"Is the coffee fresh?" A woman with the voice a few decimals over a dog whistle squawked at me over my headset.

"It was just brewed about ten minutes ago." I informed her brightly as I prepared myself a cup of hot chocolate infused with about four shots of espresso. That was a bold faced lie. I had brewed the coffee probably a half hour ago. During third shift I don't really keep up with the coffee brewing rules. It feels so wasteful to throw full pots of coffee away. She was actually lucky it wasn't an hour old.

"Ten minutes?!" She sneered at me.

I made a disgusted face since there was no customers around to see me. "I could make you a fresh pot. It just will take about four to five minutes to brew." I told her in a sweet voice even though I wanted nothing more then to tell her to shove it up her ass.

"Really? That's how long it takes?" She demanded impatiently.

No, bitch. I am lying so I get to spend more time with you. I just love your company.

"Yes, it does." I answered in the same sweet tone. I had lots of practice pretending to be nice. It's called customer service.

"You know what, I don't have time." She informed me sharply and I could hear her tires squeal over my headset. Well, that was fun. I hate rude customers. Like seriously I would never talk to someone the way people seem to think they can talk to me just because I happen to work at this lame ass coffee shop. I am not normally this cynical. Today has just sucked. I was having one of those days where I wanted to rip someone's heart from their chest and eat it in front of them. Nothing particularly horrible had happened today to put me in this mood but nothing good has happened either. That has happened a lot lately. I just wake up hating everything.

I guess I am depressed. I guess I am stuck in a funk right now. That's my fault. I have no one to blame but myself for that. I got kicked out of college for my excessive drinking. It got to the point where I stopped bothering to go to class and my grade point plummeted. My parents were thrilled. I moved back in with them but they are making me pay rent and for my food so hence my craptastic third-shift job at a twenty-four hour coffee shop. At least I live on a different schedule then my parents. They work their nine to five office jobs and I sleep all day and work all night. Our paths don't meet much which is fine by me. Their disappointed looks at me are worse then the yelling and screaming.

I sat on the counter as I drank my suped-up hot chocolate and ate a leftover doughnut. Everything that is a day old gets thrown away, so I am allowed to eat whatever I want. I swear I have gained like ten pounds since I started working here. All I eat are carbs. I skimmed through my twitter feed to see if there was anything of interest but no one really posts anything interesting at three in the morning. I let out a bored sigh and slid off the counter. I got a to-go box and filled it with doughnuts that I would take home with me after my shift.

I frowned as I glanced at the clock on the wall. Where the hell was my coworker? He was suppose to be taking a smoke break. Sometimes he takes long ones because he is kind of a jackass but he went out there before I brewed that pot of coffee which was like thirty minutes ago. He needs to get his ass back in here and finish baking the doughnuts. I had already finished cleaning everything and I had baked the muffins. I mean I could do the doughnuts but that was his job and I suck at frosting them.

"Issac?" I question as I push the button on my headset for private conversations. I waited for a few minutes but there was no response. Captain Douchebag probably had walked across the street to 7-11 to get another pack of cigarettes and flirt with the cashier. I hated when he did that. What if I was robbed or something? It's three in the morning and I am kind of attractive. I don't like being here by myself. I didn't feel safe.

I tensed up and set my box of doughnuts under the counter as I heard tires squealing. I looked to the parking lot to see a black van squeal in and park on top of the sidewalk. Shit. This situation looks shady. The only reasons I could think of for some one parking on the sidewalk was A) They were drunk, B) They really really like coffee or C) I was about to get robbed. I was mentally preparing myself for the worst case scenario. I grabbed a broom that was leaning against the wall. I had left it out after sweeping because I knew Issac would get sprinkles everywhere when he finally started baking. If they are after what's in the cash drawer, they can have it. I don't get paid enough to protect it. If they come at me, I will break their faces.

A woman, a man and a teenager girl got out of the car. The man appeared to be carrying a child. They seemed to be in a panicked hurry as they ran from the car without even bothering to shut the car doors. The parking lot was drenched in shadows and I could only really make out their silhouettes till they came into the lights of the restaurant. I caught sight of the woman first as she rushed into the restaurant. She was wearing a torn dress suit and her hair was mess. She had long scratches going down her face. She looked like an extra from The Birds. She had a suitcase under her arm. I noticed that there was clothes sticking out of it like she had put it together in a hurry.

The man followed after her. He was also wearing a suit that was torn. His tie was barely on him and his shirt was soaked with what appeared to be blood. I was kind of hoping that it was red wine. A little girl in a pink dress was clutching him tightly with her face buried in his chest. My blood ran cold as I noticed a very large gun holstered in his pants.

My fear ran deeper as the teen girl followed right behind him. The first thing I noticed was the blood coated fire ax she held in her hand. She looked to be about sixteen and seemed to be goth. Her hair was dyed dark black with magenta streaks. She had dark makeup that had somehow gotten smeared all over her face and she was wearing a black dress with combat boots.

"You need to lock the doors!" The man demanded of me.

"Look, you can have what's in the registers." I offered as I held the broom out like it was a sword.

"No! You don't understand! You need to lock the goddamn doors before they get in!" He shouted at me.

"Please!" The woman begged. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

A police car squealed up beside the other car on the sidewalk. Oh, thank God. The police have arrived. I have never been more happy to see a cop in my life. A young police officer sprinted from the car. A second officer got out and followed after him but didn't make it far before he was tackled to the ground. I heard snarling and screaming but couldn't make out what was going on in the shadows. It looked the officer was being mauled by someone. The young officer turned around I saw a series of flashes as a gun went off repeated. The office turned and fled as more people flung themselves on top of the fallen police officer.

When the young officer got into the lights in front of the shop I realized that I recognized him. He was one of the late night regulars. His name was Travis and always ordered a medium coffee with two sugars. We never really talked much but he was about my age. He was cute with curly blonde hair and dreamy ice blue eyes. His eyes were intense when he walked into the store and looked directly at me. "Kat, lock the doors." He spoke with authority. I could tell by the way he was clenching his jaw that he was trying to hold back his fear. When I didn't move he snapped. "Now, Katrina!" I wasn't aware that he knew my name let alone my full name. People usually seem to think Kat is short for Kathrine or Kathy. I quickly went through the door separating the bakery from the dining area and pulled out my keys. As I walked to the doors I saw people rushing towards the doors. When Travis saw my hesitation he yanked the keys from my hand and began locking the door. A man ran directly into the glass door leaving a smear of blood down the glass. I looked at him with horror as I noticed half of his face had been ripped off. He snarled at me as he banged on the glass. More people joined him at banging on the doors. They were all in rough shape. Their clothes were ripped and bloodied. Many of them were missing limbs and theirs eyes, oh god, their eyes... In high school biology we had to dissect a pig but I failed because I refused to do it. I couldn't handle the lifeless eyes staring up at me. They had the same eyes.

Travis roughly grabbed me by the back of the apron and pulled me back away from the door. "That won't hold for long. We need to barricade the doors. Do you have boxes or something we can pile in front of the doors and windows."

I nodded dumbly. "The freezer. It's where all of the extra doughnuts and things are kept." I told him.

"Show me." He demanded as he dragged me with him into the bakery. "I need everyone to help." He called out. The family that had arrived before him followed us into the back. The man set down the little girl, who then hid under the counter. Travis began to quickly pull boxes from the freezer. The man, woman and goth girl began to carry them out to the front doors. "Kat, are there any other doors? You need to lock them." Travis demanded. He tossed me the keys before grabbing several boxes to carry to the front.

Shit. The backdoor was propped open for Issac. I rushed into the back storage area. The back door was how I had left it with a broken broom handle propping the door open. I yanked the handle out but before the door could shut a hand wedged itself in and opened the door.

"Issac?" I questioned softly. He was a mess. He dark brown hair was tangled more then usual and his apron was covered in blood and flour. I noticed his arm had a very large bite taken out of it.

He growled at me like an animal before lunging at me. I let out a scream as he tackled me to the ground. I struggled with him as he tried to bite me in the face. His breath reeked like something had crawled into his mouth and died. Strangely this isn't the first time he has tried to eat my face and I had been disgusted by his breath. I was not into smokers. I kneed him in the groin and he rolled off from me. I was quicker at getting back onto my feet then he was and kicked him in the side twice. He roughly grabbed my leg as I tried again. I fell strong arms wrap around me as they played tug of war against him with me as the prize. Issac lost his grip on me and Travis grunted out as we went down in a heap on top of boxes of coffee cups. Issac growled again as he advanced.

A gun shot rang out. Issac staggered back as the bullet hit him in the chest. He staggered back again through the open door as he was shot in the chest again. The man in a suit quickly ran over to shut the door. Issac lunged at him but the man countered by slamming the butt of his gun in his face, leaving Issac crumpled onto the ground. The man shut the door and locked it. He also toppled a stack of boxes so they fell down in front of the door for good measure.

Travis began manhandling me, looking at my neck and arms. "Did he bite you?" He questioned. He frowned as he cupped my face. "You are pale. Kat, are you-"

That was when I passed out.

2: Death by Java

~~I rarely remember my dreams and usually I am not aware that I am dreaming. I guess I am not a very deep person or whatever that means. Currently, I was very aware that I dreaming. I knew that I had just passed out because Issac...I didn't want to think about that. I would worry about that when I woke up. I was sitting on the porch of my parent's summer lake house. It was a medium pine sized cabin with a large back porch that overlooked a tiny northern lake. The whole area was secluded and covered in forest. It had been one of my favorite places to go as a child. I used to spend entire summers there just swimming and hiking in the forest. I have only been there a few times since I have graduated high school. I had found myself 'busy' with parties and bonfires and chose them over spending time with my family.

Issac was leaning against the porch railing looking me over with a predatory gaze. He looked like his old self in ripped jeans and a black hoodie with skeleton ribs. The only thing that was different was his eyes. He still had dead man's eyes.

"You're dead. I saw you." I informed him.

He just shrugged at me as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one up with a bedazzled My Little Pony lighter. It was my lighter. I forgot I had loaned it to him before he had gone outside. "It's what all the cool kids are doing." He informed me. "You should try it."

"Pass." I snorted.

He gave me a cold chuckle as he took a drag from his cigarette. "I forgot Miss Holier-than-Thou-College-Dropout has so much to live for."

"Get stuffed." I hissed back.

This wasn't Issac. He was a shell of Issac. I am not sure how I knew that but Issac would never talk to me like that. He could be an inconsiderate jackass sometimes but he would never be straight up mean to me like that. That just wasn't the way he was. He wasn't a confrontational kind of guy. He was usually mellow and laid back. He never judged me on how badly I had messed up my life and that was what I had liked about him. Everyone else also seemed to pity me or be embarrassed for me.

"I am just curious, Katrina, what do you have to live for? I mean you have completely fucked up your future. You think you are going to be able to get into grad school now after being kicked out? You are lucky if a community college lets you in with your grade point average. I know you think you are so much better than I am because you went to college but you are nothing but a loser. You are a waste of space. At least I am not a constant burden on my parents. I don't live with them and depend on their support. I am not a constant reminder of how much of a failure they are as a parent to raise such a codependent loser. You are nothing but a parasite to their bank account. You would do them a favor if you stuck a bullet through your head." He informed me icilly. My blood ran cold at his words. I have never had any one speak so cruelly to me but his words were dead on. Those were thoughts that were constantly in the back of my mind. It hurt so much to hear someone else say them. The word 'loser' burned through me like a hot poker everytime he said it.

"Issac, stop it." I said quietly. "This isn't real." I added to comfort myself.

"You're right. This is a dream but what's outside of it is real and very dangerous. Do you really want to become like me? Do you want to be damned like I am? The only way to stop it is to pick up Travis's gun from the table and blow your brains out. It's a less crueler fate then being eaten alive. Let's face it, Kat, you are not a survivor. You are a drifter. You just drift through life. It will save yourself a lot more pain and agony if you just end it all right now. The gun is on the table a few feet away. If you have any conscience at all you will end those poor little girls' lives before you take your own. They have even less of a chance at surviving this then you." He gave me a cold smirk before everything faded away. "Pick up the gun." He whispered in the back of my mind.

The first thing I saw when my eyes flickered open was the handgun on a table a few feet away with the shotgun, fire axe and a few knives. It looked like the others had been taking inventory of available weapons. I was currently laying in a booth with some one's jacket laid over me. The girl and the teenager were huddle together across from me inside the fake fireplace. I could hear the adults arguing in the direction of the kitchen. If I want that gun, it was all mine.

I stared at it for a while before I pushed the coat off from me and sat up. There was no way in hell. There wasn't a day that had gone by since I was kicked out of college where suicide didn't cross my mind. I mean, yeah, I destroy everything I touch and it would be a lot easier if I blew myself away but I wasn't ready to end myself just yet. I don't quite understand it but I hate myself more then I have ever hated anything but at the same type I am incredibly narcissistic. I love and hate myself with a terrible conflicting passion that drowns me in its storm every day.

I got up and walked past the gun without a second glance. The man and woman were arguing with Travis about whether or not they should stay in the coffee shop. The woman was in near hysterics. She seemed to think that we were going to die here. She was probably right. If I die in this coffee shop I was going to be so pissed. I would rather die anywhere else then in this hell hole. Like seriously, anywhere else.

As I walked into the kitchen Travis was blunting informing the woman that if anyone left now it would be suicide and that we should try and hold up till morning. He suggested that maybe the monsters snarling and growling outside the doors would disperse by then. I found that doubtful. I could hear them pacing and pounding at the doors like ravenous wolves. They wanted us but where too simple to figure out how to get past the barricade at the door. It really wasn't even an impressive baricade. It was a stack of boxes. All they had to do was break the window to get inside but that thought apparently hadn't occurred to the beasts.

Travis and the couple stopped arguing as I walked passed them and grabbed a large coffee cup. I put in three flavor shots of caramel and put it under the cappuccino maker. The machine gave out a high pitch whine and began to shake like it was going to explode but then began dispensing out my espresso drink.

"What?" I asked when I realized the others were staring at me.

"Kat, are you alright?" Travis asked me.

"Yeah, anyone want anything?" I asked.

Travis examined me like I had just announced I had escaped from the looney bin. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, zombie apocalypse. It's kind of hard to miss." I shrugged as I took my cappuccino off from the machine and doused it in whipped cream. I finished it off with a caramel drizzle smiley face.

"Don't say that!" The woman screeched at me. "Zombies are not real! It is not the apocalypse! The army is going to come save us!" The man held her as she collapsed into sobs.

"No expresso for her." I rolled my eyes as I took the trays of thawed donuts off from the counter and put them in the industrial ovens. I frowned a little as I saw Travis still giving me a quizzical look. I set the timers before turning to him. "What?" I demanded.

"What are you doing?" He wanted to know.

"The donuts are thawed. They will go bad if I just let them sit out. I don't know how long we are going to be here so we should ration what we have." I informed him.

Travis looked surprised by that response. "That's a good idea." He told me.

"So...what is exactly going on?" I asked as I sat on the counter across from where he was standing.

"I don't know." He told me honestly. "This whole thing started a few hours. My partner, Mike and I..." He paused as he looked pained for a moment. He didn't allow himself time to grieve for his partner as he grit his teeth and continued. "We started getting calls about people attacking others. At first we were treating it like a terrorist attack or a riot. We weren't sure what was going on. Then we found out that it was sort of disease or pathogen that was causing insanity. It's transferred by saliva. Those that are bitten turn within a matter of minutes." He sighed tiredly. "I guess... it fits your explanation of zombies..." He said quietly.

"Are you sure it's a disease?" I asked.

Travis frowned at me. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." I replied. Maybe my dream was just a dream but it had felt incredibly real to me. Dream Issac had felt almost... evil. That sounded lame even in my head. I couldn't say it out loud to Travis and the post traumatic stress family.

"What's it like outside?" I asked softly. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I had been trying to mentally block myself from thinking about my family. My mom was so sweet and delicate. I couldn't even imagine her in a survival situation. She got emotionally involved in reality shows and spent a large portion of her time online shopping. She was an interior designer and was alway rearranging the living room. I couldn't imagine her holding a gun or an ax against hordes of the undead. She would have my father by her side but I wasn't sure how much help he would be. He was an architect and was a hundred percent city slicker. His friends were always trying to get him to go hunting up north but he always refused. I don't think he had ever held any sort of weapon in his life. Our summer home had been an anniversary present to my mom. He would only venture a few feet into the forest and would spent most of the day reading literary classics by the lake.

My brother might have a shot. He was a few years younger than me. He was very into Call of Duty and read a lot of life hack and survival guides. The only thing that worried me was that he was currently residing in college dorms at a university that was a state over. With so many people living together in a small area it would be absolute chaos if even just one person was infected. It would only take maybe an hour to infect everyone there. He didn't have his car either. Freshmen weren't allowed to have vehicles on campus. Maybe the whole thing was just an isolated incident and was only happening locally. Maybe he would be safe.

I hoped Bacardi was okay. He was just a little shitzu. He wouldn't really be able to defend himself if a horde of people attacked him. He is scared of strangers. My poor little dog. I had an entire list of people I hoped would be okay.

I sniffled loudly as I tried to keep tears in. I couldn't afford to crack now. If I started to cry I would straight up fucking lose it.

Travis walked over to me and laid his hand on my shoulder. "It's a mess." He said quietly. "We are under military police right now but they are all in the large cities. It will be a while before anyone makes it over to us. We aren't exactly a city. My radio went out just before I got here. The information I have is limited. I was supposed to guide civilians to the designated safe house at the high school."

"Safe house?!" The woman demanded sharply. "Why didn't you mention that before?!"

"It's been compromised." Travis responded quietly. "There is no safe house."

The woman grew quiet again as she buried her face into her husband's chest.

"What are we going to do?" I asked softly.

"We have everything barricaded. We are safe here for now. We still have electricity and we have food. This is ideal for now. We will see if the situation changes in the morning." Travis decided.

"I can't stay here." The woman cried.

"Samantha, we don't have any other choice." The man sighed and led her into the dining area. I watched as he tried to get her to lay down with him under a booth.

"They have been through a lot." Travis said quietly to me. "Samantha and Frank were at an office party when an infected coworker started tearing into everyone. Samantha's husband was torn apart in front of her."

"Oh, I though the two of them was together." I admitted.

"Frank is her stepbrother. They work together at an insurance company or something like that." He told me. As I looked over at them I realized that the way he was holding her was less romantic and more caring and comforting.

"What about the kids?" I asked.

"Their apartment complex was on fire and full of the infected. Alice was hotwiring a car when Frank and Samantha ran into them." He told me. "The younger girl, Tamera, her parents were killed in front of her. Alice was home alone and doesn't know where her mother is. They were neighbors. Alice got Tamera out of there. She seems pretty resourceful." Okay. So they aren't related. My assumptions aren't always right.

I quickly grabbed my phone as the Jaws theme began to play. "Mom?" I questioned as I answered it. I heard shouting in the background and what sounded like gunfire. "Mom?!" I screamed out but the phone went dead. I tried returning the call but there was no answer. It seemed a little redundant but I left a voicemail urging her to call me back. I called my dad and when I got no answer I did the same.

I dialed my brother's number and after the third ring he answered. "Zombies?" He questioned.

"Umm...yeah..." I replied.

I heard gunfire and the sound of laughter. "Yeah, here too. We have secured the abandoned mental hospital on the edge of town. If you, mom and dad can get here, you should."

"I can't get ahold of them and I am holed up at Jimmy Java's." I told him.

There was a pause. "I talked to them earlier and told them to get out and away from people while they still could. They might be going to the cabin. There is no phone reception there. They are probably alright." He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself as well as me. "Are you safe?"

I looked over at Travis who had wandered over to the coffee maker and was attempting to make himself a cup of coffee. I could see by the ring of suds that he had gotten grinds into the pot. Amateur. "Yeah. The shop is barricaded. I have a cop with me and a few other people."

"Alright. I have to go." I could hear more gunfire and what sounded like an explosion. "Take care of yourself. I love you, Katrina."

"I love you too, Kaleb." I told him as I hung up. I think the last time I had told my brother I loved him, I was six years old. It wasn't really something we said to each other.

"You alright?" Travis asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, just peachy." The timer for the donuts went off and I slid off the counter to retrieve them.

I waited for the donuts to cool before talking Tamera and Alice into frosting them for me. I thought it would help to give them something to do. I showed them how to hold the donuts and how to spread the frosting on them. I also showed them how to insert vanilla creme and the jelly filling. Tamera never said a single word but seemed to enjoy making designs on the donuts with icing. She made bunnies and flowers. Alice wasn't as amused and complained that I was training her for her future career. I think she was mostly putting on a front for the little girl. She never left her side and seemed to designate herself as her surrogate mother.

"Kat, come with me." Travis gestured for me to follow him into the stockroom. I followed him and gave him a quizzical look when he stopped and just looked at me expectantly.

"If you wanted to be alone with me, all you had to do was ask." I teased.

He gave me an annoyed look. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked.

"Exactly." He replied. It took me a minute realize what he meant. The growling and snarling had stopped.

"Do you think they are gone?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I am about to find out." He tossed me the keys. "If anything happens, shut and lock the door."

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Let's just take a minute to analyze how fucking stupid this is." I demanded.

He pulled the gun out of his holster he had reacquired at some point while I was making donuts. " On the count of three." He placed his hand on the doorknob.

"On the count of your face! Don't do this!" I demanded sharply.

"One."

"No." I growled.

"Three." He skipped over two like a complete douche and opened the door. He slowly ventured out into the morning light. Morning had hit at some point in the recent hours. I had been too busy trying to distract the younger girls that I hadn't even noticed. I cautiously tried to look over his shoulders. "Get back." He demanded when he saw what I was doing.

"I want to see." I scolded.

"You need to survive. You are the only one that knows how to use the cappuccino machines." He informed me.

"...You're a dick." I grumbled.

He smirked at me walking out into the horrors the daylight had brought us.

3: Red Eye

~~"Where did they go?" I questioned. The back lot was deserted and eerily quiet for this time of day. Usually the parking lot was full of commuters getting their morning coffee fix. The nearby highway was usually roaring with the sound of traffic. There wasn't even the sound of birds tweeting and twittering about. It was as silent as a graveyard. I could smell the pungent stench of gasoline and smoke from somewhere nearby polluting the morning air. The liquor store next to the coffee shop looked like it had been ransacked. The windows were smashed and broken bottles littered the sidewalk.

"Jesus!" Travis hissed as he whipped around and I found myself starring down the barrel of his gun. Following him outside was probably not my best plan. Did he seriously think that I was just going to stand in the doorway and play with myself while he ventured into the unknown?

"Kat..." He growled my name as he lowered the gun. "I told you to stay inside."

"I am not very good at following instructions." I admitted.

"Get your ass inside." He commanded.

"Are you going to shoot me if I don't?" I questioned.

"I might." He answered.

"You shouldn't be out here alone. Let me back you up." I demanded.

He looked at the broken broom handle in my hand and sighed. "Alright." He agreed. "Stay close and if I tell you to run, you better do as I say. Do you understand?"

"I understand." I replied as I followed him around the side of the building to the front parking lot.

"Shit..." Travis swore as he caught sight of his police car. The tires had been ripped off and the car had been flipped. My little blue Geo had suffered a similar fate. The SUV had all of it's windows smashed in and it's engine was currently sitting on the sidewalk several feet away from the vehicle. I scavenged through the broken glass of my car and pulled out my black leather jacket. I shook out the glass and put it on over my uniform polo.

I found the source of all the smoke. There were several cars down the street that had been set on fire. Many of them were still burning. There wasn't a usable vehicle in sight.

"They did this on purpose..." I said quietly.

Travis snorted a little. "You think they have the ability to think?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "But this seems planned out. I mean just because when we think of zombies, we think of hungry mindless things, that doesn't mean that is what we are dealing with. We have no idea what we are dealing with."

Travis grit his teeth a little and nodded. I don't think he wanted to hear what I had just said but someone had to say it. We have no idea what we are doing and what we are dealing with. We will probably not live much longer.

"Um...guys? You need to see this." Alice called out as she appeared around the corner with her ax in hand.

"You shouldn't be out here." Travis scolded. "Does anyone listen to anything I say?" He grumbled some more under his breath as we followed Alice back around to the back of the building. She led us over to the small open lot behind the coffee shop. It was basically a small field with tall grass and cigarette butts. Many of my coworkers would go back to the lot to smoke. I spotted a few condom wrappers littered about. Classy.

"I think I found them..." Alice announced. As I walked closer to her I saw that she was peering down a large hole in the ground. As I looked around I saw that there were about a dozen similar holes around the lot. They resembled animal burrows and were about three feet wide in diameter.

"No freaking way!" I gasped out as I figured out what she was implying. The zombies had burrowed into the ground like deranged groundhogs. Why? What were they doing?

"Were these here yesterday?" Travis wanted to know.

"Not that I know of." I answered. I don't really wander around the lot or anything but I feel like this was something I would notice.

"Shit.." Travis grumbled. "We need to get out of here."

"Why are they underground? Are they sleeping?" Alice wondered as she got down on her knees and tried to look deeper into the hole.

Travis grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her back up to her feet. "Inside. Now." He commanded as he ushered us back towards the rear door.

"Wait." I commanded as I stopped walked. "Do you hear that?" I could hear a faint sound in the distance. It sounded like crying.

Travis frowned as he stopped and listened. "I think it's coming from the liquor store. Go inside. I'll check it out."

"I am coming with you." I replied.

"I will stay here by the door." Alice informed us as she walked over to the propped open storage door.

Travis frowned at me but didn't argue as I followed him over to the liquor store. The crying was louder and more distinct. It sounded like a little girl. We stood in front of the broken windows and peered inside. It was dark inside and the shelving was in disarray.

"Hello? Is there anyone in there? I am a police officer. I am here to help." Travis called out into the store.

"Please...help..." A voice rasped out.

"I don't like this." I told Travis quietly.

"Neither do I." He told me. "I need you to stay out here. I mean it." He told me as he made his way over to the door. He simply stepped through where the glass door had once been and walked into the darkness. I followed him over to the doorway but didn't venture in. I peered in as I kept an eye on Travis. He cautiously stepped over the debris and made his way into the back off the store. I lost sight of him as he passed behind some of the shelves and displays.

I nervously picked at the pink nail polish on my nails as I waited for him to return. It had only been about thirty seconds but felt like forever. I nearly jumped out of my skin as a shriek ripped through my eardrums. It was very human sounding but at the same time it was the most unhuman thing I had ever heard. The sound pierced through every nerve in my body. I wanted to just break down and cry.

"Travis!" I cried out. I was met with the sound of gunfire.

"Katrina! GO!" Travis called out as appeared from the shadows. The arm of his jacket had been torn off. My stomach dropped as I caught sight of the dead little girl in hot pursuit after him. Mr Horton, the owner of the liquor store army crawled after them at an alarming speed. His legs appeared to have been chewed off. A girl in her mid twenties appeared from behind some shelving and attempted to cut off Travis's escape route. I rushed forward and smashed her head in with my broom handle.

I didn't mean to hit her that hard. It must have been the adrenaline. Her skull cracked open and the contents spilled out onto the floor. I realized then that the back of her head had been missed. My baseball swing had finished the job and had concaved the rest of the skull.

I turned on my heels and ran back to the door. Travis had caught up with me and roughly pushed me ahead of him through the opening. He swore as he tripped over the bottom of the door and fell on top of me in heap right outside the door.

"Go! Go! GO!" He commanded as he pulled me back up to my feet.

"Wait." I demanded. "Look." As I glanced back at the liquor store I made eye contact with the dead girl. She was glaring at us as she paced around the near the entrance way.

"We need to go." Travis demanded as he tugged on my arm.

"I don't think she can get out." I frowned.

"I don't want to test that theory." He told me but frowned as he studied the girl. "Do you think it's the light? Maybe they don't like daylight."

"Maybe..." I frowned as picked up a broken bottle and threw it at the zombie girl.

"Kat!" Travis hissed and pulled me off the sidewalk. The bottle missed the girl but still seemed to pissed her off as it smashed at her feet. She snarled and growled like an animal as she crouched down as close as she could to the line between the shadows and light. She cautiously swiped her decaying hand out into the light. She hissed out with pain as her skin sizzled and the decaying process quickened tenfold. She quickly withdrew her hand to the shadows. She let out an unearthly roar as she stared at me with absolute hatred.

"Well, that confirmed that theory." I informed Travis. "Come at me bitch!" I called out to the zombie with my arms spread in a 'come and get me' gesture. That sent the zombie girl into a tizzy. She let out another roar as she began smashing things in the shop. She roughly kicked the legless Mr Horton in the face. He stopped twitching as the blow snapped his neck. She picked up the slain zombie and threw it at us. I let out a loud yelp as Travis and I collapsed to the ground under the weight of the dead man. Travis roughly pushed the corpse off from us. The scent of burning flesh filled the air of the body rapidly decayed.

"Are you happy now?!" He snarled at me . "You are insane!"

The girl stood in the shadows silently glaring at us. She pointed at me and smirked before turning on her heels and wading back into the darkness of the shop. I am pretty sure that she was telling me that I was next.

"Let's get back inside." Travis said quietly as he looked down at the steaming pile of human decay.

Frank had joined Alice at the doorway with his shotgun in hand. "What is going on?" He wanted to know.

"Let's talk about that inside." Travis sighed as he led the way back into the storage room. Samantha and Tamera were waiting for us in the serving area. Tamera was sitting on top of the counter eating a doughnut while Samantha paced and chewed on her nails. "Are they really gone?" She wanted to know.

"Not exactly." I replied and Travis gave me a warning look.

"What? What is it?" Frank wanted to know.

I frowned as my headset I left on the counter let out a beep like it did when someone went through the drive-thru. "Please, do something with this. It is driving me crazy!" Samantha growled at me.

"I doubt that's the only thing." I muttered as I walked over to my headset and put it on. I pressed the 'talk' button. "Hello?" I questioned stupidly. I wasn't expecting an answer. I was sure that the battery was just dying and was about to turn it back off when a voice rasped in my ear. "Hello, Kitty Kat."