It was quiet. Quiet was good. Any noise would send the horde running after them. But these two guys had made good on their escape from them recently and they were taking a breather on top of the roof of an abandoned apartment.

It was the first they had gotten within two hours of running, shooting and fending themselves from all the zombies. The technical term for them was Infected but they didn't give a shit. If it looked and smelled dead, it was a zombie and it deserved a bullet in the head.

They had lost track of time how long the infection had been around and how long they had been on the road hiding from the infected but hoping to not run into them was never anything to avoid and more often they would end up wasting ammo on these mindless creatures. Thankfully ammo stores were left behind by anyone who tried to stand up to these creatures…

"where are we Alan?" the shorter one asked to the taller one as their cigarette smoke rose above into the sky.

"You got the map, you check Mark." Alan replied inhaling a puff of his cigarette. Mark already had the map out and had been checking over it for the last 5 minutes.

"I lost our place when we ran off from the Tanks a few blocks back. I don't even know which block we're on." Mark replied

"ugh. Gimmie the binoculars, I'll check the block." Mark reached into his shirt and pulled out several other objects and items tied to strings around his neck. one of such was a pair of mini binoculars. He handed it over to his companion as Alan took it and looked up and down the block. "There's a bunch of zombies lumbering around the place…A smoker is staggering down the street, keep your head low…the block this building is closest to is 4th Ave and Madison Drive."

"Fuck…we're off course…."

"damn…how far?"

"Not terribly…just 7 blocks North from our original road…"

"Shit…" Alan stood back up and walked back to his companion and handed the binoculars back to Marks as he blew out smoke from his cigarette, Mark only watched on. There was something about how Alan could inhale that cigarette that reminded Mark of Marlboro advertisements or something like that. maybe it was how Alan's face was shaped or just how his eyes would squint just right as he would inhale, either way, it looked badass and he looked cool. Once the smoke was nearing the butt, Alan threw it over the edge, stretched himself and looked around.

"It's gonna drop down a few degrees tonight…stay here." Mark looked in confusion as Alan entered the building though the stairway. Mark pulled out his 9mm and kept aim at the door and he waited to see what it was his companion had in mind. After a few minutes of uncertainty, he heard the familiar bird-whistle from below, he replied back with a bird-whistle as Alan then came up the stairs dragging a mattress and several extra blankets up the stairs. Mark kept his gun on the stairs, thankfully he did as an Infected lumbered up the stairs and it's brains splattered on the wall as it's body fell back. Alan closed the door and took a 2X4 and braced it against the doorknob, Mark holstered his gun and looked at what Alan went down for.

"We have blankets,"

"It's gonna get cold tonight. Plus I thought it's be cool to finally sleep on something comfortable. By the way…" Alan pulled out a 3 Musketeers bar and handed it over to Mark. "Happy birthday Mark."

"Oh shit…I forgot! Thank you Alan."

"Well, I couldn't let another year pass by and have you forget. We've been forgetting for a little too long."

"I don't know what to say…"

"You can start with telling how old you are. I forgot."

"hum…" he raised his fingers and counted them. "21."

"Damn. That's the drinking age. Too bad there aren't any bars around or we'd be celebrating."

"If we got drunk and tried to celebrate, we'd be easy pickings for these motherfucking zombies."

"Amen brother." They pounded their fists together as Mark bit into his present and savored the sweet chocolatey taste. He would offer a bite to Alan but last time that happened, Alan suffered from hives and they were forced to run around in an hospital, shooting up Infected left and right just to find a medicine cabinet with only one pill left. It was just better to not give him chocolate at all, Alan was fine with that, he preferred to not have anything that affected his ability to lead and to shoot motherfucking zombies.

"Hey Alan…tell me about that place you were talking about. The place we're looking for."

"I've told you so many times, I thought you'd memorize it by now."

"I just like the way you tell it. When you tell it, it's almost like I can really see it…"

"Well…okay. cause it's your birthday." Mark sat down, removed his shoes and set them to let the blood drain out, since they both wore two pairs of socks, they removed one pair from their feet and let them out to dry out from all the bloody corpses they had stepped on earlier today.

"It's a place near the ocean. it's quiet all except for the sound of the waves as it hits the shore. You remember how that sounds, right?"

"oh yeah…" Mark bit into his 3 Musketeers bar again.

"Well, on this lone hill, high as the eye can see, there's a small beach house. Now you know why it's been built there apart from all the others?"

"To catch the first rays of the sun coming out over the horizon."

"Yep. to catch the first rays of the sun as it would peek over the ocean. It's almost like the beach house was made to greet the sun every morning…the yellow, the orange and the red for every morning and for every sunset…"

"I really hope to see it Alan…it sounds like such a beautiful place…" Mark put away his candy wrapper and put the covers over him as Alan sat there for a moment.

"yeah…it sure is Mark…it truly is…"

"Night Alan."

"…Night Mark. happy birthday." he crawled under the blankets but not before he reached into the mattress, removed a human finger and threw it over the side as he took a knife and hid it under the pillow in case any Infected somehow found a way up and got curious about their presence. Better safe than sorry.

That was their life and that was their goal. Was there anyone still alive? Was there anyone still looking for survivors? These two didn't know but what they did know was that they had been left for dead...