One year ago

"Eden," Blake whispered to the sleeping girl lying next to him. She rolled over, not waking from her slumber. Blake smiled as he climbed out of the bed. This caused Eden to sit up.

"Are you leaving?" she asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. Blake chuckled.

"No, just trying to get to the bathroom without waking you," he answered. "I see I failed."

"Yeah you did," she said, lying back down and pulling the blankets up over her body. Blake laughed at her response and grabbed his pants that lay a few feet from the bed.

Blake silently shut the door behind him and flipped the lights on, only to quickly shut them back off. "Damn light," he mumbled. Reluctantly, he turned the lights back on and covered his eyes until they managed to adjust. He dug around his pocket for his cell phone, knowing he had missed a number of calls.

"Three from Theo, two from Paul and one from Harold," he counted. Four voicemails.

"Dude! Where the fuck are you?!" Harold's voice screamed. "I didn't think you'd actually fuck us over! I thought the band meant something to you you fucking asshole!"

"I told you guys I wouldn't be able to make it," Blake said to the message. "I told you all I had more important business to attend too."

Blake opted not to listen to the other messages, assuming they were all essentially the same thing. He shut the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He did his business in the bathroom and returned to Eden, who was snuggled up in the blankets, fast asleep.

Blake crawled back into the bed, slyly stealing some of the blankets and forming his body around hers, placing a kiss on her forehead before letting his own head hit the pillows, quickly falling back asleep.

The Bands Escape

"You both ready?" Blake asked. Theo and Luke both nodded. Luke ran out ahead, shotgun ready. The group made their way down the apartment stairs and back outside onto the streets. The time seemed to fly, and near instantly, they had arrived at the Gauntlet.

"This is where the nightmare began," Theo said as they entered the alley they had been in days ago.

"Once we're out of this hellhole, it will also be where the dream began," Blake responded.

"We've got a lot of them," Luke said, returning to Blake and Theo after peering around the corner. "At least 30. I recommend we go in and through."

Blake and Theo agreed. They found the backdoor and quietly walked into the bar.

At first glance, it had about 5 zombies. Blake took the pistol with the silencer and open fired, taking them all out without causing a commotion for the zombies outside. They carefully made their way through the bar. Even Luke managed to overpass every potential noisemaker.

"Wait!" Theo whispered. "Someones talking in the back." The boys turned towards the rear of the building and listened. It was faint, but someone was talking incoherently. Luke walked ahead of the group and found the room. The managers office.

Luke pushed on the door and it swung open, revealing the man who had hired the band for the night previous. His clothes were bloodstained, his eyes shot, and he was mumbling something that the boys couldn't make sense of. He sat on the ground next to a body of a dead naked woman, who was covered in bite marks.

"Shit," Luke said, lowering his shotgun. "He's lost it."

"He's gone bat-shit bonkers," Theo added.

The man held a piece of clothing that had belonged to the woman, and he was chewing on it in between mumbled words. He didn't look up. He didn't acknowledge the intruders. He just sat there, chewing on a piece of clothing and mumbling gibberish words.

"Hello," Blake said, moving closer to the man. "Do you remember us?" No response.

"Blake," Theo whispered. He nodded towards the mans desk. A set of keys lay in plain sight. "What do you think? Should we try it?"

"I think so," Blake said. "Grab them. I'm gonna help him."

"How?" Theo asked. Blake loaded the silenced pistol.

"The only way I can..."

Blake drove, Theo was in the passenger seat, and Luke was sprawled out across the backseat, rejoicing.

"We've got this now," he said happily. "They can't touch us in here!"

Theo laughed, feeling just as safe. Blake smiled, feeling safe as well.

"What's on the radio?" Luke asked. "Try to find something. Haven't had a music fix in days." Theo started messing with the knobs, hoping to find any kind of signal.

"Good luck," Blake said, not expecting a thing.

"-every thirty seconds on every am station. Coal out."

The van went silent. Half a minute went by, and Coal's voice filled the speakers.

"Broker and Stenner," Blake whispered. He made a hard left and increased speed. "We've got to get them," he said to the others, who agreed.

"..."

"Blake!" Coal yelled into the face of the unconscious boy. His eyes fluttered and his arm twitched. In a heartbeat, he sat up, coughing up water and blood.

"Where are we?" he asked immediately.

"On our way out of here," Coal responded. "I think its finally over..."