"We have to go Now!" Eli barked at the other two men in a whisper.

They turned towards Eli, startled.

"What do you mean we have to go?" Sebastian asked in surprise.

Eli quickly and violently threw his hand up over his own mouth in a motion to be quiet.

Keeping his voice low he continued, "I mean what I said. We have to go. Now. It's not safe."

There was the faintest hint of panic in his voice.

Both men instantly began packing up their bags. They had no idea what Eli had seen, but if it was enough for him to panic it couldn't be anything good.

Once packed, the father and son went towards the front of the store to exit.

"Not that way!" Eli snapped, "Out the back."

He turned and led the way, grabbing a small handheld mirror and a packet of liquid hair dye as he did.

He let out a sigh of relief seeing that the back door opened in towards them instead of out and into the alley.

Silas and Sebastian stopped behind him as Eli dropped down to a knee, opening the hair dye as he did.

"What's that for?" Silas asked in a whisper.

"Me." Eli answered.

Silas raised an eyebrow in confusion, prompting Eli to explain more.

Pulling his hood back and removing the mask covering his lower face he began explaining in a low voice.

"This is what we're going to do. Silas when I say to, you're going to walk out that door and look around hastily and then quickly go to the right, around the rest of the building and wait about ten feet back from the corner." He paused, making sure Silas understood.

"What should I be looking for?"

"Anything and nothing." Eli answered as he began rubbing the dye on his own face.

"I'm afraid I don't follow." Silas said.

Still applying the dye Eli continued, "You'll be looking for anything that could be a potential threat, but not anything in particular. Don't make it look like you're looking for something specific."

"Okay, what are you two going to be doing while I do that? And for God's sake what the hell are you rubbing all that nasty dye on your face for?"

Eli held up the mirror to look at his handiwork with the dye.

"While you do that I'm going to hold this by the ground facing the left to make sure I don't see anything." He said holding up the mirror, "I need you to go out while I do that though so the mirror won't be noticed, your movement will draw any attention and by holding it close to the ground it shouldn't be seen. Especially with the sun setting and blinding anyone looking our way."

He stopped, waiting for the inevitable question he knew was coming.

"So I'm a distraction?" Silas asked.

"There it is." Eli thought.

"Essentially yes." He began, "But I figured you'd rather do it than your son."

Silas paused for a moment, "Yeah, you're right I would."

Eli nodded.

"Once I make sure the coast is clear, me and Sebastian will follow. Oh and another thing, you'll take my bow when you do."

Silas couldn't hide his surprise. "What? Why?" He asked.

"Because you carrying it wouldn't be suspicious or seen as a threat due to your age. If I'm seen with it then it will be, same for Sebastian. That's why I took off my hood and mask. I'm using this dye to make it look like my facial hair is more filled in from a distance, it will help throw off anyone who sees me." He finished.

Silas slowly began nodding in understanding. It all made sense.

"Okay. So when are we doing it?"

"Right now." Eli said as he shoved his bow and quiver into Silas's arms. "Put that on your shoulder." He said pointing at the quiver.

Eli scooted until he was at the doorway, mirror in hand.

"Ready?" He asked Silas.

Silas turned to Sebastian and said, "I love you son." Before nodding at Eli.

"Go." Eli said softly and Silas pulled open the door.

As he did Eli placed the mirror down and began looking for the man.

Silas took a couple steps out the door and shook his head around, looking to both his sides a couple times, searching for anything obviously out of the ordinary.

"Nothing." He thought to himself.

"Nothing." Eli said quietly to Sebastian as he pulled the mirror back in as the door closed, Sebastian let out a sigh of relief.

Silas turned to his right and began almost jogging. Once he reached the corner of the building he turned to his right and went around it, letting out a soft scream of terror when what was around the corner.

"We'll wait in here for a couple minutes in case anyone saw what happened. Their interest should be gone by then." Eli said.

"Alright." Sebastian said.

A thought came into his head, "Eli, what exactly did you see?"

Eli paused and took a deep breath.

"It's a very long story. Which we don't have time for."

"Or you just don't want to tell it." Sebastian thought to himself.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Eli unhooked the sword he kept on his back and repositioned it around his waist.

"Alright, let's go." He said.

He opened the door as naturally as he could, Sebastian right behind him. Both men looked to their left quickly before starting off to the right.

"What's that noise?" Sebastian asked.

Eli was focusing on it heavily. The closer they got to the corner of the building the louder it became.

"Sounds like someone's struggling." He thought.

He quickened his pace slightly and burst around the corner, unsheathing his sword immediately as he did.

Silas was desperately fending off three undead, three others lay dead around him.

Silas forcefully shoved his long hunting knife into the front of one of the undead's faces.

"Shit!" He thought to himself.

The blade was stuck in the creature's head, the serration along the back of the blade was caught on the bone. He tried with all his might to pull it out but it wouldn't budge. The last two undead were quickly closing in on him.

"Rebecca, I'm sor-" he began thinking to himself before having those thoughts caught off by a blur to his left.

Eli came charging in full speed.

He leapt and sent his foot into the center of the first undead's chest in a vicious kick, turning whatever structure its rib cage had into mush.

As he landed, Eli let off a sidestroke with his sword at the second undead, cutting its head in half cleanly.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Silas was in too much shock to answer.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder and turn him, pulling him into an embrace.

"Dad!" Sebastian said with a choked voice.

Seeing that Silas was unharmed, Eli walked over to the final undead remaining. It was frantically trying to get up after Eli's kick had sent it flying, unable to after having all the bones in its upper torso shattered. He dropped his sword down into the center of its face, killing it.

He pulled out the blade and flicked off all the blood, examining the blade for any damage. The sword itself was nothing fancy, about three and a half feet in total length. It had a full tang black steel body with no crossguard and a cloth wrapped handle. It had one singular blood groove along the spine of the blade that covered nearly the full length of the blade and a sharp forty five degree angle curve at the tip of the blade.

Noticing nothing wrong with the sword, he quickly sheathed it and walked back over to the men.

"We need to go." He said.

They nodded.

"I can't get my knife out." Silas said, pointing down at the undead it was stuck in.

Eli quickly stomped down on its head, dislodging the blade and leaving a puddle of rotten brain juice and flesh.

Eli refastened his quiver and picked his bow up off the ground where Silas had dropped it and they quickly hurried off down the street that connected to the parking lot behind the building and darted off into the woods the first chance they got.

They continued hiking through the forest around an hour before the rapidly fading sunlight began making navigation difficult.

"We'll need to find shelter soon." Eli thought.

“We can't stay out in the open."

The city began morphing into forest about a mile back, but now they were deep into it.

Eli had kept them going at an increased pace the entire time, trying to put as much distance between the three of them and him as possible.

Silas and Sebastian were exhausted, Eli knew.

He was too.

But their safety had depended on moving fast.

The trees up ahead began to thin out the closer they came.

There was a dirt road.

Off to the right on a telephone pole, there were signs nailed with last names on them and arrows pointing down another dirt road that intersected the one they were on.

Eli pointed to it, "We'll follow that road until we get to one of those people's houses and spend the night there."

The thought of being in a semi warm house was almost enough to make the two men's mouths water. Winter was rapidly setting in, and the bone rattling cold with it.

Thankfully for them they didn't have to walk too far, about ten minutes after they began following the road a driveway became visible, leading up to a house perfect for their needs.

"We'll go in the back." Eli began in a whisper, "Once we're in there be as quiet as possible. Check every corner, closest, and cabinet for anyone or anything that could be in there. Don't worry about looting it right now, we'll go through everything in the morning."

Silas and Sebastian nodded in agreement.

The three of them carefully made their way to the back of the house along the tree line.

Eli slowly turned the knob on the back door and it creaked as it turned.

"At least it's not locked." The three of them all thought at the same time, unknown to the others.

He pushed on the door slightly and once again it creaked, this time at the door hinges.

Eli continued slowly opening the door, pausing almost as soon as he started pushing it everytime. He was trying to make it sound like natural creaks a house would make so as to not alert anyone who could be inside. It took him almost ten minutes before the door was finally open enough for him to slip inside.

The door led into the kitchen, Eli slung his bow around his shoulder and drew the large bowie knife he had on his left hip, keeping the smaller knife on his right hip sheathed.

Carefully, he peaked around the corner and out into the rest of the house he could see.

"Damnit." He thought.

“It's too dark to see anything."

"At least that works both ways."

He began checking inside every cabinet in the kitchen making sure nothing was waiting to ambush him.

Finding nothing, he motioned Sebastian inside. Silas remained outside, moving behind the cover of a table out on the patio.

"Once I make sure the immediate area is safe I want Sebastian to follow me in on my signal. Silas, I want you to remain outside and hide somewhere out of sight in case someone comes around from the front of the house and tries to stab us in the back." Eli had told them.

"This house is gonna have at least two stories to it. Sebastian, I want you to sweep the main floor. I'll go up the stairs and check everything above, where people are more likely to be hiding."

Sebastian carefully made his way through the door and moved up to the corner with Eli.

They moved to where the stairs began and with a nod from Eli they split up. Eli swiftly and quietly went up the stairs, Sebastian walking slowly to a side room.

He took a deep breath.

"It'll be fine." He kept telling himself.

“How is Eli always so calm?"

He shook his thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. Luckily for him there were only three rooms on his floor. One bedroom, one bathroom, and the living room, which had already been cleared by the two of them. He carefully made his way through the bedroom, lying down to check under the bed first.

Nothing.

He let out a small sigh of relief.

He moved along the bed, using it to shield himself off, until he was on the other side of it.

Still nothing.

He looked up from his squatting position at the handle to the closest. He tried to swallow but his throat felt dry.

He gripped his hunting knife so firmly his knuckles went white.

Slowly, he began to turn the handle, still squatting down.

"When checking something behind a door, never do it at eye level. Everyone will be expecting you to stand upright, which means that's the level they'll attack at. Stay low, have your head below torso height so they'll miss if that's where they aim. They'll be shocked while you're in control of the situation. Eli had told him right before they started opening the first door.

Taking another deep breath, Sebastian opened the closet fully and raised his knife, ready to defend. Or attack.

There was nothing.

“Thank God." He thought.

He turned and began making his way to the bathroom.

Once he got into the room the first thing he did was check behind the shower curtain, remaining in a squat the entire time.

There was nothing.

He moved back and checked the cabinets under the sink.

There was nothing.

Finally, he closed the bathroom door until just before it latched and pulled open the door to the hot water heater that was behind it.

There was nothing.

He let out another sigh and relief and made his way back into the living room.

He checked underneath and behind all the furniture in the room.

There was nothing.

Finally he stood up and stretched out his legs, satisfied there was nothing.

Then he remembered the closet in the living room.

It was off to the side in a corner of the room, from the outside it looked rather small.

"Guess I gotta check that." He thought.

He walked over to it, holding his knife loosely in his left hand.

"There's not gonna be anyone in it."

He began turning the knob, standing fully upright.

As soon as he opened the door slightly it was shoved open from within.

Sebastian took a step back in shock and as he did he felt a sharp pain in the center of his face as a hard fist connected with his nose. His eyes watered uncontrollably and he felt the warm trickle of blood fall from his nose.

Before he could regain his senses he got shoved back violently, smashing into the wall behind him. He dropped his knife as his head bounced off the hardwood of the wall.

He took a step forward and felt hands wrap tight around his throat as he got shoved into the wall once again. The hands began tightening around his neck, refusing to let up. Squeezing harder and harder. Tighter and tighter as they did everything they could to end his life. He was helpless, he couldn't see from all the water in his eyes and he was disoriented from bashing his head.

He felt the strength rapidly start draining from his body, it was all he could do to stand.

His legs began to shake and everything started to go black.