It's tough to be a child. I feel like everyone (but Jill) thinks I am too young to do things. I am not allowed to use a gun. I get a small Katana, but thanks to the internet, I found out it's actually a wakizashi. A Japanese sword, a slight bit shorter than a katana. I'm not sure why Mr. Sanders said it was a Katana. Maybe he was trying to give me confidence.

Sometimes I hate being six. I wish I were sixteen again. But then again, being little can get me into small places a lot easier than the others. Jill, Madison and I have been able to get into hiding places easier. We are about the same height, oh, and age.

I ran into the living room and stopped. I saw what they were watching. I was a bit annoyed now. Of all movies, why did they have to watch… Oh, never mind. I won't go there. I'll simply let it go and won't hold it back anymore. I turned around and slammed the door.

I walk into the room with the computer. I decided to go online. At least there I can figure out what to do. Jill is the only person from my past that I know is still alive. If there was a way to find out if mom and Jennifer were still alive…

Minecraft!

Of all the things to check out online, Jennifer is so obsessed with Minecraft. I typed in their website. I was in luck. The site was still up. I only hope the server is still working. Especially the server she goes on all the time. I've played Minecraft many times in my life. It's a bit old now. A little older than a hundred years. I'm still surprised that people play that game. The graphics are terrible compared to the games of today. I'm guessing that is the reason why people like it so much.

After downloading the game to the computer, I made sure it worked. Sometimes these games don't like working without installing. It's a bit annoying. When the sign in box showed up, it meant it was working.

I sign in to my account. NatTheKing. I giggle at the name. I should change that name sometime.

As usual, it takes a long time for the game to load. I don't know how many updates this game has had, but I do know this is the last update. Kind of sad though. I was so hoping they would have put in the evil bunnies in the game.

It usually takes only a few seconds to load, but this was taking longer. I hope it won't fail. I just sat there watching the screen and the logo.

When the game finally loaded, I was glad. I typed in the servers IP address. I so hoped it still worked. I was growing impatient. The internet was very slow. This is what happens when there is no one to do maintenance to the internet. Don't fail me, please don't fail.

After about a minute, I was about to give up, when the server showed up.

“It's working?” I whispered. “I can't believe it.” I just hope Jennifer was on. This was the only way to know if she was still alive. I click on the server name, and again more waiting. I glance at the clock. It took me about seven minutes to get on this game.

I stare outside while I wait to get on the server. The dead were walking around like they own the place. Pretty much, they are. We are stuck in this apartment until we can figure out what we can do. I gaze at the computer screen. “Connection Lost. Timed out.” It read.

Okay, this will take a while to get on the server. I expected this. I tried again. Which I kept getting the same message. As I was about to give up, it finally got me into the server. Why does it always do that?

Pressing Tab on the keyboard, I check if she is online. She wasn't. This made me a bit tearful. But I was surprised someone was online. A girl in fact, by the name.

[NatTheKing] Hello?

I wrote to the person, but there was no answer. I guess she wasn't paying attention or was away from the keyboard. I decided to stay on the game. It took me this long to get on it, why waste it, by ending. I went to one of my builds and started to continue where I left off. I was getting a bit carried away, last time I was on the game. I can't believe that at age sixteen, I was able to build an enormous building. Now that I am six again, I don't have the knowledge to even create anything like that.

I decided to build a little house. What else could I do? It was all I could think of. I wish I could make a castle like before. I started to tear up. Just then, the person on the server wrote back.

[JamGirl02] Hey Nathan! Haven't seen you on for a long time.

Oh crap. It's one of my online friends. I can't believe I forgot all about her. How can I explain to her that I am a girl named Natalie now?

[NatTheKing] Yeah. It has been a while. How's the zombies in your area?

[JamGirl02] Being zombies. How about yours?
[NatTheKing] lol. They are pretty much the same here. Ugly looks like they came out of the morgue. Not like those on The Walking Dead. Hey anyway, have you seen my sister Jennifer on here lately? Her IGN

[NatTheKing] Her IGN is js420.

I hate it when I run out of room in chat when I am typing. Only a two-hundred character limit. I sigh. I guess it was meant, so no one couldn't just take up a whole page. I'm guessing as spam.

[JamGirl02] Nope. This is my first time since it all started. But if I encounter her, I will let her know you're seeking for her.

[NatTheKing] Thanks. Tell her, that I will be on every day at this time. As long as I can get on. Internet connection sucks.

[JamGirl02] True. And I will. I have nothing else I can do. I was hoping for more friends. I guess they are all dead.

We chatted for a long time, but eventually, we decided to play the game. I found her making an enormous build, not far from my wimpy little house I just made. I wanted to help. She allowed me. I was a bit scared that she would find out I was actually a girl at age four. Even if she found out, I don't believe she'd believe I was six. I have been playing this game longer than six years.

I looked away from the computer. My tummy was growling. I was starved. I was going to get up from my spot when I noticed a cup right next to me.

My tummy growled even louder. I wanted to eat some chicken or something.

Talking about chickens, I don't believe I saw many animals on The Walking Dead. A few horses and pigs, a goat… Well, they all died of course. Some were deliberately, and some were not.

I went to the kitchen and grabbed a few chickens, and returned to the game. My friend was busy working on the chimney of the building. I was still sitting there on the ground. It was getting dark on the game. That is when the mobs come out. Mobs are the monsters. Why did we have to have the zombies in this game as well? We're already living it.

I ran into the building and climbed the stairs up to where she was. I knew that eventually, they were going to spawn.

[NatTheKing] If only the zombies outside would spawn like the ones on this game.

[JamGirl02] lol. And then burn and die as soon as the sun hits them in the morning. It would be a lot easier.

[NatTheKing] I think the creators of Minecraft got it all wrong when they made this game. Vampires burn in sunlight, not zombies.

I noticed a few zombies spawning. I had no weapons. JamGirl02 gave me a sword. This made me giggle. If I only had my Katana. These zombies would be dead faster. I can't believe I am killing zombies in a game. I look outside, not at the screen. I could see the zombies below. This game is so wrong. But at least, I don't have to look at the guts and smell them.

[JamGirl02] It
kind of sucks. Zombies on here and in real life.

[NatTheKing] Your telling me. I was just thinking the same thing.

We were in a battle when on the screen came what I was not expecting. My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe it. After all these days, I couldn't believe my eyes.

[js420 joined the game]

I started crying. My sister was alive. Jennifer. And if Jennifer was alive, that could only mean that mom possibly was too. And so was... George.

[NatTheKing] Jennifer!!

I wrote, but when it popped on the screen, the server went down.

On the screen, it read, Connection Lost. Internal exception: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset

“Crap!” I cried. “That was Jennifer. She's alive.”

I went back to the main page and tried to sign in to the server again. This time I read 'Can't connect to server.' I kept pressing refresh, but it kept saying it. I didn't want to restart the whole Minecraft game again. It took forever. She might not be on. I kept crying. I hope she saw my message.

I clicked on the close button to close out of Minecraft, then restarted the game. But it wasn't loading anything. Not my name or anything. It just kept saying Play Offline. I think Minecraft is gone. I can't play it again, with friends or even family. I kept crying. I put my head down on the keyboard. I didn't know what to do. I was so excited to find her alive, but can't get through to her.

~o~O~o~

I must have cried myself to sleep, because next thing I knew, I was in bed.

I had to get out. I wasn't sure where everyone was. It was dark outside. I could hear the zombies from below. We may be on the top level, but they sure make a lot of noise. Especially at night. It was creepy.
I heard a loud shriek. That sounded familiar. I hope it was not what I think it was. It couldn't be another Cerberus, could it? It seemed pretty close.

I started crying. Beverly came into the room. “Shhh,” she whispered. “Don't cry. You don't want to wake up everyone.”

“I don't think I will be the one that wakes anyone up,” I cry. I can hear the sound coming from outside. “Can't you hear that?”

“Yes, I can,” Beverly cuddled me, “They are far enough from us. We are safe.” I noticed Hunter come rushing into the room.

“I don't think we are safe here,” he whispered. “That is a Cerberus. They can dig, and it's on the roof.”

I was in shock. I knew what they can do to us.

“Would we be safe, if we kept quiet?” Beverly asked.

“We might,” Hunter continued whispering, “But we also might not be safe. If it knows we are here, it could get down to us in no time. Its saliva is like acid. It can melt through almost anything. It has a very long tongue, as Natalie found out. It also can breathe out fire. If it does that, this building would go up in flames. We would not stand a chance. We would not get out in time.”

“Let's not make a sound.” I murmur.

“Go tell the others to keep quiet,” Beverly told Hunter. I sat there, watching out the window. I can see a few different mutant creatures on the ground below. I didn't know what they were, but I sure wish they were not there.

This was not Minecraft, where the night comes by, and we could kill them easily. They can't just die at dawn. I have a feeling the Cerberus will still be there in the morning, waiting for us.

The girls were notified. They were told to keep quiet. Mr. Sanders came into the room. He quietly grabbed a few items. It looked like he was getting a few things ready. I have a feeling it was time for us to leave. I didn't want to go. This place felt like home. I grabbed my Katana, or well, the wakizashi, but I call it a Katana. The girls grabbed a sword and a few guns. I grabbed a gun as well. It was a small one. It was all I could hold. The others were too heavy for me.

Beverly grabbed some food and a few other useful items. I glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning. That meant the sun won't be up for another three hours. Even then, it would still be too dark to see. Any mutant would still be around. I hope Mr. Sanders has a plan. I sure don't.

We finished packing, and The Colonel opened the door slowly. We were lucky nothing was there. If there were any dogs, we wouldn't stand a chance. They would be on us in a heartbeat.

This was the hard part now. We had to go through the staircase. It can get a bit loud. The staircase is the same ones that led to the roof, and that was where the Cerberus is located, or so we think. It could be anywhere by now.

This would be Jill's first time downstairs since we got to the apartment. I know it's going to be hard on all of us. All the food in the house will go to waste. We could have stayed there for years. I was hoping to make this apartment a safe place. We were going to clear the whole building of the dead and make it a place for survivors. Now that dream is gone. Gone forever.

While we walked quietly down the stairs, we listened. We had to make sure nothing followed us. Nothing was in the staircase with us. When we made it to the bottom, I wondered what we were going to do. We couldn't survive over all those zombies outside. We sure can't survive over all those mutants.

I could hear the shriek of the Cerberus above. I hope it doesn't know we are here. It echoes in the staircase, which makes it sound like it's near. Gives me shivers all the way up my spine.

I moved faster, to get in front of the group. I wanted to get out of here. This place gave me the creeps. But then I stopped. I heard a clicking sound.

“Hold on,” I whispered. Everyone stopped when I did. The clicking sound sounded like it was coming from the other side of a wall. I looked around. How far did we have to go to get to the bottom? There was a sign on the wall. Eighteenth floor. I groaned. We still have a long ways to go. I heard the clicking again. But the clicking sounded like tapping and scratching.

“It could be a zombie,” Jill spoke softly.

“That's not a zombie.” I pointed out, still being quiet. “That's Morse Code. There's three taps, three scratches, and three taps again. That's Morse Code for SOS, which means someone is in trouble and needs us.” The tapping and scratching continued the same rhythm. I decided to tap and scratch back the words 'where are you?' Their message changed. 'Apt 1802 dead outside door.'

This was going to be a challenge. We didn't want to fight zombies right away. The one we were afraid of the most is the Cerberus above. We were not even ready for that. Mr. Sanders told us to move away from the door. He was going to fight them. Hunter agreed to fight as well. I wanted too, but I was scared. I don't think I would even make a dent in one of them.

Mr. Sanders and Hunter had their swords ready. They were not going to use guns. Any loud noise, like a gun, would bring the Cerberus downstairs. Let's just hope that sixty or so floors apart is enough that it can't hear us.

They opened the door, and they were in luck. The zombies were on the other side of the room. Hunter and Mr. Sanders chased them.

The hallway as always was lengthy, so they were spread out. I could say there were only five of them, but I counted wrong. There were six. Hunter killed two, and Mr. Sanders was still going down the hall, killing the rest. We ran into the hallway and shut the door behind us. With how long the hallway was, I'm surprised there were no more zombies out here. We found Apartment 1802, and I knocked. Beverly thought it was cute.

A terrified African Canadian man slowly opened the door. His chain was on, of course. He took a peek. When he saw me, he opened it all the way. “Come on in,” he greeted us. We all went into the apartment. “I'm so glad you're here. I have no idea how you found us.”

“Didn't you do Morse Code?” I asked.

“Morse Code?” He looked puzzled. “Oh, that must have been my son, Zachary.” He goes into a room and grabs a boy about thirteen years of age out. “This is Zachary. He knows so much on the old Morse Code.”

“Hello, Zachary, my name is Mr. Sanders, this is Beverly, Natalie, Jill Hunter and Madison.” We all got introduced.

“I'm Rodney,” the man said. “Rodney Jackson. My wife, Tia, and my two daughters, Shakina and Desiree, are in bed sleeping.”

We sat in their living room for a while, until Rodney finally spoke up. “So why are you up so early?”

“We lived on the top floor,” Beverly stated. “We were leaving in a hurry because, at this very moment, an enormous beast known as a Cerberus is up there.”

“Are you talking about the monsters with three heads of wild dogs, a dragon tail, and heads of snakes all over his back, which I see down below every night?” Zachary asked. I nodded. I don't know much about them, but it sure is making this city a living hell. Worse than the zombies. We have to get out of this city.”

“It could be in every city out there,” Mr. Sanders noted.

“Jill and I were outside at night before, and we never saw them,” I explained. “It was recently, when we got to this city, that we encountered them.”

We continued talking, but after a while, I felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Well, I'm not staying here,” Rodney barked. I reckon it's time we get the hell out of the city and on the road.”

“But where would we go?” I asked.

We couldn't decide. It was a challenge to decide where to go. I wanted to go back home to Mantri, Kansas. Rodney wanted to go North, but Zachary wanted to go South. Mr. Sanders and Beverly wanted to stay nearby. If everything went back to normal, they could go home again. Hunter and Madison didn't care where they went.

The time was almost seven in the morning. The sky was starting to get bright. We couldn't see the sun. There were too many clouds in the sky. I only hope the mutant creatures would hide for the day so that we could get away more comfortable. Not sure why they disappear. Maybe the light is too bright for them.

Tia, Shakina, and Desiree woke up and walked into the room we were in. They were surprised to discover other people. We all introduced each other. Shakina and Desiree were twin girls, age seven. Only a year older than me and Jill.
Tia was told to pack a few items. I can say she was not ready to leave. Shakina and Desiree only took one thing, a doll. I would have done the same thing if I had one. But toys won't protect me from zombies.

By seven-forty-five, we were all ready. The only thing we had to do now was camouflage. That was the part, Jill and I did not like. I can tell Madison, Shakina and Desiree weren't thrilled about it either.

As the daybreak began, we all started to enter the world. We were a bit terrified. With every zombie near us, we were worried they would figure out, we were not one of them. We had one plan, found a broken down light rail, and hope it still works.

“This will bring us to Minneapolis at least,” I giggled.

“This will bring us farther than Minneapolis. It goes all the way to Eden Prairie.” Hunter added. “We could stay at the mall there.”

“Wouldn't it be easier if we went to the Mall of America instead?” Madison asked. “Less walking.”

We all agreed the Mall of America would be quicker to get to. Let's hope we're not fighting off zombies when we get there.

Rodney was able to get the train working. It was a challenge to get it running without a key, but it started. We sat down. This was going to be a long ride. Let's hope we don't get into any accidents along the way.