Matthew

Sitting in the hotel room, Matthew lay with his ear to the floor. He couldn't hear any sound from the rooms below, all the people must have gone to sleep. He sat up and looked at his little brother, who was perched on the sofa, looking anxious.

"Are we going now Matthew?" Matthew sat up and put his fingers to his lips. He answered in a whisper.

"Yeah. I think they're all asleep. Get your bag, let's go." He watched his brother scramble off the bed and pick up his backpack. Matthew had already packed a few tins in his own bag, leaving Harry, his junior by two years, to carry the clothes they had taken from the drawers. The floorboard creaked, and Harry looked at Matthew. Matthew motioned for him to carry on, and the boards creaked again. Harry grabbed Matthews hand as they crept out the door.

"Why are we leaving in the dark?" Harry whispered.

"I told you. Because they'll all be asleep."

"But won't those...those things get us?"

"No. They're all frozen now, remember. Once we get away from these people, we'll be ok again."

"Why do we need to run away."

"Why do I have to repeat everything twice. You're so stupid sometimes, you..." Matthew stopped. It had been about a year he figured since the dead had started to walk again. He had been thirteen and Harry had been eleven. They had always been close-a lot of people joked they were too much like friends to be brothers. Now, with their whole family gone, Matthew had not just been a brother, but a mother and father to Harry as well. He kept forgetting that Harry was young, and that he had to try to keep his temper with him. He took a deep breath and explained again.

"We don't know that they're good people. Remember. We thought those other people were good. But they...they weren't. So I don't want to take any more chances. We can only trust each other." Harry nodded solemnly and followed his brother out into the corridor.

The two boys crept towards the stairs. The light from the windows illuminated the top of them, making it easier for them to get their footing. Matthew made Harry stop for a moment so he could hear any movement from the first floor. Keeping Harry behind him, he started to slowly move down the stairs, concentrating on not making a sound. Turning, he whispered to his little brother.

"As soon as we get outside, we're going to run for the lake. But we..."

"Hello?" Matthew froze.

"Hello? We can hear you. Who are you?" Harry clutched at Matthew in panic. Matthew's mind went blank. His first instinct was to run up the stairs and back into their room, but he knew that they would just follow him there. Before he could think of an acceptable plan, a woman came up the stairs. In the gloom, he could see that she was quite thin with hair that came to her shoulders, but that was all. She stopped when she saw them. Matthew realised they were stood in the light coming from the moon through the window. He tried to will his legs to move back, but he couldn't. He felt like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"JESUS!" The woman's voice rang out loudly, she sounded like she was shouting. There was something strange about her voice, it sounded different to any other voice he had heard. She shouted down to the first floor. "It's KIDS." She sounded relieved, Matthew realised. Had she been scared too? She moved a step up towards them, moving into the light.

She was quite young-maybe mid twenties. Her hair was dark brown and so were her eyes. She was staring at the two boys in disbelief. In one arm, she held a crossbow, which she lowered onto the step, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on Matthew and Harry. As the bow hit the step, Matthew re gathered his wits.

"RUN! He threw Harry in front of him and watched him barge past the woman. He ran after his brother, but by that time she had recovered and was ready for him. She grabbed him around his waist, with surprising strength considering she was so slim. Down the stairs, he heard Harry scream, and a man's voice cursing.

"HARRY!" Matthew started wiggling, trying to free himself from the woman's grip.

" Stop it, you're scaring him." Another woman's voice from down stairs.

"HARRY! Let go of me you bitch! HARRY!" Matthew could hear doors slamming and more and more voices. The woman turned him around to face her. Her eyes were sharp, and she seemed to take in his whole face with one glance.

"Shhh, it's ok. No-one's going to hurt Harry. Just calm down, I'm sorry if I scared you. Calm down." Matthew stopped squirming, not because she told him to, but because he realised he wouldn't be able to escape from her grasp. Leaving her bow on the steps, she firmly led him down the stairs to the first floor.

As soon as they got to the first floor, a beam of light hit Matthew square in the face. He squinted and shielded his eyes, trying to see his brother.

"Lower the light T-Dog, it's just a kid." The light lowered, and Matthew saw a stocky black man with a bald head staring at him in disbelief, a flashlight in one hand, his other hand on Harry's shoulder. When he spoke, Matthew noticed he had a gap in his front teeth.

"How the hell did they...we checked EVERYWHERE." The black man looked stunned. He turned to people behind him, that Matthew hadn't noticed previously. Two blonde women, an older man, two Asian's, a man and a woman, and a little girl being held by another person with a shaved head-man or woman, Matthew couldn't tell in the half light. More doors were opening and more people seemed to be coming out of the rooms. The black man turned to Matthew again. "When did you get here?"

Matthew said nothing. His focus was now on Harry. He suddenly knew what his grandmother had meant when she had claimed her nerves were at breaking point. He didn't know what to do, how to get out of the hotel, how to get Harry away. He didn't know if these people were good, or if they would hurt them, or worse. The initial adrenaline he had felt was gone, and now all he felt was hunger from the two days they had been hiding from these people in their room. He felt dizzy and sick, and he didn't know if he could stand up for much longer.

"Hey kid. Didn't ya hear the man. Answer the question, how long ya been here." A voice came from the right of the black man. Matthew hadn't even noticed that Harry had a hand on each shoulder. Two figures moved forward into the dim light towards Matthew and their faces were briefly visible.

Matthew felt a roaring in his ears and his vision went blurry. He felt himself start to sway as his legs buckled underneath him. He was vaguely aware of Harry crying out and a pair of arms catching him before he hit the floor. A jumble of voices started to speak at once, none of which Matthew could make any more sense of then he could of what he had just seen. It didn't make sense, it couldn't be. He had seen them both shot and ripped apart in front of him, so how could they be standing here? Was he having a bad dream? Would he wake up tomorrow in the hotel bed and realise that the hotel was empty? He'd given up on waking up and having the world back to normal again. Before he blacked out, he tried to focus on the faces swimming above him. The woman on the stairs, the black man, a blonde lady, Harry and two others.

His father and his uncle