Bea couldn't quite gauge the amount of time that had passed since they took shelter in the storeroom. It could have been hours, or days even, and she wouldn't have known. She'd settled down and dozed off a while ago, further distorting her perception of time. She woke up groggy and cranky. She sat in the corner counting the remaining bullets in the gun she snatched from Molly.

Nine… ten… eleven… twelve. Bea gave a satisfied smirk. She'd thought the gun could only hold about eight. Thankfully the clip held fifteen. She used one bullet on a zombie outside, Angus also used one, but where was the last one?

Bea sat the gun down. Angus and Gregg were cuddled up beside each other in the back of the room. Mae was still down for the count, which left Bea alone. She looked desperately for something to do, and at this point, fighting zombies didn't seem so bad. She tried to make busy-work for herself. She'd sorted some of the miscellaneous items she'd found in the crates. She changed Mae's bandages, checked in on Angus and Gregg, and even played a game of tic-tac-toe with herself in the dust on the floor. She was going stir-crazy.

She returned to her spot on the wall, slumping over in defeat. The only noise she could hear was Gregg's snoring. She actually found it comforting. She'd much rather it than dead silence, at least.

They must be happy. Bea turned to the couple. She couldn't see them from where she was, but she could imagine the smiles on their faces.

It must be nice to have someone. Bea's head drooped as she realized just how alone she was. Her mom was dead, her dad was… somewhere, hopefully alive. Her best friend was hurt, bleeding and unconscious. Well… at least she still had Mae. Her gaze shifted to the cat. Her large eyes were still shut, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. She'd known Mae for a long time. Mae always wanted to help her with whatever it was she was doing, no matter how boring. Then she left for college, leaving Bea behind. Bea wished so badly that she could one day go to college. It would change her and her father's life for the better. She could finally afford medicine for her father.

But then Mae came back. Bea was furious with her for squandering the golden opportunity she was given. She would have given anything to take Mae's place. But through all the jealousy, and all the anger… Bea just couldn't stay mad at her. Mae really was a nice person, even if she didn't see it herself. Her personality was… unique, but she really was a people person. Watching her in the dim light of the dusty old storeroom, Bea realized that Mae was actually kind of…

No! Bea's head whipped forward. What was she thinking all of a sudden?

What kind of thought was that? Bea's mind screamed at her for thinking of her best friend like that.

This room must be driving me crazy… Please wake up, Mae! Bea begged.

"Bea?"

Bea's head shot up, her head turning to see Mae staring back at her with tired dazed eyes. She rubbed her head in pain and confusion. She scanned the rest of the room, taking in the maze of crates. "Where are we?

"Mae! You're alright! How's your head?" Bea scrambled up to her and knelt beside her.

"It hurts… Where are we?" Recollection flashed through her eyes. "Molly? Is she alright? Where is she?" Mae's eyes pleaded for an answer. Her eyes drifted to the handgun on the ground. Bea could hear a feint gasp come from her friend.

"Mae, she… died in the wreck. Angus and I had to carry you and Gregg, we couldn't bring her. I wanted to, but…" Bea let the words sink in. Mae simply let her head sink.

"What happened to Gregg?" She asked. Her voice was barely a whisper.

"The glass from the window gave him a pretty nasty cut. Like you, I guess." Mae moved a hand to her bandaged wound.

"Huh, that's what that is." Mae flopped onto her back and put her arms over her eyes. Bea could tell she was trying to hide tears.

"Um… I know this may not be the best time, but there is some stuff I need to tell you, about what's going on and whatnot." Mae raised her arm to face Bea.

"Fire away."

"Angus?" Gregg gave Angus a soft nudge, hoping to wake him. He saw Angus's eye crack open. He slowly sat up.

"Yeah? Something wrong?" Angus asked.

"No, but Mae's awake and Bea wanted us all to sit down and talk. She's bringing Mae over now." Gregg was happy that Mae was alright, and he was sure Angus was too. She came over a few minutes prior and shook him awake. She told him that Mae was awake and caught up to speed on what was happening. She also asked him to wake Angus so they could finally convene as a group.

Angus and Gregg turned when they heard shuffling coming from the front of the storeroom. Bea came around the stack of boxes with Mae. She seemed weak, and her feet were mostly dragging on the floor behind her.

"Hey guys. Been a while." Mae said casually, as if nothing had happened.

"Mae! It's great to finally see you up. Geez, it's been hours!" Gregg hopped to his feet and rushed to hug Mae, nearly tipping her over. "Too bad you didn't die of a brain hemorrhage."

"Too bad you weren't decapitated in the crash." Mae shot back with incredible speed.

"Too bad a box didn't fall on you while you were asleep!"

"Too bad you didn't choke on dust and suffocate while you were sleeping."

"God, it's good to have you back." Gregg smiled and took a step back. He returned to Angus's side and sat down. "So, you wanted to talk, Bea?" Bea sat Mae down on the floor in front of Angus and took a seat in front of Gregg, forming a small square.

"Yeah, now that we're all here, we need to think about what comes next. We can't stay in here forever. We need a plan." Bea looked to the others for their opinions. Everyone took a moment to think.

"Well…" Angus was the first to speak up. "The zombies outside seem to be gone. Either that or they're being very quiet. It seems we can leave whenever we're ready. Did you find anything useful in the crates?"

"Other than the gauze and some chips, nope." Bea answered.

"We need stuff to fight those things!" Gregg piped up. "We have the gun, but the rest of us have nothing."

"Well, I think they respond to noise, so maybe the gun isn't the first thing we want to use." Bea noted.

"Then we need to find some weapons. Did you find anything that could crack a skull in here?" Mae asked.

"If you can easily carry a heavy-ass wooden crate, then no." Bea answered.

"I mean, we don't really need to look that hard. There should be plenty of things we can use, just not in here." Gregg suggested. Mae remembered the bat that sat in her closet. She'd used it on someone before, and it seemed effective. Angus recalled the frying pan he used to put down his neighbor. Gregg had his crossbow, which was used to shoot one of the cultists. It seemed to do a fair job.

Bea proceeded to their next topic. "Alright, weapon-talk aside, we need to think of where to go. Preferably somewhere where the zombies aren't."

"I need to get home. My parents sent Molly to get me, they must be worried sick. You guys are welcome to come with me, but if there's anyone you need to find, I understand." Mae felt guilty. What if her parents were in danger and she wasn't there to help them? "Everything we need should be there. Food, water, weapons, and shelter." She let her words sink in. They took a moment to weigh their options.

"That… actually isn't a bad idea." Bea praised. "Gregg? Angus?" She turned to her other friends for their input. They turned their backs to the group as they discussed the presented plan. There were a few nods and some head-shaking. They turned back to the others.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Our apartment may not be safe, considering the number of people that live there." Angus verbalized their decision. It seemed they had a plan.

"We have a plan, we know where to find weapons and food, but is there anything we're forgetting?" Mae asked. Her friends thought for a moment, but it seemed they couldn't think of anything.

"Looks like we're all set. We should get going as soon as possible. Is everyone ready to go right now?" Bea asked.

The rest of her group exchanged glances. Each of them nodding in unison.

"All right then." Bea stood up and flicked the safety on her pistol off. "Let's go."

Angus stepped into the alley, raising the small handgun in front of him, ready to put down any stragglers. Seeing nothing, he nodded his head to the three standing in the now open doorway behind him. The sun was setting, casting crooked shadows of everything it touched. Angus could see the long shadow of something standing in the street just outside of the alley. Bea had given the gun to Angus, as he was the slowest and most likely to be grabbed. He also had a steady hand and a sharp eye. The rest of the group filed into the alley behind him. They slowly and quietly worked their way up the alley. Bea nearly tripped on a stray brick that was concealed by a discarded trash bag. She swooped it up, deciding to hold on to it, as they didn't have many other weapons. They reached the opening of the alley. Angus peered around the corner. There were a few standing in the street, thankfully scattered.

Oh, God. Angus's eyes widened in shock as he saw the staggering number of corpses in the street. Most of them were torn open with various organs strewn around their bodies. Some of the corpses appeared to be the zombies. He noticed that most of them had some noticeable head wound. The zombie Angus had shot to gain entrance to the alley now laid at his feet. The smell was overwhelming. It was a mix of so many god-awful smells that it made him sick. He could hear gags come from his group. Angus turned to his group.

"There's a few in the street but they're scattered. We can get past them if we move quickly." He received nods in return. "Mae, can you keep up?" Mae was still a tad weak, but she nodded nonetheless. "Alright, let's go!"

They made their way through the street quickly. They kept a steady speed, settling at a semi-jog pace. Angus came up behind a zombie and used his shoulder to shove it out of the way. It tripped over its own feet and fell to the ground. The continued in the direction of Mae's house. It was still a few blocks off.

"Ang-!" Angus heard Gregg's voice for a split second, it was cut off, followed by a heavy thud.

Angus turned around to see Gregg face-down of the concrete. Gregg turned around to see a hand wrapped firmly around his ankle. Gregg furiously kicked at the hand, trying desperately to get it off. The hand belonged to a zombie missing the bottom half of its body. Its mouth was inching closer to Gregg's shin.

"Help!" He yelled. Earning a few glances from the stragglers on the street. Seeing the commotion, they began wandering towards the group. "Angus!"

Angus rushed to Gregg's aid. He lunged for the zombie's head, which was now centimeters away from Gregg. Angus grabbed the zombie's forehead and pushed it away from his boyfriend. He didn't want to use the gun, that would just cause more problems.

"Move!" A sharp whisper came from behind Angus. Angus reluctantly jumped back, allowing Bea to step forward. She held a brick in her hand and brought it down on the zombie's head. The zombie fell limp with a sickening crack. Gregg pulled his leg free and scrambled to his feet.

"Are you alright?!" Angus grabbed Gregg by the shoulders and looked into his eyes, hoping to calm him down."

"I-I'm fine. Just scared the shit out of me." Gregg gave Angus a reassuring smile.

"C'mon!" Bea whispered again. "They heard that!" Bea grabbed Angus and pulled him to the front. "Lead the way."

They continued through the desolate streets of Possum Springs. There was a small group of the undead following them, but they maintained a safe distance from them.

"We're almost there!" Mae said in an excited whisper. "Just a few more houses."

They continued until the stood in front of Mae's house. Mae ran ahead of the group to the front door. She grasped the knob and gave it a twist.

Of course, it's locked. Mae peered through the window. She turned away when nothing abnormal caught her eye. Angus, Bea, and Gregg were now standing on the front porch with Mae.

"I'm going to guess it's locked." Angus said. "How are we getting in?"

"Do you have a spare key or something, Mae?" Gregg asked.

"No, not that I know of, at least." Mae took a moment to think.

Maybe I could climb a tree, hop on to a telephone wire, shimmy across, and jump onto the roof. There, I could climb into the attic through my-

CRASH!

Bea shattered the window beside the porch with her elbow. She turned to the group and gestured to the broken window. "I found a way in."

"Geez, Bea! Was that really necessary?" Mae complained. Her parents were going to kill her for this.

"I'm sure the whole 'people eating other people' thing is a good enough reason." Bea reasoned. Mae will admit that she did have a point. Bea knocked out the remaining shards of glass with her fingers and climbed into the house. She unlocked the front door, allowing her friends to step inside.

"We should probably push something against that." Angus gestured to Bea's handiwork.

"Yeah, I'll get to that in a minute." Mae agreed. "I need to find my parents first."

"Oh, yeah. Where do you think they'd be?" Angus asked.

"I'm hoping they're still here, but…" Mae drifted off. That window had made quite the noise. Her parents would surely have heard it.

"Mae! Come in here!" Gregg called from the kitchen. Mae snapped out of her thoughts and hurried to the kitchen.

"What is it?" Mae asked. Her question was answered by the small piece of notebook paper that was left of the table. It was hastily scribbled, as if they were in a hurry. Mae picked it up and read the sloppy words.

"To our beloved Mae,

The governor has called for a city-wide evacuation due to a plague that broke out. From what we've seen from the news, they transform people into these awful creatures. We waited as long as we could, but they were starting to drag people out of their houses. I hope you are safe and find this. Once this is all over, we will find you.

We love you sweetie.

Mom and Dad."

Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited this story, it means the world to me! Also, the next chapter may take a little longer to write. I'm increasing the length and (trying to) increase the quality of my writing. Thanks for being patient. Also, if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!