Undead Rising PDF

101 “Go ahead of me Olivia! Get mom to start the Blazer!” Sam ordered. Olivia flashed to the convenience store and the awaiting, worried faces of Kat and Aunt Lizzy. “We heard shots!” Aunt Lizzy grabbed Olivia's shoulders, “where’s Sam?” “She’s coming, get the Blazer started!” Aunt Lizzy was in the driver’s seat attempting to wake the beast. It sounded like it was flooded and refused to cooperate with Aunt Lizzy’s attempts. Sam was soon yelling to Aunt Lizzy to move out of the way as the foot soldiers were not far behind. Humvees were starting their engines in the background in pursuit of the group. Sam jumped in the driver’s seat and used her finesse to start the engine mere seconds before the foot soldiers reached their position. The soldiers continued to shoot at the Blazer; Olivia was sure that they would get a tire or hit one of them in the process. Kat and Edie sheltered Kirsten on the floor of the Blazer. Quinn and Bobbi popped off a few shots from their rifles that they had brought from Sam and Kat’s father’s house. The foot soldiers gave up their pursuit as the Blazer sped down the road, but the influx of Humvees and military trucks made their collective heart stop. They had no hope of escape. “Sam, go down the drainage gulley off Avenue C, we can get to the car wash and duck out in there!” Aunt Lizzy screamed over the roar of the Blazer. The following minutes were harrowing and terrifying. Sam turned the Blazer down the drainage ditch just out of the sight of the impending military convoy. There was just enough overgrowth to hide their position long enough to make it to the car wash. Smoke began pouring out of the sides of the hood.

102 “C’mon girl, just a little further.” Sam coaxed. The engine roared louder under the strain of speed and the heavy brush we were off-roading through. They could still see the brigade of military vehicles in pursuit. They had temporarily lost them in the brush covered ditch, but if the engine failed it would only be a matter of time before they were found. They could just see the teetering sign of the carwash just ahead. Just one more hill to conquer and they were there. The Blazer made its last ounce of effort to sludge up the hill and into the darkened bay of the car wash. The cover of night would further enhance their ability to evade capture by the military. Sam turned the key and the engine spat a few times before its’ resignation. No one had the courage to speak. The collective sound of their racing heartbeats and heavy breathing were enough to fill the space. The military units were driving all around the hideout, but they had managed to duck inside just in time to maintain concealment. The fate of their transportation was questionable at best. Quinn had managed to open the hood with minimal noise to allow the steam to escape. Kirsten had been crying ever since the shooting began. Sam scooped her into her arms and managed to get her calmed down. \"That was scary Sammy, I don't like those scary men.\" she whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. \"I know baby, I was scared too.\" Sam comforted. The group honestly believed that very little scared Sam anymore, but her words would placate Kirsten for now. Lizzy remained in the passenger seat of the blazer, still in her own state of shock. \"Mom, are you ok?\" Kat questioned.

103 Aunt Lizzy was slow to respond, \"I'm fine honey.\" She answered robotically, but something was not right about her tone. \"Mom, you're bleeding!\" Kat screeched in a whisper. Aunt Lizzy looked extremely pale and her movements were listless at best. A large blood stain soaked her right side near her rib. \"I'm fine, really, it's just a little nick.\" she attempted to smile and stumbled out of the Blazer, Kat was there to catch her from falling to the concrete floor of the darkened car wash bay. Night had settled in leaving them in nearly complete darkness except for the flashlight Kirsten had brought from Sam's dad's house. The outside noise from the Humvees and trucks had dissipated. Aunt Lizzy shook her head a few times to maintain consciousness. The blood stain grew sizeable due to her abrupt movement out of the Blazer. “Mom, you’re not ok!” Sam insisted and rested her mom in her lap on the floor. “Fix her, Kat!” Involuntary tears welled up in Sam’s eyes. It was too much for Kat to take after losing her father. She placed her hands on her mom’s ribcage and closed her eyes. Aunt Lizzy took in a few gasps and grunted in pain. The blood continued to darken her shirt and dripped to the concrete, Kat’s healing was not taking effect on the massive wound that Aunt Lizzy had tried to hide. “Try harder Kat!” Sam commanded. “I’m doing the best I can!” Kat screeched back at Sam with large tears rolling down her cheeks. “Try pulling her shirt up and putting your hands directly on the wound, maybe you have to remove the bullet first.” Edie suggested. Edie was a television hospital drama addict and

104 probably knew more than the local clinic when it came to unusual circumstances. Sam pulled up Aunt Lizzy’s shirt to reveal the extent of the injury that was much worse than she had let on. The wound was open and flowing a steady amount of dark red blood. The bullet must have been lodged in her ribcage because the blood was only visible from the front of her torso. “What do I do Sam? It’s so bad.” Kat resigned herself to defeat. “We need to get the bullet out first, like Edie said.” Sam agreed. “We have a first aid kit in the Blazer.” Olivia ran to the back of the Blazer and found the kit that didn’t have enough supplies to accomplish the major surgery that was needed in this situation. She dug through the kit and handed Edie the alcohol swabs and a tweezer. “Ok, Mom Lizzy, this is gonna hurt, but you have to stay as still as possible.” Edie coached. Edie took a swab and washed her hands first and then took one to wash the perimeter of Lizzy’s open wound. Blood washed away the light coating of alcohol. With steady fingers Edie assessed the wound causing Lizzy to grimace in pain. Edie reached a finger into the wound and moved around as gently as possible but the movement was enough to make Lizzy cry out in intense anguish. Her breathing took on a heavy momentum as blood dripped from the side of her mouth. “I think I have it Mom Lizzy, hang in there.” “You can’t leave me mom, I need you.” Sam admitted her vulnerability. Aunt Lizzy slipped into unconsciousness from the pain. Edie continued to work on dislodging the bullet as massive

105 amounts of blood dripped to the floor. The hope of saving Aunt Lizzy diminished with each passing second. Edie pulled the fractured bullet out as Kat placed her hands over the wound. Within seconds the blood stopped pouring out. The wound appeared to be connecting together slowly from edge to edge. Mere seconds passed and the wound appeared to be nothing more than a scar with dried blood.

Chapter 9 Kat was exhausted from healing her mom, but she knew if she opened her mouth to say anything, Sam would shut her up. The horde was closing in on them, but the Blazer would not start. Sam tried and tried, but it was obvious that it had already driven to its final destination. If they had to try to leave on foot, they would have to leave all the supplies behind which meant they might not get to eat again for who knows how long. Sam persisted on trying to start the Blazer even though there was no hope for resurrection. \"Sam, they're getting closer, I don't think we can wait any longer.\" Quinn coerced as the horde picked up speed. The smell of blood must have given their position away. \"If we leave on foot, we have to leave our supplies!\" Sam persisted. \"Sam, it's a lost cause, we just have to take what we can.\" Lizzy quietly pleaded. Lizzy was in no position to make a run for it, but they were all aware that their fate hinged on escaping the undead and the soldiers that were hell bent on killing them like they had their classmates and teachers. Lizzy began gathering what she could carry, ignoring the fact that Sam was still trying to start the Blazer. Kat followed suit and gathered as many bullets and supplies that she could carry in her backpack along with the supplies she already had in there. Everyone, except Sam, did the same, but most of the food and water supplies would have to remain behind. Kat wondered how long they could travel on foot, especially with Lizzy in her exhausted condition. Kat was on the verge

107 of collapse as well, but Sam would just be mad at her for saying so. The first undead made his way into their space and quickly found the blood pool on the ground. It was just enough to distract him from coming at them. They waited for Sam at the exit side of the car wash, she continued to try to start the Blazer. \"Sam! We gotta go now!\" Olivia insisted as more and more undead discovered the blood. It was not enough to satisfy their thirst, they pricked their heads in the direction of the group and left the blood behind for pursuit of live sustenance. Sam grabbed her bow and sling of arrows and led the group into the darkened cover of night. The undead followed only steps behind. Sam helped Lizzy move at a brisker pace than she was capable of. Quinn carried Kirsten over his shoulder while his other shoulder harnessed a garret of supplies. They certainly didn't have enough supplies to last very long, but their immediate goal was simply to survive the night. Traveling this night was much more cumbersome and frightening than it had been when they left the school a couple of days ago. Back then they still had hope that this whole thing would just blow over. Now they knew that this was the way life as they knew it. An unrelenting race to escape death. Day in, day out, they would be on the run. People they loved would be killed or hurt, they could never go home again, never know when their next meal would come, or when they would be able to sleep a full night through. They were living in hell on earth and Kat wasn't even sure that she wanted to be a part of it. Her legs could feel the burn of the constant drudgery across the open field behind the carwash. They were headed to the impound lot, that required scaling an 8 foot privacy fence. There was no way around the fence, as undead closed in around them on

108 all sides. It was almost as if they were waiting for their luck to run out, they had slowed their pace knowing that they had nowhere to go. Sam scaled the fence with ease and Olivia took a flying leap with her new ability. Sam positioned herself near the top of the fence and waited for Quinn to hand over Kirsten. The undead caught on to their plan of escape and became frenzied in their pursuit. The angry mob closed in at a remarkable pace. Bobbi and Edie helped each other up the fence and teetered a few inches from the top, but managed to find a stronghold just out of the reach of undead hands trying to grab at them. Kat waited with Lizzy knowing that she was in no shape to make the effort to climb the precarious chain-link. “Go, Kat, I’ll get there, just go!” Lizzy urged. “I’m not leaving you here!” Kat cried and looked to Sam for an answer. “Get up the fence Kat!” Quinn held his hand over the top of the fence for her to grab on to. Sam made her way back down the fence and gave Lizzy a shove up the fence. An angry enclave of undead began reaching for Sam and Lizzy with bloody, mangled fingertips. Their skin was tearing away from their hands as they grabbed at Lizzy and Sam. Sam pushed Lizzy up the fence into the awaiting strong arms of Quinn and Bobbi. They managed the pull her to safety, but Sam was surrounded by growling, guttural zombies. The shouts of encouragement were masked by the grunting and screeching of the undead. Kat wanted to help Sam out of her predicament, but saw no way out for her. She drew back her arrow and fired off knocking an undead off their feet. One by one she managed to kick, punch and spear the closest zombies enough to allow her access to a foothold in the fence and pulled herself to the relative safety of the upper section. The undead were infuriated by her escape. They showed their displeasure by voraciously shaking the fence

109 enough to make it rock back and forth. The group took no time to assess the strength of the fence and ran as far as they could from the horde. Kat didn’t think her feet could travel for another minute. Sam slowed the group to a stop near a shack inside the impound lot. The zombies were still trying to find a weak spot in the fence, but had not attempted to climb it. Kat fell to the ground when Sam stopped and had a hard time catching her breath. “We don’t have time for your drama.” Sam chastised Kat while helping mom to a seated position next to the shack. “I can’t help it Sam.” Kat pleaded. Kat literally ran out of steam and didn’t have the energy to defend herself to Sam’s biting remarks. “Sam, lay off, look at her, she looks tired.” Mom did the defending for Kat, even in her state of neediness. “Whatever.” Sam would not admit that Kat could be telling the truth. God forbid someone might hold up her plans. Did she really think she wanted to feel like this? Kat wanted to get out of there just as much as Sam did. Sam was sure that Kat was up to her dramatics again and Sam was going to make sure she didn’t do anything that jeopardized the group. Mom being impaired was enough to cause concern, Sam didn’t need Kat adding to the situation. The horde was temporarily held back by the fence around the impound lot, but she knew that at any moment they could

110 breach the enclosure and they would be forced to run again. Sam planned on breaking into the guard shack in hopes of finding the keys to a drivable vehicle, if that didn’t work she would try her hand at hotwiring. Her stepdad had shown her how to hotwire the Blazer, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to remember all the steps and follow through without making a mistake. She wasn’t even sure that the vehicles in the lot had enough gas to make a proper getaway. Going to a gas station was out of the question, so their best bet would be to siphon enough gas out of a few cars before they made their getaway. “Olivia, let me have your hoodie.” “Okay.” Olivia hesitated slightly as she peeled it off. Sam wrapped it around her fist and punched through the window of the shack. She handed back the hoodie to Olivia, she shook the shards of glass out. As soon as the window was broken an ear piercing alarm resonated through the yard. This intensified the anger of the undead still shaking the fence. Sam climbed through the small opening she had created, but managed to acquire cuts from the broken perimeter of glass. She didn't have time to feel pain. The small shack had some useful supplies Sam chucked through the window. She found empty gas cans, bolt cutters, and tire inflator in a can. A key vault was securely closed, but she used the heavy bolt cutters to break the lock. Unfortunately the keys gave no indication of which car or truck they belonged to, they were only numbered. \"We can't use the keys, they aren't labeled\" \"Well, we've got to figure something out fast, that fence isn't gonna hold them much longer!\" Quinn assessed the fragile state of the deteriorating fence line. The rage of the undead

111 had not diminished, but rather increased due to the high pitch alarm that was blasting. \"I'll have to hotwire something! Look for a big enough truck that looks like it hasn't been here very long, all we can do is hope it has some gas left in it.\" Sam ordered while crawling back through the broken window. Bobbi already began scoping the yard and found a group of vehicles that had very little dust and dirt accumulation compared to most of the other vehicles on the lot. \"This one looks good!\" He assumed ownership of a late model black suburban. He didn't wait for Sam's approval, but instead used her hoodie technique to break the rear window out. \"I figure this could be our assault hatch.\" He grinned for acceptance. He crawled in through the back and unlocked the doors. The suburban alarm sounded in rebuttal to Bobbi’s breaking and entering, that was a good sign, it meant the battery wasn't dead yet. That tidbit of luck was all they would get tonight, as the horde bent the fence down like a stick of melting butter and headed to the suburban. Sam would have to worry about the alarm drawing attention to the truck later. They had safely made it inside, but they had a gaping hole where the window was broken out. Bobbi and Quinn staked their defensive position at the rear with weapons and ammo on standby. \"Should we shoot at them?\" Quinn yelled, knowing that they had a finite supply of ammo and there were possibly hundreds of incoming targets. \"Hold off as long as you can.\" Sam hesitated and broke the steering column of the suburban with the bolt cutters. She found the mass of colored wires in the compartment and pulled them out. The coloring system was pretty easy to remember. She took the red wires and bit off some of the

112 insulation, enough so she could tie the copper wiring together. Then, she found the brown wire and did the same and attached it to the exposed red wires and, as if magically, the suburban roared to life. Sam revved the engine to ensure she didn’t stall. “Holy crap, Sam!” Lizzy was amazed, maybe not in a good way, but in their current situation she thought she was fairly thankful. The suburban wasn't much more of a challenge than the Blazer had been. The fuel gauge read at an eighth of a tank. Sam's immediate concern was the horde that had reached the suburban and began climbing on all sides. Quinn and Bobbi managed to shoot at any that attempted to enter the back window, but a couple had managed to grab on to the suburban as Sam gunned the engine toward the downed fence line. She swerved back and forth causing Kirsten to cry out in fear. Kat and Edie tried to calm her down, but the extra baggage wasn't helping the situation. The zombie closest to Sam's window broke it out with ease and made a grab for her with one free arm while the other held on to the luggage rack above. Sam had to lean toward the middle console to avoid his wrath. She prayed the fence wouldn’t puncture the tires as she gained speed to breach it. She tried to swerve into an oncoming zombie in order to knock her assailant off the roof, but all she managed to do was send the oblivious undead sailing through the air. \"Way cool Sam!\" Bobbi cheered, but the zombie held on. Sam traveled over the fence with a sway that she thought would send the suburban into a rollover, but it righted itself and they were off the fence and in the open field. The attachments were not making plans to drop off any time soon so Sam recruited the boys to help. \"Hey guys, can you get those things off here?\" She yelled.

113 Bobbi hesitated, but Quinn expertly took aim out the back window and plucked the zombie off the suburban. Bobbi felt confident after seeing that and copied the maneuver with success. They were zombie-less and heading for the open road toward Corpus Christi.

Chapter 10 Olivia was amazed at the resilience of the worn and tattered group. They survived unimaginable odds and had the battle scars to prove it. Sam continued to swerve down the blackened highway averting cars, trucks, and SUV’s abandoned along the way. It became apparent that most of the residents of their small town had tried to make their way to the city, but for some reason or another their journeys came to an abrupt halt along the way. Many of their classmates weren’t even as lucky, they were executed by the military back at school. The future didn’t hold much promise. Olivia had lost hope of ever finding her mother alive and she didn’t want to admit that baby James probably had the same fate as virtually everyone they knew. Everyone in the suburban had fallen into a fitful sleep, except Sam who insisted on driving and Olivia, who couldn’t seem to shut her mind off. A few days ago, the biggest problem she had was what color to paint her toes so that she could show them off when she began walking without her walker. Although she was grateful for the ability to walk, she would give it all back if she could turn back time. Being able to walk and even flashing wasn’t as much fun as she would have imagined if someone had told her it was going to become a reality. She was sure if they were living back in boring town USA before the zombie apocalypse, these talents would be way cooler. Aunt Lizzie had begun to get some of her color back while Kat looked sicker and sicker. She fell into a deep sleep almost immediately after they had escaped the impound

115 yard. Olivia worried the most about Kirsten. She was totally alone in this ugly world, at least the rest of the group knew each other before the end of the world. Kirsten had no one else in the world, but she managed to wrap her tiny pinkie around Sam’s heart. Olivia had the opportunity to see the softer side of Sam through the eyes of Kirsten. Sam rarely let Kirsten out of her sight and attended to her every need. She had even packed rolo’s in her backpack because those were Kirsten’s favorites. Sam slowed the SUV to a stop at a large pileup of vehicles along the route. “Kat, wake up.” She whispered. Kat grudgingly obliged her request. “Whhh...Huh? What’s wrong?” She jumped to conclusions. “Isn’t that Penelope’s SUV?” She exited the suburban and made her way to the compact silver SUV rolled on its side. Kat followed her lead shaking her head in agreement. Olivia followed the pair to the wreckage. “Sam, it is!” Kat pulled out a purse from the overturned wreck. “That witch! She was leaving dad behind to try to escape with her brats.” “I know Sam, just let it go, we need to keep moving on. Something got to them before they made it to Corpus, we don’t want the same thing to happen to us.” Kat coerced. “I guess.” Sam scoffed and returned to the suburban. Kat returned to her sleeping position and Olivia watched the increasingly tired Sam get behind the wheel. “Sam, you look like you need a break, do you want me to wake up Quinn to drive for a little bit?” Olivia offered.

116 “I’m OK Olive, besides, we’re almost there.” Olivia resigned to defeat, arguing with Sam was almost always a lost cause. Olivia reached into her backpack to find a small bag of almonds that she had packed and happily shared them with Sam. They had been on the road for about an hour, but the familiar skyline of Corpus was obscured by the especially dark night. They could usually see the lights of downtown, but as with their town, the electricity was out. The piles of unoccupied vehicles grew larger and increasingly impossible as they neared the outskirts of the city. Sam used the back roads around the south side of the city to try to gain access, but every known entrance route was completely blocked. It was becoming apparent that driving to the marina was not going to be a viable option with the wasteland that surrounded the city. Their best bet was going to be to get as close to downtown as they could and then travel on foot the rest of the way. The auxiliary airport that the Navy used was as close as they were going to get. The airport showed no signs of military or anyone else. Olivia figured they would have used all the available airports to get people in and out of the city, but from what she could see the airport looked abandoned. Sam drove as close to the pile of cars blocking the roadway and had no option but to stop the suburban. They probably would have drawn too much attention to the group anyway with the constant blaring of the alarm that refused to shut off. “Rise and shine!” Sam woke up the group of weary travelers. “Where are we, Sam?” Aunt Lizzie questioned. “We got as far as the Cabaness airfield.” Sam explained. “I tried a couple of other routes but they were blocked too. We’re gonna have to walk from here.”

117 Robotically, the group gathered all the supplies they had managed to bring this far and set off on a walking expedition as the sun peeked over the horizon. Kat didn’t look like she had enough energy to complete any kind of journey, but she managed to move one foot in front of the other. “Kat, are you OK?” Olivia whispered to her with concern. “I’m just so tired Olive.” She complained. Olivia looked at her sunken eyes that appeared to take on a grayish hue. She looked as if she had lost 10 pounds since they left her dad’s house if that was possible. Olivia had to stick up for her before she collapsed. “Sam, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Kat needs to rest.” Sam took the news better than Olivia had anticipated. She assumed she would argue the point immediately, but when she assessed the image of her little sister, it was not easy to ignore that there was something wrong with her. “Ok, let’s find somewhere to settle in for a while and we’ll try to wait it out till dark. It’s probably not a good idea to be traveling during the day anyway with the military looking for us.” This was nothing like Kat had imagined an apocalypse to be. She watched all the reality shows on Discovery channel and TLC about people who had spent their fortunes preparing for an event like this. She always figured she would be fine

118 because she knew what to do. Boy, was she ever wrong. There is no way to prepare for this. Even with all the supplies they had at her dad’s, they ended up having to leave them behind anyway. She wondered how many of those people from the shows she watched have actually survived this far? From where they were standing, it looked like Corpus Christi was a wasteland. The sun breaching the horizon gave them clues as to the severe nature of the epidemic. Buildings smoldered in the distance, cars and trucks littered the roadways making them impassable. A gas station at the edge of the city had been completely ransacked with most of its contents spilled onto the parking lot and street. Spray-painted signs warned infected persons to stay away and that the station did not have gas. It was eerily silent on their trek to a safe haven, it was as if life had completely halted. No one in the group had to say anything about the scenery that slowly came into view as they walked closer into the city. It was obvious to them that their mission may not end well. They still had miles to cover in order to reach the boats. Kat didn’t even want to think about what they would do if the boats were already gone when they got there. Where could they possibly go? The city isn’t safe, even their tiny town wasn’t safe. Kat was hungry and tired. She wasn’t sure if it was the combination that was making her so tired, or just the fact that she lost her will to continue. It would do no use to mention this fact because Sam would go ballistic on her. How dare I complain about something so selfish at a time like this? Who died and made her boss? She knew that they couldn’t afford to be fancy free, but a little compassion and even some humor might help their sagging moods. Lizzy looked to be feeling a lot better, her ability to keep up with the group improved as the sun rose higher in the morning sky. The rest of them, even almighty Sam, looked like they had been

119 through the ringer and seriously could use some food and rest. “What about where James worked mom? Do you think it will be safe there?” Kat knew they were close to the Animal Care Center where James worked. Kat figured a building full of animals has got to be safer than somewhere packed with people. “I was thinking about that too, I know where they hide the emergency key for the weekend Officers, it’s worth a shot. We might even get lucky and it might still have running water.” A smile lit up her face as their pace grew lighter and swifter. Kat expected undead hordes to be riddling the streets, but it appeared as if the damage had been committed days ago and left behind for greener pastures. Maybe they cleared out this area and moved on for fresh meat. Maybe they would smell the group and come back. Pretty much all the options were disagreeable. Kat just wanted to go somewhere and stretch out and eat a candy bar or two. That’s all Kat managed to stuff in her backpack that was edible and she would have to find a way to hide it from everyone else so she didn’t have to share. She knew, it sounded so horrifically selfish, but all bets are off in this apocalyptic hell. Kat loved her mom and Olivia and even Sam, but if the shoes were on the other feet she thought they would hide their stash of Milky Way bars too. Besides, Kat saw an empty Rollo wrapper in the suburban. Someone didn’t share that one with her. They tried to cut through parking lots and open field on their way to the shelter, but most pathways were as hard to get through as the highway had been. They had to climb over trash and parts of buildings that had been broken into. When the shelter was finally in view Kat felt a small burst of energy that she had not had in the last couple of days. She

120 thought it was just the anticipation of eating and sleeping that spurred her on. The kennels had been opened and the fence was toppled over. Evidence of animals was still apparent, but like any living being with half a brain, the animals had fled the scene. Lizzy found the hidden key and they made their way into the main building. It had been ransacked like all the other buildings except the doors and windows were still intact. The walls were painted with blood, the floor was covered with vomit and urine. It looked as if a group of survivors attempted to hide out there, but obviously their plan did not last long. “I can’t take the smell in here.” Kat muttered to Olivia. “I know, I don’t think I can stay in here without throwing up.” Lizzy looked as if she knew what they were talking about and escorted their group to the outer buildings that used to house the cats and smaller dogs. They passed the large dog kennels that were empty. “The cat room should be fine for us to stay in. There’s a sink in there too.” The cat room was boarded up and locked with a padlock. Sam halted the group and perked her ear in the direction of the room. “I hear something.” She advised and took a step closer to the room. As she neared the room, pounding and scraping noises emanated from the room along with howls and screams. They weren’t howls from animals, but the increasingly familiar sounds of the undead. Survivors must have locked the infected in the cat room in order to attempt quarantine. “We can try the bathroom in the loading dock.” Lizzy quickly changed plans.

121 “Do you think they will get out of there?” Edie questioned as they transitioned past the room. “They’ve been in there this long; I don’t see any reason to worry. It looks like everyone else left.” Quinn interjected. It was good enough reasoning for Kat to accept. All she cared about was getting some sleep and maybe getting a chance to wash off the accumulation of dirt and sweat from her body. Eating something was a luxury she didn’t think would come to fruition, but she still had her candy bar to look forward to. Their supplies had dwindled to the backpacks that they carried. The vending machines at the shelter had already been toppled over with their contents extracted. They passed a row of exterior kennels that still had opossums in them. It didn’t sound like the most appetizing item on the menu, but the protein would help them renew their energy. They could start a fire and roast them. “Hey Sam, do you think we could get a fire going?” “It’s ten thousand degrees, why on earth do you want a fire?” “We can cook those.” Kat pointed to the opossum. “Disgusting.” Bobbi turned his nose up. “Sick.” Edie added. “It’s actually a good idea Kat, I just think we need to be careful about attracting someone with a fire.” Sam offered. “It’s not the most sanitary thing, but we can have the fire in one of the interior kennels, hopefully it will be obscured enough that no one will notice.”

122 The boys began gathering anything that would burn. Kat assessed the healthiest looking opossum that Lizzy had agreed to pull out of the kennels and kill. Sam had a good knife in her backpack that Kat used to skin the opossum. Olivia and Edie were fascinated with the fact that Kat knew how to skin an animal. Her dad had showed her how on one of their hunting trips. Kat logged it into her internal memory because she figured it would be a useful talent someday. The boys had already managed to get a rolling fire with the junk they had collected and Kat made shish- kabob sticks with some scraps of wood that they found. Lizzy ran back into the main building and found some salt and pepper in the lounge. The opossum didn’t take long to grill. Although everyone had made faces and comments about the opossum being disgusting, no one resisted trying the meat. It wasn’t as bad as they anticipated it would be. It tasted a lot like deer meat, really gamey. They were so hungry it didn’t matter. Kat thought about her friends at school seeing this. They wouldn’t believe the drama queen of the school was eating roadkill. The boys asked for seconds and no one could resist laughing at them. This was the first time since Sam and Kat’s dad died that the group had a chance to stop, relax, and smile. They were lucky to have discovered running water in the bathrooms equipped with hand soap. It wasn’t the same as Bath and Body Works, but it would feel good to wash off the grime after their feast of opossum. Lizzy made the boys put the fire out after they were finished. Everyone took turns taking showers and cleaning up and before the sun reached its summit, they were nestled together in one of the bathrooms with the door securely locked.

Chapter 12 Their sleep was interrupted by relentless pounding and clawing at the door. Even the metal frame shook under the strain of the intruders. Sam was sure the building would withstand the onslaught but she wondered how long they could stay inside. They had running water, but it was only a matter of time before that stopped. They could survive a few days at most, but she was sure that the undead had no intention of leaving in the time frame required to ensure their survival. “How many do think there are?” Bobbi asked over the moans and clawing on the door. “Too many to make a run for it.” Sam bleakly contemplated. Kirsten cried herself into a bout of throwing up in the sink. She had progressively looked like she was getting sick over the past couple of days, but Sam didn’t want to connect the dots. Besides, Kat had healed her, so she was sure it’s just from all the stress they had been under and the lack of a permanent place to call home. She had been out in the rain when her parents found the group, she may have caught pneumonia or a cold. Sam refused to consider any other less agreeable possibility. Lizzy looked at Sam as if she knew what she was thinking. “We’ll do whatever we can, Sam.” “She’s going to be fine, mom.” Sam snapped. “We need to worry about getting out of here before we worry about anything else.” Sam took the shaking wisp of a girl in her

124 arms and rocked her. With all the exterior noise it was hard to get her to calm down, but the exhaustion and impending illness seemed to be doing the trick. “We need to put our heads together and strategize. Me, Kat and Olive have special abilities that we might need to use to get out of this. If only one of us could disappear.” Sam thought out loud. “Funny you should mention that.” Edie piped up as she patted a sleeping Piper on her lap. “Check this out.” She picked up her arm and slowly her fingertips began to fade away and then the back of her hand was gone and then within a blink of an eye, everything reappeared. “I thought I was just hallucinating from lack of sleep or something, but then I tried to purposely do it and I managed to make my hand disappear, but I can’t seem to get much more than that.\" The moaning and scratching grew more intense, as the numbers of undead were certainly increasing with the onset of nightfall. At least the group had managed to get some sleep and they had eaten as much possum as their stomachs could take. With no feasible way for them to get out safely, using their new skills and abilities would have to be the solution. The walls of the concrete building couldn’t take days of the undead rampage. “That’s cool eeedeee.” Kirsten pricked a tiny smile on her pale face. Edie concentrated harder and stood in the corner. She closed her eyes for further impact and slowly her feet disappeared. The trend continued up her legs and to her torso, but a loud howl from outside halted her progress. The howl was like nothing they had become accustomed to, it was louder, fiercer, almost as if it had purpose. The moaning and scratching halted almost instantly. They collectively held their breath in response. The noises failed to return, but the howling continued as if it were a beacon to the undead. The source of the howling made its way to their building and

125 began pounding on the door. The gathered horde of undead did not join in, their sounds were absent, as if they had left the vicinity when the howling creature appeared. Sam had to stifle a whimper from Kirsten as she was afraid that any noise they made would give the howler reason to continue his assault. Several attempts to beat the door down were made again and then a blood curdling howl jarred Sam's nerves to the point of fear. Her resilience was shattered in that moment, she didn’t feel tough, she didn’t feel that she could defend the group anymore. She felt weak and defenseless until Kirsten looked into her eyes for reassurance. She placed her tiny hand in Sam's and Sam knew she couldn’t give in to fear. Olivia had never heard anything quite like it. Her back and neck felt a continuous tingling sensation when it was near. she was pretty sure it had left and taken the horde of zombies with it, but no one had the audacity to break the silence until they were certain of its departure. Even with all of their superhuman capabilities, they would be no match for the dinner party that expected them as the main course. “They’re gone.” Sam assured them. It was hard to fathom her ability to hear so well, but after seeing her own talent and now the disappearing act of Edie, Olivia quickly relied on the unbelievable. Their entire world had transformed into unreality. The dead were alive, they were like superheroes from the movies, and their fate was anything but certain.

128 Olivia couldn’t have made up a better story than this, and they were living it. Quinn and Bobbi inched closer to the door and slowly unlocked the deadbolt. With a delft movement, the door opened and let in fresh cool air that they voraciously breathed in. Olivia hadn’t realized that the room was as stuffy as it was. The fear of their close call with death removed all other senses. Cautiously, they exited the cramped space for the wide open yard of the shelter. “What should we do now?” Kat squeaked. “I guess we will go back to plan A and head for the marina. We knew they were out there before and we know we have a good chance of running into them again, but we can’t stay here forever.” Aunt Lizzy reasoned. “I’m tired Sammy.” Kirsten pleaded. Sam scooped her into her arms and they headed into the unknown night.

Chapter 12 Kat didn’t know how to break the news to Sam, but Kirsten was really sick. She insisted that Kirsten was just exhausted and hungry, but the rest of the group knew that wasn’t what was wrong. The real question was whether or not she was sick from the zombie virus or if she was just sick from being in the rain and being on the run for several days. Kat thought Sam cared for Kirsten more than the rest of the group collectively, including her own sister. I know, I know, I’m sounding selfish again. If only we could go back to the way things used to be, I would still be my usual selfish self and Sam would be easily annoyed by me and life would go on. Somehow, in this new world, having Sam annoyed with her hurt more than it did in their normal world. Having Sam love Kirsten more than Kat hurt more than it would have in their normal world. “Hey Kat, where have you been?” Olivia tried to recapture Kat's attention as they sifted through piles of debris in the road way. “I’ve been talking to you for the last ten minutes and haven’t even heard an uh-huh out of you.” She frowned. “Oh.” Kat finally acknowledged. “I’m just missing home again.” Kat sulked. “I think we will have a new world ahead of us when we get to the ships. I’ve always wanted to go to Puerto Rico anyway.” Olivia tried to cheer Kat up as Sam halted the group and put Kirsten on the ground. “We need to take cover, I hear something.”

128 The streets had been eerily quiet since they left the shelter. They knew they would most likely come across groups of hordes along the way, but so far the city was desolate and empty. It was merely a wasteland, until now. “Hurry, I think they know we’re here, they don’t sound like the other ones we’ve come across, and they are talking!” Sam began frantically shuttling the group into an empty thrift store. Virtually every store and every home along the route had been desecrated and destroyed. “Let’s get to the back!” Sam hurried with Kirsten slung over her shoulder. Once they were inside the store, the darkness made their traveling nearly impossible. Without electricity, it was hard to remember where the isles were and where the components of the store were, especially with all the looted debris laying in the pathway. Lizzy used to love coming to this store, she was certain that it was the bargain hunter’s paradise of Corpus Christi. Funny, how none of that mattered anymore. The days of hightailing it to the shoe isles were becoming a distant memory now. “Shh..” Sam placed her finger over her mouth. Kat still didn’t hear anything, but Sam was intently concentrating on what she was listening to. Her expressions did little to give away what she was hearing, Sam always looked serious. Kat was hot and sweaty and had a hard time slowing her heart rate. It was hard to see anyone in the dark even after her eyes had adjusted. Kat didn’t need to see well to know that Kirsten was not doing well. She was gasping for air in the folds of Sam’s shirt. Kat could feel the heat coming off of her frail body. Sam continuously rocked her nearly lifeless body in her lap. “There’s a group of them, they aren’t like the other ones, they can talk. They don’t sound like you and me though, they

129 sound like they are snarling almost. They know that there are live humans in the area. They’re hungry.” Sam whispered. Olivia flashed a look of fear in Kat's direction. Kat took her hand and squeezed it for reassurance. Kat knew that when daylight came over them, they would have no problem locating the group inside the store. They had to figure a way out before dawn. “Edie and I can distract them so that we can get out of here.” Olivia suggested. “No way, Edie can’t control her vanishing and I can’t risk the two of you getting hurt.” Sam argued. “Look, Sam, Kirsten is getting worse, we need to get to the hospital and find some antibiotics for her before she burns up. If we wait here, we’re gonna get found by those things.” Olivia argued back. “She’s right Sam.” Quinn agreed. Sam didn’t want to admit that staying put meant certain death, but having everyone gang up on her wasn’t the best tactic to use on Sam. “Sam, you always play the hero, baby, but right now you have to let others help if they can. We need everyone’s strengths to get through this.” Lizzy softened her up. “I think I have it down Sam.” Edie assured. “Whenever I’m nervous or scared I can get my whole body to disappear, look.” It was almost breathtaking watching Edie disappear into thin air. The group took a collective gasp at the disappearing act. “See, Sam, I can get it to work right.” They heard her, but couldn't see where the voice was coming from as she had moved across the room and finally appeared behind Sam. “Whoa.” Bobbi laughed,” imagine that trick at school!\"

130 The group laughed, but Sam was still reserved. An uncontrollable coughing fit from Kirsten brought tears to Sam’s eyes. “You’re right, we can’t stay here long, they will hear us or find us when the sun comes up. Edie, if you think you can stay invisible, go find where they are so we can plan our escape.” Edie didn’t require any further encouragement; she was gone, leaving the group in awe. Kat was shocked that Sam gave in, but looking at Kirsten’s deteriorating state made sense out of her leniency. The minutes ticked by while Sam intently listened for anything unusual from the group of undead talkers. She assured everyone that they only knew that they were somewhere in the vicinity, but they couldn’t pinpoint a location. They were in a strip mall and Sam told the group that they planned on sweeping through the mall as soon as it was daylight. She assessed that there were at least a dozen of them that could talk, while others growled and moaned like the ones we had already encountered. She said they were looking for someone in particular to take back to their leader, but more important than that, they were hungry and they were enticed by the lingering scent of human flesh in the area. “I’m baaaaack.” Edie appeared before their eyes. “We don’t have much time; the horizon was already starting to get lighter when I was out there. They’re all in front of the pizza joint at the end. They have some of them patrolling around the perimeter so our best bet is gonna have to be a distraction attempt while everyone exits out the back. If we can make it to the car dealership, we should be home free.” Edie was excited about her planning strategy. “I hope you’re plan works Edie.” Sam shook her head in disbelief but we didn’t have the luxury of time to argue.

131 It was game time. Edie and Olivia would create the diversion for the rest of the group to escape. Sam would listen for the cue to lead them out the back and then Olivia would flash across the street to divert them even more away from the group while Edie would vanish and appear a few times just for added emphasis. With sweaty palms and unsteady balance, Edie and Olivia made their way to the front of the store. Olivia really didn’t want to draw attention to their exit in case they decided to check the store out before everyone could escape. Edie vanished and Olivia flitted toward the group of undead. When Olivia reached a safe distance away from them, but close enough for them to see her approach, she waited for Edie to catch up. “Hey guys, looking for us?” Did she really just say that? Even Edie shot her a stupefied glance. Olivia would have never been a leader or a hero in any sense of the word. She would rather pull her hair out strand by strand than to call attention to herself. She guessed the hero instinct had a way of imposing itself on you when you know it’s your only hope of survival. Olivia's only regret was Sam not being able to see this, even she would be impressed. The group of snarling and moaning undead turned toward Edie and Olivia with fervent aggression in their posture. The leader of the group sniffed the air sensing their aroma and halted the group from getting any closer to them. Awful brave of you to show up here.” The leader snarled in a low hiss. “Well, we are what you are looking for.” Olivia cajoled. Even though her words sounded strong and brave, her interior was a shaking mess of Jello.

132 “Yes, yes, you are the tasty morsels we were looking for, but there are only two of you for all of us. And it seems like you have acquired some post apocalyptic strengths just as we have.” Olivia feared what he meant, did they have super powers too? He smiled as the group of hungry monsters heightened their awareness of our presence and began trampling each other in pursuit. “Halt!” He ordered the undead and they obeyed unwillingly. “There’s more out there for the rest of you, I haven’t let you down yet.” He smiled at Edie and Olivia with a mouthful of blood and ooze dripping from his teeth. “Go!” He pointed his disheveled arm in their direction, allowing the horde to descend on them. Edie didn’t wait to make her disappearance. As soon as Olivia was certain she was out of harm's way, she flitted across the street to the adjacent restaurant. The group lost track of their movements and appeared to be disoriented as they tilted their heads upward to sniff the air. “Hey guys, over here!” Olivia yelled at the top of her lungs causing the group to spring into action toward her direction. Olivia caught a glimpse of Sam and the others running toward a car dealership. Her plan had worked, now she just needed to keep them distracted long enough to make her escape. Beatrice, Nebraska, 3 weeks ago. Mistakes were infrequent, but not without protocol. Unfortunately for Edgar, this was the last mistake before an official termination letter. Edgar never got anywhere in life, sure he had a decent job, but that was always teetering on the brink of a termination. He had no friends, his coworkers

133 thought he was lewd and arrogant. But today was not going to be the day he got fired. Edgar scooped up as much of the contents from the laboratory floor before quickly making the decision to replace the contents of the broken vial with a collection of his own blood hastily drawn before any of his coworkers walked in. The procedure was already completed, the blood was collected for future testing, it would be months before any mistake would be found and he had coveted his coworkers ID number just in case of such a debacle. He replaced the blood, slapped on a new label with the patient's name \"Olivia Soliz\" and instead of his ID, used his coworkers. If the blood were tested months from now, it would more than likely register as a technical error rather than a breach of procedure, Edgar was certain he was in the clear. Days passed, without a second thought of the incident. Edgar continued working alongside his opinionated coworkers until they, one by one, fell ill and didn’t return to work. Rumors spread through the town that some zombie-like virus was killing people. Edgar had caught some kind of virus too, but instead of dying, something strange came over him. He had always been arrogant and grandiose, but his greed had turned into something more. While his skin turned shades of gray, his body packed on muscles and bulk until he was unrecognizable as the old Edgar. His voice grew deep, his hunger was insatiable. It was a Friday, payday. Edgar showed up to work in his usual, screaming in the door at 7:59 am fashion, but the front door was locked with only a notice pinned to the frame: Mirro Enterprises regrets to inform patrons and employees that due to recent events, this facility will be closed until further notice.

134 \"Well, crap.\" Edgar muttered to an empty parking lot, just as the town's emergency sirens belted out a deafening wail. Edgar headed to his beat up subcompact and heard a radio announcer proclaim that Beatrice was under martial law. All residents were ordered to remain in their homes until further notice. A knock on his window shattered his twisting thoughts. \"Hey, Edgar!\" It was one of his coworkers, sporting the same grayish hue, but lacking the bulge of muscles. Edgar manually rolled down his window. \"I know what you did.\" His coworker accused. \"That’s why everyone is dying. She had the virus, but somehow she was immune, I guess we were too.\" It was one of those moments where Edgar could have driven away, never to see his coworker again. So what if he knew what he did? The company was closed anyway, it wasn’t like he was going to get paid or keep his job. But something told Edgar to hang on a minute, they were immune, that much was clear, but why? Maybe his coworker knew. \"So what does that mean?\" Edgar spoke. \"It means, everyone else is dying, but we aren't, and I don’t know about you, but I can do some weird things I couldn’t do before I got sick.\" \"Me too.\"Edgar confessed and pulled a metal flashlight out of his glove box. He displayed it in front of his coworker and twisted the frame with his bare hands. \"I'm like the hulk or something.\" Edgar laughed in a low, haughty tone. \"I have this freaky X-ray vision, I can see right through buildings.\" \"We could rule the world with this .\"Edgar reasoned.

135 \"Yea, but we need the blood of that little girl to make more of this virus.\" In that shared moment, in an empty parking lot, the decision to break into the laboratory was made. The motley pair found files, gathered equipment and headed out of town on the old closed highway that snaked through the overgrown corn fields. The town had been overtaken with military personnel and forced into house arrest. Edgar and his new best friend weren't going back there, no way, they would never go back to their old lives again, they had a continent to conquer. “What is taking Olivia so long? Edie’s been back for a long time already.” Sam was ready to move on to find help for Kirsten. She no longer had the energy to stay awake with the fleeting group of survivors, she laid impishly in Sam's arms giving no sign of hope. Sam couldn’t take losing her, she was her beacon of light in this dark, eroding world of chaos. After hearing the new breed of undead that could talk, they needed hope. Sam's own perseverance began to crumble into the lightening horizon. The city still looked as it did the day they arrived, it was desolate and broken. Smoky plumes erupted from various points along their viewpoint. They

136 were close to their destination, but close didn’t mean they would get there anytime soon. Not to mention the fact that they needed to find some supplies for Kirsten’s ever deteriorating condition. Sam doubted that antibiotics would do anything positive for her at this point, but Sam would not allow her to die without trying anything that may save her. The possibility of her turning into one of the undead was not allowed to be spoken. Sam was positive everyone already thought that it was happening, but no one dared to mention their belief. “I’m sure she will be here as soon as she knows it’s safe, she’s probably luring them further away from us.” Lizzy explained. It was true that Sam could no longer hear any conversations among the undead talkers, even with her amplification and intense concentration, all she could hear was the wind rustling through the empty streets and an occasional uproar from a burning building scattered among the ruined city. From what she could hear, they were the only living beings in the city. At least they were the only living beings dumb enough to travel through the city on foot. Sam refused to believe that they were the sole survivors of the apocalypse. Believing in that meant that their destination would be ill fated which would mean that there was no hope. Sam couldn’t let those thoughts run through her, those were the thoughts that got people killed. Without a reason to continue, there’s no reason to try to survive. Everyone else in the group has the option to lose hope, but Sam couldn’t. “Yeah, you’re probably right, but I wish she would leave the Rambo stuff for me to do.” Sam grinned at Lizzy. “I’m sure we will be relying on you very soon, Sam.” “Psst. Guys, over here!” Olivia waved her arms in the direction of an adjacent used car lot. “I let them track me all

137 the way back to the mall! It was so funny, when I finally left them, they were all looking around like morons.” Olivia was proud of herself with good reason. “I’m thinking it will take them a while to retrace their steps back to this area, but we better not waste any time. We aren’t too far from the hospital.” Sam led the group back to their mission at hand. Sam really wanted to see some acknowledgement of life beyond the undead they had encountered. Even a group of rogue thugs would be welcomed at this point. Any live human besides them would be enough to keep hope alive. Well, Sam may get her wish, because the hospital was in the seediest part of the city. The only reason anyone would find their way in that part of town was by accident. Either getting seriously lost, or the kind of accident you end up in an ambulance, otherwise it was advisable to avoid that part of town. Sam and Kat's stepdad had relatives in that part of town, which made travel to the area necessary around the holidays, but even then he would generally be armed just in case. Honestly, meeting up with live people couldn’t be much worse than the undead, right? As they followed the frontage road along the expressway, the scenery did not change. Usually it was blatantly obvious when you left the better part of town and entered the rough side, but the apocalypse had managed to erase the unimpeded caste system of the city. They were no longer middle class, small town people, they were just survivors. Sam could see the hospital from her vantage point, the entrance was blockaded by massive piles of looted equipment. Sam was beginning to wonder if they would find anything they needed inside that wasn’t already looted through or stolen. It looked as if the hospital took the brunt of human destruction when the apocalypse hit. No doubt people flocked to the hospitals in search of assistance only to be bombarded by a barrage of undead and a military force bent on destroying anyone that

138 may or may not be infected. Sam could see an entourage of abandoned military equipment that decidedly had been used to try to stop the epidemic at this hospital. But, like everywhere else, their efforts had not succeeded. “Stop, I hear voices.” Sam halted the group just across the street from the hospital. “Are they like the others?” Kat questioned. “No, these sound normal, like people. I think they are inside the hospital. They said something about sending out new patrols.” Sam could hear separate conversations, enough for her to conclude that there were quite a few survivors inside the hospital. Whether or not they would accept their group was another story altogether. If it weren’t for the fact that Sam was carrying an unconscious limp body in her arms, she would have turned away from the hospital and they would continue on to their final destination, but when Sam looked at her sweat soaked mass of blonde curls, she had to take the risk. “You, stay here, I’m gonna try to talk to them and see what happens.” “I don’t know Sam.” Lizzy was concerned. “Maybe we should all go as a group, it won’t look as suspicious as you carrying a sick kid. They may think she’s, you know, infected.” Mom didn’t try to talk Sam out of going altogether. Sam guessed she knew that Sam wouldn’t give up on Kirsten even if it meant risking her life for her. She also regarded the possibility that they would assume she was turning. “I’ll go solo.” Sam placed Kirsten into Lizzy’s waiting arms. She kissed Sam's forehead and Sam made her way across the street. It wasn’t long after Sam entered the parking lot and was discovered by a masked man with an automatic rifle. “Well, well, well, what brings you to this side of town.” The masked man shoved the barrel of a rifle into her forehead sending goosebumps down

139 her back. Sam was half sure her mom would come after her, but she had Kat and Olivia that needed her as much as Sam did. “Look, I just need some antibiotics for my arm.” Sam had scratched her arm on some overturned clothing racks in the darkened store leaving behind a thick smudge of dried blood. “You, by yourself?” “Ya, I’ve been traveling by myself for a few days. I won’t bother you guys, I just want the medicine.” “We don’t give something for nothing around here.” Sam could see a group of his peers gathering behind him. Sam's group was no match for their firepower. Even with her ability to take out targets she was easily outnumbered by this group of outliers. “How about we talk payment arrangements inside.” He led Sam into the hospital. Sam was uneasy about what he would expect from her for the few pills that she requested, but taking the time to follow him gave her more time to plan her next move. The hospital was completely ransacked and almost impossible to walk through. The emergency room entrance no longer resembled a hospital. Blood streaked the walls and floors of the hallways, the smell of rotting flesh enveloped her senses causing an involuntary gag reflex. The sight of what happened here did not phase the group that lead Sam hallway by hallway to the depths of the hospital. Several offices along the way had been boarded up, but she could hear movement from behind the barricades. She was led to the basement of the building where the laundry and cafeteria were stationed. The area was still loaded with military equipment from their apparent failed takeover. Sam just wasn’t sure if they had been thwarted by zombies or by these guys.

140 “Where did you find this?” The ostensible leader of the rogue group questioned. “She came to us.” He snickered and flashed a gang sign to his comrade. “Not very smart for a pretty girl like you.” The leader grinned. “Our girls never made it past the third day, the zombie crap killed them. That’s how we ended up here, then the damn military wanted to kill us, so we took care of that.” He explained. “Now, what are you looking for?” Sam's skin literally crawled with fear, she was seriously outnumbered and had no available means of escape. “I just need some antibiotics and I’ll be on my way.” Sam showed him her arm. “You ain't got bit did you?” He pulled away from her. “No, I just got this from all the piles of junk laying everywhere. I’m looking for my family.” “Somehow, I’m thinkin you ain’t bein' straight with me, and just so you know, you ain't goin' nowhere. Jaime, come put this little birdy somewhere nice and secure.” The man he referred to as Jaime grabbed Sam forcefully and pulled her to a small room off of the kitchen. He threw her into the room and locked the door behind her. Sam was not getting out of this one, and she prayed that no one in her group was stupid enough to come after her. Bobbi and Quinn would most certainly be roughed up or worse by these guys. Sam still worried about Kirsten, but getting her medicine didn’t seem like a reality anymore.

Chapter 13 Olivia didn’t have to mention the fact to anyone that they were worried sick about Sam and Edie. Olivia just wanted to run in there and find them, but putting more of them at risk wasn’t the best option at the moment. Kirsten wasn’t getting any better while they waited either. All Olivia knew for sure was that they had to make a decision soon, because staying here in the open was not going to be safe when the sun set. They didn’t hear the distinct howls from the undead during the day like they did all night long. Olivia assumed they preferred traveling at night rather than the day, but it certainly wasn’t set in stone that they only came out at night. Maybe it was just more comfortable to travel at night, maybe they didn’t decay as much in the dark as they did in the full sunlight, who knew? All Olivia did know was that the sun was beginning its descent to the west and they only had a couple of hours to move. All in all, they had adapted pretty well to their new surroundings. They managed to find food and shelter for the most part, if it weren’t for the fact that they always were looking over their shoulders for the undead, this wouldn’t be all that bad. Except for Kat. Olivia didn’t have to ask how she felt about everything. She was not one to adapt to unpleasant surroundings. She was used to the mall and the salon and when either of those options were unavailable she would opt for Starbucks or her favorite trendy sushi place. Olivia enjoyed all those things too, but having to rely on each other wasn’t the worse thing she could imagine. When Olivia was home with her mom she was usually lonely, now she felt more at home than ever. She just wished her mom

142 was with them, but she would be even more miserable than Kat. Olivia wondered if she survived the initial outbreak, she wondered if she was still alive. She secretly kept a vigil going in her head, hoping that she would find her when they got to Puerto Rico. I mean, she was already on a cruise ship from Europe, it was possible. “Hey, Olive, what are you thinking about?” Kat quietly brought her back to the present. “Just thinking about mom, wondering.” “I just know that she’s gonna be in Puerto Rico when we get there.” If Olivia could say one thing for Kat, she always spoke with a positive outlook, even if she could clearly see that she didn’t believe a word she said most of the time. Olivia supposed it came from years of being everyone’s best friend. She knew what to say and when to say it, she didn’t get to be the most popular girl for nothing. “Yeah, I hope your right.” “I know I’m right.” She flashed her winning smile, covering the uncertainty painted on her face. “Do you think Sam and Edie are OK?” Olivia questioned Kat while the rest of their traveling companions snoozed fitfully. “Yeah, if anyone can sweet talk someone, I know Edie can

143 Thank goodness Edie could be invisible. If not, how would they know that Sam had been locked away by a group of thugs? She made her way back to the group with ease, but wondered how they would take the news. Surely, Bobbi and Quinn would want to head in, guns blazing, but that was not going to work in this scenario. Edie re-appeared in front of the group. \"She ran into a little trouble. They have her locked in a room.\" Edie explained. \"I'm going in.\" Bobbi lifted his rifle. \"Wait!\" Edie stood in the path of his egress. \"There's at least a couple dozen, heavily armed men that are much more familiar with a loaded gun than you are. If you go running in at them, they will kill us all. I think we should take the same approach that Sam tried. If we all get in there without them killing us, we will not only be safer than out here, but we can use our powers to figure something out.\" Edie continued over the faraway howls in the distance that were honing in on their location. It would be a matter of minutes before they were found, they had only one option. Edie ran out of the relative cover of the dumpsters and waved her arms at the patrol group just outside the hospital entrance. The rest of the group slinked behind her. \"My friend is in there.\" Edie started.\"We don’t want any trouble, but if you don’t help us we're all going to die.\" Edie hoped they had a shred of humanity. \"What makes you think we want to help you?\" The apparent leader walked to the forefront. \"What's in it for us? I already have one of your people, what do you have for me?\" \"We don’t have anything, except some really cool tricks.\" Edie was grasping at straws.

144 \"We don’t need no tricks here. Get out of here before we change our minds about killing you.\" He ordered his men back inside. \"Wait! Look!\" Edie began her vanishing act and reappeared next to the leader. Olivia flashed beside them. \"And I can heal people.\" Kat added. \"Holy...\" Jaime, the leader, halted in his exodus. \"This could come in handy.\" Jaime allowed the group to enter just as a horde of undead breached the parking lot. \"Don't worry, they'll give up.\" Jamie reassured Kat as she nervously twinged at the sound of the snarling and gnashing at the doors at the front entrance. Even on the second floor, she could hear them. \"They do this every night. My guess is because of these.\" Jaime led Kat to the nursery. The others were given clothes and food and time to recoup, but Jaime needed Kat for something more important. \"You see, when the crap hit the fan, all these babies were kept alive by their parents for as long as they could hold off the hordes. One by one, they became ill too, but they closed up the nursery as best as they could with furniture and equipment. We just happened to make our way here when everything went down, somehow we were immune, but their parents weren't.\" There were at least a dozen babies in the nursery. Men from Jaime's group attended to them. \"We make supply runs every few days, but when they get sick, it's tough.\" Jaime lifted an obviously sick child to Kat. Kat placed her hands on the baby and almost instantly the baby's color returned to

145 normal, the crying was replaced by soft cooing, the baby snuggled into her arms. \"Oh my God, that's.\" \"Pretty cool.\" Kat finished. They managed to settle in fairly comfortably with their new friends. The apocalypse took away all the negative labels and enclaves that were so common in the world before the zombies invaded every sensation that they were allowed to feel and think. When the layers were peeled away and they were all forced to survive, they were basically all the same. Kirsten was on the verge of death and the leader of the gang group feared she would turn, but even he didn’t have the heart to throw her to the undead. Instead, she was allowed to spend time with Sam (who now prayed fervently for her recovery) and had a bodyguard of sorts watching over her in case the inevitable happened. Kat tried and tried to \"fix\" her, but her powers were not effective in this particular case. One evening, when Kirsten was nearing death, she wanted to see the babies in the nursery. Of course, they would never allow her near them for fear of spreading the infection that she was most certainly dying from, so she snuck out when her bodyguard and Sam were soundly asleep. Oh how she loved babies. Before she could be found, she was holding the tiny hand of the smallest baby. Sam found her there, asleep, but feared that death had come. Sam tried to rouse her and noticed a change in her color. Gone was the greyish hue that she had

146 come to expect from near death, instead, Kirsten was pink and vibrant. Sam shook her awake with excitement. \"Sammy, I feel better!\" Kirsten proclaimed. The babies had an immunity and healing powers of their own. In all the chaos and death they had experienced, God had given them a gift. They would have been content to stay with their new friends and the babies in the hospital, and probably could have lasted for years there, but Sam, Kat and Lizzy knew they could never stop looking for James and Olivia was determined to find her mother. Stories about how the virus began had already circulated among the group they had found. They had heard from another group, who heard from another group, but it all resonated with Olivia. Her superpowers had somehow caused the outbreak. And while some were completely immune, others obtained powers and others were somewhere in between. The apparent leader of the undead had worked in the lab where Olivia had received her healing treatment. He had been searching for her to make a chemical weapon, but rumor had it that he had found Sam and Kat's brother instead who had the most unusual power of all of them, he had mind control, but had very little hesitation over it, given his age. The leader of the undead hid baby James away, in search of Olivia and hoped that the leverage of finding her would unleash his control of the rest of the world.

SAM’S LAST DIGITAL DIARY ENTRY Everyone except for mom and me would have been satisfied in the safety of our commune in the heart of the city. We heard the howling on a nightly basis, but our stronghold was enough to thwart any attempts by the hordes that remained in the city. Every chance we had was spent gathering more supplies, especially firepower. Mom and I had one matter of unfinished business, finding my baby brother James. Our “friends” were certain that there were no more boats in the marina, they would have been gone long ago. Olivia held on to the hope that her mother was still out there somewhere, safe and uninfected. Mom still believed that James had been taken to the safety of the boats and had hopefully made it to Puerto Rico by now. Mom didn’t want to force the others to join on an expedition away from our new home, but I had other plans. How could mom be mad if she didn’t know I was leaving..