(Hey, Masky here, this is a very long read, about as long as HookRose!)

(July)

I laid in my bed, almost entirely asleep when I heard someone whisper my name. "July," they whispered, shaking my shoulder. "July, are you awake?" Letting out a groan, I sit up and rub my eyes to look at the person calling my name. It was Myah and Miles, my little siblings. Twins, really. Both with black hair like our mom and brown eyes like their dad. I looked like my dad, brown hair blue eyes. "What do you want?," I ask them, looking at their scared little faces. Miles climbed up onto my bed, looking at me with wide eyes as he said, "We had a bad dream. Can we sleep with you?"

I sighed, leaning down to pull one of the comforters off of my bed and handing it to Miles, saying, "Sure, but sissy has a big test tomorrow. You have to sleep on the floor tonight." I pulled off my other comforter and handed it to Myah. She looked up at me with her pretty brown eyes, smiling up at me. Miles laid down on the floor with my huge teddy bear as a pillow, wrapping himself in a blanket burrito as he fell asleep. Myah laid next to him, sharing the huge teddy bear as her pillow and doing the same thing.

They were both four and a half, but Myah never spoke a word. Never cried or screamed as a baby, either. The doctor said she was a mute, but even if she couldn't talk, me and mom made up a sort of sign language so she can communicate with us. I watched them fall asleep, glancing over at my alarm clock, which read 3:26 in the morning. I tried falling back asleep. Since they woke me up, I was wide awake. So I decided to turn my phone on, plugging my headphones in and listening to my music. Mandopony, Living Tombstone, Dr. Horrible, and people like that.

When that didn't work, I got up out of bed, tiptoeing out of my room to go watch some t.v. to drift off to sleep. As the t.v. droned on, I was quickly falling asleep. Right after I was able to drift off into a small sleep, the t.v. began playing an ear-piercing tone. Jumping in surprise and falling off the couch, I looked at the screen. It was pure red, a white "toxic material" symbol in the middle. "This is a drill," said the robotic male voice, making me lose all interest. I grabbed the remote and shut the t.v. off, crawling back up on the couch and falling back to sleep.

I woke up to the alarm on my phone, groaning from being tired still. I shut the alarm off, rolling off of the couch. Getting up and trudging to the bathroom, I began to get ready for school. As I was done getting ready, wearing a baby blue crop top over a white tank top and a navy blue skirt with black tights beneath them, I heard the bus screech to a stop in front of my house. I bolted to the door, pulling my dad's old army boots on and running down the front steps. "WAIT," I yelled, running after the bus as it pulled away.

It jerked to a stop, the door swinging open as I came near. Hopping up the steps to the bus, I took my seat near the front, listening as the other kids chuckled. Probably at the thought of me almost being late. I ignored it, knowing that tomorrow I'd set my alarm earlier than it was today so this wouldn't happen again. Leaning my head against the window, since I'd been lucky enough to get a window seat, I let out a sigh. All the other seats on the bus were taken, and one more kid was at the last stop. Eagle. I hated him, but not with a passion. Not with that sick twisted passion everyone else hated him with. Me, I straight up hated him with every drop of blood in my body.

Why? Well, some things are better left unsaid. Let's leave it at that.

The bus halted at his stop, and I cringed as the door swung open. The school freak walked onto the bus, his Indian skin dark as always, his bookbag stuffed full to where it seemed the zipper would burst apart. His bag read "Zombie Survival Bag", and his red tee read, "Zombie Rescue Team". He was one of those weirdos who was planning for the end of the world. After looking up and down the rows of seats, his eyes landed on the empty seat next to me. I scowled, moving my legs off of the seat so he could sit as he came closer.

Tucking my legs up to my chest, I hugged my knees, scowling more as he sat down. "Hi July," he said, his voice sounding scratchy as if he swallowed broken glass. I muttered hi back, staring out the window at the summer leaves outside. He swung his backpack off of his shoulder, reaching into it and pulling out a keychain. "Is this yours?," he asked, holding the keychain out to me. Reluctantly, I looked up, seeing my shrunken head keychain, about an inch big. Narrowing my eyes at him, I snatched it away and turned to stare out the window again.

"You're welcome," he chuckled, seeing him shake his head from the corner of my vision, his long, dark, reddish-brown hair (which was tied in a braid) waving side to side., reaching down to the halfway point on his back. I tugged at my chin-length curly brown hair, growling, "What do you want from me, Eagle, a fucking three paragraph essay on how I'm thankful you found my keychain? Thanks for finding it, geez!" He laughed quietly and shook his head more, saying, "You know, my ancestor's tribe used to practice shrinking heads."

I slowly turned away from the window, staring at Eagle with a mix of horror and confusion and a look of 'leave me alone before I scream'. He smiled at me, his eyes gleaming a bit. Now, I've never actually looked at his eyes before, so it was the first time I noticed that they looked the color of pine-wood bark. So natural and nature-looking. The bus stopped suddenly, and I saw that we were at school. I got to my feet, jumping over Eagle's legs and rushing off the bus like everyone else.

Once I was off of the bus, I was glad to be free from Eagle. I made my way over to the other people on the cheer squad, plastering a smile on my face. Ever since dad left, mom made me join school activities. Cheerleading being the only one they wanted me in. I didn't like being in the popular group, I absolutely hated the attention. As the school doors opened and everyone filed in, the cheerleaders all putting a piece of gum in their mouth to chew on, linking arms with one another as they plowed through the other students. I was included in the arm-linkage and gum chewing, of course.

Not like I had a choice. I was a cheerleader like them, after all.

Precious, the cheer captain with her blonde hair stained pink and blue eyes, looked over at me with a look of disgust, saying, "Where did you get those ugly boots?" I tensed up, forgetting I'd put them on instead of my normal shoes. The other cheerleaders looked over at me too, a few of them giggling. "Those boots are just fabulous, Precious," Diamond said, shaking her head and making her curly violet hair wave all over. "You just don't know a thing about modern day fashion," she continued, blinking her green eyes and fluttering her eyelashes at Precious.

Diamond's arm was the only one linked to mine, so the person linked to Diamond's other arm let go, leaving just me and Diamond. She stopped in her tracks, holding me back as we watched the rest of the cheerleaders walk off, their hips rocking side to side like broken swings. I looked at Diamond, smiling widely. "Thanks for that," I said, making her smile back.

"Don't worry about it," she answered, shrugging a bit. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a keychain identical to mine. "We are buds, after all," she giggled, putting it back in her pocket. She started walking, dragging me with her since our arms were still linked. We went to her locker first, me and her putting our textbooks in her locker since hers was closer to both of our classes.

We went to my locker next, shoving in our backpacks and purses before slamming it closed. Diamond looked over at me, saying softly, "So are those your dad's boots from the army?" I nodded and looked down, whispering, "They never said he was dead, he was just M.I.A.. All they found was his boots, so they sent those back to me as a memory of him." I whimpered quietly, covering my face. It's been eight years since my dad went missing, and no one had any idea where he was.

Diamond pulled me closer to her, hugging me tightly and trying to calm me down. My dad was my life, my everything. He was my whole world, and then he just left without a trace. "July Hendrick," someone said, making me look up, "I need you to follow me." In front of me was Mr. Oilen, the school principal. Letting go of Diamond, I muttered "Winston" since that was my real last name, following Mr. Oilen as he walked off. He walked through the many students as they went to their classes, me having to push a few people aside and step on a few toes to keep up with him.

When he stopped, we were in front of his office, which made me nervous. He walked inside, so I followed in. Once I was inside, he closed the door, saying, "Do you know why I called you in here, Ms. Hendrick?" "Winston," I repeated, gritting my teeth. Mr Oilen looked at me confused, saying, "I beg your pardon?" "My last name's Winston," I said louder, looking back at him, "not Hendrick." He nodded and smiled a bit, chuckling. "You have a new class to go to, I switched you out of Ceramics." "Where did you move me too?," I asked, slightly agitated.

"World History," he said, making me groan. I hated World History. It's always been my least favorite subject. I turn around and fling the classroom door open, walking out. I was about to close the door when the t.v. in the office turned red. I looked at it, seeing that it was the same red screen as last night. I had to read the subtext because the volume was down. "This is not a drill," I said, reading the subtext outloud. Mr. Oilen looked at me, confused. I pointed to the screen, continuing to read. "This is a nationwide emergeny. We request that all citizens stay inside until further notice. More information will be released at a later time." Then the screen went back to normal, and Mr. Oilen turned the volume up to hear the national anthem playing.

"July," Mr. Oilen said to me, "say nothing about seeing that message. You hear?" I look at him, saying, "What's going on?" He shrugged, saying, "A virus, an airborne disease, who knows?" I nod, running out of the classroom and back to my locker, seeing Diamond still waiting there. "Diamond," I gasp, panting from running so far, "the entire U.S.A. is under a lockdown!" She looked at me, letting out a bit of a chuckle. "You're crazy," she said, laughing at me.

I shook me head, jumping when something slammed against the glass door a few yards away from my locker. Staring at it, I saw a man kicking at the glass, his hand clasped onto his arm with blood spurting out from beheath it. "Please," I heard his muffled voice say through the glass, "let me in! Some psycho homeless guy just bit me, and I'm bleeding out pretty fast!" I rushed to the door, pushing it open to let him in. He stumbled in, crashing into the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor. "Nurse.....," he whispered, his eyes flickering as if he was forcing them to stay open, "I need.....a nurse......." I jump up, dashing over to my locker and grabbing my backpack.

Some medical stuff was in my backpack, mainly because it used to be my dad's from the army as well. I never bothered to clean some of his stuff out of it. Grabbing the bottle of Peroxide and the medical wrap, I ran back to the bleeding man, surprised to see that Eagle was already there tending to the guy's wound. Diamond looked up at me as I came closer, saying, "Eagle here was in the classroom right over there, he saw what was going on and came to help. I scowled, nodding a bit. Eagle looked at me when I sat down, eyeing the stuff in my hand. "Could I use those for a minute?," he asked, holding his hand out for me to give him the stuff.

I gave it to him, not knowing how to use it anyways. "Now," Eagle told the man, "this may sting a bit." He opened the Peroxide, pouring a bit of it on the wound. The guy gritted his teeth, growling from pain. I watched the Peroxide foam up more than I'd ever seen it foam before, letting me know that the wound was extremely infected. Eagle poured a bit more on the wound before putting some on the bandage, waiting until his arm stopped foaming to put the bandage on. "What's your name?," I asked the man, kind of curious. "M-My name's A-Anton," he stammered, smiling at the ceiling. "A-Anton O-Otis....." He hit his head against the wall, growling jokingly, "S-So Doc, a-am I gonn-na live?"

Eagle rolled his eyes nodding. "Yes," he said, "you'll live. Do you think you'd be able to walk to the nurse's office?" Anton nodded, and Eagle helped him to his feet. He was a bit unsteady, as I saw, but Eagle was able to hold him up. The two started walking away, and just as they turned the nearest corner, my cellphone alert tone went off. I ignored it, thinking it was just to tell me my battery was low. But Diamond took it from my pocket, turning the screen on and looking at the notification.

"Hey," she said, smiling at me, "it's a message from your mom! She says 'Get here ASAP I already told the school u were leaving'. Lucky, you get to leave school!" I take my phone from her rereading the message she just read. She was right, it did say that. As I was putting my phone back in my pocket, it went off again for me to read the message. " 'Never mind'," I read aloud, " 'They said u cant leave till the emergency ban is lifted'. Emergency ban?" I looked at Diamond, hoping for a good answer. She shrugged, throwing her hands up in the air. I copy her, letting out a small laugh.

Me and Diamond started walking to class, the intercome speaker over our heads booming with Mr. Oilen's voice. "Students, we regret to inform you that due to certain conditions of people outside the building, we will be staying here at school until an evac team can come to get us." All around us, the sound of groans was heard. And I couldn't help but laugh. "So, I'll repeat," Mr. Oilen continued, "we all must stay here until-.....wait hold on, I'm getting a message from the nurse." My eyes widened, and I looked over at Diamond. I mouthed the word Anton, and she immediately understood.

We ran off towards the nurse's office, running through the annoyed-looking students in the lobbies. As we neared the nurse's office, I felt like something wasn't right. And then we got closer, seeing the window to the office stained with bloody handprints on the inside. I covered my mouth, shocked to see the blood. It was probably just Anton, trying to get away from the nurse if he saw a needle. At least that's what I was hoping. Not that it was true. I grabbed the doorknob, jumping in the air as someone pulled me away with a strong jerk.

Turning around quickly, I saw Eagle behind me, his face serious. "Don't open that door," he said, not taking his eyes off of mine. I pulled away from him, feeling the sleeve of my crop top fall off of my shoulder. He looks at it, grabbing it and putting it back on my shoulder. I growl at him, swatting his heads away. "My sleeve," I growl, bearing my teeth at him. He chuckled, backing away. I rolled my eyes, grabbing the door handle again. He pulled me away again, growling, "I told you not to do that!"

As I opened my mouth to growl back, I'm interrupted by a loud creaking. Turning to the door, I see it slowly creaking open. Me Eagle and Diamond all stayed quiet, peering into the room to see the nurse on the floor, human bitemarks all over her body and blood all over the floor. "Where's Anton?," I ask, taking a step away from the room. On some sort of cue, Anton stumbled into view, the arm that had the bite on it entirely gone.

I gagged a bit, covering my mouth in case I threw up. Oh gawd, the blood! Not blood! Anton staggered forward, blood and bits of flesh dripping out of his mouth. Probably from the nurse, if I wasn't mistaken. He stared at us, his eyes a dull yellow, like the color of an infected cut. Eagle pulled a knife out of his pocket, pointing the sharp blade at Anton. I yelped, lunging at Eagle and knocking the knife out of his hand. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!?," I shouted, glaring at him, "IF HE WANTED TO ATTACK US HE'D HAVE DONE IT BY NOW!!!" I looked over at Diamond, and she nodded in agreement.

Eagle stared Anton down with a glare, and Anton stared back blankly. "The second he snarls," Eagle scoffed, "I'm driving the knife right through his head." Anton toppled suddenly, falling to the ground with the blood splattering. The nurse had pushed him over, blood and infection covering every part of her. She snarled loudly, barring her teeth at us like some ferocious monster. I screamed, running away. Diamond and Eagle were right on my tail, following me throughout the school. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that the nurse was still chasing us. Staggering and stumbling, but chasing us.

Some student got in the nurse's path, and of course they got bit. Right on the neck, blood squirting out. The two of them, the nurse and the student, fell to the ground, to where the nurse started eating the student's flesh and blood. Behind them, Anton stood up, stumbing our way. I growled a bit, running faster. Some nearby students were letting out screams, that of which made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. "We need to get out of the school," I hear Eagle say, pulling me and Diamond in the direction of the nearest exit. We ran down the hallway, seeing the exit. When we got there, we opened the door and began to exit out when a few people with blood dripping from their mouths blocked our path.

They all turned to stare at us at the same time, snarling loudly. I pulled the door closed, a few of their arms getting stuck in the gap. I screamed at the arms as if it would help, feeling myself begin to panic. Eagle wrapped his hands over mine on the handle, helping me pull it closed. I sat down on the floor, staring at the glass door at the people on the other side. They looked like every single zombie you've ever seen on t.v. all combined into one. In one word, they looked purely scary. I whimpered a bit, hugging my knees tightly and hiding my face within my arms. I wasn't a strong person, it was just a matter of time until I ended up like those people outside.

Eagle though, you could just tell that he'd survive this thing. The sound of inhumane snarls could be heard from down the hallway, and I looked behind me to see a bunch of zombies headed our way. I got up to my feet, eyes wide in fear. What was going to happen? Could we get through this? Would we die so soon? Shaking my head, I backed away, turning and trying to run away only for me to run smack dap into the door. I fell backwards, hitting my head against the linoleum floor of the school. My ears filled with the high-pitched sound of microphone feedback, or atleast that's what it felt like. Everything happened in slow motion, the small hoard of zombies lumbering closer by the second. Oh what a joy, knowing the end of me came from zombies tearing me to pieces.

I saw Eagle invade my view of the zombies, and he looked like he eas yelling at me to move my ass. But all I could hear was the high-pitched sound in my ears. And my heartbeat, seeming to get louder by the second. Eagle pulled me to my feet, but my legs were limp. I couldn't make myself stand up, the jello having replaced all my muscles by then. Get bit, die, and come home early, am I right? I watched as Eagle dragged me across the hallway, Diamond helping in any way she was able to. We went into a classroom, Eagle laying me down on something before scrambling to shove desks against the door.

Alot of kids must have rushed to get home or something, because there were papers and backpacks and purses and other personal items strewn all over the place. As Eagle continued shoving the desks against the door, Diamond pulled a bottle of water out of the teacher's mini fridge, opening it and pouring it on my face. I jerked up into a sitting position, coughing and gagging on the water that had run down my throat. I wiped my face off, looking at Diamond with a scowl on my face. She smiled, saying, "Well it got you to come to your senses again, didn't it?" I grab my hair and wring the water out, listening to the drops fall onto the floor. It somehow calmed me down to listen to a somewhat normal sound.

I smiled, closing my eyes and continuing to wring out my hair. Diamond nudged me, saying, "Are you feeling okay?" I open my eyes and look at her, smiling more. Eagle slams his hands against the end of the thing I was laying on, making jump. "I need this," he said, staring at me. I stare back at him, getting off of the thing. He nods a bit, dragging the thing over to the other side of the room and pushing it against the other door. When he was done, he started taking his shirt off; I stared at the ceiling, looking at the patterns. I always used to enjoy letting my imagination run free when I stared at the ceiling. The patterned ceiling used to hold tales of knights and dragons, of unicorns and pegasus, of creatures beyond anyone's wildest imaginations. But now, as I stared up at the rippled material, all I saw was destructions and imperfections. Much like the world around me.

Diamond nudged my shoulder, pulling me out of my trance-like state. I glanced over at her, letting out a small sigh. "It's crazy how your like can change so much over the course of a day," I say, looming now at the wood floor below me. Diamond laughed a bit, saying, "Or how yours changed in the course of two minutes, don't forget that." I narrow my eyes at her, growling jokingly.

"How did your life change completely in two minutes?," Eagle asked, looking curious. Diamond stood up straight, saying suddenly, "Like, OMG, I had no idea your hair was that long!" I looked at him over my shoulder, seeing that his hair was out of its normal braid. And it was actually the same length, but I guess Diamond never payed attention to how long his hair was. "Can I goof off with your hair?," Diamond continued, looking super excited.

Eagle shrugged, saying, "If you have some scissors anywhere, I'd actually like to get it cut to a normal length." Diamond squealed, clapping her hands together. I shook my head, walking away and looking around the room. We were locked in the classroom connected to the school woodshop, so I wandered around there. I used to see neat machines and cool things to build stuff with, but with my new changed life, I saw weapons and things I could do serious damage with. From inside the woodshop, I heard a weird sound. Like the mix between someone gurgling saltwater and someone eating Pop Rocks. Pretty much the sound of someone snarling with a mouth full of liquid, I guess you could say.

Turning towards the sound, I saw the undead Anton stumbling towards me, tripping over his own legs. I stared at him, too shocked to move. He staggered closer, spitting up a bunch of blood. It splattered to the ground with a sickening splat, making me shutter. I backed away, feeling my heartbeat race in my chest. He came even closer, and at that moment, I realized. Miles and Myah. They were home alone today. Out of all the moments I could start worrying about them, it just HAD to be now. And I had to get them. I was back against a table now, so I ran my hand behind me for anything to use as a weapon.

I grabbed the first thing my hand touched and swung it at Anton, cursing my bad aim when it caught onto his lower jaw instead of hitting him in the skull. Seeing that it was a hammer, and that the teeth had been the thing to catch onto him. I yanked on the hammer, a sickening ripping sound echoing around the room as his bottom jaw tore off. I closed my eyes as his jaw hit the floor, slowly opening them. Since I didn't have anything holding him back, he should have been attacking me. Yes, he was still trying, but he seemed a bit aggravated that he couldn't bite me anymore.

Smiling, I cautiously put my hand in the place his mouth was, but he didn't bite me. He didn't try, either. I patted his head, saying, "I think you're gonna make a nice pet, Anton." Diamond rushed into the room, carrying a pair of scissors as if they were a deadly sword, yelling, "GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!" I chuckle, patting his head again and tearing a strip of cloth off of my shirt. I tied it around his neck like a collar, looking around for something as a leash. Pet, he was a pet. Me was my pet.

(Diamond)

July was already loosing it, putting a collar on one of those Weirdos. Yes, Weirdos is what I called the zombie things. I watched her wander around, the Weirdo she had the collar on following her with his good arm outstretched every step of the way. "I need help finding a leash," she said, stopping and looking at me. Eagle walked up behind me, his hair newly cut to where it ended just below his ears. Which is why I had the scissors, of course.

"FOUND ONE I COULD USE!," July shouted, raising up her hand high with a thin chain in her hand. I roll my eyes, watching as she put the chain on the collar around Anton's neck. Eagle chuckled deeply, saying, "I thought you'd be the first one to go crazy, to be honest." July lead Anton back into the classroom, sitting him down and sitting on the floor in front of him. Eagle and I stayed behind, watching her. "You know, I feel like you understand me," July said to the Weirdo, "and I just wanted you to know that I can't live without someone who understands me." I looked at Eagle, and he nodded. Me and him were thinking the same thing.

Eagle snuck up, pulling his knife out. Jumping over July with a sudden dash, he drove the knife into Anton's head. July screamed, lunging at Eagle. I held her back, saying, "July, calm down. You need to calm down!" She screamed again, and the desks against the door moved a bit, the sound of the Weirdos moaning heard from the other side. "YOU KILLED HIM!," July shouted, trying to pull away from me. I covered July's mouth, saying, "July shut up! Do you want us to get killed?"

I stared at July, getting a crazy idea. I raised my hand, smacking July on the cheek with a loud swatting sound. She froze, eyes wide in shock. "Wh-.....what did you do that for?" she asked, staring at me. I rolled my eyes, saying to her, "You were crying over a dead zombie and almost attacked Eagle for giving him mercy."

"Is that what killing is called now?" she asked, her eyes watering as if she was on the verge of tears. "It's called giving them mercy?" I nod slowly, never seeing July cry before. But there's always a first time for everything, I guess. Especially in such a new world.

(Alex)

I stared at the zombie, a wicked grin on my face. It was tied up to the light pole, jerking its head forward in weak attempts to get me. Such a humorous scene to watch. This zombie had been one of my relatives, one that I haven't seen in a while. Her name was Miracle Woods, I think.

Raising the iron bar above my head, I let out a small chuckle. I spun it around a few times in a ninja-like attempt, smiling more. "Miracle Woods," I said, my arms tensed up and ready to swing, "I give you mercy." I brought the bar down, listening to the sickening sound as the bar broke through her skull and into her brain. The brown blood splattered on me, not hot like normal blood but not as cold as I thought it would be.

I lifted my hand up, trying to wipe the blood off but only achieving in smearing it more. Staring at my sides bloody hand, I sigh a bit. It's only been about two hours into this apocalypse, and I was already loosing myself. I'd hate to see what tomorrow would bring, if I survived that long.

I ran my bloody hand through my ginger hair, getting a bit of it off. Yesterday was my twenty-first birthday; I should be out partying and drinking right now. Glancing up, I saw a small hoard of zombies walking past me that I didn't notice before. They were walking past me, not bothering me in the slightest. All of them were headed in the same direction, though. The high school. Of course they passed me, though. I was drenched in that dark brown zombie blood from head to toe. Killed too many zombies, I guess. Twisting my foot at an angle that didn't hurt me but wasn't comfortable, I began staggering along with the zombies. I had to squint my gray eyes every now and then, the bright light reflecting off of the windows of the school. Time to see what these freaks were after.

(July)

I sat on the floor hugging myself as I watched the door, seeing that the zombies had pushed it open enough to stick their arms through. Their bloody, torn, rotten arms. One of the arms was entirely missing skin, even. The flesh and bones showing through. Most likely it torn off when he tried pushing his arm through.

Eagle nudged me with his foot, saying, "Hey, you ready to start leaving?" "How?" I muttered, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. "The school's surrounded, remember? We can't leave." He simply chuckled, sitting down on the floor next to me with one leg stretched out and the other pulled up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his one knee, resting his head on it to look at me. "So how was it, flirting with insanity?" he asked, laughing deeply. I roll my eyes and bury my face in my arms, growling at him, "Mention that again and I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Something's bothering you," he says, narrowing his eyes a bit, "are you alright?" "My siblings," I say quietly, feeling my eyes begin to burn. This was NOT the right time to cry! Especially not in front of Eagle! "They're back home, all alone right now." Aaaaaand there goes the waterworks. I couldn't seem to stop them, no matter how hard I pressed my hands against my eyes in attempt to slow them down. "Can I try and comfort you," Eagle asked jokingly, "or will you choke me with that chain of yours?"

I shake my head a bit, letting myself lean over and lay against him. I feel him wrap an arm around me slowly, as if cautious I was going to hurt him. Me, hurt something? As weak and helpless as I was? Never. I felt as if some sort of special thing began, but it was immediately interrupted when Diamond's footsteps headed our way. I looked up at her, my face drenched in tears. She stopped in her tracks, staring down at me. She looked ready to say a bunch of kind encouraging words, but was rudely interrupted by the metal garage door in the woods shop letting out a huge clang.

All three of us jumped, the loud noise usually meaning trouble in this new world. I stood up and looked in the direction of the crash, seeing a man with dirty-blonde hair and sandy brown eyes. He looked in his thirties, much older than any of us. He straightened from the crouching position he had been in, having closed the huge garage door. I stared at him, both alarmed and curious at the same time. He hardly looked human; dripping globs of black blood and zombie flesh clung to each of his limbs, desperate for the feeling of his living body. He stared back at us, grinning a bit as he said, "Well, you three must be what all those zombies out there are after. My name's Alex Woods, trust me I come in peace."

(Eagle)

"Well, Mister Alex Woods," I sighed, staring at him, "are you bitten or something? What's with all the blood?" Alex laughed, saying darkly, "Unlike you kitties staying in here and hiding away, I've been out there killing those things." I narrowed my eyes at him.