When I had first read the life-changing words, my mind had been so addled with grief and exhaustion that I hadn't fully comprehended their significance. I could tell they were at least somewhat important, though, so I told KC that we needed a meeting.

Now, after the meeting, fully awake and conscious, with my grief shoved in a corner until further notice, I was on the warpath.

I knew that I was an emotional wreck. I knew that my anxiety, disorder or no, was at its peak. I knew that I probably had something akin to depression from all this craziness. But was that going to stop me?

No. No it was not.

The only question that slowed me was, "How much of the cure was there?" If there wasn't enough cure to go around, then what? The zombie problem would only get worse once people re-became zombies and the survivors would be left with no cure. But we couldn't just kill them all, either. Not with a potential cure like this on the table...

I was beginning to understand the ethical and legal obligations - aside from the super strength the zombie virus had granted its victims - that had held our government back from simply exterminating the few zombies that started the spread of disease. Although they did also seem to be de-evolving - going from monsters that couldn't be shot to death to creatures that died with one bullet to the head.

The others looked on with concern as I looted our Costco for a pack of markers and a few receipts. "We need a war wall," I decided, and the others silently watched with growing confusion as I pulled out a huge roll of black construction paper and masking tape and taped up a large swathe of the paper on the wall. From there, I took the diary and taped it securely to the wall.

"This is where our planning goes, understood?" I asked and, without waiting for an answer, sat down with them again and wrote "The Plan" across the top of the longest receipts. It felt wonderful to be in charge. The others seemed just as shocked as part of myself was, however, as they watched me take control with slightly open mouths. I felt a hint of triumph at this. No matter how much they claimed otherwise, I was the weak link in the group. But not anymore. I was getting my brother back. I was getting my dog back. I was getting my parents back. I was getting Kenzie back. I was getting everyone else's loved ones back and I was going to make my own happily ever after.

"I think we'll need to split up," I started, and finally the protests began.

"I really don't like that idea," Benji said slowly, hugging Lydia close. The child was staring blankly off at nothing and didn't seem to register anything happening around her, not even her brother's embrace.

"That makes it a lot more dangerous," Jared contributed hesitantly.

"We don't even have a way of communicating if we did split up!" KC pointed out.

I quailed a little at their criticism, but took a deep breath and replied calmly, "We need some way of keeping watch for zombies. We can't be surprised like last time." I wrote "Split up?" at the top of the receipt.

"Okay, but here's the problem - like KC said, we can't communicate," Jared said gently. "It's a good plan - "

KC snorted and he flashed her a reprimanding look before continuing, "But who would we even pick for the job of standing guard if we could communicate? You and Benji had never even held a gun before the apocalypse. No offense, but it would be too dangerous to rely on your inexpertise in either position."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Fair point."

"Lydia's too little to do anything alone. I'm not fast enough, reaction-wise or running-wise."

"What about me?" KC butted in.

"Well, obviously, you'd be the best choice, but we don't have a means of communicating, so it would be pointless no matter where we put you," Jared replied, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. She colored slightly and after the attention had been taken from them, she slowly removed her hand from his. My brow furrowed slightly - was everything okay between them?

Benji's eyes widened and he grinned. "Oh, I can't believe I actually had a somewhat cool idea!"

We all turned to look at him. Lydia was dozing off in his arms.

"Do you guys know Greek mythology?" he asked.

We all looked at each other. It was obvious that none of us had really given the subject much time.

"Okay, surely you know the story of the Minotaur?"

Jared nodded, stopped, and shook his head. "Half man, half beast," I tried. It was the only thing that came to mind.

"Didn't he eat kids?" KC asked bluntly, then glanced guiltily at Lydia, who luckily was completely asleep by now.

"Well, teenagers," Benji corrected her. "Anyway, abridged version: a hero decided to go into the lair and slay the Minotaur so the city didn't have to give him more teenagers to eat, but it was a labyrinth - the whole point was for the victims to get lost so the Minotaur could...save them for later." He winced at our expressions. "The princess of the kingdom helped him out by giving him..." He paused and glanced hopefully around at us as if he was an eager schoolteacher with a classroom of clueless students. "Seriously? No one? I'm the only Greek mythology nerd?"

"I'm still getting over the fact that you're a nerd of anything, frankly," I replied, and KC and Jared nodded their agreement.

Benji chuckled. "Fair enough. The princess gave the hero a ball of yarn so he could retrace his steps if need be. Now, building off of that, mountain climbers wear ropes tied around their waist to connect each other, and when climbing rocks - as rock climbers tend to do - they'll tug on said rope to signify various things. See where I'm going with this?"

It clicked. "You want us to go into the hospital tied to each other with yarn, with KC at the other end so she can pull on it to let us know that there are zombies coming. Plus, she can quickly find us."

Benji beamed and I felt oddly proud. "Yes!"

"Since when are you a Greek mythology nerd?" KC asked, still looking rather shell-shocked at this bit of information.

"Oh, get over it," Benji said dismissively as I hurriedly scribbled the idea on the receipt. "I like stories, not school. Biiiig difference."

KC shrugged, accepting that, as I taped the receipt victoriously up on our war wall.

*

It felt good, indescribably good, to be doing something, I thought as we barreled down the brightly lit streets of NYC. As Benji shot yet another zombie in the head, I thought for the millionth time about how lucky it was that most of the zombies seemed to be unable to make the mental connection between loud noises and the presence of humans. They ate us as they saw us, I supposed.

I felt guilty that on our way to fetch the cure for the zombie virus we had to shoot so many of the very zombies we were trying to cure, meaning most of them would never have a second chance. I rested a hand on Benji's arm. "Stop, please."

He glanced, wide-eyed, at me. "You're not impressed? I've missed 95% of these things but I just hit one's head out of the open window of a moving vehicle!"

I glanced around. Nobody else seemed to be thinking through the same line of guilty reasoning as me. But, almost imperceptibly, KC sped up. I met her eyes in the rearview mirror. She nodded slightly.

Maybe Benji wasn't able to mentally connect the mindless beasts to a human being, but KC seemed to understand.

We soon arrived at the hospital. Lydia was keeping it together surprisingly well - she was merely staring off into the distance as per usual. A few zombies still remained, lurking around the building like deadly teenagers. KC slowed and ground to a halt so she could take the gun from Benji and finish them off. My heart dropped as I realized that I must have been imagining her understanding. But, instead of killing them, she shot them squarely in their legs so they crumpled to the ground. "Shoot to wound, not to kill," she muttered, passing Jared the gun this time. Benji scoffed.

"They were people, too, once," I reminded him quietly as we stepped gingerly over the injured zombies.

I saw it click and Benji clapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh, my god. I..."

"You had to. To defend us," I hastened to comfort him. "I've shot them, too. Remember? The day we met?" I smiled slightly at the memory.

Benji nodded slowly, but he still looked slightly ill.

KC pulled out the yarn we had brought. "Are we ready?" she asked, just as one of the felled zombies staggered up onto one leg, the other dragging uselessly underneath it.

Jared, Benji, and I all yelled some variation of, "Behind you!" and before anyone had time to react, KC cartwheeled out of the way. Jared quickly shot the zombie in the head and it collapsed to the ground. I winced.

KC huffed, wiping a smudge of dust off of her cheek while our ears rang from the blast. "Thanks," she said to Jared.

"You can cartwheel?" Benji asked incredulously.

"Yeah. And you're a Greek mythology nerd," KC countered coolly, and Benji snapped his mouth shut.

"Never mind. Let's just get going," I broke in, turning to face the unhinged ER doors of the hospital, which looked like crooked teeth in the mouth of a monster.