Devin looked down in silence.
The sun had settled and the snow was coming down harder. More zombies began roaming the streets as Annie observed them from the small windows on the second floor. She saw a man and a woman make a mad dash from a building not far from them and killed by the zombies as quickly as they left their hiding spot.
"I'm so hungry." Caroline said plopping herself on the ground.
"Because of your stupidity, we couldn't make a run to get food and water. We have nothing in here." Christa was now raising her voice at Devin. All their faces were accentuated by the glow of candle light.
EARLIER THAT DAY:
Devin ran down to the streets where Maddie's zombified body was examining a half eaten body.
"Maddie! It's me." Maddie looked up, tilting her head sideways as she noticed Devin. She stood up and began walking towards Devin.
"You're going to be all right, now that I've found you."
Maddie made a sprint and jumped onto Devin knocking her on the ground. She was about to bite into Devin's neck when
BAM. Christa smashed her in the side of the head just hard enough to get her off and get Devin up. "Get the fuck up! Don't you see, she's not human any more."
Devin looked in disbelief as she realized that her sister just tried to kill her.
"That's not Maddie any more! She's only trying to eat you."
Annie and Lauren Norris appeared smashing to death a few zombies that also approached Devin with Maddie. "We have to get back! They'll be coming in troves now." They both yelled and ran back to their hiding spot.
"Let's go. There's no hope left for her. But you still have a chance..." Christa said and they went back to their hiding place.
BACK TO THE PRESENT:
"We have no choice. We're going to have to leave here tomorrow. Now that more zombies have been killed, they'll only keep coming and we'll eventually be choked out of our supply areas. First thing, we need to leave."
"Where are we going Christa?" Caroline asked.
"The police station."
"For what?"
"Ammo."
"Guns? I don't know how to use them." Caroline admitted.
"It's a good time for all of us to learn then, huh?"
***
Susie opened her eyes in the dimly lit room.
"You're finally awake." A familiar voice said. A cold wet towel was placed on her forehead and someone was bandaging her up. Susie turned her neck and saw Lauren working on her shoulder.
"I'm glad to see you're okay." She said, biting off a piece of tape and securing Susie's bandage.
Susie looked at the other person and bolted up. "Nuria?"
Nuria smiled. "Hey, how are you?"
Lauren explained what happened.
"Nuria heard me crying and called out to me from a bush. Thank goodness she did, as we hid we noticed a few zombies come our way. I think the snow threw them off a little. She took us here then."
"I got separated from everyone in the chaos. I initially ran into the woods with Luana and Maddie but got lost in the darkness. I found a nice couple who brought me to their house...this one. We've boarded it up. They went out to find food this morning...but they haven't come back yet." She looked at the candle light as it slowly melted. "We have a few days worth of food otherwise and the doors are secure...a bunch of zombies tried to come in last night and they couldn't." Nuria said.
Susie sat up. "Thank you so much."
Nuria smiled. "When you get better we're going to head to Whitman."
"Why?" Susie asked.
"Apparently there's transport leaving from there to the NIH. There's safety at the NIH. I heard it on the radio with the couple last night before the radio died."
"What about our families?" Susie looked at Lauren.
"If they're alive, they'll have gone to Whitman too. It's our best bet." Lauren said.
"I think I'll be good by morning." Susie tried to sit up but winced in pain.
"Two days. We'll rest here for two days."
***
"Pass me that can of beans." Jiko asked.
JC rummaged through his bag and tossed the can over to Jiko. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and began stabbing the can in an attempt to open it.
"You should eat." Nina said, making her way to Adrienne. "You haven't eaten all day."
Adrienne looked up from where she was sitting to see Nina offering her a piece of bread. She just shook her head and said nothing.
Nina turned over to where Von and Owen were sitting sharing a can of canned string beans. "She hasn't said anything all day." Nina said.
"I think it's the shock of everything." Owen said.
"You have something in your teeth." Von pointed out. Owen just gave him and look and ignored him.
"What can we do?" Nina asked.
"Just give her some time."
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Nina asked JC.
"Whitman."
"Why? We're over 2 miles the other way. There's no way we'll get there in one piece on foot."
"We'll have to try, don't we? You heard the radio broadcast." JC turned to Jiko who pulled out the stolen radio.
"I wish this thing worked." Jiko said playing with the knobs.
"It's not the radio, the stations must be down." JC said.
Nina just shook her head and sat next to Adrienne in the cramped shed that they found to hide in for the night. It was boarded up to the best of their abilities and the snow kept zombies from picking up their scent.
"We'll be safe once we get to Whitman." Nina said brushing away a piece of hair that had fallen in Adrienne's face. Adrienne just stared straight ahead of her and said nothing, clutching her knees.
Hours later as everyone went to bed, Nina stayed up unable to sleep. Adrienne wasn't sleeping either. She was just staring up at the ceiling. "Nina?" Nina jumped a little not expecting her to say anything. "Yeah, what is it?"
"What Eric did was heroic wasn't it?"
"Yeah...yeah it was."
"And foolish. I never want to be a hero, if it means dying like that." She turned over and went to bed.
Nina thought about it for a while and the tangibility of their mortality. She shook it off and went to bed.
Out in the distance gun fire dotted the night sky. This wasn't about survival any more...this was turning into a war...
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