"I- I opened this really heavy door, it was like- made of steel or something. But I realised straight away that I was screwed. There were two dogs and they started barking and jumping up on me and those men, well, they heard the noise. I jumped this fence and my shirt got stuck but they had already saw me." His hands were still trembling. "a couple of them ran on foot to catch me but the rest hopped back in the truck and followed me. I couldn't shake them, even when I hid in open houses, they were on my ass the entire time. I thought that coming here was my best option."

"How did you know what 'here' was? How did you know Sam and Jordan lived here?" I asked sceptically, parts of his story weren't making sense.

"I- I was watching you three days ago after I saw those two guys running back here with some bags."

"Their names are Jordan and Sam and I have to find them. Why didn't you ask them for help?"

"I didn't know- I didn't want to-"

"It's not important." I decided, quickly stopping him.

I sighed, weighing my options, and technically I could only think of two; both were equally as bad as the other. I could go with a complete stranger who I didn't trust as far as I could throw and look for my family who might already be dead, or I could stay here and live with the guilt of never having tried to save them. One choice was believing in a miracle and the other would leave me to live on while never forgetting the horrible truth of a decision I had made. Most people survive solely on praying for dreams they will never accomplish, no one wants to live in the sad reality we actually exist in. Just like everyone else, I chose to ignore the harsh truth of the world, and the truth is; there are no happy endings.

"Where is this warehouse?" I asked, rushing towards Emily's stack of drawings and markers, I placed a page on the kitchen worktop and opened the lid of the pen. Cory drew a list of street names and a badly drawn image of a row of buildings, it was a surprise that he could write with how much his hands shook. 

"It's- It's like three blocks that way." Cory said, pointing vaguely towards the North. "I could show you?"

"Take me to that street and then we go our separate ways, you never come back to this building or go near my family again." I spoke coldly, I couldn't shake that feeling of uneasiness in my chest.

Cory nodded quickly as he moved closer to the door.

"Come back here at five, I have stuff to do before we go."

"Wait- where do I go?" Cory asked nervously.

"Anywhere else."

Cory cautiously stepped out and looked around before stumbling away. As soon as the doors were locked again, I knocked on the bedroom door before opening it cautiously.

"It's just me." I explained softly. I stepped inside to be met with relieved faces; Kiersten was standing in front of the other two protectively wielding a lamp as a weapon. I chuckled quietly and sighed calmly; I was so glad they were okay. Emily ran over and jumped into my arms excitedly as Kiersten dropped the lamp.

"Hey- it's okay." I said, hands on the kid's back comfortingly.

"What happened? Who was he?" Sarah asked, sweat beading on her forehead in panic.

"Look, I'll explain everything when I'm back but-"

"Back from where?" Kiersten asks curiously.

"I have to go somewhere." I had to keep this to myself, had to hide it, especially from Kiersten. If she knew what was going on; she wouldn't stop until she was allowed to go too.

"Cass... this is bullshit." Sarah whispered to me, shaking her head in disagreement. "You can't just leave."

"Look, I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone.  I will come back."

"Yeah?" Kiersten asked, "That's what Sam and Jordan said. Don't you think we deserve an explanation for all the shit that just went down? Who was that man? Where is he now?"

"You don't have to worry about him."

"We're supposed to go out looking for them today. We can't leave them for another night, what if they need us?"

"Listen. I talked to the man, his name's Cory and he needs my help."

"He needs your help?" Sarah chuckled dryly, "Cass, you can't leave us here alone to go with some random person to 'help him.'" She punctuated her sentences with sarcastic air quotations.

"I know how it sounds!" I huffed, "I do, but you gotta trust me. I'll come back." I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes in exhaustion.

"I trust you, Cassidy."

"What?" I asked, looking down to be met with Kiersten's eyes.

"I trust you." She repeated, the sheer amount of confidence in her voice was overwhelming. "I really do, but don't you think that Sam and Jordan are more important?" It was obvious that she was hurt at the thought of me carelessly abandoning our family for a man who had just showed up.

"I do, they're more important than anything to me. And that's why I have to go with him, I think he can help us. That's what I care about." I explained with as much sincerity as I could.

"How can you trust him?" Sarah asked.

"I can't." I gripped both Emily and Kiersten's hand in my own. "I can't trust him. That's why I need you guys to help me out."

"What do we have to do?" Kiersten asked, ready for anything just like always. There are many pros and cons regarding teenagers; a pro is that they're fearless, willing to endanger themselves at any moment. But, as we would eventually find out, the unwavering bravery was also a con. The bad thing about jumping into decisions headfirst is that you don't have enough time to realise what you're truly getting into.

"I need weapons, there has to be some around."

"We checked every gun range and just about every store in town, they were all ransacked. All we came back with was a flare gun, a taser and a bunch of bullets." Kiersten said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Yeah, I know, but gun ranges aren't the only places you can pick up weapons."

"Where, do you suppose, we can find some guns?" Sarah questioned with a puzzled look.

"I didn't say anything about guns, I had another idea. You all have jobs to do." I instructed. "Kiersten- I need you to go through all the drawers in the kitchen and find anything even remotely dangerous. Sarah- I need you to walk to the library and pick up books you can find about weapons, diy explosives, whatever you think would be helpful. Emily? I need your help with everything else."

"Cass... all of that can't stop the creatures. They're far too fast, even if you shoot it, you know it won't die."

"I know, Sarah, but these precautions aren't for the creatures; they're for the Hunters."

"The Hunters? You can't-"

"If everything goes to plan, they won't even see me, this is just for worst case scenario." I told her with complete honesty.

As we started to prepare for what could happen, the panic in my stomach began to worsen. Two young adults with shitty weapons, against a group of large, fully loaded rednecks? The probability of our demise was much more likely than us coming out on top. I knew that. The plan wasn't to go in there and put up a fight, this was simply a test run. It sounds cynical, but I never expected to ever face those guys, inside me I believed that Sam and Jordan were already gone. I thought I'd look through the window, come to terms with the truth; they were dead. Another part of me couldn't accept that, I wanted to be the hero, to fly into the warehouse and save my family, to be a part of an ending where the good guys finally win. I'd go in, kick some redneck ass and leave with Sam and Jordan. We would go home; I would tuck Emily into bed and listen to Kiersten singing that song she loves so much. If only.

Emily and I took a stealthy trip to the mall, avoiding all open roads on the way. We picked up black clothes, new sneakers from the shoe store we had once spent our days in and looked for some body protection. Knee pads, shoulder pads, chest plates. We took everything we could think of from both the soccer store. That was the best we could do; the pads usually lessened the blow of a soccer ball but now I stupidly thought it would do anything at all to protect me from bullets. We grabbed some pepper spray and threw it into a backpack before heading home. The array of knives on the countertops was a lot, but they wouldn't help me take down men with guns. Looking back, I think I only took them because it made me feel safer, it was like skimming the pages in a textbook before going into an exam when you hadn't studied. After we packed all the essentials into the bag, I stuck a knife in the holster on my leg and down the back of my waistband and mentally prepared to go.