Day 3 7:00 AM

I awoke at the sound of an alarm clock ringing. The kind of alarm clock where the bells are ringing. I groggily sat up and went back to sleep. It's too fucking early for this! It's my day off I still want to sleep. I cursed under my breath.

3 seconds later I shot up, ran towards Bennie and slapped the fucking pig with no remorse. You know how loud something would be if nothing else in the world was making a sound. It would really stand out. Have you ever heard a droplet in the kitchen when no one is around the house and nothing is making a sound other than droplets? It's that kind of loud. Bennie shot up abruptly. "Wha.. What's happening? Why is your alarm so fucking loud turn it off." Bennie exclaimed.

"Why are you so noisy in the morning? Please turn off that goddamn alarm!" Abigail insisted while covering her body with a blanket.

With a panic, I ran towards the alarm clock and with a fluid motion scooped it up my hand and rushed towards the window. By the time I arrived at the window, in the corner of my eye I saw Bennie rolling off the couch where he was sleeping. That probably hurt, he rolled like someone lit a fire in the entire sofa and fell straight to the floor with a thud. He immediately stood up grabbed his supply bag, held the knife he was hiding under his pillow, and ran towards the room door. He removed the chair we used as a barricade to lock the room for extra safety and carefully opened the door. Seeing that no unclean managed to get in, he sprang forth near the stairs to the first floor and watched if anything would come up in the makeshift barricade. He's fast I'll give him that.

While this was happening, I was already preparing myself to throw the clock as far as I could. Taking two steps back, I rotated my upper body to its limit and threw the still-ringing alarm clock to the open window. Like a pro pitcher, the clock flew straight out of the window with an ark and landed at least 10 meters to the open field at the back of the house. By the time I was holding my aching back, I saw Abby fumbling to find her knife and said " Why the hell would you throw it!? You should've just turned it off you monkey!" she exclaimed while looking for Bennie.

I held up a finger while holding up a strained face clearly struggling to contain a scream because of the sprain on my back. " I answered Abby with a whisper. " Because if any unclean were attracted to it, they would stop at the last location where it was heard. It was safer to throw them off this location, let them continue, and literally bypass our position." I explained between strained breaths.

"I'm not sure if they will stop or continue if I just turn off the alarm. But I guess throwing them off our trail will give us the bigger chance of not being surrounded at this point." I added.

"Oh .. sorry," Abigail said sheepishly while huddling behind Bennie. Bennie on the other hand was peaking downstairs making sure his silhouette wouldn't be seen in the length-wise cabinet we used as a barricade to the 2nd floor. He was so focused that the conversation Abby and I discussed didn't register in his mind.

A few tense seconds passed, and Bennie looked at me. I looked attentively making sure I'd get what he would command me in the next few seconds. He raised two fingers and pointed at his eyes and pointed it again at the window overlooking the front side of the house. Ok. He wants me to watch the front side of the house. I rushed to the farthest room and opened the door in a hurry.

I gagged and suddenly remembered this was the room where that poor child and her mother were. Seeing a blanket laid up a body and the small figure beside it I said a small prayer in my heart. "May you find peace." This is no time to feel sad about the dead, I felt sorry but my friend plus one gorgeous lady still needed my help. I can't abandon the living now. Especially if they are what I consider my friends.

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With a heavy heart, I went around them and peeked by the window. There, slowly lumbering towards the house, were the unclean. What a fucking blunder. We were so exhausted yesterday that we forgot to check if anything would compromise our safety until we woke up the next day. Fuck. I knew Murphy would come knocking but we didn't know we will be fucked up like this. To be fair, we were so focused on Abby's bakery last night plus the exhaustion and a bit of safety definitely made us drop our guard. Our brain still rejects the idea that any of this is real. But it is all real alright. That if we don't take things seriously, somewhere down the line, we are gonna get killed because of our ignorance.

Fuck! Now isn't the time to wallow in mistakes. Focus Richard, focus! I peeked slightly at the window and saw 1,2,3 ... 6,7 total. 7 figures that I can see. I went back to Bennie's position and reported what I saw.

Crouching on the opposite side of the stairs, I lifted 7 fingers to Bennie. He nodded. On the bright side, we are lucky it isn't a horde of unclean. Also, as far as I can tell, these ones are only coming from one direction. So we have a good chance of escape if we need to run as far away from here as possible. "Figures?" Bennie asked.

" 2 fatties, one child, 3 civs, and 1 soldier." I elaborated. " With equipment and firearm hanging from its body," I added. I knew Bennie was already thinking of how we could take that equipment. It was too good to pass up especially if we were planning to go deeper into the city to find transport.

"Bag and drag?" Bennie asked me for confirmation. " Bag and drag." I agreed with no hesitation. We knew it was risky but if we wanted to survive we needed to take said risk and make sure we made it out alive. It's the only way to survive in our current situation. Especially if this pandemic is on a global scale.

Bennie looked at the anxious Abigail. "Listen to me carefully, we need to go outside. Follow me and watch our backs okay? Keep an arm's distance to avoid crashing into any of us. Keep proper spacing okay? Let us work. If you want to help, make sure nothing comes up behind us, and lastly.." Bennie paused. " Do not hesitate to kill. Even if they are old. fat, ugly, or even a child. DO NOT HESITATE TO KILL. Because these things won't hesitate to kill you." Bennie emphasized.

Abigail took a deep breath and nodded. " Aim for the head, if possible, stab the brain or run it straight from the eye socket. The skull is a bit hard so if you lack the force to pierce it, it will just skid the scalp. If that's not possible, kick their knees as hard as you can. Make them trip then strike the brain." Bennie explained.

"Don't panic okay? Because if you do it's not only your life that would be in danger. That would include us too." Bennie said a bit softer this time. He's right. If Abigail wants to have a better chance of survival, she needs to be at least effective in situations like these and not become the cause of us being in danger. As the saying goes, be wary not of a competent enemy but an incompetent ally.

I tapped on Abigail's shoulder and added " Don't EVER get bit." I said a bit strongly. Bennie and I did a fist bump and removed the barricade. Gripping his hammer and me holding my knife we went down the staircase. Down to the dangers of this new world.