I tried to find the right word for it. Stunned wasn't strong enough. Paralyzed? Yes. I was paralyzed from fear. Fear of death. Fear of being shot. Fear of my friends dying. Even though I met  them all briefly, I could feel that together we had something. Strength. Friendship. Most importantly trust. "Weapons down!", the older man yelled and kicked me out of my thoughts. Slowly I set down my pistol. The man didn't look like a crazed psychopath. He looked worried, saddened, and fear. "Please don't shoot. We only need the guns and knives to survive. We don't want anyone to get hurt", said Lily who was looting next to me. The others were unaware of the threat, outside. Doc was tending so a cut that Jayden got when everyone was panicking in the school.

    Lily's voice was soft and gentle. She was obviously trying to calm him down so he wouldn't shoot. The younger man looked back to the older. Probably his father I realized. He sighed and aimed his gun away and his son did so too. " Thank you, thank you so much!", I said with great joy.

   "Where you going after here?", he asked.

   "My family's hunting camp", Lily responded, "I'm Lily and this is Kyla."

    "Just you?", he questioned.

     "No. Lily's got a brother, Jayden. He's outside with the Doc.", I informed.

   "A doctor huh? I'm Bill and this is my son, Alex. There's a supermarket up the road. I'll help you get in and get the supplies if you lets us join you.", he offered.

    "Uh sure, why not. There's plenty of room at the camp.", Lily agreed.

Soon enough we were riding in Jayden's grey Chevy truck, following Bill's green mustang. There was a building up ahead. It was a Walmart. From the outside, there was no evidence that it had been hit hard yet. The parking lot was empty except for us. On the way here,Doc and I rode in the bed of the truck to talk about the research. We decided that we slowly make our way to Atlanta so were can use the advanced systems to try to make a cure. I felt a little guilty not telling them about the research, our plan, and the possibility of a cure.

    We get out of the vehicle and Alex dies a quick perimeter check and we were ready to go inside. Jayden, Bill, and Alex look for general supplies such as food, maps, radios, matches and stuff like that. Me, Doc, and Lily went to the pharmacy section. I grabbed a few drugs at the institute but it was only about three bottles of some new headache relief medicine. Doc gave us a list of medicine that would be useful. I decided to grab a few extras just in case. I was grabbing some tubes of Neosporin, when from a dark corner one of the dead ones grabbed me. I fell down. I grabbed my pistol and fired but missed. I continued to fire until I finally got a headshot, killing it. It happened so fast I forgot it didn't have the suppressor on yet.

Everyone knew that it was time to leave and we ran for the door. There was about five of them in front of us. No one wanted to shoot and call more here so we used out melee weapons. I stabbed one in the head with my hunting knife as Jayden slashed at one with a machete he must have just found. Lily took two out with her metal baseball bat she found while we were running. One managed to sneak up on and grabbed Doc. They were wrestling on the ground until Bill stabbed it in the head with his own hunting knife.

    "We should go before more get here. Who knows how many heard those shots.", Lily suggested. When I first met her, I thought she was a normal girl, caught up in school and boys and emotions. I was wrong. Lily is a lot stronger than I gave her credit for. She's a true survivor.

"Yea lets go.", Doc agreed while rummaging around her bag. Most likely making sure she didn't lose the research. She let out a sigh of relief but every was to busy jumping into our vehicles to hear. Doc spent most of the time on the drive home examining the medicine. We now had quite a collection of drugs from painkillers to fungus relief cream.

Eventually Jayden pulled into an old country road leading to the woods. As we went the roads got messier and bumpier. At some points we were literal bobble heads. We were holding on for dear life. I have no idea how Bill got his mustang up there but what was done was done. Alex told me that he would train me to shoot and hunt. On the ride here he attached the suppressor I've been holding on to. The gun was a nice weight not so light but not so bulky.

    We pulled up to a wooden hunting cabin. There was a smoker in the front and a grill on the patio. It looked intact. Everyone hopped out and unpacked. Me and Doc got the loft with a bunk bed. Lily and Jayden slept where there parents would have because we occupied their bed. Bill and Alex had inflatable mattresses. Doc carried the radio inside and there was an emergency broadcast from the President, obviously on loop.
"Though all is gone, America must not give up hope. We have faced war and death in the past. We must not loose hope. All soldiers report to the nearest occupied military base. Civilians, remain calm and lock your doors. Do not come in contact with anyone who is or you believe are infected. Do not disrupt military personnel. This message will repeat", the radio let out of its speakers. Lily looked for more frequencies while I took inventory on all of our supplies. We had enough for a bit before need to go into town for more.

   Once we were all settled I decided to talk to Lily. She was still at the radio messing with it. "So Alex, huh?", she asked slyly.

   "What? What about him?", I turned s deep red.

    "You gotta admit he's hot. And your about the same age...", she stated.

    " Ok? So what, he's good-looking and the same age. That doesn't mean I like him.", I stated stubbornly.

    "For now.", she sang in singsong voice.

    " Seriously Lily? Your such a child.", I joked and walked away.

Alex finally brought me out to a fenced area, most likely meant for cattle or something, to shoot. He set up a shooting range with bottles and cans. He showed me how to position my gun in my hands. The first couple times I missed, but then I shot one. A jolt of excitement went inside me. Alex gave me a small smile and I giggled a little. A little bit of me started to think that maybe Lily was right. "Next time, I'll show you how to use the knife and maybe get more shooting practice. We should have plenty of ammo from our gun shop.", he informed.

   When we got back we were confronted by Jayden. "Where where you!?", he yelled angrily.

    "Alex was teaching me to shoot.", I stated blankly.

   "No! We can't waste any ammo teaching some city girl how to shoot!", he bellowed angrily.

   "Young man, you best watch it.", Bill intervened.

    "Shut it, old guy. Mess with me one more time and your dead.", Jayden threatened. I had never seen him like this in the few days we've been together. Jayden stormed off. Lily cane over.

    "I'm so so so sorry about that. He's been required to go to anger management but that's not much of an option right now.", Lily apologized.

"Sorry", I apologized. It was my fault we were out there. The next times that we were out there training, Doc came too.

-Time jump-
(2 weeks)

I woke up early, ready to go in my first hunting trip. Doc started to teach me about medicine and Alex finally thought I was ready to go hunting. Jayden had been a lot calmer lately. Everything was fine except for our dwindling supplies. We planned to hunt a bit for food and boil water from the streams but game wasn't guaranteed. After this trip if we didn't get food then we would go to a nearby town.

   Alex and I climbed up into the tree stand. It was mid-winter  and quite chilly. I snuggled up against Alex for body warmth and waited for deer. I heard a snap and sprang up. I expected to see a deer but saw something way worse. A horde was approaching. It was at least twice the size of the one outside the Institute and overrun the school. We sat still and waited for them to pass. I grabbed our walkie talkie to call the others at camp.

    "Guys. Run. Huge horde coming. Where staying in the tree stand. Don't think they can get us. Go", I whispered, not trying to let them hear me.

    We waited about half an hour for them to pass. The sound of their horrible growls were the only sound. When they were finally gone we silently climbed down and went in the opposite direction, away from the cabin. The only things we had on us were my beretta, walkie talkie, a two bottles of water, a small box of ammunition for my beretta, a pack of jerky, a couple cheese sticks, Alex's rifle, a handful of rifle bullets, and both of our hunting knives. Not much but we can't risk going back to camp. This is going to be a bad day. A tear dropped down from my face. I wiped it and pushed my red hair off of my face and decided that I would have to stay strong.