Since the last chapter was more of a Prologue, I wanted to make sure you got a proper chapter. At least some action to get the ball rolling. the next one is done, I'm just proofreading.

Rosey sighed as she hid away in her little garbage can of safety. She was opening up a sponge cake and then taking out a pack of birthday candles. She only needed one. No point in using more. Setting a single candle in the cake she took a lighter and lit it up then stared at the singular source of light in the garbage can.

Fifteen. She was fifteen now. It had been thirteen months since her parents were taken. Just ten days before her birthday. They were gone. Eaten whole, for all she knew. She sniffled and decided to push it to the back of her mind. Birthdays were supposed to be happy, right? So, she decided to think about other things. Such as the great friends she made along the way… and had to say goodbye to. To the kind old man who gave her gave her a map before he disappeared. And then to previous birthdays she had with her family. Then the competitions she won in school, the teachers she loved, the baseball team she called family their undefeated win streak… she started leaking again. She had to stop thinking about these things!

"Get it together, Rosemary Mortimer," she scolded herself. She wiped her tears then began to softly sing, though off key due to her crying. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Rosey... Happy birthday... to... you." With her song concluded, she blew out the candle, and she was in the dark. But taking out the candle, she ate the little sponge cake then hugged herself tighter so she could trick herself into thinking she was getting hugged by people she loved.

When she started, she was lost. She had tried hard to track down the town of Suburbia, but it was such a small town that it wasn't even worth mentioning on a map! Worse still, she found three different times that she had actually gone the opposite direction of the town. She wasn't even in the right state the last few times. She managed to make it mostly with some help from two groups of survivors, one she had to leave or die with, and the other she chose to leave because their goals were different.

The second group was harder to separate form than the first. At lease the first group gave her a reason to leave. Apart from their stubbornness and stupidity, they relied too much on video game knowledge to save them. Turns out, that knowledge isn't any good if you don't have the strength or the stamina, or even the brain smarts to apply said knowledge.

The second, she melded seamlessly with. She even could call one of them her best friend. Were the telephone lines working, she'd probably call her every now and then. But even writing wouldn't work. Who would deliver the letter, and who would even risk the search for her? Who could she even ask? No, she had nothing but a memory for her now.

"I miss you, Kate," Rosey whispered. "I really wish you were here right now."

Kate had actually taught her about hiding in the garbage dumpsters. The zombies were too stupid to check them. and even stupider to know how to open them. And often times, they'd forget you were even there. One time, she and Kate were stuck in a dumpster for hours just because they got separated from the group and a horde was following them. the rest of the group managed to circle back and find them, and the horde was lost to the rest of the city. Kate was such an optimist, and she kept her spirits up while she kept thinking about the worst case scenario, chewing on her lucky bandana for hope it couldn't give.

"I really hope you're okay…" Rosey was chewing on the bandana again.

Between the groups she actually ended up staying with an old man. He was that kind old grandpa who always had some treats to give and let you stay over because you finished your homework. Unfortunately, she didn't stay long. He left to check over his generator and didn't come back. She waited a day, even decided to search for him. But she found no trace. She only gathered a few days of food. Left the rest alone just in case he came back. She didn't know what happened, but she never heard from him again.

Now she was here. In the same state of Suburbia. She was close now. She saw signs leading her to it, but a whole city and a country road were between her and that little town that may save her from this nightmare. She just needed to travel a little more.

Having finished her sponge cake, she cuddled up into her blanket and laid there for a while listening to the zombies outside moaning for some brains. At first it kept her up. But now, she had actually gotten somewhat used to it. And eventually, she had drifted to sleep.

That morning, Rosey quietly packed her things and peaked out of the dumpster to see if it was safe for her to move. Luck was on her side. It was the final stretch, and she was on the move. She just had to follow the signs and stay out of sight.

Rosey climbed out of the dumpster and started her stretches. Sleeping in dumpsters was a bit uncomfortable. Besides the smell, it was difficult to find a suitable one to lay low in. She already smelled pretty rancid as it was, which acted well on her behalf actually. But even she could smell how bad she was. She wanted to get clean, but she hadn't had a chance nor seen a decent shower since she left Kate and her group. It really was too bad they decided not to come. Even if the rumors were true that the plant stuff was a scam, it was no more a fantasy than the government actually making a successful sanctuary that wouldn't get overrun. The radios occasionally had a broadcast for the government to speak to all listening. And even while the government assured America they were in control of the outbreak, there was an underground station that managed to spit the truth out.

None of it mattered now. Rosey tired her bandana over her forehead and began her trek. And even as a sinking feeling told her that she was journeying for nothing, she continued ever onward. Rosey played things relatively smart when she was in the city. She stayed on highways since they were less likely to have zombies on them and could use the swarms of cars to her advantage. It was a slow and tedious process, but it kept her safe.

She was out of the city now. It was going to be smooth sailing from there. She took off at a bit of a run, having reached the end of city limits and kept her head on a swivel, looking in every which way to ensure she didn't count her chickens too soon. But she was clear. Clear and free. But her smile wouldn't last long when she saw a billboard nearby with messy graffiti on it. She frowned as the poorly painted art covered the wholesome photo of what she presumed was the little town of Suburbia. The first few letters were replaced to make it spell out Zomburbia instead. That was not a good sign. Literally speaking and figuratively.

Rosey ran up to the board and examined it. The art was horrible. And the graffiti was paint. Could a human have done this? Was it just post-apocalyptic vandalism? Or was Suburbia lost to the Zombies too? This was reason enough to just turn around and try and catch up with Kate and her friends. But she was already on the other side of the city. She was better off committing to her decision then going back. So, she continued.

"Just a little more Rosey," She sighed to herself. Her feet were hurting. Her boots were worn out; one of them had a talking sole; her jeans were ripped, her hoody was ruined, the single sling backpack was ready to give upon her, and she occasionally still got a whiff of the garbage scent she adopted. It was enough to make her stop and sit down on the side of the road. She needed to rest for a bit. She was getting close; her journey was nearing its end. She just had to keep telling herself that. She looked up and sighed. It was getting late. The sky was getting pretty dark. She looked down at her watch and… scrunched her brows. "Wait… that can't be right." The watch read about ten forty-five. If it was at night, then she'd be in the dark. This was sun down lighting at most. Ten in the morning was usually when the sun was beating down on the town.

Rosey looked up at the sky again. "How…?"

Having rested long enough, she continued her journey. It was getting darker now! She was almost tempted to turn around and go. These clouds weren't natural, that was for sure. And the more she traveled the more signs she found were telling her to literally turn back. She had a gut feeling she was stepping straight into pure Zombie territory. But what city wasn't zombie territory? She wasn't sure what made Suburbia so different than any other city…

But now that she saw it, she was convinced that her stubbornness got the better of her. Suburbia looked like something out of a Halloween book. Tall, strange machines towered over the townhall, it was dark and stormy, even at eleven in the morning, and she could see Z's everywhere, plastering everything that marked it at territory. She had seen zombies do strange, weirdly human, things. But never to this degree. These were a whole other level of, almost human. Before she could turn and run, she saw a medium sized horde walk out of the nearby cornfield. They actually looked like they were saying something to each other. This was yet another thing she had never seen before. If they were becoming intelligent, she was doomed. She should have listened to Kate all along! But not because she was right. Because she was wrong! Very wrong! And it would have been better to believe this place was something out of a fantasy than get stuck realizing it was actually a nightmare.

The zombies all paused as soon as they spotted her. Her eyes went wide. She was frozen in fear. But the zombies didn't move. They didn't chase or wander. They just stood there and stared at her. Then they started… talking to each other? In their grunting and groaning. She started to back away slowly. Maybe, if they were too busy talking to each other, they'd forget she was there or lose sight of her.

But suddenly the Zombies all started patting the back of the first one who caught her. He stretched and seemed to pop his fingers only to accidently break one off. He looked down at it in shock of some sort then hid the hand with one less finger bashfully. Rosey was stunned. She'd never seen this sort of behavior in zombies before. She was suddenly more intrigued then afraid. But the bashful thing started to… sashay? Waddle? It was doing some sort of walk, but she couldn't tell if it was trying to be suave or what. It looked a lot like it was trying to walk without limping, at the lest, but ended up just dislocating its leg and toppling over. The other laughed at him.

Rosey wasn't sure if she should run or let things play out. at this point, she was morbidly curious what would happen next. But she also wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. So, she opted to just turn around and try to walk away but she heard a loud grunt, and it caught her attention long enough for her to notice he was reaching out to her.

Rosey saw the pitiful thing laying on the ground with a bum leg and a missing finger. She actually felt sorry for the poor guy. She had never seen this in zombies before. All this behavior it was new and honestly… human.

Rosey had an epiphany. Maybe, this was an exclusive territory of zombies trying to keep hold of the bits of humanity they had. Maybe, these zombies were still, in some way human, and she could reason with them. She turned and with a bit of nervousness, and yet hopefulness, she knelt down to help him.

"Are you okay, dude?" She asked as she knelt down and reached out.

Suddenly he looked up at her with a confused and surprised, "Gyeeuh?"

She jumped back and saw the shock on the other's faces too. The epiphany she had earlier was quickly scrapped as she realized how wrong she was. It was all confirmed when she saw that familiar behavior she had grown accustomed to followed by that dreaded word that became the last spec of humanity every zombie bore.

"Braaaaaainzzzz!" The zombie on the floor shouted and pointed.

"Brainz!"

"Braainzzz!"

The others grunted and chanted it like a mantra. They really were zombies. She turned and bolted into town. They were slow and sluggish, but it seemed they weren't the only zombies there. Rosey realized she had messed up, big time. She not only stepped into what was probably the single worst place to be in the apocalypse, but she was in the middle of a relatively intelligent horde that could talk to each other. And that probably wasn't the worst of it, if those machines were anything to go off of.

As soon as she turned a corner, she saw more of them. All different in size and shape. They were… watching some of other zombies play football and she had just stepped out in front of all of them! At first, like the ones earlier, they just thought she was one of them. she had the stink and the attire to match. She could smell them from all the way where she was.

They stared at her as though she were being rude. "Uh… sor…er…" She cleared her throat. She didn't want to blow her cover again! "Rrr… grrrr… grrrRRR!" She tried mimicking their walk and their language.

But then the ones from earlier came, their buddy over their heads as they were running back to tell everyone about her. They recognized her instantly then pointed with a loud, "BrrrRRrrAAAaaaaaiNzzzzz!

The whole mini stadium from footall player to bleacher to fan looked at her. She gave them a big smile and shrugged. "Uh… Brains?"

Immediately after, the whole, stadium and the small group of zombies who dropped their friend on his head, began to run after her. She took off into a sprint. She looked back briefly to see how they were gaining on her, and she realized these zombies were faster than the other's she had to outrun. Unfortunately for them, she was holding back before.

Knowing her opponents' speed, she dug deep into her track and field training. The whole town seemed to be after her. She was convinced she overstayed her welcome and had to go. But how? Where? If she went into a house, they'd see and go after her. And these seemed smarter. They'd probably know how to open a dumpster, so that was out too. Turning a corner, she saw on the end of the alley, some of the zombies were trying to box her in. They were plotting against her! Another new behavior she'd never seen before! But as close as they were to catching her, they still didn't have the cigar.

She ran up a trash can, a dumpster, then hopped up and grabbed hold of the roof. She climbed up all the way and then looked down to see the zombies trying to do the same. Her time in athletic education was paying off. but she couldn't just spend it all running away. She needed to lose them and hide! She jumped roofs for a while then slipped off where she couldn't see any of them. She ended up in what looked like a town square… or a no-man's-land in a battle. In the center, a flag with a brain on it was flying. But on her left, she saw a large structure of trees that looked pretty dead with a rickety house on the biggest one. But it was gated! She ran for it and jumped up to climb up of one of the fences then jumped down in the yard of the fenced off tree house. She looked back to see if she was being followed then took off at a run to hide.

Having climbed up all the way to the top, she finally told herself she could rest and that she was safe. She locked every door she walked through if she could. As she relaxed she took in her surroundings and realized she was in the master bedroom of whoever this place belonged to. The lights didn't work, probably for the best. The plumbing didn't either, so no water to drink. Also, probably for the best. She had only a sip left since she left the big city from before.

Sighing, she decided to sit down. Rosey ran her hands over her face and laughed a little, grateful she was alive and somehow unharmed. She looked over and outside a window to see the Zombies hopelessly looking for her. But they didn't seem to have a clue where she was. This was fortunate. She smiled to herself. She was lucky this oddly well furnished and homey treehouse was there… near the townhall… on some big trees… that were definitely a violation of city greenery policy.

"Wait a minute…" Rosey looked up and around and saw the pictures on the wall. She pulled a page from her pocket. An article of a guy named Crazy Dave that claimed he had the ultimate anti-zombie solution and predicted that the zombies would come and overrun everything. And he was selling his solution for cheap. All anyone had to do was place orders and he'd send them their way.

Matching picture to picture, she realized right quick that this was that very man's house. She made it…! She laughed and looked around. Finally, her journey was over. Now she had to… she had to stop and think. The town was pitch black. Dark. Overrun. Not a human was around or any "anti-zombie solution" was running around trying to fend off the end of the world. No. She was alone here. The trip was all for nothing! No Crazy Dave, no mutant plants, nothing! It was all a lie!

Rosey dropped the magazine article and then staggered back. The room was a mess. But there was no trace of him. Just like her parents. Just like that nice old man who took her in. No trace. Nothing. It meant only one thing. His solution didn't work. He turned, just like them. He was probably out there now, looking for her. Looking for her brains!

Rosey started to cry. Kate was so very wrong but so very right. This wasn't a fantasy; it was a nightmare. And it was the worst kind of scam and she fell for it hard. Her gaze fell to the ground to let her tears fall. She saw a garden gnome's head at her feet and picked it up to throw it at something. Anything! Just to let the anger out.

It ended up being a shelf with a bag of soil. The bag made a large mess on the ground. She didn't care. She wanted to hurt this stupid Crazy Dave guy for fooling her! fooling her parents! And her probably dead uncle Keith! Everyone who believed him, he scammed them all! She ran to the shelf and pushed everything off of it to the floor where the bag of soil lay. A few books, a glass of water with a dead flour inside, and a box of stuff. All of it hit the floor. She messed the whole room up. Anything she could break, she broke. Anything she could destroy it was demolished. Crushed to dust. She finally tore the blankets off the bed and wrapped herself in on to sob in secret. She didn't care if they heard her. If they wanted her, they could come and get her! She was as good as dead!

She had no, food no water, and now she was trapped. All because of that… stupid, ugly, red bearded, pot head! She… called him that because there was an actual pot on his head. Not the other thing. But she'd call him that too because he looked like one. She took hold of his magazine article, and ripped it to shreds.

Rosey tore her bandana off her head and fell to her knees. She cried. Sobbed. Screamed even. She let the tears fall into the soil she had spilled then rested her head on the wall next to it. She wrapped herself tighter with the blanket to weep in peace. Then, through all of the frustration, she wore herself out and fell asleep.