"Bridget, you need to wake up! Come on sweetie." Seth attempted to wake up his daughter. It was 11:00pm. A half hour ago he received a call from his wife to gather up all the food and clothes he could and drive to their summer cabin 40 miles away. She said that the news was saying a scientist had created real life zombies and everyone needed to find safety.
"Daddy? I'm sleepy!" Bridget started crying while Seth picked her up and moved her to the restroom.
"Go potty sweetie. We have to leave right now." Still crying, Bridget did her business and watched Seth grab her 'little kid' toilet they used at the cabin.
"Where are we going Daddy?"
"We get to meet Mommy at the cabin. Isn't that exciting?" He grabbed a few more bathroom supplies and got her dressed quickly. He carried her to the door when she suddenly screamed.
"What's wrong honey?" Seth stopped in his tracks.
"I need Rainbow!"
"Go get him quickly." Seth set her down and she ran to her bedroom for her teddy bear.
Soon they got in the car and were on their way to the cabin. Seth figured he should probably pick up something for a weapon, so he stopped at a sporting store.
Bridget was asleep in her car seat so he locked the doors and went inside. It was oddly empty, no employees or anyone else that he could see right away. He went to the baseball section and grabbed a steel bat first. Then he moved to the guns.

Seth carefully walked around the various sports equipment on the ground. He saw a display of duffle bags that were knocked over and grabbed three of them then continued to the guns. In one bag, he packed filled with all the ammo he could find. The second one he grabbed five gun cleaning kits. He looked at the actual guns to see that they were in a locked glass case. Seth picked up the bat and smashed the glass.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
An alarm blared through the store as Seth quickly grabbed some pistols and rifles and shoved them in the remaining bags. Seth quickly put the bags over his shoulders and carefully made his way back to the entrance. At the door he noticed a sale on camping equipment. He ran to the car, checked quickly on BB, shoved everything in, and ran back inside the store. He quickly grabbed four sleeping bags and seven flashlights, which was all he could carry. Then he ran to the car and sped off.
*Ring ring*
Seth answered his phone to hear Bethany's voice.
"Sweetie, can you stop and get some food and weapons?"
"I already got weapons, as well as sleeping bags and flashlights. Are you almost there?" Seth already missed her.
"Yes. I'm about a half hour away. I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too." Seth hung up and drove to the grocery store. When he got there, he carried BB to a cart and started gathering non-perishable food.

Vance woke up and turned on his old radio. The radio immediately went to current news. "Dr. Castagnoli, the scientist banned from experimenting on humans has just infected tons of people with a zombie like virus. Everyone needs to get to a safe area immediately!". " What! Zombies! That's just great." Vance said talking to himself, " at least the stores should be empty and maybe I'll find some people on the road." He said as he walked out of his hiding place. " Now let's see I should probably go get some food since I'm up already." Vance finished talking to himself and started walking toward the nearest grocery store. As soon as he got there he noticed a car parked in the parking lot. " Now what's this looks like someone had the same idea as me. Now let's see what's in here." He says as he reaches for the door. " Dang it! It's locked I guess now I'll be able to try out the picks I found." He reaches for the picks in his pocket and tries to unlock the car.

Seth filled some plastic bins he found with cans of soup, ravioli, fruit, vegetables, and meats. He also packed some with nuts and dried fruits and cereals. Then he filled one last one with a couple gallons of milk, a half gallon of orange juice, some eggs, a loaf of bread, and some cheese. He poured a few bags of ice on top. As a last measure, he grabbed some candy bars and bags of chips at the front by the registers.
"Daddy, what's that?" BB asked after hearing a groaning noise. Seth looked back to see a man with a store uniform on the ground about ten feet away. He was bleeding all over and moaning. His leg was barely hanging on and he was crawling slowly towards them.
"Close your eyes honey." Seth told his daughter as he walked quickly away while pushing the cart. He was almost to his car when he saw a little boy messing with his door handle.
"Hey little kid, what are you doing?" Seth looked quickly around and didn't see anyone else within sight so he added, "Are you alone?"

Uh, oh caught. he thought. Hey, I'm no little kid, I can take care of myself, And for your information the handle looked crooked so I thought I'd fix it. She one of your's?" He asked, trying to change the subject." Nice teddy."

BB held her bear tightly against herself. "Mine."
Seth smiled at bit at his daughter. "She is my daughter. Are you aware about the zombies? Do you have anyone with you?"
Seth helped BB out of the cart and then unlocked the back gate and started to arrange the supplies in the back to make room for the new containers. BB started at the new person, still holding tightly onto her bear.

" Yes, I know about the zombies. I heard the announcement. It's not like I have any " safe" place to go. No, I'm alone. Always have been. He answered thankful that he wasn't in trouble, but he was still weary. Not many people would be out at a time like this, and that had to mean that they were desperate. He knew all to well what desperate people were capable of. " Don't worry little girl I won't steal your teddy. I'm not that mean." He knew that stuffed animals meant a lot to kids like him that had lost a lot.

"I can't leave you alone, so come join us. We just picked up food and are going to join my wife. My name is Seth. This is Bridget. We-"
"BB!" Bridget yelled. She then hid behind Seth's legs.
"She goes by BB." Seth said as he pushed the cart away and shut the back of the van. He opened the door for BB and she climbed in, sliding to the other side in her car seat. Then he moved to the side for the boy.
"Will you join us bud?"

" Umm.. Sure I'll come" he said as he hopped in. "My name's Vance by the way"

"Alright Vance, welcome to our little group." Seth closed the door and got in the driver's seat. BB didn't take her eyes off of Vance as Seth drove away. After they were driving for about 20 minutes Seth looked back to see that BB had fallen asleep.
"So why have you been alone Vance? There must be a story to that." He didn't want to scare the boy, but he was extremely worried that he had seen something bad in his past.

"Oh there is, but not a good one. My parents either died or left me when I was younger." Vance shrugged as if it was no big deal. " I've been to lots of places since then trying to stay away from orphanages, foster homes, any adults who thought I wasn't doing a good enough job taking care of myself. You don't have to worry about me though I won't be any trouble, unless this whole thing is just some kind of trick to get me in a home." He joked, trying to feel a little more comfortable.

Seth laughed a little. "I assure you, this is no trick. We are in a scary situation right now and people have to stick together. A kid shouldn't be on his own, no matter how well he can take care of himself. I'm going to pull over to use the restroom, do you have to go?"

"Yeah, I'll go." He replied. Vance wanted to get out and think and this provided the best opportunity. "You sure BB will be alright in here?"

Seth pulled over to the side of the road. He turned off the car and turned to look at BB. "No, she'll have to try too. I want to stop as little as possible." He went to the back and brought out BB's little toilet then proceeded to wake her up.
"Come on sweetie, we are going to try to go potty."
BB looked at Vance, she didn't want him there when she went potty. So she nodded her head and pointed at him.
"It's ok honey, he's going in a different spot." He grabbed the baseball bat before he left. They got out and went to the right side of the road. He set up her toilet and let her do her thing, then returned her back to the car to wait for Vance to come back.

Vance quickly hopped out of the car and went to the left side of the road. He wasn't going to watch, and he needed to go. He started walking toward the trees some distance away. Once he got there he looked around for anyone. " oh, boy I'm getting nervous." He said chuckling to himself. "What's this?" He pick up a hatchet. "I wonder who dropped this. Oh, well it's mine now. Let's see if they left anything else" He said as he looked around. He suddenly heard a groaning noise. "Looks like whoever owns this is still around, better go see if their ok." He tried to follow the source of the groaning. " Uh, hello where are you?" Vance called out. He heard the groaning noise get louder. "Hey if your there call out and tell me where you are." He paused waiting for a response. "Ok I'm leaving now." He said as he turned around heading back to the car. Suddenly he heard shuffling behind him. It sounded like a large group of people. He turned around to get a better look and as he did he stumbled on a rock jutting out of the ground. He got up and as he did he spotted the zombies. Vance ran back to the car with the hatchet he found"Mr. Black get BB in the car. A horde of zombies is coming!" He yelled hoping he was close enough to the car to be heard.

Seth heard Vance yell and quickly buckled BB in and jumped in the front seat. He turned on the car and moved closer to Vance, opening the door when he stopped nearby.

Vance saw them get in the car and drive it closer. He only hoped he could make it in time. The zombies were getting closer. he put out a final bust of speed and made it to the car. He hopped in, slamming the door shut. "Lets go!" he shouted.

Seth drove off quickly.
After a minute of so he looked back at Vance. "Vance, do you have a weapon of any sort?" The kid couldn't be out without some sort of protection.

"Yeah look at what I just found."He said showing Seth the hatchet. "Those zombies won't know what happened. I'll chop their heads off with this." Vance said swinging the hatchet around carefull not to hit anything." Hey, doing ok BB?" He asked.

BB looked at him, still not fully open around him. But she nodded her head.
"I want my mommy." She told him.
"We are meeting mommy later, remember sweetie?" She nodded her head again.
"Can we play a game?" She asked Vance.

"Sure. Let's see, maybe I spy?" Vance asked BB trying to distract her. He sort of understand missing a mother. He remembered those long nights when he would try to forget where he was and the pangs of hunger and cold that plagued Vance when he couldn't get enough food or find good shelter. He would try on those nights to imagine what it was like to have a family. But enough of that now. There was no point in evoking old memories. He leaned back in his seat waiting for BB to answer.

Zahia arrived early to check out the place before meeting the guy who would pay her for another job well done. No one was going to get away with double-crossing her. The last person who tried never lived to repeat that mistake."Weird" she mumbled to herself. "There should be at least a few people up and going to work about now. Oh well no point in waiting any longer, might as well go collect the money. Zahia got up from her hiding space and slung her pack on her as she climbed into the open window of the hotel."you know it's real careless leaving the window open. Anyone could have come in and I wouldn't save you." She said to the man inside.
He jumped. "The job is done then?" "Yes, your employers should know that by now, it's all over the news." Zahia looked around the room. It was a simple hotel room. Nothing too fancy just one bed and a desk. She noticed the man sweating and nervously tapping his fingers on the desk though. "You new at this?" The man nodded."Good. All you have to do is give me the money. I'll take it and check to see if it's all there. If it is then you can walk out of here and go back to your employers alive. But if even one penny is missing I will hold you personally responsible." Zahia watched as the man gulped. She enjoyed making people squirm."Now I take it that you do have the money?" "Y-yes, here it is." He said as he took out a briefcase and placed it on the desk. Zahia immediately open the briefcase and started counting. As she started to close the briefcase she heard a shuffling outside the room. She frowned at the man. "You better not be expecting someone." "N-no I'm not expecting anyone." He nervously said as he got up and opened the door. "Zombies!" He screamed as he tried to slam the door shut. "B-but their not real." "Well , their obviously real now" Zahia said as she looked outside the window. "Crap. Their starting to come outside. We'll have to make a run for it." Zahia claimed out the window and on to the roof. With the briefcase. "We?" The man asked as he followed. "Yes, unless you rather get eaten by zombies. But I'm not waiting for you." She said as she climbed down the fire escape.zahia peeked around the corner. " there are some zombies ahead but we can make it if we run. We should be okay if we make it to the road and find a car." Zahia said right before she started running. It was pretty easy to avoid the zombies. She turned around as she heard a cry."looks like you weren't fast enough. " She called back as she watched the zombies claw at the man's body. "Can't you help?" He cried out at her "You are way past helping in a few hours you'll be one of them. I'm not going to go down too. You're on your own. Zahia replied as she found a car and hopped in. She threw the briefcase in the passengers seat with her pack as she hot-wired the car and started driving west.