This was the first sunrise I had seen in days.
It was a brisk morning, but the early November sun made the air feel warmer with each passing minute. I still hated smelling like a corpse, but if it kept the zombies away… I’d take the stink.
Rodney wasn’t a bad driver, considering he’d never driven a light rail before. The tracks were still in decent shape—which made sense. After all, it had only been about a week since everything went to hell.
As we traveled slowly down the tracks, I stared out the windows at the motionless cars lining the streets and the hundreds of zombies shuffling aimlessly between them. Some were pressed against building doors or windows, clawing to get out—or in. It was like watching the whole world rot in slow motion.
Because the train was moving, the zombies noticed it. Many turned and began lurching toward us. Any that got in front were mowed down. Blood and guts splattered across the front of the train, painting it in streaks of slimy red. It was disgusting.
Good thing it wasn’t nighttime. Who knows what kind of monsters might show up then.
We weren’t moving fast—maybe ten miles per hour. Honestly, we could’ve jogged faster.
“Are we in Washington?” I asked, staring at a rusted, dome-shaped building that looked eerily like the U.S. Capitol.
“No,” Mr. Sanders replied with a faint smile. “You’re looking at the old Capitol Building of the State of Minnesota—before Canada took over.”
I blinked. “Why’s it so rusty? Don’t they take care of buildings like that?”
“They stopped maintaining it after the roach infestation of 2103. It was abandoned in 2117 when Minnesota became a Canadian province.”
I sat back, a little stunned. They just... left it? That felt wrong.
As we rolled deeper into the city, the streets started to look worse. Glass covered the sidewalks. It looked like Halloween, but with no costumes—no ghosts, no princesses, no tiny superheroes. Just the decorations left behind, flapping in the wind, shredded and forgotten.
We passed a food market with collapsing walls and rotting pumpkins outside. Cars sat abandoned everywhere—crashed into poles, buildings, each other. Looters had been here. Windows were smashed. Graffiti was splashed across the walls. And the dead… were everywhere. Lying in the road. Pressed against shop windows. Wandering aimlessly.
The farther we got from downtown Saint Paul, the worse it became.
Then I saw it.
A strand of intestines hanging from the top of a doorway.
I felt my stomach twist.
And then—I threw up.
“Eww!” Jill groaned. “Did you have to do that right in front of me? Now I’ve got to find another seat!”
“Sorry…” I whimpered, tears in my eyes. “It’s just… everything I’ve been seeing.”
“It’s a light rail,” Madison corrected me as I wiped my mouth.
“Light rail, train—whatever,” I muttered. “They both run on tracks.”
The light rail started picking up speed. I prayed the tracks ahead weren’t damaged. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if we hit a break—especially on a bridge.
We passed more shops. An old McDonald’s with a busted sign—the golden arches now just one lonely curve. It had clearly been broken into. I couldn’t help but think about Mom and Jennifer. About that time we were stuck in a McDonald’s inside the mall.
Tears welled up in my eyes.
Jennifer. She was alive. I knew she was. But she didn’t know I was.
There had to be a way to let her know I was still here. Still fighting.
Then I spotted it.
A pawn shop.
There could be weapons in there.
“Stop the train!” I shouted, leaping from my seat.
Rodney slammed the brakes and turned around. “What’s wrong?” he asked, panic in his voice.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly. “I just saw a pawn shop back there. It looked untouched. We might find more weapons.”
Rodney’s jaw clenched. “Don’t ever yell like that unless it’s an emergency.”
Tears pricked my eyes again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare anyone…”
“She’s right,” Mr. Sanders said, stepping in. “We’ll need more supplies once the smell wears off. Especially if we’re heading to—”
“The Mall of America,” Jill added.
“Yes,” Mr. Sanders said, half-grumbling. “That.”
“We’d better hurry,” Beverly said, glancing nervously at the sky. “The longer we’re out here, the closer it gets to dark. And you know what that means.”
I shuddered.
We scanned the area for zombies before opening the train’s doors. The beep was loud in the quiet morning air.
Only a few of us left the train—me, Mr. Sanders, Rodney, Hunter, and Zachary. The others stayed inside.
The pawn shop had a few cracks in the windows but didn’t look looted. I picked up a rock and broke the door’s glass.
Immediately, the alarm blared.
Zombies started heading our way.
Zachary and I rushed in with our guns drawn while the others held off the approaching undead.
Inside, I found a locked door with a sign I couldn’t read.
“Hey, Zachary… what’s ‘armes et de munitions’ mean?”
“It’s French,” he said. “Weapons and ammo. Jackpot.”
“Why is everything in French?” I asked.
Zachary shot me a look. “Seriously? Just open the door.”
I checked drawers, cabinets—nothing.
“Um, Natalie?” Zachary said.
I turned. He was opening the door.
“ZACHARY, LOOK OUT!” I screamed.
Too late.
A zombie lunged from inside and bit him right on the shoulder.
Zachary screamed. I screamed louder.
Rodney and Mr. Sanders rushed in.
“ZAC!” Rodney shouted.
Mr. Sanders raised his gun, aimed carefully, and took the shot—straight through the zombie’s head. The bullet missed Zachary by inches.
Zachary collapsed, clutching his arm.
“We need to get him to a hospital!” Rodney shouted.
“We’re out of ammo,” Mr. Sanders said. “Rodney, Hunter—get him back to the train. Natalie, grab everything you can. Let’s go.”
He handed me a cart. I raced into the room, eyes scanning every shadow.
We grabbed what we could, and just as the zombies got too close, we raced back to the train.
As we stepped inside, Tia rounded on me.
“IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU—ZACHARY WOULDN’T BE HURT!”
She shoved me hard. I fell into a seat and burst into tears.
“STOP!” Beverly, Jill, and Mr. Sanders shouted at once.
“She’s just a little girl!” Beverly snapped. “You can’t push her like that. You could kill her!”
“WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ZAC?!” Tia screamed.
Mr. Sanders stepped between us, calm but firm. “I’m sorry about Zachary. But this isn’t how we survive.”
I stayed curled up, sobbing into my hands. I hadn’t meant for any of this to happen.
“I didn’t mean to… I tried to warn him…”
“Where are we going?” Jill asked.
“To the hospital,” Beverly said gently, checking on me.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I whispered. “He’s not going to live.”
“What do you mean?” Tia snapped, voice rising.
I stood, tears still fresh on my cheeks.
“He was bitten. In every zombie movie and show I’ve ever watched, a bite means death. You can’t just cut it off. You can’t cure it. He’s got maybe an hour. Maybe less. And once he dies… he’ll turn.”
Tia sobbed. The twins cried. Zachary whimpered in her arms.
The train slowed down.
Outside—an enormous herd of zombies blocked the tracks. Worse, the electric wires above were torn.
No power. No escape.
Rodney rejoined us from the front of the train. “Any ideas?”
Mr. Sanders shook his head. “None.”
Then a quiet voice spoke.
“I do,” Zachary murmured.
Everyone turned.
“There’s only one way out,” he said weakly. “You’ll have to kill me. Let me reanimate. Use me… for camouflage.”
“No!” Tia gasped.
“Please, Mom,” Zachary begged, crying now. “As my last wish.”
Rodney knelt beside him, tears in his eyes. “If that’s what you want, son.”
“I love you, Dad… Mom… Desiree… Shakina…”
Before Rodney could even raise his weapon, Zachary went still.
Dead.
Everyone cried.
Rodney gently laid his son’s body across a bench. Outside, zombies pounded on the windows. Thankfully, there was no power—they couldn’t open the doors.
Two minutes passed.
Zachary stirred.
Rodney raised his gun.
The moment Zachary’s eyes opened, Rodney pulled the trigger.
The shot echoed in our bones.
We got to work. We had no choice. Zachary was our only way out.
Covered in his blood and guts, we opened the emergency door manually.
The zombies… ignored us.
They thought we were one of them.
We walked a block and found an abandoned bus with the door still open. We climbed in.
“No keys,” Rodney groaned.
“Problem?” I smirked. “What problem?”
I slid into the driver’s seat, pulled out a few wires, and within seconds, the engine rumbled to life.
Rodney stared. “How does a six-year-old girl know how to hotwire a bus?”
Beverly, Jill, and I just looked at each other and laughed.
We took our seats.
“Still want to go to the Mall of America?” Rodney asked through the intercom.
“Yes!” we all shouted.
“Hold on tight.”
Rodney steered the bus forward, past the train, past Zachary.
We were on our way.
It didn’t take us long, but by the time we reached the mall, the sun was already going down.
We were starting to panic.
The Cerberus—or something worse—would be coming out soon. And we hadn’t even gotten inside yet. For all we knew, the mall might not be safe. Creatures could already be in there.
To our surprise, lights were on inside the building.
It was a good sign… but also strange. How were the lights still working? Was the mall running on solar, like the apartment building had been?
We didn’t wait to figure it out. We rushed off the bus and headed straight for the doors.
We were so close to safety.
I ran ahead, slammed into the glass—and immediately stumbled back, clutching my head.
“The doors are locked!” I cried.
“We may have to break it,” Hunter shouted, scanning the area.
We all looked around for something—anything—we could use. The only thing nearby was a metal wastebasket. Hunter grabbed it and stepped back, ready to charge.
Just as he was about to throw it—
“DON’T!” a voice called from above.
We all froze.
“Who’s there?” I shouted.
“Hold on! I’ll let you in!” the voice replied.
A few tense minutes passed.
Then, through the shadows of the mall’s entrance, two teenage girls appeared. They walked briskly toward the door and began unlocking it.
As the glass doors slid open, we exhaled in relief and quickly stepped inside.
“Thank you!” we said almost in unison.
“What are your names?” one of the girls asked.
“My name’s Natalie,” I said with a tired giggle, “and this is my best friend, Jill.”
“Hi,” Jill added softly.
“I’m Mr. Sanders.”
“I’m Beverly.”
“My name’s Rodney, and this is my wife Tia, and our daughters, Shakina and Desiree.”
The girl smiled. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jamie Jacobs, and this is my friend, Bloom Reinhold.”