The walls seemed as if they were closing in on me. It had to be around 2 a.m. when I heard more screams of terror. Every day, every second of living with the threat of those monsters killing me, my friends, and my family makes me want to just find a way out. But I cant get out of Syracuse alone. My friends were killed, I am forced to be locked in a shack in some random yard, trying not to make any noticeable signs of activity. The thoughts can’t escape my mind, watching my friends, being torn apart by those horrid creatures, I was useless, there was nothing I could do. I had to run. If I even tried saving them I might as well have dug a hole and buried myself in it. I couldn’t bare to let them be killed but I had no other choice, it was to late to try and help them now.

All I have now is a shotgun, with not much ammunition left, a watch, to tell me what time it is, the clothes on my back, and the memories in my mind.

I fell asleep for about a half an hour; woke up to the sound of gunshots.

Somebody had ran to the location where I was hiding, I could only guess that they were gonna see the shack, and in a last ditch effort to save themselves, run in here, see my terrified face, and seal both our fates.

The shots stopped. It was quiet for about 5 seconds, the sound of footsteps heading toward me was all I could here. The door opened, an unknown face stared at me, along with the barrel of his gun.

“Are you one of them?!”

“No!” I cried out in fear.

“How can I be sure?”

I showed him that I could hold a gun to his face as well, it seems talking in a human voice wasn’t enough to prove I was still clean.

“Alright, your safe, but this place is gonna be crawling with them in minutes, come on, lets get outta here.”

Should I follow him? Can I trust him? I don’t really see why not, if he was a monster he would have been eating the flesh off my bones by now.

“My name’s George.” He said to me. “Grab all your stuff, I hope you can keep up a good sprint, were heading to my place.”

“My names Cole, I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up, thanks for the help.”

“I’m just looking for survivors, its not really that safe to be alone, you gotta have someone watch to your back.”

“Why are you helping people? Your risking your life and using your supplies to help them.”

“I’ve always had a kind heart, I enjoy helping people, to me, its better then being alone and fending for yourself, now come on; were heading to an old apartment building about a half a mile down the road”

I dont even remember falling asleep,

I awoke at his hiding place, laying on a bed, my watch said 4:45 a.m.

It was quiet, I lay there, thinking to my self all that has happened in the past few months. Ive lost everyone I cared about, my home, everything.

Suddenly a machine gun is fired off, I look out the window, George is keeping a horde of undead from reaching the safety of this house. I look away, I do not want to see another person die like this. A window breaks, a couple more shots are fired, the sounds of bodies dropping  to the floor sound like music to my ears. Hes still alive.

He runs up the stairs, I grab my gun, knowing this place isn’t all that safe anymore. “They must have followed us, come on!”

“Where did you get a machine gun?” I asked him

“It wasn’t exactly legal when I got it, one of my buddies has a black market gun shop.”

As we run through the area, I notice a few wounds on his side, freshly made, looks like he was bitten, the blood is his. I know what I have to do.

Without hesitating, I aim my gun at the back of his head, and pull the trigger.

He dropped down, a pool of blood started to form.

I took his gun, his ammo, his food rations, and left for safety.

I laughed to myself.

Safety, is something that is barely ever find in my life. Where will I go? I can’t go back to the apartment, with the broken windows it wont be exactly safe. I don’t think the mall is that much of a safe place either. Before all this happened, my friends and I always hung out there. Now that’s just an empty memory.

Maybe I should use one bullet for myself….

No, that is not what my friends would want if they were still here. I’ve got to try to survive, its what they would want.

Suddenly a thought popped up in my head, there’s an old police station up the road, I used to come up here all the time with my Dad…

Then it hits me again. I’m once more all alone. Running haphazardly to an old police station which I think will be safe, but the truth is those things have probably swarmed that place and taken any chance of it being safe away.

I don’t have a car, I cant travel to those ‘Safety Zones’ I’ve heard about.

I don’t have a car; but I can steal one.

There’s a small car parked up next to a house about ten meters away from me. It’s locked, of course. A few hits with the butt of my shotgun break open the window, I reach around shards of glass and unlock the door, get in and luckily for me the keys are in the cup holder. I start the car, and pull out of there fast. I am no longer unnoticed by the walking dead, the car alarm might have gave them a clue where I was. Thank god they’re slow.

I peel outta there, the only time I’ve driven before was on my Dad’s four-wheeler. It was enough. I drive, having no clue where I’m going. Running over anything that gets in my way.

Suddenly I lose control of the car, I must of hit an overturned trashcan or something.

I swerve into the side of a house. The car wont start. I get out, look around. It seems clear. Where will I go now? Then I look back in the car, I see an old cell phone on the floor. It still works.

I call every one of the numbers in the contact list, most of them are voice messages of the innocents who used to own those phones.

Finally, I find an active one.

“Hello? John? You’re still alive?!?”

“No, this isn’t John. My name is Cole, I found his old cell phone in his car.”

“Do you need help boy? I can get someone to help you.”

“Who?”

“My brother and his friends have a small group, like a zombie militia or something. They said they don’t trust the ‘Official Safety Groups’, it’s stupid, we could with everybody else in the so called ‘Safe Zone’ or whatever the fuck it’s called.”

I have found hope. Some of my friends could still be alive. Maybe, maybe not. Nonetheless I have a helping hand. Even though I wont be able to see if any of my friends are alive,  even if these people don’t trust those safe zones; there’s still hope that they’re still human.

“Thank you, I’d really appreciate some help. I think I’m on Eastman Avenue. There’s a blue house with a car smashed through it.”

“Ok, I’ll have them help you. When they get there they’ll let you in on more details. I’ve got to go. Stay Safe ’till they get there.”

“Bye…”

8:47 a.m.

Safety…

Friends…

Hope….