"We need you to make some more of those bombs that you used before" James said with a serious look at Ash.

"I can't" Ash replied

"What do you mean you can't. Aren't you the one who made the ones before? Or did you just happen to find them lying around in the house?" with Josh's short temper he didn't wait for him to explain before he started throwing a tantrum, but he was ignored again. He really was like a kid in a grown man's body. In his anger he grabbed Ash by the collar and pulled him towards him. The force startled him and the grip on the collar made him unable to breath properly "look ass hole, we need those bombs to get out of here. Our boss will be waiting for us a few blocks down the street in a couple of hours. And I want to be there when they arrive" He growled with his teeth bared at Ash.

"you are like a Shrew... impatient and hostile to anything someone else does or says. At least have the decency to hear people out before you grab them by their throat." he glared at the man "well that just goes to show how little mass there is in that head of yours." this just made the situation worse as Josh's hands tightened on his neck. "what did you say-"

"Josh let him go" James said seeing Ash starting to choke. Josh looked at him stubbornly. It looked like they were having a staring match. But then the light in James's eyes changed from his usual light-hearted look to a sharp glare, which finally made him remove his grip reluctantly. It seemed like there was no way those two would get along at all. "If you can't stay quiet for the next few hours, I am going to lock you up this time in that room until we leave." James hardly ever got angry, so when his brother heard the clear warning in his voice he understood he was being serious and walked away to find something to stuff his mouth with so that even if Ash said something that annoyed him, his mouth would be too full to respond to him.

On the other hand, Ash realised that he had to be careful with people. He was a bit rattled from this experience. He also understood that saying exactly what he thought would sometimes get him in trouble. Having never had to handle people before, he was finding it difficult to read the other's point of view.

"You said you had another sibling?" Ash asked.

"Yes! We are three boys. I have one more younger brother." James replied. Seeing his grumbling brother in the corner with his mouth stuffed he couldn't help but smile making it obvious that he was a doting big brother.

"Is he more like you or more like him?" Ash asked curiously signalling with his eyes to the beast in the corner. Having never had siblings that he knows of, he couldn't understand how James can be so forgiving to someone who is so annoying. He also didn't understand how people who grew up under the same roof could have such drastically different personalities.

Hearing the question James started laughing. "Don't worry. He is the warmest and softest of us all. Josh only turned out like this because us big brothers let him get away with anything he did." He chuckled a bit again and said "although Josh may seem impatient and rash, he is a good kid. Just don't take him too seriously. Because of our big age gap we never really got into big fights or arguments so now that he found someone around his age with spunk, who can also keep up with him, he is just a bit excited."

Ash rolled his eyes at this not ready to believe a word he said. "So why is it that you can't make the bombs?" James asked seeing that the previous tense atmosphere has finally dissolved.

"I used up all the chemicals to make those 4 bottles. I don't think we will find any more of those just lying around in the house." ash lifted up the empty containers of the chemicals that he mixed together before and showed it to them.

"Great! does that mean we are stuck here?" One of the women, Ashly asked as she held on to the other woman, Beth with horror. Suddenly the door gave a small creak. Everyone rushed over to take a look with their weapons in their hands. The number of zombies outside has increases exponentially. The collective pushes of them was starting to have an effect on the door and windows. At that moment the glass to the side shattered and several blood-soaked hands reached in followed by loud growls from mutilated heads. The bars were the only thing keeping them outside at the moment and that last layer of protection wouldn't hold on forever.

"We have to come up with a plan quickly or we will be all dead within the next two hours." Fear was clearly written on everyone faces. With that understanding everyone started to rush through the house to try and find an escape route or anything that could help them. After half an hour everyone returned with their finds. The house was mostly surrounded with all 3 of the entrances blocked by Zombies. Few meters away was an adjoining building which was connected to the main building by a tall stone pergola, the path through which led to the back garden. The other building was most probably used as a garage. The doors inside the house were all fire-doors, that meant they were heavy to open.

Nothing really useful came up from the search. After turning both storage rooms upside down, they found some rope, long extendable cleaning poles, knifes, two cans of kerosene and a lot of other useful for living, yet useless in a fight kind of items. Everyone had discouraged looks on their faces. Josh slammed his hands against the table and howled in frustration. "What now?"

James sighed. After 10 mts of silent thought, he realised that there wasn't much they could do at this moment. " I will let the boss know that we won't be able to make it. It will be dangerous if they keep lingering around here for too long" He pulled out the walkie talkie and was about to talk into it when Ash stopped him with glittering eyes.

"Wait!" He looked at the device with fascination. Ash had only seen one of those in movies and it had looked so cool to him to see people use it. Actually, a lot of stuff he has encountered after he left the lab was new to him but seeing the walkie, he got an idea that increased their chances of survival. "do you maybe have another one of those?" he asked expectantly.

"Josh should have one as well. We usually take them when we go out on supply runs in case, we get separated" he looked at his brother "do you still have yours?"

"of course. I am not stupid enough to lose it?" He said proudly. All of them gave him distrustful looks "What! Why are you all looking at me as if you don't believe my words." he shouted angrily while his face tuned red. Suddenly feeling the need to protect his pride, he searched through his inner coat pockets and fished out the device triumphantly. James chuckled and ruffled his brother's hair before taking the device from him and handing it to the kid. "Just to let you know, I want it back or I will make you go find a new one in the future even if I have to throw you into a herd of Zombies." Josh warned without realising that his words had already unconsciously accepted Ash into their group. Otherwise there would not be a future with the boy for him to follow through with his words.

Ash noticed the slip and saw James wink at him from the side before mouthing at him 'told you so, he is a softy.' "So... what's the plan?"

"I need one person to take a big risk."

-------

The door didn't last 2 hours. It gave out under the heavy pressure from around a hundred lifeless bodies. They swarmed into the house. The room they entered was empty. Yet they could still smell that their food was in the house. Upstairs? The thoughtless swarm of bodies walked and bumped into walls trying to figure out how to get there. A table was shoved against the stairs as a barricade stopping them in their path. Even if it wasn't there, they would have found it difficult to climb the stairs with their stiff joints. It was just an extra precautionary measure to buy time.

As the first few of them started bumping against the barricade they heard a noise. It came from the other side of the house. Dozens of heads turned to the sound. "Yo! Scumbags over here." a very familiar voice echoed through the house. It started hurling all kinds of insults at them. Although they didn't understand a word, it excited them. Sound usually comes from something that moves, something that can move can be eaten. It attracted all their attention. They started rushing in the direction it came from.

Once they entered the well-made, large receiving hall, the sound got louder and closer. The room was beautifully decorated with white heavy curtains covering each glass window, a large ebony table stood at the centre, also covered with a white table cloth. Shelves lined the wall filled with books to the brim. In one corner was a long sofa in front of a fireplace. The floor had a beautiful fur carpet which must have costed a fortune. And there was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Yet the visitors did not see any of this great interior design. They were chasing after a noise whose origin they couldn't find. The room smelled of their food.

"Why haven't you found us yet you idiots. Even if your brain power is that low, you should at least still have functional senses." A female voice reverberated through the room. Ashley.

Their heads turned this way and that way. Yet they couldn't find their meal. Where are they? Their scent is still in the room. By then most of the zombies had gathered in the room.

"Ouch! My hand still hurts" a male voice sounded "Did we really have to go that far?"

"Shut up!" An angry woman reprimanded him. Beth. "You are still alive aren't you. Save the complaints for after we are safe."

"I really hope this works. Ash! Are you in position?" The other woman asked. "Tom, We will go join them. Do your job properly" footsteps hurried away.

"Yeah!" A voice sounded from a distance. "Josh are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah" he said in an impatient tone "I have done this countless time before. I was born ready" there was a thud "Ouch! Brother...!"

"Stop bragging and concentrate." A heavier voice said before ordering a "GO"

Five figures rushed down the stairs and jumped the barricade. Some of them had self-made spears in their hands using the poles from the cleaners and mops and the kitchen knives all tied together with rope. Others used any hard weapon they could find. There were still a lot of zombies outside. Not everyone had entered the house. Seeing movement inside the house they quickly turned around and started heading for them. "We will cover you from here. Go on" James shouted at the other two. At his words both of the women joined him in defending the staircase from behind the barricade. Ash and Josh didn't wait for a second reminder and rushed ahead. This was a task that needed to be completed swiftly and without error. Or everyone would die. They headed in the direction of the receiving hall. Already from far they could see several dozen zombies inside the large room. The voice was still resonating throughout the hall distracting them from the newcomers a few meters away.

"You do realise that this is going to lose me my walkie talkie, right?" Josh hissed at the boy next to him as they hid behind a wall. He looked at the walkie put high up on a shelf inside the room filled with Zombies.

"You do realise that if you keep talking you will lose more than just your walkie talkie, right? Ash asked right back. He saw two zombies approaching from behind him and took a fighting position. His hands started shaking right away. 'Hold it together Ash' he scolded himself 'this was your plan to begin with. So, man up and do you part' He was really scared. Before when he rushed into the horde and threw the bombs, he had a higher chance of surviving, so he wasn't as scared. Also, back then all he had to do was throw the bottles but now he actually had to fight. And he will be killing people again unless they kill him first of course. The thought send shivers down his back. His palm started to sweat, and his eyesight started getting blurry with all the nerves. He was gonna die.

Josh had a irritated look on his face and he wanted to say something back when he saw the urgency of the situation.

"I will deal with you after all this is done" He quickly analysed the situation "You better hold them back otherwise I will personally kill you before the zombies can tear you apart" he said and sprinted ahead.

Hearing that Ash smiled unconsciously. 'This silly man doesn't realise that killing me personally would be more merciful than letting the zombies eat him up' but even if it was a threat it steadied his hands on his baseball bat and his confidence rose.

The closest Zombie had one of its arms missing and he had a strong limb as if his leg was broken. There were several large bite marks on his neck and arm. His body was starting to show signs of decay and what was left of his cloths was covered in dry blood. He certainly did not have a peaceful death. Seeing its prey standing a few feet ahead of him, his already unfocused eyes started seeing red. 'Hunger' was the only thing that drove him forward. It filled him with an uncontrollable desire, the scent of humans was very alluring and addicting. It pushed his stiff joints to work harder and his movement speed increased.

Right then he lunged at him, and his clawed hand reached for his prey's neck. With his mouth wide open it gave a growl and tried to bite him. Yet before he could touch his meal something hard, cold and heavy slammed into his body with great force. It stunned him for a moment as he fell to the ground and then with the pain came anger. A loud screech escaped its lips as the red in his eyes intensified. 'Food', 'bite', 'Eat' these instincts kept repeating in its head. But before he could act on them, the same hard object was plunged into his face. It watched his prey for one last time with deep desire before everything went black and he fell down dead.

Having killed one of them, Ash's confidence increased. He positioned himself to face the other one which was already in close proximity. He spotted a few more headed his way and realized that he had to be faster.

Meanwhile Josh headed to the receiving hall. Right when he reached the fire door which they had pushed open by shoving a heavy chair against it, several of the zombies noticed him. As they started rushing at him, he took out his knife and started attacking them. But no matter which part of the body he stabbed; it didn't slow them down. This made him panic. As the first one got a grab on his shirt, he pulled up his knife and plunged it into its eye. A loud scream filled the house, but it blended in with the noise of battle coming from the other sites. Having its head stabbed, the Zombie plopped down and didn't stand up again. This enlightened him and Josh focused his attacks onto the brain with positive effect. After clearing off those who prevented him from getting to his objective, he quickly kicked away the chair which made the door slam back to its original closed position.

The door rattled under the constant banging from the door. It wouldn't hold out for long. Josh reached into his pant pocket and brought out a lighter. He switched it on, quickly cracked open the door and threw it into the room before closing it again. Everything in the room, from the curtains, the books and the carpet was soaked in kerosene. One spark and the entire room lit up in fire. It would take a few minutes for the door to burn down and spread the flames but right now he couldn't dwindle around and had to hurry back.

When he returned to where he left Ash, he saw a blood-soaked figure sitting on the floor leaning against the wall with several unmoving bodies around him. "Are you hurt?" He asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Are you?" He asked right back without giving a reply.

"Of course not! I don't get hurt that easily" He said in a bragging tone.

"If an idiot like you can be fine then of course I will be as well" Ash said mockingly and slowly stood up. But his legs were feeling weak. He was also feeling the blood loss from the cut on his hand which they made to smear blood in the receiving room to confuse the zombies. All the sudden movements, the ever-present fear and the blood along with the pungent smell of rot and rust was making him dizzy and nauseous. He swayed dangerously but an arm encircled and steadied him.

"How are you better than me if you can't even walk after such a small fight" Josh huffed with a sulking face as he supported the other's weight. "Let's head back" he said "We still have to see your Masterplan to the end."

Everyone was back upstairs. The plan went smoothly so far. But there were still quite a lot of the zombies left and it was way too risky to try to fight their way through. They were already grateful that none of them were seriously hurt and that they were able to take down the majority of the zombies. But They couldn't dwindle around for long since now, with a broken door to let in more zombies with every passing minute and a fire threatening to burn them, they had very few choices left.

"Okay let's move" Ash said as they hurried into one of the rooms upstairs. They slowly closed the door to not make noise and pushed furniture in front of it for extra layering.

Then Tom pushed open the window and they all crowded around it to take a look. It was lucky that the windows above were not barred. This made them wonder again what kind of danger the man was preparing for. Below the window was the slanted roof to the side of the house and few meters to the right was the pergola. It was narrow and didn't really look like it could support much weight. That was their objective. If they would take the risk, then they could walk on it and reach the other building. But there were still a lot of zombies around, if they fell that was the end.

Some of them were still indecisive about this but now there wasn't much choice left. They couldn't turn back. The sound of approaching footsteps could already be heard from outside the door.

Carefully they started climbing out the window one by one. They slowly treaded across the slanted roof and stood in front of the pergola "spears ready!" James shouted and everyone followed his instruction without hesitation. "Okay Josh you go first. Then Beth, then Tom, Ashly Ash and I will come last" everyone nodded their heads in understanding. "The pergola doesn't look too strong. So, make sure you are quick but at the same time don't fall. If you do the rest won't be able to help you." A few of them flinched and gulped down their fear but didn't protest.

There was nothing more to instruct. Josh went first. He was like a monkey, so he didn't face much trouble crossing. He was swift and careful. Once he reached the other side, he threw the rest a gloating look. Ash felt James sigh beside him and couldn't help chuckle.

Beth was next to go. She was slower and much more careful with her footing, but she still lost her balance by the end and toppled over with a scream. Without Josh's quick reflexes by grabbing her hand, she would have been the next meal for the zombies below. The sound attracted the attention of more zombies and they crowded around the pergola with raised arms and snapping teeth.

The sight horrified Tom who was next in turn. With his heavier build the stones under his feet started loosening. He was only halfway through when he felt that and stood still. He stabbed at a few zombies with his spear, but it got stuck in one of their heads and when he tried to pull it out, the additional weight from the side made him fall. He lost his spear and was now dangling from the pergola. A few of the Zombies started trying to grab his leg and he furiously kicked at them "help me!" he shouted at the others.

Ashley who was next to go hurried over carefully and started stabbing at the Zombies with her spear to loosen their hold on Tom's leg, but it wasn't helping. The combined weight of the two was too much for the pergola. It started to give away. Seeing this Tom grabbed onto Ashley's ankle and pulled himself up in the process pushing the other down. Surprised at the unexpected push, Ashly fell and got swarmed by the Zombies in minutes. They forgot tom for a second which gave him enough time to get back to his feet. Her pain filled screams filled the air as she got torn into pieces and devoured. There was a heavy silence hanging around the remaining 4 people. They were shocked at the event that unfolded before their eyes. That quiet and timid man sacrificed someone who tried to save him without any hesitation. Beth's face was filled with anger as she saw the man walk towards the other building without even the slightest look of guilt on his face.

When he reached the other side, Beth rushed at him and punched him hard. Josh had to pull her away or she wouldn't have stopped.

"I had to do it. You understand. Right man?" He said in a sobbing voice. No one responded to him. There wasn't much time to waste. The zombies from the house had started to follow the group out the window and the fire was starting to spread more rapidly. Ash rushed across the pergola and hoped that nothing would go wrong. He reached the other side safely while James stayed behind to take care of the approaching Zombies.

While Ash was crossing, the stone finally gave away from the constant abuse and there was a gap now. "Brother" Josh called in a desperate voice. He was willing to rush back there and help rather than abandon him.

"Stay there. I will be right over" James shouted back as he stabbed at two more approaching zombies and then ran across what was left of the pergola and jumped. His weight was much more than the rest of them, so the entire thing crumpled and fell on top of the waiting Zombies below. Josh rushed towards his brother who was standing up from the ground and flung himself at him with relieved tears. James laughed and patted him on his head before looking around at what remained of the group. His eyes lingered several minutes on Tom making him flinch. He didn't say anything and looked at Ash then. "Let's see what kind of treasure is hidden in this garage."