Right now it's 10:36 pm, I stole a watch a couple of months back when Serafina was sick and we were living with an old lady and her 20-year-old daughter, we had to leave after the lady died of old age and turned.

It’s cloudy, I have a feeling it’s going to rain soon. Serafina and I are walking alongside a highway; we’re going south, we always go south, we’re trying our best to get out of New England.

Serafina finally faces me, “Where do you want to go?”

I have to think about this… I’ve only ever seen a map of America a few times.

“Uh, Kansas.”

“That’s pretty far from here… New Hampshire to Kansas.”

“Do you think there will be zombies there?”

“Yes, of course, there will be zombies there.”

“That’s not what I mea-”

“I know what you meant, Nitro… can we please talk about something else, all we talk about are zombies.”

She looks down at her dirty white shoes, we both know we need new clothes soon.

“Nitro, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

“I don’t know what jobs there are.”

“I wanted to be a pediatrician,” she states with a bright look in her eyes and smirks on her face.

“What’s that?”

“A doctor that treats kids.”

“A kid doctor… sounds boring, kids piss me off.”

“You are a kid.”

“Little kids. Maybe I could’ve been a game designer if my mom gave me a computer.”

“What games would you make?”

“Sounds dumb with our circumstances but, zombie ones.”

Something wet drips onto my neck and out of fear I grip my crowbar tighter until it starts pouring rain.

“We should find shelter soon, it's not good to be out this late.”, Serafina whispers.

I just nod and start walking faster.

“I hate rain.”

“Yea… me too.”, I say.

I don’t think I meant it though, I always agree with Serafina, but the rain is comforting.

My oversized military coat is drenched; Serafina is tying up her hair, I never got why she kept it so long if she just wears it in a bun all the time.

A green pickup truck slows down next to us.

Serafina pulls out her pistol and keeps it hidden slightly behind her back.

The driver rolls their window down, it’s a teenage boy, probably around seventeen, with light brown hair and brown eyes, he has a bit of stubble and a blue jacket.

“Hey, wanna ride? You guys look kinda soaked.”, he says with a calm voice.

I walk closer to the window, “Depends… who are you?”

“My name’s Tyler.”

“You just go around giving kids rides?”

He chuckles, “Don’t worry, I’m not a creep, I just haven't seen any survivors in a while, and you guys are probably gonna get sick like that.”

I look into his truck, he has food and soda, a couple of magazines, and some ammo, it smells like cigarettes.

Serafina stands beside me, “You don’t have a weapon on you?”

“C’mon I’m not an idiot, everyone has a weapon these days, even you, little girl.”

“I’m thirteen dumbass, aren't you like thirty?”

“Woah there kid, I’m nineteen… just get in, it's gonna start storming any minute.”

I give Serafina an affirming look and we get in.

He immediately starts driving, “So what're your names?”

Serafina looks around the truck, “Serafina, and he’s Nitro.”

“Nitro, wow. Like Nitroglycerin?”

“Yea, I didn't understand my name when I was younger, the earliest thing I remember my mom calling me is something that sounds like Nitro.”

“Hm, speaking of parents where are yours?”

In unison, Serafina and I both say, “Dead.”

Tyler goes silent for a few minutes before saying, “My parents are in Texas.”

Serafina looks him up and down, “Doesn’t make them alive.”

“SERA.” I say under my breath.

“Yeah… yeah, I know, I just like to think they are, where are you guys headed?”

“Kansas.”’

I’m surprised Serafina took me seriously.

She looks out the window, “What about you, Tyler?”

“My girlfriend’s, she lives in Ohio, I came up here for college right before this shit happened, I hope she's okay, she's a bitch sometimes but, I love her She’s a strong girl, did karate since she was 8, I know she'll make it.

“Cool dude… anyway, is this a porn magazine?”

Tyler takes the magazine out of Serafina’s hands.

“How do you know what that is?”

“First off, the tits on the cover."

“Oh.” Is all he has to say, a lot of people are shocked when they hear a 13-year-old girl talking about porn but, for Serafina she thinks it’s normal.

“So what are you guys, brother, and sister, cousins?”

“Just friends… that's all.”, Serafina looks mad, then again she always does.

“Oh, okay.”

About two hours later Serafina falls asleep.

I usually can’t sleep, there’s too much to think about. I hope Tyler doesn't kill me in my sleep, but at the same time, I feel safe in this truck.

When I wake up it’s one pm, Tyler and Serafina are talking about school… which I don’t know much about, I’m not mad at them for having the opportunity to go to school, I’m mad at my mom, I missed out on so much because of her

I grab one of the many porn magazines on the floor, I don’t get it, every page is just a picture of a naked girl… people pay for these, guys like this?

-“actually my mom worked at a bakery before the apocalypse, she said she’d bake me and Lizzie a wedding cake one day, I thought she was being too hopeful at the time but now, I hope she can still make one… one day.”

“We-”

A woman runs in front of the truck with her right hand cut off.

“HELP ME! PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!”

Outside a house stands an old man and a girl about my age, the man is holding a rifle and crying. The girl has a blank expression.

A man probably in his 30’s opens the door, he’s holding a bloody knife.

“DARCY COME HOME, YOU AREN'T GOING TO DIE ANYMORE!” the 30-year-old screams on the verge of tears.

I know exactly what's happening so I push Serafina back and get out of the truck, Serafina and Tyler follow.

The woman’s name is Darcy, that’s what the man said. I put my hand on her shoulder, “Hey, Darcy, it’s okay, you’re going to be fine, please come with me.” She follows me but comes to a halt when we reach the mailbox.

“NO, JACK CUT OFF MY ARM, HE CUT IT OFF, PLEASE!”

The old man comes towards us.

“It’s fine Darcy, I’ll get rid of him… JACK GET IN THE BATHROOM!

Jack puts the knife in his pocket and goes inside, then following him is the girl, she has shoulder-length brown/blonde ombre hair and blue eyes, she’s wearing a red long sleeve shirt and denim pants, her expression is so off-putting, why isn't she crying or at the least scared?

Darcy follows the old man inside and sits down on the stained couch, on a side table lays 3 half-empty pill bottles.

Tyler and Serafina follow us inside and stand beside me.

“Sir, do you have a first aid kit?”, Tyler asks without hesitation.

“Nah son, we don't carry them hospital things, Darcy hates em’.”

“HOSPITAL, PLEASE NO. I DON’T WANNA GO, CALVIN YOUR LYING!”

She's losing blood quickly, the panicking doesn’t help either.

Tyler rips a piece of fabric off his shirt and ties it around Darcy’s hand.

“Do you have any sewing supplies?”

“No, we have superglue in the garage though.”, Calvin says.

Serafina goes to the garage to get the glue.

A minute or two later Serafina comes back and hands the glue to Tyler.

Tyler glues the fabric onto Darcy’s bloody skin.

“Don’t take it off until it scabs over.” Tyler sounds like he has medical experience which is kind of hard to believe with the way he acts.

“How old are ya kids?” Calvin says with a grin.

“Thirteen and Fourteen,” I say.

“And you, boy?”

Tyler spaces out then looks back at Calvin, “Oh, nineteen, sir.”

“You kids can stay with us as long as you like, I like havin’ kids around, make me feel younger. Jack’s my son and Darcy’s my wife, she has mental issues, but we can't get her drugs because of those monsters… oh, and Jack’s half-sister Sophie is in her room, she’s fourteen, Darcy won’t lemme call her my daughter, but I agree that she isn't mine to claim.”

Serafina looks at the hallway, “What’s wrong with Sophie?”

“She misses her school friends, they been livin’ at her school since the world got like this, so they're probably dead, but she wants to ‘save’ them. Maybe you guys could replace em' for her.”

***

We sit on the couch for a while, people are talking about stuff but I'm not paying attention to them. Jack is making dinner outside… some rodent I think.

Jack comes inside with a cooked rabbit.. or chicken?

“Hey, son can you go get Sophie and tell her, supper is ready?”

“My name’s Nitro,” I say as I get up and head to the hallway.

Sophie’s door has a red butterfly painted on it near the knob. I enter her room and immediately I notice pictures of landscapes on the walls and books everywhere, she has a metal desk covered in cups and trash, Sophie is on her bed looking through a book, I recognize this book, when I was twelve Serafina showed me a similar book and told me it was called a yearbook, yearbooks have pictures of students and people that went to a certain school. Her eyes are set on a picture of a group of kids, the picture is captioned ‘Photography club’ and she’s in it.

“Hey, your dad said- sorry, Calvin wanted me to tell you that supper is ready.”

She looks up at me and quickly closes the yearbook.

“You can call him my dad, better than my actual mother.”

“Did something happen with Darcy?”

“She hates everyone, I know she’s crazy but, she tried to kill us and told me that my friends were burned alive and skinned by raiders… she’s no mother, not mine, not Jack’s.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“BPD or schizophrenia, I’m not sure and I don’t care- Hey! Didn’t you guys show up in a truck, can you take me somewhere?”

“Your school?”

“Yea, Calvin told you?”

I nod and after an awkward silence, we both go back to the dining room.

Darcy is slouched over crying and no one is paying attention, but they're all fully aware.

I look at Tyler and he’s finished with his dinner, so I grab his arm and pull him aside.

“Sophie needs you to take her somewhere.”

“The school?”

“Yes, she can tell us where to go, we just need you to take us.”

“Sorry dude, I can’t do that, If I was her dad I wouldn’t want her leaving with some strangers, and we just earned their trust by helping Darcy, I don’t want to ruin that for them.”

"He's not even her real dad, and she needs this, why can't you do this for her?"

Serafina is staring at us, I can tell she’s listening.

After Tyler walks away, shaking his head, Serafina comes up to me.

“We can go on our own.”

“And leave Tyler?”

“Fuck Tyler, we just met him, he’s too soft, he’ll get us killed if he keeps going on about morals and family… we’re family Nitro, you and me, we always have been, we don’t need that old guy.”

“HEY! CAN WE SLEEP HERE TONIGHT?” Serafina yells to Calvin.

“Sure, sleep in Sophie’s room though, Jack doesn’t like company.”

Serafina winks at me with a smile, I know what she’s getting at.”

Serafina and I go into Sophie’s room.

Sophie looks at us in a hopeful way, “So, can we save my friends?”

“Yeah.”, Serafina tosses Tyler’s keys at me.

“How’d you get these?”

“He left them in his truck, rookie mistake.”

Serafina and I learned how to drive on our own, we hotwired a car a little while before she got sick but it broke down.

Serafina sits down on Sophie's bed, Sophie pats her hand next to her, gesturing for me to sit down.

I sit down next to Serafina and she grabs Sophie’s yearbook.

“Are your friends in here?”

“Page twenty-six.”

“Clearway middle school?... All of them are your friends?”

“Mhm.”

Sophie points to a girl with blonde hair in pigtails, wearing braces, “Ally.”

Then a tan girl with dark brown hair and eyes, “ Ria.”

Her finger keeps going from person to person.

A boy with dyed red hair in dreadlocks holding up a peace sign, “Zander.”

Another boy with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, “Eli.”

And finally, a boy with dirty blonde hair pulled into a short ponytail, “Logan.”

“And you’re positive that they’re all still at the school?” Serafina asks Sophia.

“Yes, they were there the day it happened, everyone was… I was at the hospital for Darcy and tried going back there but they didn’t let me, Ally texted me and told me they were going to stay there for 3 years because they had good supplies and she wanted me to know that if I ever went back there within 3 years that they’d be alive.”

“They can’t promise you that, Sophia.” I try to say as calm and nice as possible.

“They’re brave.”

“It’s getting late, we should go now.” Serafina says as she gets off the bed, she goes to open Sophie’s window, “Let’s go.”

We sneak out and hide behind the trees that run through the back to the front yard to get to Tyler’s truck.

“Sophie? Sophie, is that you?”

“Shit… my mom, she’s on the porch I can smell her cigarette.”

We start running to the truck.

“Darcy, what is it?” Calvin…

“I heard someone.”

The sound of a rifle cocking sets all of us off edge and we stop.

“Who’s there?”

“Calvin, I think it’s Sophie again.

“AGAIN?” I try to yell as quietly as possible.

“Hello? Sophie is that you?”

We all ran towards the truck and got in, Calvin definitely saw us.

“HEY, COME BACK!”

Calvin shoots at my foot and misses only an inch off.

Even though I’m panicking, I manage to turn the truck on and drive away.

Serafina’s gasping for air with a somewhat evil smile on her face.

“We did it. Sophie, you’re going to see your friends again.”