I wake up. I look to my right. Kyle is driving. The wolf is curled up on my lap. It's late in the day. Kyle pulls into the mall parking lot. I rub my eyes. Kyle pulls into a space. I get out. Jake and Alex stand by the front doors.

"What took so long? We thought you were dead!" Alex says.

"A few things happened. The road I was driving on was blocked for miles by cars," I say.

Kyle walks over to us. Jake and Alex look at him.

"Who is this?" Jake asks.

"Someone who helped me out. Don't mind the wolf," I say.

"Jade, you need to see this!" Serena calls out.

We walk over. She has the trucks back door opened. It is stocked with food and cases of water. It must have never gotten unloaded. Mia walks outside. She is amazed at how much is inside the truck.

"Where do you find all this stuff?" she asks.

"It was all in the truck. We were just lucky to end up taking the truck with us," I say.

"What about guns, ammo?" she asks. I hand her the duffel bag.

"There was more...we would've taken it if zombies weren't breathing down our necks," I say.

"I want that truck unloaded. I don't want all of these supplies sitting here,"

"That could take several hours," I say.

"Then get started."

"Are you at least going to get others to help?" I ask.

"I'll get a few people," I open the truck door.

I grab a case of water. Jake pushes a cart over to me. I put the water in the basket. After we fill up, Jake brings it inside. A few hours pass and half the truck is unloaded.

I climb in. I slide another case of water to the door. I climb over a couple pallets. A hand grabs my leg. I look down to see a red eyed zombie. It pulls my leg. I fall. I kick it in the face.

"Jade!" Kyle yells.

"I need help!" I yell.

I kick the zombie again. Kyle climbs over the pallets. He pulls out a knife. He stabs the zombie in the head.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting that," I say.

We finish unloading the truck. I head inside. The bloodstains from the attack still cling to the floor. No matter how hard anyone washes it it will still be there. It will be a haunting reminder of the
suffering that took place here.

I walk into the bookstore that is now our room. Karla is sitting at the desk. She is looking at a map.

"I'm going to check out the kidnappers base tomorrow. Your welcome to come along," she says.

"Are you serious? You're sure you won't get caught?" I ask.

"I know that place better than anyone else. I won't get caught. If you want to join me, that's fine. I'd actually prefer that. The only thing is I'm leaving really early in the morning," she says.

"Sure, I'll go with you," I say.

I put my bag down. I eat a can of soup. I lay down. Tomorrow we might be able to get at least one person out of the base. I fall asleep.
I wake up right before the sunrises.

"Are you ready?" Karla asks.

"Yeah," I say. Karla steps outside. I walk with her.

"How far do we have to walk?" I ask.

"It's a bit of a walk," she says.

"Why did we have to leave so early?" I ask.

"Between now and ten o'clock, there are barely any guards on patrol,"

That's good. We have less chance of being spotted.

"Who is the leader?" I ask.

"Some guy, Jason, I think. It was complete hell after he became leader,"

Jason? It can't possibly be him. Lot's of people are probably named Jason.

"I'm just asking, even though there is absolutely no way that I know the Jason you're talking about. Is he tall, brown hair, blue eyes?" I say.

"Yeah, he looks like that..."

It's most likely just a coincidence.

"Did he ever talk about his past?"

This question will definitely tell me whether or not it is Jason.

"He lived in a bunker for ten years. He said he didn't leave much. The others would scavenge."

It's him! It all finally makes sense. How the people who took the others knew my name. It was Jason! He must've done it to get back at me for leaving. I thought him and Anne were dead.

"Do you think you know him?" Karla asks.

"I know him. This isn't good. Let's hurry this up. Who knows what he's capable of," I say.

We step through the streets. I have my flashlight on. I hear something ahead. I slow down until I'm completely still. I shine the light in front of me. I don't see anything...yet. I hear something being knocked over. I locate the sound. It's coming from behind a dumpster. I walk towards it slowly. I turn and see Hannah. She's covered in blood. She runs to me.

"Where are the others?" I ask.

"Zombies were attacking. We were all going to leave, but I was the only one who got out,"

"Is Sam okay?" I ask.

"I don't know. She was locked in a separate room,"
Karla looks at me.

"We need to get to the base. If the zombies are still there, we might have a chance at getting all of them back," Karla says.

"She's scared. We need to bring her back to the mall," I say.

"We don't have a lot of time,"

I look down at Hannah. She's crying. If we have a chance at saving the others we have to at least try.

"Lead the way,"

I pick up Hannah and carry her as we walk. Karla walks over to a apartment building. We walk inside. We climb the stairs.

Karla opens the door to an apartment. She walks straight to the window in the kitchen.

"You're not going to check for supplies first?" I ask.

"Why bother after that truck load you brought?" she says.

"I get what you're saying, but everything helps," I say.

She quickly searches the cabinets. She finds nothing. She opens the window. She goes out onto the fire escape. Hannah climbs out of the window then I do. We get off the fire escape.

"How much longer?" I ask.

I want to get Hannah somewhere safe as fast as possible.

"Just a little bit,"

We walk through the alley. We reach the base. All around is a chain link fence with barbed wire on top. Everything inside looks fine...like nothing ever happened.

"How long were you by yourself?" I ask.

"Since last night," Hannah says.

Jenny is sitting a few feet away.

"Jenny!"I say.

She turns around. She is much thinner then when I last saw her. So is Hannah.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, we haven't seen Sam in days, though," she says.

"Do they feed you?" I ask.

"Rarely," I unzip my bag.

I grab a few canned food items. I toss them over the gate one by one. Jenny catches them and puts them in her bag.

"Are you going to get us out of here?" Jenny asks.

"Not today, soon though," I reassure.

I want to rescue them all today so badly...it's not like we can do anything by ourselves though.
Hannah and Jenny talk to each other. Karla asks to talk to me.

"What is it?" I ask.

"We need to rescue them soon. They are starving," Karla says.

"I know, I'll try to talk to Mia about it," I say.

I look up at the sun. Day is coming.

"We should get back soon, people are going to question why we're not there," I say.

I get Hannah and we head back. I walk right into the store Mia is staying in.
She looks up at me.

"Yes?" she asks.

"We need to get our people back. Karla and I went to the base. They aren't feeding any of the captives. They are starving and waiting for us to rescue them. We need to attack the base. Waiting isn't doing any good. How much longer until they start killing the captives?" I say.

"I get it. I'll talk with the leaders. I will have something arranged," Mia says.