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Description
An owl hooted in the distance, it echoed across the moon lit sky while we sat around our dim fire. A small can of beans roasted above the pit as the flames gleamed off our dirty faces. Nazo poked a stick at the flames. Letting out a some what comforted sigh before giving me a glance and asking, "So what were you doing before before I found you?" I pull a blanket over my shoulders, still a bit cold. I took a sip of what I thought was black coffee but I had a sneaking suspicion it had gone sour. Regardless of the flavor I suffered through it to wet my lips. "Not too much honestly. My friends and I were just relaxing after a long day of working around the home and gaming. So nothing too spectacular," I gave a heavy sigh "Damn...it's been so long since I've actually seen a working TV none the less a game. Always spent hours playing them, computer, console you name it I owned it."

Nazo raised an eyebrow and waited as I fantasized for a moment before clearing her throat.
"Oh crap, hah. Sorry, I just miss it...I miss them. Fuck, I miss them a lot. I haven't seen them since that day. It was hard to go see them because the day after is when shit went down. And about a week before that day my mother, sister and I grabbed our belongings and boarded up the windows. We stayed in that house as long as we could. Sadly sister got sick with something and ended up dying. What we didn’t know was that she would become a zombie. She bit my mom. I had to run as soon as I gathered my belongings." I took another sip of the shit piss drink in my hand and scowled at it. I glanced to the right of me and realized how quiet it was after I stopped talking. It was as if there was nothing in the world...nothing at all. Which worried me.

After I lost my family, I located my best friend and she let me stay with her and her boyfriend. My friends and I were relaxing in the living room of our home. There was Cynder, or Cyn, who is my best friend. She was a bit on the larger side with curly dark brown hair and loves to wear black no matter the season. Then there was Ghost, Cynder’s long-time boyfriend. He was a burly guy with a dark brown beard and is almost always wearing a beanie. And then there was I, Momo. I am a short, slender girl that has black hair which is mainly in a ponytail and wears tank tops and sweatpants. We all shared a refuge for a while in a comfy suburban area located near the city.

+Flashback+

“It’s the apocalypse.” I say, repeat the already known.

“It’s a zombie apocalypse,” Cynder adds.

Ghost is in the garage working on a new idea of his. Cynder says we can play games for at least an hour and luckily I could take some of my consoles with me so we played some Mortal Kombat. It was a way to distract our minds from what was really going on.

“Damn 3 wins in a row,” says Cynder.

“You got better even without a console,” I laugh.

Ghost joins us after the hour is up and we all sit on the floor.

“Though I lost my family, it’s kind of cool that it’s a zombie apocalypse.”

“It’s cool until one of us gets one of our arm chomped on,” Cynder somewhat jokes.

“True,” I reply.

“There is always the option to off ourselves,” Ghost says with a sarcastic smirk.

Cynder and I look at each other then at him.

“Yea we could do that or TRY to maybe survive for a little while,” Cynder replies

“At least you two can repopulate the earth,” I chuckle.

“Zombies really kill the mood anyway.” Cynder jokes

“Well yeah if one humped my leg. But I don’t know, could possibly make it a threesome,” Ghost adds as Cynder gives his arm a hard punch.

We all laugh together because it’s funny and laughter never hurt in a bad situation.

“So on a serious note, what kind of weapons or tools do you have for survival.”

“I have my AK-47 though I don’t have to lots of ammo. I kept my hatchet upstairs and we have an okay supply of food. We are just lucky that the electricity works though we are rationing our time with it.”

“I used to go practice archery so I have my compound bow and arrows. I also found my knife.”

“I have a couple of bats and duct tape. I grabbed some books, a couple mangas and of course some pencils and drawing pads from my room. I also gathered some medical supplies on my travels to your home.”
+++
“Life seemed easy then,” I say, still thinking about how much fun it was gaming with Cyn though I lost. It was fun because I got to see my best friend and I was so happy she survived.

“Something happened I am assuming or else I wouldn’t have found you reading a book in a tree.”

“There was a walker following me and I thought I could wait it out. I’m glad you found me,” I slightly smile but then frown, “but yea, you’re right. Something happened a couple days later.”
+++
Cynder was napping and I was drawing. Ghost rushes downstairs, “Guys we have a big problem. Seems their a possible looters coming our way.” Ghost wakes Cynder as I put down my pens and pencils. “What do we do?” I ask, a bit nervously. I was never good with confrontation in a general sense. “Grab our weapons and wait quietly.” Cynder grabs her bow and arrows while Ghost grabs his scoped AK-47. “We might have to leave so pack the necessities. We aren’t gonna make nice with these people.” All three of us pack our bags with what we could. We gather near the front door. I try to hold my bat still but I am so scared I am unable to.

Moments later, we hear car doors slam shut. Male voices are muffled but Ghost could tell they were coming to our house. His grip becomes tighter on his gun. I can’t stay calm. The door is broken down with an axe. Once Ghost and Cynder have a clear shot, they fire a couple of rounds and arrows at the looters. Two go down and one is hit in the knee with an arrow, crippling him. I cautiously go over and whack his other knee with it. I can hear the bone shatter. “Momo! Get back into the house!” Ghost says before one of them fires at him, hitting him shoulder. Cynder shoots an arrow in the shooter’s head. That’s when I flipped. I begin going psycho, smashing each and everyone’s heads in.
+++

“Then I ran...I ran because it was my fault that Ghost was shot. I didn’t look back. To this day I have no clue if Ghost is okay. One thing I do know is that Cynder is most likely angry with me,” I frown, feeling an ache in my chest, “Been on the run for a few weeks now.”

Suddenly a loud snap was heard and we whipped our heads to see about a half dozen walkers headed in our direction. "Shit" she said grabbing my coffee and dumping it onto the flames to extinguish them. I quickly gathered our things and hid in the tent pulling her with me. I tried to control myself as I hear them getting closer and closer.
"We should have ran..." she proclaimed through gritted teeth.
"I know...but what if we weren't seen? What if they didn't see us sitting there?"
She growled quietly "But they probably did. You don't seem to grasp how this works, we can't always keep hiding in trees or tents and wait til they go away! At some point you're going to have to fight them. Why not just go psycho on their asses?" I glare at her, becoming irritated with her, “because my friend go hurt. I went psycho because my friend was hurt. I’m not normally like that. Something just snapped in me, okay?!” Closer and closer they grew. Their noisey groans echoed against the trees. I knew one was right by my ear. Nazo glared at me with wide eyes and held a finger to her lips. More and more gathered around the tiny tent, we were screwed with no where to run and so little bullets for Nazo and melee wasn’t the way to go against so many walkers. There was no way of fighting our way out. We were finished...screwed, done for! Was this really the end?! One of their grimy hands managed to get through the tiny zipper opening on the tent but just as soon as it appeared it fell limp and lifeless.

I blinked and watched the opening intensely as it slowly opened more and a quick hand whipped inside as voice was heard.
"Dear lord woman! What kind of fucking shit are you doing?” They grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the tent and to my feet.Two people stood before us the woman held a compound bow in hand and the man rested and AK-47 upon his shoulder with a wide smirk across his face. "Holy Jesus. I'd recognized that voice anywhere.” It was my friends...my lost friends Cynder and Ghost. I should have known they were alive. They can take a bullet. They are strong, much stronger than I. “Guys, It’s so good to see you.” I say smiling with joy at first then I become worried. “We can reminisce later, right now we have to deal with these- AH!” A crawler grabs Nazo’s ankles and bites down hard. Nazo tosses her desert eagle to me along with the ammo box, “I want you to shoot me and then I want you to run. Get out of here!” I feel conflicted. “Momo, she’s bit. Do it now and let’s go.” Cynder says with urgency in her voice. I aim the gun at her but my hands are shaking like an earthquake. “I’m sorry… I can’t kill you…” I put the gun into my bag and look at her, she has disappointment in her eyes. Ghost does it for me, shooting a single bullet through her head. “Alright let’s go.” I grab my backpack then we run.

More walkers begin to show as we run through the dense forest. I let Ghost and Cynder lead the way. “We have a safe house close by but we have to get out of the forest,” Ghost says taking more of the lead. We continue to run for what seems like miles but eventually we do make it out. I look back and see we lost the walkers. We all slower our pace and hastily walk.

There is, what seems to be, a cabin in the distance. It’s boarded up along with spike fences around it. A couple dead walker on it. “How the fuck did you find this place?” I ask as we approach it. I notice a big dark grey truck near by also. “We can explain once we get inside.” Cynder sounds a little irritated with me. I knew she’d be mad, just didn't know how long she’d hold the grudge. There is a nice pine smell from the forest as we enter the house. This cabin is one of the coziest thing I’ve seen in long time.

Before I could say anything about the nice house Cynder thumps me on the back of my head. “What the hell Momo? Ghost get’s shot and you runaway!” I rub the back of my head, “I know, I know. I ran because he got shot because of me. So I felt like I became burden so I ran.” Ghost goes over to the kitchen area and grabs a jiffy pop and starts the fire in the fireplace. “You are such an ass sometimes you know that?!” Cynder yells as it reverberates in the house. “Yea, I know that. I’m a scaredy ass cat.” Ghost walks over, “Honestly I’m fine so I’m not too peeved about it. Calm down Cynder alright?” Both Cynder and I take a deep breath and look at each other. She hugs me for a moment, “I’m just glad you’re alive.” “I’m glad you both are alive too.” We all smile. I sit onto the floor in front of the fireplace as does Cynder while Ghost cooks the Jiffy Pop. It smells so good considering I haven’t had the best meal in a long time. My meals were mainly canned something and water though with Nazo we had found coffee grinds so that was a nice change of pace. I will miss Nazo but part of this apocalypse is that death is inevitable.

The popcorn pops quickly. Ghost puts it into a bowl and we share it around the fire. It taste so good. Brings be back to when we would have snacks while gaming or watch movies. “Fall seems to snuck in. There is a small chill in the air.” I say as I munch on the popcorn, savoring each piece. “That or we’re in some sort of horror film and the killer is coming,” Ghost jokes. Cynder looks at me. “We’re you just running around that damned forest when we found you?” “More or less,” I reply as I take my small final handful of popcorn. “Ah, who was that girl?” I pause a moment reminiscing from Nazo and I would scavenge houses for food each day until we wander the forest for a long time. “Met her on my travels. I’m glad she didn't kill me because she was very resourceful and caring.” Cynder and Ghost could tell I somewhat cared for that girl which was true, I did. “I’m sorry about your friend,” says Ghost. “It's alright...I guess.” I finish my handful then stare at the floor then look up, “How the hell did you find this place?” The two of them laugh a little while I tilt my head in confusion. “Those two walkers on the spikes used to own this house but they died so once we got this place boarded up we lured them onto the spikes. Like fish in a barrel.” I chuckle a little, “This place is nice but is it temporary?” Cynder looks at Ghost then looks at me. “Yea I guess. We were gonna take the truck and see if we could find houses near more places to scavenge. Now that you’re here, you and I can tag-team scavenge. Unless you are going to run away again…” “Not planning on it. I think I’ve gotten better and I would like to stay with you guys wherever you may go, if that's alright.” “Just don't go running off again. We missed you and could have used your help when we scavenged.” “And don’t get hurt either. We only have limited medical supplies,” Ghost adds. We all sit in front of the fire, hearing the crackling of flames. It seemed somewhat settling. Eventually Ghost stands up and stretches, “It’s getting late. We should all rest up. Luckily this house has a guest room upstairs but their is only a mattress on the floor but that can be your room for tonight. Cynder and I sleep in the main bedroom.” I follow them upstairs and they show me to the guest room. “Night Momo.” “Night you two.” I lay onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling fan. My emotions are stirring as are my thoughts. One important comes to mind. Now that I’ve found my friends, how long can we survive this?

Description
An owl hooted in the distance, it echoed across the moon lit sky while we sat around our dim fire. A small can of beans roasted above the pit as the flames gleamed off our dirty faces. Nazo poked a stick at the flames. Letting out a some what comforted sigh before giving me a glance and asking, "So what were you doing before before I found you?" I pull a blanket over my shoulders, still a bit cold. I took a sip of what I thought was black coffee but I had a sneaking suspicion it had gone sour. Regardless of the flavor I suffered through it to wet my lips. "Not too much honestly. My friends and I were just relaxing after a long day of working around the home and gaming. So nothing too spectacular," I gave a heavy sigh "Damn...it's been so long since I've actually seen a working TV none the less a game. Always spent hours playing them, computer, console you name it I owned it."

Nazo raised an eyebrow and waited as I fantasized for a moment before clearing her throat.
"Oh crap, hah. Sorry, I just miss it...I miss them. Fuck, I miss them a lot. I haven't seen them since that day. It was hard to go see them because the day after is when shit went down. And about a week before that day my mother, sister and I grabbed our belongings and boarded up the windows. We stayed in that house as long as we could. Sadly sister got sick with something and ended up dying. What we didn’t know was that she would become a zombie. She bit my mom. I had to run as soon as I gathered my belongings." I took another sip of the shit piss drink in my hand and scowled at it. I glanced to the right of me and realized how quiet it was after I stopped talking. It was as if there was nothing in the world...nothing at all. Which worried me.

After I lost my family, I located my best friend and she let me stay with her and her boyfriend. My friends and I were relaxing in the living room of our home. There was Cynder, or Cyn, who is my best friend. She was a bit on the larger side with curly dark brown hair and loves to wear black no matter the season. Then there was Ghost, Cynder’s long-time boyfriend. He was a burly guy with a dark brown beard and is almost always wearing a beanie. And then there was I, Momo. I am a short, slender girl that has black hair which is mainly in a ponytail and wears tank tops and sweatpants. We all shared a refuge for a while in a comfy suburban area located near the city.

+Flashback+

“It’s the apocalypse.” I say, repeat the already known.

“It’s a zombie apocalypse,” Cynder adds.

Ghost is in the garage working on a new idea of his. Cynder says we can play games for at least an hour and luckily I could take some of my consoles with me so we played some Mortal Kombat. It was a way to distract our minds from what was really going on.

“Damn 3 wins in a row,” says Cynder.

“You got better even without a console,” I laugh.

Ghost joins us after the hour is up and we all sit on the floor.

“Though I lost my family, it’s kind of cool that it’s a zombie apocalypse.”

“It’s cool until one of us gets one of our arm chomped on,” Cynder somewhat jokes.

“True,” I reply.

“There is always the option to off ourselves,” Ghost says with a sarcastic smirk.

Cynder and I look at each other then at him.

“Yea we could do that or TRY to maybe survive for a little while,” Cynder replies

“At least you two can repopulate the earth,” I chuckle.

“Zombies really kill the mood anyway.” Cynder jokes

“Well yeah if one humped my leg. But I don’t know, could possibly make it a threesome,” Ghost adds as Cynder gives his arm a hard punch.

We all laugh together because it’s funny and laughter never hurt in a bad situation.

“So on a serious note, what kind of weapons or tools do you have for survival.”

“I have my AK-47 though I don’t have to lots of ammo. I kept my hatchet upstairs and we have an okay supply of food. We are just lucky that the electricity works though we are rationing our time with it.”

“I used to go practice archery so I have my compound bow and arrows. I also found my knife.”

“I have a couple of bats and duct tape. I grabbed some books, a couple mangas and of course some pencils and drawing pads from my room. I also gathered some medical supplies on my travels to your home.”
+++
“Life seemed easy then,” I say, still thinking about how much fun it was gaming with Cyn though I lost. It was fun because I got to see my best friend and I was so happy she survived.

“Something happened I am assuming or else I wouldn’t have found you reading a book in a tree.”

“There was a walker following me and I thought I could wait it out. I’m glad you found me,” I slightly smile but then frown, “but yea, you’re right. Something happened a couple days later.”
+++
Cynder was napping and I was drawing. Ghost rushes downstairs, “Guys we have a big problem. Seems their a possible looters coming our way.” Ghost wakes Cynder as I put down my pens and pencils. “What do we do?” I ask, a bit nervously. I was never good with confrontation in a general sense. “Grab our weapons and wait quietly.” Cynder grabs her bow and arrows while Ghost grabs his scoped AK-47. “We might have to leave so pack the necessities. We aren’t gonna make nice with these people.” All three of us pack our bags with what we could. We gather near the front door. I try to hold my bat still but I am so scared I am unable to.

Moments later, we hear car doors slam shut. Male voices are muffled but Ghost could tell they were coming to our house. His grip becomes tighter on his gun. I can’t stay calm. The door is broken down with an axe. Once Ghost and Cynder have a clear shot, they fire a couple of rounds and arrows at the looters. Two go down and one is hit in the knee with an arrow, crippling him. I cautiously go over and whack his other knee with it. I can hear the bone shatter. “Momo! Get back into the house!” Ghost says before one of them fires at him, hitting him shoulder. Cynder shoots an arrow in the shooter’s head. That’s when I flipped. I begin going psycho, smashing each and everyone’s heads in.
+++

“Then I ran...I ran because it was my fault that Ghost was shot. I didn’t look back. To this day I have no clue if Ghost is okay. One thing I do know is that Cynder is most likely angry with me,” I frown, feeling an ache in my chest, “Been on the run for a few weeks now.”

Suddenly a loud snap was heard and we whipped our heads to see about a half dozen walkers headed in our direction. "Shit" she said grabbing my coffee and dumping it onto the flames to extinguish them. I quickly gathered our things and hid in the tent pulling her with me. I tried to control myself as I hear them getting closer and closer.
"We should have ran..." she proclaimed through gritted teeth.
"I know...but what if we weren't seen? What if they didn't see us sitting there?"
She growled quietly "But they probably did. You don't seem to grasp how this works, we can't always keep hiding in trees or tents and wait til they go away! At some point you're going to have to fight them. Why not just go psycho on their asses?" I glare at her, becoming irritated with her, “because my friend go hurt. I went psycho because my friend was hurt. I’m not normally like that. Something just snapped in me, okay?!” Closer and closer they grew. Their noisey groans echoed against the trees. I knew one was right by my ear. Nazo glared at me with wide eyes and held a finger to her lips. More and more gathered around the tiny tent, we were screwed with no where to run and so little bullets for Nazo and melee wasn’t the way to go against so many walkers. There was no way of fighting our way out. We were finished...screwed, done for! Was this really the end?! One of their grimy hands managed to get through the tiny zipper opening on the tent but just as soon as it appeared it fell limp and lifeless.

I blinked and watched the opening intensely as it slowly opened more and a quick hand whipped inside as voice was heard.
"Dear lord woman! What kind of fucking shit are you doing?” They grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the tent and to my feet.Two people stood before us the woman held a compound bow in hand and the man rested and AK-47 upon his shoulder with a wide smirk across his face. "Holy Jesus. I'd recognized that voice anywhere.” It was my friends...my lost friends Cynder and Ghost. I should have known they were alive. They can take a bullet. They are strong, much stronger than I. “Guys, It’s so good to see you.” I say smiling with joy at first then I become worried. “We can reminisce later, right now we have to deal with these- AH!” A crawler grabs Nazo’s ankles and bites down hard. Nazo tosses her desert eagle to me along with the ammo box, “I want you to shoot me and then I want you to run. Get out of here!” I feel conflicted. “Momo, she’s bit. Do it now and let’s go.” Cynder says with urgency in her voice. I aim the gun at her but my hands are shaking like an earthquake. “I’m sorry… I can’t kill you…” I put the gun into my bag and look at her, she has disappointment in her eyes. Ghost does it for me, shooting a single bullet through her head. “Alright let’s go.” I grab my backpack then we run.

More walkers begin to show as we run through the dense forest. I let Ghost and Cynder lead the way. “We have a safe house close by but we have to get out of the forest,” Ghost says taking more of the lead. We continue to run for what seems like miles but eventually we do make it out. I look back and see we lost the walkers. We all slower our pace and hastily walk.

There is, what seems to be, a cabin in the distance. It’s boarded up along with spike fences around it. A couple dead walker on it. “How the fuck did you find this place?” I ask as we approach it. I notice a big dark grey truck near by also. “We can explain once we get inside.” Cynder sounds a little irritated with me. I knew she’d be mad, just didn't know how long she’d hold the grudge. There is a nice pine smell from the forest as we enter the house. This cabin is one of the coziest thing I’ve seen in long time.

Before I could say anything about the nice house Cynder thumps me on the back of my head. “What the hell Momo? Ghost get’s shot and you runaway!” I rub the back of my head, “I know, I know. I ran because he got shot because of me. So I felt like I became burden so I ran.” Ghost goes over to the kitchen area and grabs a jiffy pop and starts the fire in the fireplace. “You are such an ass sometimes you know that?!” Cynder yells as it reverberates in the house. “Yea, I know that. I’m a scaredy ass cat.” Ghost walks over, “Honestly I’m fine so I’m not too peeved about it. Calm down Cynder alright?” Both Cynder and I take a deep breath and look at each other. She hugs me for a moment, “I’m just glad you’re alive.” “I’m glad you both are alive too.” We all smile. I sit onto the floor in front of the fireplace as does Cynder while Ghost cooks the Jiffy Pop. It smells so good considering I haven’t had the best meal in a long time. My meals were mainly canned something and water though with Nazo we had found coffee grinds so that was a nice change of pace. I will miss Nazo but part of this apocalypse is that death is inevitable.

The popcorn pops quickly. Ghost puts it into a bowl and we share it around the fire. It taste so good. Brings be back to when we would have snacks while gaming or watch movies. “Fall seems to snuck in. There is a small chill in the air.” I say as I munch on the popcorn, savoring each piece. “That or we’re in some sort of horror film and the killer is coming,” Ghost jokes. Cynder looks at me. “We’re you just running around that damned forest when we found you?” “More or less,” I reply as I take my small final handful of popcorn. “Ah, who was that girl?” I pause a moment reminiscing from Nazo and I would scavenge houses for food each day until we wander the forest for a long time. “Met her on my travels. I’m glad she didn't kill me because she was very resourceful and caring.” Cynder and Ghost could tell I somewhat cared for that girl which was true, I did. “I’m sorry about your friend,” says Ghost. “It's alright...I guess.” I finish my handful then stare at the floor then look up, “How the hell did you find this place?” The two of them laugh a little while I tilt my head in confusion. “Those two walkers on the spikes used to own this house but they died so once we got this place boarded up we lured them onto the spikes. Like fish in a barrel.” I chuckle a little, “This place is nice but is it temporary?” Cynder looks at Ghost then looks at me. “Yea I guess. We were gonna take the truck and see if we could find houses near more places to scavenge. Now that you’re here, you and I can tag-team scavenge. Unless you are going to run away again…” “Not planning on it. I think I’ve gotten better and I would like to stay with you guys wherever you may go, if that's alright.” “Just don't go running off again. We missed you and could have used your help when we scavenged.” “And don’t get hurt either. We only have limited medical supplies,” Ghost adds. We all sit in front of the fire, hearing the crackling of flames. It seemed somewhat settling. Eventually Ghost stands up and stretches, “It’s getting late. We should all rest up. Luckily this house has a guest room upstairs but their is only a mattress on the floor but that can be your room for tonight. Cynder and I sleep in the main bedroom.” I follow them upstairs and they show me to the guest room. “Night Momo.” “Night you two.” I lay onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling fan. My emotions are stirring as are my thoughts. One important comes to mind. Now that I’ve found my friends, how long can we survive this?