Back in Mr. Sanders' apartment, Jill and Beverly were talking.
“I understand what you mean,” Jill munched on the cookie. “I worry a lot all the time. I already believe my parents are dead. They were on a trip, but never came back.”

“Oh, Sweetie,” Beverly hugged Jill. “I am so sorry for you. What about Natalie? Are her parents still alive?”

“Her father was killed in the war of 2112....”

“2112?” Beverly interrupted. How could he be her father, twelve years before she was born?”

“It's a long story,” You might want to sit down for this,” Jill giggled.

Down on the main level of the apartment building, Mr. Sanders and I were getting ready. We were not going to be caught off guard. A dead zombie was on the ground next to us. Wait, aren't they all dead? I giggle to myself. Mr. Sanders took a zombie and cut it up into pieces. I knew what he was going to do. This part was going to make me sick.

I hate the smell of rotten flesh, but if you want to get through a herd of the dead, you have to use camouflage. I asked Mr. Sanders to put some on himself. He wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he did it anyway. I wanted to check out the pool, but after viewing all the zombies through the doorway windows, I changed my mind. We made a change of plans. Our plan is now to get out of the building and find some more weapons, or something.

“You know where the police station is?” I asked?

“Yes, but it's secured tight,” he answered.

“Damn!” I muttered.

“Watch your mouth, young lady. No girl should be swearing at that age.”

We finish up mucking ourselves. The smell grosses out me, but I know that I am safe. We then slowly, so the zombies don't hear us, walk into the lobby. We open the door and slip out. Not one of them even noticed us coming through. They must have thought we were one of them. Just to keep it safe, we did not talk.

Wandering through the Skyway, the same one Jill and I were in the other day, we followed a path that leads to the building. It looked like a bank.

“Why are we at a bank?” I asked. I was perplexed. We didn't need money? We're not going to rob a bank. Are you crazy? What will we do with the money? Buy our own weapons?

“Most people don't know this, but banks have guns hidden inside. They need them to protect themselves from bank robbers.”

We traveled through the Skyway to most of the banks in the area. It was a bit scary strolling through there with the dead trekking around us. They never even knew we were there. There were lots of things to see, but nothing was open. I wished the Apocalypse never happened. This place appeared fun to go through. Lots of places to go. Coffee Shops, lots of different kinds of restaurants. None I have ever heard of.

Even an Anime Store. I got to go there sometime. Maybe sometime when I am not so busy. I can just loot it. Mr. Sanders kept pulling my arm. He didn't want me dawdling. It was boring going to every bank in the Skyway. I still think it would have been faster to get ammo at police stations. He doesn't know that I am skilled at breaking through security.

I notice a phone store while we wander by. It wasn't just a cell phone company store. It was also a satellite phone store. That would be useful for us to use. We have to go there sometime. I studied the name. 'Twin Cities CelDirect' Very interesting. I will look it up online when I get a chance.

“This is nothing, compared to the Minneapolis Skyway system.” Mr. Sanders laughed. “But even there, you can get lost. Let's hurry up. We have a lot to do.”

By the time we went through the whole Skyway, my feet were tired. I needed a place to sit. I stepped up to a map on the wall to see where we were. We were a bit far from where we started. According to the map, we were on Wabasha Street. We traveled almost half the Skyway, and we were so close to the library. I may not like books as much, but if I went there, I could get a book on survival. And zombies. Also, I could bring a book over to Jill. She would be so thrilled to have a book of her own.

“Can we go to the library?” I asked Mr. Sanders.

He checked outside. “It's going to get dark in an hour, we better head back.” I was upset. Why would we go back? We were protected. We had weapons? I whined, but Mr. Sanders insisted we head back. I wasn't sure why though.

We hurried as quickly as possible back to the apartment. The sky was getting darker every second. All of a sudden, I heard noises coming from all around us. This was not a familiar noise. I was beginning to freak out.

The noises were getting louder. Not sure what direction it was coming from. Mr. Sanders had his gun in his hand. I had a bad feeling about this. What the hell was it?

Just then, at the corner of my eye, I could see the freakiest thing I have ever seen. This wasn't a zombie… or was it? I wasn't sure. It was chasing us. I couldn't believe the camouflage we had on was not working. This monster was more significant than any of these zombies out here. It was a mutated zombie or something.

I could say, it's almost like those creatures from the resident evil movies and games. The body was so messed up it looked like it was slime. The head looked like a demon. Arms that moved like snakes and fierce looking teeth. I wish this were a dream. I don't want to be here anymore. All of a sudden I trip.

Mr. Sanders stopped and blasted him with his gun. It didn't do much, just stun him. I was able to get up and keep running. We were about a block away from our apartment entrance, when we got blocked by another set of creatures.

These, you could say, would have been known as man's best friend, but I would not call them that. They looked a bit uglier. Remember that dog I encountered the other day. I guess it was these dogs that I witnessed. I had my Katana in my hand. Mr. Sanders has the gun facing towards the mutant zombie behind me. He was quick, but so were these dogs.

Now I understand why he said to head home before dark. The freaks come out at night.

The mutant was creeping closer to us. I couldn't see it, so I wasn't sure how far it was from me. Mr. Sanders was shooting it like it, but it wasn't dying. There was no way to kill the demon I see before us.

I was growing impatient with the dogs. When will they start attacking? I had the Katana ready. It was like they were waiting for something. All they did was growl. Zombies were coming from all over the place. They must have figured out that we were not one of them and started coming towards us.

Just then there was a loud shriek. I must have jumped a mile high. I didn't know what it was. I figured out what it was in no time. The dogs were waiting for the big one. This huge mutant… whatever it was. It was a substantial mutant animal. It looked like a dog, but it had three heads, like a Cerberus, but with razor sharp teeth and much uglier. It's tongue shot out of its mouth with sharp teeth at its ends within inches of me.

I tried swinging with the Katana, but missed. The tongue was swift. I was lucky I was quite a bit away, or I would have been bitten. I backed up a bit. Its tongue struck again. This time I got it, cutting it off. The teeth were still moving. I wonder why the Cerberus only chose to use one tongue instead of three.

I got my answer. It only has one long tongue. Strange. I feel like I am playing a game or something. Maybe it's studying me. The other dogs are watching me. I wish I knew what Mr. Sanders was doing. I could hear gunshots nearby. Doesn't sound like what he is doing is working. I wish he had this monster, and I had the other one… um maybe not

But then, the Cerberus started charging. All the other dogs came with him. I screamed. I knew I was done for. My Katana couldn't stop this fight.

…

BOOM!

“Wait! What happened? How did?” I looked around. Mr. Sanders was also standing there in shock. His mutant was killed, and so were my mutants. But how did they die and we still live? There was an enormous hole in the room. I could see outside. Zombies outside could see me. Worst of all, I could see guts from the monsters. It was a bit gross, and it smelt three times as horrid.

Just then, a child, about nine years old, came out of nowhere.

“Who are you?” I ask the child. It appeared to be a boy.

The boy came out of the hiding place he was in. Following him, there was a little girl about my age. . “My name is Hunter Ziegler, and this is my sister, Madison.”

“Pleasure to meet, you,” I mumbled, “But how did you kill those mutants?”

“You got to be ahead of the game if you want to live in the Zombie Apocalypse. I had a Bazooka.”

“A bazooka?” I yelled, which I shouldn't do in the Skyway, with zombies. “You could have killed us!”

“I could have, but I am very talented with it. I was able to point it away from you and your old man there, barely enough to kill them both with one shot.”

“What about the mutant dogs?” I asked.

“They likely ran away. They aren't far away. They will be back. That's why we better get going. By the way, where do you live?” Hunter took his sister in his arm.

We were only less than a block from where the apartment was.

“I live on the top level,” Mr. Sander chuckled.

“Fine with me,” Hunter grunted. “I love a challenge. My sister might not like it that much though.”

I wasn't ready to climb the stairs. I knew I wasn't able to get a ride from Mr. Sanders. It wouldn't be fair for Madonna?… Madeline?... What was her name again? Oh yes, that's right Madison.

As we climbed the stairs, I felt a bit depressed that we were not able to set get the pool started. Even if we did, it's October, we'd have snow in no time, which would end up being ice. And besides, November begins tomorrow. Wait, is it tomorrow? What the heck, is today Halloween? Of all days to get scared on. I had to think for a second.

It can't be Halloween. Okay, my sister came back from Argentina on the twenty-fifth of October. I remember that because she was always joking about the ticket she had. She was on plane number 1025, in seat 1025, it took off at 10:25 and would make it back home on 10-25. How lucky was that? Maybe that isn't as lucky as it seems.

Since she got here on 25th, we got stuck at the McDonald’s overnight that night, because of the zombies. The next day, we got back to the house, where the storm happened on the 26th. The storm ended up making Jill and I on the road until the car broke down, which was the 27th. We ended up riding a train, which did take a day or so, that was the 28th. Got to Saint Paul by train and Met Mr. Sanders on the 29th. The 30th, which was yesterday, we fought off zombies at the pool, failed big time and met Beverly. And now today is… Is it Halloween?

You know, it's funny when I think about things while I wander. Time goes by faster. I didn't even know that we were only one floor away from getting to Beverly's level. Hunter was always on guard, if a zombie or mutant came out of nowhere. That's a good thing.

I am a little disappointed though. I thought I was the best zombie whiz around. But Hunter, makes me look like everyone else. I could feel a tear going down my face. I watch Madison as she walks up the stairs. She isn't pleased. If only there were a way to kill all the zombies on each level of this apartment, so we could use the elevator. We would never need to climb up the stairs again.

Finally, we made it to the top. It was quiet up here. We knocked on Beverly's door. It was a secret knock, so they knew we were not zombies. Then there was a little knock as well. I could tell it was Jill's knock. I knocked one more time, and she opened the door. Of course, if Beverly had been at the door, she would have checked through the peephole, but we were too short, so we created that knock for that reason.

As we walked in, Jill spotted Madison and Hunter.

“Who are they?” she asked?”

“These are two children we found along the way.” Mr. Sanders answered.

“They helped us when some hideous monsters attacked us,” I added.

“The names Hunter,” he said, putting out his hand for them to shake, which they did. He then pointed to his sister. “And this is my sister, Madison. If it wasn't for me, she might not be around. I have been protecting her ever since the first day. We lived outside, where the dead live, we even stayed at The local homeless shelter down on a street called Dorothy Day Place. Lots of dead living there.”

“That was scary,” Madison pouted.

“I wasn't scared.” Hunter spoke proudly, “Food was there. We had the weapons. The zombies couldn't get at us.”

“You might not be scared,” I stated. “But choosing an open place, where zombies can eat you while you sleep, isn't the...”

“Shut up!” Hunter argued, “Madison and I stay in a locked room at night. We can see everything going on and can get out by a trapdoor on the roof. I know what I am doing. At least, I don't stand around waiting for a Cerberus to chase me.”

I started crying and ran to another room.

“You didn't have to be so mean to her.” Mr. Sanders growled.

Jill and Beverly look at each other and smile, but then walk into the room where I was in. I was on the bed crying.

“I don't want to see anyone,” I cried.

“What's wrong?” Beverly sat down right next to me, rubbing my back, trying to comfort me.

I spent years and hours watching zombie movies and shows, and also reading books about them. I was learning it, so when this day did come, I was ready. Now, I washed it all down, with a drink of the Isisraxtosa formula. I could have been smart. But now that I have a small brain in this girls body! I lost a lot of the knowledge that could have helped me.” I continued crying, “Hunter is bragging. He thinks he is better than me because he studied. I studied too. How about he goes and drinks the formula and see how he feels!”

After all that, I lied down on the bed again. Beverly knew it was for babies, but she handed me a pacifier. I gradually accepted it.