Plus 1

I fixed my glasses upon my face better. Squeezed the walkie and I spoke "Battery low, and we're too far to be able to make it back before dark we're gonna find a place to hunker down for the night, over," the walkie turned to static for a moment before a worried female response came through.

"What? No! You have to get back here its way to dangerous at night!" More static then a different voice came through.

"How far are you? Why are you so far you can't come back? I thought you were just going to the little convince store. Over," the male voice sounded worried.

"We got there but it was totally trashed someone took everything. We are headed for the next one we know of, but it took us a while to get here because there's a big mob and we're trying to avoid it. No need to worry though because we're almost there. And we got a spot picked out to hunker down. The battery on our walkie is almost gone. We'll be fine. Over and out." I shut off the walkie my voice at the end was an order no room for discussion.

We weren't really close yet and we had just barely made it past the mob just seconds ago. We had ducked into a small office, hiding. They all looked at each other knowing that what I just said was a lie.

Eugene looked like he was gonna hurl, and Zane was rubbing his back silently comforting him, I could tell he had something to say, he look peeved. Jasper stared out the window as stoic as ever but I as his leader and closest friend could see he was scared.

"You shouldn't have lied Lawrence, " Zane blurted out his thoughts.

"Why? There's no need to make them worry more, we're gonna figure this out," I put on a warm and reassuring voice. I looked him in the eyes and placed my hand on his shoulder. "We're gonna get through this, just like we always have. Together, " that seemed to calm down his and Eugene's nerves, but Zane still looked upset. I turned to Jasper, "What are you thinking?" He didn't face me as he responded only stared outside.

"It seems clear for now, but I don't think it will be for much longer. We should go before it's too late," his voice was almost cold, but it was calculated, and I agreed.

"Okay," I turned back to Eugene and Zane, "you ready?" Zane nodded and Eugene straightened himself.

"As ready as I'll ever be," his remark dripped with sarcasm, but he hardened his face. I knew he meant it.

We moved quickly darting between buildings and sprinting across streets. We normally liked to move slow and carefully but with the mob still in our heads we wanted to get off the street as soon as possible.  We came to the last large 4 way intersection just 2 blocks down is the store. We stopped and looked around first good thing we did about 4 blocks down the street to our left was the mob and it looked like it had gained some more friends.

"Do we run for it?" Zane whispered with fear, but his eyes were determined. I nodded they all nodded back. We all took off across the street as soon as we stepped out, we could hear the zombies scream and give chase. We got there as quick as we could. Only some zombies gain a bit of ground they were faster than the rest. I caught slight movement inside the store as we got closer but I kept it to myself thinking that whatever was in there it's definitely better then out here.

We rushed into the store I went in first to see what the movement was. There was someone on top of a zombie they ripped some sort of weapon out of its head and whipped their head towards us. It was human so I stopped caring and quickly shut the door after Jasper came in. He waited to be the last one in on purpose sometimes I swear he has a death wish. I slammed the door shut and threw my body against it. Jasper and Zane joined while Eugene stared horrified at something. I turned to see that the person was rubbing guts of a zombie on themselves. Their neck, arm pits and groin area. After, they walked towards us and I quickly turned toward the guys.

"Let them do this it'll cover our smell so if they get in they won't eat us," I whispered it to them not really believing it. They looked stunned but when the person came over, they let it happen. The person was wearing a mask, tinted goggles, and a hood I couldn't make out a single feature. I don't think they heard me as they walked up to us.

"When you let go of the door follow me if you wanna live, and walk slowly and keep your head down," their voice was weirdly calm for this situation and they started rubbing the blood and guts on us. On our face first then down our necks in our armpits and down the fronts of our shirts. They moved quickly darting to each of us and covering us as fast as they could. They stepped back when they were done and I grunted at the guys signaling to let go. They did. I didn't actually know if this would work or why I trusted this person, but I did. Their confidence in their own safety convinced me they were sure this would work.

The door burst open with all the zombies they shoved into us slamming Zane and Eugene to the ground. Jasper got shoved into the wall and I into the isle almost tipping it over. Zane covered Eugene with his body as more zombies flooded in. The rush slowed to a crawl within seconds. Everything got real still. I looked and Jasper was pulling the guys up to their feet they all moved real slow watching the zombies. I turned and sort of made eye contact with the stranger. They nodded and I turned to look at my guys. They were keeping really close together and had their heads low all of them looked scared shitless. I stared at them till I met their eyes they each hardened up once they saw the false confidence on my face. I nodded and turned back to the stranger. They nodded at me then at my guys who were now right at my heels. Then they turned and started walking down the aisle. Shit, I need to keep up with them. I don't know what I'm doing. Slow down. Shit why did I trust them. They're just gonna leave us. I was right on their heels now. I can't believe I just blindly trusted this guy we're literally in the middle of a fucking mob! The person stopped and I almost ran into them. They're head nodded towards a ladder. No way am I just blindly following this dude a second time. He already got us in so much fucking trouble. I stayed my ground the guys looked to me. The stranger shook their head and sighed. They still had their knife out, they grabbed a zombie and gutted it. Shoving it back into the horde the other zombies got all excited about this and swarmed the still screaming body. What the hell are they doing?! We stared in absolute disbelief.

"Hurry up!" The strangers voice called out. Fuck, ... well what else am I supposed to do? Stay here? I quickly followed them up. The guys followed me and again Jasper last.

I felt the sun on my face and felt a slight breeze it seemed to blow away some of that ungodly smell of the zombies inside. I stood and watched as they moved away from me and to the edge. They were speaking but all I could see was the overwhelming numbers of zombies. This mob was way bigger than I thought. I almost got us killed. We would've died. I would've killed them all... I turned and looked at my guys. I kept my face strong though I was internally panicking. They would've, we would've died. It was gonna be all my fault. You... my eyes landed on the stranger they had taken their goggles off. Their eyes were a shocking two different colors, both extremely bright. They were speaking. "...but I'm not one for watching people die when I could do something about it. So, either shut up and follow me or stay here on this roof," their voice was sharp and cold. They turned and threw something. You saved us. I was stuck in my thoughts when they turned and walked across something to go onto the building next to us. Jasper clapped his hand on my shoulder breaking my thoughts finally. He questioned me with his eyes. I nodded and moved following Zane and Eugene across and down the other building. I decided then this guy was strong, and I would follow him.

When he gave the order to split up, I was hesitant I didn't know where I was in this part of town. What if they didn't meet back up... Jasper caught my eyes and he sort of nodded. It was like he was reading my mind. I nodded back at him. We spilt off, right next road, right next road, I repeated it in my mind till we turned. 2 blocks just 2 blocks, after 1 block I heard music blasting off to our left. Holy shit this guy is insane, why ... he's distracting the mob... like what he did with that zombie. This guy is insane! We stopped at the second block mark and waited maybe a minute before we saw them turn towards us. Jasper looked a little shaken up. The mob must have gotten really close to shake him. The stranger had all that stuff on so I couldn't tell if he was as well but from the way he was running, he seemed calm. I nodded at Jasper.

"We should get farther away from here," I turned to face the stranger, "where we're staying is really far from here. Is there some place close you know of we can go?" I made my voice warm and expressed my worry. The stranger didn't seem to like my question and sighed.

"Yeah... but when we hop the fence follow exactly where I walk. Okay?" He said to us as he removed his goggles. I was a bit taken aback by them staring right at me. One was blue and the other green. I nodded when I saw his cold serious expression. He made eye contact with everyone and we all nodded. Then he put his goggles back on and started jogging away. I quickly followed him. Why do we have to follow exactly where he went? That seems almost suspicious but... I don't think he'd hurt us after saving us so there must be a reason. We took 2 turns before he slowed to a walk. I noticed his behavior change into being more cautious and that made me worry. He seemed to cool to be acting so cautious now. After a little while of walking straight down this road we turned into a sort of alley between 2 fenced in houses. "Remember what I said, exactly where I walk, " he then hoped the fence.

I helped Eugene over then Zane and Jasper helped me. I noted that there was a small dog caved into the wooden fence as I went over it. Jasper grunted as he pulled himself up and over. I looked around expecting... something but everything seemed normal. He started walking towards the house and we followed single file. I heard something and quickly whipped my head to look. It was a zombie with no hands, or a jaw and it was flying at us. Eugene didn't see it till last second when it suddenly stopped. Getting choked by a rope around its neck. The thing was incredibly disgusting to look at. It had no eyes, ears and pieces of its face were missing. There was a another one on the other side us in the same disgusting state though this one was reaching out for Zane. Eugene had squawked at the sudden appearance and jumped back into Zane. He was able to catch Eugene, but he stopped suddenly, and I almost ran into him. The stranger stopped and turned a little. They're making sure we're alright. I smiled at him I didn't know if saw or not, but I was just trying to assure him we were alright. He continued walking up to the house. To my slight surprise he stepped up onto a milk crate and climbed over the railing of the stairs. I realized why when it was my turn, that zombie was directly at my right, no room to go up the stairs normally.

The stranger opened the door and let us in.