Screw Eric. Screw Chuck. And especially of all, screw Serena.

Charlie's black leather boots stomped their way back to The Palace.

They're all idiots. Going after that bitch, Blair. She could die in that hole for all I care. She should die, period.

The zombies got louder after Eric moved into the group. Charlie wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or not—Eric could be getting eaten alive. But she couldn't care less. OK that's not true. Charlie was human, after all, and she did feel for him.

She just wasn't stupid.

In fact, Charlie considered herself pretty damn smart. None of them thought to take the duffel bag with them, so she took out a small one handed gun that looked powerful enough and slung the bag around her shoulder. Why didn't any of them take it along? Whatever, more firepower for her. It had these cute silver accents on it that totally matched the buckles that went up the sides of her boots, too.

Had she ever shot a gun? Of course. Charlie could shoot like a pro. She cocked her gun and aimed at a nasty looking woman twenty feet away with an exposed chest cavity, shooting her heart. The muscle rumbled around before exploding and getting all over the woman's business suit. She fell to the street and started to crawl, but Charlie ignored her and moved on.

I'm so over pretending I'm somebody I'm not. I shouldn't have to anymore. I'm not getting paid for this gig anymore.

The gunshot attracted a few more of the monsters. A small group were running toward Charlie. She shot two of them in the head, but she was too late for the third. The nasty man tackled her to the ground and her skull smacked the concrete sidewalk. The gun she held fell from her hand and slid a few paces away.

"Goddamn you!" Charlie screamed with rage. He held her down by the neck with one hand and his other hand was scratching at her face.

This isn't the end for me, buddy.

Charlie choked on her breath as he curled his gnarled fingers around her neck, crushing her windpipe. Her vision was getting a little blurry. She tried pushing him off her with both hands on his chest but they went right through skin and into his mushy insides. She felt what used to be his heart and squeezed it, causing it to implode on itself. Pushing him off of her helped loosen up her airways and she let out a rugged breath.

The zombie dude just kept coming at her face. His eyes were staring directly into hers; they were filled to the brim with black liquid that oozed oh so slowly—blood, she guessed. She'd never been this close to one of these assholes before.

Was she scared, though? No, not really. She was still holding him back far enough, mashing her hands around his insides.

This is over now, Charlie thought, and removed one hand away from the man. It was so. Freaking. Gross.

Covered in thick as hell blood and a gutty mess, she shoved her hand into a pocket and pulled out a knife. She didn't think about how much her pants cost, only about shoving this knife through the dead brain. Was it dead? It had to be living someway, somehow. Did it really freaking matter? Not at that moment in time, no, so Charlie stopped thinking and started doing.

Charlie shoved the blade through an eyehole straight through to the brain, and the zombie stopped moving and collapsed on top of her. God, was he heavy. She groaned and rolled him off of her, only to see, like, five more zombies coming at her.

She had a rough night ahead.

Blair was sick and tired of being in this bathroom. The lights were annoyingly bright, the tile was annoyingly cold, and her phone was annoyingly about to die.

.Beep.

It kept chirping so Blair shut it off. Of all the things she packed, she forgot the phone charger. Oh well. She called those Protector people she read about online and surprise! They actually picked up and are sending a search party out just for her.

She was really worried about Chuck though. Hopefully he deemed the journey too dangerous and ignored her cry for help. She was safe, at least for now.

Serena was done for. She closed her eyes and mentally silenced the perverted groans surrounding her and pictured clouds and gates and peace—what Heaven must feel like. Was she already in Heaven?

NO. She heard a few gunshots. Suddenly, she panicked and threw her eyes open. There were no guns in Heaven! Well, Serena didn't think there were any. The grimy dead woman going down on her fell to the street. Serena flung her head around, searching for the source of the shots.

The zombies seemed to have forgotten about her and were looking around for the source of the sound as well.

"Run!" Serena heard a voice from somewhere in front of her.

You don't have to tell me twice, Serena thought and ran forward.