I wake up, sweating but cold and in pain. The last thing I remember is getting shot and falling down, it felt horrible and still does. Fucking Logan. My watch is on a nightstand to my left, 4:03 in the morning. April’s asleep at the end of my bed like a pet dog, when Logan hit her it must have left a scar, similar to the one Eli has. I have no idea where I am but that’s the least of my worries, this place looks safe. I try sitting up but it hurts, no shit. When Serafina was shot she had to stay in that mattress for weeks, that’s the worst part about being injured, staying in one spot until you’re okay and not being able to do anything about anything that’s going on around you. I don’t want to wake April up and I can barely move so I should just go back to sleep.

***

“He’s up!” April yells standing over me.

“April, hey.” I say

“I didn’t think you were gonna wake up, I mean I stayed here and I was hoping but you were asleep for so long and I even hit you but you just layed there!”

“You hit me?”

I was right, she has a thick, relatively long scar above her right eyebrow.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“We drove for a whole day and we’re in… Kentucky now.”

“Wow.”

“And this house, it has an upstairs and a basement and a big garage.”

“Sounds nice but this is only temporary, we should keep moving.”

“It’s nice here, we should stay for longer.”

“Sure, longer but not forever.”

“You’re up.” Eli says from the doorway before walking over.

“We need to talk about Logan.” He looks at April, she softly nods her head and leaves.

“What happened to him?” I ask.

“He’s here, upstairs. What do you think we should do with him?”

“Between what, keeping and killing him?”

“Nitro, he tried to kill you twice. Serafina wants him dead.”

“And you?”

“This isn’t about me.”

“You can’t just let him become a bad person.”

“It might be too late for that.”

“I’m.” I pause to think, “I’m not mad at him, I feel like I should be but I just, I’m not. Sure I’m pissed at him for hurting April.”

“Well I’m pissed at him for hurting you. You have every right to be mad at him for what he did. It wasn’t justified.”

“It’s just hard to think about. I think… we should keep him, maybe try to fix him?”

“You fucker.” Eli holds the back of my head with his hand and presses his forehead against mine, “I’m just really glad you’re okay.”

I do the same and move my hand to the back of his head, “Yeah, thank god he didn’t hurt you too.”

Serafina knocks on the door and comes in, she tries to hug me then quickly backs away, “Sorry, I keep forgetting. You scared me shitless, you know that?”

“I bet I did.”

“Can I talk to Logan?”

“No.” She demands.

Eli whispers, “Sera…”

“Just not alone, okay? I can go get him but I’m staying here the minute he steps in this room.”

“Great.”

Logan comes in with zip ties on his hands. Serafina stands behind him with her gun in hand.

“I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me.”

“I want you to stay. You don’t deserve to be alone or dead or whatever.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course I am. Logan, just don’t hurt anyone else. I know you can be a good person.”

***

It’s been four days, four days I’ve been stuck in this bed. I sit up and it hurts but only for a second, then I’m sitting. I stand and I can effortlessly, there’s nothing bad wrong with my legs anyway. Everyone went scavenging or hunting today, including Logan. I open the drawer in the nightstand and sure enough, my weapons are in there. I take them and my jacket on the floor beside the bed. This house is big, it’s a nice one too, not destroyed. I go up the stairs in the living room, more bedrooms, four of them. If I can walk I’m not just going to look at the house all day, I’m doing something.

It’s warmer here than it was in Pennsylvania. Across from the house there’s a big garage but it’s surrounded by zombies. I know I shouldn’t do this but I run toward the swarm, shooting, dodging. The garage is open, not by much. I squat down to lift it up, still turning over my shoulder to shoot almost every second. I lift it up and quickly slide through. I try closing the door but it’s stuck in place and they keep coming through. I turn around and see a door labeled storage. I attempt to open it but of course it’s locked. I kick the doorknob over and over until the wood around the knob breaks. I slam the door behind me and move a wicker chest in front of the door. There’s no windows, no doors, no way out. I’m trapped.

It’s been over two hours and those things are still out there, like April said, they can sense humans. I could take myself out before they get to me but something’s telling me I shouldn’t, not now. My stomach hurts like hell and I have a headache. I close my eyes and hope that I can just wait it out.

***

I hear Serafina’s voice, “Nitro, come on, get up.”

I stand up, the chest that was against the door is on it’s side, tools spilling out.

“We gotta get out of here.” April says from the door, helping Ria hold the zombies off.

Before stepping in the house Ria asks, “So you can get up. That was stupid though, why didn’t you just wait?”

“I don’t even know, I didn’t wanna just sit there.”

“What did you expect to do in there?”

“No clue.”

That night, an hour after being rescued I left the bedroom and went upstairs, everyone fell asleep so quickly, Eli was the only one still awake, sitting on a dresser by a front window, that despite the weather is open.

“What are you doing up?” he asks.

“I could ask you the same.”

“There’s horses.”

“Yeah you’d probably see that in Kentucky.”

“Isn’t it weird though? How they’re just here out of all places. There’s no way they came here on their own.”

I sit across from him, my legs dangling over and feet scraping the bottom drawer.

“What you did today was stupid.”

“I already got a lecture from Ria, I don’t need one from you too.”

“I figured. Hey do you see that?”

“See what?”

Light shines in through the window into my eyes, we both jump off then duck behind the dresser.

“That.”

“Holy shit, what do you think they want?”

He peers over the dresser once the light disappears, “Looks we’re gonna find out. They’re headed this way.”

“Wake the others, and hide in Ally and Zander’s room, if you need to, the drop from the roof isn’t too high.”

“What are you gonna do then?”

“I’ll talk to them.” I turn around.

“You sure?”

“One fourteen year old is less scary than a bunch of them.”

“And easier to kill.”

“Just- shit they’re right outside. Bring Serafina and April up here, now.”

Within minutes the door is kicked down. I leave the bedroom and walk down the stairs facing the front door with my hands up. It’s a group of men, five of them. They definitely look like they’re from the south, sound like it too. “We need food, a shelter, a car.” the man aiming his gun smirks.

“You have horses.”

“Don’t act smart with me. Them horses’r all we got. We have women and children but no shelter. We could use this place more than you and your folks who” he raises his voice, “I know are in here.”

“Find another house, there’s plenty.”

“I don’t think that’ll work. I can just kill you myself.”

“So can I.” I raise my gun and for the first time shot a man who wasn’t actively attacking me. Right between his eyes.