"Hello?" I said a little hesitantly.

"Nell?" said Ana, her voice filled with relief. I relaxed but then she immediately started yelling at me. I winced.

"Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how worried I have been? Running off with Harry like that! And you didn't even tell me. We were supposed to be friends Nell- best friends. And why did you even run with him? I thought you liked Axel. And instead of going off to North Wellsington to see Tess, you are making detours with that Harry..."

"I didn't run off with him." I said, interrupting her. "He turned into this psycho zombie and freaking kidnapped me! You of all people should know I would never abandon Tess like that..."

"I know." she said. "But you were friends and I didn't know what to think. And Axel and Bria made me lose my head. They were super convinced you had run off with that Harry, especially Axel. Whenever I talked to him about it, he got really angry for some reason. Anyway, where are you now?"

"Not sure. In a Target somewhere."

"Harry took you to target?" she asked incredulously.

I filled her in about everything that had happened. I even told her about Zeno and Cali.

"Oh, and there is one more thing." I said.


"What?"


"My mom finally called me back but I missed it for Harry wouldn't let me take it."

I gritted my teeth and forced my anger to subside. After so long, I had finally managed to make some kind of contact with my family and had been forced to let that go because of him. I didn't think I could forgive him for this.

I said goodbye to Ana and walked towards the car. Zeno joined me and together we helped Cali load all the groceries in the truck.

Zeno went out to guard while Cali washed and applied ointment on my wound. It stung a lot but I just ] clenched my teeth through the pain. At least the wound would not be infected now.

Cali opened some packets of Oreos and handed them around. She slipped in the drivers seat and started driving while munching Oreos. I ate the food and lay back to sleep. It was a restless kind of sleep and Zeno's and Cali's voices slipped in and out of my head. I saw my family and friends in my dreams and they were usually surrounded by zombies. I would rush to protect them but by the time I reached, it was too late.

I was finally glad to be awake and away from those disturbing dreams. Zeno was riding shotgun and singing a song while cleaning Bad Baby. He seemed really attached to that gun. I found myself smiling at his antics and Cali caught my eye in the rearview mirror.

"Good, you're up. Now Zeno can have a turn driving while I have another look at your wound."

"I can drive?" exclaimed Zeno looking delighted. "Really?"

Cali sighed.

"Yes. Just don't crash the car."

Zeno whooped and started driving the car so fast, I felt my teeth chatter.

"Zeno..." Cali cautioned. He sighed and with some grumbling slowed down the car to a moderate speed.

"I have some good news for you." said Cali. "We will arrive at North Wellsington tomorrow."