This chapter was a bit hard to write, so I would really appreciate your opinion on it...have a great day! :)

Emma ran faster than she ever had in her whole life. All she knew is that she had to get away from those things. She had ran so fast, weaving through people, that she had lost sight of her mom and brother ages ago.

She didn't have time to process everything she had seen already. When the airport doors opened, a flood of zombies burst into the airport and attacked everything they saw. They could move surprisingly fast, but not as fast as Emma. It was mostly children and elderly people they could catch. And when they caught them…

Emma couldn't think about that now, she had to find a safe place. At first, sticking with the crowd seemed like the best option, but the zombies would follow. If only there were closets or rooms she could hide in. But no, the airport seemed to be made only of huge rooms and hallways. That fire escape she wanted to look for did not appear to exist.

A man elbowed her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. After running so long, this blow made her stumble. Falling in this crowd was like getting trampled on by a herd of stampeding bulls. She got stepped on and kicked so many times she wasn't sure she could get up. But she had to keep going, she couldn't be caught.

Jogging at a considerably slower pace, holding her bruised shoulder, she went to the first small room she saw: a bathroom. It was a men's room, but gender didn't matter at a time like this. Emma ran into a stall and locked the door. This was more of a resting stop than a place she could shelter at.

Emma took several minutes to catch her breath and look over her wounds. Her back and sides were already bruising. Someone had stepped right on her shoulder blade and that hurt, too, but nothing was broken.

She stretched out her limbs tentatively. It hurt to move them, but at least she could move them. Now, she had to come up with a plan.

There was no one else in the bathroom. There also were no supplies or weapons. But maybe, she could make a weapon.

A small custodial closet was to her left. Emma opened it and found the usual cleaning supplies: brooms, mops, buckets, and cleansers. A broom could come in handy if she had to hit something away from her. She grabbed that and rummaged around for anything else that was usable.

She found a different, cracked broom and used her knee to split it in half. The end had a nice, sharp point like a spear. It was lightweight, too, so carrying it around wouldn't be a problem.

Emma took a couple of practice jabs. The movement made her shoulder start aching again, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Suddenly there were footsteps from outside of the restroom. They weren't normal human footsteps. She could tell they were zombies, and a lot of them. Emma held her breath and didn't move, afraid to make any noise. If they knew she was in here, she was done for.

The last of the limping footsteps went away and Emma unfroze. She waited another minute and didn't hear anything. Slowly, she crept out of the men's room and looked around. All clear. She took off, running fast but quietly.

She had to find her family. Emma knew her mother well enough that she would stick with Elliot and look for her husband. And Mr. Gilbert was getting their luggage. Emma headed in the direction of the baggage claim area.

She used a technique to spot any danger. She would sprint to the end of a hallway, stop, look down the next hallway for zombies, and then sprint again. It worked pretty well—until she actually found some zombies.

There were two of them, about halfway down the next hallway. They appeared to be banging on a closet door, until they heard Emma's gasp. They started creeping toward her.

Emma tightened her grip on the broken broomstick handle, knowing that she would have to use it. In all the horror movies she had seen about zombies, you had to hit it in the brain (yuck) to kill it. When the first one came near, that's what she did.

The first sense that hit her was the sound. Squelching nastiness that didn't seem to fade from her eardrums.

Next came the smell. One time, Emma's dad left a steak sitting out before they went away for the weekend. When they came back it smelled like rotten meat. This was way, way worse. Infected rotting meat.

Emma retched and pulled the broomstick out of the first zombie's head. The second one came nearer and she killed it the same way. She didn't have time to process the fact that she had just killed something, something that used to be another human. She retrieved her weapon from the second zombie's head and went to the closet they had been pounding on before.

Instinctively, she knocked. Emma felt stupid now. What would hear her? Unless there were people in there…

"Hello?" she called softly, opening the door. There were no lights, but she could hear movement.

"Emma?" she heard someone sniff.

"Elliot!" she exclaimed, running into the darkness. The door shut behind her.

"I'm here, too, honey." Emma's mom said. Emma found them and pulled them close, tears of relief coming to her eyes.

"Did you find Dad?" she asked desperately. Somehow, she already knew the answer. There were only two other people in the room.

"No…" Elliot said. He was sad again.

Emma slumped onto the closet floor. She was hungry, tired, and thirsty. More than anything she wanted to be home safe and sound. They had no chance of survival if they stayed in this airport for too long.

Elliot nudged her. "Want some peanuts?"

Emma almost laughed at how random that was. "Where did you get peanuts?"

"The flight attendant. I asked for extra, me and mom have only eaten one bag." Elliot explained. He put a package in her hand.

"Thank you." Emma said gratefully. She carefully opened the peanuts and started eating them one by one. They lessened the hunger considerably, but now she was extremely thirsty.

Emma sat in the darkness for several minutes. The airport was eerily quiet. She could hear every movement her mom or brother made. The complete silence allowed Emma to think clearly and formulate a plan. After what felt like an hour, she reached out to her family and started explaining it to them quietly.

Her mom and Elliot nodded in agreement. They would find her father and get out of the airport, or die trying.

What do you think of this chapter? I sure wouldn't like to be in Emma's situation. Do you think they'll find her father? Will they get out of the airport with everyone alive? Next chapter we'll have Bella, Lewis, Rikki and Zane on their supply run. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing!