This was the first sunrise I have seen in days. It was brisk morning, but the November sun made it feel warmer every minute. I hated smelling like a corpse, but it keeps the zombies away, for now.

Rodney wasn't that bad of a driver. The tracks seem in good shape still. Well, it's only been about a week since the whole thing started. While we travel down the tracks, I stare out the windows at all the cars sitting there and hundreds of zombies walking around. There were some inside buildings, trying to get out.

Because the train is moving, the zombies notice it and start heading towards us. Any of them in front of the train was run down. There was a lot of slimy blood and guts all over the front of the train. Splashing all over the place. Kind of gross to look at. Good thing it wasn't night time. Who knows what would come out.

We were traveling pretty slow. About ten miles per hour. We could drive faster than this train.

“Are we in Washington?” I asked, gazing at a rusty old building that looks like the United States Capitol Building.

“No, you're looking at the old Capitol Building to The State of Minnesota, before Canada took over,” Mr. Sanders explained.

“Why is it so rusty?” I was a bit confused. “Don't they take care of buildings around here, Especially old ones like that one?”

“It wasn't worth fixing up after the roach infestation of 2103. They abandoned it in 2117 when Minnesota became a province of Canada.”

I was amazed that a building would simply be abandoned.

While riding down the road, there were lots of places falling apart. Glass was all over the streets. If you think this felt like Halloween, you're correct. But there aren't any ghosts, witches, little princesses, or even a superhero costume. The sad thing is, it's only been two days since Halloween.

There were decorations for the holiday still up. Most of them torn a little bit. At a food market, there were rotting pumpkins sitting outside. Cars parked in the parking lots everywhere you go. Many of them on the streets or crashed into buildings.

Windows were broken from looters, graffiti painted on buildings, lots and lots of the dead, all laying on the road or walking around.

The farther we got away from downtown, Saint Paul, the worse it got. There were guts, and I believe I just saw some intestines hanging from the top of a doorway. I felt like I was about to vomit. In fact, I did.

“Eeeww!” Jill complained. “Did you have to do that right on the seat in front of me?” Now I have to find another seat.”

“Sorry,” I cried. “It's what I have been seeing for the past few minutes of riding on this train.”

“It's a light rail,” Madison corrected me.

“Light Rail, Train, Whatever.” I growled, “They both run on tracks.”

The light rail started to move a lot faster. I just hope there aren't any broken tracks further up. It wouldn't be fun if the train fell off a bridge or something. We passed a few more markets, and even an old McDonald’s with the sign missing an arch. The building was broken into, likely scavengers were searching for food. It reminded me of Jennifer and mom when we were stuck in the mall at the McDonald's.

I had a few tears in my eyes. My sister. She's alive. I know it. But she won't know that I am alive. There has to be a way to let her know that I am still walking around and not dead like those zombies roaming the streets outside.

But then, we were passing a pawn shop. There could be weapons in there.

“Stop the train!” I cried.

Rodney quickly stopped the light rail and got out of the driver's seat. “What's wrong?” He was panicking.

“Nothing is wrong,” I exclaimed.

“Never tell me to stop the train, unless it's an emergency!” Rodney scolded me.

I started to cry. “I only had you stop, because I saw the pawn shop back there and figured we could get a few more weapons.” I cried. “It didn't look like it was even broken into.”

“That's true,” Mr. Sanders agreed. “After all, we will stop smelling like one of them, and once we get to our destination...”

“Mall of America,” Jill added.

“Yes, The Mall of America,” Mr. Sanders grumbled. “...We would be able to fight off any zombies that are in the bus station or inside the mall.”

“We better hurry,” Beverly cried. “The longer we are out here, the faster it will be dark. And you know what that means.”

I shuttered.

We stared out the light rail to see if any zombies were around. None were in eye sight, so we opened the door by pressing on the signal. It made a beeping sound indicating it was opening.

Once we were out of the train, only Jill, Beverly, Tia and the twins stayed inside. We had to be quick at this. Who knows might be out here looking for us. When we got to the pawn shop and noticed there were a few holes in the windows, but no sign of it being broken into, like I said. I found a rock and used it to break open the door. To my surprise, the alarm started blaring. This caused nearby zombies to head toward the noise. Zachary and I ran into the shop with our guns ready, if we spot a zombie inside. The others were shooting the zombies outside.

I spotted a locked room. It had a sign written in a language I couldn't read.

“Hey, Zachary, what does 'armes et de munitions' mean?”

“It's French,” Zachary explains. “It means weapons and ammunition. You got the right place.”

“Why is everything all in French?” I asked, a bit puzzled.

“Do I have to explain?” Zachary argued, “Just find a way to open the door.” I look around for a key. There has to be one somewhere. I checked in the cupboard and cabinets at the desk and had no luck.

“Um Natalie,” Zachary said. I looked over at him. “The doors unlocked” He opened the door and wasn't looking inside.

“ZACHARY, LOOK OUT!” I screamed. On the other side, there was a zombie, which came out and bit him right on the shoulder. Zachary shouted, and I continued screaming.

Rodney and Mr. Sanders ran into the room and saw the zombie biting Zachary.

“Zac!” Rodney screamed.

With quick thinking, Mr. Sanders aimed and shot the zombie, right straight in the head, barely missing Zachary.

Zachary was in agony and needed medial immediately.

“We got to get him to a hospital or something,” Rodney yelled.

“You and Hunter take him to the light rail and get it ready. We are out of Ammo, and we got to get some or else we will die out here. We will be there in a minute. Natalie, grab as much as you can put in these shopping carts.”

Mr. Sanders hands me a cart, and I rush into the room, looking for more zombies in all places. We grab as much as possible in no time, and are on out the door to the train just about the time it was getting ready to leave.

“IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU!” Tia screamed, ZACHARY WOULDN'T BE HURT. She pushed me at a seat, where I fell violently and started crying.

“STOP!” Beverly, Jill, and Mr. Sanders yelled simultaneously.

“She's just a little girl,” Beverly barked. “You can't push her like that! You could kill her.”

“WHAT DO YOU THINKS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ZAC?!”

“I'm sorry for what happened to Zachary,” Mr. Sanders calmly spoke, “But you can't take it out on young children.”

I was still crying and curled up on my side in the corner, fearing of what was going to happen to me. I didn't mean to hurt him. I even tried to warn him.

“Where are we going?” I hear Jill.

“We are taking him to the hospital,” Beverly answered while walking over to me to see if I was okay.

“It doesn't matter anymore. He's not going to live.” I explained.

“What do you mean he's not going to live?” Tia yelled.

I slowly got up from my spot I was curled up in. “He won't be able to live because he was bitten by the infected.” I explained, “In all zombie movies and shows I have ever watched, anyone bitten will eventually die from the virus. You can't even cut away the bite marks.” I sighed and then looked up at Tia. “I would say he has one, maybe two hours to live, maybe even less if he doesn't lose a lot of blood before then. Once he dies, he will reanimate and turn into one of the dead, we have been seeing for the past few days.”

Tia and the Twins were all crying. Zachary was whimpering in Tia's arms. The train was starting to slow down. Not sure why it was. We got our answer. In front of the train was an enormous herd of zombies blocking the rails, and above the tracks, the electric wires that powered the train were broken. We were not able to get any power to the train, and we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We had to find another way of transportation and quick, but first, we had to find a way out of this train. Rodney got out of the driver's seat and returned to us.

“Any suggestions on what we can do?” he asked.

“No clue,” Mr. Sanders said, staring at all the dead outside.

“I know what we can do,” Zachary mumbled. Everyone stared at him. “There is only one way to get out of here alive, and it is to…” He started to cry. “You will have to kill me, so I can reanimate into a zombie and use me as camouflage.”

“No!” Tia cried

“Please mom,” Zachary pleaded. “As my last wish, please kill me, so I know you will be safe.”

“If you wish son,” Rodney cried.

“I love you, dad. I love you Mom. You to Desiree and Shakina,” With his last words, and before Rodney could take out his gun or knife, Zachary died in Tia's arms. Everyone, including I, was cried. This was the first time I ever watched someone die. Someone that I knew. I didn't know him long, but for the short time we were together, he was like family.

Rodney took Zachary out of Tia's arms and put him down on a bench and waited for him to reanimate. Outside, the zombies were pounding on the windows. Good thing there was no power, because the doors won't open without manually opening it from above. And also the windows were not easy to break. It might be almost bulletproof or something.

For the next few minutes, we waited for Zachary. After about two minutes, we saw him start to move. We knew he was not Zachary anymore. Rodney took out his gun and aimed it at his head. Once Zachary opened his eyes and got up, Rodney shot him in the head, killing him instantly. Now was the gross part. We had to use him as camouflage and get out of here. It was starting to get dark, and we had to find another way of transportation soon.

After everyone was gutted with Zachary, Mr. Sanders broke the emergency door switch and opened the door manually. The zombies near the entrance stopped pounding and started moving away. They thought we were one of them. Thank you, Zachary.

We traveled a block and found an abandoned bus parked with the door still opened. All of us piled into the bus and looked under the seats. No zombies anywhere in sight.

“We have a problem, Rodney said. “There's no keys.”

“Problem?” I laughed. “What problem?” I went over to the steering wheel, and with a snip, tug and zap, I got the bus running.

Rodney was amazed. “How could a six-year-old girl know how to hot-wire a bus?”

Beverly, Jill and I looked at each other and laughed. We all sat down in the seats and were off.

“Still wanna go to the Mall of America?” Rodney asked over the microphone.

“Yes,” we all shouted.

“Okay, hold on tight.” Rodney started driving the bus out of the area and past the light rail we were on. We all said goodbye to Zachary and were on our way. I only hope we won't have to fight too many zombies when we get there.

It didn't take us long, but when we got to the mall, it was getting dark. We were starting to freak out. The Cerberus or any other creature would be out soon, and we haven't even gotten into the mall. It might not even be safe in there. They could also be inside.

To our surprise, lights were on inside. This was a good thing in a way, but why would there be lights on? Were they running on solar, like at the apartment? We quickly got out of the bus and headed for the doors. We were so close to safety. I ran up to the door and started pushing when I hit my head on it.

“The doors are locked!” I cried.

“We may have to break it,” Hunter shouted. We all looked around for a huge rock or something. The only thing we could find was a wastebasket. Grabbing it, he charged at the door almost about to break the glass.

“DON'T!” Cried a strange voice from above.

“Who's there?” I yelled.

“Hold on, and I'll let you in.”

A few minutes later, we see two teenage girls walking over to the door.

As they let us in, we all thanked them.

“What's your names?” one of the girls asked.

“My name is Natalie,” I giggled, “This is my best friend, Jill.”

“Hi,” Jill spoke quietly.

“I'm Mr. Sanders.”

I'm Beverly.”

My name is Rodney, and this is my wife and three… I mean two kids, Desiree and Shakina.”

“What's your names?”

“My friends' name is Bloom Reinhold, and I'm Jamie Jacobs.”