Neither Alicia nor Michael could believe what had just been said to them. They stared into space, processing Darnell’s words. Alicia managed to utter while holding her head, “What- no- just like that?” Darnell nodded his head. Alicia looked at Hana and Hana reaffirmed it with another nod. “Oh no, no, no-” she began to utter, but suddenly, Michael collapsed to his knees.

Everything sank in for him. Their behavior, their attack, their bloodlust, their lack of reaction to pain. It all began to make sense. Not really. This whole situation was beyond any sense. He never thought he’d think the words, “My parents were attacked by zombies.” But here he was. More tears poured down his face. He looked down at his hands, which were quivering. The memory kept replaying in his head, getting bleaker by the second.

“Oh my god Michael.” Alicia muttered, she reached out to him, but stopped midway.

“What are we supposed to do?” Michael said to Darnell.

Darnell answered him without hesitation, “Survive.”

“How the hell do we survive that?” he sobbed, pointing back to his room, where the assailants most likely had broken in by now.

“By rounding everyone up as soon as possible.” Darnell said sternly, “Tristan is the next closest. We know Ryan is at the gym. Makayla and Raj are at Makayla’s. I know Teemo is fine, and Illyana… I’m not sure, but I’ve got high hopes.”

“So that’s it? We just, round up the gang and go zombie huntin’?” Michael snapped, flailing his arms about in a goofy manner.

Darnell mocked Michael, “If you tryna put it that way, yes. We goin’ zombie huntin’ partner.”

Michael dropped his hands. “I’m not going,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Alicia nearly yelled.

“I’m not-”

Darnell cut off Michael the moment Michael opened his mouth, “We’ve already wasted too much time here. Tristan needs help. You either ride with us or I’m draggin’ you with us.”

Michael just glared at Darnell, unable to form a response.

“Aight let’s roll,” Darnell finished the conversation.

Hana hurried towards Darnell to follow him. Alicia stared at Michael for a moment. She pitied him, but only to an extent. Alicia wanted to support Michael, but she’d rather just move along with Darnell. So she did. Michael looked at the three of them walking away. He looked back at his house, slowly picked himself up, then grudgingly followed along.

Darnell hustled the group a lot harder than when he was just with Hana. According to Darnell, Tristan had his house broken into and he, along with his siblings, were trapped by a group of the monsters. Luckily, Tristan’s house was only a few blocks away from Michael’s.

The group hopped over two fences and were making steady progress. Hana and Alicia in the lead, Michael and Darnell taking the rear. They treaded along the third backyard. Nothing was spectacular about it. The yard was fairly large, with dead leaves and patches of grass blanketing it. There weren’t any trees or outdoor furniture occupying it. As soon as Darnell hopped over the fence into the yard, he gave them a nod and they began to move forward again.

As the four crept along, Hana felt a weird sensation. Like she was being watched. And not just because Darnell and Michael were behind her. She felt something more sinister. She didn’t have much time to comprehend this feeling. Everything seemed to be going as smoothly as planned. Her and Alicia crossed the midpoint of the yard. That was when she noticed a window on the back of the house, overlooking the yard. Hana eyed the window as it fully came into view. There was a figure, she couldn’t really make it out. Not until they were directly across from it. It was a man, his mouth was hanging open while his hands pressed against the window. The glare of the Sun made it difficult to make out any other details. Then he vanished. Hana felt another eerie sensation crawl up her spine. What was about to happen? Was all she could ask herself.

“Move!”

Hana heard a shout behind her and the shove of a hand on her back. Her and Alicia launched forward at the same time, flying a couple of feet before sliding on the ground. As she hit the ground, there was a loud shatter of glass behind her. Hana immediately turned around to see Darnell standing directly under the flying path of another one of those bloodthirsty cretins. It soared through the air directly towards Darnell with its hands reaching outward.

“Darnell!” Hana screamed out to him. Darnell used the momentum from pushing Hana and Alicia to roll backwards just in time to dodge the falling man. Michael nearly fell to the ground. Darnell had his monkey wrench at the ready, crouching on his toes, ready to fight. The growling man recovered from the fall to get on all fours like a wild dog. It hissed and snarled at the friends. Darnell tightened his grip on the wrench. Michael tried to slowly make his way around it. “Michael, no!” Darnell shouted.

The monster directed its attention to the terrified Michael and jumped at him. Michael screamed as its bloody hands and jaw reached out to take a chunk of his flesh. As it was mid-air, though, Darnell delivered a powerful kick directly in its side. The monster folded over as it flew backwards. It landed directly on its side, but picked itself up right after.

Without a second wasted, the monster switched targets to Darnell and wildly charged towards him. Darnell stood firmly while reeling his wrench back. The monster repeated the same attack it attempted on Michael. It pushed off the ground with all of its might and soared at Darnell. Darnell reeled back and his wrench came whirling in an underhand spin. The monster chin and Darnell’s wrench collided mid-air with a satisfying DING. The monster flung backwards, its entire body going limp. Then, it crashed directly on its head.

“Holy!” Michael screamed as its arms and legs fell down with the rest of it. The monster twitched slightly as it laid on the ground. Darnell jumped down onto the monster. He lifted the wrench high above his head then sent it directly into the side of the monster’s skull. Its head planted into the ground from the impact as blood splashed onto the grass. Now, it stopped moving.

“Well I’ll be-” Michael spoke just before being interrupted by Darnell who covered Michael’s mouth. Darnell put a finger to his own lips and looked around them. After a moment, it was clear they hadn’t attracted any attention.

Darnell whispered in a stern tone, “We survive.” Then took his hand off of Michael’s mouth and walked towards Hana and Alicia.

“Y’all okay?” Darnell whispered.

Hana and Alicia nodded their heads. “Then let’s go,” he finished.

The four of them resumed their previous task, making as little noise as possible. There were no further grievances from Michael.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As expected, it didn’t take long for the four of them to reach Tristan’s house. In fact, neither Michael, Hana, nor Alicia realized the journey was already over when Darnell didn’t move to the next fence. The friends stopped in the backyard of a two story brown house.

“There it is,” Darnell said, pointing at another home across the street. The four of them advanced along the right side of the house. Sure enough, it was Tristan’s house across the street.

The first thing the friends noticed were the dozens of bloodied cannibals patrolling around the yard of the small brick house. The front door was wide open and windows were broken.

Hana gripped onto the back of Darnell’s shirt and tugged it. Darnell turned towards her with soft eyes. She rapidly shook her head at Darnell who smiled. “What, you don’t want me to join the party?” he teased. Hana gripped his shirt harder while Alicia jabbed Darnell in the arm. Darnell accepted the punishment with a nod before straightening his face. He put his hand on Hana’s shoulder and whispered in a soft voice, “You don’t have to go if you can’t Hana.”

“Who can!?” Michael quietly shouted.

“We can,” Alicia retorted.

Hana’s gaze fixated on the direction of Tristan’s house. Her breathing hastened and her eyes watered. Darnell patted Hana on the back and leaned close to her, “Hey, I got this covered, aight? Tristan’s in there, remember?”

Michael spoke up, “Dude, how do you even know Tristan is still alive?”

Darnell turned to Michael, “‘Cause he just texted me saying, ‘Where ya at???’” he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket with the message open.

“What the…” Michael blinked at the screen.

“Imma be honest, I didn’t think it was this bad. But Tristan is somehow in there, fightin’ for his life. So we gotta hurry.”

The rest nodded along. Darnell continued, “Plus,” his brows jumped as a smirk filled his face, “I already have a plan.”

Everyone followed Darnell to the back door of the house they were taking refuge behind. The entrance happened to be a screen door, allowing them to peer inside. The door was in front of a dining room with a short wall to the left separating it from what seemed like a kitchen. From what he could tell, there was no sign of life within the building. So he reached for the door handle.

Michael spoke up again, “Wait, are you about to break in?”

“Yep,” Darnell replied nonchalantly. He began to tug when Alicia grabbed his arm, nearly exclaiming, “Wait!”

“What?”

“Don’t make too much noise.”

“Real G’s move in silence.”

“Darnell, seriously,” Alicia scolded.

“If you’re just going to break in we should do it somewhere farther from that herd,” Michael said, pointing across the street.

Darnell ignored Michael, pulled on the door and… it slid right open. Darnell casually stepped into the house as if it were his own. The others stood in the doorway, stunned. Darnell turned around to see Michael, Alicia and Hana eyeing him and the door.

“Oh,” he finally went, “y’all would be surprised how often people just leave their doors unlocked.” Then he continued into the house. Hana ran in after him. Alicia looked at Michael, shrugged her shoulders, then stepped inside. Michael shook his head, “I’m not even going to ask how you know that.”

The kitchen and dining rooms were tight and floored with white tile. A narrow hallway stretched from the dining room through the house to the front door. Both sides of the hall mirrored each other with two arch openings each. The left hand side led to a short descent into the living room with a staircase near the dining room. The right side descended into an emptier and large area. The dining room had a large opening, obstructed by a waist high wall, granting a view into the empty area like a balcony. The way the house was cramped together began to make Hana feel claustrophobic.

As Darnell explored around the kitchen, Alicia asked him, “So what are you looking for?”

“Depends,” he answered, ravaging through one of the lower cabinets. He looked at Alicia, “Are you fighting with me?”

Alicia hesitated before murmuring, “Will I get in your way?”

“Not if you follow the plan.”

“Make me part of the plan and I’ll follow it.”

Darnell smiled, “Bet. Look for any oil in this kitchen, olive oil, peanut oil, if it’s flammable, grab it.”

Hana jumped in next to Alicia, “Is there anything I can do?”

Darnell turned to Hana, “Toilet paper. As much of it as you can find.”

Hana nodded with a, “Hmm!” then ran off deeper into the house.

Alicia sprung into action herself. She bolted for the cabinets opposite of Darnell and started scavenging through those. Together they pulled tupperware, spices, bowls, plates, canned foods, anything that could be found in a disorganized home. Except oil.

“This is ridiculous,” Darnell complained as the floor became riddled with objects. The two continued to move along the entire kitchen until coming to the last cabinet. The two looked each other in the eyes and nodded. Darnell swung it open and sure enough, there were bottles of vegetable oil and peanut oil taking up the pantry.

“Perfect!” Darnell exclaimed, snatching the bottles.

And with perfect timing, Hana came rushing into the kitchen with packs of toilet paper rolls in her arms. “I found it!” she cheered.

“Good stuff!” he cheered along with her, “Now let’s take this into the living room,” he began picking up the bottles of oil then turned to Alicia, “Alicia, can you find a blanket?”

“Of course!” Alicia jumped. She rushed past Darnell and Hana to sprint upstairs. Darnell and Hana exited the kitchen and walked down the hall to the front door. There, Darnell dropped the oils then rushed back to the kitchen. Hana waited for him, and he returned with sticks of butter. Hana tried not to make a face at the assortment of materials.

“So, umm, what’s the plan, Darnell?” Hana decided to ask.

“That’s a good question,” Darnell said, hands on his hips, “This could either go terribly well, or terribly… terrible.”

Alicia came running down the stairs with a large blanket. “Will this do?” she yelled from the staircase. Darnell turned around and gave her thumbs up.

“It sure will,” he answered, “leave it there and come here.”

Alicia dropped the blanket and ran to huddle up with Darnell and Hana.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked with her hands on her hips.

“Good question,” he answered, “This could either go terribly well, or… well this might just be terrible.”

Hana chuckled.

Darnell continued, “First off, where’s Michael?”

Michael called out from the living room, “Right here!”

“What you doin’?”

“Looking for a remote.”

Darnell shook his head in bewilderment as he mouthed, Why? “Well, come in here for right now. I’m ‘bout to tell you how you gon’ stay alive for the next hour.”

In a few moments, Michael came trudging around the corner into the hallway.

“Alright!” Darnell clapped, “Michael, you got your phone?”

“Yes…” he answered.

“Good. I need you outside then.”

“Now?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Nope, in like, five minutes.” Darnell nodded. Darnell pulled out his phone and called Michael’s number. Michael’s phone buzzed from his pocket. Michael pulled out his phone and answered it. “What are you doing?” Michael spoke into the phone while looking at Darnell.

“You’re recon for this mission.”

“Recon?”

“You tell us what you see from outside, so we know what to do, sound good?”

Michael stared at his phone then back at Darnell. He shrugged his shoulders and went, “Fine. Anything else?”

“Nah you good.”

“Ok then…” Michael ended the call then slowly backed away into the living room. Darnell just smiled and waved at him. As soon as Michael was out of sight, Darnell returned his attention to Alicia and Hana. “Alright!” Darnell clapped again, “Alicia, you and I will need to find some tape, brooms, or a swiffer, just… two of any long stick. Hana, take this butter and oil, and spread it out all over the floor up to…” Darnell guided his finger along the floor as he walked backwards until he reached the staircase, “Here. Can you do that?”

“Mhm!” Hana nodded and immediately reached down to open one of the bottles.

“Bet! Alicia come with me,” he ushered her over back into the kitchen. Alicia chased after Darnell.

When Alicia reached the kitchen, Darnell held up a roll of duct tape they had tossed onto the floor earlier. Darnell turned to Alicia with a grin on his face, “We boutta pop off.”