How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Eight- Escape

A/N- The author here, to give you a little note. After this chapter, there will be seven more (up to chapter 15). And a lot of emotion. Again, HUGE thanks to Kia for being an awesome proof reader!

"What's happened?" Elise asked, panic rising in her voice.

"You should have been able to see! The zombies are bursting in through the front door!" Evanz cried. "We're running. Moving the plan forward a few days!"

The three of them hurtled down the stairs into the living room. Aaron was carrying Annabelle on his back and Will was dragging the sofa away from the back door so they could make their escape. Everyone gathered up their weapons and Josh moved to the front door, bashing at the zombie hands that managed to push through the small gap they were making. Evanz and Elise rushed over to help Will, and with a few hefty tugs, the sofa moved away and the door was shoved open.

The six of them ran outside to the wooden fence on the opposite side of the garden from the brick wall. It was slightly lower than the wall so they all managed to climb over by themselves. Aaron carried Annabelle up to the top of the wall and passed her down to Evanz, who swung the teen onto his back so he could carry her with ease. Aaron dropped into the garden of the house next door to their former home, and they were off, bursting through the back yard and into the house, which was similarly proportioned to the building they had been staying in.

The sound must have attracted the attention of the zombies, because as soon as Elise and Will kicked the front door off its hinges a few zombies broke away from the crowd and came after them. With a hefty swing from his frying pan, Josh knocked the head clean off one of the zombies and Aaron sliced off the head of another and then they were running, just behind the others.

They sprinted down the street, their feet thudding heavily on the tarmac. The crowd of zombie bore down on them, preventing them from even taking a second's rest. Luckily, the corpses were not particularly fast, and so the survivors soon pulled far enough ahead to warrant a brief pause to catch their breath.

"How much… further… is this… fucking supermarket?" Will panted, doubled over.

"Not… too far…" Aaron wheezed.

"Here, Evanz… I'll carry Bells…" Elise said, moving over to take her little sister, making sure she was secure on her back.

As soon as the girl was safely gripping onto her big sister, the zombies began to round the corner and the six of them took off running once again. As they sped through the streets the sun began to rise, dyeing the sky a beautiful shade of pink. The stunning dawn seemed to contrast with the sweating, dirty, petrified young people charging through the empty streets of Leeds.

They reached an intersection where the main road turned a sharp corner and stretched on through the city centre, and a barely noticeable alleyway ran parallel to it.

"We can run… down the main road… which is quicker… but more exposed…" panted Josh.

"Or we can take the alley… which is longer… but more protected…" Aaron finished.

"We… have to get… to safety…" Evanz gasped, and he took Annabelle from Elise, who looked as though she might pass out, then set off running down the main road. The others followed, Josh taking hold of Elise's hand and helping her along. As they ran, they saw the supermarket ahead of them. They were so close, only a few minutes away…

And then Will yelled and fell back as he spotted the group of zombies blocking the road ahead of them. The others stopped, gasping for breath, breathing hard, and they span around ready to sprint back and take the alleyway when they saw that the other horde had caught up. They were caught, like rats in a trap.

They slowly grouped together, not looking away from the menacing creatures surrounding them.

"What do we do?" Aaron hissed through his teeth, knife gripped tight in his dominant hand.

"We're going to have to fight them off. Get through them and into the supermarket." Josh replied, holding his frying pan in one hand and Elise's hand in the other.

They kept in a tight group, not moving, staring at the zombies. The zombies stared back.

"On three…" Will said.

"Wait, do we go on three, or after three?" Josh whispered back.

"On three."/"After three." Will and Evanz both spoke at the same time.

"Oh, for fucks sake!" Aaron muttered. "When I say three, we run. Got it?" He received slight nods in return.

"One, two, three!"

As soon as he said three, they sprinted for the supermarket, attacking the zombies in their way, trying to batter their way through the crowd and get inside to safety. They attacked, Annabelle keeping them away from both herself and Evanz. Josh and Elise stayed close, swinging their weapons at the zombies that got too near. Will and Aaron were just ahead of the others, clearing the path with swipes of their blades and strong attacks with their pans.

Will kicked one zombie in the knee and its leg buckled and bent the wrong way, forcing it to the floor, but its place was immediately taken by another decaying figure. Aaron ducked under the arms of a zombie and gave it a fierce shove, causing it to topple sideways and knocking several other zombies to the ground. The small bubble of space moved with the six survivors; as soon as they cleared a space ahead of them the area behind them filled up with more bodies.

Elise swung her frying pan around in a wide semi-circle, bashing several zombies and caving in their skulls. Josh pulled her out of the reach of one attacker, kicking it away as they kept pushing through the crowd.

They reached the metal shutter blocking the entrance to the supermarket and Aaron and Will heaved the shutter up, lifting it over their shoulders as the others kept the zombies at bay, beating and killing indiscriminately as the flesh-hungry monsters surged forward towards them. Annabelle yelped in pain as one zombie's nails raked down her arm, leaving four bloody furrows in her skin. She poked its eye out and shoved it away. Evanz hissed as a shooting pain lanced up his arm when he shoved a zombie away, assuming he had pulled a muscle in his forearm.

After a moment or so, the shutter was lifted high enough for them to push the door open and get inside before dropping it again, sealing themselves inside the supermarket.

They stood for a few moments, breathing hard and staring at the door in stunned quiet. They were alive. They'd made it through.

Evanz walked over to one of the many checkouts, gently putting Annabelle down on the motionless belt, the injury in his arm pulling painfully as he did so. The girl was pale and sweating, taking short breaths. Elise ran over and checked her sister for bites. She was clear of bite marks, but blood was leaking from her arm at an alarming rate.

"She's losing blood! I've gotta find something to bandage up the wound!" Elise cried hysterically, turning to run into the store. Evanz caught hold of her and held her back.

"You'll injure yourself if you go running off in this state! You won't be any help to her, Elise!" Evanz said. "Calm down, breathe deeply."

Josh and Will both ran off deeper into the shop, searching for something to stem the flow of blood. Aaron hurried over to the checkout, checking Annabelle's wound for infection.

"It looks clean, there doesn't seem to be any decay around it. I don't think she's going to turn." He said, turning to comfort Elise.

"Bells? Bells! You're gonna be ok, sis." Elise took her sister's hand. Annabelle squeezed weakly, giving her sister and the two men a shaky smile.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt too much." She winced as she spoke.

Will and Josh returned soon after with a bottle of water and some bandages from the small pharmacy at the back of the shop. Elise took the water and carefully poured it onto the wound, cooling and cleaning Annabelle's injury. Annabelle bit her bottom lip hard, trying not to cry out in pain. As Elise cleaned the cuts Aaron bound the wound and tied the bandage at the bottom.

"Shh, Bells, it's ok." Elise stroked her sister's hair gently.

"Let's move you to somewhere more comfy, okay?" Will said, scooping Annabelle up and carrying her to the clothing section of the supermarket. Josh and Evanz pulled clothes off of coat hangers and arranged them on the ground to make a soft bed for Annabelle to lie on. Will placed her down gently and Elise sat next to her.

"I'll keep her company. Thank you all. For everything." She smiled, then turned back to her sister.

Aaron, Josh, Will and Evanz moved off into the store to find some food for breakfast.

"So how come you and Elise didn't notice that the house was under attack?" Evanz asked, after a few minutes. He absentmindedly rubbed his arm where he had injured it. The sharp pain had dulled into an aching throb.

"We were just talking about… stuff. Y'know." Josh looked down at the shelf, a light blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Bow-chica-wow-wow." Will said, shooting a grin at Josh.

"Shut the fuck up man."

"We're just teasing, dude. Don't get all huffy." Aaron grinned too, elbowing Josh in the side.

"I'm allowed to huff if I want to!" Josh folded his arms.

"Are your huffs part of the entertainment?" Evanz replied, a smile growing across his face.

"Let me guess, it's still national make fun of Rage day?"

"Of course it is. You know we love you really." Will patted his friend's shoulder.

"Well, they do. I still hate you." Aaron smiled widely.

"I hate you too." Josh's frown split into a huge grin.

"Aw, true love." Evanz teased, and the others laughed.

"I've noticed that we haven't actually chosen any food to make breakfast." Aaron pointed out, so each of them went off in their own direction to find something to eat. The supermarket was still pretty well stocked, although some areas of it had been looted already – the main problem was that a lot of the perishables had already begun to go off. The rest of the day passed calmly, organising food and setting up areas for people to sleep.

Once night fell and they were fairly sure that the zombies had not worked out how to get inside, Elise, Annabelle, Josh, Will, and Aaron bedded down for the night with Evanz offering to stay up and guard the door against any late night attacks. He received no protest from the others, who were all exhausted, and so he strolled over to the front of the shop.

Sitting down on the ground Evanz folded his legs beneath him. He accidentally put his aching arm down to support him and he winced in pain as the pulled muscle protested. He rubbed his arm as he stared out at the door for a few moments before suddenly and without warning, the pain intensified and Evanz clutched his arm, biting his lip to stop himself from crying out.

He peeled back his sleeve in order to get a better look at the injury, expecting bruising or reddening. But there was no bruising. It wasn't a strain. It was a cut, not too deep.

Evanz's eyes widened with fear and shock. It was a cut, that much was certain. But it wasn't the scratch that worried him. It was the shape of the injury, and the flaking and yellowing skin around it, that worried him most.

It was, without any shadow of a doubt, a bite.