As we walk down to the boardwalk we have a debate on which way to go. We have to decide whether to go around the island on the shoreline or scavenge the forest behind the hotel.

After three more hours of screaming and debating, we finally decided to split the island from the blue region to the black region into quadrants. We’ll scavenge as much of the forest for the next couple of days. We’ll cover the forest located in the Blue region into 4 quadrants and Eric and I take quadrant one, Malcolm gets one, and so do the twins. The rest we will tackle day by day so that way we all can go out together. We said our goodbyes and began our journey.

After Eric and I made it to what seemed like hours of walking (actually thirty minutes) we decided to take a break.

“Hey, Brian? Why didn’t you let Malcolm go with the twins? Is … is it because you realize that he likes Sabrina ... right?” said Eric timidly.

“Wha-a-at would make you say that?”

“Well, 'cause he looks at her like Dad used to look at Mom. And Kaycie looks at you the same way mo…”

“Stop… no… just stop” I yell screaming frantically. I get up and start running. My chest is pounding and I feel like everything is going black. The last thing I remember is the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand up and all of a sudden the sound of something moving in the brush. Then everything came to a halt. I can’t move. “HELLO… IS ANYONE OUT THERE.”

“Ha...hahaha”

“Who's out there”

“Ha...hahaha”

“HELLO… WHO’S THERE” I grab my bow and quickly load it. “Eric!” I yell frantically. I hear the rustling in the bush again. I release my arrow, sending it into the unknown darkness. To my left and hear a loud girlish scream.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH”

“OMG MALCOLM” yelled Sabrina. I ran over there and saw that Malcolm blocked the arrow before it hit Kaycie in her head. He blocked it with his tonfas like it was nothing.

“Holy crap Malcolm… how did you do that?” Sabrina chirped, giggling while jumping up and down. Until her gaze targeted me “YOU…,” she said with a cold and dark voice that made my skin crawl, as it echoed up my spine. “You almost killed my… my sister...” Sabrina charges at me pulling out one of her knives. Malcolm grabbed her last minute before an arrow came speeding between both of us, an anonymous thud that came shortly after.

Eric comes running up screaming “RUN!” without any hesitation he sends another arrow hurling between us. A loud gargled scream came from the direction the arrows went. As we looked in the direction of the arrow we all stared with shock and horror at a shoeless woman pinned to a tree standing about 5 '11 with long blond hair, she was wearing a white dress covered in blood. This woman had been turned by the zombies. Before I knew it Kaycie, Sabrina, and Malcolm were all surrounding the woman. In a blink of an eye, they each smacked and hacked the corpse into pieces all before I could even reach for my arrow. Covered in blood they all came running towards me.

“Hey, are you guys ok?” Eric says heavily.

“Well at least we know it's not safe here,” I said shakily

“Oh… You’re not safe yet” Sabrina said as she slowly approached me. “You almost shot my sister. You are so lucky that thing popped up cause I was so close to taking one of my blades to slowly carve out your insides, then I'll use them to lure the rest of these dead creatures and watch as they eat what's left of you. I will not forgive you for this.” Sabrina grabbed Kaycie by the hand and began to storm off “Let's go without Brian. There might be more of these things out there, we better hurry and get back.”

As they walked away I sat frozen trying to figure out where everything went wrong and what to do next. I couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't right. Something is missing but what? Something I overlooked or just didn't pay enough attention to. The laughter. Where did it come from? Was it Eric? No, it couldn't have been. But I know I've heard that laughter before. But where? “THINK” I shout while I pound my head against a maple tree. “The boat. It's him, he's here. I know it. It had to be him. If not then… No, it has to be, but He's probably gone by now. It would probably be better if I caught up with the others. Great, now I'm talking to myself.” As I finally hopped to my feet everything went black. The air felt cold, I couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down.

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“Ha...hahaha”

“Oh no, not again,” I said as I tried to look around.

“Ha...hahahaha, why did you miss,” the voice said.

“Who's there?” I shout

“Why did you miss?”

“Come out at face me”

“You couldn't even kill her, you are too weak ha...hahahaha.” the voice sounds like it's all around me. I can't pinpoint where it's coming from. A splitting pain shoots through my head. I still can't see anything but I feel like I'm spinning in circles. “Ha...hahahaha” The laughter echoes all around me. “Ha...hahahaha” the laughter gets louder. “Ha...hahahaha” The pain in my head is getting worse. “Ha...hahahaha” The laughter is even louder now and it feels like my ears are bleeding. Tears are falling down my face. I just want it to stop.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” a loud high-pitched scream pierces the darkness. I cover my ears but it feels like it's getting louder and louder. I fell to the ground in sheer agony. Then it stops. Everything stops. No crickets, no birds, not even a breeze. Everything is dark. The only thing I can feel is the tears running down my face. I still don't know where I am or what's going on. I'm all alone. Please, someone, help. Anyone, please help me. At that moment of absolute hopelessness, I feel a warm hand touch my forehead and the sound of slow dripping. Drip... Drip... Drip.

“Shhh, it's ok now, you're safe just open your eyes. I got you now.” A warm soft voice said as someone’s warm hands wrapped around me. I open my eyes to a random woman embracing me in her arms. Drip... Drip... Drip.

“Whoa whoa whoa… who are you?” I scream wide-eyed searching for a way out. “Wher… Is this a… ”

“You’re safe now, don't worry it's all ok now.” The strange woman says. I take a deep breath and look around. “Take a moment, what was the last thing you remember?” she says calmly. It's dark, so dark I can't even make out some of the details of where I am.

“I... I was running from the voices again?”

“The voices? I’ve been here alone for three years. Everyone else on the island is dead.” She interjects as I stare awkwardly and wide-eyed. “Yep just me and the undead here,” she says puzzled. “Well, and the lot of you that just got here. The last I heard the government was supposed to cleanse this place. It's so hard to keep track of I’m not even sure if this place is even synchronized with the US time anymore. It's been so long since I’ve heard another person's voice. You remind me so much of Kevin.” She pauses for a moment and turns away to hide her tears. My vision is starting to return. A cave? I look around the room. Lighting the room with containers of fireflies and a fireplace. Near the fire is a round wooden table and a bookshelf filled with huge books and loose paper.

“So how long have you been here and what the hell happened here?” I ask.

“Well same old horror story, we weren't prepared. For some reason, the security system in the tunnel failed to detect the virus, and one by one they all got sick, killed, and burned. Normally the system is designed to destroy any ship to bits leaving no trace of survivors then flush everything back into the ocean. This dome was supposed to be a safe haven for us now look at it. Death as far as the eye can see.”

“My family and the others I have to save them.”

“Hold on little one do you really know where you are and where you have to go from here.”

“No,” I said while I buried my head in my knees.

“Ok then well if anything they should be dead by now just hope none of them have any guns cause…”

“OMG… Yanto… he had a shotgun!” I jumped up in shock and hit my head on a rock. “Wait, are we in a cave? When did? How did?”

“All in time little one I’m sure they will be safe it's too late to go out there now. These ones seem to be a bit more fun than the last ones; the last boat didn’t even make it to the dock.” She says with such glee. The only thing I can think now is how the hell am I going to get out of here?

“How can you say that and sit there and smile? What the fuck is wrong with you…” WHACK… I sit there frozen feeling the sting of the backside of her hand.

“Well, are you done now… think about it. Coming in from the tunnel, what do you remember?”

“I remember the sound of something in the water and bright lights and music.” WHACK. She strikes me again.

“What was that for…” I shout

“Cause you not understanding.” Whack, she hits me again.

“Really...”

“Yes really, what you heard was all the bodies and debris then. That means that the water isn’t flowing out. Either everyone on your ship is clean or everyone should have died in the tunnel like all the others. So what does that mean? Dumb fucking kids there’s days.”

I gasped and smacked my forehead. “THE DEFENSE SYSTEM DOESN’T WORK!” I jump up and smack my head again.

Then just when everything else seems to make sense it couldn’t get more confusing the sound of gunfire explodes through what seems like a night sky. It really is hard to tell the time in this place. The woman and I jump up in fright, hitting our heads on the rocky surface and laughing. I pull out my lighter and at last, I can see. The woman that squats before me seems to be somewhere between the ages of 20-26. She had a bloody torn-up all-white outfit like the last zombie but she is in a blue dress with a logo that says BLUE DISTRICT. Her hair tied back with a blue and gold bow from one of the curtains from the hotel reached all the way to her butt, her face smothered with some. She had the most beautiful blue-green eyes that would shine in the light of the burning fire. This left me speechless, I was frozen, I couldn't think of anything to say I was stuck. I wish I could have captured this moment in time and framed it for the rest of my life. All I could think was this is what love is… then BANG the sound of guns went off again and again. I jump up screaming “We have to help them!“ but she doesn’t move. “Why the hell are you just sitting?” BANG… BANG… BANG… More shots fire in the clear night sky. No crickets, no birds, no animals stir from the constant ear-shattering explosions. Only echoes in the dark.