"Why? Why would you even think of bringing us here Kate, it doesn't look at all safe." Jill whined when they parked on the side of the abandoned farm so their car was hidden from view.

"I promise you Jill the inside is way nicer." Kate said grabbing some of the bags and a knife. It didn't hurt to be cautious. She opened the door quietly and she looked in. Light shown through the windows but other than that there was no light source. She left her bags on the floor as the others crept in behind her. She held her breath; she saw this on cop shows but still was afraid she would start shaking and if she did see something she might freeze up. There were five rooms, a kitchen, living room, dining room, sitting room and bathroom. They were all clear, it wasn't really an abandoned farm they renovated the inside with the peoples taxes, probably because college kids would work here in the summer and the kids in primary school had field trips here in the spring. It was the beginning of September so it was still pretty warm out, but in a month or so they would need heat and that was going to be a problem if they couldn't find a boiler room or a heater of some sort. All of a sudden there was a noise from upstairs, quick footsteps. Almost by instinct Kate grabbed her knife and held it so she could jab at whatever was upstairs. Then there were muffled voices and Kate lowered the knife slightly as she became curious. Jill also stood near the stairs with a knife but Kate signaled to not use it right away.

"Who's there?" She asked. There was no answer right away just more muffled voices and then an extremely masculine voice spoke from the top of the stairs.

"We are a group of college students and we were going to use this as a safe house." He said and then a similarly deep voice said after him,

"Yeah, get the hell out of our hiding spot."

"Why don't you guys come downstairs so we can see you and we can all work together, it’s not that hard." Rob suggested, lounging on the couch like this whole thing was nothing.

"Rob what the hell are you doing, you lazy ass! They could have been zombies." Jill scolded him. He reached toward the coffee table next to him and grabbed a knife waving it in the air.

"I would have been ready to save your womanly asses Jill, no need to worry." He announced, a true chauvinist.

"Sexist pig." She said simply. Then they heard a large amount of foot stomps coming down the stairs. How many of them were there? Kate didn't want a lot of people, that’s too many to look after. They all reached the bottom and she looked them over in silence. There were three guys and one girl; she was about Kate’s height and fragile looking. One of the boys was taller, but not by much, than the other two and he was thin, like a twig. The other two were muscular and the same height but other than that they were completely different; one was tan with sandy, dirty blonde hair and blue/green eyes. The other was slightly tan with pitch black hair and green eyes. They all then introduced themselves. The girls name was Sammy and she had bleach blonde hair and light brown eyes, the skinny, tall guy was named James, the tan one was Ryan and the last one with green eyes was Seth. Seth had a tendency to flirt, right off the bat he looked at Kate and Jill and changed his mind about wanting them to leave.

"Well I take back what I said about you two fine pieces of meat, you can stay." He said winking at the two of them. Kate made a gagging motion with her finger in her mouth and Jill just said no thanks, she would pass. Kate could tell Jill was lying.

"What are we doing about this?" Danny motioned to all of them standing in a circle; he was very protective of Kate, for a younger brother.

"I don't know, it's not a very large group and since we are all here already why not just unite and form a larger group." Kate offered. No one seemed to disagree, so from then on instead of four and four it was a total of eight.

They all set up their things most of it was similar, the essintials, the stuff that would keep them alive and clean for the time being. Each group would realize they had forgotten something but the other group ended up supplying it which was a good start. There were two rooms upstairs that were just empty and a bathroom attaching the rooms with two opposite doors. Ryan and Seth decided to drive out to a small drugstore a few minutes away to pack up on some more supplies to last them as long as possible. Danny went with them and Kate was scared the whole time for no apparent reason. She had also learned that Ryan and Seth had both been in her high school and that’s why they looked so familiar. They also learned that Sammy was Ryan’s cousin. In return the other group learned about their circumstances. The first day settling in, no one sat down, everyone was moving around, stocking up and setting out makeshift beds on the second floor. They had decided to divide the rooms by groups, each group got its own room. They also decided, just to be safe, that two people would stay up while everyone was asleep. Kate and Jill volunteered along with Ryan and Rob, so one group would stay up until three and then they would switch so that group could get some sleep.

Jill and Kate, while the others were caught up talking among one another, stole away to the bathroom upstairs to talk one-on-one.

“So what do you think about all of them?” Kate asked Jill while leaning against the counter. She already could tell Jill disliked Sammy but she wanted to hear it, just to make sure.

“They are nice and they actually know how to survive, unlike us. There is just one person I am not very fond of, Sammy, she is so annoying and is constantly whining. I swear if I have to deal with that for however long we stay together, I may just bust open her bottom lip.” She said, sounding a little serious. It was funny how the two of them knew what the other one was feeling without even having to hear it come out of that person’s mouth, that’s how close they were.

“I am a little iffy about her, she is really obnoxious and whiny, but I don’t know maybe when we are in a tight situation out there she’ll pull through.” Kate admitted, she could tell there was something about Sammy she didn't like, and if that girl didn’t get better, she was going to be a nuisance to the entire group.

“So what about Seth?” Kate said accusingly, she looked at Jill with her eyebrows raised in a motherly fashion.

Jill just stared back, without even flinching, “He is really hot but, what about Ryan?” She said teasingly. Kate kicked her in the leg playfully. Okay so she thought Ryan was really attractive, so what, they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, she wasn’t planning on doing anything with anyone what-so-ever.

“Fine, so we both find them highly attractive, glad we got that out of the way.” Kate said bluntly. They both laughed. It was the start of a whole new world yet they acted the same as before.

“Jill, are you scared?” Kate almost whispered. It was a silly question to ask at this time, she sounded like a small child talking to their parents about something small.

“What do you mean Kate; of course I am scared, we are all scared. Why wouldn’t we be?” Jill asked confused.

“I don’t know. It’s just. I don’t like being scared like this. I am scared for Danny, he has always had problems, and now, without our parents what is he going to do? He may be nineteen but he is still my little brother. I remember when he was so tiny and fragile and he hurt so easily and he hasn’t changed that much. What if he falls into a depression and…” She continued until Jill cut her off.

“Kate just stop, Danny is strong; he is a big boy he can fend for himself. We are all a little depressed right know and have our own burdens to bear. Think about it, my mother is down in South Carolina and my brother and sister are somewhere upstate and somewhere in Maryland. I am worrying about them too.” Jill said trying to make Kate realize everyone was suffering.

“If I could save them all, I would.” She whispered again tracing figure eights with her finger on the counter.

Jill just shook her head in disapproval. "You aren't a God Kate, you can't do it all so stop being hard on yourself, you're acting all dumb and depressed, stop."

Kate smiled, she was being a little over the top, an over achiever. She wanted to save the whole world, but she obviously couldn't do that. Jill couldn’t stand her attitude and pulled her out of the bathroom and down the stairs where everyone was sitting around, planning and just having common conversation. When they came down the stairs someone ran up the stairs and slammed the bathroom door behind them.

"What were you guys doing up there in the bathroom together?" Ryan asked curiously with an eyebrow raised.


Jill and Kate looked at each other and an idea popped into their heads and it was the same one, as usual. Kate turned to him and answered, "We had to relieve the sexual tension building up inside of us, and we usually help each other out."

Ryan believed this for a moment and then he just smiled, "Ah, me and Seth do that sometimes too." He said casually.

"Oh yeah they do that all the time at home, heck sometimes I even help." Rob added in. "Sometimes they get a little rough though, and then I leave."

They all just cracked up and then Seth came downstairs, he was the phantom who had ran passed them to go up to the bathroom. "Thirty-five minutes up there," He said angrily with a finger in Jill and Kate's faces, "I had to hold my piss in for thirty-five minutes. We are definitely going to have some difficulty with one bathroom."

"Tell me about it." Sammy snorted. When nobody was looking Jill turned to Kate and imitated Sammy getting a laugh out of Kate and some strange stares from the others which Kate just waved off.

For a couple of trapped in kids that were possibly facing the end of the world, at that moment everything seemed pretty normal.



“So ladies what are you cooking for dinner.” Seth announced while everyone was sitting around the room, he was flung over the couch, leaving no room for anyone else to sit.

Jill and Kate looked at each other and started to laugh hysterically, scaring the others, except for Rob who was chuckling too, “We are in a complete crisis right know, if you let these two cook then there won’t be any shelter for us, it would be burnt to the ground.” He declared.

“It’s that bad?” Ryan questioned.

“For dinner we have something in mind, everyone just wait here and if you enter the kitchen you’re dead and we are serious.” Jill said, grabbing Kate’s hand and pulling her up and across the room into the kitchen.

“Do you want the house to burn down or what?” Kate asked confused. She was not planning on cooking, besides toast, sandwiches or cereal she couldn’t make any food, she didn't even have the patience to boil water. Then she realized she had some learning to do before they all were perished by the flesh addicts just a few miles away. For slow beings Zombies could move exceptionally fast. They didn’t have to eat or sleep for energy; they had an endless supply and were unstoppable when they put their disfunctional brains to it.

“We are making them peanut butter and jelly, Kate.” Jill said.

“Jill, do you realize how much work we have to do, how much we have to learn before they actually get to us. What happens when we run out of the food we have, we will be eating wild game, and do we know how to cut that up properly, no.” She stated, Jill started to understand how little they actually knew about this situation, they wouldn't last very long if they were this clueless.

“Oh crap.” Is all Jill could manage, “Well what are we going to do, how are we supposed to learn, reading books and watching videos on this stuff isn’t going to help us?”

“What are our strengths?” Jill asked after a moment of silence. Kate lifted herself up onto the kitchen counter and put her chin on her curled up fist, looking like the classic thinker, and sifted through her mind to find the things they were good at.

“We may be good fighters, and we can solve problems, our communication is good and I am sure we could raid abandoned houses if it came to it.” She rambled. Jill nodded in agreement as she listed these things. Would this all really save them from an apocalypse, this was just the start in a month or two they would walk outside and it would look like all hell had broken loose.

"While we still have electricity I say we use it to our advantage and look up anything that could probably help us. Which reminds me, someone needs to find the electrical box before it gets to dark, and we need to drape the windows so if Zombies get close by, in the next week or two, they won't see us." Kate continued.

"We have watched too many Zombie documentaries." Jill said chuckling. They both got out the bread and peanut butter and jelly to make the sandwiches. They just talked causally for the rest of the time, while they made everyone's extravagant dinner. A bonus was that, after telling someone to go look for some sort of electricity, Rob had found the box and they now had power and heat, which was great.

"Order up guys." Jill and Kate said, walking into the room with the sandwiches on a plate.

"You're kidding me?" Sammy sneered. Seth also had his eyes raised in disbelief.

"Oh I am sorry, were you expecting steak and potatoes." Kate said, while Jill shoved a plate in front of Sammy, who took it with a dissatisfied look on her face. Seth was less of a snob, he just shrugged and started shoving the food down his throat. They all ate and occasionally would talk about their families and were they were at the moment. Danny and Kate looked at each other, trying to keep quite. Rob and Jill understood why but Ryan saw it in their faces, something was bothering them.

"Is something bothering you guys? What happened to your parents?" He asked curiously. Kate cleared her throat after swallowing her food.

"Well this morning actually, I had received a call from Danny, that's actually why we are out here. He had been home alone and he had gotten a call from a government official, connected to the major in some way. They were sending out messages to relatives of those located in New York City. Danny picked up the phone to here that our parents are in lock down right know, do to the fact they could have the infection because they were only a few miles away from the hospital and lab where all this chaos was going on." She said, letting out a long sigh when she had finished, Danny just sat there quiet as a mouse, mourning. Following this was complete silence and than everyone started yelling at once. They weren't shouting at each other though, they were shouting at the sheer fact that society was being a b****. James even got into it, when they all met him in the beginning they could tell he was a quiet, passive, yet intelligent person who wouldn't cause much trouble.

Finally when all was finished they all sat back in their chairs, a sort of relief now washed over them. "I hate our government." James said, in a much quieter voice now. They all nodded their heads, all the energy had evaporated from their bodies from using all of it on yelling for a good thirty to forty-five minutes about how much they hated society, and the government. Well at least they all found something they had in common with each other.

"While we are on this subject I want to say something that's been bothering me the whole day?" Danny said sitting up and leaning into the rest of the group, causing all of them to look at him and lean in as well. They all huddled together like they were in a crowded room of people, afraid of being overheard. I was the sense of survival against the undead that was finally settling in, everything was going to get pretty serious from here on out, but what Danny said next surprised everyone.

"I don't think we should go to the shelters that they have set up for us." He admitted, sheepishly.

"What!" Was the word that erupted from everyone else's mouths, echoing throughout the room in unison.

"Now just hear me out you guys, Do you really think sleeping in a large room with a bunch of people with masks on is going to make us survive, eventually everyone is going to pin themselves against one another. I like this small group of eight, we are strong together, that I can already see. We can get through this by ourselves, there are other alternatives, why should we listen to a government that we don't even trust. We have the skills to survive, eventually we will meet up with other surviving groups and find a safe haven, but for now why not just fight with the people you can trust." He finished, and suddenly, creased and wrinkled foreheads began to smooth with understanding, Danny made sense. Smaller groups are easier to control, bigger groups would lead to riot. "And another thing, if this disease is air born, what would staying with others who could carry this disease do, we would be dead in just a few days."

They all sat silently, considering the options they had and thinking that Danny made a lot of sense in this situation. It would be best if it was just the eight of them and not a room full of strangers, strangers who could be out to just save themselves and no one else.

"It's going to be a lot more work, but I am sure we can do it, there's no doubt in my mind. There's a reason we all sit here in the same room during this time." Rob finally said, unable to bear the silence any longer. They all agreed on this again, but there was doubt in some of their minds and that's really what scared them the most, not what was outside their door, the fact they couldn't control what it was.

"Well we have a few weeks, if we do end up changing our minds. But for know, all those in favor say I." Ryan said.

The room filled with eight very different voices all saying the same letter, "I."

"Welp, what about those night shifts?" Kate asked, lightheartedly.

"Ladies first." Seth said, yawning and stretching.

"You and me than, Jill." Kate said getting up and stretching her sleepy legs.

"Hey while you’re on night shift don't do anything you aren't supposed to." Ryan said suggestively and winking, "If you know what I mean."

"Wasn't planning to, but now that you brought it up, we might change our minds." Jill teased.

"What are we, wild animals? Enough talk about sex." Rob said, getting ready to walk up the stairs and pass out.

"Sorry, don't have any wet dreams about us." Jill snickered, making Rob gag.

"I'll try my best, thanks." He said chuckling and rolling his eyes, almost running up the stairs to get away from them.

This was the first night of many dark and dreary nights ahead.