The DeadAlive 2

The next morning everyone was well rested and ready for the long trek north. Everyone except Annie was awake within the same half an hour.

Seeing as 5 to wake-up was Flare's turn on guard duty, he was wide awake and still holding a finger against the trigger of his rifle. Jaz's palms were scratched open again. In the middle of the night when he and Tri swapped guard duty, the moaning of the zombies less than a quarter mile away drove him off the deep end. Julia would've wrapped the torn skin hanging from his hands clean and straight, but she had been out in the back of the warehouse with four bullet holes through her head for almost a week- maybe more. In that week, Nactinae had gotten pretty good with medicines and bandaging to the point she could help.

Helen and Harley were in the 'kitchen' area rummaging through what little food that they had. Without much examination, they noticed they barely had enough to feed three people. Helen nearly broke into tears at the sight of broken cans and jars they had, making the food useless.

"She's still sound asleep," Flare said, stroking a sleeping Annie's curly blonde hair.

"Let her sleep," Nactinae said, "She'll need a lot of energy."

Harley walked into the sleeping quarters with a saddened face, "We only have a can of corn and half a jar of olives left, Nactinae."

Nearly breaking into tears, Nactinae nodded and looked around, "Uhmmm… Give it to… Annie. She needs it more than us."

An odd silence filled the room, followed by a small moan. Annie stirred but didn't look too thrilled to be awake.

As Helen worked to warm up the corn on a small hotplate for Annie, Nactinae instructed Flare to turn on the record player to drown out the moans and howls of zombies.

The record player, that Annie had named Tiffany because she doesn't like saying 'record player' all the time, was an old one powered by a crank on the side. A crackley Mozart symphony killed the warehouse, lifting most's spirits.

Once Annie had downed her breakfast, Nactinae blew her whistle again. Everyone gathered around her in the middle of the 'main room' with some interest. Laurie was the last to come running down from the ceiling of the warehouse. Nactinae hesitated before speaking.

"… We're out of food. The zombies are closing in. We're loosing people," she noticed she hit some cords with people, especially with Jaz who was picking at the bandaged on his hands, "So I've decided. We're leaving. We'll be going north until we can find somewhere sustainable."

"I don't wanna leave!" Annie yelled. No one looked to her. Everyone knew she didn't understand the situation like everyone else did.

"…Everyone, back your bags."

The group dispersed to pack their few belongings into backpacks and duffel bags. Weaponry, save an ax, which was held by Nactinae at all times, was collected in Flare's bag, Jaz and Tri held onto the groups clothing, Nactinae and Harley carried medical supplies, Helen would carry what food they had if they had any, Laurie held nothing- he scouted ahead with a rifle in his hands, and Annie's small backpack was full of knick-knacks and other useless things that the group let her hold onto so she feels she's helping.

Nactinae ordered everyone to the side of the bulletproof, industrial-grade steel garage door as her, Flare and Laurie stood right on it. Shivers of fear tore through their bodies, but they stayed strong. In one swift movement, Flare and Nactinae threw the door open and ran toward the sound of moaning zombies. Laurie made his way around to a herd of zombies at the edge of the fence. Within bullet's range they shot… and shot… and shot until all but a few walking corpses were left.

Flare's kneed buckled for a moment in shock, but he got up and ran after Nactinae, who had signaled to the rest to come out. The remaining five ran out, Helen carrying Annie on her back. They ran out of the warehouse grounds and followed a street until the moaning of zombies was distant.

Tri leaned against a fence post, panting. He'd never been great at running. Laurie climbed up, acrobatically, into an oak street hanging over a broken- much to Annie's dismay- swing set in the yard of an abandoned house

A blinking yellow streetlight dangled overhead, meaning there was a source of power somewhere.

"If we keep going north, we'll hit the city," flare noted through panting.

"Cities mean zombies…" Jaz said for Nactinae, who was thinking the same thing.

"Well then you better be prepared."