"Sickness?" Kairi asked as she set down the local newspaper. Her mother was busy cooking pancakes in a black pan, the light smoke trail of a burnt piece trailing up and disappearing out the open window. "Yea, they say some pandemic is going around town. Saying people are very sick."

"Do you know how it started?" She asked, folding up the ripped newspaper and placing it on the chair next to hers. "No, I bet it's all a government thing for some odd reason though." Her mother mumbled. Kairi laughed, sipping her coffee, "I guess it is. Silly isn't it."

This is now…

Kairi heard her basement's door start rattling. Her heart raced, and she screamed aloud, covering her mouth as if she was trying to pull back the sound into her mouth again. Silence. She had a hatchet in her hand, and she tensed, blowing out the lamp next to her on a nightstand.

Soft footsteps crawled down the stairs to the basement floor. Nice and slow, almost uneasy steps. Her heart was screaming in her throat and she stared, wide eyed, as a flashlight blinded her vision.

She felt a gun being filled with ammo and she yipped, grabbing her hatchet. She couldn't see the person holding the flashlight, but she could hear the gasp of surprise and the yell, "Hey guys, we got 'a survivor!" A couple seconds later and more fast paced footsteps followed. The flashlight moved from her vision and she stared into a set of swirling blue eyes.

"You okay? You must' a been scared being down here in the dark! God' a knows what you had seen!" The man, maybe two years older than her it seemed, reached out an arm for her and she grabbed it. The warm feeling of another person's flesh felt a jolting relief that she was now safe.
Another man, a large dark skinned man with what seemed to be a high school coach shirt on handed her a gun, "I think you need this." Tears stained her dirty cheeks and she grabbed it, along with her trusty hatchet. Another, dark skinned girl and a guy with gray-black hair and a white suit greeted her. "How long have you been down here?" The white suit man asked.

"U-um…about a…d-day." She answered, looking about her in the darkness. The man that had found her patted her shoulder, and the feeling made her flinch, but seeing his genuinely sweet smile sent her calm again. "Goddamn," The white suit man said, getting down and loading ammo into his gun, "it's a wonder how you're still up and around. What's your name?"

Kairi tried to catch her voice, and after a moment of silence she answered timidly, "It's…K-Kairi." The man gave her some ammo and checked himself of any cuts. "I'm Nick."

"My friends call me Coach." The large man said, wrapping his arms up in bandages.

"I'm Rochelle. Good to have another girl on the team." The other woman said, nodding and smiling to Kairi.

Kairi felt an arm go around her shoulder and the man who found her smiled a wide, goofy smile, "And I'm Ellis, the light of the party!"

Kairi blushed and looked around the group. Nick narrowed his eyes at Ellis, "He's the one with a bunch of stories of him and his friend…" He shuddered, "Keith." Ellis laughed, checking to make sure a bottle of pills were in his pocket, "You know you love Keith, everyone does!"

"We had to beat up some BAD shit heads up above in what looked like a kitchen." Coach said. Kairi heart ached hard and Coach saw her face fall a bit. "My mother and father didn't make it…They eventually got infected…tried to kill me and then I had to…had to…" She glanced down at her hatchet and Ellis flinched.

"Oh my…" Rochelle said, her eyes widening.

Nick paused a moment, looking down at her bloody hatchet solemnly, "Well…it's best we make our way to the safe house." Ellis took his arm off of Kairi's shoulder and she felt the sense of safety and warmth leave her, "Just stick next to me and you'll be safe!"

Nick snickered, "I think she should stay near me, you're zombie prone." Ellis narrowed his eyes at Nick and watched as Kairi followed behind the leader-like man.

As they walked up the stairs, they heard the screams and howls of distant infected. Ellis ran to the door and peeked through it. "We got some Infected coming our way in about Thirty seconds!"

"There's something you gotta learn about us." Rochelle said as she put ammo in her gun. The screams got louder. "We're crazy badasses."