STAGE 1

5

Nathan

I opened my eyes, trees moved past me quickly. The AC blasted on me, making me shiver. The smell of pear filled the car. Caleb ate pineapple next to me. My stomach rumbled.

"Hey you're awake!" Caleb said with a wide smile.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I don't know where we're going," Caleb said.

"Indiana," Maverick called from the front seat.

"What's so special about Indiana?" I asked.

"Grandma and Grandpa live there!" May explained with a big grin.

"That's amazing!" I said enthusiastically, she was 10 but I felt the need to treat her like a baby. Bucky glared at me from his seat, he knew what I knew. They were probably dead.

"Yeah, we're going to go check up on them," Maverick said.

"Your parents?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Mine," Chelsea said lowly.

The car went silent yet again, May passed back some cans for me to eat.

"Wait where's Kacey?" I asked, panicked.

"Here," She said popping up behind me, I jumped.

"Why are sitting back there? There's no seat!" I said and she laughed.

"Too crowded next to the kids," She said and I nodded. "Plus, I can lay down back here." She disappeared again.

A few hours later:

The car slowed to a stop, and we got out to stretch. We were in this tiny town; empty, dusty, kind of thrashed.

"Should we check that convenience store?" Caleb asked and I nodded. We grabbed our guns from our seats and marched towards the store. Caleb knocked on the door. There was a loud bang against the door and we jumped back. Gray bloody hands pressed up to the door, pale orange eyes watched us hungrily. The snarling was loud and angry. Weird orange fungal growths grew from his back and a chunk of flesh was torn from his neck.

"What a weird one," Caleb commented.

"I know, I've never seen growths like that before," I replied, we watched him for a moment curiously, he scratched at the glass rougher and more frantic with each passing second. Soon another one slammed against the door, she looked more normal. Newer.

"Newbie?" I asked and Caleb looked at her closely.

"I don't think so," He replied. "We need those snacks in there though. There could be beef jerky or even protein bars."

"Yeah I agree," I said.

"Should we just shoot them right through the door?" He asked and I thought about it.

"Yeah," I replied. We held our guns up and shot at the glass doors. The now dead slows dropped through the shattered door. We grabbed their bodies and pulled them aside.

"That was pretty easy," Caleb said turning to me with a smile, a Slow suddenly jumped on him knocking him down. He held the dead weight off of his body while it snapped at his neck. I quickly came up behind it and stabbed it in the head. It's body went limp, I slowly removed the knife, flicking blood off of it. Caleb breathed and chucked the body off of him.

"Ok, what the hell?" He said dusting himself off, he picked up his gun from the ground.

"Looks like it's all clear now," I stated, walking in through the shattered doors.