Chapter 2: The Lengths to Which One Goes

The house, unsurprisingly to Hayley, was quite empty. Her parents had left. Where they went to, she did not know. Her father usually worked from home unless he was out with a client - her mother worked at Bakersfield Public Elementary School, the likely place for her to be. As they all entered the well-kept home, she had went ahead and checked all over the house for any sign of her parents. Nothing looked amiss - so obviously none of them had broken into the home. As she made her way into the kitchen she noticed a letter hastily written upon the island counter.


Hayley read the letter from her dad through at least a dozen times before questions started flooding into her mind. Was he still safe, after all he had to drive almost across the entire town to get to the elementary school? Why was Bakersfield Elementary so safe - was it because it is right next to the Bakersfield Police Station? How did he know her mother was fine? Finally, why did he assume that Jacob was with her? Sitting at a stool by the counter, she put her head on the cool granite and closed her eyes, trying to both calm down and get her thoughts straight.

She didn't think either parents would be there anyway, but the disappointment - however small if might have been - persisted in her mind. As she took a glance out the window, she realized that the sun was starting to go down - looking to the others she got up from the stool and told them to make themselves at home. Closing the door, she explained that they had to stay for the night as trying to get through them at night would be suicide.

Hayley's home was furnished quite interestingly - it bore a unique blend of American culture as well as Japanese. Much of the indoor stylization definitely had a hybrid of Asiatic culture about it from small Buddha statues upon shelves or mantle-pieces, or the shoji-style sliding doors. In the living room, the floors were even tatami matted - soft wicker that one could literally fall asleep on without a problem yet strong enough to support any form of furniture.

Above the rather large fireplace, Hayley saw the family's heirloom katana, a masterful blade that had been passed down for generations. She had taken it once as a younger child and found that the blade was practically untarnished and still sharp. It resulted in her slicing her hand slightly and a few days of band-aid bandages. She didn't take it off the stand but rather left it where it was - she didn't know how to use a sword anyway, the spear was more for her. However, she resolved to take it and give it to Jacob who did happen to know how to use a sword... he would likely find more use out of it than any of the present company.

Sighing, she went to the refrigerator and noticed that the power was still out. A light seemed to go off however in her head. Running to a cabinet, she fetched matches and many candles that they could light once it got dark out. Walking toward the door that would lead her into the basement, she grabbed a flashlight from the nearest shelf - Hayley remembered that they had a small generator that could power the house for at least a few weeks.




Jacob, Ashley, and Everett had taken off at a full sprint for Ptolemy East but then stood in the dark, almost completely surrounded by them... The Infected. All three held their breaths as if jumping into a cold lake. In fact, a terrible chill seemed to rush over them - none of this was right. They all got back to back, shivering slightly but handling their weapons as if they were their own lifelines.

"We're going to have to make a path... there's no other way." Jacob whispered.

"How do you suppose we go about doing that, Jacob!?" Ashley asked, terrified for his answer.

"W-we... we have to fight them, huh Jake?" Everett asked, his hands unconsciously tightening around his baseball bat's grip.

"Yea... I don't see any other way. We're almost surrounded..."

The three of them readied their weapons and at Jacob's signal rushed together at them. The Infected nearest to them heard their footfalls. Groaning as they did, the Infected started at them. The clash took only moments. Jacob swung his sword downward, the dull thump and a snap told him he had cracked the late human's skull - the Kendo sword was surprisingly strong. Everett's steel baseball bat could be heard to his side making a small yet harsh ringing noise as it bashed into one of them. Ashley tried not to make a sound but could hardly suppress a small yelp as she plunged her utility knife into one of their necks.

Clearing a path was a bit more difficult than originally thought. Would would have been a fatal or even grave wound to a normal human was nothing against the living dead - they indeed felt nothing. The path however opened up to them and they took off at a run. A few of them had started to give chase - surprisingly fast for being dead.

After the sounds of The Infected died off behind them, and only a few distance stragglers met their eyes to the distance, the three of them settled down. They had to take this slow, and they had to be smart about this... one wrong move and someone could get hurt - or worse.

Dante was the last to enter the home and once entered he takes a seat on the couch. He was inside of a home that seemed to be too clean. Hell broken loose in the city and some how this house looked as if it was normal. Dante was uncomfortable with the current situation.

The idea of going home to home searching family was idiotic. He didn't know who to blame for the idea of searching family members. He could blame the group but in truth he blames himself for following to begin with. He has no family in America or even in the old country.

Anyway Dante's plan on using the cellphone as a diversion was not something he thought up on the spot. He has used that before back in Rome when he was with his father. Of coarse it was a different situation back then. It was not about avoiding mindless drones but avoid the embassy guards instead.

Fortunately there were no dead bodies laying around in Hayley's home. In fact, there were no bodies at all. Her parents were gone, leaving nothing but a note for her. Harvey and Ava never asked what was on the note, but figured it would affect their main route. After all, they had to go somewhere after visiting everyone's houses or else they'd just end up getting killed out here. You could only stay in one place so long.

Harvey noticed the interesting layout of the home. It seemed to be very influenced by other countries, as he'd never seen anything quite like it around here. He was guessing it was some sort of Asian theme, but he didn't really know. Harvey wasn't one to pay attention to cultural differences. Ava seemed to be absorbed in the home, finding it to be probably the most interesting place in town. It was like entering some sort of strange exhibit. Harvey walked into the living room, noting the blade mounted above the fireplace.

"I feel like a fucking samurai in this place," Harvey said. "Is she seriously going to leave that thing here?"
"To some people, family heirlooms are more important than that," Ava said, eying the fireplace.
"What could be more important than chopping up zombies like a badass with that thing?" Harvey asked, shrugging. "If I were her ancestors, I really wouldn't mind that."
"...Sometimes I don't get you," Ava said, shaking her head.

Ava took a seat on a sofa and leaned back, relaxing. Harvey figured he'd walk around a bit before settling down. Maybe Hayley would need some help. He was bored enough to be kind at the moment. He found her about to go downstairs into a very eerie basement.

"Hope you aren't afraid of the dark," Harvey said, smirking as he looked down the stairs. "Maybe I'll accompany you for this. Can't say there is much else for me to do."

Hayley looked to Harvey as he came over to her. As she went to turn the knob to the basement, she gave him a smile and nodded.

"You can come with me - although I'm not really afraid of the dark..." Hayley replied with a laugh. "We're going to get the power on down there with the generator - at least then we can have fresh food and clean clothes."

Hayley turned the knob and opened the door down into the dark basement. The stairs faded into blackness toward the bottom. Taking a breath as if she were to jump into a frigid lake, Hayley turned her flashlight. She almost expected to see one of them at the foot of the stairs. Seeing nothing but the concrete wall at the end, she started down the stairs. Each step was met by an eerie creek or groan as the old wood bent with the weight. When she reached the bottom, she scanned the area with the beam from her light. She had almost screamed, catching her mouth with a hand just before she could. Thinking she saw a shadow somewhere in the basement, she turned her head back to Harvey who continued down the stairs.

"I-I think I saw something..." Hayley told Harvey with a quiet whisper. "A-and... I should confess I'm a bit scared of the dark.."


Jake, Ashley, and Everett had finally made it to Ptolemy East - many times they had only narrowly avoided another skirmish with them. Knocking on the front door into the dorm building, no one answered. Through the windows of the door, all the could see was the empty, dark hallway.

"Crap, our cards won't let us in here..." Jake said impatiently.

"We... we could bash the window. I don't think anyone would care at this time." Everett suggested.

At that, Jake agreed and with all his stretch, he took the hilt to his Kendo sword and bashed it through the window. The crash of the glass was enough to alert anyone by the front door on that first floor that they were there. Reaching through the broken window for the handle inside, Jake opened the door and they entered.

The hall was eerily quiet, which prompted all three of them to be on their guard. Jessica Griswold, Alan Gibbs, Ian McCameron, and Emily Sedrik were scattered throughout that entire building - Jess and Emily both being on the third floor - Alan and Ian being on the second. Moving down the hall, they suddenly froze in their spots as they found the hall utterly blocked by them up ahead. Hefting his sword, Jake looked to his friends with anticipation.

"There's no other way..." Ashley started, gripping her utility knife even harder.

"Nope." Jake replied in a questioning manner as he tried to think of another way to pass them by.

Harvey grinned as Hayley grew more and more uneasy as they entered the basement. It was quite a creepy place, he had to admit. Cobwebs were everywhere and the lighting was absolutely terrible. To add to the affect, everything seemed to be quite old and in poor condition down here, namely the steps.

"Looks like you guys forgot all about renovating the basement when you were busy with all that cool shit upstairs," Harvey said, chuckling a bit. "I'm sure you didn't see anything, Hayley. Probably just a shadow made by the light passing over some junk on the ground."

Harvey wasn't sure if it was right to readily believe that. There certainly could be something down here in wait for them. One of those zombies could've fallen down the stairs here. It would likely not be able to get back up, so it was certainly a possibility. Harvey gripped the baseball bat he had in his hands slightly tighter.

"Let's just turn that power on before you end up fainting of fright," Harvey said, grinning. "I don't want to have to carry your unconscious ass up the stairs, after all."

While taking his small commercial aircraft out for a short flight Ryan notices his plane start to lose altitude. He checks his instruments and notices none of the lights are on and his fuel level is still full. He double checks his instruments to see if maybe there is an electrical problem preventing the lights from working. He finds no problem, he then realizes that it might be the engine. His heart begins to sink as he knows if it is the engine he'll either have to make an emergency landing or hope that he can guide the aircraft back up in the air in hopes to make the next airport. While looking over his map for the nearest airport his low altitude sensor goes off along with the buzzer. This time the airplane's altitude is decreasing sharply that there is no way he can recover from the sudden plunge.

"Oh crap. Looks like I'm gonna have to jump, so much for enjoying my fairly new aircraft. I knew I shouldn't have bought it used off that website! Hopefully this will be the only time I have to use my parachute."

Ryan quickly grabs his parachute and small backpack from inside and leaps out of the plane as it comes crashing down into the small town street below. Ryan glides down with his parachute open thankfully landing couple blocks away from the inferno that was his airplane. He takes a look around and grabs the flashlight out of his bag. He turns it on and begins walking down the street. He notices a run down house and heads there to look get his bearings and wonder how he is going to get of this town. He was unfamiliar with the architecture of the area as it wasn't a town he'd passed through before. He hopes that he won't have to stay there for long.

Hayley stood motionless at the bottom of the basement stairs. She was frightened of what might be down there... however her fright leaned more toward the great tremor that she just felt. Bakersfield did get earthquakes once and a while.. however nothing was ever so powerful. This felt different - it was no earthquake... it felt as if a asteroid hat hit by her home. In fact, the noise was comparable to such a thing.

Looking to Harvey, she wondered what he was thinking. Looking back up the stairs she thought for a moment she should run up and see what happened. First and foremost however, was to get this electricity working. Feeling no presence in the basement, she inhaled a frightened breath and ran over to where the fuse box sat on the wall. Right below sat a large contraption - the generator. Leaning her spear against a shelf right by her, she knelt down before the machine and started to think about how she might go about turning the thing on.

"Uhh... Harvey...? Do you have any idea of how to use a generator? We have to hook it up to the fuse box somewhere, I know that... I have never done this before." Hayley admitted with a slightly blushing face. She never enjoyed looking useless, let alone vulnerable.

Dante was laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. He was bored and getting very tired. The sun was gone and the entire outside was only lighten by the moon light. While Haley and Harvey playing mechanic on some generator Dante was about to fall asleep. He guessed their will be no alcohol and if their was it would be the kind that Dante would like.

Outside their was no sound not even a bird chirp. But that soon changed. A small explosion was heard by Dante and this woke him up instantly. Could it be the sounds of a tank rolling into the city or a car's gas tank igniting. He stands up and heads towards the basement and shouts into the dark basement. "Something is going on outside, it sounded like a explosion near by".

Harvey stopped for a moment before continuing on after it felt like a small earthquake hit the area. He didn't think the town ever got earthquakes like that. Regardless, it was over and they were safe. It didn't matter if it hit other areas, really. All they had to do by now was survive. Harvey heard Dante shout that he was investigating whatever it was, so they'd be able to finish their work down here before anything else. Harvey walked over to Hayley, as she appeared to be having trouble with the generator.

"We just connect it to the fuse box, check if it has batteries, and turn the bitch on," Harvey said, grinning. "It isn't rocket science, at least. I've done it before at my friend's house during a blackout."

Harvey located the fusebox nearby and opened it up, revealing a nice assortment of switches, buttons, and other accessories. Harvey took a moment to push the generator closer to the fuse box and then was set on connecting the wires together. He wasn't particularly worried about being shocked, as the power was completely drained by now. Harvey spent a few minutes getting everything together and then closed the fuse box.

"I hope your parents have the generator on the right settings, because I have no idea how much power this house uses," Harvey said, scratching his chin. "I'll trust they were prepared and just turn it on. I'm thinking the power will last for a little less than a day before it needs a battery change. God knows where extras are for this thing."

Harvey activated the generator and a few sparks came from the fuse box, and then a red light on the corner of it lit up, showing that it had worked. A dim light became illuminated above them and most of the house got lit. The generator probably was at a lower setting and didn't power everything in the house, but it would do for now.

"Not that hard, eh?" Harvey said, laughing. "Let's get upstairs and check out if this thing even worked completely. Maybe Dante found out what the hell that shaking was."

As the generator buzzed to life, and the dim lights of the basement blinked to illuminate the room - Hayley took a sigh of relief. Looking to Harvey, she blushed, she felt embarrassed for being so incapable when it came to things like this. Picking up her spear, she was about to head back upstairs when a sound further into the dark corners of the basement caught her ears.

"H-Harvey..." was about all she could get out before it happened.

Something grabbed her ankle, forcing her down onto the ground. She fell backward, causing her to let go of her spear which clattered to the ground a bit out of her reach. As the lights overhead slowly started to gain brightness, she saw in terror one of them. It seemed to be the only one in the house... just her luck. And of course, as she suspected, their grip was as an iron vice. Struggling not to scream, she kicked it in the face. It's grasp still held her.

Before she realized it, the thing was atop her, it's open maw of a mouth - slightly de-fleshed and rotting - was clamping hungrily in preparing for the feast that she would make. This time, Hayley did scream, however her resolve to live was greater than her fright. With one hand, she pushed them by their neck, increasing the distance between their hungry mouth, and her flesh. With her free arm, she struggled to grab her spear. With a final push of effort, her fingers clasped around the haft of her spear and swinging it up, she stabbed the beast through the throat.

It's infected blood came from the pierced mark like a fountain - it got all over her clothes. With a sob, Hayley pushed the now dead Infected away from her - its body fell to the ground beside her. Picking herself up, she glanced over to a dusty mirror that lay by a wall to her side. She was covered in filth - blood, dirt, and grime. Grabbing a cloth, she wiped the knife-spear's end and threw the rag over the dead's decrepit face.

Without saying a word, she made her way over to the door that lead outside - obviously the one that the undead had made it through in order to get down there - they were only lucky it was the only one. Closing it silently, she locked it up and headed back for the stairs. She went past Harvey, who had stared dumbstruck at the events that unfolded moments ago, and she progressed up the stairs.

Amber and Jaimie, who had yet to rush outside to where Dante was headed, took one look at Hayley and their jaws dropped. Taking a fleeting glance outside, she noticed that whatever amount of them that had been outside on their street were now completely gone - likely headed straight toward the crash site of whatever landed on another street close by.

The attack on Hayley happened so fast that Harvey could hardly react. Something had been down here after all. Regardless of Harvey's inaction, Hayley made it out alive and managed to kill the thing herself, though it had affected her greatly. Probably negatively. Harvey wasn't sure what was going through his head. He could've smashed the thing in the face no problem but he didn't. He knew there would have been enough time for that.

"Shit..." Harvey said, running a hand through his hair, sighing. "It was fucking stupid of me not to check around. God dammit. Fuck!"

This was the first time Harvey realized how dire the situation was. It was a life or death scenario, and their lives could be taken away quite easily. From what Harvey had seen, one bite was all it took. One bite. That was all. He had failed protecting someone from a moment where she could've turned into one of them quite easily.

Harvey clenched his fist, but decided to head upstairs, still feeling pissed off about all this. Ava was still sitting there, though she seemed puzzled.

"What happened down there?"
"Nothing."
"Seriously, what happened to make her scream like that?"
"Fuck off!"

For the first time in his life, Harvey saw Ava angry. She stood up from her seat, a stern expression on her face, and slapped Harvey in the face as hard as she could, leaving a red mark. They both stared at each other for a long moment, the tension rising.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that again," Ava said in a serious voice. "I don't care what's happened. Don't ever do that. We're family, for God's sake. I ask you these questions because I care about you, and that's why you should answer them. This is no way to treat your family."

Harvey looked at her straight in the eyes, his face unmoving. He definitely wasn't prepared for something like this from someone from Ava.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"
"I don't care if you're sorry or not!" Ava replied sharply. "I just want you to promise you'll never do that again. Or I'll never forgive you."
"Fine, I promise."
"Good."

Ava walked away from him, leaving Harvey to stand there, dumbfounded. He just got showed up by the supposed weak link of the team. It was embarrassing, though he also felt ashamed. There was no reason for him to explode like that and he obviously hurt her feelings.

"Sensitive bitch..." Harvey said to himself, though he didn't mean it. He had to pass this off as something minor to himself or he'd never get over it. That's how Harvey deals with things.

Harvey finally decided to head to the main room after a while of thinking to see Ava, Hayley, and the others all congregated together. They were staring out the window, as if something incredible had happened.

"The hell is going on?" Harvey asked, taking a peek. He noticed right away what was happening. They were moving away, headed straight for whatever had crashed. Harvey was assuming it was a plane of some sort. The pilot could still be alive and God knows where Dante was.

"I know this seems a little insensitive, but this is the perfect time to make a break for it," Harvey said. "While they're all paying attention to that crashed thing over there we can move on. Who knows, maybe we'll catch Dante on the way? There could be someone in that crash, of course, but do you guys really want to burst through that many zombies?"

"Harvey, they could be a soldier or.. someone who can help us better than I--" Hayley stopped herself before she could finish her sentence. She knew she was about to say 'someone who could lead better than she obviously could'. She didn't feel like hearing any words of support at the moment. "Look, we might as well go and look. "They are preoccupied by the crash.. they probably won't even attack us amongst all that noise."

Hayley had worked to gather herself as she looked outside. They had two options - just assume whomever was out there and crashed was dead, or they could go find the crash site and risk life and limb to find any survivors... if there were survivors. Deeming that if there were survivors, they would need help, she strongly considered the latter option. After all, it isn't like they were far from her home... it looked like the crash happened only a street away.

Finally deciding, she looked to the others. Wiping the last bit of blood from her face, she approached the door and opened it.

"Look, I'm going to go and check to see if there are any survivors from whatever crashed over there. If you don't want to come, find, stay here and try to defend my house. Otherwise, come with me." Hayley said simply, hefting her spear once more and walking out to her front lawn.

Amber walked out with her own weapon, while Jaimie seemed disposed to stay at the house. Hayley could only help that some more people would join her, but she wouldn't force anyone to comply.

Dante was a block away from the house where everyone was heading towards the crash site. The zombies where running towards the crash like a pack of wild dogs. Luckily the sound of a massive fire crackling in the air was enough to keep Dante safe. It was unsafe to get any close or Dante will be the next meal of the zombies. He tried to distract the zombies His cellphone was dead so another alarm clock trick will not work.

He looked around and saw a couple of park cars on the street. If his cellphone could not make a alarm maybe a the parked cars will. Only problem was that he would be stuck in the middle of a horde of running zombies.

After a minute of thinking Dante devised a plan. He would walk into the nearby homes and find a pair of car keys, open the gas tank and pour out some of the gasoline around the car, hide in the home and activate the alarm of the car, once enough zombies gather around it he would turn on his butane torch and throw at the car which will ignite the gasoline and create a big fire bomb. That way he can distract enough zombies to get closer to the crash site.

Ryan takes time to catch his breath while taking cover in this run down creepy old house. He hears a small roar getting louder as the sound nears his hears and location. He grabs the flashlight out of his bag to see what approaches his crash site. He looks through the broken glass window behind in crouched and spots something terrifying. A hoard of creatures moaning and ravaging through the ruble and flames. The creatures seemed to be unharmed by the flames.

"What the heck are those things? How are they not surviving the intense heat and thick smoke? Oh my gosh......those things are.......zombies.....
I had no idea these things were real. I thought they were just fake creatures that ate brains and were impossible to kill. If that many came to a crash site to investigate I wonder how many are in this so called town. I need to get out of here before they spot me."

Ryan takes out his cell phone and notices the phone has no signal. He shoves the phone back into his bag after turning it off and turns on his flashlight. He opens up the door and looks for anything in the house that might be useful. He finds a broken pipe in the kitchen from the damage drain. He puts the pipe into his bag and walks out the side door onto the back of the house. Soon after taking off Ryan hears an explosion. He looks back to see a ball of fire coming from the direction of his crashed airplane. He continues walking towards the back of the house to find more objects that can be used.

"This is fuckin' stupid..." Harvey muttered as Hayley started to run towards the crashed plane and massive amounts of zombies. He felt this was a foolish plan, but he couldn't just stay back and watch everyone get themselves killed. He'd have to help out in some way to make sure they didn't decide another God-awful plan.

"Ava, stay here by the house and wait for us," Harvey said to her sternly. "You can't fight, so right now you're useless. I'm not going to let you just run out there and get yourself hurt. You are the only one who knows how to treat injuries anyways, so we'd pretty much be fucked."

"But... good luck, Harvey," Ava said, nodding. "I'll stay back, I promise."

Harvey nodded back to her and hefted his baseball bat, turning and running after Hayley and the others. As they were heading towards the crash, Dante apparently ignited gasoline around a car and caused it to explode, destroying quite a few zombies and leaving everyone else disoriented.

"What the hell was that about?" Harvey yelled. "Hayley, you'd better check for whatever you're looking for quickly or else we're screwed out here. You've got five minutes before I drag you out of this mess myself."

Hayley took a short glance back to Harvey. She knew he was worried for her, and obviously doubtful of the safety in this plan, though he would never admit it. He was too stuck in his ways, but she respected his ideals, and even more so was grateful of his presence with them. They did not attack them. In fact, with all the noise around them, they hardly noticed their existence. It wouldn't have surprised her if she had accidentally bumped into one of them and they would just regard her as another walking piece of dead flesh. After all, they were quite blind.

The fire around the crashed jet was hot, extremely hot. She put a hand before her eyes to shield them from the heat and brightness of the flames. As they looked around, she was wondering if the pilot even survived the crash. It was likely that he was immolated within the inferno that now engulfed the entire fuselage of the plane. The cockpit itself was so engulfed in flame that she could only make out its outline.

Hefting her spear, she strode off a bit in a speedy walk. She was aware of the others following her - she must look foolish, leading them through a crash-site without a survivor to be found. But then, she saw something. It was merely an after shadow of some movement further away from the crash by an abandoned looking home. She narrowed her eyes to get a better look - the door had just closed to the house. One of them would not have the sense to do that. Looking back to those that followed her, she made a silent gesture for them to follow her as she started off at a run for the house.

One of them started to saunter into her way. Without much strain, she merely struck out her spear. The blade, tightly wrapped around the makeshift staff, impaled the flesh and then pushed it back until it fell to the ground motionlessly. She finished it off without a second look - she had run her spear-head through its face without even looking back. Was this new world already effecting her...?

Reaching the house, she leaned against the wall and gingerly touched the nob of the door. It was still unlocked. Waiting for her comrades, she pointed inside and whispered that she saw someone enter the house and close the door.

There was no doubt about it now. Someone was inside that building, definitely not a zombie. Zombies could not close doors behind them or anything like that, and all of them followed the sound from that loud explosion anyways. If one was walking away from the sound, there was a problem. Luckily that could not be the case.

"Let's get in there and get out," Harvey said in a hushed whisper to Hayley. "If someone's there, we tell them to follow us and they don't want to, that's just fine. If there is any signs of infection, however, we're going to have to leave them behind or else it'll become a liability."

Harvey waited behind Hayley with baited breath, waiting for her to take point and enter the room. There was a possibility this man would attack them out of fright, so they had to be careful. Harvey gripped his baseball bat tighter and awaited for further action.

Ryan searched the back of the house only to find an empty bottle and a rag with what looks like motor oil on it. He puts those onto his pack and walks back towards the front door to escape seeing no exit out the back of the house. He hears people speaking and footsteps near the front of the house. He says out loud,

"Who's there and what the freak do you want? Come closer and I'll shoot unless you've got some ID"

He gets the flare gun out of his bag and loads one of the few rounds he carried with him into the chamber. He shines the flashlight near the door hoping to see who is coming inside the house. Finger on the trigger he readies the flare gun and prepare to fire in case the figures outside the house are a threat to his life.

"Put the gun down before you piss me off," Harvey said in a threatening voice. "We're not zombies, you idiot, and we're not here to hurt you; unless you plan to shoot us."

Harvey didn't want some insane man shooting them for no apparent reason, so he had to keep him voice at a commanding level or else the person could lose his nerve. If this man was the pilot of that helicopter it was likely he was shaken up from the crash. Those kinds of people were not good to mess with.

"We're just high school students," Harvey explained. "None of us have any ID that's worth shit, so just believe us. There's no time to mess around and play these little games, so come with us or die. It's really up to you. You've got less than five minutes to answer before we leave your sorry ass behind."

Harvey glanced sideways at Hayley, wondering what she had to say about all this. He was worried that they just entered a very dangerous situation.

"I told you this was a bad fuckin' idea," Harvey said in a low mutter to her out of the corner of his mouth.

Ryan walks towards the voices after unloading his flare gun and putting back into his pack. The pack slings over his shoulder as Ryan puts it back on his back.

"Fair enough. Now that I know I'm not the only one in this town let's try to get out of this place. I say we find a place that we can use as our HQ or central meeting spot. Once there we can figure out what supplies we need and such. However, I take it you guys have already been here some time correct? If so, I'll let you take point continue carrying out your plan. Lead on."

Ryan turns on the flashlight to help give light to the house and awaits to see how in the world he and fellow humans will survive long enough to escape this nightmare.