Bodies of men and women, children and pets lay strewn across the now dull surface that the humans used to call the Earth. Smoke rose from various machinery and demolished houses, the screams and shouts of the dead echoing between destroyed walls.

Blood splatters the ground and surrounding area in all directions. But They do not see us. With shoulders sagged and backs slumped, we tread through the muddy terrain onto our destination in hopes of survival.

What happened to the world we once knew and loved? Never once did we imagine that this would happen. Not to us. Not to anyone. Not to the whole world. No. This only happened in books and movies. This couldn't be happening. No, this was all a dream.

A horrible and vivid nightmare.

"If this doesn't work. . ."

Seven figures appear atop a hill. The slouching bodies of the Them wander everywhere.

". . .we're dead."

2: Chapter 1

"Avia, could you calm down for once? It'll be fine. When have one of my theories not worked?"

I could only scoff. When have one of Stanford's theories ever worked?

But, taking my chances, I retrieved a torn shoe on the ground and tossed it in the direction away from the decaying figures, letting it hit a rotting tree and fall to the barren land. The slouching bodies headed towards the source of the noise and stood right in front of the tree, only to repeatedly walk into it like it wasn't even there.

"See? They can't see. They can only hear. If their sense of eyesight worked, they wouldn't keep running into that tree." Stanford pointed and whispered in an I-told-you-so tone. I only rolled my eyes and led the group towards the downward slope of the hill. "Just don't make any noise. If you do, expect me to kill you before those rotting dumbasses." I whispered sternly.

Luckily, we finally reached the end of the hill, away from the zombies.

"Alright, we need to find a gas station. Maybe if we're lucky enough we can fill up a walking dead-free car and transport ourselves down to Florida faster. In the meantime, anybody need food? Water?" Four hands rose in the air, and I tossed our bag of resources over to the sweaty and trembling bodies.

Why couldn't this have happened in India or something? Or Japan-or Australia? Anywhere but here in New York?! So much for the city that never sleeps. Now, it's the city that will sleep forever. Damn government. What made them think that their stupid chemicals would benefit us? That only shows the political stability of our time now. I quickly dodged a walking pit of death before it brushed past and almost chomped down on me.

"I can't believe we have to travel across the country to safety. Why couldn't WE have the safe haven? Besides, how do you even know these chemicals will work on the whole country?" My best friend Sloane complained.

Sloane Calloway. Seventeen years old and very soft spoken. If I hadn't been paired up with her in science class in freshman year, we never would have known each other.

I threw my arm around her as a comforting best friend would do. "I am very ashamed to say that my dad was part of the government's little 'experiment.' Luckily he called me before it was too late and assured me that the chemicals will work. They don't call it a backup plan for nothing!"

"AUBREY, WATCH OUT!" Six shocked faces whipped around to meet the terrified pale face of Aubrey van Keuren. My. Worst. Enemy.

"Or just let her fester into the nothing she really is. . ." I murmured, but loud enough for Brecken Crowley to hear, earning me a death glare.

Brecken Crowley. My crush for two years, and Aubrielle van Keuren's boyfriend for three. . .

I only looked away quickly. His deep eyes were a piercing green; enough to make you swoon, even if he was a partial jerk. He returned to Aubrey's ear piercing shrills.

"Come on! She didn't even get bit. So dramatic about one zombie a few feet beside her. . ." I said sullenly. "Avia. . ." Sloane nudged me. "We know you hate her, but can you just tone it down a bit for now? I mean, we're all in a pretty bad position at this point. Physically and mentally for that matter." I knew that when she told me to be nice, she meant it. She hated the blonde bimbo almost as much as I did, and never missed a chance to announce it. I nodded softly to the tiny Canadian.

"Avia, why don't you just go back to the crap city you came from." I heard the annoyingly soprano voice of Aubrey.

Now that set me off.

My family and I immigrated from the Philippines when I was ten. Luckily, I was able to adapt pretty well to American culture before I hit high school. My mother sent me to Springfield Academy, a private school, when I was a freshman, only to abandon me a few months later. I can only imagine what's happened to the bitch now.

"What did you just say?" I felt my fist ball up and my feet stumble towards the blonde. Her icy blue eyes softened at my fiery hazel ones, and she took a couple steps back as I neared her, knowing that I could give her a concussion in one punch. "Avia," Sloane reassuringly put a hand on my tense and stiff shoulder, "she's not worth it." I slowly backed away, almost sensing the victorious smile of Aubrey as she crossed her arms and scoffed.

This was going to be a long journey. . .

3: Chapter 2

"Aubrey. . .you know, I think everyone would appreciate it very much if you just stopped using up all of our food and water and SAVED SOME FOR EVERYONE ELSE." I practically screamed into the twig thin blonde's ears. I felt a sharp tug and turned around to face the bitch's amazingly gorgeous but asswipe boyfriend. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"Okay dude, first of all, I don't recall talking to you, and second, would you rather die for this thing with half a brain, or survive and just lose a little nothing like her? You're not losing much. . ." I whispered the last part, making Aubrey scorn at me, and Brecken stomp away. I couldn't help but think he didn't really love her, but I guess that was just my hatred-for-Aubrey side talking. Why did my life have to be a cliche story book where I was the nobody and Aubrey was the over exaggerated blonde cheerleader? I thought those only existed in movies and books. Clearly, fate was not on my side when I was born.

I felt a light pat on my leg from the tiny Josiah and turned around and leaned down to his three foot tall self.

"What's wrong, Josiah?" Tears rolled down the cheeks of the small five year old, suddenly making me feel bad for him and forget all the anger piled up from Aubrey and her boy toy.

"F-fighting. . ." I could tell he was struggling to speak words between gasps of sadness, but he managed to point at Brecken, then to me. I suddenly understood what he was implying, and glared at Brecken.

"You just had to interfere, didn't you?" I whispered as I picked up Josiah. Brecken raised his arms in defense, not bothering to defend himself as Josiah was right in my arms.

We found the little five year old alone in a house with his dead and decayed mother on the chair. It was an understatement to say that we were very grossed out by the bloody body. We found a little toddler in the corner of the room soon after, bawling, and then introduced himself as Josiah Martinez. Feeling awfully sympathetic for him, we decided to take him with us. I loved the way Drew was to him. Sweet, caring, everything Brecken wasn't. It was safe to say that I had a huge crush on him for about three years.

"Guys, can we just keep calm for now and try not to blow up in each other's faces?" Drew calmly asked. At once, we all shut up and obeyed him. I swear, he could be authoritative and calm at the same time. Maybe he was just perfect like that. I quickly realized I was gazing into his deep green eyes for too long and quickly pulled away like lightning, pretending to look at something else that was obviously far less interesting than him and started to calm Josiah down.

The tiny kid's crying finally ceased, relaxing all of us. I understood that we were all in a position where our life was on the line, so I couldn't blame Josiah for being scarred from this experience and crying at everything.

"Guys, I'm getting pretty exhausted now. Do you think we could stop and build our tent and stay overnight somewhere?" Sloane asked, panting between words.

"Same here. Anyone else?" Drew glanced around.

We all nodded and continued to walk until we found a somewhat sanitary place to pitch our tent and get some rest. We'd need our energy for tomorrow.

"We should have shifts where each of us take turns guarding the tent so no zombies come and eat us all!" Aubrey said, surprisingly cheerfully, making me roll my eyes.

Stanford nodded slowly in the same confusion as me, but continued to set up the tent as normal. He adjusted his thick rimmed glasses as he approached me with a somewhat destroyed tent. "Um. . .can you help me with this?" I laughed at his lack of skills with the tent and nodded, retrieving the tent and walking back over to our space.

"You know, I don't blame you for liking Drew."

Wait, what. I froze in place, staring at the ground.

"I see the way you look at him, and honestly, if I were a girl, I'd be all over him too."

"Uh, but you're gay anyways. . ." I pointed with a confused expression.

He laughed, slightly shifting on the ground at my bluntness.

"Yeah, but anyways. I should probably tell you that he likes Sloane."

"WHAT?!"

The 'tiny Canadian', as I like to call my best friend, stared at Stanford and I, along with everyone else with a baffled expression. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I cleared my throat and returned my voice to a normal volume. "What?!" Stanford sympathetically nodded, looking at his shoes as I did a few minutes ago. "Wait, no. I'm not supposed to be. . .no we're supposed to focused on surviving here. Not love or crushes. You know what? I don't care! Nope. No sir. In fact, I don't blame him for-"

"Avia, it's okay." Stanford interrupted with a comforting hand on my shoulder, calming me down. My shoulders slumped as he walked away, leaving me with a disappointed face and a destroyed tent.

"Hey!" Sloane said as she sat down on a tree stump next to me as I continued to fix Stanford's mess. "So, what was that?"
I couldn't tell her the truth. I didn't need her sympathy, with her knowing I liked Drew.

"Uh, Stanford. . .he, played a little prank on me. He said he got bit when he really didn't." I managed to drive out a fake laugh along with Sloane. "Ha wow. Typical Stanford. So, do you need any help with that?" Sloane reached out for the tent and in no time, was done with it. "Wow."

"Hey, Sloane. Nice tent!" Drew approached us. My stomach tied in knots in remembrance of Stanford's words. "Restrain yourself, Avia. . .Restrain." I whispered to myself as I smiled back at the two.

"We should start a fire. It's getting pretty cold out here." I hugged myself for warmth, and smiled at my excuse to leave the two alone, even though I was dying inside. "I'll go look for some kindling and uh. . .yeah!" In a flash, I was gone into the dark woods. Honestly, it was pretty unnerving out here. Especially since I was alone. Why was I so stupid to go out here alone?! I mentally kicked myself for leaving so quickly without a buddy.

And without a flashlight. . .

4: Chapter 3

I sighed and circled around until I finally came up with a plan to find my way out of here.

"Okay, so I know I turned left to go into the woods from the campsite, so. . ."

I turned right, only to walk directly into one of Them. Fortunately I managed to refrain from choking out a scream, knowing that would only make it worse, and rain in the other direction. "Oh great. Now I'm really lost."

Rubbing the back of my neck, I wondered how I was going to get myself out of this mess, seeing as it was just about pitch black and I couldn't see anything.

"Maybe, a miracle will happen and I'll find cell phone service here."

I turned on my iPhone and for some reason, I did have a signal. Wait a minute, that meant-

There was a house around here somewhere. I quickly dialed Sloane and waited after three rings until she answered. "Hey! Woah, how and why are you calling me?"

"Well, number one, I'm lost in the woods. Number two, I think there may be a neighborhood or house around here that hasn't been demolished!"

"That's good. Did you bring a-I'm guessing you didn't bring a flashlight, did you?"

I could practically see her rolling her eyes at my stupidity. "Alright. I'll get the group and we'll come save you, mistress." We both laughed at her sarcasm and hung up. I sat down, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible. Who knows how many of Them could be walking around here. Avia's stealthing skills activate!

Did fate just hate me?

Four of Them suddenly came into my view and I slowly and steadily rose from my place. Maybe They would go away if I was somehow perfectly silent.

Ha. Like that was going to happen.

I tiptoed over to Them, reaching for my gun out of my right boot and raising it between what was left of Their decaying eyes and shooting.

Suddenly, I knew what I just did was very wrong.

An enormous mass of the walking dead approached me from behind, in front, all around me, engulfing me into a small space of dirt and rot. I frantically circled around, looking for a way to run, but it was no use. Would right now be the time and way I was meant to die? It couldn't be. I crouched down to the level of the muddy terrain, covering my head, accepting the next few minutes as my destined death.

BANG

The repeating, thundering sound of a shotgun echoed between the trees of the woods, startling me and making me even more scared for my life as I continued to hide my face in my arms.

"Avia!" I heard numerous voices call out to me. But I was too terror-stricken to look up. Arms enveloped me as tears rolled down my cheeks. Finally, I urged myself to raise my head, finding multiple bodies of Them on the ground, motionless and bloodied, and my friends enveloping me in hugs, trying to comfort me.

"Avia, are you okay?" I heard Sloane ask in hysteria, along with almost everyone else. She had patches of blood and decaying skin on her arms and face, making me want to vomit. Everyone stared at me in concern while I silently rocked back and forth on the ground. Everyone except Brecken and Aubrey, of course, who were about three yards away from us making out, I bet. I looked into Drew's eyes and found concern. Severe concern. But I still knew that it was a friendly concern, and nothing more. The loving concern that I always yearned from him, he still held for Sloane.

"Avia, why would you go out here alone?" Sloane asked. I faced Stanford, for I knew that if I gave him the right expression, he would know why. Luckily, he did and changed the subject. "Oh, we should probably go back to the campsite. It's not good to stay out here by ourselves, even if we are a group."

"Wait, where's Josiah?!" I anxiously looked around.

The little boy appeared out from behind Drew, hugging him for comfort. I sighed in relief and rubbed my aching head.

Suddenly, I remembered the cell phone service matter.

"Wait! There's probably a house or some kind of building around here somewhere! I know because I got a cell phone signal, and if there were no buildings are telephone poles, I wouldn't get as far as turning my phone on. Let's go investigate!" I shot up from my place on the ground, grasping my phone and raising it up. Maybe I would be able to trace the location if I led my phone in the way where the signal gets stronger.

"Avia, wait!" Sloane, Drew, and Stanford ran in front of me.

"We should wait 'til morning. First of all, being out here in the dark doesn't sound like a good idea anyway, and second we're all tired. Can't this wait?"
I sighed and nodded, stuffing my phone back into my pocket and following the group back to the campsite. "How did you know where to find me?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence between everyone.

"Well, for one, we had a flashlight," I could tell Sloane still thought of me as dumb for not taking a flashlight into the woods, "and second, we heard Them, and followed the noise. I remembered the steps we took to get there, so it should be easy to get back."

I could tell nobody really wanted to talk right now, so I just kept quiet until we returned to our tent. Oh, what I'd give for a shower right now. . .

The campsite was set and ready for all of us to go to sleep. Brecken and Aubrey crawled into the corner of the tent, while Stanford crawled into the other corner, leaving Sloane and I to sprawl out into the remaining space.

It was a pretty big tent. . .

"Night guys. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day."

"Yeah. Hopefully."

My lids closed and my muscles relaxed, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.

"Avia, wake up."

I groaned and turned on my side, only to be violently shaken by the hands of Brecken.

"Let me sleep, for the love of God. . ." I managed to choke out. I barely remembered the fact that the U.S. was still being overtaken by Them, and once I did, I shot up from my covers, aka, my sweater, and rubbed my head, taking some time to regain my energy.

"Avia, we found a bus!" Sloane jumped up and down like a jumping bean, grinning from ear to ear with the rare twinkle in her eye that no one had seen in anybody since the start of the accident. I smiled and laughed for once at her excitement, and began to pack up like everyone else. "Where did you find it?"
"Well, Drew and I thought it would be a good idea to search around what was left of the town before y'all woke up, and we found a few buses next to a demolished and smoking school!"

I pretty much ignored everything after 'Drew and I'. . .

No, Avia. Stay focused.

Oh, perfect. Now I was talking to myself. Or-thinking to myself, or-whatever.

Once we packed up all our resources into our four duffel bags, we headed out in the direction of the school, with Drew and Sloane leading the way.

Would we really be able to arrive to Florida in one piece? We found a bus, so it sounded like it.

But somehow, I could feel something terrible was going to happen before we even got to it. . .

5: Chapter 4

Breathless once again, we stopped for water and took about a two minute rest. Considering we were carrying heavy set bags on our shoulders, stopping every ten minutes was normal. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sat down, trying to catch my breath. "Damn, it's hot." I gasped between words. One day it was freezing cold, the next five minutes it was boiling hot, and the next five minutes, red and yellow leaves were falling everywhere. We're not in Texas, are we?

"What state are we in?" I asked the group.

"Pennsylvania."

I just wished the hot yet cool climate would return now. This weather consisted of the fiery depths of hell or skinny dipping in Antarctica. It probably wasn't the states' normal weather like Texas, but these chemicals could have affected anything. Especially since the sun wasn't even out, but the air was humid and hot. Grey and dull looking clouds surfaced the sky, if there was a sky left after what happened here.

"Alright, guys. We gotta keep movin'." The oh-so-demanding Brecken ordered. Since when did he get so enthusiastic about moving? He's always the "Mr. Lazy" of the group. I rolled my eyes and continued to follow Sloane's lead. "How close are we to the bus?"

A smile spread across her sweaty and red face as she pointed to my right. "There."

We all turned our heads until we spotted the yellow and not destroyed vehicle a few miles away. We copied Sloane's smiling action, confidence overtaking us as we sped up our steps in hopes of arriving to our sanctuary. Sure there were probably dozens of Them inside, but nothing we couldn't fight off.

I hope.

Just a few more steps and we would be at our destination that would save us about two weeks of walking. I panted heavily and stopped for a few seconds, catching my breath and downing my bottle of water.

I felt someone rub my shoulder and I turned around to face the person.

Drew.

"How ya' holding up, Avia?"

My heart stopped as I tried to search for an answer that didn't sound stupid. God, Sloane would be perfect in this situation.

"I-uh-you-uh-f-fine!" I smiled at my dumb stuttering and his sweet smiling at me. "W-what about you?" I struggled to make eye contact with his piercing green eyes, as they were so alluring that even I was a little scared to look into them.

"Okay, I guess." He shrugged. "Hey, um. I have a question."
My eyes and face lit up. Drew Daniels wanted to ask me a question? No way!

No, Avia.

Yes!

Focus on the problem at hand which is surviving. . .

But-

Focus!

Wow, I'm talking to myself again. I really need to stop that.

"Ahem. . .what's your question?"

"Well-I-k-kind of. . .l-like. . .S-"

"Sloane. . ." I finished for him, trying not to sound disappointed, even though I probably did. He smiled and nodded, obviously not taking the hint, or just ignoring it.

"Yeah, um. . .do you think you could ask her-"

"Guys! Get over here! We're almost there!" Brecken demanded. We snapped out of our conversation, obeying his command and hurrying over to the rest of the group. Too bad. I didn't get to see what Drew wanted. I doubt I would have wanted to know anyway.

We finally arrived to the gate enclosed space encasing the buses. Each of us climbed over the gate and followed Sloane to our designated ride. I helped Josiah over the gate with Stanford's help.

Suddenly, maybe hundreds of Them appeared out behind the buses. How could we have missed all of Them? There was no chance of us surviving against this many.

"AUBREY!"

The six of us rapidly turned to the source of the voice, then looked up to see the twiggy blonde on top of one of the vehicles.

"Aubrey, what are you doing? Get down from there!" Brecken called, pointing to the ground in front of him.

"No! They can't get me up here!"

"You're gonna fall! Just jump down and I'll catch you!"

"No!" Aubrey's arms flailed all about. She was losing her balance. There was no hope for her now.

As the rest of us continued to shoot at Them one by one while Drew tried to find a way out, a loud thud sounded behind us.

"AUBREY!"

I caught Brecken and held him back with me holding his right arm and Stanford holding the other.

The sound of crushing bones rang in our ears, making us flinch, as They hobbled over to the lifeless body of Aubrey and began to eat away.

All we could do was watch. There was nothing we could do.

"She can't. . .no. . .she's alive. LET ME GO!" Brecken's strength was too much for us, and he managed to pry himself away from Stanford and I's weak forms, running over and crouching down beside the remains of Aubrey, obviously not aware of Them all around him and her.

They nailed him to the ground, biting him and continuing to eat away at Aubrey.

"They're both dead. . ." Sloane whispered in terror. Josiah's screams and cries mixed in with Sloane's crying and my panting. "Aubweey and Bwecken are dead?"

"There was nothing we could do, Sloane." Drew threw his am around the tiny Canadian.

"Really, there wasn't." Stanford, Sloane, Drew, and Josiah hugged each other for reassurance that everything would still be okay, even though we all knew it would only worsen from here.

I stood, arms crossed on the side. On the outside, I mourned for their deaths. But I knew inside, it was a relief from me.

Good riddance.

Now, it was just Drew, Stanford, Sloane, little Josiah, and me. You could say I predicted their deaths, maybe even anticipated them. Anyone in their right mind would expect them to be killed right away. They were pretty much the Jack and Rose of an apocalypse.

The bodies of Brecken and Aubrey luckily distracted Them from attacking us, to where we got ahold of a bus-one of those shorter ones-and were able to make a mad dash out of there before they finished their "meal." We drove in silence. Nobody wanted to communicate about the sudden deaths. Nobody wanted to make contact. We all just wanted some time to ourselves for once.

Drew drove the bus, not turning around or looking in the mirror at us even once.

Sloane lay sprawled out on the seat across from me, eyes closed and covered with her sweater.

Stanford sat up straight in the very back of the bus, staring at the bus floor the whole time.

I rested my head on the wall of the bus, gazing out the window in deep thought.

Josiah was in the front seat behind Drew, quietly sobbing and calling for his mom.

I couldn't imagine how bad he felt. At the tender age of five, losing his mother, experiencing a tragedy like this, having to tag along with teenage strangers like us-it was all so. . .unreal. What ever happened to the phrase, 'that only happens in movies'?

I guess the whole cell phone service plan was out of the question. At least we would get to Florida faster.

We came to a sudden halt-

"Drew! What is it?!"

There was a foreboding silence for a few seconds, until he answered with a word we all yearned to hear and see for a while now.

"People. . .living. . .people. . ."

6: Chapter 5

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what Drew had seen.

People.

Real people.

Impossible. I thought we were the only ones left in the U.S. Surely these people couldn't have survived this long without food or water or leaving their places? At least, that's what my dad said. . .

I furrowed my eyebrows for a more clear view. Their mouths were moving, presumably screaming, and their arms were flailing about for our attention, I guess. "Should we see what they want?" I asked. Sloane woke up at the commotion, and looked around to see what was going on, and gasped at the sudden realization.

"I'm not sure. Maybe if we open a window or something. . ."

"HELP!" We whirled our heads around at the shouting of the apparent survivors, nearing us with every second. Stanford climbed to the front of the bus with the rest of us, adjusting his glasses and squinting. I grabbed Josiah, who was near the door, and held him close to me. If we were going to be put in possible jeopardy, I didn't want him going first. He had too much to lose if he died.

Drew rolled down the first window just a tad, and neared his face closer to it.

"Yes?"

"W-we need your help! We're survivors. Can we come with you? Please, we are desperate!" The bulky man with thick black, curly hair asked frantically.

Drew turned to me, then to Sloane, then to Stanford, then back to me, mouthing a "What do I do?" with large and apprehensive eyes. I shrugged, along with the rest of our group. Knots were tied in my stomach as I searched for an answer to help Drew.

"Got any weapons?" I shoved him aside and sat myself in front of the crack of the open window.

"Of course we do. How else would we kill Them?"

Wow, I felt stupid.

"How do we know we can trust you?"

The man was shoved aside by a tough looking blonde woman.

"Listen, bitch. Let us on. You're not the only survivors of this. Think of everyone else."

Well, it was a little hard to think with a gun to my head.

Literally.

Everyone in the bus froze, even Drew. Why did he get out of his seat? He could've drove off fast enough before this woman had the chance to blow my brains off.

Glassy eyes were all facing me. So now the verdict was my decision? Perfect.

"Okay, okay. W-we'll let you come with us. . .but. . .you need to put the gun down. . ." The woman slowly lowered her weapon and led her group onto the bus.

"Wow, y'all are really resourceful, aren't cha'?" The original man said, plopping down on the seat across from where Josiah was originally sitting. Everyone was silent. Including me. How were we expected to communicate with strangers who just threatened us in order to come with us? I bet I wasn't the only one having bad feelings about them. The blonde woman's eyes were planted onto me for about half an hour. I nervously shifted in my seat a few times to forget about her staring, even though her eyes were the dark color of charcoal and hard to avoid. I could tell she and I would not be able to get along-if they didn't kick us out of our own bus first.

"So, what are ya'lls names?" A thin and brown haired guy asked in a thick southern accent behind me. He would be cute if he wasn't a part of dragon lady's group. I shot everyone in my group a look that said, 'don't tell them your real names.'

"Uh. . .Allison. . ." I made up on the spot.

"Sarah." Sloane lied right after me.

"Uh. . .M-Michael. . ." Obviously Stanford wasn't good with being put on the spot.

I knew Josiah probably wasn't old enough to understand my facial expressions, so I introduced him myself. "And this-is Jeremiah."

I quickly whispered in his ear before he could protest, "We can't tell them our real names."

"Hey, Jeremiah!" The southern guy waved, smiling brightly. He seemed decent. Completely opposite from dragon lady who still held a scornful look on her face since the minute she stepped on the bus.

"I'm Luke. Nice to meet ya'll." The southern guy-Luke-introduced himself.

"My name's Brian, and I know I may look like it, but I'm nothing like her-Lilly." The man who originally spoke first pointed to dragon lady who still held a scowl straight ahead at nothing. Lilly.

I think I'll just stick to dragon lady. . .

No matter how nice these guys were, I learned to never trust anybody, ever. Trust only led you to never trust again once someone broke it. I learned that the hard way.

Dragon lady really must have had it bad recently. She couldn't have always been this hostile, could she? If it was because of the current situation, I'd understand completely. If not, well then. Screw her.

"Listen, kids-"

"We're in high school. . ." Sloane interrupted another smaller looking guy talking.

"Whatever. Anyways, where are you all going? Surely there isn't a safe place in the U.S. that we don't know about?"

This guy reminded me of this kid at my school that I was kind of scared of. Small with a big and pretty insane personality. Kinda like the type of person who can verbally abuse you and make it feel even worse than if you were being beaten up. I decided to stay out of his way.

"There are supposedly some chemicals in Florida that the government concocted before the virus occurred that will either kill all of Them, or revive them and make them human again, depending on their blood type. I'm not sure how it works, but hopefully it will repopulate the country." Stanford answered. "Besides, I thought we were the only ones left in the U.S., where did ya'll come from?"

"We stayed in the same hiding place since the virus started and spread," the small guy replied, a hint of self-evidence in his voice. I had a feeling he was either dragon lady's brother, or she had a pretty big influence on him.

Once again, the bus came to a sudden halt, shocking and silencing all of us.

"Drew! What is it? More people?!"

Josiah began to cry again. "W-what's h-hap-pening?"

"No. . ." He pointed ahead of him at the deserted road, not so deserted once we took a peek.

The street ahead, the one we thought was so empty, was now flooded with Them.

I estimated about 200, maybe even more on the road up ahead.

The worse part was-

Drew was unable to start the bus.

So we were stuck here.

In the middle of a flood of zombies.