"Where's Dirk? He hasn't been here in an hour! It should've token him at least 15 minutes!"
"Jade, calm down."
"No Rose! He's the one who started this whole group! If he dies, I'm so done."
"Jade, I don't think Dirk would die." John began to worry.
"Oh God, Dave already died, or so I think, I can't lose another friend."
"John, please don't think like that."
"You see Rose, the Striders were my all time favorite. No homo." Everyone began to worry about Dirk.
"Mister?" I looked down. Lilly was tugging at my pants.
"Is our dad going to be alright?" Tears were in her eyes.
"Come here." She got on my lap and hugged me.
"I think your dad will be fine, like he said, he will be right back." To be honest, I wanted to tell them the truth, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings.

Hours went by and Dirk finally arrived home, but he was breathless and limping.
"Dirk! My God! You're hurt!" Said Rose. Rose and Jade quickly helped Dirk to the couch.
"Dirk! Are you alright? What happened?" I looked around, the kids were no where in sight.
"I...thought...i killed...him...but he...came back...and attacked...me..."
"Oh God!" I looked at his wound.
"Were you bitten?" He nodded.
"I...did the best...I could to...not get bitten...but...it was...too...late..." Jade began to cry.
"No..no no no no no!" He showed his bite mark, there was no way we could help him. The bite was deep into his side.
"Karkat?" I quickly looked behind me.
"Lilly, Dom, please go into the other room." They went passed me.
"Where's daddy?" Everyone was silent.
"He...died...Karkat..." I leaned over so Dirk can tell me what to say to them.
"He said that your daddy was attacked and Dirk tried his best to save him, but he couldn't, it was too late." Tears began filling Lilly's eyes and she fell to the floor.
"N..no.." Tears began falling down her face.
"No! This can't happen! Daddy was..my hero!" She covered her face. Dom sat there silent.
"Lilly,"
"No! Leave me alone Karkat!" She smacked my hand out of her way and ran outside.
"Lilly!" John began running out to get her and quickly grabbed his gun for protection.
"Kar...Kat.." I looked at him.
"From..now..on..you're..the..lead..er..." I nodded.
"I promise I lead this team and survive." Dirks eyes began closing and he gave his last breath. Tears began falling of of Rose's, Jade's, and even my face. He was the one who helped me be here. There was no way I could repay him but to lead his team on.
"Karkat.." I wiped my face.
"You know what we must do." I grabbed the knife out of Dirk's pocket. I looked at it, then at Rose. I angled to knife at Dirk's brain, closed my eyes, and prevented him from becoming one of them.

John ran back with Lilly after we finished digging out a grave for Dirk. John dropped to his knees.
"No." Rose and Jade walked to the grave with Dirk's covered body. We didn't want to see his face bloodied by the knife, so we neatly wrapped him up, said a prayer, and brought him to his grave.
"This isn't fair!" We all looked up.
"Why did Dirk have to die? Why couldn't it be me?"
"John,"
"No Rose, it's my fault that he died! I should've went with him! I'm done." John began walking away.
"John! You idiot! You don't have any weapons! Any food! Or even your own place to stay! You have to stay with us!"
"Karkat, listen, I don't have to "stay with us." I can leave if I want to. I have a choice."
"John you are staying here, as your leader I command you-" John punched my face.
"How many times does it take to get it through your brain Karkat? I'm leaving, and that's final." John walked into the forest.
"Karkat, are you alright?" Jade helped me up.
"Yea, I've been through worse, remember?"
"Right." We all headed back to the cabin. When we got there, we saw a swarm of zombies coming in our direction.
"Oh no."
"What?"
"They smell Dirk's blood."
"Great, well since they're slow, wanna take a chance and grab all that we can and head out the back door? Or just leave it there?" Jade pressed her fingers to her head.
"It's impossible, if we go now, Lilly or Dom might die. We can make it, but one of them might be too slow, maybe even trip or freeze. So I recommend we just come by later."
"What?! Do you read the future now?" Jade looked and me and giggles quietly.
"No, I'm just really good at probability."
"Alright then, let's go." We all went deeper into the woods.
"Karkat?" I looked at Lilly.
"I have this pitchfork that I found, do you think it might be useful?" My eyes widened.
"How did you hide that?
"It's a re-tractable one, it's pocket sized." She began carefully forming the pitchfork into a little box.
"See?"
"Here, let me see that." There was this button on there.
"Press the button towards you, the pitchy part comes on the opposite side." I pressed it and she was right.
"This is going to be very handy. Is it alright if I put it in my pocket for safe-keeping?" She nodded. We continued our way deeper into the forest. When we exited the forest, there was this road with a bunch of ruined cars.
"Start looking around, be VERY careful." We all started to look around the vehicles.
"Karkat!" Jade whispered. I came over and saw a duffel bag and bullets that looked for an AK-47. We looked into the car and didn't see anything. We quietly opened it and grabbed it. Surprisingly, inside the duffel bag was the AK-47. We stuffed bullets and other small things into the duffel bag. Me carrying the AK. I looked at the both of my sides, and saw a swarm of zombies come around.
"Everyone under the cars and be VERY quiet, two together. Lilly with me. Dom with Rose. Jade, stay near me."
"Alright." We all hid under cars and I covered Lilly's mouth. I can feel the tears running down in fright. I looked at the others and they were still fine.

The swarm passed and we waited another 5-10 minutes. I looked behind me and in front of me. Nothing.
"Clear, but be on your toes." We each got out from under the cars and no other zombie was nearby.

I can tell from now on, life is going to be hell.

*writers note*
Thanks so much for reading my stories! I really appreciate it! It's also been an honor that I can write for you. If you like this one, check out my other stories that I've written. 😎