The screams of people were ringing in Caden's ears

He tried to stop the overlapping thoughts in his head, to think straight. Anything to not be the next victim. But he couldn't.

It was as though he was paralyzed. 

He was jolted back to reality when he felt a rough hand pull him aside and take him behind a car. The man ducked down and Caden did the same. 

"T-thank you" He whispered as he realized that he had nearly died. 

"No need to thank me," He said "Just be careful out there" 

The man started crawling out of their hiding place. 

"Wait, where are you going?" Caden asked.

"My family is out there, I need to find them," He said and left without waiting for a reply. 

That's when he remembered, family. He needed to find Gabriella. But how could he? There were zombies everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before they came after him. He didn't exactly have a good hiding spot. 

He took a few deep breaths and tried to think of something. His eyes frantically studied the place, for anything that could help. His eyes settled on a rusted metal bar. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. 

He went on all fours and dragged himself towards the bar, praying no one got to it first. He grabbed it and stood up.

He was ready to face them 

»»————-　☠　————-««

Renee stood there in shock, how was this possible? 

She realized that the longer she stayed inside, more would turn into the creatures and she would eventually be outnumbered. She needed to escape while she still could. 

Looking down at the chaos, she knew it wouldn't be easy. There was an army of people to fight through. She only had a hammer for defence and had to hope that unconscious swaying would be helpful. 

She slid down the railing of the stairs and made the longest jump she could. Immediately, the creatures turned their focus to her. She felt her adrenaline rush and she aimlessly swayed the hammer and it went through the skull of one of them. 

She couldn't waste time killing them all, however. She needed to focus on running. She had never been much of an athlete, but she just hoped the monsters were slower than her. 

Renee dashed through the crowd, pushing people out of her way, and she didn't stop. Not for a second, till she finally saw the gates. 

Happiness brimmed her heart and she finally stepped out and felt like she could breathe again.

Little did she know, she was far from safety.

»»————-　☠　————-««

Caden stood up and saw the military officers try to do some damage control. But the situation was already out of anyone's control.

He didn't want to get too ahead of himself and walk straight into danger, so he tried to lay low, by staying away from the main road while still keeping an eye out for his sister. 

He soon realized that the corners weren't all that safe either, the beasts came anywhere they could find flesh. He struck them one by one with his rod. He was lucky to have one advantage, they weren't fast, or very smart for that matter. Their only advantage was their population, which was growing faster by the looks of it. 

"Where are you Gabby?" I thought out loud. 

Caden paid closer attention to the van numbers and realized none of them was the ones Gabriella had gotten into. 

"She probably went further into the city," He said to himself. He then realized that he wouldn't be able to walk such a long distance and needed his bike, which he had completely erased from his mind upon seeing the commotion. 

Going back wasn't the best idea, as he'd have to face all those creatures again, but he couldn't wander around without a vehicle. With that thought in mind, he redirected himself. 

He walked back at a faster pace, hoping his bike wasn't wrecked, because that'd be a waste of time. 

After a few minutes he found his bike fallen on the ground, but to his luck, still functioning. He put on his helmet and began driving. 

He was forced to make a lot of turns, as he didn't want to attract attention to himself by crashing any of those critters. He slowed down whenever he saw a van, to check its number plate. 

He drove for what felt like hours until he finally ran out of gas. 

He got out of his bike in distress, he was in the middle of nowhere with no means to defend himself. His heart began beating faster as he seemed like the only target nearby.

And all eyes were on him. 

»»————-　☠　————-««

Renee had never run that fast or far before. She entered some random alleyway. She took a few moments to calm herself down and started coughing profusely. 

The whole incident left her extremely thirsty, but she had no water. She left it in her cycle when she began protesting and was not ready to go back there.

Still, soon she would need to back for food. She didn't survive all that just to die at the hands of starvation. 

She leaned her back to the wall and slowly slipped down until she reached the floor. She began panicking wondering about the long-term effects of this... apocalypse? She didn't know for sure what to call it.

But it didn't really matter, what mattered was that she needed shelter. She would soon get hypothermia and that would not end well. She also needed an ally, surviving in a situation like this was no easy feat, much less when you're alone. 

But who could she call? She didn't exactly find anyone to survive with, nor did she have the time. 

After considering about a hundred different possibilities, Renee came down to one solution, she needed to leave the alley. 

It wasn't gonna remain safe for too long, and she also needed real shelter. She still had the hammer with her and slowly creeped out. 

She scanned her surroundings and was not prepared for what she saw. There were approximately one and a half times the monsters as there were back inside. 

"How did they get here so fast?"

Then the thought struck her that there must've been another outbreak outside and this was the result of it. She took a few deep breaths and started walking, well more like crawling. She didn't want to risk being seen and being chased by this huge mob. 

She usually stuck to a specific track while cycling, and wasn't familiar with these streets, or if there was any shelter nearby. Still, she decided to keep going. This place was bound to have food. 

She managed to evade them all, for it seemed they had low vision. She wasn't sure how long her cover would last but trusted her sleuth skills. 

She finally found a little cafe, which had its doors unlocked. She went in to get some dinner and hopefully, spend the night there.

She opened the door trying not to make it creak. She didn't have any flashlight with her, so she had to make use of what little moonlight made its way in. 

She took a vegetable sandwich and started gobbling it up, she hadn't eaten in hours. Then she heard a voice that made her jump in her tracks. 

"Who's there?"