My heart hammered as I shoveled things into my backpack: food, a couple of my water bottles, and warmer clothing. Through my windows, I could hear a mess of shouts, wailing alarms from emergency vehicles that eerily stopped at random, and the sound of glass shattering.

"Bro, someone is literally running off with a traffic cone," Sam exclaimed. He stood at the window like he was frozen, I felt a ping of anger in my chest at his lack of action.

"Don't just stand there, you idiot," I pointed towards a smaller bag that I kept in case my main backpack ripped, "Start packing needed supplies."

"Like what?" He asked me, grabbing the bag. He looked like he had seen a ghost. The blood had left his face. I'm not sure if it was the stress, or the chaos, or something else, but I wanted to strangle Sam. I gave myself a moment to take a deep breath; he's scared, too.

"Grab the rest of these water bottles, we need to get more food from somewhere and get out of the city," I explained to him, he nodded while throwing the rest of the bottles from my now useless mini fridge.

"Should we go back to the dining halls?' He asked me. I thought about it for a moment. This could be the quickest way to get packaged food that could last for the entire journey up to Maine.

"We should... but Sam," he looked at me dead in the eyes, "we need to be as quick as possible and then get to the edge of the city."

We zipped our bags shut.

"Where would we go?" He asked me. I pondered for a moment.

"I need to make it back to my family." I opened the door of my dorm feeling the walls to make my way back to the exit, "But first, we need to get away from these crowds."

I made it to the exit/enterence, a crown of people had huddled into the longue, their figures visible by the fire from the plane crash. A few people had gotten injured from the flying shrapnel, and warm red blood was pooling on the floor. Sam grabbed onto my shoulder, feeling dizzy at the sight of blood. He always had. I remember the first time he watched me slaughter one of our meat ducks; he nearly passed out.

If the power doesn't come back... how is he going to survive?

We opened the heavy wooden door, and our feet hit the cobblestones paths.

All the street lights were out. The only thing illuminating the streets is the moonlight and the flickering fires from the chaos around us. I glanced around, trying to take in as much as my surroundings as possible.

Cars sat useless in the parking lots, and some crashed during their journey. I took a deep breath, and a slight metallic smell from the smoke filled my nose. The streets that had been filled with tourists, students, and faculty only hours ago now lay almost eerily still. The large stately buildings of Cambridge felt like skeletons of their former selves. I looked up for the first time in a long time I saw stars.

Suddenly, we heard shouting. They were quick and panicked. I started making my way down the stone streets, the walkways feeling slick from water or mystery liquid.

"It's like a horror movie out here," Sam whispered to me. I didn't respond, I kept peering around the shadows as we made our way down the path. A café window had been completely broken, and the inside looked like a hurricane had hit it. As we continued to walk down the street, I could pick up more noises: the sound of glass crunching under my feet, the distant wailing of an infant crying, and farther off a gunshot.

We passed a bicycle laying on its side, the wind gently blowing on of the wheels, making a faint squeak as the wheel rotated. 

"Do you think it's like this everywhere?" Sam asked me. I paused for a moment, not diverting my gaze from. My hands tightened around the straps of my bag.

"I don't know," I started, "It can't be..."

We continued down the streets. We passed a dining hall on our left, which had been extremely damaged from shrapnel. The structure looked unsafe, and I weighed our options. I motioned for us to move on. We'd get supplies elsewhere in a building that didn't look like it was falling apart.

We made our way down a dark alley that cut through the towering buildings to provide us an easy, safe, and hidden escape from the chaos. When we started to make our way down the alley, I heard the chaos behind us dim. When we had made it halfway down the alley, I stopped...

Footsteps.

"Do you hear that?" I grabbed Sam's arm, pulling him down next to one of the dumpsters, hiding us even more. He nodded. The footsteps grew louder, uneven, and quicker, the thuds bouncing off of the stone walls, barely audible above the chaos.

"Maybe it's just someone running," Sam suggested.

"Or it's someone following us." The footsteps became their loudest and slowed. What I thought was a singular person turned out to be multiple, "Stay quiet."

I peaked over, and I saw two men, one holding a crowbar and the other a baseball bat. A cold shiver ran down my spine, and my mind raced. There was nowhere to hide other than the dumpster and stack of pallets they were behind. One of the figures stopped, he head turning painful slowly during our hiding spot. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to prevent the sound of my breathing from escaping.

"Well well well... what do we have here?" The man said, locking eyes with us. His face twisted into a psychotic smile. It was as if he was waiting for society to fall so he could finally live out his sick fantasies. I pushed Sam up.

"Run!" I yelled, throwing the pallets towards him, causing him to fall. We ran down the dark, cold alley, hearing the sounds of their footsteps behind us. I threw down more garbage into their path as we passed it.

"There they are!" Someone yelled behind us. The alley tightened to the point where we could only fit going single file. I glanced behind me to find the glint of his bat being swung.

"Faster!" I yelled, pushing Sam. His feet slipped on the uneven ground.

The ally eventually diverged into two paths, and without hesitation, I grabbed Sam by the collar, pulling him left. My boots scrapped against the gravel as I continued to run. My lungs burned from the cool fall air.

The new ally opened up into a smaller courtyard. I thought back to moments where Dr. Cooper would do an outdoor class in this courtyard. I hope he's okay.

We continued running down the courtyard, and the fountain in the center stood still with no water being pumped through it. We ran behind another building, losing our persuers in the darkness.

"You can't run forever!"

I pointed down another path. This one reeked of garbage and decay. Sam pressed his back against the wall, breathing heavily while clutching his chest.

"I can't." Sam buried his face in his hands.

"Then you'll die here." Desperation clawed at my chest as I heard our persuers enter the courtyard. Suddenly, my eyes locked onto a metal door, and I ran towards it, trying desperately to throw it open; but it wouldn't budge.

"Help me!" I yelled at Sam, and he hustled over, throwing his body weight onto the door. The rusted hinges creaked as they were forced open. The sound gave our position away, and I slammed the door shut while closing the deadbolt. I heard fists pound on the other side. The pounding was relentless and deafening. Until suddenly, it stopped.

"Are they gone?" Sam whispered, his voice barely audible. I shook my head, I didn't trust the silence. From the darkness behind us, I heard a small sound; it was like the faint scuff of someone or something moving. My breath trembled. I looked over to Sam. He heard it, too.

We were not alone.