Bobby woke up around eight in the morning, he yawned still sleepy. He had awoken earlier than he needed to, but he didn’t mind; sleep wasn’t something he did much of anyway. With a tired sigh, he clambered out of his sleeping bag.

Looking around at the other still forms on the floor, he could see they were all asleep. Not feeling particularly hungry Bobby headed straight for the balcony. Quietly opening the door, he stepped outside. A youth was asleep in a deckchair snoring.

“Look out!” Bobby said.

The kid jumped startled and was soon standing up a hunting rifle clutched in his hands. Realising what the source of the noise was the man let out a relieved sigh.

“Man, you scared me dude.”

“Sleeping on duty again eh Jim?”

“Please don’t tell J.”

“I won’t, you go get some sleep, I’ll start my shift early.”

“It’s not much of a job really. We’re seeing less and less of them lately.”

“Well, be thankful for that, anyway see you later.”

Jim casually waved then disappeared back into the house. Bobby picked up the rifle and plonked himself into the chair. Then he just waited.

His shift passed quickly without incident. Jim was right, they were seeing less and less of the infected lately. He suspected it was due to them trying to find food elsewhere.

The peace was shattered by someone screaming. Bobby sprung to his feet rifle at the ready, but the street below was empty. Confused, he didn’t notice the doors behind him open and J himself walk out.

“Hey Bobby, have you seen Charles at all?”

“No, why?”

“He is gone…”

“Stupid kid, where does he think he’s going?”

“You know what he’s like, thinks he knows everything, he kept saying we should go out more that the danger is gone etc.”

“So are we going to go find him then?”

“Well honestly I would have said no, but the fool has taken one of our handguns and we need it back.”

“So when do we leave?”

“In a minute, Carol will take the next watch. Me, you, Damian, Claire, Daniel and Steve will go and find him. We’ll let Jim have his rest, and Jonathan, Andrew, Rebecca and Cheryl will keep an eye on the house with Carol.”

“Okay, let’s go and get ready.”

Just like that, the group got ready, Bobby smiled J was a great leader, but since he had been rescued from the tragedy at the school, Bobby had never saw Jake smile, he called himself J now, to hide the heartbreak in his past.

Armed and ready, the group went to leave the house. J led them downstairs, past the two child gates at either end of the stairs. Then out the back doors, underneath the barricade outside then out the slide door they’d built into the fence. Now the trouble began, they were out in the open, they had to watch out for the few stray infected people.

***

Meanwhile about a block away from the safety house, a young sixteen year old boy was cycling his BMX through the side alleys between the buildings. The other always said to move through the streets as it was safer. But they were idiots; Charles knew that the alleys were much safer. Even if he saw a zombie he had the gun he’d borrowed.

Charles had left because he thought the others were being silly, and he hated J and his silly ‘memorial’ wall. All he needed to survive was a gun, and his psp that was all. The place he was heading was a large house, owned by a rich kid he knew at school.

Charles knew that Brian and his snooty family would have bailed at the first sign of trouble so the house would be empty. Charles intended to get some new cool stuff for himself.

Soon he was in the alleyway opposite his target. Carefully he peddled down avoiding the garbage, strewn across the ground. He had gotten a few yards from the entrance, when a door opened in front of him. Charles grabbed the gun and aimed, a zombie wandered out into the alley. It was a kid about the same age as himself. Blood was splattered on his shirt, and he had the pale eyes of an infected too.

Charles grinned and held his gun sideways, gangster style and pulled the trigger. The bullet smashed into the wall next to the zombie. He emptied the clip at the zombie, only two of the bullets hit the target. The kid was knocked back but still stood.

“Damn,” Charles muttered as the hammer fell on the empty clip. The zombie groaned and started to approach. With a yell, Charles rode his bike straight at the zombie, heading to the left before veering to the right. He managed to wrong foot the zombie. And he soon found himself in the house.

“Right, now I got past that dumb shit, lets see what I’ve found.”

Charles searched the house and found most of the goods already taken. After ten minutes of searching he located the only locked door in the house. He grabbed a knife and fiddled with the lock. It opened with a quiet click. The door swung open, and Charles stepped inside.

Seconds later his jaw hit the floor. Charles thought he’d hit the jackpot. In the corner was a working arcade machine, if that wasn’t cool enough it was of ‘House of the dead 2007 limited edition’. Excited Charles headed to the machine, and began playing putting his gun on the side after reloading.

Minutes later, Charles was engrossed in a game. He marvelled at the graphics and cool shooting. He even ignored it when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Then someone grabbed him, Charles spun around seeing the kid he’d shot earlier. The zombie must have followed him!