Susie stirred and wiped off the sweat from her forehead. "What's going on?"
"I think it's morning." Lauren said. "I can't tell any more, my phone's dead but while you were sleeping, I've been trying to call for help...I couldn't reach any one. I think the phone lines went down some time during the night."
Susie was still in a haze and didn't fully comprehend what Lauren was saying. "What?"
Lauren looked frustrated. "Never mind. We need to get out of this attic."
Suddenly Susie remembered what was going on. "Oh shit, that wasn't a dream, was it?"
"No. We're really stuck in this attic and there are creatures down there that killed a bunch of our friends."
"What do we do now?"
"We need to get down. I've been monitoring for any movement down there and I haven't heard anything in a while. I think we have a chance to escape."
"Shouldn't we grab something to hit them with just in case?" Susie asked.
"Once we get down we can run to the kitchen and grab a knife real fast."
Lauren and Susie got ready to push the attic door down and let the ladder unfold.
"You ready?" Lauren looked at Susie.
"As ready as I'll ever be I guess."
"Clean slate?" Lauren asked. Susie looked back at her puzzled for a second, then smiled.
"Clean slate."
"Okay here we go...3...2...1." Lauren pushed the door open and the ladder quickly fell down. She climbed down first and ran into the hallway and through the kitchen.
SCREAM.
"Oh my God, what is it!" Susie climbed down the ladder with a quickness and into the kitchen. She gasped, unable to scream. Lauren already had a knife in her hand.
"Is...is that Andrew?"
On the ground was the zombified body of Andrew, both of his legs chewed up to the bone and his arms missing. He lay on his back gasping for air, his eyes directly staring at Lauren.
"Should, should I kill him?" Lauren asked gripping the handle of the blade tighter.
"I don't think he's a threat. We just need to get out of here." Susie grabbed a couple of knives and her backpack that she left in the office. "Let's go."
They ran outside. The sky was cloudy and there was a chill in the air. They both walked quietly past the parking lot looking at the dead bodies of their friends that littered the floor.
"That's Claire..." Lauren pointed out. "And Catie."
"Yeah, I saw Mel Goldberg over there...her arms were skinned to the bone."
"Where do you think we should go?" Susie asked.
"I need to get home. I couldn't reach my family...I need to know if they're okay."
"Good idea...I live a few blocks from you. I can drop in and check too."
"Okay, my car is in the garage, we should be able to get it. I have my keys."
The quietly walked around to the front of the store. Lauren began walking onto the street.
"Wait!" Susie whispered as loud as could pulling Lauren back by the collar of her shirt.
"What is it?!"
"Look to your right." They both saw, down the street, at least 40 zombies walking aimlessly. They looked the other way and saw at least a dozen more.
"The garage must be infested." Susie said. "We can't take that chance."
"What now?"
They both ran back behind the store to the parking lot.
"I saw a lot of cars that were empty. There must be more on Arlington. There must be. Maybe there won't be any zombies there."
Both of them grabbed a large knife and sidled against the wall of the stores trying their best not to be seen.
"There." Susie pointed to a car, it's door open. "There must be a key in there."
Lauren and Susie crouched down as they ran towards the car. They could see a handful of zombies gnawing on dead bodies on the street.
They made it to the car, causing only one zombie to look up from his meal, but not seeing them.
"Okay we just need to sneak into the car and find the key..."
"DON'T MOVE OR I'LL SHOOT!" Shocked, Lauren and Susie looked up to see an older woman pointing a gun at them.
"Oh my God...don't shoot!" Lauren put her hands up, dropping the knife.
"Who are you! And what are you doing near my car?" The woman said, her hands shaking. She had a gun in one hand and a set of keys in the other.
"Ah guys..." Susie began to say.
"We just wanted to find a car so I could get to my house and find my family." Lauren said.
"Not with my car!" The woman screamed.
"GUYS." Susie yelled.
"What is it?!" Lauren turned to Susie.
"They're coming!"
Several zombies heard the commotion and left their carcasses to chase and kill the fresh meat in front of them.
"We need to get out of here!" Susie said. "Ma'am, we need you to drive us out of here now!"
"No! You're not coming with me." She said, her shooting arm still shaking.
"You can't leave us to die here!" Lauren said, now crying.
"I...I...I won't let you come."
"Fuck this." Susie said. "Then SHOOT US."
"I...WILL If you don't shut up." The woman said.
"Then SHOOT US." Susie said again. "I'd rather die by a gun than get mauled by those zombies.
The zombies were getting close.
"Susie! We have to go!"
"We won't be able to escape unless she drives us. We can't outrun them."
Lauren took a split second to think.
"We can if they have bait!" She grabbed the knife she dropped and slashed the woman in the leg. The woman fell but got a single shot out of her gun that grazed Susie in the shoulder. Susie fell but Lauren grabbed her and the gun and ran as fast as they could.
Lauren looked back when she heard a scream. All the zombies fell upon the woman and began ripping her body apart. The screams subsided but Lauren and Susie were long gone by that point. They ran as fast as they could and stopped running when they felt it was safe.
They walked a bit more when suddenly Lauren felt something land on her nose. She looked up.
"It's beginning to snow..." She turned to Susie just in time to see her eyes roll back and collapse to the ground. "Susie!" Lauren fell to her knees. "Susie, wake up! Wake up!" Lauren cried as the streets started turning white, covering dead bodies and the blood soaked pavement.
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