Ashley: 

The lone gunshot was followed by a volley of distant yelling and more gunshots. “Do you think that’s Ryan’s group?” Mitch asked me. His face was riddled with concern. “Maybe, we ought to go investigate,” I replied, opening the door. “Hang on Ash.” He stopped me. “Those could be bandit guns we hear. It might be best to head back to base. We got some supplies anyway,” He urged me. I was confident it was a bandit’s gun we heard, but the bandit was Ryan. I nodded my head in approval, and we sneakily tore off down the empty streets. We arrived at the base and were greeted by Jerome and Louise. “Something big just happened.” Jerome informed us saw we entered the house. The basement refugees swarmed around Jack as he talked into his radio. “Friends.” He said solemnly. “Russia has dropped a nuclear bomb on Florida, apparently trying to help control the zombie population. Fort Rinval has been blown to bits. The Charleston Stronghold is the most southern base we know of now.” Jack announced solemnly. Some people broke into tears. Others yelled crude things in their fury. I was utterly confused at that moment. The south east of America was almost instantaneously demolished. I had also realized that Jack’s fortress was part of a chain strongholds. “Where will they hit next?” Maria let out a witch like shriek. “They’ll hit New York next.” Jerome whispered under his breath. Panic began to sweep through the refugees. “We need to get off the East Coast. As soon as possible.” I said aloud. “You’re right.. Guys, get your things,” I saw Mitch transform back into the emotionless leader I had seen before. I pushed my way through the crowd where my leather bag sat, concealed under my blankets. I swapped it for the supplies I had gathered that day, and found Mitch again. “Meet me upstairs, in the backyard,” He demanded. I listened, and did as I was told. As I reached the main floor, Ryan burst through the main doors, alarming the guards. He was drenched in blood, and was carrying extra bags. “The other scouts!” He yelled. “They were..they were killed!” At that instant, I knew by the maleficent gleam in his eye that he had murdered the other scouts. The whole base was bursting with chaos. Ladies were crying, men were raging, and even Jack began to look hopelessly overwhelmed. I still had the compound bow held in a crushing grip, and debated on stealing it. One of the guards I had met at the late night encounter came upstairs and caught me longingly staring at the bow. He came storming over to me. “You know what? Take the bow. I know you and your group is about to leave us. This place is about to loose it’s sanity. I can’t leave my dad, but you might as well get the hell out of here before it’s too late.” He was shouting. I could smell the sour tang of alcohol in his breath from my wine. I looked at him sadly, trying to sympathize for him. He stormed away though, yelling vulgar, tumultuous words. Moments later, Mitch, Jerome, Ryan and Louise appeared at the top of the stairwell. Jack was following them. He handed Mitch a fragile looking book. “Thank you Jack! We wish you the best of luck!” Mitch gave a quick hand shake, then called me over. I took the bow, and walked right past Jack with it in my hand. He looked at me with remorseful eyes, but remained silence. “To the car!” Mitch barked. Again we all dove into the car, with him the driver’s seat. This time, I was in the shotgun. He roughly passed me the Atlas. “Open it to page twelve.” He instructed, pulling the car out of the driveway. I flipped through the old crumpled pages until it opened to page twelve. It was a large map of the United States. Drawn in permanent marker, there was a circle around a small segment of Missouri. Written in thin pen, it read ‘see page 42’. I flipped to page forty two to a detailed map of Missouri, where the circle was more precise. It had written inside the circle ‘Gardenwall,’ “What does it say?” Mitch asked. “I…I think it says we need to go to Missouri.” I replied warily.

Sydney:

The drive went fairly uneventful. There were less monsters in the more country parts of Ohio. Pete directed me down old dirt roads until we pulled up into a large ranch. There was a small house that gleamed from inside with candlelight. Outside, a small boy sat on the porch swing. Pete got out, and went to greet the boy. We cautiously followed. A middle aged woman came bustling out to hug Pete. “Awe! My little Peter Pie! How have you been my little cutie pie?” She smiled at him lovingly. He did not return the kind greeting. “Hello Auntie. I had some refugees that want to know if they could borrow some of your horses.” He explained dully. Pete was such a capricious character. I felt like he never showed his honest face. “Oh! You’ve brought friends! Hello dears!” She cheerily greeted us. She was so pleasant I began to question if she was even aware of what had been happening in the world outside her ranch. Pete obviously began to wonder the same thing, and subtly asked her if she was aware of the situation. “Peter! Enough of your silly stories!” Auntie cheerily brushed it aside. I exchanged glances with Pete. It may have been in her best interest to stay blissfully unaware. “Got some pretty horses here, if you wanna try ‘em.” She offered, leading us out to a stable full of horses. One in particular caught my eye. It was a sleek amber horse with ivory splashes. If we were leaving with horses, I wanted this one. After browsing the stables, I called Dan and Mark over to me. “We have two options right now.” I began, casting a glance over my shoulder to make sure Pete wasn’t eavesdropping. “We could travel by car, which is the safest method of transportation, but we’d have to bring Pete, and he’s kind of.. a shifty character to say the least.” I explained. “And our second option is traveling by horseback. It’s slower and more dangerous, but we can navigate off road, and we don’t need to worry about Pete. What do you guys prefer?” I asked. “Car!” Mark immediately chimed. “Horseback is such a childish idea! I’ve never even rode a horse.” He continued. Dan looked like he was pondering the question over and over in his mind. “I say.. horseback..” He answered quietly. “You’re such an idiot Dan. The last thing we need is another living thing to look after.” Mark retorted. “I mean, it’s either a horse or a Pete.” I remarked under my breath. Mark rolled his eyes. “What ‘bout you Syd? Do you have a preference?” Dan asked me. “Well… I’d rather travel by horseback. We can avoid a lot of trouble with humans if we can take them off road.” I spoke nervously. “What! You can Not be serious.” Mark cried, outraged. “I know! It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but America is sort of an anarchy right now. We can’t really trust strangers, and it might be best to be able to all together avoid them.” I defended my choice. “Also,” I continued, sharpening my voice. “I’m not forcing you to come with us. Stay here if you want to.”  It felt wrong to speak like this to one of  my good friends, but what I said was true. I turned to Dan. “When should we leave?” I asked. He looked confused. “Don’t we need to trade her or pay for the horses or something?” He replied. “Yeah, um.. I’ll do that.” We were hindered by the remains of civilized humanity, but as I endured every moment more of the new lifestyle, I found it easier to do things I would never have done a couple days ago.  Stealing the horses was a prime example of my fading morals. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror hanging on the wall, and my small diamond earrings gleamed in the faint light. They were worthless to me at this point, and could be considered a fair trade to an oblivious woman. I took them off, and examined the glittering jewels for a moment. They reminded me of my parents, and I didn’t want to hand them over to the stranger. I tried to drain my mind of sentiment and found Pete’s Auntie. “Ma’am? I have no cash on me, but would you allow us to borrow three horse for a couple days in exchange for these?” I asked, extending my hand so that she could see the small diamond earrings. “They’re beautiful, sweetheart. I’d accept this offer. Keep them as long as you’d like.” She accepted them, and I dropped them into her rough hand. “Thank you.” I nodded my head emotionlessly, and returned to the stable. “Alright, I payed it off. Is Mark coming?” I asked Dan. “Sydney… No. Mark would rather stay. Maybe we should give him a little longer?” Dan tried to persuade me to stay a while longer. “No, we can’t. He’s made up his mind, and we’ve already wasted so much time since the accident.” I responded firmly. We looked down in silence for a moment. “I’m going to go say goodbye, then we’ll be off.” I announced, leaving the stable again. “I already said my goodbye, so we can leave soon.” Dan sighed. I wandered back into the house, and found Mark and Pete in the kitchen. They were laughing. “Mark, we’re uh.. we’re heading out,” I choked on my words. “So, bye.” I scratched my head uncomfortably. “Alright Sydney, best of luck,” He waved me off, but I could see a glint of sorrow behind his careless mask. As I walked off, I heard Pete whisper to Mark. “Traitors. Just as I told you when you guys arrived. I knew they were gonna leave us.” 

Sonja:

“What the **** just happened?” Tom demanded. I was still recovering from what had just occurred, and was leaning against Tucker. “Oh I dunno, just some shenanigans. I’m assuming you’re Tom?” James brushed it off. He was wearing a sleek leather jacket and some Levi Jeans. His undershirt was a plain white T-shirt. “Yeah, I’m Tom. Nice meeting you, what the hell is happening? Where’s Jordan and Aurey?” Tom ranted on furiously. I felt a stinging pang of regret as we drove off, abandoning Jordan and Aurey. Could they have survived the mayhem? I wanted to accept the fact that they had died. “It was an auction for a slave trade, but I assumed you had figured that much out. They were being too damn loud, and got some zombies down there. They’re not forward thinkers, but that’s okay. I’ll reintroduce myself. Hi, I’m James. This is Tom, and who are you?” James shifted his attention from Tom to me. “Me? I’m.. I’m Sonja.” I replied nervously. “Hi Sonja. Don’t worry, I’m not like the others. I didn’t buy you two to be my slaves, I bought you guys your freedom,” He chanted heroically. “If that’s the case..” Tucker began warily. “It seems a little too good be true.” I couldn’t help but agree with Tucker’s cynical view. “Hey, I can’t blame you guys. A lot of people can be two faced. And all I can really ask you to do is trust me.”  He responded, seemingly candid. “Where are we going?” I asked. “Well, that’s a pretty good question. Right now, I’m taking us to my little private stockpile so we can get you guys armed. Then, we decide if we want to head to Seattle, Washington, or Austin, Texas. Those two places are the only two functioning places in America right now. “They’re rescuing people by the dozens, but I don’t know what place we should go to,” James answered. “I don’t believe a word out of your mouth.” Tom ridiculed James. “You were just enjoying an evening drive, during the apocalypse, and you decided to go save some slaves. That’s bull****.” James looked at Tom, and I noticed his eyes were hinted with regret. “I was… I was looking for someone. They got my sister, but I don’t think I’ll ever see her again. If I can’t save her, why let more people suffer than needed.” He replied calmly but with a sense of anguish. Tom remained quiet, and relaxed a little bit. I sunk into the car seat, and rested my head on Tucker’s shoulder, and drifted off into a calm sleep.

Tucker woke me up when we arrived at the stockpile. James pried open the shed doors, revealing an abundance of weaponry and fresh water. “Guns ’n water. The basic needs of an apocalypse.” James smiled, walking into the shed. “Search around. Find what you like. I should have ammo for just about everything. I found a .22 rifle that I had shot before long ago. “I kinda like this one.” I called, holding it up. “Not a bad choice. Kinda bulky, but good for a beginner.” James called back approvingly. Tucker and Tom also found some favorable guns and weapons. Tucker approached me with a swiss army knife. “Here Sonj. This ought to help someday. I want you to keep it.” I smiled at him gratefully. “Guys, we got some zombies in the distance. Time to get out.” James called, gesturing toward them. “You’re paranoid. Give us another moment.” Tom replied, continuing to browse the selection. “Tom let’s go!” Tucker let out a frustrated sigh. His ability to ignore directions always endangered us. “We really do need to go Tom.” I attempted coaxing him. “Woah.. Seriously Tom, we need to go NOW.”  James summoned us again. I obeyed and got back to the truck with Tucker. “Sonja, Tucker..look around us.” James instructed in a nervous voice. Undead monsters were closing in at all angles. At that moment, I realized that we were being surrounded by zombies.

Aurey: 

Chaos swarmed around me. A sea of man eating creatures and immoral men shoved and jeered and screamed around me. One of the monsters grabbed my foot, and viciously attempted to bite it. I screamed, and tried kicking it off, but it seemed to be latched on. Suddenly, another foot slammed down on the zombie’s skull, freeing me. I looked to see who had saved me, and was relived to see a friendly face. “Aurey, follow me!” My friend beckoned me, seizing my hand and pulling me out of the chaotic mix. We climbed up the concrete stairs, and reached the ground stairs. Around us, a whirlwind of bandits, monsters, and slaves swirled about. “Where do we go now?” I whimpered, shrinking against the pushing crowd. I was led hurriedly toward a small pickup truck. The doors were locked, and the monsters continued to advance. “Watch out!” Suddenly, the truck’s glass window shattered into a million shards. “Get in, quick! Careful though.” I crawled through the broken window, wincing as the sharp glass sunk into my legs and arms. My friend followed after me. He crawled into the driver’s seat, and rummaged through all the pockets and drawers of the car, and found a spare set of keys. The car started, and we pulled away from the tumultuous scene. “Jordan…” I whimpered, trying to collect myself, looking to him. “Are you okay? You weren’t bitten, were you?” He asked, casting a concerned glance in my general direction. “No. No, I’m okay. Are you?” I asked in return. He was bleeding somewhat heavily. I too, was bleeding from the deep gashes the glass had ripped. My arms and legs were covered in smeared, scarlet streaks. I realized the adrenaline would soon wear off and I would be left in torturous pain. “Hang in there, you’re going to be okay.” Jordan comforted me. After several long minutes of driving, we finally pulled over, and searched the car for anything that could act as a bandage. We found a couple rags in the back of the truck. “Well, they’re dirty, but they’ll do. I guess.” I sighed, wrapping one around my most injured arm. We sat there in silence for a couple of moments, patching ourselves up. “Wait!” I practically shouted, startling Jordan. “What about the others! Oh no! We left them! We left them to die!” I clutched the rag in my hand. “Aurey, listen to me. Listen. We couldn’t save them. There’s nothing we could have done.” Jordan grabbed my shoulders, trying to calm me down. I couldn't bare the thought of my friends dying. My mind had become overwhelmed at that moment. I had lost my house, lost my friends, lost my daughter, and lost my sanity. I crumbled to the ground, crying.