I wake up. I'm tied to a tree. I don't see the cannibals. Elizabeth is next to me unconscious. Alex and Jake are tied to trees in front of me. We are in the woods. It's nighttime now. There's a campfire to the left of us. We need to get out of here now! Who knows how long until the cannibals show up.

"We need to escape," Jake says.

"Yeah, we do," Alex says. My head still hurts.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"Those cannibals took us here," Jake says.

"Is Elizabeth okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, they knocked her out, too," Alex says. I hear footsteps all around. Jake looks scared.

"They're back," he says.

The cannibals walk over to us.

"Which one do we cook first?" a woman asks.

"How about the boy?" another man suggests.

"I don't care who we cook as long as we start soon," another person says rubbing his hands together.

"Let's cook the boy," the woman says.

"No! Don't do this!" Jake yells. They untie Jake and tie him above the fire. Elizabeth wakes up.

"Let go of him!" I yell.

"Let go of my brother!" Alex yells.

"He's just a kid!" Elizabeth yells. "Don't do this!"

One of them comes towards me.

"Back off!" I say.

He turns around. A small knife falls from his back pocket. I use my foot to slide it to me. I pick the knife up. I cut myself lose. I stab the man in the head. He falls over. The other cannibals run when they see me. I untie Jake and put out the fire.

"Those damn freaks tried to cook me!" Jake says.

"We need to move now!" I say. I untie the others.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"We had to worry about zombies eating us, now people! What is this world coming to?" Elizabeth says.

"People get desperate when they want to survive," I say. We move through the dense forest.

"How long will it take us to get there now?" Jake asks.

"Weeks, maybe months, if we move on foot," Elizabeth says.

We finally reach a road. There's a black car parked in front of a gas station. It's in perfect condition. No one would just leave a car like that.

"Look! We could use the car," Jake says.

"It's in good condition, too, which means it was parked there recently," I say. This is...suspicious though.

"So then what do we do? Do we leave or take it?" Elizabeth asks.

"I'll go and check it out. You guys stay here," I say.

The others stay back as I sneak to the car. The car doors are unlocked. I see the keys on the driver seat. I feel a hand grab my ankle. I look down to see a zombie. His eyes are red. He pulls me down to the ground. My gun lands feet away from me. I try reaching for it. I can't grab it. It's too far. The zombie is biting at my leg. Suddenly, I hear a bang and the zombie is dead. I crawl away. I see Jake pointing my gun at the zombie.

"Thanks," I say. He hands me the gun.

Elizabeth and Alex are standing behind Jake.

"I'm going to go in the gas station. You three get the car ready," I say.

"No, we should get a move on. If there was one zombie here that means there's probably more." Elizabeth says.

"And pass up life saving supplies? No way," I say.

"Fine, but be careful," she says.

I go inside. I look around. I see bloody handprints on the walls. This isn't good. I then hear screaming. Outside zombies surround the car. I run to the car. I shoot the zombie by the passenger's side door. I get in the passenger's seat. The zombies bang on the windows.

"Let us in!" One of the zombies yells. He presses his face on my window. It freaks me out.

"Drive!" I yell. She speeds out of the parking lot. A zombie is on the hood of the car.

"How do we get this thing off?" Elizabeth yells.

"I don't know!" I say.

I roll the window down and shoot the zombie. The zombie falls off and rolls to the side of the road. I open the glove box. A map falls out. I look at it. We are six hours from Emerald street.

"We are six hours from Emerald street," I say.

"Good! I can't wait to get to back home," Elizabeth says.

"I can't wait to see our grandparents!" Alex says.

"How old are they?" I ask.

"Eighty-two and ninety," Jake says.

I don't think they are alive. This virus has taken young, healthy people. I doubt they survived long. I look out the window. I wonder how many people are even still alive.

"Hey, have you ever seen a zombie with red eyes?" I ask.

"No...that's odd." Elizabeth says.

"I saw one a long time ago," Jake says.

Are the zombies mutating? What does this mean? For us and the zombies? Will we see more with red eyes?

I hear the kids scream. Elizabeth slams on the brakes. I hit my head on the dashboard. I pull out my gun. I look in the back.

A zombie who must have hid in the trunk has torn through the seat between Jake and Alex. Jake unlocks the door and jumps out. The zombie grabs Alex's arm and is trying to bite her. I unbuckle my seatbelt and and crawl into the back. I stab the zombie in the eye. The zombie yanks the knife out and tries to stab me. I back away. He grabs my gun. I hold the hand that has the gun down.

"Alex, unbuckle yourself!" Elizabeth yells.

"I can't!" Alex yells.

The zombie has his hand over the seatbelt release button. I push the zombies head down into the seat. The zombie growls. I unbuckle Alex. She jumps out of the car. I stab the zombie again and again until he stops moving. I get out of the car and sit on the ground. Elizabeth drags the body out of the car.

"That damn thing was waiting in the trunk!" I say.

"We are all fine though," Elizabeth says.

"That thing tried to shoot me! He took my knife, too!" I say. I get up.

I grab a dish rag from my bag and clean the backseat down as much as I can. The zombie was covered in dirt and blood and got it all over the car. I try pouring a little water on the seats but that just smears it more. We all get in the car again.

I start driving. We have almost a full tank of gas. It's twelve in the morning. I can't believe it's only twelve. Just this morning, I met the kids in the back. When I met them, I was a bit scared. I didn't know if they had weapons or not. Now I'm protecting them with my life. I met Elizabeth only last night and we have helped each other so much. It never occurred to me that I'm in a car full of strangers...but they feel like family now.

"Turn left when you see the next stop sign," Elizabeth says.

I see a body lying in the road. The body has its blood and organs smeared all over the road. It makes me sick. This was the work of a zombie. I drive around the body. I see a hotel to my left.

"Do you want to stay there for the night?" Elizabeth asks.

"No...who knows who's in there," I say. I continue driving.