing his muscles to carry him faster, making his vision stronger and forcing all of his senses to kick into a heightened state of awareness that Tommy didn't know was possible. He felt like an animal, but he wasn't. He was still human, and he still wasn't infected, but he did feel more alive than he had before he had been bitten.

Tommy wasn't sure what had happened to him, but, at the moment, he didn't much care for details. He was just happy that he was alive and that he was actually escaping from the small group of infected that was on his heels only a few seconds ago. Now they were still in the pavilion while he was across the street, working his way into the backyard of a previously occupied home.

He ran until the growls were nothing more than background music for his daring escape. He ran until he tripped over his shoelaces and fell into the dirt at the edge of the town.


	23. Chapter 23

The ride with Alex was short lived. The mustang rolled to a slow stop at the intersection of the road that runs to Alex's house, and the railroad. There wasn't a shortage of gas, or anything wrong with the car, there was just a large train stopped on the tracks, cutting the town of Catlin in half, and stopping the car from proceeding. Alex was the first one out of the car, followed by James. Tanya stepped out, chancing a glance back at Coleen, a glance that simply said "I'm sorry". Coleen wasn't looking. She had her head buried up against the window, and it took James tapping on it to get her out of the car, her shotgun in tow.

"My car is on the other side of the train," Alex started, beginning his climb in between two rail cars. "It's another mile or two to my house, so I've been driving here, and patrolling for the past few days."

"Why haven't you moved the train?" James asked, watching as Alex went out on the other side of the train.

"Besides the fact that I don't know how to drive one?" Alex's mocking tone was prevalent, making James feel a little angered, but he let it slide. "It makes for a nice barrier. Keeps a lot of infected out, and it makes it easier for me to pick em' off."

James simply nodded, helping Tanya up onto the gap between the cars. Tanya dropped onto the ground on the other side, standing with Alex as he rummaged his pocket for his keys. Before helping Coleen up, James took the keys to the mustang and tossed them onto the driver's side seat. Coleen looked at him questionably, and James just motioned for to go ahead. She refused.

"It might help someone out." James answered her look, and then proceeded to motion to her. "Let's just go."

"Who?" Coleen asked, almost sounding offended. "Who could it possibly help?"

"I don't know!" James shouted back. "Look, I know it sucks. It shitty, and it hurts, but we have to keep going. It's his car, and I know it's what he would want us to do with it. You know it yourself."

Coleen knew it was what he would want, but it was the one thing she had left that connected her to him. She didn't want to let it go, she didn't want to let him go. Looking into the car she saw something; something that she could take to hold close to her. It wouldn't be as important as his car, but she couldn't really carry that on her person at all time. But she could carry a shirt. It was a blue button-up shirt, with white stripes running down it. He had had it for as long as she could remember, and she was surprised that he still had it after all those years. Grabbing it from the car, she began to climb up onto the train, looking back at it one last time before hopping down to join Tanya and Alex.

James followed suit, and together, all four of them got into Alex's ex-police cruiser. It was a white, crown royal, with all the police sirens and police equipment stripped off of it. To be honest, it was the perfect vehicle for the situation. Alex gunned it, speeding down the straight, desolate road at upwards of one hundred and ten miles per hour.

Alex slowed down just so he could pull into his drive way, which connected to his enormous garage. It stood separate from the enormous, two story house, and it was even fashioned to be livable. The four survivors got out of the car and walked into the air-conditioned garage, where Alex had a plethora of guns at his disposal. They all marveled at the various guns, explosives and ammo that was littering the floor, setting their own guns down and finding a seat on one of the many couches, or stand alone chairs.

"Welcome, make yourselves at home." Alex said, propping his gun in an empty spot on one of the various gun racks. They all knew they couldn't take his advice, because they all knew they couldn't be home unless they were all together, and they'd never be together again. It was silent for a while, most likely around a few hours, before James finally broke it.

"Where'd you get all the weapons?"

"Armory vehicle came by a while ago. The infected got them, and I took everything off of the truck. Where'd you guys get your guns?"

"Found them in an apartment." Tanya said, speaking up for the first time since they ran into Alex. Everything felt awkward for everyone, even Alex felt like he didn't belong. The silence stretched on again, until the sun started to set below the horizon.

"Where's the bathroom?" Coleen asked, holding in the urge to scream.

"It's inside the house," Alex got up from his chair. "Maybe we should all go in there. You guys look tired. I've got beds and food and showers. Take and use whatever you like."

Coleen was the first out of the garage, following Alex. She had dibs on the bathroom. She wanted a hot shower, and some time alone to think, more so to cry. Everyone wanted to cry really. Tanya went to a spare bedroom and cried, James went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, stuck his head in, and began to cry, and even Alex let out a little snivel as he laid down on his couch on the first floor. The despair was so thick, one could cut it with a knife.

James slept almost immediately after his head leaned against the kitchen counter, for what he wanted to be only-a-moment, and Tanya silently wept until sleep took her. Coleen stayed up, stripping off her clothes and stepping under the warmth of the shower's water. She began to think about Tommy, even though just the name made her cry. She was shaking, and trying to hold in screams of pain as she slowly slid down the tiled bathroom wall inside of the shower. Upon reaching the ground, she let her hair fall over her face, shielding it from most of the falling water and letting her feel her tears as the slowly rolled down her face.

She swore she felt his hand on her exposed back, but it was nothing; he was nothing. She cried, and cried, and cried until nothing came out anymore and it was just her body shaking violently in the still-hot water. Alex knocked on the door, asking if she was alright, and the only response that she could give was to yell, angrily for him to go away. He did, walking down stairs and seeing James sleeping in the kitchen. Alex carried him to the couch and set him down, before walking back to his bedroom to lay down himself.

Eventually the water stopped, and at first Coleen didn't notice. She just sat there, water dripping from her body and tears staining her face, until she began to shiver from the cold. She cursed the water, hoping that she would be able to drown in it, before getting out and wrapping a towel around her slim form. She walked slowly through the house until she came to the front door, where she stepped out into the warm, night-time air. Her head tilted back as her eyes gazed at the stars, hoping that somewhere Tommy was either looking at them too, or with them.

She wanted to cry, but nothing came out; she was empty, both emotionally and physically. Her stomach growled with an intensity that she had never heard before, which told her she should eat. She didn't want to, but her legs carried her to the kitchen, where she began to eat anything that she could get her hands on. The food filled her tiny, shrunken stomach to the bursting point, making her nauseous. She stepped back from the food and that's when she realized she had to vomit. There was nothing she could do about it; it just came out, all over the kitchen floor.

Coleen ignored it, walking back to the bathroom, taking the towel off and stepping back into the shower. Even though there wasn't any water, she curled back up on the floor and closed her eyes. She didn't sleep, she just sat there until she heard everyone else starting to get up, making plenty of noise as they moved through the house. She got back out of the shower, put her dirty clothes back on, and went out into the living room, where everyone was sitting.

They all fixed their eyes on her, and she could tell that she looked like a wreck, then again, so did they. None of them (except for Alex) had showered for just as long as her, so it must have been something different that made them stare. It was probably the eyes, the bloodshot, red-around-the-rim eyes that she had, or maybe the dark circles that hung bellow them.

"What are we going to do?" Tanya asked, not specifying who she was asking it to. "We lost him, we lost the car, and now we're ever further away from Westville than we were before."

"Survive." James said, looking up at all of them, even Alex. "That's all we can do right now."

"What if we don't want to?" Coleen asked, staring at James with her beaten eyes.

"That's ridiculous, and over-dramatic." James replied.

"Is it?" Coleen asked, still look at James. "Like Tanya said, we lost Tommy, and the car, and even more than that. We've lost our lives and our families, and for whatever reason, the only thing keeping hope with us was having all four of us together. Now that he's gone, I don't think we can make it to Champaign, or Westville even."

"Then we stay here." James bellowed, standing from his seat on the couch.

"And do what?" Coleen yelled back. "Wait for rescue? You know, above all other people, that that is not going to happen. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever!"

"This isn't some sort of hope story here. This is life. As fucked up and mutated as it may be, its life. You don't give up on that, no matter how pointless it is. When did life ever have a point? When did you ever wake up and think, I have a purpose now? Huh? Did you ever?"

"When I was with him." Tanya said, quietly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. "Kyle gave me a purpose, just like Tommy gave Coleen a purpose, James. Life used to have a point, and it still does now. Now, the point is to just survive, even if you don't want to, because no one does. You don't James, I don't, and neither do you, Coleen, but we have to. It's that simple."

"So then, what are we going to do?"

"You guys can stay here." Alex said, finally making himself part of the conversation.

"Thanks." James said, as Tanya got up and walked to the Kitchen and Coleen rushed out of the room to go to one of the spare bedroom. "They thank you too."


	24. Chapter 24

The days began to blur together. Days became hours, hours became minutes and minutes became seconds. The fabric of time seemed to evaporate, only leaving the times of light, and the times of dark, but even they didn't exist inside the confines of Alex's house. The only thing that existed was silence, the long, stretching silence that covered every room, and everybody.

James sat quietly on the porch, looking out into the luscious, green corn fields that seemed to go on for miles. He kept his gun by his side, hoping that he would see something he could shoot, but there was never anything. Not even the occasional bird fluttered by, there was nothing out there, except for them. James began to feel lonely for the first time since he left the mall with Tanya, Coleen and Tommy.

Alex spent most of his time on the roof on his barn, which sat about a hundred yards from his garage. He laid on his stomach with his left eye pressed gently into the sight of his .50 caliber sniper rifle, hoping, like James, that he would see something that he could kill. He could see the farthest, western edge of Catlin from his perch. Every once in a while he would see the silhouette of an infected, and he would pull the trigger, but he never hit anything. He didn't plan on making contact with anything, he just enjoyed the sound the gun made as the bullet exited the barrel.

Coleen stayed locked in one of the guest bedrooms, spending most of her time lying motionless on the bed. Every once in a while she'd fall asleep, having a vicious nightmare each time. Her body would toss and turn, sometimes it would even fall from the bed, jolting her back to reality, one that wasn't any more pleasant than her nightmares. She went to the kitchen on occasion, to grab a drink or get something to eat, but for the most part, she didn't have the strength. She called out his name a lot, sometimes as she slept, other times while she was wide awake, staring out the window into the fields that James had his eyes affixed to.

Seeing as everyone had their own corners to attend to, Tanya wandered around the mostly empty house, going through every room (except Coleen's), looking into every drawer, and just all round trying to get rid of her seemingly endless boredom. Her brain was wracked with pain, a deep, severe pain that shuddered through her body and left her curled up on the couch more so than not. She missed Kyle, her fiancé, the one she hadn't seen for months, and she was angry at Tommy.

She wanted Kyle, just so he could hold her, and make her feel like everyone wasn't hopeless. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed that if it weren't Tommy, none of them would be alive, or at least not where they were now. Coleen wouldn't have made it past the YMCA if Tommy's car hadn't have been there, and her and James probably wouldn't have gotten out of the mall if it weren't for him coming to the rescue. Now that he wasn't there, they were stuck. No one wanted to do anything, or even think about doing anything, and she didn't blame them, she blamed him.

Everyone seemed to blame him, even if he wasn't to blame. Life as they knew it had changed again, this time they thought it couldn't get worse, but that's what they thought when zombies began to affiliate themselves with this world as well. Nothing seemed to make sense, their reality was shaken and their blame was put on a dead man; their best friend. To them it made sense, to them it was the only thing that made sense, and they were lucky. There were a lot of people in the world at that time that didn't have anything that made sense. Coleen, Tanya and James didn't think of themselves as lucky.

There were days when not a word would be spoken, and the only days when words were spoken were days when Alex actually hit something out in the field, or on the outskirts of Catlin. They weren't really words though. They were whoops, and hollers, or just loud yelps. The only person that ever heard them was James, and he didn't even chance a glance up to Alex's perch. He merely sighed, and continued to look out into the field, hoping for his chance at hitting something.

Tanya tried to talk to Coleen once, but she was "sleeping", so she didn't bother to try again. No one wanted to talk, and no one wanted to listen, so they felt fine (or, as fine as one could feel) keeping to themselves. Nothing changed for a week, and entire week of silence. When that change came, Coleen was sleeping, curled up in her favorite position, Tanya was sleeping in the room next to Coleen's, dreaming about her fiancé, James was cleaning his rifle on the porch, and Alex was looking at something through the sights of his gun. It wasn't something though, it was someone.

It wasn't a zombie, or a child, or a rogue bird, or a stranger at all. It was someone familiar, or at least Alex thought the person looked familiar. Alex wasn't sure if he was crazy or not, and for all he knew he could have been hallucinating, but when he fired a warning shot and the person ducked under cover, waving his gun in the air, he realized there was no hallucination. There was only an old friend, one that people had told him had died because of the infection. One that he couldn't believe was there, laying in a cornfield, behind a piece of farm equipment, using his gun as a white flag.

"Oh fuck." Alex said, taking his eye away from the sight, rubbing it, and then placing it back. "There's no fucking way."

He looked around, thinking that maybe someone else was seeing it too, but he only saw James on the porch, holding his rifle close by.

"James!" Alex yelled, but James didn't look. "James, you're not going to believe what I'm seeing right now!" Alex laughed, sounding a little hysterical, and that's when James looked, cocking one eyebrow up in an exaggerated arch.

"What is it?" James asked, standing up, his hand never leaving his rifle. "There zombies coming this way?"

"Oh hell! You could say that!" Alex gave another laugh. "This is a lot better though!"

"Just say it. What the hell do you see?"

"Tommy." Alex said, a little too quietly for James to hear. "I see Tommy."


	25. Chapter 25

It was hot; unimaginably hot. The sweat came down in sheets from Tommy's forehead. Any clouds that might have helped him by blocking the sun were long gone, leaving him on his knees at the edge of town. He could see the mile-long train as it sat motionlessly, stretching off into the distance, almost as far as his eyes would allow him to view. That was his goal; just make it to the train and then, if he still wasn't a zombie, he would go from there.

He began walking, first getting to his feet and then taking careful steps, as if the ground could give-way at any time. The land was mainly dirt, solid, crack-laden dirt, and with each step a small plume of smoke would puff out from under Tommy's shoes. His eyes kept darting back and forth, looking for a sign of any infected charging towards him, but there weren't any, none that he could see at least. Still, he hesitantly proceeded until his hand finally rested on the rusted steel of the train car.

It was surreal. Tommy could have sworn, that not even thirty minutes ago, that he was going to be dead, or infected soon, but now he was standing at the edge of Catlin, his hand getting bits of rust on it as he rubbed his palm against the train. He felt reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes, except there was no explosion, only a bite. A painful bite, the kind that left a large scar. He reached his finger to his side and gently brushed the scar. A slight tinge shot through his body, but it only made him squint for a moment; nothing too severe.

His eyes trailed up the graffiti that was on the train car, and up to the sky. The sun was bright, but Tommy kept his eyes open for a moment before bringing them back down to the train. He spotted a ladder just above the link between two cars, and decided that was his next goal. He stepped up onto the giant link and gripped onto one of the rungs of the ladder. Placing his feet just right, he began climbing until he came up onto the top of the train car, looking out into a field that stretched even further than the train did.

He could see the air shimmer from the intense heat, and he could swear the sun was a lot closer than it should have been. Tommy thought that if he looked up at it, he would be able to see details that used to be unnoticeable, unless you were a scientist looking at it through a high powered telescope. He didn't dare look though, he just stared out into the fields, looking for another landmark to use as his next goal. There wasn't anything that stood out, just corn and corn and more corn. Knowing he couldn't go back, he decided to just continue walking along the train, hoping that the elevation would serve as a protection from the infected.

Walking slowly, hoping over the gaps between the railcars, Tommy saw something that made him feel hopeful. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time, ever since the infection broke out, and it scared him at first. He wasn't sure what it was he was feeling until he saw the license plate of a green mustang that was parked on a road, blocked from moving by the train he was standing on. It was his, and that made him smile. They had made it, they had come this way, and now the only thing he needed to know was which way they went.

Then, as if someone was watching him, waiting for him to ask that question, he saw something inside of the car. It was a small slip of paper with a few words written on it in a familiar calligraphy. "Went to Alex's" it said, and it was from "Coleen". He smiled, his cheeks almost hurting from not doing it in a long time. She knew he was a live, and even if she didn't, she had that hope. There was still hope.

Slipping the piece of paper into his pocket, Tommy searched the car for anything else that might be of use. The keys were still there, but there was no way he was going to get it over the train, so he left them in the ignition, but before he did, he hit the button to pop the trunk. There was a loud click, and the slight hiss of the trunk raising slightly. In it was the ammo bag that James had stocked up back when they were in the apartment, feeling hopeless and most likely wishing they would wake up. Tommy grabbed all the ammo his pockets would carry, put two pistols in between his waist and his jeans, and began to walk back to the train.

As he climbed up on to the link between the two train cars, he looked back to the mustang. For some reason he felt like he'd see it again, but he also thought that that was just the hope talking, so he dismissed it, hopping down on the other side of the train and continuing to walk down the road towards Alex's.

The road to his house was straight and narrow, and there were only two houses in between the train track and Alex's front door, so Tommy began to jog. It was a slow jog, but still faster than walking. He kept his gun in his hands so it wouldn't bob around, and it made him feel like a soldier fighting some war in a distant country. Then he felt a cool breeze and suddenly…

…Tommy was standing in a room. It took him a moment to remember why he was there, and that's when he began to feel uncomfortable. There were several other people in the room, their feet moving impatiently on the hardwood floor as if they all felt as he did. He only knew one of them, and he didn't even really know him, he was just Tommy's neighbor.

He had stopped by, knocking on Tommy's door early in the morning to ask him a favor. Without wanting to do the favor, his neighbor handed him a small baggie wrapped in a garbage bag. Tommy had been afraid to open it, and even more afraid to keep it around, so he had tossed it out the window, watching it drop to the ground without as much as a whimper. Next thing he knew he had a bag forced over his head and was being driven to some abandoned cabin out in the middle of the woods. When the black bag was taken off of him, Tommy was standing in the room, feeling uncomfortable.

When the door opened everyone stopped shuffling about and got rigid. Tommy did too, fearing that whoever was going to step through the door was the reason why he was here, and the reason why he had been forcibly thrown into a van. He watched, just as everyone else did, while a tall, lanky man stepped in, his feet made loud clacks every time his expensive shoes hit the wooden floor.

"All of you are here because you owe me something," The man began, his voice hoarse and unappealing. "And unlike your friend I expect you to pay me back."

Everyone was quiet, and that seemed to irritate the man.

"I mean now! Not later, I want what you owe me, now!" Someone in the crown shifted, and Tommy's eye saw a gun being drawn. That's when everything went hazy. The next thing Tommy knew, he was running down a dirt road in the middle of the woods, a gun gripped in his hands. He could swear there was blood on his hands. A month later and Tommy would be running the same way, with a different gun held the same way in his hands. He had much different goals now, and he actually knew how he had gotten there, even if he wished he didn't.

Tommy didn't like thinking about where he had been before he came home, and he even didn't like thinking about what happened when he came home. The only thing he wanted on his mind was getting to Alex's, back to Coleen and all of his friends, the only things that meant something at that point.

A house, one of the two between the train and Alex's, came into Tommy's vision. Not sure what he could gain by going inside of it, Tommy decided to pass it up, but as he did, several guttural sounds came into his hearing. His legs froze, and his gun snapped up into a firing position. Keeping himself aimed toward the house he began to back away, hoping that it was his mind playing tricks on him. But he heard them again, and this time they were accompanied with an infected jumping through a window at the front of the house. The sight of the gun snapped to the zombie's torso and Tommy pulled the trigger, letting a single bullet travel into its gut.

There didn't seem to be any effect to the infected, it just kept running towards Tommy, it's arms flailing about like whips. Tommy took another shot, this time aiming for the head and hitting, sending a spray of blood up into the air. The zombie dropped like a bag of rocks and Tommy took a much needed sigh of relief. He began to step back when he heard another screech, then another, and then another. Three infected came out of the window, followed by four more from over exits on the house.

"What the fuck were they having? A picnic?" Tommy got off a few shots before turning to run; none of them killed any of the infected. He kept to the road at first, stopping to turn and take out the leading zombie, its head disappearing from its shoulders as if it were a magic trick. Then they began to gain on him, so he dove for the corn field that lay to the left of him. Not after a few seconds of being in it, Tommy realized he made a mistake; the zombies chase on scent and sound, not sight, so he only blinded himself.

It was too late to turn back, they were breathing down his neck, so he forged deeper into the corn, knocking stalks out of his way as he went. As his breath began to leave him, Tommy felt a cold hand on his shoulder, then he was being dragged to the ground. He rolled when he hit, mainly from inertia trying to keep him going, but it helped. The roll knocked the zombie clear off of him and left them both lying in the dirt, where Tommy could lift his rifle and pull off a headshot, which he did. The gunshot was loud, and sure enough he heard the others coming.

He kept cursing under his breath as he got up on one knee, snapping back and forth to look for the spot where the next infected would be coming from. This one made no sound as it came out beside him and tackled him to the ground, knocking the rifle out of his hand and just out of his reach. The zombie thrashed about on top of him, but luckily Tommy remained calm, remembering one of the side arms on him. His hand wrapped around the handle and pulled it from his jeans. The barrel pressed against the zombie's head and Tommy pulled the trigger; yet another magnificent spray of blood.

The next one kept bursting out right in front of him, unlucky for it. Two pulls of the trigger and that one was on the ground with its friends. Three more to go, Tommy thought, counting the three on the ground and remembering the one he got before he stupidly dove into the corn. He stood up, keeping crouched and placing the pistol back in his waistband. Returning the rifle back to his grasp, Tommy stood up fully, still not able to see above the corn.

There weren't any sounds, and he was afraid to move, afraid of an ambush. There were only three, but it only took one to create an ambush, as he found out just moments ago when he was tackled from his side. He took a few lungs full of air just to catch his breath, and then he took off running again, hoping that he hadn't lost his sense of direction. He heard the zombies take off after him, catching him in their sights again. He didn't know where they were exactly, and for all he knew they could have been right beside him, but he didn't care. Tommy just kept running.

Then the end of the corn field came, and Tommy was just running across recently cultivated dirt. That's when he stopped and turned around, lifting his rifle and switching it to fully automatic. He held down the trigger and sprayed the rest of his clip into the corn, hearing two deathly coughs in return. The gun clicked, signifying that it was empty, but there was one more. Tommy dropped the clip out, quickly fumbling for a second one from his side.

The zombie came out of the corn with blood falling from its mouth. It's growls were muffled by a hunk of flesh in its mouth, and it only made Tommy fumble more. He eventually just dropped all hope of reloading the gun in time and just swung the rifle like a bat at the oncoming infected. It connected with its head, dropping it to the ground and leaving it vulnerable to Tommy's foot, which came down on its head. There was a loud crack and blood began to pool around the remnants of its skull.

Tommy dropped to the ground, breathing heavily, letting his assault rifle lay next to him, still empty.


	26. Chapter 26

When Alex's house came into Tommy's sight, poking just over the horizon like the rising sun, he took off sprinting. There hadn't been a sign of the infection since the incident with the house, so he was secure with his decision to let his gun hang loosely from his shoulder. The soil was loose and hard to get footing in, so he tripped on several occasions, but he kept forging forward, so glad that he had finally reached his goal.

Then he saw a glint of light, the all-too-familiar flare the barrel of a gun makes when someone pulls the trigger. The bullet hit the dirt next to Tommy, shouting up a spray of dust, before he heard the sound. The crack echoed through the air and Tommy dropped to the ground, waving his gun in the air.

Gosh, he though, they must think I'm an infected. He chuckled to himself, seeing the slight irony in the thought and the possible misconception, before peeking around the precariously placed piece of farm equipment that had luckily been there when he got to the ground.

He saw Alex's house, and the garage that was a few yards away from it, then he saw the large barn and he could faintly make out someone on top of it moving around, most likely to get a better view of him. Then he saw James, whom was getting out of his wooden chair on the porch and walking out into the yard, towards Tommy. Tommy was too afraid to stand, so he kept waving his gun until he heard James call out.

"Quit doin' that you fuckin' idiot!" James voice was happy, excited, ecstatic. "Before I wish Alex would have shot you." Tommy dropped the gun and slowly stood up, facing the ragged faced James. They stared at each other for a moment, not moving, until smiles spread like butter across their face, and it was just like the moment at the mall. They embraced in a hug before pulling away quickly and looking back to the house. They saw Alex get down from his perch on the barn as he waved them back to the yard.

"Infected!" They heard Alex scream. "They're moving closer to the edge of town, we need to be careful!"

"Then maybe we should stop screaming." Tommy said quietly to James, and he burst into laughter. They began walking towards Alex who was planning on meeting them halfway, but stopped on the road, staring down it. Tommy and James both chanced a glance in the direction Alex was looking, and they saw what gained his attention.

A fire, a large one; it stretched into the sky just where Catlin was sitting. None of them were sure exactly where the fire was, but if they had to chance a guess it would have been the church, close to the center of town. But it wasn't a fire; there was smoke, but no flame.

"What do you think it is?" James asked, reaching the road with Tommy.

"I don't have a clue." Tommy said, staring dumbly at the cloud of smoke.

"Some kind of gas," Alex said, studying the cloud that he noticed wasn't just rising, but spreading as well. "Most likely to incapacitate the infection."

"What activated it?" Tommy asked, looking to Alex, who seemed to know what was going on even though that seemed impossible.

"I don't know," Alex said, shaking his head. "I'm not even sure what kind of gas it is. There weren't any planes or anything flying over head, so it had to be someone on the ground."

"Do you think the army is here?" Tommy stepped towards the house, as if he was afraid the gas was going to shoot across the field and force its way into his lungs.

"Nah. They'd come in from the border of the infection, if there even is one. There's no way they'd just drop into this mess unless…"

"Unless they had it under control." James finished Alex's thought, looking to him with a slight glint of hope in his eyes.

"So what you're saying is that, either the infection is quarantined and they are now cleansing the entire area, or someone got a hold of some chemical weapon and unleashed it in Catlin?" Tommy said,

"It's one of the two, yeah." Alex continued to study the gas cloud. "You see, it's dissipating around the edges already. It won't even spread through the entire town, so whoever was using it must have been using it for a reason."

"What reason?" James leaned in as if to get a closer look, even though it was several miles away.

"Depends on the gas." Alex began, turning to walk back to the barn, most likely to get into his perch. "If it's a deadly gas, then the person is most likely using it to kill a giant group of infected. If it's just like a smoke bomb, or something of the sort, the person is just trying to blind them so they can escape."

"Then again, it could also be a diversion." James added, following with Alex, who began to climb the ladder to get on top of the barn. "But either way, there's one thing we do know."

"There's someone alive in there." Alex said, laying down with his sniper rifle, aiming down the scope, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything. "And they're not stupid."

Tommy left the two, as they continued talking, so that he could get inside and tell the others that he was ok. But most of all, he wanted to see Coleen, to smell that vanilla scent of hers and feel her cool, smooth skin again. The house was just as he remembered it from all those years ago, when Alex and he used to go out on late-night-raids to the local gas station, and stay up all night playing videogames.

The house had two stories, the first story contained the kitchen (to the right), the living room (to the left), and what used to be the master bedroom (pass the living room). The second floor held three bedrooms, one to the right, and two to the left. Tommy could see Tanya lying on the couch in the living room as soon as he came in. She didn't move, most likely thinking that it was James or Alex, so Tommy walked in and stood in front of her. She looked like a wreck, even with a working shower and food she still looked like a frightened-to-death war veteran.

"You could use a nap." Tommy said, just before Tanya looked up. Her face filled with color as she sprung up from the couch, wrapping her arms around her supposedly-dead friend. She didn't make any sounds except for a few small gasps as if she was being suffocated. Tommy just patted her back and said that it was nice to see her too.

"What the hell happened?" Tanya asked, pulling away and looking at the mess Tommy was.

"I'm going to save myself the trouble and tell everyone at one time." He said, looking toward the stairs. "Is she up there?"

"You could say that. She hasn't moved much at all." Tommy felt a stab of guilt, knowing that it wasn't just because she was tired. He gave Tanya one more hug before heading up the stairs to meet his fate. His feet made loud clunking sounds with each step, and when he reached the top of the stairs he wasn't sure which way to turn. To the right there was just one room, and from what Tommy could hear, there was no one in there. Which meant she was most likely in the room to the far left, through the expansive, yet empty bedroom and on into the small cramped one.

He saw her immediately after stepping through the door frame. She was curled up in her favorite position, her chest was moving with her slow breathing. Her hair was all over the place, just as it always was, and she looked to have not had much food for god knows how long. Tommy wasn't sure how long he had been "dead", but he was sure that that time period was the same length as her lack of food.

The stab of guilt hit him again, this time it was even harder. He wanted to hold her just so she would know that he was ok, just so she could sleep soundly. His hand reached out and brushed the hair out of her face, which looked even paler than it had before. The rings under her eyes were as black as the cloud of gas Alex had seen from the road. Tommy leaned over and kissed her cheek, feeling her cold skin on his lips; it made him feel alive again. Now it was his turn to make her feel that way.

Slowly, Tommy slid into the bed with Coleen, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head on her back. He felt her wake up. He also felt her wriggle out of his grasp, turning to look at him with her blue eyes. That's when she screamed, and kicked. Her foot connected with Tommy's gut and knocked the wind out of him, along with knocking him out of the bed and onto the floor. She didn't scream for a moment as she stood up and walked over to Tommy, who was clenching his gut and gasping for breath.

Her breathing was hard as she stared at him, her eyes wide as if she was seeing a ghost, and Tommy supposed, to her, he was a ghost. He tried to say something, anything, but he was still trying to catch his breath. She cursed at him before kicking him in the stomach again, this time taking aim, making sure to hit him right where he was clenching.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" She screamed, stepping back, tears forming in her eyes. "You died! You fucking died! James said you were dead!" Her voice began shaking as if there was an earthquake in her chest. She was sobbing uncontrollably at that point, falling to the bed and holding her head in her hands.

"Coleen." Tommy forced out through a chocked gasp.

She looked up at him, holding her sobs for a moment. It was as if she didn't even believe he was there until that moment, until he spoke up through his coughs.

"What the hell were you thinking, Tommy?" Coleen asked again, sounding desperate and looking the part as well. "Where have you been?"

"I was bitten." Tommy began, finally catching his breath. "I was bitten and James saw it. There was nothing he could have done, so I told him to leave. For some reason…"

Tommy was cut off by himself, because for some reason he began to cry, just like Coleen had been doing. She held out her arms and fell to the floor next to him, beckoning for him to come to her. Tommy let his head fall into her arms, and she held him as they both cried.

"I thought I was dead." Tommy said through the sobs. He wasn't sure if it was his body or Coleen's that was shaking, so he assumed they both were. He closed his eyes and just let it all out, and continued to do so until he felt Coleen's hand running through his messy hair, hitting every snag along the way.

"It's ok," She said, breathing in through her nose to clear it of all residue. "I'm here. You're here. That's all that matters right now."

Tommy continued to sob, feeling all of his emotions from after he was bitten leave him. They pooled on the ground around him and Coleen, but they didn't touch them; they never would again.

"Where have you been?" She asked again, just like she had in the church. Tommy looked at her, their eyes meeting and holding, then he told her the story.


	27. Chapter 27

The first night Tommy was back everyone got together in one room for the first time since they had run into Alex. They gathered around Alex's tiny dining table, which sat directly outside of his kitchen, and pulled up a chair. At first they were silent, sitting still and hoping that someone would break the silence.

"I'm starving." Tommy eventually said, smiling a smile he hadn't smiled in a long time. "I know you guys have been eating but I sadly haven't."

"I don't know if I have much." Alex said, looking towards his kitchen doubtfully.

"Well then, let's make something." Coleen said, feeling giddy for the first time in ages. Two years ago, when Tommy had been present in her life almost every day, she felt like that often.

"Yeah, we'll make some eggs and toast and I'll tell you all about how James left me in the church." Tommy said, smiling as he looked at James who was beginning to laugh. Even though everyone thought it was too soon, and not entirely that funny, they laughed because it made them feel good. They felt lighter and even if they were slightly confused as to why Tommy was still alive, they were glad to have him back; glad that they were home.

Alex luckily had a decent stock pile of eggs, so everyone grabbed a skillet and cooked up as many eggs as they could, while also shoving two full loafs of bread into his four-slotted toaster. They laughed and joked while they did it, feeling free of the outside world and all the problems it had given them. The infection didn't exist for that moment in time, and not until Tommy began his tale did it return.

"Then I came out of the corn field and took out the rest of the zombies." Tommy's tale came to an end after he went over the church, escaping the church, finding the car, and running into a few infected. Everyone seemed to be hanging on every word, as if his story was a work of art, and for all he knew, it could have been. "After stumbling around for a little bit, I found Alex's house and saw James. Alex tried to take a shot at me!" Tommy said laughing and pointing at Alex, who was beginning to laugh as well.

"Hey, it was a warning shot." He said."I could have killed you if I wanted to."

"Yeah right." James chimed in. "The whole time you've been up there on that barn, and how many zombies have you killed?" There was silence. "None, that's what I thought."

Again, everyone laughed, enjoying the fun that they were sure wasn't going to last. Coleen glanced at Tommy, who was already looking at her. She smiled, happy with the thought that she'd have him to hug against while she slept, instead of the cold, hard wall. Tommy smiled back, knowing that he was home, and that they were all going to be ok; at least for the time being.

Dinner ended and everyone gathered around Alex's television set. They picked out a movie, some lame horror flick, and sat through the whole thing, just enjoying each other's company. Not many words were spoken, and everyone practically kept their eyes glued to the screen, but they enjoyed every second of it. By the time it was over, everyone was asleep except for Coleen and Alex. Alex stepped outside, most likely to go back on his perch, and left everyone in peace.

Coleen let her fingers intertwine in Tommy's dirty hair, realizing that he hadn't showered since this whole pandemic started, which might have been as much as a month ago; she hadn't been sure since she fell asleep in Tommy's car in the YMCA parking lot. He needed a shower and badly. She shook his shoulder, whispering his name quietly as she did. He jumped awake, looking frightened until he saw it was Coleen who had awoken him and not something that wanted him dead.

"Come on upstairs," She said. "You can shower and go to sleep up there."

"Are you going to be there?" Tommy asked, sounding like a child.

"Of course." Tommy smiled in approval, and let Coleen guide him up the creaky stairs to the bathroom. She left him to himself so he could undress and step into the shower before turning the nozzle, feeling the chilly water spill over him before it warmed up and soothed his aching body. He hadn't even been aware of how much pain he had been in until then, and he wished he was still ignorant to it. After awhile though, the pain subsided, leaving him to his thoughts under the spray of the shower head.

His fingers traced around the wound where the zombie had bitten him, right under his chest, practically on his ribs. It was mostly covered in pink, premature skin, but several parts were still scabbed over, vulnerable for reopening. Afraid of peeling said scabs, he tried to keep his fingers away from it, concentrating more on getting all the muck off of him and out of his bird's nest of hair.

Practically draining the entire bottle of body wash and shampoo, he rinsed off. Twisting the knob, the water came to a stop, dripping a few drops from the holes in the shower head as Tommy stepped out and began to dry off. After wrapping himself in a towel, Tommy stared into the mirror, seeing all the little cuts he had all over his body, and seeing the full extent of the bite mark. His fingers traced it again, and he winced as a small jolt of pain shot through his body.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, feeling clean, brand new; like a phoenix from the ashes. Then he spotted an electric razor, which he picked up before looking back into the mirror at his hair. It was still a mess, and no matter how much he enjoyed his longer hair, it would never feel comfortable with all of the dried blood and other various fluids in it.

Flipping the switch for the razor he pressed it to his scalp and dragged it backwards, taking a huge chunk of hair with it. He smiled as it dropped to the floor, and went for another. The razor tugged slightly, hitting a patch of gunk before tearing through it. He winced under the slight pain, but was ultimately satisfied, so he continued, not stopping until his hair was only a few centimeters tall. Now he was clean, now he was brand new; a phoenix, risen from the ashes of a ruined world.

The next couple days were filled a lot of preparation. The first day, the group spoke about their plan. It was still pretty much the same as it had been back at the church, except now they were traveling from Alex's house, and they only had one car. That's when Alex brought up the farming plane that sat, covered in dust and apparently not working, in his barn.

Alex knew how to fly it, it just wouldn't start up. James was committed though, so he and Alex spent those few days working on the plane, hoping that it would start up. Alex gave James the simplest fight lesson he could give with a broken, one man plane, but James seemed to be catching on quite quick. James would be able to fly it and land it, the only problem was that they had to get it working.

While they were doing that, Tommy took the girls around to the back of Alex's house, which faded off into tall grass before turning into more fields of corn. They knew how to shoot guns, sort of, and Tommy was going to do the best he could to teach them how to properly use them. They each had a shotgun, which made teaching them both at the same time quite easy. Coleen had a large, double barreled shotgun, and Tanya had a pump-action one. Neither weapon seemed to fit the person carrying it, but Tommy assumed that didn't really matter.

The first thing he told them was that, since they were using shotguns, they weren't going to be able to hit targets that were far away. So he told them how to time their shots for most damage. He said that it would be best for them to wait for the target to be within twenty-thirty feet. They could shoot earlier, but their target would most likely survive the shell, so it was best to wait and make sure that they would die.

Tommy told them that the average running speed of any human was about ten miles per hour, which translated to roughly fourteen feet a second. That meant that by the time they were in the best killing range, it would take two seconds for the infected to be on either one of them. They had to know how far thirty feet was, and they could not carry a yard stick with them (obviously). Tommy took thirty paces out from where Coleen and Tanya stood and planted his feet.

"This is where you should start shooting." He said. "Do what you need to, to remember how far away this looks. I know that you won't be thinking like that if a zombie is running towards you, but hopefully you'll realize the distance, and when your shot will kill whatever it is trying to kill you."

"Now, what you can do is go around and try to measure distances with your eyes, and then check to see if you're close. The better you get, the easier it will be to stay alive when it's just two people. You're going to have to watch James' back Tanya, and Coleen, you'll have to have mine covered."

"You'll both need to learn to shoot your side arms accurately as well, considering you both have close range weapons. Your pistol will shoot further and the recoil is a lot less noticeable, so it'll be a great help. Plus you won't have to reload as often, as long as you have good aim. I know three days isn't enough to make you excellent marksmen, but you can practice. Alex has a ton of paintball guns that have the same recoil as your pistols, but with less noise. We don't want the infected to come running at us while we are exposed."

While they began taking aim at the various trees around Alex's house, Tommy went over to the barn, where James and Alex were both checking and rechecking every aspect of the plane, trying to figure out why it wasn't starting up. It was a tiny plane, painted white with red stripes going down the wings. It was designed for easy maneuverability, so that it could fly over fields and drop water (if needed) or chemicals to keep bugs and other creatures off of the crops. It could only seat one person, and it was light enough that one man could push it if he were strong enough.

"Damnit!" James was yelling as Tommy stepped around the large, sliding barn door.

"I need a break, man." Alex said, stepping away from the plane and looking to Tommy, who seemed to take Alex by surprise. "Woah, you have to be careful about sneaking up on people."

"You need to be a better listener." Tommy said, which made James chuckle, even while he was furious with the plane. "I'm letting them use your paint ball guns to practice their aim. If you mind, then that's too bad."

"I didn't even know I had paint ball guns." Alex said, laughing. "I think I'll go give them a hand. I think I can teach you all a thing or two, but they probably need it a bit more."

Alex walked out of the barn, leaving Tommy and James with the plane. They were quiet as James continued to tinker with something, but when he tossed a wrench towards the wall of the barn, Tommy felt like he had to say something.

"When I was gone I began thinking about something. It's like a list of rules, and I think that, with the help of you guys, we can tweak them to help us survive while we're split up."

"Oh yeah?" James said, sitting up from his spot under the plane. "Kind of like that book? Zombie Survival Guide?"

"Yeah, except it's not fiction, or crappy." Tommy said laughing with James as they both got up and went outside, watching as Alex showed Coleen and Tanya the proper way to hold, and fire a pistol. He seemed to be doing a good job, or at least the two of them were showing progress.

They held their guns with both hands, for stability, and they held it up at eye level, for accuracy, looking down the little iron-sight towards one of the many trees. They were holding their actual guns now, the paintball mock-ups tossed to the ground by the house.

"You won't always be able to fire your gun like this," Alex was saying. "You two, get over here too, I think everyone could use a few lessons." Tommy and James jogged over to where the three were standing. Their pistols were on their side in some fashion or another, so they both drew them and did as Alex instructed.

"Now, something I was taught while I was in scout sniper training was how to use fear." Alex said, looking at each one of the four survivors before continuing. "Almost as if it was a weapon. Fear is basically just adrenaline, pumping into your body, but you're not using it to help you be faster, or sharper, or stronger. You're letting it freeze you up. Now, there's no way to actually practice doing this, but it's all in the mind. The only thing you can really do is just keep telling yourself that you are in control, because you are."

"These things, these zombies, are mindless and savage, and they are in no way comparable to you. You are smarter, and you have better weapons; you are in control. That's what they always told my squad, we are in control, and it works, it really does."

The four of them stood there, thinking about what he said, and ultimately understanding it. They were smarter; they could outsmart any one of those infected easily, almost without hassle. It was just a matter of understanding that, and thinking clearly, even when the infected were breathing down their necks.

"Guys," Tommy said, speaking up from the silence that had come over them. "While I was gone I began thinking about a list, it's like a list of rules that will help us survive. There's three of them, and I like to call them the stays and don'ts of zombie survival."

"Number one is kind of what Alex was just saying; Stay Calm, don't panic. Number two is stay together, don't split up. It doesn't matter how meaningless your task seems to be, don't ever be alone. Especially after we split up to go to Westville, never leave your partner anywhere. Number three is stay alert, don't be stupid. Keep your eyes open at all times, and don't ever forget that these things are trying to kill us. That's it, just remember those and hopefully it'll make being apart a little easier for us all."

After they went over the new rules and talked a little more about gun control, they all retired to the house, Alex actually staying off of his perch to join them at the dinner table. They spent that night talking about their plan, saying again that Coleen and Tommy were heading to Coleen's house, then Tommy's, and Tanya and James were heading to Tanya's. They still weren't sure where they would meet up afterwards, and in the back of their heads they didn't think they would be alive long enough to meet up, but no one said anything like that out loud.

"Where are we going to meet up?" Tommy asked, having no ideas himself.

"Well, just think. What's a place that is practically in between both homes?" Alex asked, looking to both of them for answers.

"There's Monical's." Tanya said, remembering the times she used to work there, making pizzas.

"That entire parking lot area, it's big and expansive. It should be moderately safe." Coleen said, looking to Tommy. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking about that abandoned grocery store that's on that lot. It should still be boarded up, so if we get in it'll be safe."

"Sounds good to me." James said, nodding his head in approval. "Sound good to all of you?"

Everyone agreed, either with a 'yeah', a nod, or just a simple grunt. Afterward they talked about how they were going to get to the houses, since they only had Alex's car at the moment, and he was willing to let them have it for the time being. They decided that James and Tanya would just drive Tommy and Coleen back to the train, which is where the mustang sat, where they would cross over and they would begin travelling back to Westville.

It was settled, after the next two days of preparing (gathering and separating the ammo, creating the most unsafe, make-shift explosives they could, and going over the rules and the plan multiple times) they would be on their way.


	28. Author's Note

I know I've never made an author's note before, and the main reason was to see if people would still review. I've received a few reviews, both written on fan fiction and spoken by close friends, but now I'm actually going to ask for your help. I'd like the people who enjoy my story to know that I enjoy what you think, about everything: characters, battles, tragedies, etc.

So, basically what I'm saying is, I need some feedback. Not the normal "Hey, nice story bro" kind of feedback either (even if it is still appreciated, more than you know). I'd like you to answer some questions (as selfish of me as that is). The questions are pretty simple:

Which character is your favorite? Why?

Which is your least favorite? Why?

Which character (or characters) do you feel are under-represented? Why?

Which locations did you like? Why?

Which did you dislike? Why?

What was your favorite part of the story? Why?

What was your least favorite? Why?

Was there a part that you feel should not be edited in any way? Why?

Is there a part that you feel should be completely removed? Why?

What do you think, would spice up the story?

Are there any specific things you would like to see?

Do you want a sequel?

That kind of gives away what I was going to try to surprise you with, but we are at the end of the adventure. I have a "final battle" mapped out, and it's going to take at least three parts (chapters), and I mean at least. With my head, and how my fingers work sometimes it might be more, but definitely not less.

That's why I'd love your feedback, because I'm not writing this story only for me. I'm writing it for my friends (who are present in the story), and for all of you (that's why I posted it on fan fiction to begin with).

I'm sorry if lack of Author's notes made you believe that I didn't care, but I do. I love people who read my story and think nice things about it. Don't we all? If any of you frequent xbox live and would fancy to play some games, go ahead and send me a friend request, or if you think I'm a prick you can just send me a very detailed message, telling me how you would destroy my family if you knew my address. My gamertag is very easy to figure out (DeathMcGunz), and I'm normally playing Modern Warfare 2, or Left 4 Dead 2. I love halo, so I'd play that too if that's what you prefer.

This is getting a bit lengthy, so I'm going to wrap it up here. Read, review, give me some feedback, and be ready for the end, because it's coming, and it's grey.


	29. Chapter 29

The car was packed, Tanya made sure of that. The plan was there and she was just hours away from getting to her house, seeing her parents, and feeling safe again. She did feel safe with her friends, but nothing could beat the safety of home, of parents. Spending the entire day as giddy as Coleen had been, she helped everyone get the stuff they needed (food, water, ammo, etc.) into the trunk of Alex's car, making sure to stick the stuff for Tommy and Coleen close to the to, for easy transfer from one vehicle to another.

They were satisfied with the work they had done right around the time the sun went down behind the Earth, leaving them in darkness. They kept the lights off for the night, just to make sure no infected got whiff of their scent. They didn't want their rest to be interrupted by their howls; they wanted everything to go smooth, but then again, who wouldn't?

They ate together for what they all thought would be the last time, savoring each bite and making sure to clear the entire table. Alex planned on staying at his house, not wanting to risk death or worse, so he tried to enjoy company, something he thought would never be with him after they drove off in his car. He thought the idea was funny, but he refrained from laughing, hoping that they would stay alive long enough for him to see them again someday.

After the food was gone, and the remaining was loaded into the back of Alex's car, everyone retired to their individual spots. Alex to his perch, James to the porch, Coleen and Tommy upstairs, and Tanya stayed downstairs, thinking that she had the entire house to herself. She felt sort of light, as if her heart had sprouted wings, and it made her want to leave immediately, but she knew that under the cover of night, they would die before she even reached Westville, let along her house clear on the other side of it. So she put in a movie, sat down and tried to sit through it.

About midway through it, when Mr. Perfect was feeling hopeless about Mrs. Perfect, she got up and went to the kitchen. She rummaged around in the fridge, not finding anything that caught her fancy, and then moved to the various cabinets, opening and shutting them as if she expected to find some buried treasure. There wasn't anything new, just the usual bowls, plates and cups, stacked up as high as they could go.

Getting bored with the kitchen, she strolled back into the living room, where the movie was still playing. There, she walked back and forth, pacing from one end of the TV to the other. She was jumpy, and completely sure that she was not going to get a wink of sleep the entire night, so she kept pacing. The floor boards creaked beneath her, and eventually that got on her nerves, so she walked to the sliding glass door that lead out into the backyard. She would have looked out into it, but the blinds were drawn, leaving her to trace her fingers along them.

She sighed, turning away from the glass to the poker table, which held only her shotgun. All of a sudden she felt tired, as if she could fall asleep right then and there. She probably would have, if it weren't for the glass, in the sliding door behind her being shattered. An infected propelled itself through it, latching onto Tanya's back and slamming her down on the table. Now it was certain; she wasn't going to get a wink of sleep.

Tommy and Coleen were exhausted as they laid down on the king sized bed that was located upstairs. They had spent the past three days working; creating make-shift explosives, learning how to fire their guns, learning how to swap between their weapons, etc. Their hands felt weak, and their legs could hardly support their bodies. It was as if, instead of blood, their veins carried lead, and it was coursing through their entire bodies.

When they collapsed on the bed, one right after another, they stared at the ceiling, just pondering what might happen when the sun came up. They each had their own ideas, and sadly, they both ended in tragedy. In their own heads, separating the four of them, (well, now five, including Alex) was a bad idea, but one that had to be done to insure safety.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you." Tommy said at one point, not moving his glance from the ceiling. Coleen didn't say anything. "No matter what happens, you're going to be safe."

"You can't promise that. You can't…you don't know what's going to happen." Coleen turned to look at Tommy as she spoke, and he to her.

"I know that, but I would do anything to make sure you were safe. I mean anything." Tommy's voice was stern, and his look matched it.

"You're not invincible, Tommy."

"I am, for you," He said, his hand reaching out and brushing the hair from her face. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not going to die."

"That's very cock of yo…"  
"But you know it's true." He smiled, showing his teeth. "I love you Coleen, and I'm really sorry for what I put you through, those two years, but you know I love you. I'm sorry if I made you doubt it, or not believe it, but I'm back now. You know I'll be here forever."

"And what about when you're in trouble?" She asked, still not sure. "What happens then?"

"Then you'll be there for me." He leaned closer to her, taking the back of her head in his hand. "I know you. You won't let anything happen to me either."

Coleen smiled back at him, changing her mind about what was going to happen when the sun came up. She felt like she was going to make it. She felt like she was going to make it all the way to Champaign, back into her mom's arms. She didn't just feel it, she knew it, and so did Tommy.

Tommy's face inched closer to Coleen's. They could feel what was about to happen, and they both couldn't wait. The sound of shattering glass was lost in their heads, but the sound of a shattering door wasn't. The infected (two to be precise) dashed in. Tommy hopped up quickly, reaching for his side arm but not being able to pull it out before the zombie dove into him, knocking him back and out of the window that sat next to the bed.

Coleen let out a scream then, remembering that they were on the second floor, remembering the conversation they had just had. Then she heard the other infected as it snarled, showing its nasty, vile teeth. She looked for her shotgun, the one Tommy and Alex had taught her to shoot, but it was on the other side of the room, right behind the infected.

By the time the infected burst into his house, Alex was lying on top of his barn, his riffle pointed towards the Catlin area. His head was drooping, and so were his eyes. In fact, he kept dozing off, drifting into a dream he'd had all too many times. He kept fighting himself though, not wanting to fall asleep until the sun came up, when his friend would be gone and he could die in peace.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Alex didn't feel the need to live anymore. He had nothing, and honestly he didn't want anything. He just wanted to go out peacefully, and not becoming one of those things, the things that made the world what it was then. He sighed, shaking his head to clear the thoughts, and the grogginess.

He took a sip from his thermos, not even realizing that it was empty, and then he went back to his scope. Looking at the same patch of ground and still seeing nothing made Alex feel like jumping off of the barn, just to give himself something to do. Then he heard it, the sound of glass shattering.

It came from his house, which was the only thing he was sure of. What made it though? Was it foreign, or his friends? Either way, he stood up, or he began to stand up when something grabbed his ankle from behind him. It dragged backwards, making him fall to the roof again. He kicked backward, connecting with something, and hearing that same something squeal, just like the infected, as it fell to the ground.

He tried to get up again, this time actually succeeding. He looked over the edge and saw the zombie he kicked, sprawling to get up, as three more were already climbing his ladder, the only way up, or down, the barn. Reacting out of impulse, without even thinking really, he kicked the ladder, knocking it backwards. He watched it hit the ground, along with the three infected. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and then realized what he had just done.

That ladder was the only way up, or down the barn. The only way.

James raked his hand through his short hair, getting up from his spot on the porch and walking the distance to the road, where he stood, starring up at the stars. It was the first time he was able to actually enjoy them, since every other time he had been outside there had been infected running a muck.

It felt peaceful, and calming to be standing there, nothing to worry about except for when the sun would come up, leaving the stars in darkness. He hated to admit it to himself, but James was afraid of what was going to happen to Tanya after they split up. He didn't care much about what was going to happen to him, he already accepted the possibility of death, but he worried about Tanya.

She was young, and even if James wasn't much older, she was a lot younger in other aspects; such as heart, looks, emotions, and knowledge. James had seen some horrible things in his life, things that made him feel a lot older than what he really was, and he prayed that Tanya wouldn't have to see those things too. All of them had seen some horrendous things since the mall, and from how Tommy spoke he had seen some things even before that, but so far, it had all felt surreal, almost as if a dream. As if they all expected to wake up any moment, back in their beds.

James knew it wasn't a dream, and even if it scared him, he accepted that. He didn't want to die, but he knew living was a pipe dream. He really only wanted to save Tanya. He just wanted her to be ok, and he supposed getting her to her parents was the only way to do it. It was going to be hard, and most likely life-threatening (actually, that was one of the few things he was sure of), but if it was what it took then James was going to do it.

Gazing at the stars, James imagined what might happen when the sun came up. The plan had been spoken about numerous times, but there was still so many variables. What if they were attacked on the way to the train? What if they were attacked at the train? What if the mustang was gone? There was just so much that could go wrong, and for some reason he couldn't shake the thought from his brain. Everyone else seemed excited about tomorrow; Tommy and Coleen were doing god knows what up in that bedroom, Tanya was acting giddy, something he hadn't seen in a long time, and Alex seemed glad that he was going to be alone again. It almost made him angry, but in the back of his head, he was glad that at least he was the only one upset.

There was a loud crash, as if glass was shattering, and James turned. What he saw stood every hair on his body up. Alex's house, as peaceful and tranquil as it normally looked, was surrounded by infected, literally. They were coming around the left hand side in a giant mass, climbing in through windows, climbing gutters, etc., and they warped around the right side, heading for the garage, and the barn, and James.

His eyes opened wide to see the full scale of what was happening. They were being ambushed, and they were severely outnumbered. James fired his rifle several times before they were too close, and that's when he swung, knocking a few back to the ground. He began to back away when he stumbled down the ditch next to the road and rolled into the corn field. He stood up confused, and slightly dazed. The infected came upon him like a wave, the only thing he could do was run.


	30. Chapter 30

Tanya's body hit the poker table quicker than she could even comprehend it. She was standing, pacing back and forth, then the next thing she knew she was on the poker table, with some infected on top of her, trying to claw at her. Luckily, instinct kicked in and she tried to shove the thing off of her, but to no avail.

She tried to look around, but for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off of the infected; it's disgusting face and torn up skin. Kicking, and beginning to scream now, Tanya tried to wriggle her way out of the thing's grasp, but it was holding strong. It's hands were wrapped around her arms, squeezing them as tight as it could. Tanya could feel the numbness from lack of blood flow, come into her arms. She had to act quick, but there wasn't anything to do.

Then she saw it. It was just a glass cup, sitting on a coaster just a few inches from her head. Using all energy available, her hand wrapped around the glass and forced it against the zombie's head. It didn't do much in the way of damaging it, but it did get her free of its claws. Instead of heading towards the infected when she got up, she rolled backwards, so that she ended up on the other side of the poker table.

The infected hopped on the table, and began to make a run for her. But Tanya grabbed onto the end of the table, and lifted, flipping it backward. The zombie fell to the ground and the table landed on top of it. Tanya knew that wasn't going to kill it, but that's why she walked over to where he gun was sitting, picked it up, aimed at the table, and fired two shells into the wood. She heard them impact with the body of the infected, and even saw the blood as it pooled around the body.

Smiling, she turned just in time to see three more bustling towards her. She pumped the gun and fired, hitting two of them. The last one took the butt of the gun to the face, knocking its bottom jaw loose and sending it to the ground, where Tanya fired one more shell into its dismembered skull. She wanted to call it a night right then, but she could hear more, and since no one had come to her rescue, she was sure there were even more than she could imagine.

Another began to climb over the poker table, but Tanya ran towards it and brought her foot down on the table, knocking it back even more, placing it as a sort of barricade in front of the sliding glass door that was shattered. She pumped the gun, letting the empty casing fall to the ground, before she lifted it, placing the stock against her shoulder. Holding it like that, she began to move through the house, heading towards the front door, where she knew James had been all night.

She heard a blast from upstairs, which made her jump and turn toward the doorway that led to the stairs. She waited, expecting a zombie form of her friend to come down, but instead, a familiar face showed it's weary smile.

Coleen wanted to worry about Tommy, but she had to worry about herself for the time being. There was an infected standing in between her and her weapon of choice, and the only way she'd be able to help Tommy was to get that weapon of choice. She glanced around, waiting for the infected to pounce on her. Her eyes caught the lamp on the desk and she made a dive for it.

Her hand wrapped around the skinny base of it as the infected leapt across the bed. Yanking it free from the desk and the wall, Coleen swung it like a softball bat, right into the infected's chest, knocking it off balance. She swung again, using all of her might to knock it back away from her. It connected with the infected's shoulder, and that only seemed to irritate it.

Coleen cursed, throwing the lamp at the infected and running for her gun. The infected stumbled but caught its balance immediately, leaping forward and grabbing Coleen's shin with its grimy hand. She cursed again, kicking back with her old converse, connecting many times with the infected's head. She wrenched herself free, and picked the double barreled shotgun up from its place on the wall. She lifted it up, just as Alex had taught her, and fired, both barrels releasing a large shell into the zombie.

She gasped and let a sigh of relief, turning away from the mess she had made that infected in to. Slinging the shotgun over her back, she picked up the pistol her hands had become accustomed to, and headed for the window. She looked out of it and at first she didn't see Tommy, but then she heard his rifle fire, somewhere from the side of the house, and smiled. He was ok, for now.

Dashing for the stairs, she grabbed his pistol that was setting on the bed still, put it in her jeans, and closed the door behind her. There was an infected hustling up the stairs as soon as the door shut behind her. She raised the pistol immediately and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered its skull and it rolled lifelessly down the stairs, Coleen walking slowly behind it.

She came into the small den at the bottom of the stairs and kept the gun raised as she slowly went towards the doorway that led into the living room. She rounded the corner quickly, smiling when she saw Tanya standing there, looking just as exhausted as she felt.

"We need to find James!" Tanya said, beginning to turn away. "Where's Tommy?"

"Nice to see you too," Coleen said, lowering her gun. "Tommy's outside, probably with James by now. Lead the way."

Tanya raised her gun and walked towards the front door, Coleen was close behind, her gun raised as well. Too bad they weren't looking behind them.

The noise their claws made against the side of the barn made Alex's head spin. He took out his pistol and aimed over the roof, pulling the trigger a few times just to watch the blood burst from their skulls. Cursing himself for knocking over the ladder, Alex walked around the edge of the barn, looking for some way, but from what he saw, there wasn't anything, just the twenty feet drop to the ground.

He fired a few more times, pacing back and forth until he noticed something. There were weird growths on one of the infected, as if it had large tumors located on its arm. It disgusted Alex, but it also intrigued him. There other infected didn't have these growths, so why did this one?

Then he heard something, like nails on a chalkboard. The claws of one of those infected was digging into the side of the barn, and it was climbing. Alex felt fear creep into him as he lifted his gun and fired at the one climbing up. He looked at it, a shocked expression on his face, but he couldn't stare for long. The sound of their claws came in mass this time.

Alex fired at the ones he could see on his side of the barn before turning and firing on a few that just reached the apex behind him. More were coming up from all direction and Alex was running low on ammo. He only had his pistol, the only other gun was his mounted sniper rifle, which was mounted, and a long range weapon. It was completely useless right now.

He continued to pull the trigger until the gun clicked, signifying that it was empty. Alex was already panicking, but when that click went into his hearing it turned into distraught. He felt the end coming, and for some reason he didn't want it, not like that, not right there. So he turned towards the edge, and leapt.

The fall was short, not like one of those slow motion tackles in the movies, but a quick, two story fall to the ground. When Tommy hit the ground, the zombie clawing at him, he got the wind knocked out of him, leaving him gasping. It was hard to try to catch his breath and fight the infected at the same time, but he had to. If he didn't then he would be letting everyone down, he'd be letting Coleen down.

His fist swung around and collided with the infected's skull, knocking it off balance and allowing him, while still gasping for air, to show it off of his torso. It quickly regained balance though and prepared to pounce, but Tommy was ready. He brought his foot up and shoved it into the infected's gut as it leapt towards him, claws out and teeth showing.

A spurt of blood came from the zombie's mouth as it was knocked onto its back. Tommy got to his knees as the zombie rolled over, trying to stand back up. He planted his knees on its back, pinning it to the ground. Then, finally catching his breath, he grabbed his pistol, placed it against the zombie's head, and pulled the trigger.

He flinched and closed his eyes as the blood and brain exploded onto the grass. Thinking it was over he put his pistol back in his pants. His rifle had luckily been knocked out of the window along with him, so he stood up and walked over to it, picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder. For some reason, he was oblivious to the roars around him, most likely because he was still dazed from the fall.

Looking up the window he finally heard them. They were coming in mass from the corn field behind Alex's house. He could see them running by him, trying to get around the house, and into the house. He lifted the rifle and fired at the nearest one. It dropped, leaving a red streak in the grass.

He fired a few more times before beginning to move. The back door was probably the best way to get back to Coleen, to make sure she was ok, so that's where he was headed. Until he saw the barn, that is. He glanced up at it, and saw the infected as they clawed their way up, and Alex, as he fell his way down. Alex hit the ground hard, and Tommy could tell that he wasn't going to be able to stand easily.

Lifting the rifle and firing a few more times, Tommy cleared his way towards the barn. He got to Alex just as one came down on top of him. Tommy fired carefully, making sure not to hit Alex, before trying to help him up.

"Just go!" Alex yelled.

"Don't be a dumb ass!" Tommy yelled over his own gun fire. "You're not Jack Bauer!"

Tommy took his pistol out and handed it to Alex, who began firing it immediately. Then Tommy dropped a few clips in Alex's lap before grabbed the back of Alex's shirt. Alex looked up, perplexed by what Tommy was doing.

"What are you thinking!"

"I'm going to drag your ass!" Tommy said, as he began to pull Alex towards the house.

James was running; shooting and running. They kept bursting in behind him, and in front of him, and to his sides, so he just kept the trigger held down as he ran, until the clip went empty. Then he'd pop it out and reload as quickly as he could before replacing his trigger finger. He was sure that the only thing he was accomplishing was to slow them down, but he didn't care. At least he was drawing some attention away from the others. Maybe they would pile into Alex's car and drive off.

He scoffed as he thought that, remembering all the infected he saw pouring into the house. He had a bad feeling about it, a feeling he had kept pushed away until that moment. He tried to push it away then, by drowning it out with gun fire, but it didn't work. He felt like he was going to die; no, actually, he knew he was going to die, and that sort of comforted him, but it also scared the living hell out of him.

Where was he going to run? They were everywhere, and they didn't seem to be stopping. Where were they coming from? It seemed to random for them to attacking right then, out of the blue, as if it were an ambush. What would happen to Tanya? She was alone downstairs. She had a gun of course, but who knew if she could use it well. James shook his head, clearing it so that he could keep focused on the task at hand; run until his heart exploded, which he was sure would happen any minute.

An infected leapt on his back while he was running, knocking him to the ground. Dirt got in his eyes and all over his body, but he was determined not to die quite yet. So he popped up as fast as he could, just as the infected leapt again. James brought his boot up into its face, dropping it to the ground where James could stomp its head into oblivion; which he did.

Without worrying about the dirt, James grabbed his rifle and continued sprinting, hearing them closing in on him again. They were breathing down his neck, and any minute now they would be on top of him, just like they were on Tommy back at the church. James could feel a claw grace his back and…

Then James came out of the field and tripped over the railroad track that was there, tumbling down the hill on the other side. Gaining his balance, he turned and fired up at the top of the hill, knowing that the infected would be coming over any second. Thirty-two, he counted, after reloading and standing back up. Thirty-two of them were chasing him. He gave himself a pat on the back.

Looking around James realized two things. One was that the train that had blocked their car from getting to Alex's was gone. For what reason, he had no clue, but it was gone. The second thing was, the mustang was still there, and the keys were still in the ignition.


	31. Chapter 31

The infected just had to bust through the front door right when it came into sight. The little hallway connecting it with the house was instantly filled with zombies. Tanya pulled the trigger and pumped, repeating that process until the hallway was cleansed, but there were more coming.

Coleen turned from Tanya, and fired her pistol at the ones that were coming from behind them. She tried to make each shot either a head shot, killing the zombies, or a leg shot, hindering the zombie. Sometimes she wasn't lucky, but other times it seemed God had a hand in guiding the bullet, causing it to go straight through two, or even three zombie head's at one time.

"I have to reload!" Tanya yelled. Knocking a zombie right in the skull with the butt of her shotgun. She heard the crack, but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to pull that off every time. She had to reload, and fast.

"Get down!" Coleen yelled, drawing the pistol Tommy left behind and aiming it toward Tanya.

"What?" Tanya yelled, not sure if she heard correctly.

"I said, get the fuck down!" Tanya dropped to her knees and Coleen pulled the trigger, locking her arms so the recoil wouldn't through her off too much. She kept firing as Tanya fed shells into her shotgun.

"Done!" Tanya yelled, and Coleen dropped to her knees, reloading her pistols, and laying her fully loaded double barrel on the floor, just in case she needed it. Coleen stayed there, firing around Tanya's legs when she needed, and allowing Tanya to fire over Coleen's head when she needed. They were completely dumb founded at how well they were working together. It was almost as if war veterans had taken over their bodies, and they didn't mind one bit.

No matter how well they were doing though, the zombies seemed to be inching closer with each one. They kept loading bullet after bullet into them, but there didn't seem to an end to the onslaught. They needed to move, they were too exposed where they were.

Tanya remembered something that Alex had told them while they were learning to hold their guns properly. He said something like, don't let the zombies lead you, you are the smarter creature, so you lead them.

"We need to move!" Tanya was looking around, trying to find the perfect spot.

"Where to?" Coleen stood up, firing off a few more rounds from her pistol into a few that were coming in by the kitchen. They both looked around, trying to give cover to each other, and then they saw it; the bedroom at the far end of the house, next to the living room. The door was wide open, so all they had to do was make it there, and they would be ok.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Coleen asked, in a suggestive tone.

"Go!" Tanya took off running, Coleen close behind her. Tanya fired once to hit one that was coming down the stairs, and Coleen turned around and fired while strafing backwards to slow down the ones coming in from everywhere else. Tanya got in to the door and checked the windows, they were all broken out, so she began to look for anything that could block them, like the pool table and the sliding glass door.

Coleen tripped at the door frame, not really looking where she was going, her foot snagged on the door frame itself and she fell backward into the room, still firing her guns until they began to click; the sound that they were all beginning to hate. Using her foot, she kicked the door shut and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Help me find something to block the windows with." Tanya wasn't yelling anymore, but she did sound agitated, but who the hell wouldn't?

"The mattress!"Coleen exclaimed. "Help me lift it and we can put it in front of that window, and we can use the dresser, or something to block the other." Tanya didn't say anything, she only went over to the mattress and began to try and lift it. Her and Coleen struggled to get the thick, king sized mattress up, and it was as simple as letting it go to get it to fall against the window, blocking the infected from getting in.

They went over to the dresser, and began to push, when Coleen saw something in the last window that almost made her jump out of her skin.

###

Alex was having a hard time reloading as Tommy dragged him. It reminded him of that lame scene in the remake of "Dawn of the Dead", but in his case, it seemed much more dramatic. When they reached the side of the house, Tommy set Alex against the siding and began to fire his gun. The number of infected completely baffled them. It was like an entire city was coming down upon them, and there was no way their ammo was going to last.

"We need to get in the house!" Tommy yelled over his machine gun, which he now had set to 'full auto'.

"The house?" Alex began, sounding confused. "That's where all these fuckers are going!"

"That's where Coleen and Tanya are." Tommy said, reloading before he began to slowly head towards the front door.

"Hey, what about me?" Alex said, almost pleading.

"You can limp, so get your ass up and limp!" Alex looked at him with an almost angry glare, until he tried to stand up. It was then that he realized his legs weren't hurt too bad, actually, his left leg felt perfectly fine, it was his right leg that was stiff, and swollen.

Tommy rounded the corner of the house, and Alex limped after him. They took out anything that got even remotely close to them, but there were too many to even be able to tell what was close, and what wasn't aware of them. When they reached the front door, they saw it in shambles and feared the worst. Tommy stepped in quickly, looking around and seeing a few infected gathered around the bedroom door, slamming on it, or just tripping over themselves.

"Was that door closed before?" Tommy asked, thinking about if he should shoot the infected, or just ignore them.

"What door?" Alex said, hunched up against where the front door used to be.

"What door?" Tommy mocked. "The only fucking door downstairs, besides the one that is lying in pieces around you."

"Oh. No, it's always open. Why?"

Tommy went out through the front door, almost pushing Alex out of the way as he went. A few more infected came shambling towards them, but with a few carefully placed shots they were on the ground in no time. They didn't face much resistance the rest of the walk to the bedroom window, but they did see a number of them running into the corn field. They wondered if James was out there, or if maybe James was inside the room and the girls were out there. It frightened them, so they hurriedly looked into the window, only to see a mattress fall flat against it.

"What the hell?" Tommy asked, shocked at the random barrier.

"What, what is it?" Alex hobbled over to the window, peaking in and seeing only the mattress.

"Those clever devil's." Tommy said, rounding the left hand corner of the house and looking in through the second bedroom window. There he saw the mattress up against the window, the door which was usually never closed, and Coleen, who looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Knock, knock." Alex said, showing his face through the window too. Coleen unclasped the lock on top of the window, and slid it open. Tommy hoisted Alex up through it, and climbed in after him. Coleen fired at a few zombies who were rushing their way over to them, making their brains into slushies before they even reached the road.

Tommy helped the girls push the dresser in front of the door, and then dropped to the floor afterwards. Coleen sat down next to him, handing him his pistol that he left in the room. He thanked her and put his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him and looked over to Alex, and then over to Tanya. They all assumed that would be the last chance they'd ever get to say that they loved each other; but no one said a word.

###

James turned the key in the ignition, feeling that familiar motor explode into life in front of him. He put it in drive, cranked up the radio as loud as it could go, and slammed the pedal to the metal. He prayed that he would make it to the house in time.


	32. Chapter 32

The room didn't stay quiet for long. The infected began their pounding just moments after Tommy took his seat on the floor. It made all four of them jump as they waited for their turn to die. They felt hopeless, and the knocking on the door (more like slamming) irritated them. It made them want to just get up, put the barrel of their gun to the door, and pull the trigger.

That would get rid of their barrier though, and they couldn't risk that; not now, even when they saw the end coming. Tommy held Coleen, who curled up as tight as she could against his side. He ran his hand through her hair for what he thought was the last time, as he thought about life before he came back. He thought about how much he missed Coleen, and how much he wanted to get back to her, back to this moment. He didn't really see zombies when he thought of that moment, but he still enjoyed having her, having Coleen. She meant the world to him, and he meant even more to her.

Coleen wanted to cry, but she held it in. There was no need to cry, especially when she felt so content with where she was. When people found her body, tightly woven with Tommy's, they'd know that she died for him, with him, and that he did the same. She looked up at Tommy's face, which had been growing scruffier by the day. He had his eyes closed, and he was smiling. That made Coleen smile, just as she leaned as close as she could to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

He looked down, smirking his all-too-familiar smirk, before saying "I've been waiting for one of those for two whole years."

"And?" Coleen asked, wondering if he was satisfied.

"It was more than worth it." He said, tilting his head back so he could stare at the ceiling, losing himself in his own thought. "You always told me you wanted to be a gunslinger." She could hear his smile, and she could feel its warmth; she enjoyed every second of it.

"I'm hardly that." She said, looking over to Tanya, who was staring towards the door.

"Bull," Tommy exclaimed, looking to Alex. "Without you, I wouldn't be here. Remember back at those apartments, when you shot the zombie that James couldn't get? I'd have been dead, right there."

"That's one time, but how many times have you saved all of us?" Tommy thought for a moment before replying.

"Never." He said, looking down at Coleen. "I haven't saved us at all, at least not single handedly. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you guys."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." Coleen said, trying to prove a point. "If your car hadn't have been at the Y, I would have been chased down and killed. I would have been one of the lame bitten-as-soon-as-the-infection-breaks-out people."

"Me and James wouldn't have gotten out of that Mall if it weren't for you either." Tanya spoke up. "We didn't have a car there, so we were stranded."

"Ok. So my car has saved you guys, not me. My car has saved us a lot, now that I think about it. It's like the rope that has kept us tethered together."

"Yeah, and now that it's gone we are being ambushed by these freaks. Good job mustang." Coleen made even Alex laugh with that comment. The banging on the door got even more violent, signifying that other infected had joined the previous one in his attempt to get through; soon it would work, and they all knew it.

"Fuck it." Alex said, drawing his pistol and walking to the door. He held up the gun at about chest height, and pulled the trigger until the clip was empty. The banging stopped, but the door was now in tatters. No one got angry, because they all seemed to understand what he was doing. "I'm not going down without a fight. I know it's completely cliché, but if you guys can travel from one end of Danville to here and be ok, then we can do whatever the hell we want."

Coleen hefted her double barrel onto her back, and brought her pistol at the read. Tommy checked his rife, setting it back to single shot before aiming it toward the door. Tanya fed the rest of her shells into her shotgun and checked to make sure her pistol was loaded and ready to fire, and Alex simply kicked the door down, sending it into a rushing infected.

Alex immediately fired one to its skull, to make sure it stayed down, before walking over the downed door into the living room. The rest of the survivors followed in suit, making sure to check every possible direction as they went. A few infected rushed towards them, but they were quickly silenced by the armada of weapons.

"I've got a flare," Alex said, pulling it from his pack. "They should be attracted to it, so I'll light it and chuck it in the house. Then, when they are all swarming on it, we'll light it up."

"Anyone got a match?" Tommy asked, jokingly. Alex pulled from his pouch, a box of matches. They nodded, and began to file out of the front door, firing at any and all infected. Dropping several in a few seconds, Alex lit the flare, waving it in the air a few times before chucking it on the roof of the house.

The infected roared and snarled as they caught a glimpse of the bright source of light and heat. They rushed towards it, ignoring the four survivors as they headed back towards the garage, where Alex kept the bulk of his supplies. They already knew they were going to hold up there, using every last bit of ammo until they were dry. They knew that was where they would make their final stand.

When a significant amount of infected gathered around the house, trying to claw their way to the flare, Alex grabbed one of the crude explosive they had spent time making; a Molotov cocktail. He struck one of the matches and lit the gasoline soaked cloth that stuck out of the bottle. Then he chucked it, like someone would throw a javelin.

It connected with the side of the house, exploding into a brilliant burst of quick spreading fire. It engulfed that side of the house, and all the infected in that area. The house, being and old, all wood house immediately caught fire too. They could see it slowly deteriorate as the flames began to burn away at the support. They smiled, knowing that they had done some significant damage. Also because it made them think of that crazy man with the sledgehammer; the one that saved them back at the gas station.

The infected began to swarm and they began to unload every bullet they had. Shell after shell, round after round, infected fell left and right. Bodies were piling up, and so were empty casings. They all felt like Rambo, but unlike Rambo they had to reload, and they would eventually run out of ammo. The supplies were already running low, forcing them to switch weapons every few minutes, until eventually they were all on their last gun.

"I'm all out!" Tommy yelled, looking to his friends for ammo. No one had any, so he grabbed another Molotov, struck a match, and lit the cloth, chucking the bottle into Alex's front yard. Luckily for them, the infected seemed to like the fire more than they liked the survivors, so the house drew a lot of their attention. Fires go out though, and they could feel their flame dwindling. They didn't do it aloud, but everyone prayed.

"Come on!" The lead singer of Breaking Benjamin screamed at James, as the song blared through the speakers of the mustang. James yelled along, cranking the volume even louder. He rolled down the windows, letting the wind rush in, as cold as it was; he wanted everything to hear him as he pulled up.

He checked to make sure his gun was loaded, and it was. The ammo was still in the trunk, so he was able to restock whatever he had used running through the corn field. He hoped he wasn't too late. He hoped that his friends were still alive, still fighting, so that he could save them, so that he wouldn't have to be alone. He needed them, and he hoped that they needed him.

The car jerked as the road shifted from pavement to gravel, but James kept pace, keeping his foot firmly on the pedal. It was touching the floor of the mustang, and the engine roared to acknowledge that. James kept screaming the words of the song, feeling alive, and happy. He had felt so hopeless when he saw the house, with all the infected coming around it, but now that didn't seem to matter. He was singing, and driving, and just enjoying what he had.

The house came in to view, and the first thing he noticed was the fire. It made him worry, but it also made him realize that the others had to be alive. The infected didn't know how to start fires, and the five of them had spent the past three days making lousy Molotov cocktails; James was surprised that they were of any use.

He laid on the horn, seeing the infected as they turned their heads. He kept his hand pressed down on it even as he came to the drive way, where he slammed on the breaks and jerked the wheel. The car began to skid and turn as it went from the driveway, to the yard, and back to the driveway. He honked the horn a few more times, seeing that Alex, Tommy, Coleen and Tanya were in the garage, waving their arms in the air so that James would spot them. He waved back, before the infected began to claw at his windows, which were down.

Grabbing his gun, he began to cleanse the car of all infected. He took out the ones by his window first, which allowed him to open the door and take out the ones on the hood, before turning and taking the ones that had found their way on the roof. He popped the clip out and began to sprint towards the garage when he heard one infected leap towards him. Tanya's quick finger pulled the trigger of a rifle she had picked up, sending a bullet straight into the infected's head. She thanked Alex for the tips, and the gun, because they just saved James' life.

James got to the garage with the help of the others, who, like Tanya, took out anything that got even relatively close to him. When he was in the safety of the walls, he looked around to everyone.

"You ok James?" Tanya asked, stepped toward him.

"Yeah, just doing a head check. If all of you weren't here I'd have to go back into that burning house and drag your sorry asses out here." He gave a slight chuckle while he was trying to catch his breath. "Thank your car for me. Ammo's in the back, and it goes faster than a mother-fucker."

"We already reserved a date on the calendar to commemorate it, don't worry." Tommy said, joking as he patted James on the shoulder. "Damn it, don't ever pull a 'me' again."

"Don't you worry. I don't like being dead as much as the next guy." James tossed his riffle to Tommy, seeing that he wasn't holding one of his own, then he pulled out his pistol. "So what? Is the plan still on?"  
"If you haven't noticed, captain oblivious, there are zombies all over the damn place. We can't move without getting a fist full of rotting flesh up our ass." Alex seemed irritated, but then again, everyone was.

"That plan still out in the barn?" James asked, looking to Alex.

"No! I flew it to Canada and forgot that they don't fight wars, so I came back. Of course it's still in there. What do you plan on doing with it? Push it down the street?"

"Hey, if you two could cut the shit and decide on something, everyone would very much appreciate it." Tommy said, halting his assault on a few infected that were shambling towards the garage.

"I think I can get it running," James said, sounding exhilarated. "If we string it with lights and stuff, you can fly off in it, taking the infected with you."

"Oh, so you're going to use me as bait?"

"You're going to be in a plane, and last I knew, the infected can't fly."

"Ok," Alex said, agreeing to the plan as he looked towards the barn, seeing the numerous infected around it, coming towards them. "But one question: how are we going to get to the barn?"

"How the hell else?" Tommy asked. "We shoot our way there." He finished loading a clip into James' rifle as he said it, hearing the click that told him it was ready to kill.


	33. Chapter 33

The first shot was fired by Tommy, as he stepped out of the open garage door into Alex's scarred yard. The bullet traveled into the nearest infected, dropping it to the ground, allowing Tommy to put another bullet into its head without trouble. Its blood mixed with all the others.

James and Alex came out next, James bursting into a sprint towards the barn, and Alex kneeling down to give himself better accuracy. Coleen and Tanya came out, quickly trying to catch up with James as Tommy followed behind, giving cover with James' rifle. Alex yanked the large duffle bag of ammo from the trunk of the Mustang and followed slowly behind him.

The infected came down on him, but with Tommy knelt by the barn door, firing every bullet he had, Alex was able to make it. He dropped the bag and everyone grabbed the ammo they were going to need. They shut the barn door, knowing it wasn't going to hold, just to give them enough time to think.

"We need anything shiny, or bright. Flashy things that will attract their attention." James said as inspected the plane. Tommy, Coleen and Tanya began looking around, trying to find anything that met those criteria.

"My dad's got one of those Budweiser signs; the ones that flash and stuff." Alex said, running over to the back or the barn, and pulling out the decent sized sign.

"Great, where are we going to put it?"James asked, continuing to check the plane for places to put things. It was a small plane, so most of the space on it was either taken up by something important, or too small to fit anything.

"The back!" Alex exclaimed. "We can just hang it here in the back."

"Won't that throw off the weight?" Tommy asked.

"I'm the one that'll be flying it, so don't worry about that." Alex said as he slipped the two hooks on top of the sign over the back of the plane. He flipped the switch on it and the sign burst into life. "Still works too."

"I always wondered why people bought those." Coleen said, dragging a string of Christmas lights from a moldy box.

"Yup, they're for staving off the blood-thirsty infected." They all sort of chuckled; even though they knew what they were doing was suicide. There was no masking it; it would be a miracle if they all made it out a live, or even if just one of them made it.

James helped Coleen with the Christmas lights, wrapping them around the wings of the plane and flicking them on. There were several strands, so by the time they got them all on the wings, they were fully covered, making the normally bland, white plane stick out like a sore thumb.

"Why they hell do you have search lights in here?" Tanya asked, dragging two medium sized spot lights from mess of the barn.

"Same reason I have that beer sign." James laughed at that one, and everyone else wanted to; they just couldn't. They attached one to the front of the plan, where the pilot sat, and one on the over side of the cockpit.

"You think that's good enough?" Coleen asked, fearing that the tiny door wasn't going to old against the infected for much longer.

"Whoever doesn't look at this plane as it flies over head is either blind, or dead." Alex said. "Now how do we get it working James? You said you thought you knew how."

"Yeah, give me a second. There's just something I have to check in cockpit." James climbed up and hopped in the pilot's seat. As he began to flip switches and check dials, the door gave way, letting the swarm of infected inside of the barn. Without trying to panic too much, the other four began to fire upon the zombies, aiming to keep them off of the plane.

"Don't worry about them James!" Tanya yelled, as she saw him reach for his pistol. "Just get that damn thing started!"

One infected leapt and grabbed onto the wing of the plane, tilting it slightly. Alex ran towards it, and with one shot from his pistol, he knocked it to the ground. His boot came down on its head moments later, splattering it like a bug. James hurriedly searched for what he was looking for. It was one little knob that they always turned to the left, and for some reason he felt that if he turned it to the right, it would actually start up.

He found it, just as an infected hopped up right in front of him, making him jump out of his skin. It spat blood on the little windshield in front of him, and James quickly tried to draw his gun, but he just couldn't get it. The infected reached a clawed hand out to get him, and just before it scratched his nose, a bullet blew its fingers off. Blood sprayed on James, but he didn't care, he finally was able to pull his pistol out. Two quick shots and the zombie dropped off of the plane, hitting the wing before finally coming to rest on the dirt floor of the barn.

James gave a panicked look at the others, as if to say it-took-you-long-enough, but they were all preoccupied. The infected kept pouring in, but they seemed to have it under control. With only one small doorway for the infected to get in, they kept the building on lock down, for the most part.

"We've got to get this door open!" James yelled from the cockpit. Everyone looked over to him, seeing what he meant. The large barn door, the one that slid open to let the plane in and out, needed to be pushed open, and when that happened, more infected then they could handle would be coming after them. In fact, they could already hear the banging on the walls.

"Alex, give me a hand!" Tommy screamed, jogging over to the large door, preparing to push it open. Alex went to join him, knowing that it was going to be hard to get it open with just the two of them. "Watch our backs."

They began to push, the door sliding slowly on its little railing. The infected immediately tried to claw through the crack, so Coleen and Tanya fired, each using their pistol to make sure that they wouldn't accidently hit any of their friends. Tommy and Alex strained as they kept pushing.

"Hurry up!" James yelled from the cockpit, looking rather irritated.

"You get down here and push this giant ass door, and let me get up there and scream at you! How does that sound?" Tommy voice was edgy, the door feeling like it weighed a ton. It didn't matter how heavy it was though, they had to get it open. It was top priority, once it was open it would get hard, and for all he knew, they wouldn't make it. But if they got the plane in the air, and the infected actually took the bait, they would be safe; at least for a little.

More infected started to pour in as the gap got wider, forcing Tanya and Coleen to shoot quicker, and more precise to make sure that Tommy and Alex stayed alive. They reloaded quickly, making sure to amp up the fire whenever one of them couldn't shoot. It was exhausting, and for that instant they didn't feel invincible. But when the plane's propeller slowly began to spin, and the engine putted into life, they felt that feeling again.

Smiles it up on all of their faces, even Alex and Tommy's as they hefted the door the rest of the way open. Securing it into place, Tommy lifted up James' assault rifle and helped give cover to the plane, as did Alex. They met up around the back of the plane, using it as cover, even though they were protecting it.

"James, hop on out and I'll get in." Alex said, preparing to climb up to the cockpit.

"No!" James yelled over the sound of the engine.

"What the hell do you mean, 'No'?" Alex asked.

"I mean, take Tanya, get to the car, and go!" James sounded serious, as if it had been his plan the entire time. "Right when I get this thing off of the ground, make a run for it!"

"But.." Tanya began to say, sounding scared for the first time in a while.

"No!" James yelled, starting to get irritated. "Listen to me! Just go! I'll be fine. If Tommy can't die, then neither can I." He calmed down halfway through the sentence, ending with his voice sounding sincere.

Tanya wanted to say no, she wanted to force James to quit being an idiot, and to get the hell out of the plane; but she couldn't. There was already too much chaos, and for some reason, she knew she would see him again; sometime. So she nodded her head, and allowed Alex to practically drag her away from the plane. Tommy and Coleen followed close behind, making sure to take out anything that was near, or even thinking about getting close to the plane.

"Give me a push!" James yelled, as he tried to get the plane moving. Tommy looked to Alex before slinging his gun over his back and jogging back over to the plane. They each got behind a different wing, and on the count of three, they began to push it out of the barn, into the large yard. Coleen and Tanya stayed at the door of the barn, to make sure nothing got close to them, but there were tons of infected. If Coleen had to take a guess, she would have said a couple hundred, at the least; and they were all coming down on the plane.

It began to lift though, hopping up into the air a few times before finally kicking off. Tommy and Alex all but fell to the ground when they went from pushing a plane, to pushing noting in a matter of seconds. But they held their ground, whipping out their guns and praying that the infected would take their bait.

Finding refuge near the garage, Tommy and Alex looked up into the sky, seeing their shinning, Christmas-light-strung, beer sign carrying, plane, flying . They smiled, generally stunned that it was actually in the air, and was actually staying there. It took a moment for it to actually work, but the infected actually looked up at it, and began running in its direction; a few even hopped up and down, thinking they could grab it out of the sky.

"We did it!" Alex screamed. "We fucking did it!" He too leapt in the air with glee, holding his gun high above his head as if it were a war flag. Tommy looked over to the barn, seeing Coleen and Tanya staring up at their work of art.

"We don't have time to sit around." Tommy said to Alex. "Get Tanya, and get to your car. If we don't get out of here while we have this moment of opportunity, James would have done that for nothing. And I'm not letting that happen." Tommy began jogging over to his mustang, and Alex, after taking one more glance at the plane, went towards his car.

###

James was cheering, screaming at the top of his lungs as the plane circled around Alex's property. The infected continued to gather, following the plane's pattern, and when he thought he got all of their attention, James began to set course for anywhere-but-here.

The fire on the house had practically engulfed the entire left side of it, and he saw Tommy as he went for the mustang, and Alex as he went for his ex-police cruiser. What he didn't see, until it was almost too late, was the zombie that had climbed on top of the roof of Alex's house. It was running, full sprint across it, heading straight for James' plane, and James didn't give it an ounce of attention.

Then it jumped, soaring from the house towards the plane. It leapt like the hulk, flying high in the air, to match the altitude of the plane. James let out a scream of panic, and pure disbelief as he jerked the controls to the plane, so that the infected missed, by just a hair. It feel to the ground, seeming not to even notice how far it just fell.

James felt something, deep in his stomach, gain mass. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't like what had just happened. The infected were changing; they were getting stronger. That was all he could think about as he soared off into the distance, taking the infected with him.

###

It was quiet for the first time since the zombies attacked the house. The fire was spreading, taking the entire house to the ground, and the heat from it felt nice. They hadn't noticed it before, but it had been freezing, and at that moment, they could even see their breath. They all enjoyed the silence for a little bit, even though they had to get moving. Any minute and the infected would come back, or more would come; either way, it wasn't going to be this quiet for long.

"I'll see you guys at monicals right?" Tanya asked, feeling a little nervous about the trip at hand.

"There isn't any other place I'd rather be."Coleen said, looking over to Tommy. "We ready?"

"I don't think we ever were." Tommy said, giving her a hug before getting into the driver's side of the mustang. Coleen got in the passenger side and gave Tanya a wave as her and Alex got into his vehicle. Tanya returned it, putting on the weakest smile she could muster. They were all exhausted, and in fact, Coleen had fallen asleep before the raging fire that Alex's house had become, left their view.

The sun was poking up over the horizon, as if it had been hiding the entire time, and only now did it think it was safe enough to come out. They all wished they had had that luxury.


	34. End Note

To answer your question, yes that is the end of this story, but no, that is not the end of this tale. I've been planning a sequel since the beginning, so do not fret, it will come in time. I'm going to work on a few other stories for now, while I hammer out the details of the sequel to this one. I don't know if any of you have read any of my other stories, but if you do, or would like to, then by all means, go ahead.

Remember, I love all feedback, from the "Great story bro" to the highly inquisitive. If you have a question, go ahead and ask me, and I will answer it. I like answering questions, and I love hearing what you think. Did you like this story? Did the ending go well? Did you enjoy the way I ended it? You know, just tell me what you thought.

Anyways, here are a few things to expect from the sequel: Tanya's fiancé, a blind man, and AC-130 gunship, insane park dwellers, miniature golfing, a forest preserve, collapsing towers, collapsing parking structures, unstable grain factories, CEDA, an afro-European journalist, etc. I know that doesn't say much at all, but it's nice to tease.

On another note, tell me what you'd like to see in the sequel, such as, ideal places? Ideal people? Ideal encounters? Etc. I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking, if there are even enough people to call 'you guys'.

Ok, well that's enough of that. I hope you enjoyed the ride.


End file.
