"Come on!" He yelled, pushing his sister in front of him.

He looked back to see that the infected hasn't stopped following them and were still coming after them. They needed to find a safe place, and quick, because they were already running out of breath from exhaustion. They couldn't stop; they had to keep running, even if they had been running for almost three hours. Those things had been chasing them down since this afternoon, and the sun was already setting. He looked around, trying to find a place to hide for the night before it got too dark out.

"What are we going to do?" His sister asked, stopping and taking a few deep breaths.

"I don't know," he responded. "But we have to keep going. They're gaining on us." He grabbed her arm and started running again.

"In here!" His older brother yelled, only loud enough for the other two to hear.

The older brother opened the door what looked like a barn and immediately got his weapon out before taking a few steps inside. He tapped his bat on the solid ground, listening and waiting for those things to come after him from the inside, waiting for their ugly snarling and growling.

"It's clear. Come on," he informed them as he turned and waved for them to follow him in.

They did as they were told, making sure to close the door behind them. They turned to look at what kind of building they were going to take refuge in and slowly walked in.

The building had a loft above the wrapped around 3/4ths of the building. It was high enough from the ground but not too high to make the building look huge. Stacks of hay was stacked at the edge of the loft. There was no windows or other doors inside just wooden walls surrounded them. The roof was all white while the bottom half was brown. Both of the colors were fading and pieces of the wood was chipping off.

"This looks like a good place to settle in for the night, don't you think, Chad?" She turned around to look at her younger brother.

"Yeah, but first, we must make sure there are none of those things wandering around in here," Chad said, looking around. "I'll take the upper level." He was already climbing the ladder that was in the back.

"I'll take this side," his brother informed him. "You take that side, okay, Erin?"

"Okay," Erin obeyed, lifting her two kitchen knives and carefully shuffling forward.

Once everything was cleared, Ben started to barricade the front door with a shelf and a desk that were just lying around. All of them looked around, trying to figure out what the building used to be before the world had come to an end. Ben and Erin, who were especially curious as to what the place was, looked at a few tiny desks and a bookshelf, but the books and desk supplies were all scattered around the room, including bags of all kinds: suitcases and backpacks, among other things.

It reminded the trio of a barn yet half of it was a sort of study place.

"What do you think this place was?" Erin asked, picking up a purse and rooting through it.

"I don't know. What about you, Chad? You got any ideas?" Ben asked hopefully.

Chad shook his head. "No, but I can tell you it looks overrun. People probably came in here for safety when this started."

"Well, maybe some of these bags have something we could use," Erin said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Chad agreed. "Throw them to up to me. We could stay up here for the night, and while we're here, we could go through them all to see what we got, just in case they get in. We should be safe up here, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Ben said as he started tossing the bags up to Chad. "I don't think those will hold them." He glanced over at the barricaded door warily.

Hours passed, and the three of them were still going through the bags. All that they had found so far were photos, makeup, and a few water bottles. As they went through more, they eventually found a map and a few snacks to munch on. The last bag was a child's backpack--they could tell from the Mickey Mouse picture on the front of it, with colorful clouds and a child's writing on the strap that read Ryan B. Everyone looked at each other, letting their feelings get the better of them and wondering what important thing might a child have for anyone.

Chad opened it up, and to his surprise, the kid's bag was full of canned peaches with Jerky and cookies stuffed into a zip lock pouch, and at the very bottom of the backpack, a first aid kit. He turned it over, letting the supplies drop to the floor. Erin and Ben's eyes widened in response and their lips spread into a huge grin. Once all of the food had fallen to the floor, he noticed that there were pockets and a small pouch in the front of the bag. He dug through it to find candy, chocolate granola bars, and a pair of scissors.

"I wonder what kind of kid stuffs their backpack with these kinds of supplies?" Erin thought aloud.

"A very smart little kid, that's what kind," Ben laughed, his deep brown eyes lighting up.

"Looks like we have snacks for the next few days," Chad said, stuffing everything back in the backpack. "We'll keep this bag, since there is obviously no room in ours."

That night, they ate jerky and a few cookies before lying down and resting.

The next morning when the trio was gathering their things together and getting ready to head out, a loud bang came from the floor below them, causing all three of them to turn their heads. They looked at each other in silence, waiting to see what had made the banging noises. No one dared to speak or even move, scared that whatever was out there would hear them. After a few moments, more banging noises erupted, but instead of the usual scratching and growling sounds that the trio was used to hearing, they heard heavy footsteps and soft voices. Almost immediately, Chad looked at his siblings and started climbing down the ladder.

"Chad!" His brother semi-yelled. "Chad, what are you doing?" He ran after him.

"People are out there," Chad said back. "If they're in danger, we have to help."

As they got closer, the noises quietened down, causing Chad to stop dead in his tracks. They waited for some kind of sign that someone or something was outside of those doors. Eventually, the footsteps started up again, followed by gun shots and a female yelling. Everyone stared at each other once again before turning their attention back on the door.

"Get the door open!" A male voice yelled.

The doors shook, with a loud thud following it.

"I can't! It won't open!" Another voice yelled back before there was more gunfire.

Ben jumped off the ladder, carefully looking at the door, while Erin was still on the top platform and Chad was rushing towards Ben.

"Chad, they could be dangerous!" Ben half-shouted.

"Wait!" The voice from the other side yelled.

"What?" The soft female voice asked while they stopped banging on the door.

"There's someone inside. I heard footsteps," he warned.

"It's probably just your imagination," the other voice reasoned.

"No, I heard something inside," he said. "Hey! Let us in!" He started pounding on the door.

Chad began to push the desks and shelves out of the way before Ben stopped him. "You can't open the door," he said. "We open this door and we're dead."

"And if we don't, they're dead," Chad snapped back. "I'm opening it."

"If anyone's in there, please help us!" The soft voice pleaded. "Please open the door? Please!"

After a few pushes and pulls, Chad finally took all of the shelves and desks out of the doorway. The door swung open and two people swarmed in, almost immediately shutting the door again. Chad and Ben rushed to the door to help keep it shut, cautiously glancing at the people who they had helped.

"Get to the top!" Chad yelled over the Infected.

"Diana, go, now!" The guy yelled to the young looking girl next to him. "Now! We got this, go!"

The girl, Diana, looked up at him before nodding. She ran to the ladder and started to climb. Erin helped her to get to the top faster by pulling her up. While the two girls were safe on the top platform, the three guys stayed below to try and keep the door closed.

"Chad, go!" Ben yelled at him and signaled with his head to go.

"No! You go first!" He yelled back.

"Kid, listen: go!" The guy said. "I got this! Both of you go!"

"No! I could help!" Ben argued. "Chad, go now!"

"Kid, I'm not going to argue with you. Go!" The guy said. "Now! Both of you!"

Ben nodded before stepping back. "Come on, Chad!" He grabbed hold of Chad's arm and pulled him, realising that he wasn't listening.

They both ran to the ladder and met up with the two girls on top. As Ben started to climb, the door burst opened and more gunshots were fired. Ben finally reached the top, just in time to see the new guy and his brother trying to fight off the Infected that were coming after them. The new guy had a handgun while Chad was stuck with a crowbar in his hands.

"Chad!" Ben yelled. "Get up here. Come on."

"Come on!"Chad said, slapping the guy lightly on the shoulder before running towards the ladder.

The guy fired one more shot before following Chad and then shooting a few more times, just to give them both enough time to get up the ladder to a safe area. The two people looked at their saviors and they all just stared at each other, taking in one another as the sound of wood being scratched at and loud deep growls come from below.

 Hope you enjoyed this little chapter. :) *Edited