Alice

It was a quiet day. Much too quiet. You couldn't even hear Dan and the others upstairs. I took what Nolan had told me earlier about Josh possibly taking over as leader, and thought about. Would he really do something so drastic as killing or wounding Dan, just to be the leader?

People were doing unpredictable things everyday, so it wouldn't be unheard of now. Footsteps sounded from the stairs, and I thought it may have been Dan and the others. They stopped right before the doorway though, and you weren't able to see who it was. I walked towards the door.

"Hello? Dan? Is that you?" Nobody answered. I called out again. "Is everything alright?" I was right at the doorway now, when two glowing red eyes flashed open. Out of the darkness, lunged a zombie. Its hands latched onto my shoulders and tackled me to the ground. I put my hands up on its chest and kept it away from my throat. "Somebody! Help!" I didn't worry about being bitten. I was worrying about this thing ripping open my throat. The maid, Anna, ran into the room and nearly fainted.

"Help! Go get some help! Hurry! I can't hold this thing forever!" Drool dripped from its mouth and landed on my neck. My skin shook at the disgusting feel of it. I didn't spend any time observing the face to see if it was somebody I knew or not. I'd do that after it was dead. Anna was taking too long, and I began to look around the room for a weapon while holding my attacker just above me.

In the very corner of the room, was an umbrella stand. And sticking out of it was one umbrella with a large metal tip on the top. It was calling my name. Begging me to take it and defend my life with it. My arms were growing tired from holding the monster up. I used my feet and kicked him off. In the split second I had, I ran over to the stand and pulled out the umbrella.

The zombie had gotten back up of its feet, and his eyes found me. I had only one chance to kill him, because I was trapped in this corner. He bared his teeth and limped in my direction. I saw why it was limping; he was missing a foot. He stretched out his hands to grab me. One blue fingertip grazed me when I stuck the tip of the umbrella into his head. It dropped to the ground, but still moved.

The tip hadn't gone in far enough to kill him. Now I was left with him and nothing left to finish him off. Anna finally ran back into the room, and had Dan right behind her. She gasped and said, "Oh thank heavens we got here in time!" This is what you call in time? Dan walked over to the zombie that was crawling around on the floor, and looked him over. "Looks like you just missed the brainstem. Other than that, good job." I liked how Dan acted like a professional in zombie anatomy.

He took the metal bar in his hand and slammed it down onto the neck and actually severed the head. He straightened his back and said, "Well, he's dead now. You ok, Alice?" I wiped at where that thing had drooled on me and cringed as some of it touched my hand. "Yeah. A little disgusted though." I wiped my hand on my jeans, and stepped over the body. I asked Dan, "How did he get in here?"

He looked him over again and said, "We must of missed one. We'll have to go back over all the floors and make sure this doesn't happen again." I followed Dan into the sitting room, where the others were looking at us and wanting to know what had happened. Dan told them calmly, "Don't worry. One just slipped past us and made its way downstairs. Nobody was hurt and it won't happen again." They all looked at each other and seemed to be confident in Dan's statement, but I noticed something.

Josh was standing in the very back of the room, out of sight. He then slinked off into the room next to us. Something wasn't right about this. Just like Josh had, I snuck around the others and left into the room that he had gone into. None of us had really been in there. It was nothing more than another sitting room. But it was pitch black. "What are you doing in here, Alice?"

I jumped. It was Josh's voice, but I couldn't find him. "Josh? Why'd you come in here?" I was scared to go any further in the room. I didn't know why Josh was in here, but I knew he couldn't be up to anything good. The door behind me slammed shut, and now I was in total blackness.

No more light from the sitting room where the others were. I tried to run for the door, but couldn't find it in the darkness. A set of hands grabbed onto my shoulders, and I was slammed into the wall. "Let me go!" I hand went across my mouth, and I couldn't call to the others for help. I heard Josh's voice tell me in a threatening tone, "Listen up. You stay the hell out of my way. I didn't keep that zombie alive for it to get you. I wanted it to get Dan. And if you tell him, or anyone else, then I will make sure it looks like both of you were eaten by those things. Got it?"

He is trying to kill Dan. His hand tightened around my face, and he brought me closer to him. "Do you understand me dammit!" I strained myself to nod my head, and when he let go of me he threw me to the ground. I could only see his eyes, but I knew he was smiling. I put my hand on my face where he had placed his, and watched from the ground as he opened the door and walked out of the room. He stopped at the door and brought a finger up to his lips. Reminding me to stay quiet. I can't let him get away with this.

Dan

Josh had disappeared right at the time we were prepping to go back upstairs to check all of the floors. I still didn't know how that one slipped by us, but I did know if it could happen once it could happen again. He then appeared from out of nowhere, and I asked him, "Where the hell did you go?" He took a metal bar that was similar to mine and said, "Sorry for keeping you waiting, but I had to take care of something real quick." I raised an eyebrow. Something was weird about how he said that. I noticed something else too. Alice wasn't in the room at the same time that Josh had vanished.

I seriously doubted that those two were messing around. "Josh, do you know where Alice ran off to?" He was practicing his swing with the metal bar and said, "Nope. Not a clue." I narrowed my eyes at him. He was hiding something. I shook away the thoughts and set my mind at the task at hand; making sure we haven't missed anymore zombies. If we had, then next time somebody else might get attacked. We walked slowly through the halls, and double checked every room.

Every floor up to the one we left off, was clear. Not a zombie in sight. Something just didn't add up. I turned and faced my team. "Ok. We're going to clear the floor above us and head back since we've spent so much time checking the halls." The floor only possessed two or three of the monsters, and we looked in the rooms for supplies. We didn't find anything of use other than a case of water somebody had left. I told the others, "Go on back downstairs. I'll catch up in a minute."

Everyone left, except for Josh. I asked him, "You going to stay here and help me look in the rooms?" He had a mischievous grin on his face, and I took a step away from him. He took a step closer to me. I tried to dart around him, but he grabbed me and threw me back down the hall. He lifted me by my neck and suspended me in the air. He said to me, "Don't worry, Kuso. I'm not going to kill you myself. I'm going to let those things above us take care of you. Shame that zombie I let live attacked that stupid girl instead. Oh well. I'd like to see you escape from this."

I tried to pry his hands from my neck, but I couldn't. He carried me to the door leading to the staircase of the next floor. I gasped for air and wriggled my body to get free. He had too tight of a grip on me though. He opened the door and threw me into the stairwell, and slammed the door shut. I tried to turn the knob, but he had locked it. I couldn't make too much noise, or else I'd draw attention to myself.

And I couldn't fight them off because I had dropped my weapon when I was thrown to the ground. I heard moans coming my way, and made out the shapes of at least ten zombies stumbling down the stairs and coming my way. I kept pulling at the door, hoping to break free. They were only a few feet from me, and it was like I could feel their breath at my neck. Why would Josh do this?

The door then swung open, and a small hand grabbed me and pulled me out of the stairwell. I saw Alice slam the door shut and lock it back. I was on the floor, panting and shaking from adrenaline. "Dan….Are you…..Ok?" She was panting just as I was. I nodded my head, unable to speak. Alice looked down at me, was still holding to door. Even though it was locked.

"Dan, I'm sorry I didn't warn you about Josh." I blinked a few times, trying to process what she was telling me. "He threaten me if I told you what he was planning to do." I saw a bruise on her arm. I motioned to it with my head and asked, "Did Josh do that to you?" She looked down at it and had a sad smiled on her face. "Yeah. He slammed me against the wall."

I knew if Shun was still here, he'd have a cow if he found out that somebody hurt and threatened Alice. I felt it was my responsibility to take up for him. I wouldn't let this slide by with nothing done about it. I stood up, and walked over to her. "Here. Let me see what he did." She showed me her arms, and there were several bruises on her arms, and one on her face.

"He did a number on you. Don't worry, I won't let him get away with this. Shun would do the same thing if he saw this." We turned to the door and heard the zombies inside clawing at the door. Alice told me, "Let's get out of here. I don't like being this close to those things." We both walked down the hallway and back to where the others were. I wonder how Josh will react when he sees I'm still alive.

Shun

The lady who had knocked me out earlier, walked back into my room and hooked up a bag of clear liquid to one of my IV lines. I asked her weakly, "What are you giving me now?" She smiled down at me and said, "Just some fluids and nutrients. My bosses think that the antidote has gone far enough that it shouldn't do anything funny with the IV. That's why we've been depriving you of food and water. They didn't want anything causing the antidote to not work correctly."

The IV started dripping, and I immediately started to feel better. She left from the room, same smile on her face. I stopped her. "How can you live with yourself knowing that you're killing people." Her smile widened. "Because, if I help them make an antidote, then I can survive if I'm ever infected." She doesn't even care that all these people are dying. She only cares if she lives or not.

I felt my strength returning slowly. It amazed me how that IV had made such a difference in so little time. I could actually lift my arm up without passing out. Their antidote might be something of a miracle, but you had to survive it to reap the benefits of it. I was still tired though. I hadn't gotten a decent sleep since I was brought here. But now, I felt like I could sleep easily. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

well. i think that may be it for today. i may update later tonight. not sure. there should be updates tomorrow as well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~