Chapter 1 continued.

"Johnie, man seriously. You have been in there to long." Kyle yelled one last time. Nerves were already hard at work. Kyle had learn in the past year to really trust his nerves. They had saved his life several times. He was hoping this wasn't going to be one of those times.

Cocking the loaded 12 gauge, Kyle lifted the gun and backed away from the back door of the still house. Johnie was a skinny little blonde hair kid that Kyle had meet on one of his food outings a couple of months ago. Johnie's family had long since been turned and he was all alone. Kyle couldn't leave the 14 year old kid out in the wild alone. Plus for such a young age, Johnie has some amazing survival skills. Kyle silently hoped that Johnie's skills hadn't played out and that they hadn't picked a bad house to raid.

The Savage clan started out 24 strong. Through daring outings, it had grown to a solid 30. Mostly family members and a few stragglers. Each of the males took turns going on outings for food, supplies, and to see if any other humans were brave enough to roam around. In the post zombie world, the saying 'strength in numbers' was never more true. Kyle regretted being such a push over when Johnie begged to go with him. The rule was two males per outing.

General rule of thumb was one person goes into a house and one guards the entry way. It was never smart for both members to go in, that is how you become a card carrying member of the zombie nation. Kyle fought off the urge to run even though Johnie wasn't family. In the short time Johnie had been with the family, he had carved a place out for himself. A scream broke through Kyle's thoughts.

"JOHNIE!" Kyle scream. A single gun shot quickly followed with a barely audible thump hitting the ground. Kyle slowly positioned the gun, ready to fire at whatever came out the door next. Movement caught Kyle's attention, he nerves flared and begged him to run. Begged him to leave Johnie behind. Begged him to save himself.