When I turned around, I saw Ben, Jack, Bill, and Dan. I was surprised, I surely didn’t think they got out, let alone survived. But I was happy to know that they were alright.
          “How did you guys get out?” I asked.
          “As soon as we saw them coming, we bolted for the nearest room to hide”. Said Jack. “Then we saw Dan running and we called him to come in fast.”
          In the corner I saw Ben working on something he put together with a computer and random pieces of metal he found. Tinkering was his hobby, but blowing things up was his passion. I remember once he designed a robot with a makeshift bomb he made. He then blew up a rabbit nearby. This, however, was no robot. This was a small bomb with two minute timers. He had about five built already.
          “Their for killing these things if they get too close.” He said, aware of me looking. “If they try to get near us in any way, KABOOM! Their toast.” He apparently didn’t like these things, none of us did, we wanted to kill these things for killing our schoolmates, but how?
          “We need to get out of here,” Bill said. “To get somewhere safe.”
          “There is no safe place.” Dan said, ultimately aware of imminent death. “There is no where on God’s green Earth  that is safe anymore. Even our government said so. Look.” He showed us a video on Youtube of President Obama making a speech.
          “My fellow Americans, I am sad to say this, and it pains me to admit it, but we are under attack. Not by Isis, not by North Korea, But by fellow Americans infected with an enhanced version of the “Superbug” virus in California early last year. The virus has spread quickly, turning almost a quarter of the population into zombie-like creatures. In a few hours, half of the population will be infected, and no one will be safe. My only advice, is to hope and pray to whoever you believe in, that it will be over quickly. Thank you.”
          “He’s wrong,” I finally said. “There is one place that is safe. But we need a ride.”

          “And what place is that?” Dan said, with doubt in his voice.
          “Three words. Hyatt Gun Shop.” I said. I had read that one of the safest places for a zombie apocalypse is the Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. “ It’s one of the largest gun stores in America, but its in Charlotte, so we need to get out of here and find a car or something to fit all of us.” After that, we all checked to see if there were any zombies out in the hall through the doors window. Seeing none, we continued down the hall until we reached the Visual Arts hall and went outside to the trailers. We made our way towards the locked fence, when we decided to try and climb over.
          “Why can’t we use one of my bombs?” Said Ben, really wanting to check out what it does.
          “We can't,” Said I. “It will attract too much attention with the loud explosion.”
          “Fine.” Ben was disappointed, but I had to put the safety and protection of the group first.
          When Bill finally made it over the fence, we started to move towards the parking lot, only to find all of the cars were gone, locked with no way in or to start, or badly damaged. When I finally saw a vehicle, it looked like a military-like bus with armor and bulletproof glass. “It must be for when they were evacuating citizens.” I thought. I opened the doors and saw the keys in the ignition.
          “Alright guys, we need to take this bus to Charlotte, if anyone has any objections, say them now.” I clearly wanted to show them how important this was and how we needed to make it there to survive. Apparently no one had anything to say because we all loaded in, and I started the engine. We moved out onto the road, moving toward Interstate 85 on the way to Charlotte. I knew if we make it there, we have a high chance of survival. But I felt as if danger was on the rise.

After about thirty five minutes, we finally made it to Hyatt’s and we started to make our way in. We could hear a loud growling in the distance and hurried inside, locking the door and shutting  the blinds. The loud growl was getting louder, as if it were in the shop. Finally, it stopped.
          “What was that?” Bill asked.
          “Im going on a limb and going to say it was a zombie.” I said. “I could be wrong.” The fact that we haven't seen seen one since the original attack worried me. They might be smarter than I originally anticipated.
          “Are they afraid of us, or something else?’ Dan asked, skeptical of the whereabouts of the zombies.
          “I don't know, lets go to the roof and check if we can see them.” I said.
          We headed for the stairs, on the way I picked up a small handgun off of the counter. We passed multiple large cases of weapons and ammunition. The others were starting to see why I chose this place, it has everything we need to defend ourselves. But on our way up, we could hear and smell the zombies. But I heard another sound, a familiar sound. Humans talking! As soon as we reached the door to the roof, I signaled to the rest to be silent. I then grabbed the handgun I took from the counter, cocked it, and waited to barge down the door. I then slammed the door open and prepared to fire, but when I saw them, I knew I couldn't.

 “Well, well, well. If it isn't Douglas Wayne.” Said Conner Blaine. He was an old friend of mine from Shelby, North Carolina that I went to school with. But with him, was my old crush.
          “Hi Doug. Its been awhile since we've seen you.” She said. Her name was Samantha Reigns. I had a big crush on her from first grade to fifth. It was a one sided crush.
          “What are you guys doing here?” I said, with surprise in my weary voice.
          “Well, when the zombies attacked Shelby High, we got out and hopped into a military transporter bus that took us here in Charlotte,” Sam said. “We then hid in Hyatts with a group of survivors. They went out to get more food and other supplies. They didn't come back.”
          “So we've been stranded here,” Conner shot out. “Afraid and unaware of what lies out there.”
          “But its getting late. You guys look like you've been through a lot, we should get downstairs.” Sam said. She was always very kind.
          “All right, but I'm keeping my eye on you,” Said Dan, looking directly at Conner “I don't trust you.”
          “The feeling is mutual,” Conner shot back. “At least I don't look like a white trash redneck.”
          “Why you little punk,” Dan didn't take that to kindly. “I’ll kick your …”
          “Stop it, both of you!” I got in the middle of them as fast as I could.
          “Yeah guys, we need to survive, not kill each other.” Ben had a point, we needed to get on the same page if we were going to live.
          “All right, but I'm not going to let my guard down.” Dan wasn't the kind of guy that you wanted to pick a fight with. He was an international weightlifting champion, so he was strong. But he did live out in the country, which was Conner's intended subject to get on his nerves. Conner, however, was kind of a rich guy, who claimed he was “blessed” to have the money.
          “Please sweetie, we need to rest.” Sam said. It didn't shock me that she and Conner were going out, it just puzzled me about WHAT she saw in him.
          “Fine.” Conner said. They kissed, which made me sick to my stomach, but I didn't show it. We all headed down stairs to a room that had two mattresses and about five cots. But before I slept, I silently decided to bolt the main door and windows of the shop with plywood that I found in a spare room. When I finally decided to go to sleep, I couldn't. I could hear the loud growl again, but this time, I heard multiple growls.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of arguing. “What did they get into now?” I thought. When I walked into the main lobby and saw Dan and Conner arguing over the food supply.
          “Why do YOU get the good stash and we get barely nothing?!” Dan yelled.
          “Because we were here first, and I'm not going to let a white trash hillbilly touch my food!” Conner yelled back.
          “Please guys, we need to stop arguing,” Sam said, with surprisingly sweet and calm voice. “Conner, you know they can hear us.”
          “Who can hear us?” Jack asked.
          “The zombies, that's who you giant idiot!” Conner snapped.
          “Hey, he may be tall, but he’s just like you and me.” Bill said, standing up for his friend.
          “Wow, you must be the dumbest person I've ever met. He is NOT like me and neither are you,” Said Conner. “I’m rich and you guys are poor, I'm handsome and you're not, I have a girl and you will never.”
          “Alright, that's enough!” I ordered, trying to break the tension.
          As soon as I said that, a large explosion shakes the room. All of us moved upstairs to find Ben slinging grenades out of a green frog hat he found in a nearby discount store.
          “What are you doing?!” I yelled. I wanted to know why he was attracting attention and wasting weapons.
          “I saw some zombies coming towards the store,” Ben said. “They were big ones to. But there was smaller ones to. They looked very weak.”
          “Alpha and Omega,” Conner spoke up. “That's what we call them. The big ones are Alpha Zombies because of their enhanced strength and size. The smaller ones, on the other hand, are Omega Zombies. They’re really weak and easy to take down.”
          “But what are those?” Bill asked. We all turned to the end of the roof and saw a very fast and agile zombie running across the road. It wasn't as big as the Alpha and it wasn't smaller than the Omega, but just about regular adult size or a little larger.
          “That, is the Hybrid,” Sam said. “Its what attacked our school.”
          “It must be the same one that attacked ours to,” I said. “Because that's exactly what they looked like.” All of a sudden, we see a horde of Alpha, Omega, and Hybrid Zombies running towards the shop!
          “I'm out of grenades!” Ben yelled, with fear in his voice.
          “Come on, lets get these freaks!” Dan shouted as he headed towards the door. We then bolted down the stairs, only to find that zombies were trying to break in! I had doubts of us surviving this.

We all grabbed weapons and ammunition from the crates and counters. I grabbed a sub-machine gun from one of the crates, Ben and Jack grabbed sniper rifles and a couple of grenades. Dan took a shotgun and positioned himself behind the counter. Bill got dual handguns, and Conner and Sam did the same, but only got one each. We all ducked down behind crates, while Jack and Ben went to the roof, and waited for the door to break down. After we all hid, a loud growl came from outside.
          “Whats going on out there?” I thought. Then we all heard a loud roar and an Alpha Zombie crashed through the door, while the others stayed back in fear. We all began to open fire, but no one could take it down. I then saw a grenade. I picked it up, pulled the pin, and then threw it at the feet of the beast. When it went off, the loud explosion echoed around the store and outside. It then alerted the other zombies to come forward. I grabbed some radios to keep in touch with Ben and Jack on the roof. I raced upstairs, and when I made it I saw them struggling to take down the zombies with the rifles. I began shooting the sub-machine gun from the roof, trying my hardest to hit their heads. I thought that this would work, only because I saw it happen on television, on websites, and books. If you hit the brain, the zombie will die, again. I thought we were making progress, seeing the fact that the zombies were dropping like the flies around them. After about twenty minutes of battling, the zombies were seemingly starting to retreat. I felt like this team might survive through the apocalypse. But then I heard three shots. Startled by the noise, I ran downstairs to find Dan lying on the floor with three gunshot wounds, and standing over him, was Conner.

“What did you do?!” I yelled.
          “I took out the trash,” Conner said. “Don't make me do the same to you.”
          A chill of fear ran up my spine as I stared into Connors dark and cold eyes. My friend that I knew when I was little turned on me and the group.
          “Why did you do it?” I asked.
          “He would just drag us down, and we don't need that at a time like this.” Conner was obviously gone, and all that was left was an evil shell. “Tell me you didn't feel the same? Sam, you knew it.” At that moment, Jack and Ben ran downstairs.
          “What happened?!” Ben asked with surprise.
          “Conner shot Dan, and I have a feeling he isn't the only one that will.”I responded.
          “Look, if you want to stand up and say something, do it now,” Conner ordered. “Because I'm in charge now.”
          “This is not an army, this is an equal group, a team. We will not take orders from you.” I said.
          “Fine, you will be the first to…” All of a sudden, a gunshot was fired at Conner, bringing him down.
          “No, you will be the first to die.” Said Sam. I was shocked, we all were, to see her shoot the man she loved. “Oh, and by the way, its over between us.”
           Bill then checked on Dan, trying to see how he was.
          “He’s breathing!” Bill said with excitement. “He’s alive!”
          “We have to get him out of here,” I said. “But where do we go?”
          “Camp Forrest,” Sam said. “Camp Forrest, Tennessee. Conner wanted to leave you guys for dead while we went there. Dan overheard him, and threatened to warn you guys of his betrayal, but he shot him before he had the chance. You can see how the rest played out.”
          “Alright, but how do we get there?” Jack asked.
          “Well, I did see one vehicle,” I said. “But its not a first round pick for a car.”

  We  got outside, and it was right where I first saw it. It definitely wasn't my first choice.
          “That is what we're taking to Camp Forrest?” Said Sam.
          “Heck yeah, its a “Shaggin Wagon”! I've always wanted one!” Ben was ecstatic to see it, I knew he would be. He always talked about driving one.
          “I guess some hippy left it at the start of the apocalypse,” I said. “I haven't had a chance to check it out.”
          We all moved towards the van and checked it out. Thank God, the keys were in the seat and there was a GPS in it. We all piled in, Ben at the wheel and Bill up front with him. Jack, Sam, and myself stayed in the back with Dan, keeping him with us until we could get help. We started to get on our way, and by the information given by the GPS, it would be about three hours till we got there. I just hoped we could last that long.
       2 Hours 39 minutes Later:
          We were about two hours into the drive before we broke down. Ben pulled over to the side of the road and stopped, only to see the engine go up in smoke.
          “Were not going to make it,” Ben said. “Not in this at least.”
          “Go… on…”Dan started to speak for the first time since he got shot. “Go… on… without me.”
          “No man, we can't,” I said almost tearing up. “Your one of us, we can't just leave you.”
          “Please… I'm… going home… now,” Dan said. “Goodbye… my friends.” He took his final breath, and he was gone.
          “No, come on man, no.” I pleaded to him to come back, but it wasn't enough. You couldn't bring someone back from the dead, not in the way you wanted. We all stared at him, Sam and I teared up, holding each other. Bill stood outside, trying to keep the tears in. Ben just stared down, and Jack just put his head in his hands. “We need to send him off, the only way we know how, and the way he would appreciate.” I finally said.
          “With a bang.” Ben said.
          “Yes, with a bang.” I confirmed.
          Ben grabbed two timer bombs he made and placed one on the smoking engine and the other in the gas tank. We all ran far enough to be safe from the blast, but in two minutes the final remains of our friend would be ash. We all stared at the “Shaggin Wagon” and saw the first bomb go off, then the second.
          “Goodbye, old friend.” I said. the next thing I knew, I saw Ben getting upset. “I know, man. I'm going to miss him to.”
          “I'm not crying about Dan, I'm crying about the “Shaggin Wagon”. I'm going to miss it.” He said.
          “Oh boy.” I said with exhaustion. We all then moved on, going in the directions the GPS last spoke of. I couldn't tell if it was sadness in my heart, or determination. Probably a mixture of both. I just knew we needed to get to Camp Forrest, for Dan.

 After two days of traveling, we thought about giving up. We got lost a few hours after we blew up the “Shaggin Wagon” with Dan inside of it. With the sun out, we had less of a chance of getting mauled by a zombie. At least that's what I thought. It also seems that they hang out of the base of the mountains and not at the top. I figure more people on the bottom, that's why they stay down there.
          “Almost there guys,” I said with reassurance. “Almost there.”
          “That's what you said two days ago, and yet we still aren't there.” Bill said with annoyance.
          “Come on Bill,” Sam said. “He got us this far.” With the short time we spent together on the mountains, Sam and I started an actual relationship, starting off slow. I figured I seemed a little desperate, but it was the apocalypse .What did she have to lose.
          “Yeah Bill,” Jack said. “Lets keep going. Its what Dan would have wanted.”
          “I sure do miss him.” Bill said.
          “I miss the “Shaggin Wagon”, it was my ride.” Ben said, with sadness leaking out of him.
          “We know.” Sam said. Suddenly, I saw a sign. It was Camp Forrest. We walked through the gate, which I was surprised was open, and headed for the first building we saw. When we were all in, I turned the lights on as soon as I found the switch, and saw a man sitting in a foldable chair.
          “Why, hello there guys,” The mysterious man said. “How nice of you to join me.” When he turned around, I knew exactly who it was.
          It was Conner, and he was pointing a handgun directly at my face.