It had been a week since we locked ourselves inside our own home and we'd already ran out of food. No one knew we were in here, Logan said that we were safe for now. But it never lasts, we have to go out and find food. Logan was driving me crazy, we barely spoke to each other. He was so cold and blunt, he actually scared me.

As we readied ourselves to leave, Logan looked at me as he slightly frowned. "You sure you're ready for this? It could get hot out there"

I frowned back at him "I ain't a kid anymore, Logan. Don't treat me like one"

"Whatever" he mumbled as he stuffed his pockets with the little ammunition he had. He made me carry his pocket knife for protection, but honestly, I didn't feel like it was necessary. What if this whole thing was blown out of proportion? People could be better by now, for all we know. But here Logan is, ready to shoot anyone.

We moved the refrigerator from the way of the back door, figuring it's the easiest exit. After we jumped over our back yard fence, I decided to make conversation. "Do you think they'll sort this mess out?" Mr. Anderson's rotting corpse was still on our wasn't a good sign for my 'getting better' theory.

"Do I think who will sort this mess out?" He had his hand gun out and ready.

"The government. The military. Anybody" I hoped.

"Nah, would've been sorted out by now"

He was never much of a talker, but these are new limits. I couldn't remember what he looked like when he smiled. "Can we check Travis's house?"

"No, too far"

I stopped walking. "Someone has to be alive, Logan. This can't be all there is. We need to find people"

He stopped a few feet ahead of me, gritting his teeth. "What we need is food, we can't risk it" then he carried on onto Mr. Anderson's driveway. Mr. Anderson lived alone, so nothing should jump out at us.

I shut the door behind me when we both entered Mr. Anderson's house, and Logan went straight to the kitchen. I lingered for a moment, feeling guilty for breaking and entering, but he did try to kill us. I followed Logan to the kitchen and he was already filling his backpack with everything he could find. I joined him, the first cupboard was full of canned food, so I shoved them all into my backpack. The next was filled with stale and moldy bread, but the crackers were okay. "Do we bother with what's in the fridge?" I asked him.

"No, whatevers in there is either out of date or will be"

When we were finished filling our backpacks, Logan was in a hurry to get back to the house. "We can't just lock ourselves inside forever" I told him.

"Just c'mon" he grunted and we left the house.

"Oh god" Logan whispered. There were a dozen walking dead people hanging around outside, and we were frozen.

"What do we do?" I whispered back at him, I was panicking.

But it was too late, they'd already noticed us. "Follow me" Logan began sprinting away from the house. I did as I was told, narrowly dodging a dead person's grasp. We ran as fast as we could down the street, my backpack was making all sorts of noises. When we were in the clear for a second, Logan stopped me and we both ditched our backpacks. They were causing too much noise, but we could starve along with being eaten alive now.

"Where are we goin'?" I asked Logan through gasps for air as we ran.

"Just shut up and follow me"

We slowed to a walk as I followed him around corners and through alleyways. There weren't many of those things around, so I was glad Logan didn't have to kill anyone else. He stopped all of a sudden and I followed his eyes to a convenience store. It's shutters haven't been pulled down, which could mean a lot of things. The bell rang when Logan opened the door and rang a second time as it closed behind me. We both began creeping, he had his gun out and I had my baseball bat hanging in my hands. I didn't have any intention of using it, I didn't want Logan to use his gun again either. I looked around, I've been here before. I used to always come here after school to buy candy. Logan was making his way behind the counter and I frowned at him. "The owners could still be here, you can't go behind there"

He scoffed at me. "You're such a wuss. We need food, I gotta make sure none of those things are in here" he made his way to the door behind the counter. I stuck around, feeling annoyed. He disappeared and I admired everything that was on the shelves.

Logan started screaming in the room he disappeared in and I dropped the candy bar I was holding, sprinting towards him. In the room, one of those things had Logan pinned up against the wall. But I realised that wasn't all, it was ripping up the skin on the right side of his shoulder. His screams made my blood curdle, and the sudden rage inside me took over. I grabbed the dead guy by the collar and threw him to the other side of the room. It struggled as it tried to get back up so I put my foot on its chest, making sure it wouldn't surprise us again. As I looked in this thing's colourless eyes, I could tell that nothing remained from whoever it was before. No person would try to eat another person. I held my baseball bat tightly in my two hands and let my rage take over. The first blow to its head made a loud crack, breaking its skull. The second sprayed blood all over me, and the thing was clearly dead, but I just kept going. Hitting it in whatever was left of its head over and over until I was panting and sweaty. There were bits of brain everywhere, up the wall, on the floor, on me. I turned around and my brother had sunken to the ground, leaning up the wall watching me. I dropped my bat and kneeled beside him. "We can fix this"

He shook his head "Not this time, little brother"

A lump had developed in my throat as I processed what was actually happening. But it couldn't be happening. "You can't..." I stopped myself, too scared to talk. I was going to cry, but I hated being weak in front of Logan.

"I was wrong, there are probably still people left, you just have to look for them. I didn't want to find anyone else because I don't trust anybody but you. You can't survive on your own, though. Go to Atlanta, there should be refugee camps by now. Find Marley"

I broke down at the sound of her name, I couldn't hold myself together anymore. "Logan, no, don't"

"It's too late for me, Adam. You have to go before it's too late for you, too" he put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. "Find her. She's the only one that will keep you sane now. And if she's dead..." his eyes glazed over a little "...then it's closure"

I still couldn't hold back my tears, and he picked up his gun from next to him. My face dropped. "What are you doin'?" I panicked.

"I ain't turnin' into one of those things. I'll do it myself, but you have to take the gun from me after it's done" I shook my head "you have to, promise me" he demanded.

I sighed a shaky sigh "I promise" I held his hand and he flinched at the affection, but he gripped my hand in response.

He lifted the gun up to his temple and held it there for a second. "I love you, brother" I shut my eyes as hard as I could, gripping at my brother's hand. The bang made me jump, but I couldn't move. I felt paralysed for a second. I slowly opened my eyes, looking at my brother's lifeless hand in mine. I couldn't bring myself to look up, I just stared at his hand in mine. I didn't want to ever leave him. But he was gone now, I couldn't stay here. I let go of his hand and grabbed the gun, sticking it in my pocket. I looked back down at his hand, still not being able to see the probable mess that was on his shoulders. I put my hand back onto his for the last time "I love you too, brother" With that, I got up and left all that I knew.

My eyes shot open as soon as I realised where I was and where Logan was now. I couldn't handle the emotions I was feeling, I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to block out that part of my life forever but my subconsciousness won't let me. I rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes, I couldn't tell you what though because I was too busy concentrating on not thinking about anything. Leaving my cell, I bumped into Beth who had her head buried in a book that was now on the floor after bouncing off my chest. She gasped a little and I was quick to pick it up and give it back to her. She slightly smiled at me but the longer she looked at me, the more she frowned. "What's wrong?"

I looked at my feet and frowned. "Just night terrors again, it's nothin'"

"It clearly ain't nothin'"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me" I left her standing there, making my way outside. She followed me, though. She didn't say a word to me as I opened the front gate of the yard, it was a hot day and I just wanted to bury my face in the grass. I immediately sat down on the slight hill towards the right side of the yard and she sat next to me, still holding that book of hers. I couldn't tell what book it was.

"What do you dream about?" She asked me quietly after a while. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't get my words out. I sat there for a second, a little speechless. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business" She quickly retreated.

"No, no. It's okay. I'm just thinking of ways to tell you" She watched me think for a while, I couldn't take my eyes off my fidgeting hands. "I dream mostly about my past. I had a brother, and he..." I opened and closed my mouth, realising I've never said it out loud before. She nodded her head though, telling me that she knows what I was trying to say so I could avoid using the word. "Then there's Marley. I had a girlfriend before all of this happened. Her dreams paralyse me, when I wake up, I feel like I'm tied up underwater. I feel helpless and weak" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "They both haunt me and I can't control it"

She didn't take her eyes off me as she listened, and she thought for a moment when I had finished. "Does this happen every night?" She sounded like she couldn't believe it. Once I nodded my head, her face filled with pity. "I'm so sorry, Adam"

I gave her a small smile, not wanting us to sit in this uncomfortable sadness. "Don't be, it's only sleep, right?" I joked. "Besides, I should thank you. The first night we got here and we all slept right over there, in the middle of the yard, and we both slept under my shirt together, I had a dreamless sleep for the first time since the world went to shit. I'm not sure if it's because of you or not, but thank you. It was nice to have at least one peaceful nights sleep"

"Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me? We could've tested it by now" She told me off. "Are you tired?"

I shrugged "Always am"

"Let's test it, then" She crossed her legs and patted her lap, as if she was telling a dog to cuddle her. I lay my head on her lap, it was more comfortable than it looked. I looked up and she was looked down at me, smiling. I couldn't help but smile back up at her. The sun bounced off her golden hair the way it would an angel. She began playing with my hair, gently massaging my head in the process. I closed my eyes, concentrating on her fingers. It felt like she was in my head, my body, making all of my insides good again. I fell into a blissful sleep, happier than I'd felt in a long while.