"It's not safe. They're coming. Run while you still can."

Puzzled, he squinted through the darkness, and that's when he saw her. The girl in front of him appeared to be barely ten. As he struggled to comprehend what was going on, he took a moment to look around, only to be more confused. Were those trees? Reaching out, a rugged object greeted his hand and it was confirmed. Suddenly finding it difficult to breathe, he felt as though he were drowning in them. He turned back to the girl, his panicked eyes locking with her critical ones.

But it only took mere seconds for his eyes to leave the gaze when he noticed a strange color of red over her dress. And that's when his stomach turned. Her pink garment dancing bravely in the merciless wind, its fabric was coated with permanent stains of blood. The still-fresh liquid dripped steadily from her dress and onto the muddy ground.

"What?" he asked, finally managing to form a word after a minute of silence. And, swallowing hard, he managed some more. "What's happening? I don't understand!" Taking a quick glance behind him, the boy realized that he was by himself. He was all alone with this girl. "Hey, where am I? I need answers!"

"Listen to my words and don't forget them. Run. They're coming," she warned, and Forest shivered. "It's not safe."

Before he could say anything more, she was gone. The girl had disappeared from his sight. "Hey!" he cried out, looking around in disbelief. "Where am I?!"

"Forest?" a distant person asked, and he could have sworn it sounded familiar.

"I'm over here!" the boy shouted, searching for the owner of the voice. He wrapped his hands around his mouth to help his words travel. "I'm-"

"Forest?" they asked again, but this time it was close. And, yet, they were out of sight. "Hey, Forest?"

He was uttering confused, completely in the dark as to how he got there. One moment he was in the underground bunker, and in the next, he was standing on the wood's muddy terrain. What had he missed? That same question whirled through his head before, only seconds later, Forest would understand.

He jolted upright. Grabbing a handful of the bedsheets, he breathed heavily as he fought for lost oxygen. The boy ignored the persistent voice at the door, even though he knew they might come in and see him in his distressed state. He cared, but, first, he had to overcome the shock.

"Hey, open this door!" Autumn said once more, worry marking every syllable.

Taking one last recovering breath, he finally found his feet, and that's when he noticed his body was plagued with sweat. And he sighed. Before unlocking the door, Forest swiped his forehead with an arm and rubbed his eyes. It was going to be a long day. "What?"

Observing her brother, the girl's eyes questionable, she said, "What do you mean? Say more than 'what', because for the last minute you had been calling for help." After a pause, she inhaled. "Fine, it wasn't that long, but still. I think you've had another nightmare."

"Yeah, but it's nothing," he insisted, rubbing his tired eyes again. "I'm surprised they only started a few nights ago, honestly. With an apocalypse going on, you'd think I would have them every night."

After a short pause, she crossed her arms. "You say 'where am I?' every night. Can you finally tell me what it's about?" When he shook his head, she huffed and dismissed herself into her own room. "Well, I'm sorry if I had disturbed your sleep."

Recognizing sarcasm in her apology, Forest smirked and closed the door. His nostrils were immediately greeted with that same sweaty odor, the smell now a familiar one. But he dismissed it.

The nightmares had been going on for almost a week now and they were always the same, this one being of no exception. But, still, he fell for them each time only to awake coated in sweat. Whether they meant anything or not, he didn't know. As he had done yesterday and all those nights before, he shrugged it off and started about his day.

The boy, hesitant, allowed his eyes to drift upon the end table beside his bed and slowly released a breath. He had one last pill. Rather than taking it then, as he normally would have done in the mornings, he wished to save the tablet. Although not two weeks ago he had begged against the trip for his medication, Forest no longer wanted to stay. In fact, the boy felt they should leave. But he knew better. With the latest setbacks, he doubted it would be realistic to assume the trip would take place anytime soon. And for all he knew, maybe they had forgotten about it.

Upon changing into a plain chocolate-colored t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, he stumbled out of his room, still half-asleep. When he reached the main room, his stomach grumbled as if on cue, and he looked over the shelf storing their food. Low on apples again. Frowning, he grabbed one of the fruits when he noticed it was turning brown. But in an apocalypse, one couldn't be picky, so he took a bite.

"Have I ever told you about my brother?"

The sudden voice catching him off-guard, Forest jumped before he recognized its owner. When he turned to his father, the boy found the man to be pacing back and forth on the opposite side of the room. Puzzled, he had no idea how he could have missed him.

"How long have you been walking?" Forest asked, eyeing his father.

"A few minutes."

"No, you're sweating."

"As are you, boy," he said back and finally faced his son, a long sigh escaping his lips. "I'm just trying to get better with exercise. That trip, Forest, is still happening. I have told you this many times before, and I'll say it again: we are leaving soon, so pack your bags. I think we will leave tomorrow."

He gave a firm nod as he hid his shock. "Okay, I'll pack after this apple," he stated and took another bite. When he received an 'alright', he couldn't help but ask. "Yes, you mentioned your brother before, but you never said what he was like."

"He and I were around when this outbreak first began. It had been a long while since I had last visited him, and so I went to see him. He lived in the woods at the time, his house a planked one, when I witnessed my first walker. Ever since then, our lives' had changed forever," the man answered, his tone bitter, and he crossed his arms. "He was a stubborn man, my younger brother, but he was one of the best; always there when you needed him-"

"Did something happen to him?" his son interrupted, then immediately regretted it. A mournful expression overcame his father, and they shared a moment of solemn silence.

"I don't know. He had left two years before your sisters were born, and four before you had come. He wanted to travel; I didn't. Jett was all about exploring, Forest, and there were times when I envied his bravery. But now, I call it stupidity. I'm alive and started a family of my own, but I fear he had passed long ago."

The fruit in his hand being neglected, he took another bite of it when the pause dragged on. And another as he left for his room, a deep frown plastered over his face. Jett. The uncle he'd never know. Gathering supplies, he couldn't forget the unmistakable sorrow over his father's face. The boy almost wished he had given him a hug before dismissing himself.

All packed up, he felt strange when he tossed the backpack aside, but couldn't place it. Only when Forest found himself eyeing the last pill on the end table was he struck with the reason. But it was too late. As soon as he realized what was happening, the boy collapsed to the floor and everything went black.