Demi

All of a sudden a gunshot was heard.

The thing that had planned on biting Victor fell to the ground. Victor looked to his left, a little puzzled, to something Ben and I couldn't see from where we were standing. A couple more gun shots were fired, and one by one the creatures fell down. Ben and I exchanged a look.

"Young man, hey, you, over there, are you hurt? Did they get you? Is that your blood?" A police officer walked up to Victor, inspecting him. He was wearing a shield. It was a member of the SWAT team.

Victor slowly shook his head. Some other police men approached the distraught female, leading her away. "No, no, I'm fine. I just beat down one of these... What are they?"

I checked the surroundings one more time and then hurried to Victor and the officer. Ben followed me. The officer acknowledged us, and turned to Victor again.

"I must ask you all to leave this area as soon as possible. We are evacuating this whole place. You can't stay here, it's too dangerous. A camp has been set up not too far from here, I advise you to go there 'till further notice." He suddenly fired another shot, behind us. I saw another thing falling, but more were coming.

He spoke frantically. "Please, go now. This whole place is infected, they are everywhere. Get out of here, as far away from here as you possibly can!"

Victor nodded. "Come on, guys, to the car," and he got my bag from me. Ben and he already started moving towards the car, but I kept facing the officer. His eyes were almost begging me to leave, but I had to know.

"Sir... What are they?"

It took a few seconds before he responded, but then he did. The look in his eyes cut right through my soul. "They came back from the dead. They're undead."

I turned around and ran.

***

"I can't believe this. I just can't. It's like the fucking apocalypse." Ben rested his head in his hands, massaging his forehead. We were almost back at his house, and I was more than relieved that we made it out alive. We had spotted numerous corpses on our way out of the city, presumably all killed by the SWAT team. I even spotted a tank on his way to what once our town was. Yesterday...

I sighed. "Me neither. How in the world can dead people move? How did all of this start? And more importantly; how is all of this going to stop?"

"Let's just focus on surviving this shit for now. How it started, how it will be stopped, that's all pointless at this moment." Victor seemed glum, but kept his focus on the road nonetheless.

All of a sudden I had to think about my family, would this thing be world-wide? My family lived thousands of miles away from this place, in another country, but that didn't mean they were safe right now. At first I had believed these riots were just nation-wide, but now that I knew it weren't riots it made me worried sick.

I had never been happier to see Olivia, or Nick for that matter, standing in the front door. I ran inside and swung my arms around her. She buried her face in my shoulder.

"You returned... Was it that bad, down there?" She asked me as soon as she let go of me. I didn't speak, instead I made eye contact with Victor, who had just come through the door with my suitcase. Ben locked the door behind us. "Let's all go to the living room. Demi's staying, and we need a plan of action."

Ben's living room was small but cozy. It contained a giant woodstove, which would probably come in handy during these circumstances. I realized it was a real possibility for the central heating and electricity to stop working any minute now. The living room also had this nice lounge area, consisting of 2 comfy sofas and a flat screen TV. We all sat down, while Ben grabbed something out of his desk. I let out an annoyed moan when I saw what it was.

"Are you for real? You really think this is the time to get stoned again?" I snarled at him. He didn't look at me, focusing on the stuff in his hands. "I'd say this is the perfect time."

"Ben, man, we gotta stay sharp," Victor helped me out, but Ben shook his head. "No, we don't. We're inside my house, safe and sound. My house, which holds I make the rules. So I'm gonna smoke this, and if you have an issue with that Demi, well, you know where the exit is. Go." He sent me a triumphant glance and I felt the anger burning inside of me. I could not believe he was that selfish. How could he, after what had happened between us? After what had happened today?

"You know what, Ben? Fuck you." I spit out the words, rose up from the sofa and left, leaving the others behind.

***

"Demi? Are you okay?"

I was standing on the balcony, staring into the distance, tears in my eyes. Angrily I rubbed them away.

"I'm fine." My voice cracked. The person came to stand beside me, and started staring into the distance as well. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it was Victor, and a feeling of disappointment shot through me over the fact Olivia hadn't come to see if I was alright.

"This is what I meant, back at the bar." I looked at Victor in confusion, but then I remembered our encounter again. It seemed ages ago, not yesterday. He cleared his throat. "Ever since things gone awry between the two of you his drug use intensified. He can't seem to function without it. He's just not himself."

"That's not my problem anymore," I tried to sound indifferent.

We were both silent for a while, scanning the environment. There was nothing in sight, no humans, but no creatures either. In the distance I could hear shots getting fired, but we were too far away from the center to actually be able to find out more about it.

"Do you think we'll be safe here?" I broke the silence. Victor kept staring into the distance, a worried look on his face.

"I don't know, Demi. For now we are. But we can't stay here forever. Soon enough we'll run out of food, and it will only be a matter of time before the electricity and water will stop working. And that might even be the least of our worries. These creatures will have to move up once their food stream down there ends. If they discover us here, and trap us..." His voice trailed off, and I swallowed.

"Let's go back inside. I don't want anyone out there to spot us." Victor's hand rested on my shoulder. "And please, Demi, talk to Ben. Odds are you guys will be spending a lot of time together from now on, and the last thing we can use right now is the two of you bickering all the time. We got much bigger problems ahead of us." He gave me a worried smile, and went back inside.

***

When I returned to the living room Ben was nowhere to be found. I decided not to ask about his whereabouts. I sat down on the sofa next to Olivia, who grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"You okay? I wanted to come after you, but Victor beat me to it," she whispered, her makeup still smeared from the night and the lack of makeup remover. I gave her a comforting smile. "I pretty much stuffed my whole closet in the suitcase I brought. You can borrow some of my clothes, if you want."

"Okay guys, it seems like Ben's friend yesterday wasn't joking when he started to talk about zombies coming for us. According to the police officer I encountered at my house it are undead humans who are haunting us," I started off, and they all looked at me in disbelief.

"But how...?" Nick blinked a few times.

"I don't know any facts," I apologized. "That's what he said. Undead. So these things that got Peter and roam around now were human at first. My roommate was one of them as well."

Victor looked thoughtful. "So... I guess it's safe to say it aren't people rising from the grave, but people that die and come back? Seeing how your roommate was still alive yesterday, and now she was... One of those." I nodded. "That's what I think."

"But how?" Olivia questioned. I could provide her with an answer. I had no clue.

"Who would have ever thought... Zombies, coming for us." Nick grimaced. "Actual zombies."

"We need a plan, guys. From what I've witnessed today, aiming at their head helps. The cop that shot them all shot them through the head, which seemed to do the job. Let's aim for the head for now. Also, from this moment on, nobody leaves this house on their own. It's too risky. We have to stick together, make the most of this, until the situation is solved."

"Solved?" I stared at Victor. "You think this is a situation which can be solved?" He scratched his head.

"I really don't know. It has to be, right? We saw the SWAT team, they even brought tanks. They can't possibly overpower the army... That's why I think it's best to stay here, until the worst is over. If that's okay with you, of course." He gave a nod to Ben, who had just come inside again, with a beer in his hand.

"I guess it's fine, it's not like I have anything else to do, anyway." He took a sip. "Anyone else wants some? Luckily there's still plenty. I hope you can live with alcohol, or are you gonna bitch about that too, Demi?" He mocked me, and I gritted my teeth. This was going to be challenging.

***