It was noontime on the highway. Thick, green forest to the left of the road, and a steep slope on the right. John sat a road map on the hood of a car, and studied it thoroughly. The car had a busted window on the driver's side which was probably from a zombie breaking in it to reach the driver's face. I stood still, looking up and down the highway just in case any puppet of the undead came over to give us a visit. Melvin stood beside me and watched Emily and John fly solo. They seemed to do perfectly fine on their own.

"Hey, Ben, come over here and look at this!" John said.

I jogged over to them and stared at the map. "What's the matter?" I asked.

"It's this." He was pointing to I-95. "I wasn't thinking about it, but it's a big open area that way. It'll be that way for many miles. We can make a rest stop in Edison, and continue up north to New York."

"All right."

Emily looked as if she was about to say something. It took her a while until she finally spoke in almost a whisper. "But then,…once we reach New York City,…me and John will have to leave you guys.

Melvin's eyes widened. "Leave? We just met! I want you'll to stay longer."

Emily got down on one knee, and put her hands on his shoulders. "It'll be okay, Melvin. I promise. We might meet again some day. We might meet when there are no zombies around, and everyone is smiling.

"Maybe." Melvin responded.

The key to the car was gone, so we had to start off again down the road. I thought of Lily and my mom the whole time. Hoping that the dream I had the night before was just a nightmare, and not reality.

We hit the interstate in a matter of no time. Melvin carried our backpack while I carried a rifle we had found right after we left the gas station. John and Emily dashed under an overpass, so Melvin and me followed. I searched the horizon for any zombie, but I still couldn't find anything.

"Why are we running?" I asked.

"…I'm not sure. I just had a bad feeling." John said.

Emily sighed. "Don't scare us like that!"

"Fine, but when my feelings are right, something happens, and you'll don't listen to me-" John's had a scared expression on his face as he watched over my shoulder. "Take cover!"

All of us jumped in the back of a brand new, black minivan. The windows were tinted so I felt safe. I watched outside, as a couple of zombies sprinted through the overpass. One of them stopped, and listened for anybody. All of us stayed perfectly quiet. I could've taken those two down with my rifle. Why hide? I thought to myself. Then I squinted my eyes and saw about ten zombies come out of nowhere. All of them were heading our way. A few of the zombies dragged their feet toward us, so the rest of them followed. I looked to see what everyone else was up to, when I saw John hop in the driver's seat. It took me a second or two to figure out that the keys were still in the ignition! I smiled for a split second, and got in the backseat to buckle myself in. Melvin did the same.

The engine sputtered for a moment, until it finally turned on. Everyone in the minivan cheered as we sped away from the hoard of zombies. BUMP! BUMP! We ran over some zombies in the process, but John was able to regain control over the vehicle quickly.

All of us traveled along the highway for an hour and a half until we saw a second zombie swarm. The sun was just about to set so we had to get to Edison by nightfall. Emily peaked over to see how much gas was still in the minivan while John kept an eye out for any more zombies. The gauge was nearly empty.

I was confident t we would get to our next destination in time. I thought that before we saw a large, male zombie pop out from behind a flipped transfer truck. The fat zombie (that stood about 6 feet tall, and had to weigh around 280 at the least) charged the minivan. John tried to swerve out of the way, but it was too late. The minivan started to drift towards the zombie. He slammed into the side of our vehicle, and made us tumble and roll into the grass median. Melvin screamed the whole time, while everyone else gripped their hands onto something nearby. The rolling stopped. Me, John, and Emily crawled out of the shattered windows. I helped Melvin out of the minivan, but he was fine except for a small cut or two above his eye. The fat zombie's guts were painted on the side of the van. The zombie himself, was dead ten metes behind us.

"Come on, we have to keep moving!" Emily yelled as she held her arm which was bleeding.

"Emily, are you okay?" I asked.

"It's nothing. Let's just keep moving."

I got back inside of the minivan to look for our bags, but the food had been crushed, and spread out all over the place. There was no time to get all of that stuff, so I just got my rifle and John's rifle.

Everyone hurried down the highway for 10 minutes, when Melvin yelled out from on top of a hill that he could see streetlights in the distance. I ran up the hill to see if it was true, and it was. At the bottom of the hill, another half hour, was the town of Edison! I had the motivation to race down the road to where I hoped that healthy survivors were waiting for us. Everyone else followed me, hoping that zombies weren't behind us.

We arrived right outside of the city in no time. The houses seemed to be devoid of life, and the streets were silent. I found a white, two story house that we could sleep in for the night. John kicked down the door and observed the different rooms. He signaled for me and Melvin to go search one side of the house while him and his sister go searched the opposite side. The wooden floor squeaked with every step, so a zombie couldn't sneak attack us.

After checking the bathroom, two bedrooms and the upstairs, everything seemed clear. Untouched by zombies and humans. Melvin and me met back up with John and Emily in the living room to discuss what we all saw. They saw a kitchen, but it had already been raided. We could tell that each of us were hungry.

"I'll go out and see what they have here. It won't be safe if we all go at once." I said to them .

"The bigger the cities get, the more zombies there will be. Are you sure about this?" Emily asked calmly.

"Sure, it will be fine. Just in case I don't come back in the next hour or so, keep on high alert, and pronounce me dead." I said boldly as I stepped out of the front door with my rifle ready to fire.

My heart started to beat faster and faster. The silence made me feel like the undead were waiting to catch me off guard, and eat my flesh. I took deep breathes as I jogged down the empty street. The only light was a streetlamp up ahead. I went around it. The intersection ahead had a supermarket. Perfect. The only noise I heard came from the sound of my shoes hitting the sidewalk. I hid behind a car, and dashed across the intersection ( making sure to look both ways). The supermarket was calling my name until…out of the corner of my eye…I saw something. Not a zombie, or a living human being, but something better. Pete's Pastry Factory sat right across the supermarket! My mouth started to water. But when I peaked in the windows, I saw the shadows of five zombies eating a guy. I gulped and held my breath. I wasn't going to leave Pete's Pastry Factory and not see what was inside.

"Well, Ben, it's time to show them what you're made of." I whispered to myself before swiftly opening the door to my favorite restaurant in the world.