-6—

Marc's P.O.V

He sighed and stormed out of the room, cursing internally at his brother for his mood and throbbing throat. But he knew that the real reason for his anger was himself. While your brother teetered on the brink of death, you stood away gaping like a damn goldfish, his brain accused. Shaking his head, he vowed that the next time it happened, he would be ready.

"Dude, is Felix still holding it together?" Alonzo cornered him outside the ping pong room, obviously concerned about his friend.

"He's dead." Mark said sadly. Alonzo's eyes stretched wide and he covered his face with his hands, but not before Marc caught a glimpse of those same eyes welling up with tears.

"He isn't the first and definitely won't be the last. Get over him." Marc said rather harshly, not bothering to sugarcoat the truth. Alonzo didn't reply, and Marc headed upstairs where the other kids were, leaving Alonzo alone with his guilt.

As soon as he went upstairs, Marc was swarmed with kids. Dan hadn't gone up to fill them in about the latest turn of events, so Marc told them exactly what had transpired downstairs, from finding the girls to Felix's turning. A few of them, however, were less than satisfied.

"So you mean to tell us that you guys went downstairs, got Felix killed, so that we could join up with a bunch of girls to consume our food supplies faster?" Gladys demanded incredulously, unaware that Tracy had walked up behind her.

"Look, this-" Marc snapped angrily, but Tracy snapped faster, her voice edged with steel. "Bunch of girls, huh? Watch your mouth. You probably eat twice the amount of food me and my friend eat anyway, judging from your size."

"Shut your mouth, tramp," Gladys shrilled, scarlet with rage, "At least I don't get people killed!"

"And at least I don't reuse the Twinkie wrappers as condoms," Tracy shot back, eyes twinkling maliciously. Marc just stared, speechless with admiration.

"Shut it, you two," Dan said, "We've got to work together if we want to make it through this." But Marc could tell from his twitching face that he was struggling not to laugh.

"Maybe you should shut it, Dan. The whole time you've been here, all because you saved us once, you start acting like some stuck up shmuck." Denzel squeaked, taking the opportunity to air his dislike of Dan. He turned to the others. "Felix was a great guy. Always knew his place, always kept out of trouble, and now because of this twat, " Denzel gestured to Dan, "He's dead, and so will we all be if we keep taking this guy's bull."

Holy crap, Marc thought. Denzel's pulling a power grab. I hope people aren't stupid enough to believe this. But to his utter shock and dismay, mutters and whispers began circulating around the group, the boy's faces becoming more hostile by the second.

"Guys, I don't know what you think happened down there, but-" "No.". Dan said quietly, cutting Marc's attempts at an explanation off, "Denzel's right." Dan turned to the group of kids, who looked back at him with mistrust and antagonism. "Denzel's absolutely right guys!" He shouted, startling them all, "I'm not a leader. Felix is dead because of me. So from now on, I'm 'abdicating'. Denzel can lead you guys. Me, and anyone who wants to follow me, will head out to Yew Mei Green. Maybe there will be survivors there. Are we agreed?"

Marc, and practically the whole group, stared at Dan in shock. What? But then Marc heard it, a sneering, cutting sound. Denzel was sniggering.

"I'm in favor of it. So who wants to throw their lives away, step behind Dan." Denzel said, relishing his long awaited authority.

Alonzo, Monroe, and Marc were at Dan's side in an instant, followed by Russell, Ian, and Ben, 3 of their closest friends, Tracy, and Gladys, much to the former's chagrin. Chloe stood there a minute, pondering.

"Oh, what the hell." She said, and went to stand behind Dan.

"Good to see that we're all in agreement." Denzel said, and turned to Dan, eyes cold. "You have 10 minutes to pack and get out."

Shuddering under the weight of Denzel's serpentine stare, Marc bent to pack up the remainder of Dan's belongings, including the knives, still razor sharp from their last usage.

"You know the road from Windermere to Yew Mei is swarming with zombies right?" Marc interjected, whetting his favorite green blade on the pavement.

Dan's lips split in a feral grin. "I'm counting on it."

-7—

Chloe's P.O.V.

What was she doing? If her parents were still alive, this would be the exact opposite of what they would want her to do. She could almost hear her father's disapproving voice in her ear, Look at you, throwing away personal safety in place of teenage companionship. Glancing sideways at Dan as they silently trudged out of Windermere, she couldn't help but agree. Standing half a meter away was possibly the most gorgeous boy she had ever met and was probably ever going to meet again in this godforsaken reality.

"Up ahead is the guardhouse. I'm pretty sure the security guard is in there-undead. I'll need someone to accompany me to watch my back while I dispatch the security guard." Dan said, looking probingly at the group.

"I'll go." Chloe agreed before she even registered what was coming from her mouth. What are you doing? At this rate, you'll be lucky if you last till tomorrow!

"Why would we need to take out the guard? We could just, I dunno, sneak past it? Anyone thought of that?" Tracy enthused mockingly, and Chloe smiled. They had both lost so much, and Tracy still found the strength to be a smartass.

"No. We're going to have to take out that guard some time anyway, if we want to come back here. Plus, I want to see the security feeds. Is that okay, or would you like some milk from our supplies to calm down?" Marc replied in the same tone of voice, drawing a glare from Tracy. Chloe stifled a smile. Seems that her best friend had met a foe worthy of her steel.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go!" Alonzo barked, a tinge of fatigue evident in his tone.

They made their way to the guardhouse, all too aware of the gurgling sounds of an undead in the small booth. Chloe circled behind Dan, scanning the slopes in case they should be ambushed.

"Jesus." Dan muttered as they came in sight of the meat bag inside. Flailing around in a pool of his own faeces and vomit, a rotting bag of donuts still clutched in one hand, the once-security guard caught their scent and leaned forward, growling. Looking closer, Chloe saw that he had attached a handcuff to his chair.

"Looks like he handcuffed himself when he realized he was going to turn. At least there are some decent people left in the world." Dan's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Just get it over with." She instructed.

"Yes ma'am." Dan made if fast and clean. The zombie slumped forward, brains leaking from the back of his skull, put out of its misery. They bolted back outside, glad to be away from the stench of a rotting corpse.

"No time for this! Let's go!" Monroe yelled, sensing the unspoken order in Dan's gaze. Wearily, they trooped on, rounding the guard's booth to venture outside the condominium into the streets.

Russell looked upwards, frowning at the darkening sky. "We're toast if we don't reach Yew Mei Green in an hours time at max."

"Yeah well, less talking, more walking, or in your case, rolling!" Gladys laughed in an attempt to inject humor into the situation. Russell glared at her.

Wordlessly, Ben walked on, ignoring the others' petty squabbles, and, chastened, Ian, Russell and Gladys hurried to catch up.

"Oh gods." Marc stopped, inadvertently bumping into Russell as he abruptly stopped. His feelings were soon echoed by the others. Up and down the entire highway, the undead stalked, hungry, mindless, lethally fast. True, the majority was trapped in cars, but scores paced the streets, obviously having reanimated in the streets.

"No way we're getting through this." Tracy murmured. Dan frowned, brow furrowed in thought.

Just then, a zombie stopped and sniffed the air, then, growling, began walking in the general direction of them. The answer hit Chloe like a thunderbolt.

"Dan!" She whispered urgently, pulling him down behind the ruins of a wrecked car.

"What?"

"I know how to get past them! Look, their eyes are cataracted, right? Which means they can't see out of them!"

"So?" Dan said, obviously unimpressed.

"Which means they're probably relying on their hearing and scent to locate us! So if we can mask our scent, and tread quietly, we can get past them!"

Dan raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "So what you're saying is, if we tiptoe past these things with some gunk on us, we can sneak past an entire undead horde?"

"Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying." Chloe snapped. Dan smiled.

"Well, let's do it!"