THERE WAS A LOUD SCREAM met by a large sound of ruffling noises back inside the building. Followed by glass breaking and everyone screaming — and not the happy ones. Dylan's eyes widened as his entire body froze, his heart racing, both curious and scared to know what could it mean.

'Outbreak?'

"What the hell..." He muttered under his breath, his hand almost dropping the phone.

'

"Dayln? Dayln!"

Dayln shook his head, his hand going on the decline button. "I'll...I'll call back okay."

"Dayln-!!!"

Before his mom could shout, Dayln hung up and rushed back into the party. He saw almost everyone visibly shaking — the crowd stepping away to the point where one pushed him back. He quickly gets up as the crowd starts unshakably running for their lives.

Dayln gets back up and rushing over the crowd, hoping to find Noah quickly or even Kat. But he only found Amy who was lying on the floor.....

But that wasn't all....

She wasn't just lying on the floor. In fact what made it worse, made Dayln froze — even worse made his stomach hurl.

But she was being mauled alive.

That's when he sees the other people.

Especially those outside the now glass broken windows. It was almost a horde of strange...people just walking....and it wasn't a good look. He took a closer look and saw that their faces were disfigured, even their eyes were almost blood-shaped like a virus.

He watched as some began catching others and sank their teeth into some of the teens who were too slow to move.

"What the fuck..."

His heart raced as he watched, almost everyone either left or was caught by these...whatever they were. His legs slowly moved back as he continued to watch as people he once knew were slowly picked off one by one.

Then he saw those red-veined eyes, point directly at him. And then they started to make their way towards him, arms opened wide to grab him.

But as if on cue,

He felt his best friend's hand grab him from behind, telling him to move as they raced out of the back through the busted opened door and broken glass as many people ran for dear life.

"In the car! Come on!" Noah shouted as more people were walking around the streets with gross snarls that made Dayln crawl under his skin.

They both ran despite more of them apparently coming from outside. Nevertheless, they managed to avoid any contact with those guys.

"Dayln! Come on!" Noah gestured as Dayln got into the passenger seat.

Noah quickly sped away on the road, gritting his teeth as he ran through most of the people who were either running or walking-

"Holy shit! Wait-"

"We can't!"

"What do you mean we can't!" Dayln shouted, his voice clearly panicking, "What was that?! W-w-what were they doing to Amy! Where's Sam?! Where's Jake? May-"

"I don't know!" Noah shouted back, almost losing his breath. "But what I DO know is that those guys that crashed in and they gave scary vibe. Not friendly."

"Yeah..." Dayln struggled to remain breath as he leaned his back. "I can see that..." He could only rest a few seconds before he saw people standing by the road.

"Watch out!" Dayln was about to touch the wheel but as if predicted, Noah slapped it away.

"Don't touch the paddle!" Noah snarled. "By the looks of it, who's in front of us isn't our concern; what is, is if we stop."

"HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER!"

Noah sighed, "I...I don't know man....I don't know..."

Dayln's mind was slowly crumbling; his mind still froze at the image of Bella being knocked on the ground. His mind still seeing them grab her and eat her....just what the hell was happening....

"They....they killed her..."

"Dale..."

"They killed her, Noah!" Dayln pleaded, "W-w-what if...th-the twins! Sam!"

"I don't know either man, but we can't go assuming," Noah told him, eyes still on the road. "We just have to hope....."

They continued driving throughout the city and already what they saw was chaos unfolding. Dayln sat through the whole ride, still scared and in shock. Although Noah was too, he made sure that he was strong enough on the road for both of their sakes — ignoring the sweats and fast hearts on him.

"Shit-" Noah muttered under his breath.

"No radio?"

As they drove, Dayln made the idea to turn on the radio in hopes they'd learn what's happening. Unfortunately, it was all static.

"Please...tell me this isn't some-"

"Zombie Apocalypse?" Dayln guessed and Noah nods, "If that's true.....then we're so screwed."

Noah shook his head, "Unless we get out of here?"

"What do you mean by that?" Dayln questioned, "I can't just leave my family like that!"

"You think I don't!" Noah protested.

"M-maybe they know something! My mom called me a while ago and told me to grab you and leave."

"What?!" Noah exclaimed. "How does she know that?"

"Probably the news, you know she always watches that stuff!" Dayln replied, his hands thrown up in the air. "Now that I think about it Mom did say something about the city being blocked off or something..."

They continued down the road, passing by their familiar neighborhood that was now burning. They stopped, watching as places began to erupt in flames, people screaming and attached by these strange creatures.

Both teens watched, horrified, dumbfounded, and overall scared to where neither could really think straight at all.

"We have to look-"

"I don't know if we can..."

They kept driving, and they saw a stalled car ahead with a family of three by the road. The mother was holding the child while the father was waiting in their direction,

"Hey! Over here!"

Dayln turned to Noah who made no attempt to slow down, what's so ever. Until he forced him to, the car steered uncontrollably almost hitting the family but lucky Noah kept control of the car enough to force him to stop.

"What the hell!"

"They got a kid, Noah!" He then rolled the window down, "Hey! Get in!"

Noah grunted at that statement as his friend moved towards the backseat area to unlock the door for them.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The man screamed in joy to the two as he let his wife get in, his son still wrapped in her arms as she climbed in the back, her husband following behind.

"No problem," Dayln nodded. "I highly doubted that anyone would want to be stranded here." He glanced over to Noah, who gave him an unamused look before shaking his head and glancing over to the family — specifically at their son.

"He's gonna be alright?" His voice trembled. "W-we heard gunshots and screaming. What's happening?"

The man shook his head, "I- I don't know. We were at home when this happened. We heard the news on the radio then we saw people acting strange.....then they attacked others. They attacked us."

'Shit shit shit' this sounded exactly out of some nightmare. Some kind of horror movie where they were clearly the prey. Dayln shook his head, stumbling back in his seat as he continued to deny that something like this was clearly happening.

Noah, keeping his hands firmly on the steering wheel, turned to David, "Uh...Mr-"

The man shook his head, "Just call me Henry. This is my wife, Liz, and our son...Doge."

Noah nods, eyes still on the road. "Look we're trying to get out of the city. It's our best chance to escape."

"I know a place....I think." Liz brought up, everyone looking at her.

"What?"

"The news that was on during breakfast, apparently there's supposed to be an evacuation....should still be up before they leave...I think..."

Noah sighed before glancing at his friend, "Could there be a chance....."

"Maybe?" Dayln confirmed, hoping that their perspective families were already out. He hoped his mom and sister left before this 'outbreak' even got to where it was.

As he drove their thoughts — Dayln's thoughts — still thought about the others. The twins. Sam.... He hoped they were out there in a safe vehicle or at least escorted somewhere safe. His mind thought about what happened....what could've happened.

Dayln and Noah exchanged glances; both had different paste of thoughts but one common was that they were scared. Unable to really think straight as the road to dear life and away from a fate worse than death kept pacing.

Noah decided to then take a drive around the shortcuts, he didn't seem worried that the family would know as at this point, Raccoon City was gonna become a dead-end.

"M-maybe there's nowhere to go..." Elizabeth sobbed, still holding her child who was becoming stale by each moment.

They made it to the streets but noticed the bumper-to-bumper around each block and road. Noah's eyes widened,

"Son of a bitch..."

"Noah, we can make a stop and hide to some nearby hospital! They should have medicine!" Dayln told him, begging him to let them help the kid. "The kid's sick!"

"And?!" Noah scoffed angrily, "Do you really think we can stop?!"

"We have a family here!"

"And god knows what's happened with ours!"

Dayln was about to say something but fell silent as they all looked around at the massacre destruction outside their car windows.

Raccoon City was now in the center of hell. Fires blazed, and horrifying scenes played out in every direction. Noah did his best to navigate the streets and avoid the gruesome figures that lurked right outside their windows, just wanting to burst in and eat them all.

As they drove, the radio crackled to life with intermittent news reports. The situation was getting worse. Authorities were struggling to contain the outbreak as the two teens listened intently, both hoping to hear at least SOMEONE. But to no avail.

RADIO: "Reports are coming in of widespread violence and cannibalistic attacks! Everyone RUN! AHHHHH-"

The radio went into static as Noah's heart sank, struggling to hold onto the road. Dayln's head lowered before he noticed his friend's hand on the wheel began to openly shake.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine!"

And as if things didn't get bad enough, there were sounds of crashes and explosions all around the city, which made the car begin to nearly tremble.

"Fuck!" Noah muttered silently, "Don't fail me now..."

Noah told everyone to hold on tight as he made a sharp right turn into another street. He made another turn but the large crowd (they didn't even know who was who) slowed him down.

At this point, everyone kept shouting at each other as Henry pleaded with the drivers to figure out what to do as his wife began crying for her boy to hold on. Dayln finally told him which direction to go which he finally did.

"Faster man!"

"I'm trying! As you can see we're caught in a load of shit!"

As they yelled, neither of them knew that the boy was still — quiet even. His mom kept holding him as she gazed at the chaos through the car windows.

"Find an alley!" Dayln shouted at Noah.

"What alley? We know every alley in the fucking city — and they're all probably taken by those zombies now."

"That's what we're calling them?"

"Alright well, what do you want me to call them?!"

Dayln let out a frustrated yell which Noah personally snarled in response, "Okay fine roll over them! We need to leave-"

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO!" Noah yelled out of his lungs, shutting his friend up. "Now shut up and let me think!"

"I'm trying to get us out of here!"

"You talking is what's stopping us!"

"There's a family!"

"And it's because of you, they became our problem!"

Dayln held his tongue, feeling as if he said anything else that'd be it for them. He looked back to see that the kid was letting out a few soft moans, but couldn't tell if he was in pain or...

"Dale!"

He turned back to see a large helicopter that looked as if it was being thrown around....towards the buildings they were in nearby.

That wasn't just it.

"Doge? Doge?!"

The kid's eyes opened....red.

And started to attack his mother in a blind sense of rage.... biting his teeth into her upper skin. Elizabeth let out a scream as Henry caught hold of his son.

"What the hell!" Noah turned back to see that the kid's features turned just like them.....they didn't realize that he was like them the whole time.

Before anyone could make a move however, the helicopter crashed a couple of blocks down the road as everything around them erupted.......before pieces of debris barreled towards their car and hit them.

...

Their vehicle was overturned. Glass was everywhere and they all were in the vehicle. Dayln was stirring awake from the brief minute of unconsciousness but he could hear the faint sobs and sounds.

"Noah?"

Although in pain, his first reaction was calling out while he was upside down. He let out a groan before feeling something sharp across his cheek.

"Ughh...what the hell..."

He felt something dripping across his face which made him worry more. The blood on him began to tickle and not in a good way as he continued to call out for his friend,

"Noah!"

"Dayln!" Noah's voice can be heard on the other side of the car.

"Noah!" He screamed.

"Dale just unlock your seatbelt and crawl out! Okay?"

Dayln nodded, taking slow deep breaths. That's when he heard some moaning sounds, he quickly turned to see that the whole family was dead.

Henry had a sharp pain in the neck that was stuck all the way through. Liz looked like she'd already been eaten as there were bloodied bite marks all around her from the neck to her arms.

The kid was the only one on the ground.....and the only one making sounds.

Dayln's heart sank as it continued racing to the point where he wanted to scream out again or panic but he kept silent in fear of....whatever the kid was now, to wake up and do god-knows-what.

Dayln forced himself to take slow and deep breaths as his hands slowly touched the red button of his seatbelt, with a slight click, he fell to the ground.

The slow sounds began to grow, giving him the slight intention that he needed to get out of there fast.

"You good?" Noah called out. Dayln's faint sounds and low grunts gave some signals, he slowly watched as his friend slowly made his way out of the car. He was close.

Then the kid opened his eyes. Dayln didn't dare to look back.

All he did was keep crawling faster before the boy's eyes noticed him and began to crawl towards him.

Dayln's whole upper body was out of the vehicle through the broken window, almost out of safety.

"I'm almost out!" He shouted.

"Okay!" Noah nodded, watching him slowly get out. "Dayln!"

Dayln felt someone grab his leg tight, turning around he saw the kid who looked completely like the monsters he saw at the party and outside – grabbing his leg tightly and attempting to pull him back in.

Dayln quickly turned and yelled struggling to get out of the now zombie's grasp. In a quick instinct, he kicked the boy's head, freeing him from his hands, and made quick paste to continue crawling until his legs were finally out.

Dayln did a quick roll on the floor before taking in loads of pants, his heart still pounding as he tried to get up but his body began to crumble, partly due to the crash.

"We got to get off the street!" Noah shouted at him as he made his way up. That's when an out-of-control police cruiser barreled toward them. "Shit!"

It hit their wrecked truck and erupted in flames. This also blocked off the alley Dayln was trapped in, causing the two to split up.

"Shit!" Dayln exclaimed. "Noah!"

"I'll find another way out-"

THEN, a loud door pounded open as a small group of zombies made their way out of the door.

"Dayln...."

"Noah...." his friend sobbed, "They're on the other side....."

"Just..." Noah came out of thoughts. "Just...head...make your way around. Avoid them as quick as you okay okay?"

"Noa-"

"Just run! Go! Now!" Noah shouted before being met with his own horde as he was forced to flee.

"Noah? Noah!" He called but with no answer.

Dayln's heart raced as he quickly scanned his surroundings. His friend was gone. And the alleyway was now blocked on both ends.

On one side, the wreckage of the car was ablaze, even heard zombified sounds inside the car, preventing his escape in that direction. On the other side, a group of approaching zombies threatened to close in on him.

He had to think fast. His mind raced, as the panic strung around his heart as he made a split-second decision. Luckily for him. He noticed a pipe near his footsteps and with a quick thought, he grabbed it and threw it towards the zombies.

Taking his chance, he sprinted forward the alley, daring not to EVER look back as the intense heat and searing pain of his legs were nothing compared to the inescapability of the pursuing zombies.

He could feel the sounds reach to him from behind but he had to keep moving forward, he did a quick turn to see not three but now doubled the amount making their way to approach him, even seeing the kid from before crawling his way towards him.

Quickly finding out what to do, Dayln spotted a partially open door on the side of a nearby building. He dashed toward it, throwing himself inside, barely escaping the grasping hands of the undead.

He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, panting heavily. He hoped that he could at LEAST catch his breath before he had to find his way to escape.

It took a while but his mind came back to whatever tiny pieces it has currently as soon as he realized the door wouldn't hold much longer. He had to escape. He thought back at Noah, the thought of him being swarmed by zombies was bad enough. 

'God damn it all to hell.....'

Now the realization that the family from the car had become one of them made the situation even worse.

'Whatever's left of what they eaten, turns into them...'

Dayln wanted to yell. To scream. His heart still racing. He doesn't want it to end like this. 'Oh god...oh god...'

As he tried to calm his racing heart and thoughts, Dayln knew he had to keep moving. He couldn't afford to stay trapped in the building, not when they were outside.

The building was dimly lit and filled with an eerie silence that was occasionally broken by distant growls and moans. He moved cautiously through the darkened corridors, careful not to make a sound that might attract unwanted attention.

As he explored the building, his luck ran out. The undead had infiltrated every corner. He thought he was safe for a short while when in reality; he was nowhere near safe.

He noticed a small broken mop that still was length enough and with a heavy pant, he quickly leaned down, his face never looking down as his fear dared him not to as his hands thankfully reached the mop.

He slowly made his way into a small room, holding the mob like a baseball bat as he stumbled upon the zombies devouring someone. Eating them whole as the body became completely unreconcilable.

Dayln stumbled back, his legs trembling as he knocked over something from behind which unfortunately gained the Zombies' attention.

Their eyes locked on his as he quickly turned back and attempted to find just anywhere out. He made his way to another door, which unfortunately met him with even more monsters, quickly turning, he was face to face with one. The zombie would've caught him had he ducked lower.

'It was a miracle to him that he was slim enough to do that'

Unfortunately, while he ducked and slipped past him, he ran to another turn even more of the zombies. It was a complete maze, and he could feel his sanity slipping away.

He turned back and found a potential escape round as he was met with a fence. He turned back to glance at the monsters approaching him with open arms. He made no haste to climb up the closed trashcan.

One of the zombies tried to grab his arm but the teen kicked him back. With that out of the way, the kid jumped over the fence and back to safety.

THEN MORE came through.

'No....why....' This was far from worse. He turned around but it was already futile as on the other end, the zombies were right at their attempt to crawl through to take what they saw as a piece of meat.

He was surrounded. No matter where he went they wouldn't be far from behind.

He was in a dead-end.

This was it.

No way out.

He could hear the relentless pursuit of the undead drawing near as he lost his entire mind. His instincts told him to find something to protect himself or look for any escape route.

But it was no use.

There was nothing.

And it would be the end-

"GET DOWN!" a voice shouted.

Without a second thought, Dayln ducked as best as he could as she blasted the man with her handgun. In a fast paste, three bullets sent the three approaching zombies down onto the ground as their heads popped like balloons.

And as they did, everything sprouted red everywhere — including on him. Dayln let out heavy pants as he laughed in both insanity and relief before cupping his face and letting out a faint scream.

The woman walked up to the kid and pulled his hands away, making him look at her face to face. The woman looked older than him, short-haired, and looked almost a bit roughed up as if she'd come from a battlefield.

"Come with me if you want to live!"

The woman opened out her hand instructing him to take it. His mind was in a shock process and again, was on the verge of insanity. But nothing could be worse than the fate he was so close to being marked.

"NOW!"

Dayln snapped back for just a moment enough to grab her hand as she pulled him up before kicking the door open. She pulled him inside and then slammed the door shut.

The woman quickly slammed the door, pushing it close with enough force as the monsters inside tried to push themselves through but she kicked the door shut. Then she proceeded to barricade the door as Dayln caught his breath.

As they stood in the relative safe, the woman turned to look at the late-teen, his heart still racing from the near-death encounter.

The woman examined him, it was quite clear that he was scared and that he had been running since forever, which pained her to tell him he'd have to keep running again.

In fact, they both needed to keep running.

"Are you okay?" she asked her voice firm but not unkind. "Did any of them touch you?"

Dayln took a moment to finally get a good look at his supposed savior. She was armed with a handgun and had a no-nonsense expression on her face — which meant he couldn't tell if this was gonna be easy or tough for him.

Nevertheless, Dayln closed his eyes and shook his head, "No, I... I managed to avoid them."

The woman continued glancing at him, hearing the trembling in his voice but decided not to question it and only responded with a nod,

"Good. We need to be cautious. They're attracted to movement and noise."

Dayln nodded, "I thought I was done for."

"Welcome to Raccoon City," she said with a wry smile. "It's a real mess out there."

"Like a....horror movie?"

The woman let out a small chuckle, "Yeah....something like that."

Dayln furrowed his eyebrow, "You know what's happening? What those things were?"

The woman sighed, "I'll level with you, kid. I have no idea...I do but you shouldn't worry about that. All that you need to worry about is getting out of here."

Dayln opened his jaw before sitting down. His hands rubbed his forehead as the events of the past hours had been so much of a struggle for him. The woman continued looking for a way out and seemed to be calling someone.

Then, Dayln thought back about the others. Apart from him was relieved he was near someone who seemed like they could handle whatever they were- 'at this point I'm just gonna call these fuckers Zombies'

But while he's safe in a way....what about Noah....

His mind pondered what could've happened to his best friend. He told him that he'd catch up to him. His mind raced by what he could be doing now....the worst that he could fear was that he could be out there trying to find him, unknown that the places he had been at were overrun by Zombies.

As the woman made her way towards him, he quickly looked up. His face was still panicking but the woman figured it could be that his brain was still in shock considering that he nearly died.

"Alright, so I have our ride out of here."

Dayln's eyes quivered, "Our ride?"

The woman glanced at him, "Yes. You're stuck with me and I'm not gonna leave anyone under my watch here. I just lost my friend so I wouldn't want a kid's death on my conscious."

"How nice of you," the teen muttered, taking her words the wrong way (not that he'd could care at the moment) before taking a sigh, "But...I can't leave."

The woman frowned, "Why?'

"My friend is out there. He's still like me — like us. I'm not leaving him behind. I can't," Dayln explained.

The woman looked at him sympathetically, "Kid..."

"He's out there. He should be nearby-"

"He's gone."

"No!" He quickly spat insistedly, "He's not! I got separated from him not long ago. He's tough. If I could survive for some dumb luck so can he indefinite."

The woman shook her head, "I'm sorry-"

"No!" He shook his head repeatedly, he couldn't accept that. He refused to. His friend was out there trying to find him, and the quickest way that he could live too is that he could focus on finding him as well. He knew Noah, and he wasn't gonna give up on him.

"Look," the woman's voice was softer, "I'm only certain that it's just you and me here. The whole city is swarming with the outbreak."

Dayln's eyes furrowed again, "So that's what this is....??"

"Unfortunately, yes. Choppers were in the area earlier. With any luck, your friend has already been rescued. The last chopper will be waiting for us on the roof. You're lucky I noticed those things were locked onto you; otherwise, I would've gone in a different direction."

Dayln wanted to cuss as she had some points. Sides, a part of him realized what other choice does he have. He couldn't go out there as it was pretty clear he wouldn't survive. It would be too suicidal.

He felt the woman's hand placed on his shoulder, "Listen, I'm sorry you got caught up in this. But you're the best bet out of here is to stick close to me for now."

Dayln sighed, his mind pondering for a moment before giving her a slight nod.

"Good, now come on. We'll have to make our way through another ally and towards a building a few blocks from here," She explained as she cocked her gun.

"Stay close. And do what I say. Do you understand?"

Dayln nods, "Yeah....yeah I hear you."

She gave him a small smile before she turned back to another doorway that would lead them most likely to another alleyway.

"What's your name kid?"

Dayln paused for a moment before answering, "Dayln...you?"

The woman turned back, "Jill."