Melvin and me had been traveling north on an abandoned highway for three days until we found another zombie. Fortunately, the zombie did not see us because we were hiding in an old van. I thought about what it might be like to be one solitary zombie. It figured that it must get lonesome from time to time, but I knew that thought was wrong. They were heartless killers who wanted nothing but blood, and that was our current world…or at least… what was left of it.

Traveling further down the road, right before sunset that day, we found an old gas station. It wasn't much but it would provide us with some shelter. I switched on the lights to the store. Melvin went towards the back of the store and found a couple of sodas for the both of us. He gave me one Mt. Dew and a Sprite. I put the Sprite in my backpack and drank the other one. The backpack still brought back the haunting memories of me strangling the old man. Melvin sat on top of the counter and drank whatever drink he got.

"Is it good?" I asked.

"Yes sir, it's good."

It felt a little awkward for Melvin to refer to me as 'sir', so I told him to just call me Ben.

Melvin was feeling sleepy so I told him that he could sleep wherever he wanted. I turned off the light and laid down behind the counter. The boy laid down beside me. I felt bad that Melvin had to sleep on the cold, hard floor. So did I, but I could handle it. Melvin started to snore within the first few minutes. I, however, couldn't sleep one bit. I tried to shut my eyes, but they would just snap open again with even the quietest of noises. Probably because I was paranoid. But is it really paranoia when your feeling grow beyond suspicion, and into reality? I slowly closed my eyes for just a moment and then the next thing I knew…

My dream that night was of my mother and my sister. Both of them were in the hospital where my mother was being held at. They were just silhouettes at the end of a long corridor. The only light source was the overhead light which flickered on and off. My family stood still. They stood so still and silent that it made me feel scared.

I called out to them, "Mom, it's me, Ben! Lily, are you alright?"

Still no reply. I knew that I was in a nightmare, but I also thought that maybe seeing their faces would turn this thick, dark atmosphere into something good. I ran towards them, but time seemed to slow down in that instant. The lights turned off just as I was about to get a good look at them. It was pitch black. Screams could be heard which made chills sweep throughout my body. It was coming from Mom and Lily's direction!

"Mom! Lily!" I yelled.

There was a dead silence. Then, from out of the darkness came a whispering growl echoed through the hospital. When the light flashed back on, two zombies stood where my mom and sister were. They rushed at me, and right before the one of the left opened it's jaws, I woke up.

Melvin was still asleep beside me. I figured that I woke up on my own, but I didn't. Something made me come out of that dream. It sounded like something dragging it's feet across the floor. The moon illuminated everything in the store, and against the wall behind the counter, a shadow of a person moved through the store. I carefully got up on my knees and peaked over the counter. A zombie was on the other side! It didn't see us, and probably had no clue that me and the boy were nearby. Melvin rolled over and moaned. I swiftly covered Melvin's mouth with the palm of my hand. His eyes snapped open. I put my index finger up to my lips to signal him to 'be quiet' . He nodded his head. The zombie turned around quickly. I watched him trying to locate the noise, but it was heading towards the bathrooms on the opposite end of the store. I took my hand off of the boy's mouth to look in my backpack. I felt around for my knife, but all I felt was the hamburger patties, and a Sprite bottle. The zombie came back from the bathrooms and was in the main section of the store. It was coming closer to us. When my fingers went over a sharp metal object, I knew that I had found my knife. I pulled it out slowly. Melvin was so scared that he was shaking.

I yelled as I jumped over the counter and plunged the full blade of the knife all the way into the zombie's forehead. Two more zombies seemed to come out of nowhere and ran straight through the glass, front doors. POP! POP! Bullitt shots rang out. I tripped over my own two feet and fell to the ground. The two zombies were on the ground with me except they were dead. Melvin ran over to me. He must have thought that I was shot.

"Where did that come from?" he asked me.

Just as Melvin said that, two people walked into the doors with their guns pointed at us. Both of them were silhouettes, like in my dream. I got up and raised my hands high into the air. One of the two walked over to the light switched and turned onto the lights. I saw that one of them was a brunette girl in her early twenty's, and the other was a short, black haired boy about the same age. They wore tattered clothing and looked like they hadn't eaten in a couple of days.

"Have you been bitten?" the girl asked us, but she was looking at me.

I got a frog in my throat, and forced out, "No." I spoke Melvin(who was almost in tears by this point) and myself.

"Good. Do you two got names?" the boy asked us.

"My name is Ben and this is Melvin. We are traveling north together." I said.

"So are we. I'm John, and this is my sister, Emily."

It was the break of dawn and the sky to the east had a bright orange. Me and Melvin got out of John and Emily's way so that they could raid the store and put their stolen goods into a couple of knapsacks. I could tell that they still did not trust us yet. For all they knew, we could have been starving and rob them or kill them. So they had a reason not to trust us. Without saying a word, they headed out of the gas station and didn't look back. The girl, Emily, stopped right outside of the door and lowered her head. John turned around to her. He was talking to her, but through the doors, it all sounded muffled. She turned to look at us. I knew exactly what she was thinking. Melvin was smiling. John and Emily walked back into the store and sighed.

"Do you want to come with us? There aren't many normal people around, and you know what they say: 'The more the merrier.'" John said.

"Ya, sure!" Melvin yelled.

I didn't object to that idea. All of us went out of the gas station and down the highway, not fully knowing what awaited us.