STAGE 1

2

One Year Later:

The sound of tapping on glass woke me up, the car was dark and my muscles were stiff. I could hear my dad snoring softly in the front seat. I was in the very back of the truck and I scanned all the windows, pale orange eyes glowed from the back of the car. "Stage 3," I thought, realizing I wasn't in any immediate danger. I picked up the aluminum baseball bat next to me and wiggled out from under my covers. The eyes watched my every move and the scratching on the glass began to become more enthusiastic when it saw me moving about. I watched it carefully thinking about how I could kill it. Suddenly blood splattered on the car making me jump, the body dropped down with a loud thud. There was another tap on the glass and a smiling face met my startled one. I tapped my Dad who woke up immediately.

"What? What is it?" He asked panicked.

"Unlock the car door, it's Henrietta," I said, Dad looked around and saw her walking around the car to the passengers side. She knocked on the glass again and gestured to the lock. My dad hit the button and she slid inside the car smoothly and dropped a bloody crowbar in the seat behind her.

"What were you doing outside?" My dad questioned.

"Well I was in another car with Sydney and Emery, I had to pee so I got up. I decided that I didn't want to be in that car anymore, then I saw a zombie scratching at the back window so I killed it," She explained and my dad nodded.

"Fair enough," He said scratching is salt and pepper beard tiredly.

"Damn right fair enough," She muttered. She turned back to me with a big smile. "Maitland, I got something I think you'd like."

"What?" I asked, she was always getting me stuff. She pulled it out of her backpack and held it up, it was a pretty new looking HAIR BRUSH! "Oh my god!" I said lunging for it, Henrietta dropped it into my hands with a proud smile on her face. "Thank you so much Mother Hen!" I said using her group given nickname.

"That's pretty great," My dad said watching me brush out my tangled dark blonde hair. "Where'd you get it?"

"Oh Brendan, you always tryna question me," She said snapping her wrist at him. "I had to pee, I found some cars in the woods and had a little look through them, couldn't see much but found that," She said gesturing to the hairbrush.

"Well good to know, maybe we can check those cars in the morning," My dad said pulling his chair back more. He snuggled back into it and closed his eyes.

When I finished brushing my hair, I put it back into it's usual ponytail. My dad was snoring softly again.

"Goodnight, child," Henrietta said soothingly. For her never having kids, she was a real mother figure.

"Night, Henrietta," I replied, jumping into the back of the SUV and underneath my covers.

The Next Morning:

I woke up to the sound of knocking on the glass again, I expected to find a zombie but instead I found Beau smiling down at me. He wiggled his thick raven eyebrows and gestured to the hair brush next to me. I shook my head and he frowned over dramatically. His raven hair stuck up out of his man bun, uncomfortably uncontrollable. I sighed and rolled over the back seat much to my muscles protests. I opened the back door and Beau was in front of me within seconds.

"Morning," He replied, his breath surprisingly minty.

"Morning," I replied and he crinkled his nose. I handed him the brush and he thanked me. He took down his bun, his pin straight hair fell almost to his lower back. I usually didn't like guys with long hair but wow did he pull it off. He ran the brush through the dirty, tangled mess and I watched him appreciatively. His cheekbones were very prominent on his face, low amounts of facial hair just beginning to sprout on his upper lip and chin.

"You checking me out?" He asked, catching my stare.

"You wish," I replied, putting on my combat boots. He rolled his eyes and continued brushing his hair that was even longer than mine.

"I will never understand why you like those bright ass laces," He said gesturing to the bright blue wrapped around my black boots.

"Oh, shut up. They're cute," I replied and he laughed.

"Go brush your damn teeth, we found toothpaste and toothbrushes. We can share one," He winked and I made a grossed out face. I pushed past him and stomped over to the others. My dad watched me with humor underneath his tired gaze.

"Don't worry, he's just pulling your leg," My dad said handing me a toothbrush still in the wrapper. I took it happily and began brushing my teeth, my gums bled but I didn't care. David walked over in a hurry.

"Morning," He replied almost out of breath.

"David," My dad greeted with a slight nod. David adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

"I saw a Stage 1 in the woods," He said, his voice quiet. Suddenly the bustle of camp stopped.

"Did you kill it?" Sydney questioned, flipping her strawberry hair over her shoulder.

"Of course he didn't," Beau said walking up, his bun now redone. His hand rested on the axe that hung from his handmade belt.

"Beau," My dad scolded and Beau grimaced. He hated to disappoint my dad. Dad then turned back to David who fiddled with the buttons on his shirt nervously. "How do you know it was Stage 1?" He questioned taking a menacing step towards David. David meant well but was a nervous and timid man, he did everything my dad told him to do whether he was comfortable with it or not. The only reason we didn't ditch him was because of how incredibly intelligent he really was.

"Pale skin, barely any decomposition. Looked like a fresh bite on the arm, I don't think it heard me when I ran away but-" David was cut off by a loud snarl. We turned slowly and Emery shrieked giving away our position, Sydney tried to quiet her mother but it was too late. Stage 1 had heard and now ran straight for our group, and I mean ran. He must've been super new because I had never seen one run so fast before. His arms swung spastically and his left leg turned inward, his mouth opened and closed in a chomping manner. His eyes were what scared me the most, so bright orange and sickly. Beau had barely anytime to unhook his axe from his belt when the monster charged into him, knocking them both to the ground. Beau held the beast off of him while it snapped for his throat. I kicked it in the face causing it to jerk towards my dad, a loud cracking sound filled the air making me shiver. Dad threw his long knife into the top of its head. It spasmed before falling silent, Beau breathed heavily and pushed the rest of the corpse off of him. He rolled up slowly, his eyes wide.

"You okay?" I asked steadying him, he couldn't even answer before my dad pulled him away from me.

"He didn't bite you, right?" My dad said, tweaking Beau's body in uncomfortable positions.

"No sir," Beau replied, his bun jiggled as he talked. My dad hit him on the shoulders and nodded in relief. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Henrietta is in the woods, for that one to be so new there must be other Stage 1's or 2's in there," He said. The group nodded and grabbed their weapons.

"What's she doing in there?" I asked, the woods were a danger zone, no one in our group dared to go in there. Not even Beau and he was raised on a Native American Reservation in the deep woods. Henrietta had been getting more bold with her moves, each time we stopped she traveled deeper and deeper into the woods on her own. This time was no different, but my dad was really worried about her. I spun my bat around in my hands, observing the woods while everyone else talked. There was rustling in the bushes and I locked up ready to swing if anything jumped out. Instead I was greeted with a smile, "Henrietta," I breathed dropping my bat.

"What the hell?" My dad yelled rushing over to her.

"What are ya'll doing?" She asked with a laugh at seeing us so on edge. She looked down at the bloodied body at our feet. "Oh."

"Oh, that's all you have to say? Oh!" My dad mocked and David touched his shoulder warningly, Dad brushed him off. "We were coming to find you!"

Henrietta's eyes slowly wandered to Sydney and Emery who stood close to each other, "All of you?" Henrietta asked. Sydney rolled her eyes and Emery looked down at the ground, her slight frame shook with nerves. I almost felt bad for her. Almost. Henrietta turned her attention back to me. "Maitland, I found a Pharmacy."