“Naloxone.” Ria says. “Check the bathroom or something!”

Ally doesn’t move, she’s frozen except for the tears landing on Zander’s unconscious body. She holds her head down and says, “I love you, please don’t leave.” I look for a bathroom downstairs while Serafina looks upstairs. I find and enter the bathroom in the master bedroom and check everywhere. There’s nothing. Shortly after leaving the master bedroom Serafina comes down the stairs, empty-handed.

“It’s fine.” Ria says, “He just took a whole bottle of painkillers.”

“How do you know so much about this?” Serafina asks.

“I don’t.”

“You knew about the treatment medicine.”

“My brother tried committing suicide on his fifteenth birthday with heroine, my parents were asleep and my younger brother who was four found him.”

“That’s terrible, Ria, I’m so sorry.”

“He made it, thanks to the naloxone my dad had in the bathroom drawer. Zander’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met, aside from my brother. This reminded me a lot of back then.”

“Why would he do that?” Ally asks.

Ria replies, “Since March people have been doing it every day, Zander has held up well but he watched his sister literally fall apart and left his unfound brother, now the girl he dated and still cared about as a friend after their breakup died, in front of him.”

“Ally?” I ask.

She looks at me with her still wet eyes, holding onto Zander’s hand with her’s, the impaired one at that.

“You love him. You need to make sure he knows that, very well.”

“But Julia just died.”

“That’s exactly why he needs you.”

***

There are four bedrooms in this house, Ben’s, a girls, a guest bedroom and the master bedroom. Zander woke up recently but is going back to sleep as it’s two in the morning. He’s with Ally. Logan’s with Ria. Serafina, Eli, April and I are sleeping in the master bedroom. “Ria found lots of clothes in that bedroom that fit April.” Serafina says, brushing her teeth without water with someone else's toothbrush.

“That’s good. I’m still, I don’t know, upset? About what she’s going through. In that attic there was a boy her age named Ben, he was bitten and turned, we didn’t have weapons so we- she had to stomp his head down.”

“I actually think I’d rather be younger when this started, when she grows up she’ll be so powerful.”

“So where are you sleeping tonight?” She asks.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a huge ass bed in there.” She sets the toothbrush on the sink, “Are you gonna sleep in there by yourself or let someone else have it-”

“I’d rather let April have it but if you want it, Sera.”

“Yeah, I think she deserves it. Are you going to sleep there with her?...”

“You and April can have the big bed.”

“Thank you, Nitro! You know this house has some pretty comfy blankets and the carpet isn’t all that bad.”

“Alright, go find April.”

***

I sit in the corner of the room on top of layers of blankets beside Eli who’s also awake unlike Serafina and April, April snores louder than my mom.

“Eli. You know about what happened to my parents and I don’t want to sound mean but-”

“It’s totally fine, I don’t mind talking about them. My mom had stage four cancer and my dad was always paying attention to either work or less often, my mom, they both didn’t have time for me and when they did my dad would get angry and screw it up. My mom got her tumor removed and became a painter, we talked and stuff a lot more. When I was trapped in the school I texted my dad and he saw the message but didn’t respond, he didn’t come to get me.”

“That’s really shitty, Eli, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault my dad was an ass.”

“Nitro, you know I really care about you, right?”

“Yeah, and I really care about you too.”

He ruffles my hair then falls asleep within minutes, also snoring very loudly.

***

“We should look for a car if we’re gonna keep going south.” Ria says.

“What about that van in the driveway?” I ask.

“Yeah, shit, I forgot about that. Anyone know how to siphon gas?”

“Yeah, I do.” Logan says.

“Great, uh, Nitro? Go with Logan.”

“Why him?” Logan asks.

“Because it looks like you guys need to work some shit out. Just go, we need the gas.”

Logan and I leave the house, pick up a gas can from someone's yard and walk down two streets without talking. Finally he asks me, "Do you know how to siphon gas?"

"I don't even know what that means."

"Of course you don't. We need a hose."

"A garden hose?"

"A little clear tube. I knew you shouldn't have come with me, since when was Ria in charge?"

"I thought no one was in charge."

"So did she."

We stop at an auto-parts place, "This is where we get the hose."

I open the door, behind the cashier is a zombie. I knock it down then stab it, behind me in the isles are five more. Logan takes out three and I take out the other two after hopping back over the counter.

Not until we went inside we didn't see any zombies in the region, I can't be sure if that's a good or bad thing.

I sit on the counter while Logan gets a hose. He takes an orange tube in a clear package off the shelf and heads out the door.

"We need gas now?" I ask.

"No shit."

"What are you mad for?"

"You can't just come here and act like you've been here forever it's…" He sighs angrily.

"You think I stole your friends."

"No, I know you did. Two of them are dead because of you."

"Sophie was captured and Julia was shot, I had nothing to do with what happened to them."

"Why even come to fucking New York, you knew your mom wouldn't care about you."

"You can't say shit like that when you know what happened to your parents. I never knew about my father."

"You don't realize, do you? Getting caught by the Crows, going to Red Easton and now all the way here. Everywhere you go people die."

"Yeah, that happens now."

"It didn't before, when it was just the five of us. We were completely unbothered and now Zander's trying to commit suicide?"

Logan puts the hose in a car and starts siphoning the gas, he goes from car to car until the can is full, then we make our way back to the house.

Logan sets the gasoline down by the van. I smell a burning, like a campfire. Flames start seeping from the walls on the first floor up. The house caught on fire while we were gone. I run into the house, it isn't burning too bad but the smoke is terrible. "April?!" I yell, I repeat myself over and over until I enter the kitchen, before me stands Ria, Eli and Serafina. "Where's April?" I ask.

"She's upstairs." Ria coughs through her sleeve.

"Fuck." I turn around. The staircase is falling apart, once I'm upstairs I call out for April again. She yells back from what sounds like Ben's room. The door is entirely on fire and I can't open it. "April, How's the door look on your side?"

"The doorknob is hot!"

"Do you have your axe?"

"Yes, it's" her voice fades then comes back, "over here.

"You need to chop down the door, aim for the hinges."

"Will that work?"

"It's worth a shot, do it."

After swings over and over the door loosens, I move out of the way just before it comes crashing down. I hug April then she says, "Zander won't wake up."

Zander's on the bed, unconscious. Ally stands above him and says, "He just passed out."

"Alright um, Ally, I need you to help me pick him up."

"This is my fault."

"Ally, that isn't important, help me."

***

We stand outside and watch the house become engulfed in flames. Logan already filled up the van and is sitting in the driver's seat, if there's someone I don't trust to drive it's him.

Ally sits in the car next to Zander, who's breathing, thankfully, "I found a match and I tried lighting a candle with it but the fire went up and almost burned me. I threw it. When I saw the fire I ran upstairs. and ran upstairs."

Ria retorts, "Leave her alone, Logan, she already apologized, what more do you want from her? It happened and there's nothing we can do now."

"That place was good and now we're all stuck in a van, arguing."

"You're the only one who's arguing."

Serafina looks at me, "We all made it out of there."

"We got lucky.""How stupid can you be? You hold the candle upside down, not the match. You could've killed everyone, and running upstairs?" Logan says.

Ria retorts, "Leave her alone, Logan, she already apologized, what more do you want from her? It happened and there's nothing we can do now."

"That place was good and now we're all stuck in a van, arguing."

"You're the only one who's arguing."

Serafina looks at me, "We all made it out of there."

"We got lucky."

***

At 11:42 the van comes to a quick stop, waking up Zander and scaring everyone. We ended up in a forest, something I haven’t seen since Vermont. Logan stopped right on the side of the road, in the grass, hard, he stopped so hard that people swung forward.

“Why did you stop, is something wrong?” Ria asks.

“Get out.” Logan emphasizes.

“Why? What happened?” April asks.

“Everyone, out.”

We get out of the van and follow Logan into the woods. He stands in front of me, he takes out a handgun and aims it at me.

“Woah, what the fuck?”

“Logan, what are you doing?”

“Put it down.”

“Logan?”

“What the hell?”

“This is fucked up.”

“Don’t just point that thing!”

“What’s going on?”

“Stop!” April runs in front of him to grab the gun. He knocks her down, her forehead bleeding.

“April!” I shout.

“What the hell man, she’s a kid!” Eli starts toward April and Logan when Logan turns and aims the gun at Eli, “Don’t move.” He says.

“Stop!” April repeats over and over as Logan aims the gun back at me.

If anyone even goes near him, he’ll shoot.

“What’s this about?” I ask.

“You’re dangerous.” He says.

“Says the asshole with the gun. Look at yourself!”

Serafina stands in between Logan and I and raises her hands, “Just put the gun down.”

“I’ll shoot both of you, happily.”

Serafina doesn’t move. While Logan’s focused on me Zander tackles him down.

Blood seeps out of my stomach.

I was shot.