"You're kidding me."

If Penny had screamed his name repeatedly while scrambling up and down the tread of each step, surveying all of the rooms and bedrooms, then how come he never responded?

She considered it to be good luck that the four even got in the house because the back door was available to access that time. Her brain wondered what went wrong. But that was the end of it.

It was a sign that Lana returned safely to her. Then again, the odds that she would be taken, and then killed were low considering a lock was a minute away.

Who would have thought that there would be a point in time where both Caleb and Isabelle weren't in the house and Penny and her friends were?

Where could he have possibly gone? And why were the other three standing on the first floor, not even bothering to look for him?

There was one particular door that the others were banned from using, as it was locked so that nobody but Caleb would have access to it.

She wondered if Caleb would like what she was doing, holding on to her knees and bending down. Her hair with blended colors was set free as she grew tired of having her ponytail being fixed.

She was practically out of breath, despite it only being a flight of stairs. She guessed all of those days of physical activity really took a toll on her.

The maroon door gave her the creeps, especially since she had never seen it before. There was such a thing as a particular area being soundproof. If this was the case and Caleb was unable to talk while inside something, she simply could not fathom it until she realized it wasn't true.

Or maybe it was? Anyway, no one would know.

What was he carrying as they left? A walkie talkie? Dang, it! So many things could've been avoided.

"Penny, come down. There's no use. He went somewhere for some reason, or someone took him. We can look somewhere else, okay?" The rasp was deeper than usual, and she did not want to think about that connection anymore.

"Well, he's gotta be somewhere." That feeling of being locked in a prison away from happiness came to Penny's mind yet again. She clenched her fist as a reminder that she came this far.

Lana picked up on the truth that Nina was infatuated with those - infected people. Staring at those transformed vampiric-but-not-really faces through a window for too long was enough to really scar a person.

No. That was a cause of concern, she realized when she literally snapped with her fingers back to the real world.

"Look! Them!" It was a delayed reaction on Nina's part, and that signaled that she needed to be protected to Lana. The alarms went off again just as Penny rushed her journey from upstairs to the exit hallway.

Penny nearly closed her eyes fully as her bottom lip pressed up against the other.

Why did this have to happen? Caleb doesn't deserve this...

The only explanation was if the bells rang in a new area, in which, yes, they were, but more quietly.

"Maybe we were better off leaving here anyways, with all our stuff," Aarav regretted, looking down to face Lana's eyes lacking any sign of vitality.

"He saved me, don't forget that. It was worth a shot. And what if Caleb's there already? You never know."

No physical pain. Penny had never experienced such a thrill of happiness from whatever Lana said. Whenever her bones felt like resting, she was thinking about more time with Aarav. That time, she vowed to repeat that sentence whenever she felt like it was the end of the world.

Because it was.

And then she remembered that if Caleb saw Lana carrying another destructive object, he would flip out.

For Aarav however, an unfamiliar sensation came over his chest area and he didn't know what to reply to that. So he just took out the map that was crinkled into a ball, placed it on a side table next to the object of entry, and flattened it out.

The others naturally made their way toward him, causing him to crouch down. He shook his head in annoyance. Lines, representing roads, were tiny. So much so that they made Aarav feel like a dinosaur looking down upon society. Nonetheless, Nigel had marked in pencil where the group was to go, presumably after the meeting the day prior.

"Straight East, and then a curve to the left, which is West. Maybe Caleb walked there. Lots of trees, wow," he commented, his eyes subtly widening.

The banging on the door began again.

Everyone was focusing their eyes on the clear opening to the outside world that was just within accessing. One of them was feasting its iris on Nina while walking up to the door, influencing her to back away. They could clearly see that the door was actually leaning frontwards, and it was only a matter of time until it would give in to the pressure.

Penny set her hands on her unusually cool face and said yet another curse word under her breath. It was just one, but it carried so much weight for her.

This was not a good situation to be in. If they had just carried on, none of this would be happening. But no, once again Lana had to make things difficult for everyone!

Lana stepped in the center of the circle that the other three made.

"It's fine. That secret back door that we found? We can go through there and take them." Sadly, Caleb's gun must have run out of bullets by then, Lana realized. She would just get a new one from the armory.

"I have an idea. Okay, we can move that couch. Penny, you can help me," he said to only her tensed-up face. This was a chance to prove her strength to him.

Her hands gave out at the last second, just in time for the sofa to secure the door.

Lana raced upstairs for the armory. She was expecting to find one just like the gun that had lost all of its bullets.

"See? Nothing to worry about. Now let's go," she told everyone while heading up.

The incessant pattern was still there, and Nina wanted to teleport to the back door, so she ran as fast as she could.

"I'm scared!" she exclaimed right before running out to the grass.

Penny's heart ached for Nina's words. She agreed, but they didn't even know what it looked like outside.

"Nina, wait!" Both Penny and Aarav ran after her and they both paused for just the right amount of time for Lana to join them.

This was the first time that everyone watched the infected gang up on each other in a pile. An opening of approximately five seconds having to do with the hill awaited the survivors.

I can do this.

Playing the bold peacock, she spread her wings, dashed across the grass, and shot a bullet at a wandering infected with her new weapon.

"We don't have to kill any more! Let's just go!" She was leading the way and as soon as they knew it, Aarav handed Lana the map and she took off.

Penny felt like every single particle of tension had dissipated into the air. Making peace was the best way to go.

"About Nigel. It wasn't the right way to go about it, I don't think, but you stood up for our friend. That says a lot."

There was definitely something in the corner of Lana's eye when she turned to look.