I woke up to Darren shaking me.

"Dear God, I thought you were in a coma," Darren said, relieved.

My eyes opened, a blurry shade of electric blue in front of me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. My head spun and my limbs creaked, my elbow reminding me of my fall yesterday.

"How long was I asleep?" I croaked out.

"I didn't time it, but it had to be close to ten hours," Darren said. "I woke up first and figured I'd let you wake yourself up, but we gotta go."

"You're just as bad as me," an unfamiliar voice said.

I looked up to see the teen from yesterday; I had forgotten about him. Glad to see he didn't murder us in our sleep. I was disappointed in myself for lowering my guard so spectacularly. Colin could have easily robbed us and took off, but then he'd have to face the mob of infected solo. At least I didn't live – or not live – to regret my choice. I guess my people reading skills were back online.

A burning smell reached my nose. "What's that smell?"

"Shit!" Darren jumped up. "The noodles."

He ran over to some sort of metal and tin contraption that was currently smoking.

"Some boy-scout you got there," Colin scoffed.

I got up and walked over to Darren. "What are you doing? Trying to burn the college down with us in it?"

Instead of answering, Darren shoved a cast iron pot in my face. Aside from the burning scent, I could smell the familiar aroma of instant noodles. I looked down and indeed there was a soupy brown mix of noodles in the pot. On the ground was a small, portable grill.

"This is a military grade camping stove. It lets you burn whatever you can find for heat to cook with, so no fuel to carry around. Plus, it folds easily and it's fairly light," Darren explained.

I was rather impressed with how prepared Darren was, first with the zip-ties and first aid kit and now this. I really had undervalued his expertise.

"You pack bowls, too?" I asked.

"I found some disposable bowls and cutlery when we raided the cafeteria." Darren passed me a set, then reluctantly one to Colin.

We dug in, practically inhaling the hot noodles. When we were done, Darren re-packed his supplies and made sure we all drank a bottle of water before we decided what to do. The infected had dispersed over the night, but there were still way too many all over the streets to make this an easy getaway.

"It's decision time, kid. You coming with us or not?" Darren goaded Colin.

"Depends, is this Hargrove place you told me about last night all grumpy old men like yourself?"

Darren clenched his jaw. "Suit yourself." He walked away and started to canvas the perimeter for an escape route.

"You know, you really should be nicer to people trying to help you," I said in a very adult-like manner. Oh god, I sounded like an old person. Soon I'll be yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

Colin sighed like a weary old man. "We need to get to my car first."

"That might be hard when the city is crawling with infected like this."

"That's my stipulation. I need my car first, then I'll come with you," Colin said again.

"Please, don't do us any favors," Darren muttered, then launched into planning mode. "Our best bet is to go back out the front doors since the truck is closest to that exit. If we took the fire escape we'd have to wade through the crowd."

I started packing up my stuff.

"Here, make yourself useful." Darren tossed a couple of the full plastic bags at Colin.

"I'm not a butler," Colin muttered as he picked up the bags.

"We're going to need some sort of distraction first," I said. "Chances are the truck will be swarmed as well."

"Like what?" Darren said, like I was suggesting the impossible.

I rummaged in one of the bags Colin was currently holding and pulled out one of the bullhorns I had found in a cheerleader's dorm room.

"I figured these could come in handy. Got two more as well."

Darren nodded. "Not bad."

"I got some flares in my backpack," Colin added.

"We throw the bullhorns and flares away from the side of the building we need and it will draw them away from the truck."

"It will also draw in more," Darren pointed out the flaw.

"Yeah, but I'm hoping we'll be gone by then and the horns eventually run out," I countered.

"All right, be ready to hoof it down the stairs right after we do this," Darren instructed.

He looked through his own backpack and pulled out more zip-ties. "We'll need these to hold down the bullhorn triggers."

Always prepared.

"Get those flares ready," Darren demanded.

Colin gritted his teeth, but did as he was told. We stood at the south east corner of the building. Darren struck up two flares and threw as hard as he could. They landed in the street a good couple of meters away. The nearby infected started to hone in on the extremely bright light within moments.

"Get ready," Darren said as he tightened a zip-tie around the trigger of the first bullhorn.

The shrill sound echoed from the roof as Darren tossed it next to the flares. He threw the other two and soon we were sprinting back down the stairwell, not wasting time to see if the infected had fallen for it. We hit the landing and ran for the front doors. Darren raised my axe and brought it down on the zip-tie he had tied around the handles.

It broke the plastic ties, but he had managed to crack the glass in the process. When he pushed the door open, the glass fell away in shards. We burst into the court yard, the truck still parked at the next building over. I could hear the bullhorns going off even from the opposite side of the building. The infected nearby had been spurred into action and were stumbling towards the noise.

"It worked!" Colin yelled.

"Shut up!" Darren hissed as an infected a few feet away started towards us.

Darren whacked it with the axe, part of its decayed face coming off.

"Dude, you just scalped that pin-head!" Colin said.

Darren choose to ignore his comment as he ripped open the truck's driver side door once we reached it. Colin regarded the lifted truck with a raised brow.

"Get in the back!" I commanded after I tossed the bags I was carrying into the cab.

We both hopped up and barely had time to shut the doors before Darren hit the gas.

"Dude, how small is your dick?" Colin smirked.

"Pfft." I had to look out the window so Darren wouldn't see me laugh.

"I'm not having this conversation with you until your eighteen, kid." Darren retorted.

Colin's smirk fell ever so slightly. "Who knows if I'll make it that long, hell, you might die of old age by then."

"I think we have more important things to worry about, yeah?" I said, trying to get them to stop arguing.

Only the most immediate infected chased after us; the rest were too focused on getting to the shrill bullhorns.

"Turn down here." Colin poked his head into the front seat and pointed to a street to our left.

"Why?"

"My car."

"Why should I?" Darren antagonized him.

"If you don't, I'll jump out of the truck."

"Like I care."

"All right, I got lots of supplies, too," Colin bargained.

"Darren, we said we would," I said. I felt like we were parents squabbling with our restless kid during a road trip.

Darren rubbed at his temple. "Fine, but if the area's too hot, we're not stopping."

"Okay." I was expecting more of a fight from Colin. He must really want to get to that car.

We were thrown to the side as Darren took the corner too sharply. A couple of infected bounced under the truck, sounding like the dribbling of a basketball.

"Now keep going down here until you see a paid parking lot sign practically falling off the side of a building."

After a few moments we spotted the arrowed-shaped sign on our right. All the light bulbs along the edge had been broken and it was hanging awkwardly off of the building, no longer pointing to the parking lot, but instead to the ground.

"Take a right in between the buildings and it will take you to a parking lot," Colin instructed.

Darren slowed down before we scoped out the opening. There was enough space for us to fit through, but there were infected in our way.

"Mow the fucking pin-heads down!" Colin yelled.

Darren put the truck in reverse and backed the truck up so that the tailgate was almost touching the building on the opposite side of the street. He was getting us space for a running start to bulldoze the wandering infected.

"Hold on," Darren said before he put the gas pedal to the floor.

The tires squealed as the back end shifted to the side slightly before we got traction. We took off so fast that I was thrown flush against the back of my seat. The infected didn't stand a chance as we barreled through the thin entrance. Thanks to the height of the truck, the infected hit the grill, flying backwards and got tossed underneath the truck. With each hit, I could hear the sound of bone being pulverized by the thick metal dear guard on the grill.

Darren slammed on the breaks as we hit the main lot, narrowly avoiding a parked car. In between an abandoned van and a truck was the red Mustang Colin was talking about.

"She's alive!" Colin exclaimed.

"You going to be okay driving?" I asked.

"I've been driving since I got my learners at fourteen. I got this." God, was I like that at his age?

I turned to Darren. "Maybe I should go with him."

"Hell no," Darren said before turning to the back seat to face Colin. "You get in and follow me once I get turned around in here."

"Yeah, yeah," Colin said.

He jumped out of the back, slamming the door. We watched him sprint to his car, taking out the only other none flattened infected. Once we heard the car door shut, Darren drove around the lot to get us situated so that we were facing the entrance we had come in.

I looked back to see Colin drive the Mustang right up to our back bumper. The kid was a tailgater. Darren left the parking lot with as much speed as before and turned left back the way we came. He kept hitting the breaks to get Colin off of our ass.

"The stupid kid is going to hit me," he muttered.

He rolled down the window and flipped Colin off.

"You keep hitting the breaks like that, he sure will."

After a few more road-rage sessions, I realized we weren't heading to Hargrove.

"This isn't the way back," I said

"We still need to pick up feed, remember?"

In all the excitement, I had totally spaced on that. Great, more stressful driving. It felt like I was on the worst kind of road trip; the never ending one. Darren took a sharp turn, sliding me into the center console.

"Are you trying to lose him?" I groused.

Darren grinned, but didn't answer. Another round of infected introduced themselves to the truck guard, some blood and teeth being thrown against the windshield. Darren turned on the wiper spray until the blood ran down.

"How much do you think this truck can take?"

"The dear guard will stop any damage from the infected. If we hit another car though, we'll be in trouble."

"Maybe you should stop showing off then." I suggested.

"I'm not showing off."

"Mmm-hmm."

At that, Darren slowed to a normal speed. Thank god. I was starting to feel queasy.

"Pass me the map," Darren said.

I reached into the back for Darren's pack. I unfolded the well-used paper and spread it out on the dash.

"How far are we?" At the breakneck speed he was going before, I'd imagine we'd be arriving sooner than later.

"We should be coming up on one. Byron circled a couple to choose from."

The map indeed had various red circles scribbled all over the city; it looked like a treasure map. Darren stabbed one of the spots.

"We're closest to this one."

Turned out we weren't as close as Darren thought. We had to backtrack a bit, much to Colin's dismay. He even honked once before Darren stopped the truck to yell at him for being stupid and making noise out in the open. This was taking forever.

Finally, we pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall. The feed and seed store was at the end of the length of stores. Kind of an odd place for a feed store, but who am I to judge. Darren made sure to hit all of the visible infected, leaving behind a trail of carnage. When we got out, I spotted an arm stuck in the wheel well. Taking a deep breath – and a tissue – I pulled the limb free.

The owner of the appendage was still wiggling along the pavement, not giving up on us. He was using his one still attached arm to crawl towards us. I grabbed the axe from the back and ran towards the gibbled infected. Colin beat me there with his own baseball bat in hand.

"Fore!" he yelled and let the baseball bat swing like he was golfing.

The head flew back, but didn't fully dislodge from the thing's neck. Instead, it rolled on its back, still gurgling away. Colin lifted the bat up and swung downwards this time, caving in the skull.

"That was," I struggled finding the right word, "unnecessary."

"Gotta have a little fun every now and then," Colin said as he cleaned the bat off on the dead infected's moldy shirt.

That wasn't really my definition of fun. I ran back to Darren who was currently prying the doors to the store apart. Colin and I jumped in, trying to spread the glass doors. They squealed and stopped with enough room for us to pass through one at a time. Darren peered into the dirty glass.

"Looks like there's a cart stuffed on the door track."

"We can still fit through there," Colin motioned to the opening.

Darren set down his pack and produced mini flashlights, handing one to each of us.

"This going to give off enough light for you, old man?" Colin asked, examining the tiny metallic flashlight.

Darren clicked his on and shone it into Colin's eyes.

"Fucking hell, old man!" Colin hissed and turned away.

It reminded me of those annoying halogen headlights that would blind you while driving at night.

"All right, all right. Let's go," I said before they fisticuffs broke out.

Darren took the lead, his handgun in one hand and flash light right underneath in the other. I copied his stance, the beam now pointing where my Beretta was. As soon as we passed the tills, an infected reared up from behind one. She was stuck behind the counter, her arms flailing towards us. Using my Beretta with the suppressor, I shot the bag lady in the head. She flopped backwards onto the conveyer belt of the till behind her.

"She could have used the ten items or less till," Colin quipped.

Neither of us laughed at his terrible joke.

"Here we go," Darren said, shining his flashlight on the end piece of an aisle.

Apparently before the world had deteriorated, they were running a special on chicken feed; fifty percent off! Something touched my foot and I jumped back like I was on fire.

The pile of feed had toppled over at some point before we got here, trapping an infected underneath the heavy pile. A boney hand with one finger missing and the rest gnawed on, was currently feeling around.

I placed a hand on my heart. That had scared the crap out of me.

"You think the feed will still be good?" Colin asked as he stomped on the wriggling hand.

Darren kneeled down and examined one of the fallen bags.

"It's commercial grade chicken feed optimized with protein," Darren read, "and it says here it can stay good for about six months if stored in a dry place, out of the sun."

"Don't chickens eat pretty much everything?"

"Well, there's not much they won't eat," Darren said, standing back up.

I pointed my flashlight beam towards the front of the store. "I'll grab us a couple of carts while you take care of the squished infected."

Before they could object, I headed back. A new infected had snuck in the opening in the doors and was limping towards me, blocking the corral of carts. The light from my flashlight illuminated its discolored face. All of its teeth had fallen out, the black gums visible past the shrunken and raised lips.

I shot it between the eyes, kicking it out of the way of the carts. After shoving a cart in front of the opening, I pushed three piled carts towards were I had come from. I arrived just in time to see Darren shove another bag of feed to the side, freeing the infected underneath. Its skull was partially sunken in; the rest of its body a mix of broken bones and discolored blood and skin. Snapped ribs were sticking out its shirt and one leg was bent at a ninety-degree angle.

Colin gagged at the sight, not offering a joke this time.

"Okay, so the bags immediately touching the infected we won't take," Darren said. "Bailey." I shot the barely moving head.

We got to work, staying clear of the bags that had zombie goo on them. Colin was huffing worse than Darren or myself.

"I thought we were supposed to be going back to your group?" Colin said between breaths. "Not getting food for farmers."

"You want eggs and chicken? Then we need to feed said chickens," Darren said curtly.

"We need to open these doors some more to fit the carts," I said, pushing the feed to the side.

After removing the cart preventing us from opening the doors more, we tried again. They opened and we shoved the shopping carts full of feed through. Darren unlatched the tailgate of his truck and started piling the bags of feed. Colin seemed to be struggling with the bags – to be fair, they weren't light – but he was a teen boy, he shouldn't be struggling that much.

"I'll help Darren, you watch out for infected, okay?" I said, placing a hand on Colin's shoulder.

"I'm fine," he said, sucking wind.

"Just keep a damn eye out, kid," Darren said. "You're slowing us down anyways."

Colin threw the bag he was holding with one last heft and picked up his bat, muttering the whole time. Quickly, Darren and I loaded the rest of the feed bags. I watched the truck sink lower as the weight was added. I hoped that didn't affect us mowing down the infected. Darren hopped down and slammed the truck gate closed.

"Let's go."

"Colin," I yelled.

He had taken off, now almost at the edges of the parking lot. He was going to town on a fallen infected with his bat. Two more whacks and he started back to his car.

"Just so you know, I'm making sure everyone knows bringing him back was your idea," Darren said to me before we got in the truck.