Jane's POV
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We all made ourselves comfortable in Éloïse's room as Aaren decided to tell her what's going on past these closed doors. She's listening, but still drawing and completely aloof to the real world.

Somewhere in the middle of it all she puts her pen down and watches us intently, as this has peaked her interest more than her artwork had.

"So, let me get this straight. People are being infected with some sort of disease...and it spread through nearly half of the town?" Éloïse clarifies, her eyebrows raised as she glances between us.

I nod, tossing my wrench up into the air a few times as I turn my head to face the window. I catch it and hold onto the weapon firmly, thinking deeply.

All of the other houses block us from really seeing anything, but I still know that something dangerous is close to this house. It's just a feeling I've got.

It's not long before I jump as I hear muffled crashes that occurred downstairs, paired along with groans and stumbling footsteps that a drunk man would have.

I get up and head toward the door, Aaren continuing to explain to Éloïse. He's not really paying attention to his surroundings much, so focused on getting her caught up.

Swinging open the door, I carefully take a look out in the direction of the stairs. I tense slightly when I spot an undead guy coming up to the landing. He's growling and his neck is tilted so far back that I assume it's broken.

His clothes are rugged, torn in various places strewn across his body. Bite marks litter his skin and I swallow hard, my eyes darting behind him.

Another one falls to her knees briefly before fully making it up the stairwell. She looks as if she's a teenager, and blood soaks her being. Grumbling lightly, she raises her nose to the air and sniffs it. The male somehow knew what she's doing and follows the action.

Their heads immediately snap to me, their eyes glazed over. They can't see me, but they can certainly smell me. Either that or they can sense my fear.

I jerk myself back into the room and attempt to slam the door shut. Only an inch of the door is actually closed before a body rammed itself against the wood. This causes me to yelp, my strength starting to deplete.

My arms were about to give out when two pairs of arms reached out and assisted me. The door closes with a thud, Éloïse and I pressing against it while Aaren hurriedly locks it.

When he did we backed away just as more groans and banging ensues, joining the previous two.

I let out a breath of short-lived relief and rush to the window. Looking down, I see many of those things piling into the house, stumbling over one another.

I gulp and turn to the others, who were already staring at me as if I had an answer. I glance out again, ignoring the threats to the door, knowing that we don't have long before it collapses.

A lightbulb seems to go off in my head, a plan forming in my mind as I twist around to face my small group once more.

"Guys, we need to get onto the roof and then find a way to get down, but we need to make sure those flesh eaters don't trap us," I inform them, speaking quickly but clearly.

They nod my way, Aaren holding onto his crowbar tightly yet loosely. Éloïse just has a confused look in her eyes. She probably thought we were pranking her earlier.

Which is understandable. I mean, who would immediately believe that a zombie apocalypse is happening that very second? Unlikely.

"Éloïse, do you have anything you can use as a weapon?" I ask her, and she looks as if she just wants to disappear off of the face of the Earth.

She lowers her head in thought, inhaling sharply and flinching as the door took another fierce blow. The wood cracked in response.

My heart rate increases, knowing that we have just a few minutes now to get the hell out of here alive before that door breaks down.

Éloïse hurries over to her bed and bends down to look underneath it. She reached out and grabbed something, pulling it out to reveal a baseball bat. She then stands and moves back to our side again.

This time, Aaren speaks up.

"Alright. Éloïse, you're going first. If a flesh eater gets in your way aim for the head. Jane, you're after her. I'll go last."

We nod in unison and rush to the window.

I help make sure Éloïse gets out safely and that nothing snatches her before followed suit. Just as Aaren got out halfway the door gave in.

This made him startle a little and he somehow got stuck as a result of it, his foot caught on something. He began to mutter profanities as I told Éloïse to stay where she is before jumping back into the room and smashing heads. Trying to buy him some time.

I'm running out of breath as more flesh eaters appear, but I refuse to give up. I will protect my brother at all costs.

"I got it, Jane!" Aaren called to me.

I retort, "Then go!"

He did as I back up when a flesh eater focuses on me, somehow tracking my movements.

"Jane! C'mon!" Aaren proclaims, sounding both worried and annoyed as he holds his hand out for me.

I hit a flesh eaters head before spinning around and grabbing my brother's hand. He started pulling me out right as hands wrapped themselves around my ankle, trying to yank me back inside.

I gasped and looked over my shoulder to see the flesh eater I had hit only moments prior.

Éloïse grabs my other arm as it pulled me into the room even more, growls spitting from its mouth. I locked eyes with Aaren and I didn't see a trace of fear for himself or for Éloïse.

He's scared for my sake.

I notice that my grip was beginning to slip, so I took action and brought my leg back as much as I could before kicking the thing. I repeated this over and over again until it worked when I had hit his forehead.

Three strikes and you're out.

He stops his efforts and falls to the ground, releasing me. I sighed deeply, thankful as my group pulls me out.

As soon as we're on the roof and on level ground, Aaren holds me in a tight bear hug. Éloïse joins in not too long after.

"Don't you ever do that again," he murmured as we pulled apart, relief evident on their features.

I grinned softly, pecked his cheek and replied cheekily, "I can't promise you that."

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-CastrarWolf & Taegikook224