Chapter 6 September 3rd, 2037

It took us some time to find a suitable safe house, Zombies have kept us on the move the last couple of days. The September air has also kept us on our toes, with cool breezes and a slight chill at night you can almost feel summer fleeing just as we need it most.

“We have to go south,” Penelope argues as we all sit on the floor of our latest safe house.

“I agree with Penelope,” I say softly looking at the others.

“I’m not saying it isn’t a good idea,” Connor snarls, “I’m just saying it’s too unpredictable.”

“Yeah, but it’s not hard to predict what will happen to us if we stay here during the winter months,” Penelope reasons.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here,” Nate says in a whisper. His first words in days, sometimes I forget he’s even there.

“Even Nate knows that it’s stupid to stay here,” Kennedy smiles as she pats Nate on the head.

“Out there we have a better chance of survival,” I urge him.

“Why is it I have a very hard time believing that we can survive out there,” Connor sighs.

“Together we can,” Penelope says placing her hand on his knee.

“It’s going to be a hell of a walk,” I say matter-of-factly.

“And we may not always find a safe house,” Connor adds.

Quiet ensues after our heated debate. Our thoughts are only derailed buy the sound of a low rumble.

“Thunder?” Penelope asks.

“It can’t be,” Kennedy responds, “it sounds to close.”

We all get to our feet, worried what the sound could be. Penelope is the first to get to the window, her face fraught with terror as she drops back down to the floor, her head huddled under her arms. The rest of us look out the window trying to figure out what has Penelope so scared. I peer through the blinds and catch a glimpse of three rugged looking men, each on dressed in faded black leather. Each one is sitting on a motorcycle, the engines roaring each time they turn the throttle. They each have on motorcycle helmets with visors concealing their faces. I catch one walking past the others, a skull painted on his helmet. He seems to be the leader of the group, certainly the biggest of the group, a sawed off shotgun thrown over his shoulder.

“Marauders,” Kennedy squeals.

“We have to get out of here,” Connor says.

“That’s not going to happen,” I object still focused on the men outside.

I nod to the others who watch with me as the skull faced leader orders two of his men to search the back of the house.

“We have to hide,” Connor says frantic, “Everyone split up and stay hidden.”

We all nod and run off in different directions. I manage to grab my bag before slipping through the door leading to the basement. I close the door softly, hearing the front door being kicked in as I slowly back down the stairs.

“Boss,” I hear the lackey call out, “this fire is still fresh, I think people might be here.”

I pull my flashlight out of my bag and use the light to guide my way down the stairs. I hadn’t been in the basement yet, none of us have, mostly in respect of Connor’s rule about staying on the ground level of the house, but also because it creeps me out a little. I find a small hole in the wall that is just big enough to rest my bag in as I pull a few other items close, giving me some extra cover. I pull my gun out of my pocket, but I know if I had to fire it everyone else in the house would hear it. I can feel my sword with my leg, it’s still attached to my bag. I bend down as quietly as possible and slowly slide the blade free of the sheath and wait. I can hear their heavy footsteps above me, the low rumbling of their deep voices before hearing a blood curling female screech. I tighten my grip on the handle of my sword as I contemplate whether or not I should rush up. I know it’s not worth running up the stairs, I’m out numbered, my sword against their guns. I decide it’s better to listen and wait from my hole in the wall.

It’s rather quiet as I sit in hiding, just muffled grunts and the occasional thuds coming from upstairs. More time passes before the basement door is opened once again. These marauders have no rules, no structure. I’m surprised they haven’t been attacked by more Zombies. I’m sure they’re not even worried about their repercussions. I’ve heard stories of many marauders thinking they are too tough to be killed, too smart to become infected and too overwhelming to be stopped as a group. I can see the single marauder walking down the stairs through a crack in my cover. He is carry a rifle and not much else. He walks around the basement, a small beam of light coming from around waist high. I can hear boxes being opened, no doubt he is searching for items of value. I can hear him getting closer to my hiding spot. Anxiety is building, I don’t want to die this way, cowering inside a hole in the wall waiting to die. There is a small toy beside the heel of my foot, I kick it as far as I can causing it to make a soft thud near the back wall. I hear the marauder turn and aim his gun unknowing what the noise was. I sneak out of my hiding spot and come out directly behind the intruder and thrust the blade of my sword straight through the back of his neck. I can feel him dying, his body convulsing on the end of my blade. I slide the steel out of his neck and watch as he falls to the floor, dead. I rummage around through his dead body. There isn’t much on him of use besides the rifle. I check the magazine of the rifle before hiding my sword back in the hole with my bag. I glide lightly up the basement stairs, the door is still opened somewhat, just enough to allow me to see back out into the living room. I can see the other two gang members sitting on the floor, both have their masks off revealing one of the men to have a scar running down the right side of his face, the other is bald with the tattoo of a bear showing vibrantly on his head. They are both throwing small bits of food, mostly peanuts at something just out of my view. The skull marked leader is nowhere to be found.

“What’s wrong baby? Don’t you want some of my nuts?” The bald man asks before laughing.

“Didn’t Jack tell you to stop wasting your rations?” The man with the scar scolds.

“Yeah. But I’m not worried,” The bald man gets up and walks just out of sight, “if we get too hungry we can always cook up this little cutey. Like we did with that adorable blonde down in Columbus.”

I feel sick listening to them talk about eating a person.

“Hasn’t Tom been gone a while?” The scarred man asks, looking away from his friend.

“Nah, Jack has him looking in the basement for supplies,” The bald man replies, still out of sight.

“Where is Jack anyway?” The scarred man asks still looking around, “I don’t know why but this house gives me the creeps.”

“He’s upstairs with the redhead. He said not to disturb them,” the bald man chuckles.

I can’t wait any longer, I pull the trigger of the rifle. There is a stronger kickback then I expect, the butt of the rifle slams into my shoulder causing me to drop the gun. It thuds loudly all the way down the stairs. I chase after it, hearing the two men heading over towards me. I kick the rifle off to the side and run for my bag, I’m better off with my handgun at this point. I shove the items off away from my hiding space, my shoulder still throbbing from the rifle. I reach down for my bag, grabbing the strap before feeling a strong force hit me on the top of my head.

I woke up some time later, my clothes stripped from my body and my arms tied together above my head. A rope coming down from the ceiling keeping me from moving. I turn my head and see the purple bruise covering my whole shoulder. On the other side of me I see Kennedy, also tied up and naked. There are cut marks all over her body and hand prints all across her breasts. Her eyes are closed and I can’t tell if she is still alive or not. I can hear struggling come from behind me, I turn myself around and find Nate tied up his back against the wall.

“Are you ok?” I ask after Nate lifts his head.

His eyes are wide and full of fear. I can see the tears building up in his eyes, “I am. But they keep touching Kennedy, and the other one, the one with the skull, he took Penelope upstairs.”

“What about Connor? Have you seen him?” I ask softly.

“No. I think he left us here to die,” Nate responds, his voice shaky as he talks.

“He didn’t leave us here. He will be back to save us,” I say barely believing my own words, but we can’t give up hope just yet. Footsteps are heard coming down the hall. “Don’t say anything.” I turn back around taking one last look at Kennedy. I can see her chest rising softly.

All three men stand in front of me, the bald man and the scarred man stand on either side of the third man who is also holding my sword in his hands. He looks slightly older than all of us, his hair mostly graying. There is a large gash down the left side of his face leaving his left eye damaged and pale.

He smiles at me as he pulls my sword out of its sheath, “This is a lovely sword. Can I ask who you stole it from?”

“I didn’t steal it from anyone, I’m not like you,” I respond harshly.

“You’re more like us than you think. We are all trying to survive, maybe we have different ways of going about it but don’t ever think that you are better than us. Now I’ll ask you again, who did you steal this from?” Jack asks.

“I didn’t steal it. I found it at a flea market,” I say gritting my teeth.

“See was that really so difficult? If you just work with me than things will go a lot easier,” Jack smiles as he slaps my face playfully, “your shoulder looks bad, would you like someone to take care of that?”

“My friend over there studied medicine. Can you cut her down and let her look at it?” I ask trying to free Kennedy.

“I’m sorry but I can’t. You see my boys here get awfully lonely, and I couldn’t risk letting her get away. It just wouldn’t be fair to them,” Jack says.

“Then I’m fine,” I reply.

“Ok than next question, who else is in this house?” Jack asks smacking me again, harder this time.

“There is no one else. You caught us all,” I lie.

“No, I don’t think that’s true. Would you like to try again?” Jack scowls.

“I’m being honest, it was just the four of us,” I try to convince him.

Jack smiles at me before walking over to Kennedy, he watches me as his hands run down her body. She shudders as his hands explore every part of her body. I try to turn my head but the two other men force me to watch.

“This can all stop, all you have to do is be honest with me,” Jack says just as his hands begin to explore her inner thighs.

“It’s just the four of us, I swear!” I yell, pleading with him to stop.

“Maybe he’s telling the truth boss,” The scarred man says.

Jack stops his hands and turns back towards me, his eye looking at both of mine, “or maybe he just needs more motivation.” He runs the back of the sword along Kennedy’s body, I try not to show any emotion. “No? Still nothing? Well you are a cold one aren’t you my friend. Perhaps I just need to try harder.” He moves the blade away from Kennedy and walks over to Nate. He grabs him by one of the ropes and picks him up with his free hand and pushes his soft body firmly against the wall. The other hand moves the blade of the katana close to Nate’s neck. “Now tell me the truth or the kid dies.”

So many emotions flood my body at the same time. I don’t know what to do or say any more, “He’s innocent in all this, if you feel you have to kill someone than I ask that you kill me.”

“Nobody is innocent, not even kids,” Jack replies before thrusting the tip of the blade right through Nate’s neck.

“NO!” I can hear the same gurgling sounds I heard from the man in the basement. Nate’s body starts convulsing against the wall like he is pleading for death. Finally, his body stops moving and Jack pulls the blade out of his neck and lets his limp body fall to the ground.

“Don’t be too sad,” Jack says a he uses Nate’s body to wipe the blood off the blade, “I know you asked to die first, but be assured that you will die, and it will be painful. But not before you watch me kill each and every one of your friends first.”

I struggle to free myself, my teeth clenched together in rage, “that will never happen, because when I get free, I’m going to kill you myself. Now look at me again, am I lying?”

“And how are you going to pull that off?” Jack scoffs.

“With my help,” Connor’s voice rings out before gunshots are heard. Thuds are heard as both the bald and the scarred man fall dead.

Jack backs up holding the sword defensively as Connor walks over to me pulling a switch blade out of his pocket and cutting me free.

“I knew you were lying,” Jack yells at me.

“Yeah, to bad that’s not going to save you,” I say moving closer to Jack as Connor frees Kennedy, laying her on the ground.

“Where’s Penelope?” Connor asks me

“She’s upstairs, probably tied to one of the beds,” I answer, “would you mind freeing her, I promised Jack here his death at my hands.”

“Wait a minute friend, we’re even. I killed your friend and you killed all of mine,” Jack says trying to save his own life.

“We are far from even,” I say, Connor handing me his handgun a sly grin on his face before heading off looking for Penelope, “Because from where I see it, I promised that you were going to die and I was going kill you.” I cock the gun and shoot Jack in both of his knees, dropping him to the ground. My sword and sheath slip out of his hands.

“Come on you’re not really going to kill me are you?” Jack pleads for his life, “please I don’t want die like this.”

“Would you prefer I tie you up so that you have no way of protecting yourself like our young friend Nate?” I ask full of anger.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. Please show some mercy,” he begs again.

“I want to know something,” I ask moving the blade of my sword closer to the coward.

“I’ll tell you anything I swear,” Jack cries out.

“How could you turn your back on your own kind? The world has gone to hell, LITERALLY, and yet instead of helping others you choose to turn a blind eye to them and worry about just yourself. But when the time comes and it’s you facing down the blade, you think it’s acceptable to beg for your life, is that fair?” I ask.

“You want the honest truth?” Jack asks, his whole tone changing as he answers, “it doesn’t matter if the world is full of Zombies or humans, the only thing that ever matters is looking after yourself because no one is going to ever truly have your back.”

“That’s where you’re wrong Jack,” I say, “my friends saved me without knowing me. They became my family, and they have never let me down. You would have done better to know that lesson.” I thrust the blade deep into his abdomen. He groans in pain as I shove the blade deeper into him. I look him in the eye, watching as the life fades away. I rip the blade back out and watch the rest of his body fall flat against the ground. “But I guess now it’s too late.”

Connor and Penelope come back down the stairs, Penelope’s face is red and puffy, and she is wrapped up in a blanket.

“Are you Ok?” I ask.

“As well as can be expected,” Penelope answers, “but I’d definitely be happier with some clothes.”

Penelope, Kennedy, and Nate’s bags are all lying against the wall beside the front door. I grab both Penelope and Kennedy’s bag and go to reach for Nate’s before remembering that Nate was murdered. I hand Penelope her bag and place Kennedy’s beside her.

“After you get dressed would you mind covering up Kennedy? I’m sure she’d prefer it from you than one of us,” I ask.

“Yeah, no problem,” She replies.

“Thanks. We’ll wait for you in the kitchen,” I say pulling Connor away with me.

“Are you ok?” Connor asks when we get into the kitchen.

“I’m fine,” I lie, “we’re all fine thanks to you. Where did you learn how to surprise your enemy like that? It was pretty bad ass.” I force a smile.

“I was in special forces for five years. The government trained me well to kill people,” Connor smirks.

“Well I guess that explains why you’re so good at leading us,” I say.

“Who said I was leading you?” Connor asks confused.

“I just assumed you were the Del facto leader of our group. I mean you came up with the rules, you rescued us all, and you never stop,” I reply, “face it you are our leader whether you like it or not.”

“No, I’m not, I might do a lot of killing but I’m no leader. I as trained to follow orders, not give them. I did try once to be the leader of this group, but I realized something, you are the real leader. The girls follow you without question, you make hard decisions but still have a good heart when it counts,” Connor winks at me.

I had never actually thought of myself as any sort of leader, I have always spent more time trying to stay alive than anything else. Connor and I continue to sit in silence until Penelope calls us back out to the living room. Penelope is wearing a pair of jeans that are ripped up the back of the left leg. She also has on a black t-shirt that she covers up partially with her faded green jacket. Kennedy is still lying on the floor unconscious; Penelope has dressed her in black jeans that are frayed around her shins. She has on a black and gray striped shirt that looks cleaner than anything else we have. She still has no shoes on her feet revealing her mismatched green and blue socks.

“What are we going to do if she doesn’t wake up?” Penelope asks, her voice slightly raspy.

Connor looks at me, smiling, “what do you think?”

“I don’t know,” I hesitate, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath, “Penelope, why don’t you get some sleep. Connor and I will take first shift.”

“Are you sure?” Penelope questions.

“Yeah. After everything that has happened you need, you’re rest,” I reply, comforting her with my answer.

“What about Kennedy?” She asks after laying down on the floor.

“We’ll wait. No need to make hasty decisions. If she won’t wake up in the morning we’ll have to come up with a plan,” I answer.

The night passes without any more excitement. Connor and I allowed the girls to sleep the rest of the night while we stayed awake. Penelope woke up with the sun while Kennedy continued to rest peacefully on the floor. I wish Kennedy was the one awake, I could really use some of her medical advice at this moment.

“We need to make a decision soon,” Connor whispers to me.

“I don’t know what to do,” I admit to him.

“What does your gut say?” he asks.

“It’s telling me to give her more time, that she will wake up soon,” I mumble.

Kennedy shakes slightly, a scared look washes onto her face. The three of us rush to her side. Penelope kneels down at her head and rests it in her lap. I place her hand in both of mine stroking it gently as she continues to tremor.

“You need to wake up,” I mutter under my breath, “none of us would even be here if it wasn’t for you taking care of us. We don’t know what to do, we need your help. Please wake up.” Her hand squeezes mine lightly as her eyes struggle to open.

She fights to lift her head as she gasps for air. Connor hobbles over to his bag and pulls out his canteen of water and rushes back over to Kennedy. He holds the canteen to her mouth and helps her chug the water slowly, most of it slides out the side of her mouth. When she finishes the water she goes back to gasping for air.

“What happened?” She forces out between gasps.

“We were attacked by marauders,” Connor reminds her, “they found you, Penelope, and Nate.”

“They tried to get sexual with us,” Penelope says joining in, “luckily the guys got to us before anything serious happened.”

“How did I pass out?” Kennedy asks.

“We aren’t sure,” I answer, “When they caught me, you were already passed out.”

“Where’s Nate?” She asks looking around.

“They killed him,” I answer, my eyes falling to the ground as I speak, “they murdered him for the fun of it, so I stuck the blade of my sword into the leaders gut.”

Tears fall from Kennedy’s eyes as I speak, “What now?”

Everyone looks at me, choices rush a mile a minute in my head. I fear that I will make the wrong choice and doom my whole team, my family. “As soon as you get your strength back, we have to get moving.”

Chapter 7 September 10th, 2037

It’s been a couple of days since we were invaded by the marauders. Kennedy has regained her strength, well most of it anyway. She hasn’t slept a full shift since being molested by Jack and his gang. Penelope has stayed up with her the last couple of nights. I can overhear them sometimes, when I pretend to be asleep. Their whispers and sobs are hard to ignore, I wish I could have done a better job protecting them, of protecting Nate. Connor seems to be doing the best of us all, at least in a post apocalypse sense. He has spent the last few days cleaning out each of our guns and sharpening each of their machetes. I won’t let him touch my sword for personal reason. There is a slight chill in the air, it’s easy to tell that summer is fading away and fall will be here soon. The sun has just barely begun to rise as we left our most recent safe house. Each of us anxious to leave the only place that has caused more of our nightmares than all the Zombies we have faced.

“Can I have the honors?” Kennedy asks Connor as he lights his match. Connor nods his head as he hands the match over to Kennedy. She uses the match to set the curtain of the living room ablaze. She seems to get a strange satisfaction from burning the house, it’s the first time I’ve seen her smile since that unholy night.

We walk in silence, I’m not sure any of us would know what to say to one and other anyway. By the end of the day we have made it into Rhode Island. There isn’t a lot around us except for abandoned and destroyed homes. There are shells of cars littered around the road, half eaten bodies, or at least body parts are scattered around near the car parts.

“Think we can find a useable battery?” I ask Connor.

“I’m not sure. Most of what’s lying around here is worthless,” Connor replies.

“Do we have the time to look? I mean the sun will set soon and we still have no idea where we are spending the night,” Penelope speaks up.

“We might be able to do both,” Kennedy speaks as she points to an old gas station with garage attached to it.

“It’s worth a shot at this point,” Connor agrees.

We start off for the gas station. Normally we avoid such buildings, the kinds with big windows that give our position away. The service door to the convenience store swings open freely, the unforgettable smell of death and decay invades our nostrils. Soft growling is heard from somewhere inside the store.

“We should split up,” Connor says.

“Agreed,” I nod, “Head for the garage with Penelope and look for anything that might be able to work that radio. Kennedy and I will check around here for provisions.”

Everyone agrees as we part ways. I can hear the door to the garage open and shut, the place seems empty as I stand in the middle of the store with Kennedy. The growling is heard again, Kennedy whips out her machete a stern face embedded on her face as she goes looking for the sound echoing around the convenient store. I check behind us, I can see the setting sun hiding behind the tree line random rays of light peering out through the leaves.

“Hey over here,” Kennedy’s voice calls out to me.

I walk over to her, she is just standing in front of the coolers a door wide open humming coming from the motor. I stick my hand into the cooler feeling the cool air on my skin. “The power is still on here,” I say with a smile.

“And there is still quite a few bottles of water here. Looks like our luck is starting to turn around,” Her words ring out as a hand reaches out from inside the cooler trying to pull my arm through to the other side.

I fight back, trying not to scream as I feel the nails digging into my arm. I can see two cloudy eyes almost staring at me from the cooler. The creature groans and wails as it tightens its grip on my arm. Kennedy wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me backward. My arm makes it out of the cooler, the creature’s fingers still dug deeply into my skin. Kennedy jumps back up and looks at my arm in shock. She tries to pull the decaying fingers out of my arm but I push her away.

“Don’t worry about me,” I say wincing in pain, “just go kill that son of a bitch.”

Kennedy nods, leaving me alone on the floor. I force myself back to my feet watching as Kennedy enters the back room. I can see glimpses of her from behind the products still stocked in the cooler. Screeching comes out from one side of the cooler followed by a scream, Kennedy’s scream.

“Kennedy? KENNEDY?!” I yell fighting my way over to the cooler door. I can hear heavy breathing coming from the other side.

I push the door open slowly and spot Kennedy on her knees, the decapitated Zombie’s body lying on the floor in front of her. I kneel down beside her, wrapping my good arm around her, comforting her.

“Are you OK?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” She says with a halfhearted smile, “how’s your arm?”

“Hurts like a bitch. Think you can get these fingers out?” I ask.

She looks at my arm, looking at the boney fingers impaled deeply in my arm, “I can get them out, but it’s going to hurt.”

“It hurts now,” I snap back.

She opens her backpack and pulls out an unsharpened pencil, “bite down on this and try not to let everything know where we are.”

I try to smile but she forces the pencil into my mouth before I can even grin. She bares down and pulls each of the fingers out of my arm one by one. The pain slowly becomes a dull stinging feeling that is a lot more acceptable than the alternative. Blood slowly pools out of each of my wounds as Kennedy filters through her backpack. She pulls out her small first aid kit. She rummages through the small box of items before closing the top and dropping it onto the floor.

“I’m out of bandages,” she says pulling out an old shirt from her bag. She wraps it tightly around my arm, “keep it tight, I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“There might be something here I can use to patch you up,” She says before sliding out the door.

It doesn’t take her long before she returns with a few items wrapped up in her arms. She removes the now blood-stained shirt from my arm and tosses it off to the side. She cracks open a tube of antibacterial gel and rubs it into each of the wounds. I can’t help myself I let out a small cry as the gel burns each one of my sores.

“Stop being a baby,” She laughs before tearing open a package of gauze. She packs each of the wounds with the gauze before wrapping my arm up with duct tape. “I’m sorry about the tape, but it’s the best I can do until I find a proper pharmacy to ransack.”

“I’ll make sure we add it to our places to visit in Rhode Island,” I wink.

“Good. But until then the tape and gauze will have to do. Can you move your arm freely?” she asks. I move my arm side to side and up and down until she is pleased. “Good. Here take these too.” She tosses me a box of pain killers.

I tear open the box and swallow four of the pills dryly, “thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she says running her hand over the tape making sure it’s tight enough.

“I don’t just mean for the arm, I mean for everything,” I slide her hand down my arm and cup it in both of my hands, “you truly have a talent and I admire everything you do for us.”

“It’s not much of a talent,” She blushes, “I really wing it more than anything.”

“Well whatever you do it seems to be working well,” I say.

“Thank you. It’s good to know I’m appreciated,” She says, an honest smile forming on her face.

I pull her into me and wrap my arms around her, holding her tightly, feeling the warmth of her body throughout the front of mine. She is so warm, I almost forgot that we were in a cooler. She pulls away from me slightly, her head tilted up slightly, her soft, sad blue eyes staring into mine. She pulls my head down slowly until her soft lips touch mine. I pull her back into me, her hands clinging tightly to my back, my bad arm wrapped around her lower back as my good arm holds her head underneath her long hair. We slowly begin to pull away smiles plastered on both of our faces.

“Wow,” she says when I release her from my grip.

“I know,” I smile back at her.

“We should find the others,” Kennedy suggests.

I nod in agreement as Kennedy grabs me by the arm and leads me out of the cooler. The convenient store is dark now, the sun has set completely with only the moonlight providing light inside the store. We enter the garage and hear nothing but silence, my gut starts to feel twisted. Kennedy and I draw our guns and step lightly throughout the garage. Moonlight shines brightly through the windows in the bay door.

I can’t take the silence anymore, “Connor? Penelope?” my voice echoes throughout the concrete building.

“We’re up in the loft,” Connor’s voice calls down.

We follow the light trail up the fragile stairs and meet Connor and Penelope who are rummaging through the boxes laying in the loft.

“What are you looking for?” Kennedy asks.

“A battery charger,” Connor replies, “the one downstairs is toast, I’m just hoping there is a spare up here.”

Kennedy and I join in, opening up boxes and hoping that somewhere up in the loft there is a spare charger waiting to be found. It feels hopeless but still we keep on searching.

“I found one,” Connor calls out, lifting the portable charger out of the box.

The girls and I follow him down the stairs. He lifts the hood of the Oldsmobile parked in the middle of the garage bay. The car looks old, possibly early 80’s. I can see some of the white paint chipping off it near the hood. Rust covers the left quarter panel and most of the trunk. The black leather inside has seen better days as well. Gray duct tape patches up some of the holes on the inside.

“Do you think it runs?” Penelope asks.

“I won’t know until the battery charges,” Connor answers, “Why?”

“If it runs, couldn’t we just drive to Florida? Or at least most of the way there,” Penelope states.

Kennedy, Connor, and I look at each other none of us thinking of a reason why we couldn’t drive at least part of the way to Florida.

“We’ll see if it runs first,” Connor speaks up, “if so I don’t see why we couldn’t.”

“Agreed. Connor why don’t you take first shift with Penelope and do your best to get that radio working,” I say.

“That sounds like a good idea,” he agrees.

Kennedy and I agree that the loft is the better place to go since the rest of the garage has concrete floors. We break down a few of the boxes and uses them as a make shift bed. I lay down first and Kennedy rests her head on my arm, her back pressed against me. It doesn’t take long before I hear faint snoring sounds emanating from her. I can’t help but smile as I slowly start to drift off as well.

My head feels heavy as I wake up, sunlight poking through a crack in the ceiling above me. I’m a little surprised that Connor and Penelope would have let us sleep so long. I shake Kennedy’s shoulder excitedly but she doesn’t as much as budge from her spot in front of me. I roll her over forcibly and pant as I see her torn face, dry blood coming out of a series of cuts and slices. Her eyes have been removed, leaving only dark holes in her head. Her mouth is sewn shut and her shirt is ripped open, a pentagram insignia carved into her chest. I roll her off of my arm and jump to my feet backing away from Kennedy’s dead body. Her body sits up as I continue to back away. Her arm raises up, pointing at me. I reach behind for my bag, looking for either my gun or my sword but there is nothing on my back. Instead I fumble around looking for the first available item I could find, a small wooden plank. I swing the lank wildly before I finally connect it with the side of Kennedy’s head. I can hear her growling each time I slam her in the head. It takes me a while but I finally knock her to the ground. I press my boot to her back, holding her down and hack at the back of her neck with the plank of wood. It takes me less time than I expected to remove her head with just the single plank.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper before throwing the plank off to the side.

I stumble my way down the wooden stairway before standing at the bottom. The Bay door is left wide open, sunlight pouring in from the outside. The world looks different than when I last saw it yesterday. There is no grass, just burnt Earth. The sky is still blue but there is eerie mist in the sky less than a few feet above me. I turn around wildly looking for the car to take me away. The Oldsmobile is torched, fire still burning where the engine used to be.

“Son of a bitch,” I mumble. I have nowhere to go, I’m trapped inside this god forsaken building with no idea what had happened.

“You should have known the end was coming,” Connor’s voice calls out behind me. I turn around and see him standing there an evil look on his face. Penelope is standing beside him, hunched over growling at me as she swipes.

“What has happened to Penelope? And Kennedy?” I ask.

“The inevitable happened,” Connor answers with a grin forming on his face, “The Zombies have won Damian, there is no stopping it. Just give in to the virus and let it take over your body, become one of us, the new master race in human development!” His skin begins to crawl, black ooze comes out from the bottom of his eyes. His eyes start to bubble as the ooze starts to crawl of his nose as well.

“This isn’t you, fight it,” I urge, “your stronger than this.”

Connor laughs at me, “I used to believe that at one time, back before I realized the Zombies true power…their true potential.” His eyes finish melting away leaving the same dark void inside his eye sockets, the same void I saw in Kennedy’s sockets.

Penelope rushes me first in a feral rage swiping her claws at my face, her teeth aiming for my neck. I throw every single item I can find at her, screwdrivers, wrenches, everything. Each item bounces off her barely slowing her down. She manages to grab both of my wrists, her grip has gotten extremely strong and I can feel the bones inside crushing. I kick her backward, knocking her on her back and landing on top of her. I manage to get back onto my knees, keeping one firmly down on her chest and pulling as hard as my arms will allow me. I end up pulling so hard, both of Penelope’s arms pull out of their sockets allowing me to get back to my feet. I step on her throat pressing down with as much force as possible, her boney hands still wrapped around my wrists. It takes me a moment but eventually I hear a crunch come from her neck. Her body lays their lifeless as I remove my foot from her throat and pry her hands off of my wrists. They fall and land on her body. Cries come out from Connor’s body as the ooze begins to change his body. I fumble around the workbench closest to me and find a tire iron. I turn back toward Connor’s body ready to strike with the iron only to find Connor’s changed body standing behind me chuckling. I swing the tire iron as strong as my damaged wrists will allow me. He stops me, grabbing my arms and shaking the tire iron out of my hands and causing me immense pain.

He drops me to my knees still chuckling, “you had a chance you could have been one of us, a god, but instead you chose the fool’s path and for that you will pay with your blood.” His voice is deep and distorted as he talks. I tremble in both fear and pain, unable to free myself from his massive grip. His face peels back revealing rows of teeth, saliva dripping down from his oversized mouth, as he leans forward to bite me.

I shoot up from my sleep out of breath. It takes a moment but air eventually rushes back into my lungs. It’s still dark, Kennedy is still laying down beside me. I watch as her chest rises and falls and I feel relief. I check my watch with the only bit of moonlight coming from a crack in the wall. There is still an hour left before my watch, but there is no way I am getting back to sleep. I head down stairs and find Connor and Penelope still working on the radio inside the Oldsmobile.

“How’s it going?” I ask startling them.

“What are you doing up? You still have an hour left,” Penelope says checking her watch.

“Couldn’t stay asleep,” I reply. I look around the garage, everything seems to be the way it was before I went to sleep, and I feel slightly better. “How are things going with the radio?”

“I was just about to turn it on and see if it works,” Connor answers as he turns the dial. Static comes out of the car’s speakers. “Hello? Hello?” Connor calls out into the microphone as he shuffles through the station. There is nothing but static. “Hello, is there somebody out there? My name is Connor and I am looking for any survivors that can hear this broadcast. I repeat, I am looking for any survivors that can hear this broadcast!”

Nothing for a while but static. We continue to listen, Connor repeating his message every couple of minutes until finally between the static we hear it, “Hello? Hello, Is there anyone out there? My name is Matthew, I have a small group of survivors all clear of any sign of the virus. I repeat there is no sign of the virus here. But we do have injured, I repeat we have injured survivors. We need medical help.”