Looking at Tyler’s truck again makes me wonder if he’s okay. He could still be with Sophie’s family, and we stole his truck, now unless he’s lucky he won’t be able to see his girlfriend. I’m surprised Sophie’s family isn’t looking for her, they saw us leave.

“Who’s driving? Ria asks.

“I can,” I say.

“Sure, I mean it is your truck.” She says.

Standing around the truck are Serafina and I, Ria, Ally, and Eli.

“Everyone won’t fit…” I say.

“That’s what the bed is for,” Eli says.

“Bed?” I ask.

“The back…-He points to the back of the truck.- You know?”

“Oh, yeah.”

I get inside the truck and notice the keys are still in the engine. I start the truck and close my door. Ria and Ally are sitting, or laying down, in the back. Eli is sitting near the passenger’s window and Serafina is sitting between us. She’s slim so she decided to sit in the middle. Eli insisted on sitting near the window because he 'knows the town well'.

Eli turns around and opens the back window then bends his head down, “Stay low and be quiet.” He says to Ally and Ria.

“Should we check the gas station?” Serafina asks as I start driving.

“That’s where Logan found your truck, did Ally not tell you?” Eli says.

“She did, I just thought, maybe those people went back.”

“Everyone knows not to stay in one spot too long, especially if you're after something or someone.”

“Do you tell everyone what to say and do?” I ask Eli.

“No. If someone needs to say or do something someone else cannot, they will ask another person to. I don’t run this place, no one does.” He responds.

I take a map out of the driver’s side door panel. It looks like we’ll have to drive through Sophie’s neighborhood to get downtown. “Is there some sort of shortcut I could take so we don’t have to go through Sophie’s neighborhood?” I ask.

“What are you talking about?” Sophie asks, she taps her nails against the back window.

“Uh, do you know how we’re supposed to get downtown without driving past your house?” I ask her.

“No.”

“You have to pass by her house, just go fast if you’re that worried.” Eli laughs.

“Why are you laughing?” I ask.

“You seem worried, it’s not like her crazy ass mom will get you, especially with us here.” He says.

I turn down the road and see that same red mailbox, her house had a yellow one if I’m not mistaken. All these houses are empty, why did everyone in this town just leave? The parents left their kids, the people left their houses, it feels so empty it’s weird.

“Eli!” Ria whispers aggravated.

“Hm?”

“Look.”

“Nitro slow down.” He says.

I start driving slower and look out my window. Ahead you can see Sophie’s house, someone’s standing in the front yard holding what looks like a shovel.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“He’s digging something,” Sophie says.

Serafina leans next to me to look out my window, “Don’t tell me he’s burying someone…”

“Keep going,” Sophie says.

I speed up and keep driving until we’re out of the neighborhood, then I stop on the highway.

“Darcy, she was the person he was burying,” Sophie says.

“How do you know that?” Serafina asks.

“Remember when you came that day and her hand was cut off? Jack had to cut it because she was bit. She ran out of the house one night and when she came back the next morning she brought some zombies with her, one bit her hand, but there’s a possibility she was bit somewhere else too.”

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yes. I didn’t mind leaving her the first time, did I?”

I start driving again. Silence.

“You know, I was looking through my yearbook last night. That picture Addison took of us, that was really us. Now we aren’t, we don’t look happy or friendly.” Sophie says.

“That’s because we aren’t the same people. Kids that have to fight to survive aren’t happy or friendly, sure we can look it but why choose to put effort into something fake?” Ria says.

“Kids. How old are we?” Sophie asks.

“Almost fifteen… February.” Ria says.

“Wow, you’re old.” Eli laughs.

“Don’t you turn fifteen in May?” Ria asks, peeking her head through the back window like a cat that wants to come inside.

Eli and Ria start arguing back and forth.

“Yes. You remembered? I’m still younger than you.” Eli says.

“Not a flex.”

“Younger and taller.”

“By a few centimeters dumbass.”

“My birthday was July, I’m the youngest,” Sophie says.

“I’m thirteen. October 15th.” Serafina says.

“You look older,” Sophie says.

“What’s your birthday, Nitro?” Eli asks, in a voice, less monotone than usual.

“June nineteenth,” I say.

“And you’re about the same height as Sophie.” He says.

“I’m only a month older than her.”

“I’m 5’3,” Sophie says, smiling.

After a few minutes of silence, Ria asks, “Don’t you think it’s weird how zombies only eat alive humans, well humans like us. And not other zombies?”

“Maybe they don’t want to be cannibals,” I say.

“How?”

“Well, I doubt they have a thought process, but we don’t want to eat other humans. We want to eat fresh animal meat, to them we are fresh animals. Only people who can think like humans become cannibals, you don’t see dogs eating other dogs.”

“Unless you kill the dog and force another to eat it,” Eli says.

“That’s fucked up,” I say.

“What if that’s what Robert was doing?” Serafina asks.

“Could be,” Eli says.

“Look!” Sophie points at a big building that looks like an apartment.

“Should we stop there?” I ask.

“Yes, looks like the community college dorm,” Eli says.

“Probably a lot of zombies,” Ria says in an uneasy tone.

I pull into the dorm parking lot, there are three other cars in the parking lot. Eli opens his door, Serafina follows him, I get out through mine, and Ria and Sophie jump out of the bed.

“Check the cars,” Ria says. She opens two of the car doors, I open the door to a red car, nothing.

“Let’s head inside,” Eli says.

“Which door do we go through?” I ask.

“Any of them?” Ria says, smiling.

“What is a dorm?” I ask as we walk up the path to the entrance.

“Uh, it’s like an apartment for people that go to college so they don’t have to go home just to sleep and shit every day. Lots of people travel far just to go to college.” Sophie says.

Serafina presses her head against the glass door, “Looks pretty clear.”

Eli pushes the door open and steps in slowly, the rest of us follow, it's dark and quiet, so quiet you can hear water dripping on the floor, probably very far away.

"We need a map or something," Sophie says.

Ria speaks, "Well this looks like the lounge, spread out and check the rooms."

I exit the lounge into the hallway with the others, Eli goes into the first room on the right, the others enter other rooms, close to the beginning of the hallway, I walk further and further down, near the stairwell. There's no way this place is empty. On my left, nailed into the wall next to a metal, blue door is a whiteboard, 'Kasey'. I walk into the room, on a white, twin-sized bed lays a skinny zombie, so skinny it's falling apart, its wrists the size of a large marker and legs I could compare to those of a chicken.

"So this is Kasey?" I say to myself.

The zombie moves but not that fast, I take out my knife and stab its head.

'It.' She? It's a monster, but If this was someone I had known maybe I'd call them by their name or human pronouns.

She has a computer on her light pink desk, dead, they all are. I look out the window, a grassy courtyard looks nearly destroyed, zombies, bags, books, papers, what the fuck happened. I open Kasey's desk drawer, based on the tests it looks like she wasn't the best at math, all F's. Under a drawing of a cat -a pretty good drawing- I see a yellow envelope and open it.

Alyssa, I'm typing this from my father's computer so I'll be deleting it later. Because you're reading this, I've printed it out.

I love you, I'm so, so sorry, school is failing me in so many ways, the bullying, the grades, I've given up. Looks like I won't be a teacher, huh? :) I love you, so fucking much dude. My school is freaking out about the illness, I'm sure you'll be okay though. You were the best friend I could ever ever ever ask for, I'm still so surprised that I got to be your best friend as well; hell I'm surprised I got to meet you in this lifetime. There's other universes out there, ones where you could have purple hair or 60 cousins, every universe is different, even if it's not by much, there are so many. One's where you painted your nails different colors and it changed your whole life. One's where we never met, or met as toddlers. I'll always love you, in every universe.

-Kasey Ortiz

That's not what I expected, a suicide note to her best friend. I take the letter and fold it gently then slip it into my back pocket. Sounds like Alyssa didn't go here, she could live in a different state, doubt she's living though.

"Why are you all the way down here?" Serafina asks, looking at me from the doorway.

I say, "I felt like it, find anything?"

"Just some dead things, I see you've found one too." She says.

"She's so skinny though…" I mumble.

"All these monsters are rotting in here without any food for god knows how long."

"This one was going to kill herself, I don't think she went through with it."

"Hm?"

"I found a suicide note, to her friend, wasn't sent."

"Sad," Serafina says, looking unbothered. Sometimes I forget her mom did that, I don't want to make her uncomfortable. How did I meet someone with a family just as fucked up as mine?

Serafina's eyes widen and she throws her hand out, "Oh! I did find some food in a mini-fridge, Eli put it in the truck but, I feel like we're getting somewhere, if we keep traveling we can live off of dead people's food forever." She giggles.

"Scavs," I say.

"What are we supposed to do, grow our own food and slaughter pigs? We're kids, it's more understandable for us."

I nod, "You're right. Actually, I believe, well I hope that in the future, people will start-up businesses again, like apocalypse drive-throughs and shit. People would have to stop being so scared of everything first."

Serafina doesn't respond, she just smiles and takes my hand, I follow her down the hallway.

I hear Ria talking to Eli and Sophie a few doors down. "Lab." She says.

We catch up to them and I ask, "Lab?"

"That's a science lab," Ria says, pointing to a green door with one of those DNA symbol things on it.

Sophie opens the door, there are three zombies, all wearing lab coats. Serafina quickly raises her gun and shoots them.

"That could've attracted more zombies or people," Eli says.

Serafina sighs, "Well I killed them."

Sophie walks over to one of the tables, "What's this?" She asks.

A measuring cup on the table holds a greyish liquid that looks like a type of medicine I've had before.

"Some experiment?" Eli says.

Sophie turns around and mumbles, "Looks like cum."

"This is weird. Have you guys seen the courtyard?" I ask.

Eli speaks up quickly, "No, what happened?"

"People were just dead, lying around everywhere, dead-dead. And there were books and trash scattered on the ground like the students fought or something." I say.

“I found this,” Sophie says, holding up a soda can. She tucks the can under her arm and reaches into her back pocket then pulls something out, “And this.”

“Is that a pregnancy test?” Eli asks with his eyebrows raised.

Sophie smiles, “Yep. Positive too.”

“Where did you find that? It could have aids.” Ria says.

“Girls bathroom, in the trash can.”

“Yeah put it down…” I say.

Sophie laughs then drops the pregnancy test on the floor.

Eli sits down in a chair, “Sophie where’d you get that soda? There could be more.” He says.

Sophie speaks louder, “Cafeteria, on the table farthest to the right.”

“I checked the cafeteria when we got here, I didn’t see anything.” He stammers.

“You think someone else is in here?” Serafina whispers.

“If there is, they already found us. We need to leave, now.” Eli replies.

But we don't, we don't leave immediately. We all stand there armed, looking through the crack in the door, listening for footsteps. Ria is the first one to step out. Then Eli, Serafina, me, and Sophie. The halls are empty and all the doors are closed. We get outside, Sophie carefully shuts the door. The sun shines directly into my eyes, we stand beside the door, looking. Nothing, no one. We all quietly walk to the truck, Eli gets in first, I open my door and let Serafina in, then as I'm about to get in my seat Eli yells at me, "Run!"