Chapter 3 August 25th, 2037

It’s been over a week since I found Nate hiding in the pantry. Physically he seems to be responding well to Kennedy’s treatments. Kennedy has informed us that his wounds are healing nicely. Luckily for us he was strong enough to move on the day after we found him. Connor worried that his dried blood would give our location away to the zombies. I hate to admit it, but he was right. We didn’t make it as far as we were hoping, but we still made it to the other side of the city. Nate hasn’t spoken since he was found in the pantry. I can’t really blame him, his body showed multiple signs of being attacked and then hearing Connor call him a threat, it’s a lot to take in for someone his age. Or any age really. Hell, I can still remember not wanting to talk to anyone, or even want to be around anyone when my family died.

Our new safe house looks almost like the last one, except there is no fireplace in the living room. There isn’t much in the way of furniture anywhere in this house, or food. We are leaving here in a few hours when the others wake up, which is a good thing because our provisions are running low. Kennedy and Nate are also up with me. Actually Nate has been up with me every night since I found him, Connor has made sure of that.

Kennedy is looking over Nate’s wounds. She wants to make sure he is at his best when we leave later. Penelope is sprawled out on her stomach, half of her body is hidden under the couch. Connor is asleep beside her, his back against the wall, a book grasped firmly in his hands, his chin resting firmly on his chest.

“How’s it going?” I ask walking over to Kennedy.

“Excellent,” Kennedy replies, “Nate’s as healthy as any of us.”

“That’s a plus,” I say smiling at Nate.

Nate doesn’t say anything to either of us, he just puts his shirt back on and heads off to a secluded corner of the room where he usually goes. He has a few sheets of blank printer paper and a pencil that he found when we first arrived at this empty house. He might not be saying much, but he has really enjoyed drawing.

“Any sign of infection yet?” I ask Kennedy in a whisper as I help her gather up her supplies.

“Not yet,” She replies.

“Connor still thinks he’s a threat to us,” I say looking back at Nate.

“I know. He keeps asking me about him daily,” Kennedy admits slightly annoyed.

“I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t leave him to die,” I say defensively.

Kennedy looks at me, I can feel her eyes sizing me up “You did the right thing. This world is new to us, and we are all scared. It’s hard to trust anything when everything around us is trying to kill us. But you, you went beyond the fear and risked everything to save a life.”

I couldn’t help by smile, “Thanks. But I wish Connor could see that too.”

“He will, in time,” Kennedy reassured me, “remember, he’s just as scared as the rest of us.”

I can’t think of anything to say. It’s hard to picture Connor as scared. He has never shown any kind of fear, not since he saved me anyway.

The night is almost over, I can see the sun rising off in the distance. Kennedy has taken to reading one of her old medical books, while Nate has fallen asleep, his drawing resting on his lap. I can’t really make out what he has drawn from where I am sitting, but everything else I’ve seen him draw has been spectacular.

“It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day,” Kennedy says looking up from her book.

“Yes. A good day for us to find another safe house,” I reply putting my journal away.

“We should start waking the others,” She says ignoring my cynicism.

I nod in agreement, “I’ll wake up Penelope and Nate if you get Connor.”

Kennedy turns her head, looking at Connor’s sleeping body, “fine.”

None of us like waking Connor up. He always wakes angry, swinging violently. I rush over and wake Penelope up and urge her to join me over in the corner next to Nate. Penelope nudges Nate awake as I watch Kennedy poke Connor steadily. Connor’s body jerks, his closed eyes twitching as Kennedy shakes him by the shoulder. Connor’s eyes shoot open as both of his fists start swinging. Kennedy barely avoids both of his fist as she falls backward onto the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Connor says, helping her back to her feet.

“Its fine,” Kennedy says angrily as she dusts herself off.

“You have really got to stop doing that,” I say from the corner.

“I don’t mean it,” Connor says defensively, “I just don’t want to die in my sleep.”

“You’re right, because zombies are going to wake you up before the start to munch on you,” Penelope says sarcastically.

Connor waves us off before walking over to his bag. He shuffles through the contents, pulling out a half empty bottle of water and a dented metal can, the label ripped off. Kennedy, Penelope, and I follow suit. I shuffle through my bag, there isn’t much left in my bag. I pull out two small bottles of water and hand one to Nate. I find a can of chicken and rice, and half a package of crackers. I hold both items in my hand, the last of my rations. I hand Nate the can of soup. He looks at me with wide eyes. I’ve been sharing my food with him all week.

“I’m out of rations,” I admit sheepishly.

“I have an extra can,” Kennedy offers, shaking a can at me, “it’s only spaghetti and meatballs, but it’s yours if you want it.”

I hesitantly take the can from her, a half-smile on my face, “Thanks.” I catch her smiling at me as I as I eat the cold spaghetti.

We finish our breakfast and pack up. Kennedy, Penelope, and Nate meet us out front as Connor and I take one last look around the house before lighting a single match and setting the house on fire. We meet up with the others outside where we watch the fire slowly start to engulf the entire house.

“Do you guys do this a lot?” Nate’s soft voice asks.

We all turn around and look at Nate, startled that he spoke.

“Actually, we do,” Connor answers rudely.

“Why?” He asks.

“Just seems like a good idea,” Connor responds mockingly.

“We do it as a cleansing ritual,” Penelope says pushing Connor away.

“Oh,” Nate says, still slightly confused.

We start off down the street, the warmth of the fire can be felt on our backs the rest of the way down the road. The day continues on, by noon the sun starts to feel hotter on our bodies than the fire. There isn’t much around to protect us from the sun, most awnings around town have been torn down. There are blood stains and stray body parts randomly lying around the streets and sidewalks. The most disturbing sight comes when we come across a small park. The grass is long and unkempt, blood splattered along the top. I shudder as I think about what could be hidden inside the grass. The playground equipment is all destroyed, the swing set is rusted with both swings snapped in half. A blood trail marks the slide, a small child’s body lays in the wood chips, its head cracked open and scratch marks along the shoulders and arms.

“Who would let children play with zombies everywhere?” Connor asks disturbed.

“We don’t know the circumstances,” Penelope says her face showing disgust at Connor’s lack of respect for the dead, “maybe they were here before they got infected.”

“Now may not be the right time to discuss this,” Kennedy reasons.

Everyone agrees and we slowly start off again. Birds can be heard off in the distance, each of us stop in our tracks, Connor and Penelope each reach for their guns. We begin to pick up the pace looking for any kind of shelter. Above us we can see a flock of birds flying our way. My eyes become so engrossed with the birds above us, I don’t see the hands coming out of the tall grass until it’s too late.

A strong hand grabs me firmly by the ankle, knocking me to the ground. I begin to kick wildly, my hands clawing frantically at the sidewalk, anything possible to get away. I finally manage to get to my back, I can see the rest of my friends fighting off other Zombies. I turn my attention back to my ankle and the hand still firmly wrapped around it. Another hand reaches for my face, the pale white hand is missing small portions of flesh throughout the arm, dried blood staining the finger tips. I push the arm out of the way catching my first look at the Zombie’s face. Its face is a grimy gray color, with the nose missing. Most of its scalp has fallen out revealing skull and parts of its brain. Its eyes are glazed over becoming a milky white with a slight blue tint showing underneath. It has no legs, its body stopping after its stomach, intestines squishing on the hot sidewalk. I fight back with my free foot kicking the zombie in the chest. I know I need to get back on my feet or I’m going to die. I push the zombie backward just enough so I could swing my foot hard, hitting it right in the face. The Zombie growls and groans at me, I know it can’t feel pain but it seems to growl worse each time I kick it. Nothing seems to stop the Zombie, I can feel it overpowering me and my malnourished body. I try to cry out, but nothing comes out of my mouth. The Zombie moves its way on top of me, out of reach of my legs, its arms holding me down as it dislocates its jaw. Slowly its enlarged jaw makes its way toward my throat. I tremble slightly, as I close my eyes tightly. I can feel tears rolling out of my eye sockets as the warm breath from the zombie beats down on my face, almost like the creature is taunting me. Growling and groaning, but never attacking me. I slowly open my eyes, still scared and confused. I can make out the head struggling to reach me, unable to get any closer.

“I can’t continue holding on,” Connor calls out.

I wriggle my body again. This time I manage to slide out thanks to Connor’s help. As soon as I clear the body I hear a gunshot come out of Connor’s gun. I pull my katana out of its sheath and turn back to the shaking Zombie and slice my blade downward until I hear the blade making contact with the gravel sidewalk.

“Thanks,” I say turning back toward Connor as I wipe the congealed blood off the blade of my sword before re-sheathing it.

I look back at the others. Penelope’s right arm has been gashed around the shoulder and Kennedy is trying to patch it up. I can tell Kennedy is ignoring her own wounds by the look of pain on her face. I can see the fresh blood dripping from her shirt. Nate is standing beside them both petrified.

“You ok?” Connor asks, his eyes checking me over.

“Yeah, I’ll live,” I reply dusting myself off, “how about you? And the others?”

“I’m fine, bastards couldn’t get more than a couple of fingers on me. The kid did pretty well protecting himself too, especially being unarmed. The girls both have a couple of scratches. Penelope ended up cutting herself pretty badly on a tree branch,” Connor answered.

“Guess we were pretty lucky,” I say with a monotone voice.

“Yeah. I guess if you count being ambushed as lucky,” Connor retorts sarcastically.

“You don’t honestly think they planned this do you?” I ask concerned.

“I’m not sure,” Connor says looking back at Kennedy, Penelope, and Nate, “what I am sure of is most of our group is injured, and we only have a few hours of sunlight left. We need to keep moving and find ourselves some shelter.”

I nod my head in agreement and we head over to the others. Kennedy has finished patching up Penelope’s shoulder. I can see that the blood on Kennedy’s shirt isn’t hers. I feel slightly more relieved.

We head out on our way, each one of us slightly more on our guard than before. Connor, Penelope, and I each have our handguns out. Penelope watching our front and Connor watching the rear. Kennedy has her machete drawn and Nate is gripping Penelope’s machete with both hands. We each agreed it was better to have Nate with a weapon than to continue on unarmed. The sun slowly begins to set, a cool breeze wafts across our faces as Connor examines the sky.

“Looks like rain,” He says as another breeze rolls in, “we might want to find shelter quickly.”

We manage to find shelter just as the dark clouds roll in, darkening the sky just as the sun sets. Thunder rumbles in the sky above us, causing me to jump a little. I have never been scared of the thunder or lightning, but then again I was never afraid of walking through a park during broad daylight either… I guess that’s just not the world we live in anymore. Connor and Penelope agree to perform the rounds, checking the outside perimeter of the house. I wait out front with Kennedy and Nate watching the street for anything that might want us dead.

“All clear,” Connor’s voice calls out as he and Penelope finish rounding the house.

A joint sigh is heard as Connor turns the handle and the door and the door squeaks open. It’s such a relief when we find doors that were left unlocked, the alternative being making our own way in which usually involves breaking in through a window or kicking the door in. Both tend to make a lot of noise, which leaves us vulnerable, especially at night when those creatures have the upper hand on us. We all enter the house one by one. A dank smell enters my nostrils, almost choking me as we make our way through the inside of the house.

“Oh my goodness, something smells terrible,” Penelope says, her hand waving trying to rid the smell from her nostrils.

“Let’s try to figure out what that smell is,” Connor replies slowly, “maybe then we’ll be able to get rid of this smell.”

We all agree and slowly begin the search through the house. The first room we search is the living room. This room looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. There is an old antique sofa against the back wall wrapped in plastic. In front of the old couch is an older looking coffee table. The coffee table looks as if it is made from thick wood.

“This looks like it will do well up against a door,” Penelope says knocking on the table.

“I’m not barricading myself in here if we can’t find the source of that smell,” Kennedy says jokingly.

“I think I know where that smell is coming from,” Connor says leaning his back against a door, his eyes focused on a trail of blood leaving the living room and entering the next room. I walk over beside Connor, my eyes following the blood trail. I can’t see anything clearly, the room is too dark. I remove my flashlight from my pocket and power it on, much to Connor’s dismay. The light beam brightens up the next room just enough for us to see the half-eaten body decomposing on the floor of the dining room.

“This doesn’t look good,” Penelope says, poking her head between Connor and myself.

“Do you think it’s really dead?” Kennedy asks cautiously.

The beam from my flashlight catches a quick glimpse of a black blur before we here a soft thudding noise, Connor’s machete blade severing the corpse’s head from its body, “If it wasn’t, it is now.”

Connor and I wrap the corpse up in a rug before dragging it through the kitchen and out the back door. Connor nods at the fence and I nod in agreement. We manage to get the dead carcass to the fence where Connor and I pick it up as high as we can, slowly rolling it over the top of the fence. It feels slightly disrespectful, just throwing a body away like garbage. I can feel a few rain drops hitting the top of my head, thunder rumbling once again in the sky.

Chapter 4 August 27th, 2037

It’s been raining steadily the last few days forcing us to stay inside. Kennedy and Penelope sit on the floor beside the fireplace playing cards. Neither one of them look to fond of their game. Connor has been working out with Nate, he was really impressed with the way he handled himself at the park the other day. There wasn’t a lot of food worth taking in the kitchen, just a few cans of tomato soup. Luckily there was a few bottles of water tucked away in the refrigerator. There is a staircase to the second floor in the hallway that seductively calls to me. None of us dare to go up to the second floor, a rule we set into place the day after Connor rescued me. The day passes by slowly, the rain still continuing to fall outside, the wind rattling the house from time to time. I agree to do first watch again, Kennedy agrees to join me. Connor, Nate and Penelope each curl up on the floor around the fireplace. Their shivers and sounds of being cold can be heard as Kennedy and I gear up for our perimeter search.

“I hope this rain stops soon,” Kennedy says cocking her gun.

“Yeah, me too,” I agree walking toward the door, “Although it does have me thinking. This rain has had us trapped here the last few days, what are we going to do when winter hits?”

“You know I never really thought that far ahead,” Kennedy replies stopping in her tracks, her face showing signs of worry.

I feel bad adding to Kennedy’s fears, “let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s just focus on getting through the night.” She nods, but her face still shows fear.

We start our search, the rain slows us down slightly but we still manage to search the house thoroughly. We do hear a slight noise come from the second floor, we watch from the bottom of the staircase for a few moments with no results. We figure a window must be open, or broken. The wind has been terribly strong during this storm. We finish our search and head back into the living room with the other. Each of them is asleep, Connor snoring loudly once again. Nate is sprawled out on his stomach, Penelope’s legs laying crossed over his as she lays with her head close to the fire. I sit down on the floor, my back against the wall furthest away from the others. My eyes shifting focus from the others, and back to the stairs in the hallway. I watch Kennedy rummage through her bag, she pulls out a thick medical book before settling herself down beside the roaring fire. I can almost make out words she is muttering to herself as she studies the book, trying to piece together whatever she facts and information she can on her own.

The night seems to drag on, my eyelids feel like they weigh a hundred pounds. Even Kennedy has started to drift off into her book, and she usually finds all that stuff interesting. I put my journal away and get back to my feet. I still have three hours left in my shift and I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay awake if I just sit there writing. I stretch my back as I start to look around the living room. We’ve been in the house about two days and none of us have actually stopped and actually looked at any of the more personal items. I think it would make it harder if we looked at all the pictures when we stay in a house, make this nightmare a little bit more real knowing the faces of the people that have died. Knowing that the few of us that remain are all that remain of our species. I can’t stop myself, boredom has over taken my mind. There are a few dusty photos on the mantle, most showing a little girl, she looks to be about eight or nine. There are pictures of her playing soccer, with a dog, and photos of her just being a child. Something that was taken from her the day that virus hit.

I reach out to the middle of the mantle, a photo has been knocked over. I take the photo and take a few extra moments looking at it. The little girl is also in this photo, with her curly blonde hair and innocent smile. She is surrounded by a happy looking couple that looks to be her parents. The man in the photo looks familiar, I can’t figure out where I’ve seen him before. Then it hits me, that’s the man Connor and I wrapped up inside the carpet and tossed over the fence when we first arrived here. My heart sinks a little as I toss the picture into the fireplace, as I try to burn the image of the little girl and her family out of my head. I walk away from the fire place, my mind still thinking about the family that used to live here. I turn my attention back to Kennedy, who is now completely passed out, her face laying in the middle of her book. I can’t help but smile as I pull the book out of her hands and lay her down gently on the floor.

I hear a crashing noise come from the second floor. I make my way over to the staircase and shine my flashlight as far as it will go. I can’t see anything beyond the top of the staircase. I look back into the living room, everyone is still asleep. Another sound from upstairs. I pull out my gun and cock it as I head back to the staircase. I still can’t see anything from the bottom of the stairs. I can feel my heart pounding as I let out a sigh. Slowly I start walking up the stairs, breaking protocol. I take each step slowly, listening to everything as I move higher and higher.

“Hello?” I call out softly when I reach the top of the stairs.

No answer. I shine my light through the hallway. There are two doors on the right side and three on the left with one directly in front of me. I start down the hallway trying the first door on the left first. I open the door slightly, using my foot to push it open the rest of the way, my light and gun aimed straight ahead. With the door wide open I can see a small office. There isn’t much in the room with the exception of a desk, computer, and printer. I leave the room after determining there is nothing of value inside. I make my way toward the next door. My heart is working its way up to my throat as I turn the door knob. Slowly I open the door, not knowing what to expect, only to find towels and blankets shoved inside the linen closet. I shuffle through the closet contents and pull out a few of the blankets inside. It may be August but it would feel better underneath us than the hardwood floors. I line the blankets on the floor before heading down the hallway to the furthest door. I can see light shining through a crack in the door. Whoever was in here last didn’t close the door all the way. I push the door in with the outside of my foot, each of my senses tingling, my stomach twisting as I step inside the master bedroom.

I shine my light throughout the room. There is a large set of windows and a glass door that leads out to a balcony. The silver light of the moon shines past the rain clouds helping to light up the room. I check on the door, it’s locked firmly. I turn around, my flashlight flickers as I walk around the room looking for anything useful. There is a set of doors against the back wall, back near the door that I walked though. One door is open, I can tell before I get there that it is the master bathroom. I use my light to brighten up the floor where I see a pool of blood. I don’t want to go any further. The smell of dry blood gets stronger the closer I get to the bathroom, but I know I have to check to make sure there is nothing dangerous in there. I almost throw up when I look inside, pieces of what used to be a human are scattered all around the floor. I can’t hold it in any longer, I begin to vomit all over the bathroom. I drag myself out of the bathroom, closing the door as I back up. I drop to my knees gasping for air as I try to pull myself together. I can’t believe that I let that get to me. I grab a pillow from the king sized bed and shake it out of its casing. I use the pillow case to wipe the rest of the crud out of my mouth before getting back up to my feet. It takes me a moment to get back on my feet, and when I do I still feel a bit dizzy and queasy. I manage to stumble across the floor, over to the dresser against one of the side walls. I hold myself up right looking at my face in the mirror. I’ve always been pale, but I can see that I look even whiter than normal. I close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths, anything at all to clear my mind. I manage to settle my nerves and stomach after a couple of minutes. I can still feel my body shaking but I know I have to continue, I made the choice to come up here. I start rummaging through the drawers of the dresser. There isn’t much in any of the drawers, but I do manage to collect some clothes for us. The top drawer is full of junk. Wires and miscellaneous tools, I pocket some of the items, maybe Connor can finally fix that radio he’s been working on for months. Underneath the wires I spot a black and red Mp3 player with a small portable black speaker attached to it. I haven’t heard music in months, haven’t even thought about it really. A piece of me knows I shouldn’t even bother with it, that it is just a luxury item but I pocket it anyway. I contemplate not opening the closet, I worry about what might jump out and attack me, or worse more pieces of a body. I fight against my more logical side and open the closet door, my light focused straight ahead. The closet is very well organized, rows of shoes on the bottom with coats, dresses, and shirts hanging above them. I shuffle through the clothes on the hangers, nothing functional for our day to day lives on the run. Even the shoes aren’t what we need, most of them high heel shoes, with a few men’s dress shoes.

I close the closet door and gather the few items of clothing I took from the dresser drawers and piled them on top of the blankets I secured from the hall closet. I hear another noise, this time it sounds like scratching. I drop the clothes and walk over to the last two doors. I kick the first one in, my gun ready to fire. The room is mostly empty, the floor is lined with a tarp paint cans along the edges of the room. A sign hanging on the far end wall, ‘Nursery’. I close the door, my heart feeling heavier than before. There is only one door left, whatever was making all the noises I heard before has to be coming from inside that room.

I place my hand on the door knob and twist it firmly, but it is locked. I can hear sounds inside the room, it almost sounds like whimpering. I try the door again, the handle won’t budge. The whimpering is getting louder. I take a step backwards and kick the door in, I am no longer a victim to my fear, and instead my body is running off adrenaline.

I charge into the room, my gun ready to fire, my flashlight frantically searching the room for anything that could be making the noise. The room seems empty, at least nothing has jumped out attacking me yet. I continue to scan the pink room. This was certainly a little girl’s room. Dolls are scattered all over the floor, a small table set up for a tea party sits in front of a large window. Against the left wall sits a rather large day bed, covered with hot pink blankets and flowery pillows disseminated all over the bed. I catch a small reflective surface at the end of the bed. I move my light away slowly, realizing the surface is a pair of eyes.

“Who’s in here?” I ask gruffly.

No answer from the sparkling eyes.

“I don’t want to shoot,” I call out, “but I will if you don’t identify yourself right now!”

The eyes rise above the side of the bed revealing a scared face of a little girl. I recognize the face as the girl from the picture’s downstairs.

“Are you here to save us?” She asks in a scared voice.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help,” I say as I offer her my hand.

“Did you find my mommy and daddy yet?” she asks walking over to me slowly.

“Not yet,” I lie, “we can talk more downstairs ok?”

She nods her head; her eyes are red and puffy and I could tell she has been crying. She is wearing a long pink nightshirt that goes down to her feet. Her hair is a mess, and she has her thumb placed in her mouth. She reaches my hand, and hesitantly places her small hand in mine. I pull her close, examining her eyes, checking to see if I can spot anything remotely zombie like. She seems clean, but what do I know.

“How long have you been in this room?” I ask curiously.

“A couple of days,” She answers softly. She looks dehydrated and hungry, she must have been in here a while alone. “Daddy heard a noise downstairs and told me to wait in here with the door locked … he said he’d be right back.”

“Why don’t we get you downstairs, I have a friend who can check you out and make sure you’re ok,” I wink at her.

“Is your friend nice?” She asks shyly.

“Yeah, she is one of the nicest people I have ever met,” I say with a smile, “with a gentle touch and amazing smile.”

“Ok, if you say she’s nice,” the girl agrees.

“By the way my name is Damian,” I say holding her hand as I walk her out into the hallway.

“My name is Haleigh,” she says following me down the stairs.

We make it down the stairs and I walk her over to Kennedy. Everyone is still sound asleep. I gently shake her shoulder, her eyes opening slowly until she realizes that she fell asleep.

“Oh my goodness,” She gasps, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I’m so sorry I…”

“Kennedy,” I interrupt her, “its fine, but I need your help.” I move out of her line of sight and she notices Hayleigh standing behind me scared.

“Who is that?” Kennedy asked slightly scared and confused.

“Her name is Hayleigh, I found her upstairs alone and scared,” I ramble.

` “Wait? You found her upstairs?” Kennedy asked concerned, making sure it wasn’t loud enough to wake Connor.

“Yeah, remember those noises I said I heard earlier, well it was her,” I whisper, not wanting to upset Hayleigh, “we tossed out her father the day we arrived here, and I found… pieces of her mother.”

Kennedy nods understanding that I feel bad for this girl. I can see it in her eyes, she wants to help her too, but both of us are worried about what Connor will say when he finds out.

“Can you check her out? I have to go back upstairs, I found some blankets and clothes that we could use,” I say getting back onto my feet.

“Wait? What do I do if Connor or Penelope wakes up?” Kennedy asks grabbing my arm tightly.

“If Penelope wakes up, tell her the truth,” I answer, “if Connor wakes up… well just don’t let him kill her until I get back.” My words are cold but true, I’m just glad Hayleigh didn’t hear me.

Kennedy smiles at Hayleigh as I walk away, I can hear her asking her some routine questions as she shuffles through her bag. I head back up the stairs, the blankets and clothes still lying in the middle of the hallway. I can see into Hayleigh’s room, her door still wide open. I walk back into her room and pull open her dresser drawers, throwing clothes out into a pile on the floor. When the drawers are empty I throw open the closet door searching until I come across a pink backpack. There is a picture of a princess on the bag, her name stitched across the top in black letters. I shove a few articles of clothes into the bag before heading back out into the hallway. I don’t hear any shouting, Connor must still be asleep. I sweep the pile up into my arms and head back down the stairs.

I drop the pile of clothes and blankets on the floor when I re-enter the living room. Hayleigh is repeating the alphabet to Kennedy. Nate, Penelope, and Connor are still asleep. I look down at my watch, we were supposed to wake them up fifteen minutes ago.

“We have to wake the others up,” I announce.

“Are you sure that’s smart?” Kennedy asks, “I mean you saw how Connor re-acted to Nate.”

“If we don’t wake him up and deal with him now, you can bet your ass that it will be worse if he wakes up and finds out on his own,” I say sternly.

Kennedy looks at me with an angry and concerned face, “you know I hate it when you’re right.”

“You think I enjoy it?” I ask walking over to our sleeping friends, “well I do.” I smile, turning back to her.

I decide to wake Connor up first, I figure I might as well get it over with. I shake Connor ferociously until his eyes shoot open. I manage to dodge his first swing, but my chin catches the second, his punch knocking me to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Connor says realizing it was me who he had just punched.

“Its fine,” I reply rubbing my jaw as I get back to my feet, “I may have deserved it this time anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Connor replies angrily, as he sits up.

“Don’t be mad,” I start off, backing away slowly, “but I broke a few rules tonight.”

“What do you mean you broke a few rules? Which ones? Why?” his voice rubles slightly, waking Penelope and Nate from their sound slumbers.

“I went upstairs, alone. I had Kennedy wait down here, I don’t want you to get mad at her,” I say with harsh voice.

“Why would you go upstairs? That could have been suicide,” Connor growls, “or worse you could have gotten us all killed.”

“Or I could have ignored the noises I heard coming from upstairs and something could have come down here and killed us. Or worse, she could be dead,” I say pointing back to Hayleigh.

“You found another one?” Connor asked, his voice more concerned than angry.

“Yeah,” I said softly, “and I’m sorry, but rules or no rules I’m glad I went up there because that little girl deserves the same chances as you or me.”

“He’s right,” Penelope’s voice chimes in, “if we can find life, we need to do everything within our power to try and keep it alive.”

“And if they are infected?” Connor strikes back.

“Then at least we know we tried,” Penelope says before walking Nate over to Kennedy and Hayleigh.

I start to walk over to the others before stopping short. I turn back to Connor and reach into my pocket, pulling out the pieces of wire and the few tools. I toss the handful of scraps to the ground beside Connor, “I found those in a drawer upstairs. I thought it might help you fix the radio you’ve been working on, but I don’t know why you would even want to bother. Not if you can’t understand how sacred life is. Especially in hell.”

Chapter 5 August 31st, 2037

It’s been a tense couple of days. Connor hasn’t said much to the rest of us, and we haven’t tried to say much to him either. The only words we can seem to say to each other is when it is absolutely necessary. We haven’t left Hayleigh’s house yet, I think we are all worried about what would happen if we actually went outside. I hate admitting it, but Connor really is our strength. He always has a plan, keeping us moving all around New England just to make sure we stay safe. Hell it was even his idea to check out the neighbor’s houses for extra rations. My words just seem to be running in circles, I know that I have to apologize to him but it just seems hard.

Penelope and Kennedy are asleep on top of the pile of blankets, Nate and Hayleigh are nestled in beside them. Connor and I are wide awake on watch. I’m cradled in the corner of the back wall close to the girls and kids. Connor is clear across the room, working on the radio. He has been working on it since I threw down the spare parts. He’d never admit it, but I can almost sense his feeling of loneliness.

I get up from my spot, making sure not to wake the others up. I make my way to my bag, which luckily is sitting close to Connor.

“Any luck with the radio?” I ask softly as I shuffle through my bag.

Connor looks up at me, I can almost see the shock in his face that I spoke to him, “I don’t know. I’ve replaced most of the wires, knobs, and made a makeshift antenna. But I still don’t know if I can get a signal, or even if it will work.”

“Is there any way we can check it out?” I ask amazed by his progress.

“With some luck the satellites are still up and working, than all I would need is a battery,” Connor says with a sigh.

“That doesn’t sound so hard,” I say slightly excited, “I saw some in a drawer in the kitchen. What kind do you need?”

“It’s not that simple. I need a car battery,” Connor replies.

“It just keeps getting easier doesn’t it?” I nod.

“Yeah,” he chuckles. It the first time I’ve seen him smile in days, “maybe in the morning we can figure it out.”

“That would require us finding a car that works. Half of them have been torched or crashed,” I ramble.

“Well, then I guess we have to have a little faith don’t we?” Connor says.

“Easier said than done,” I reply.

“Hey, you can’t start thinking like that,” Connor says, punching me playfully in the arm, “I know I haven’t been the most welcoming person when it comes to strangers, at least children. But I don’t mean it, I swear. It’s just hard.”

“Why?” I ask softly.

“It’s hard to talk about,” Connor says closing his eyes, a stray tear rolls down his cheek.

“It’s harder keeping it in,” I say trying to comfort him.

He looks away from me as he wipes away his tears. He reaches into the breast pocket of his shirt and pulls out a worn out picture. In the picture Connor is dressed in military greens. A little girl sits on his lap and an adorable lady standing beside him, her hand on his shoulder. There is a park in the background. They seem happy, he seems happy. “That was my wife Jeanette and our daughter Tabitha. Jeanette was diagnosed with lung cancer, three weeks after that picture was taken. At the time doctors said that the cancer had spread too far and removal was almost impossible. I refused to believe it was untreatable. I had a friend who was an army surgeon, he told me about this new experiment they were trying. That a scientist had developed a way to assist in surgeries. It was still in the experimental stages, but he assured me that it would work.”

“What experiment?” I ask when Connor takes a breath.

“The Omega Strain,” Connor replies with an evil look in his eyes, “I didn’t know what it was at that time, I don’t even remember questioning it. All I knew is I didn’t want to lose my wife. I talked to her about the experimental procedure, she was less than reluctant, but I talked her into it. We flew to D.C. and she was admitted. Sixteen hours I waited as they performed surgery on her, our daughter with me the whole time. I can still remember when the doctor came into the waiting room and sat down with us. I was terrified that it was bad news, and then the doctor looked at me and smiled. He told me that the surgery had been a big success and I could see Jeanette in the morning. Tabitha and I walked in to that room the next morning, she had just been served breakfast and Tabitha was thrilled to see her. I was thrilled. But that feeling soon went away. Jeanette started to code, her hand clinging to her chest. I watched the life fade out of her eyes.”

“I’m sorry,” I say sadly.

“Don’t be,” Connor growled, “she didn’t die. The Omega Strain that they injected her with kept her alive, but not herself.”

“Are you telling me that she was a Zombie?” I ask confused.

“I don’t know honestly,” Connor sighs, “She wasn’t alive, but she didn’t look like one of the Zombies we’ve been facing. The doctors did what they could for her, but she was too much for them. She ripped, bit, and clawed her way free… I couldn’t make it to Tabitha in time. I froze as I watched her rip out our daughter’s jugular with her teeth. That’s when I snapped, I blacked out. I don’t even remember what I did, but when I woke my wife was dead in the corner and my little girl’s dead body laid in my arms.”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” I say apologetically.

“Don’t be,” Connor says waving me off.

Our attention is turned from each other to the group, huddled together by the fire place. Hayleigh is tossing back and forth. Moaning sounds can be heard before she wakes up crying. Kennedy, Penelope, and Nate wake up from Hayleigh’s stirring around.

“Honey what’s wrong?” Kennedy asks rubbing her back.

Connor and I get up and walk over to the rest of the group.

“I hurt,” Hayleigh says between her tears.

“Where do you hurt?” Penelope asks her.

“My tummy and chest,” Hayleigh says wrapping her arms around herself.

Hayleigh starts to breathe heavily, choking with each big breath she takes. Blood begins to come out with each cough, Kennedy bends her forward. Hayleigh grunts and groans as more blood comes out of her mouth before she falls forward, her face landing in the pile of blood.

Kennedy rolls her over as she checks for a pulse, “She’s dead.”

Everyone stares at each other, Connor starts to back away slowly. Hayleigh’s eyes open slowly, her eyes once full of life now a milky white. The rest of us now scramble to get up. Hayleigh raises her head, her nose sniffing, looking for us.

“Get down!” Connor yells out.

We all drop back down to the ground, the sound of Connor’s gun firing off, one round, two round, three round. When I look up I can see Hayleigh’s body laying back on the ground, her cloudy white eyes looking in my direction.

“I’m sorry,” I hear Connor say before I see the blade of his machete cutting through Hayleigh’s neck. Connor drops the machete. The sound of the handle hitting the ground is surpassed by the loud thud Connor’s knees make as he falls down beside her lifeless body.

None of us say a word. I don’t think there is anything we could say even if we wanted, instead we just continue to stare at Hayleigh’s young body laying lifeless on the ground. None of us sleep the rest of the night. We all stay awake with thoughts rushing through each of our heads. Each of us has killed a family member, but this is the first time we had to kill a member of our group, of our new family. It hurts even more that she was just a little girl, she should have had her whole life ahead of her.

When the sun finally does rise we pack up our belongings and begin to move out. The girls take Nate outside as Connor and I prep the house for the fire. I can hear noises coming from the living room. I look back through the doorway and watch as Connor wraps Hayleigh’s body up firmly in the blankets on the floor, her head nestled inside with her body. I slide back into the kitchen, leaving Connor on his knees besides her rocking back and forth. I finish my half of the preparation and wait outside with Nate and the girls. None of us say a word as we wait for Connor to join us outside. We can see the fire burning through the windows, each one of us hanging our head, our thoughts going out to Hayleigh one last time.