It's been hours since I'm driving, Dakota just stares ahead. I managed to make it past the forest.....now we're passing another neighborhood. The undead wonder around, some are eating out of the fresh bodies, ripping intestines out....

I keep driving past the houses, I some begun to stand up and walk towards the car. I speed past them then drove a little faster.

"Can I see the map?" Dakota asks.

"Yeah, sure." I said, passing the map towards him, I could heae him casually open it up.

"We're close.....to another city." Dakota said grimly.

"We'll figure something out." I said dodging the question.

"Avery cut with the bullshit, don't let yourself do something completely fucking stupid and get yourself killed, I respect the fact you need to find your sister but you're going to have to be smart about this." Dakota snaps.

He's right.....many people would be determined and they'll die before they even get to meet whoever they're looking for....I'm not going to be one of those people.

"You're right." I said breathlessly.

"Damn straight...." Dakota said, I laugh a little but remained serious.

As we cross the bridge my heart races when I see something familiar....Aurei's bag.

My eyes widen, I stop the car, Dakota turns to me but I look around before stepping out of the car, I walk towards the bag, briefly going inside it.

Her inhaler is inside, her gun, a picture of Dad and Mom on their weddinf day, and another of me and her not too long ago, she was here....and a can of spray paint laid at the side.

"What is it?" Dakota asks, I remain silent. Aurei is alive.....I take a deep breath.

"She was here." I said quietly, then I could feel myself grow hot....someone must've took her...

"How do you-" Before Dakota could finish I hear gunshots and screaming....

"There's pictures of us....her inhaler is in here....someone must've took her." I said, balling up my fist.

Angry, I grab her bag and the spray paint, stepping inside the car.

"Avery....I'm going to be honest here. If we separate....I can't come back for you." Dakota said, I glare at him.

"Not like that....I'm not that much a prick, if I wanted to leave I would've done it a long time ago. Just know. If I can't see you....I'm not going to risk looking for you....but I'd doubt that will happen." Dakota said coldly.

"What will it take for you to believe in me?" I snap, Dakota glares at me.

"This is risky as hell rose. But as you know, I'm fucked up." Dakota shot back, I close my eyes.

There was a long silence after that, some of the undead begun to stagger and limp past cars, I close the door.

"You know what? If something happens, I'll find her." Dakota assures me, I couldn't help the grin grow across my face.

"Maybe you aren't that much of a prick after all." I said wryly, Dakota rolls his eyes.

"Don't push your luck." He grumbles, I pass the bag towards him.

I shake my head then continued to drive across the bridge, then as we got off the bridge I see stores that had roamers walking past, I keep hearing the screaming.

I check my revolver, only a couple of bullets left, Dakota opens his cylinder, two bullets fall in my hand.

"Use them all and that's your ass." Dakota warns me, I nod.

"And Dakota?" He turns to me.

"Thank you." I said, he shrugs.

"It's nothing...." He said, I grunt.

"I trust you with the bag.....just know if you lose it, I'm coming after you." I warn, Dakota cocks his head back laughing.

I glare at him.

"I'd love to see you try." He said grimly as his eyes are full of hatred.

"Egotistic bastard." I said with scorn.

"You know Avery I've never had many regrets in my life..." Dakota said, at this point I'm used to his threats.

"And not strangling the life out of you every time you speak a sentence is becoming one of them." Dakota adds, I roll my eyes.

"Okay Dakota....we can't stay in here making blank threats, I'm going to go look for the people who are screaming." I said, grabbing my dagger.

"Why are you giving me this anyway?" Dakota asks.

"You don't know what my sister looks like, therefore you need that." I said matter-of-factly.

With that said, I step out of the car to see a truck driving across the other road, I start running down towards it, I feel like a dumbass already for going after a car....but Aurei wouldn't just leave her stuff, and she sure as hell wouldn't leave her inhaler either.

I see the undead follow the truck some staggered around, I pull out my revolver, a roamer lunges towards me, I stab it by the base of it's neck, then kept running.

I could see the woman screaming, she looks like one of the undead but I could tell that she had nothing to protect herself, a man in front of her, with reddish-blonde hair in a ponytail, he shoots rapidly.

"There's too many of them!" The woman screams.

"We have to stick to the plan!" He screams.

Unfortunately one of the roamers pull the woman back then it bites into her neck, slowly ripping the flesh off, the blood surges down her body and she keeps screaming.

Soon as I caught up, I cringe at the sight of the woman being eaten alive, the man turns around, the fear stretches on his face.

He runs towards me, with a dagger in his hand, I grab it out of his hand.

I glare at him, he makes a run for it, running down the sidewalk over bloody newspapers, I bolt after him dodging roamers as I run. I could feel my blood rushing but as he makes a turn I do the same, a roamer hisses at me, it's hand almost coming off, I stab it under the throat, the blood spills over my chest, I keep running after the boy.

Where's Dakota?

I could feel the sun beating down on my neck. But I didn't stop running, I keep dodging roamers, keeping focus on the boy trying to make a escape.

Before the boy makes another turn a plank goes over his head, Dakota steps forward and turns around to see me.

He picks him up then puts the boy's arm around his shoulder.

"They had a bunch of people in the truck." Dakota said breathlessly.

Before I could say anything more roamers begun to limp towards us, I look ahead.

"There's a butcher shop." Dakota said, the boy wakes up.

"W-where am I-" Dakota punches him in the face, the boy's head snaps back, I wouldn't stand a chance if I attacked Dakota.

Dakota runs towards the butcher shop with the boy across his shoulders, I continue to run after them but Dakota is faster than me.

As he barges in inside I turn around and closed the door, moving a chair under the doornob. I follow Dakota up the stairs and got welcomed by a stench of rotting meat.

I look around to see halfway beheaded cows, Dakota sits the boy into the chair.

"The rope is inside the small closet." Dakota said, without any questions I grab the bundle of rope then tossed it to him, he ties the boys hands to the armrest, the his legs. Then I go into Aurei's bag and grabbed a picture of her.

"How did you know where the rope was?" I ask hesitantly.

"My stepdad worked here." He said.

"I'm sorry." I said with the sincerity in my voice....I could tell that he lost him by the bitterness in his voice.

"Don't be, he was a asswhole." Dakota said, stepping away from the boy, he grabs the hammer from the desk.

"What was he like?" I ask quietly.

"Never treated my mother right...well she wasn't much of a great parent herself." Dakota said with a shrug causing Aurei's bag to fall to the ground.

The boy wakes up once again, his ponytail coming loose.

"I'm going to ask nicely just this once, do you know this girl?" I ask, leaning towards him and showing him the photo. It's my habit to get prideful about my temper....although it isn't a pretty sight but now I need this boy to tell me what he knows.

"I don't know what you're talking about...if I did I wouldn't have my sight anymore because she's an ugly bitch." He said with a smile, his teeth are yellow, some had cavities galore and he had one silver tooth, it took everything in me not to pull each one out.

Dakota moves me out of the way, he grabs the boy's hand.

"I'll remove one finger each time you tell a lie." Dakota said grimly, I ball up my fists.

"Fuck you man-" The boy said, Dakota begun sawing off his pinkie, the boy screams but Dakota grabs a cloth then stuffs it inside his mouth. The blood drips onto the floor.

"Go ahead Avery, I know you want to puke." Dakota said.

"No. This son of a bitch insulted my little sister." I snap. I'm too pissed to be nauseous about this whole thing.

"My sister. Feisty, slightly egotistic, she's thirteen." I said, balling up my fists.

"You think that I'm gonna sit here and become bitchmade then think again." He said, spitting in my face. Dakota, no questions asked begins to saw another finger off, this time he struggles to cut it completely off, then Dakota gives him another stare.

"You think I'm fucking joking." Dakota said grimly.

"Are you going to talk?" I ask him.

The boy cocks his head back then rams it against mine, I stagger back, Dakota turns the blade towards the boy's toe then stabs into it, the blood slowly coming out, the boy shakes in the chair, then he tries to breathe.

I go over to the closet to see bandages, I walk over to the boy then begun to wrap the bandage around his bloody knubs that used to be fingers. The blood continues to go down along his knuckles.

I wipe the sweat off the boy's forehead with a cloth then kneeled again, removing the other cloth from his mouth.

"I'll....I'll talk...." He said breathlessly. Dakota takes a step back.

"Wise decision." I said, nodding my head at Dakota to signal him to relax.

"We-we saw her trying to spray paint her name on the bridge....we took her, she put up one hell of a fight, she bit into our friend's neck so hard that it almost drew blood, we beat her up though....then we put her in the truck...." He admits, Dakota takes a step forward but I use my hand to stop him.

"Where is she?" I ask, knitting my eyebrows at him.

"The hell if I know-" The boy glares but I grab the blade from Dakota and put it straight close to his throat.

"Sass me again." I said grimly.

"I'm not scared of you bitch-" I make a hard slash into his forearm, he yelps out in pain.

"Okay okay....she's at a abandoned factory....y-you'll need me to guide you there.....so you c-can't kill me...." He said, he had a point, he had some useful information.....so I couldn't risk it.

"But you can be in a lot of pain." Dakota barks.

"How many of you are there?" I ask.

"Thirty-six....counting me." He said, I nod.

"Why do they take people?" I ask, Dakota takes another step forward but this time I didn't stop him.

"We need them to scavenge for us....they give us the food...they get to live....sometimes we kill the ones who are sick....or too much trouble....they're not too far from here." He said, Dakota looks at me.

"What's your leader's name?" I said, this is my last question then I need to find a way out of here.

"Daxton....then we have two other people, Xavier is the second hand leader.....he decides who goes on the run....Jim decides who eats and who dies." He said.

Dakota's eyes slightly widen at this, he must've known them.

"I could've sworn that bastard was dead." Dakota growls.

"Did you know anyone?" I ask Dakota, he just nods then begun to ball up his fists.

"He must've escaped the building...." He said quietly.

"Okay, we're leaving tomorrow." I said, Dakota nods.

Dakota goes downstairs for a quick minute to grab a bag or something, I look down at the hacked off fingers that are on the floor, the boy still strains his face with pain.

Dakota comes back with a bag.

"Your name?" I ask the boy.

"Scott." He said, Dakota rolls the bag over his head, I walk towards the window to see stairs going down to a parking lot, only three roamers wander around, so it's safe.

"Hey.....did one of those men do something?" I ask, Dakota turns around.

"Scopolaime....they kept blowing it in her face when she kept crying.....we'll need to keep Scott alive.....because I have unfinished business with someone." Dakota said.

"But you burned it all along with everything and everyone else?" I ask him, he shook his head.

"It was risky but I had to do it." Dakota said, with pure venom in his voice.

I stay silent.....I have no idea what Aurei is about to go through....we have to get there and fast....

Her life depends on it.