It all started with a game of truth or dare at a sleepover. A relatively innocent game of truth or dare since we were playing with Tricia. I didn't want to do anything too weird since she's only ten and my friends were fine with that.

"So," Token grinned, "Craig. Truth or dare?"

"Truth." I answered.

"You're no fun, you always pick truth!" Clyde whined.

I shrugged and flipped him off. Truth or dare should be called 'spill your deepest secrets or perform a sexual act on the person next to you', since that seems to be how my friends always played it.
I'd much rather spill my secrets than give my cousin a lap dance.

"Truth... okay..." Token rubbed his hands together and grinned again, "if there was a zombie apocalypse, who would you sacrifice out of all of us?"

It might not sound like the hardest question to answer in truth or dare, but to me it was.
I think of my friends as my family and I could never ever consider killing any of them.
Sure, Clyde is a whiny baby, Token is a snobby prick, Jimmy tells jokes all the time, Rebecca always steals my hoodies, and Tricia is my younger sister, but I could never kill any of them.

Clyde fake-yawned loudly and Token tapped his watch, indicating I was taking too much time.

I sighed.

"I would sacrifice myself to protect you all. I don't want to kill any of you, you're like a family to me." I shrugged.

Everyone groaned at my cheesy answer, except Tricia who reminded me that she is my family.
I gave another shrug and sat back in my inflatable chair, which hissed at me.

Frowning, I pressed myself further into the chair, only to be met with the same hissing sound as the chair deflated.

"Who burst my fucking chair?" I asked, still trying to find the hole the air was coming from, "this is my favourite chair, guys, you know this."

I found the hole at the back of the chair and got up to search my desk for tape to fix it.
Usually I left my tape on my desk, but at the time I couldn't find it. I checked the small drawer and looked in the trash can underneath, but I couldn't find it.

"Has anyone seen my tape?" I asked the group. I got shrugs and shaken heads for an answer, "great. I'll go downstairs and borrow some from my dad."

"Sit your ass back down in that air chair. I'll get it." Token got to the door before me so I had to sit back down.

We heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs and then a door downstairs creaked.

"Hey, Mr and Mrs. Tucker, how you doing?" He said from downstairs, "wait. What are you doing?"

Then he screamed.

Something downstairs smashed and Token screamed again.
We all scrambled to our feet and headed to the stairs to see what was going on, although in hindsight that wasn't the best idea.

I was behind everyone, so I didn't see what happened, but all I could hear was Token screaming at the top of his lungs, something groaning and the people in front of me screaming.

I finally got the courage to push them out of the way and see what was happening for myself. I wish I hadn't.

Token was slumped on the floor, my father biting ravenously at his neck whilst my mother tore open his stomach. Although I wanted to shut my eyes, I couldn't. I had to witness them devouring his guts whilst my friends panicked behind me.

"What the fuck do we do?" Clyde wailed, "Token's gone! He's the mother of this group! Now we're lost children wandering aimlessly in this cruel world."

"Shit, I've got no cell service, I can't call anyone!" Red threw her phone at the wall.

Jimmy was trying to lighten the mood with jokes, but nobody was listening.
I pulled on my hat strings absentmindedly, a sign that I'm stressed.
A small hand on my shoulder made me jump and I almost punched Tricia in the face.

"Dad's gun." She whispered before running in the direction of her bedroom.

I had completely forgotten my dad's gun. He stored it under his bed just in case of emergencies, so I ran to his room and grabbed the case. Luckily, there was no lock so I had no trouble taking the gun out.

He only taught me how to use it once, the day we got it, just in case anything happened and he couldn't use it. I was only around twelve so I couldn't really remember how to use it. I figured it couldn't be that hard, point and shoot, right?

"Stop! No, stop it!"

Red's screams rang out and even through the closed door I could hear her being dragged across the floor. My parents had obviously gotten hold of her.
She screamed again and so did everyone else.

I quickly checked the gun was loaded before returning to the hallway.

The sight was horrific.
Red's internal organs were strewn across the floor like discarded toys, her emptied body halfway down the stairs. Her blood had splattered onto the walls, the stair banisters and the carpet, and a clump of her hair was still in my mother's hands as she crawled towards Clyde.

For some reason my mom had been sliced in half so she had no legs. She had to move around by using her arms.
My father, on the other hand, had all of his body and was shuffling across the floor towards my room.

"Hey jackass!" I yelled, kicking the wall to distract my parents more.

Clyde whimpered as my mom stopped crawling towards him. She seemed to be interested in me for some reason, so I yelled again and again until she began to move towards me.

"Craig, no!" Clyde yelped, not having noticed the gun in my hands, "don't sacrifice yourself for me!"

"Shut the fuck up!" I hissed, "I've got this."

I aimed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, I missed and hit her shoulder instead. Clyde squeaked in shock at the loud noise, drawing the attention of my mom yet again.

"Clyde! Shut the fuck up!" I repeated.

I aimed again and managed to shoot her through the head. Her blood splattered everywhere, hitting the walls, the floor, me.
It didn't even look like blood. It was dark brown, almost black, and thick like slime. It also had an awful stench that I can't describe. Almost like a mixture between rotten eggs, dog shit and vomit.

My dad turned in my direction and groaned loudly. He stopped walking, unsure as to where he'd rather go.
I took this as an opportunity to get Clyde to safety.

"Hide yourself in my parents' room. Don't come out until I say so." I told him, pulling him to his feet with my free hand.

He nodded and did what I asked.
When the door shut, I aimed my gun at my dad and shot at him.

"Shit!" I cursed, having missed his head and instead shot him in the jaw.

He didn't even react. His jaw swung open and broke off on one end. At least he'll struggle eating.
He continued shuffling into my room, his jaw swinging with each step.

I aimed the gun again, but before I could shoot there was a loud thump and he fell to the floor. He was still moving, so I shot him before he could get back up.
Jimmy poked his head out of the door.

"Is he g-gone?" He asked, prodding him with his bloody crutch.

I nodded and thanked him for the help.

"Clyde, you can come out. They're gone." I called out, walking over to the room.

Clyde slowly opened the door, peeking out worriedly. Tricia's bedroom door opened and she walked out.

"I looked out of my window," she said, "there's a whole horde of them out there. Like, a big one."

"We need a plan."