Ethan groans in pain. He moves his hand a little, feeling something strange. He opens his eyes and sees nothing but a green blur. He blinks a few times and his vision clears. He looks around at his surroundings, noticing that he's in a yard. Where am I?

He looks up, seeing he is in some neighborhood. Not just a random one, but the one he lives in. He tries to get up, but pain shoots straight through his leg. Ethan groans in agony and collapses back onto the ground. He looks around to find the closest object, which seems to be his house.

He crawls over to the building and uses the wall to help him up. He limps along the wall towards the front door. He stops and turns the knob, finding that it's unlocked. He falls into the doorway and yells in pain. He grabs his shin and lays there for a moment, waiting on the pain to fade away. Soon enough it settles down and he gets back up along the wall.

He takes in his surroundings. The living room, the kitchen, both look so empty. The couch is covered in scratch marks and shattered dishes. The TV is face down and surrounded by glass shards. He wants to get a closer look, but with all the ceramic shards, it's too dangerous.

A scream suddenly erupts from the basement. Ethan quickly turns around in fear. What was that? He limps back over towards the stairs. He sits on the top step and slides down the steps. He looks into his brother's room, expecting it to be empty.

Despite the expectations, he sees his family; Morgan, Xavier and his mom; huddled in the corner, surrounded by zombies.

Ethan stares, eyes wide in fear, at Xavier. His brother swings a broken piece of wood at the zombies. It's impossible to tell what blood is his.

Ethan feels his heart accelerate as he watches the scene unfold before him.

"No, no, no, no," he crawls forward, reaching his hand out for his brother. Xavier falls to the ground clutching his throat. "Xavier!" Ethan's scream is overlapped by his sister's.

He looks over to see her and his mom running for the door. Morgan is sobbing, her short hair is covered in blood. Numbly, Ethan notices the blood is all over her, she is drenched, in blood, in human blood.

He vomits, but nothing comes up. He can't even feel it. Blood. Covering his sister. His brother's blood.

He hears her scream again and looks, only to see her dragged to the ground, her blood-stained shirt. Once a floral pattern, a blouse, she wore to a wedding. Her shirt is soaked again in fresh blood.

Her shirt. Soaked in his brother's blood. Soaked in her own blood.

He sees his mother at the door, but there's no way out. The zombies continue to claw their way through the entrance. His mother is surrounded, he tries to tell her to run. To grab the vase off the counter and fight, but she doesn't hear. She doesn't hear. She doesn't hear. She doesn't hear. She doesn't hear.

Ethan gasps and opens his eyes, seeing Dakota on top of him with her hands on his shoulders. She gets off immediately. Ethan's mind goes right to his nightmare he had just woken up from. He begins to tear up again and uncontrollably starts to bawl in grief. Dakota sits beside him on the couch and gently places her hand on his arm.

"Ethan, what's wrong?" Her voice was soft and gentle, hoping that would help to get an answer. Ethan ignores her as the nightmare keeps replaying in his mind. Xavier, Morgan, his mom, all murdered right in front of him, while he stood there, unable to even help. At this point, he is afraid to find out what had happened to his father. Tears continue to fall down his face.

He feels his pant leg being lifted up and he hears a gasp. Ethan looks up at Dakota, who's hand is clapped over her mouth in shock. She slowly puts his pant leg back down. Ethan flinches.

"Wh-what are you d-oing?" His voice came out scratchy, as if it had never been used before. Adding to it, his throat was extremely dry and talking made it sore.

Dakota's eyes flicker back and forth between his eyes and his shin. She mumbles something, too quiet for Ethan to hear. He tilts his head. "What?"

"I said your infection is getting worse!" Dakota blurted. The two fall silent. I'm dying, why don't they just kill me and get it over with? I'm not going to last very long and I'm just a burden to the group at this point. Throbbing pain arises from his wound again. Ethan grits his teeth in pain.

"C-can you get m-me so-some water?" He croaks. It hurts too much to talk. Dakota gets up and walks to where the water is safely stored.

Hours have passed, and the rest of the group is still not back. Ethan and Dakota have not said a word since Ethan's nightmare, in which he still refuses to even repeat. Dakota leans back in her chair, observing the sword Caleb had given her. She slides her finger across the silver blade, when suddenly,

"Ow!" She sucks on her finger she had just sliced on the blade.

"W-why do you have a s-sword?" Ethan murmurs.

"Because you're sick and weak. You need to be protected." Dakota gets up and walks over to her bag to get a bandage. After wrapping her finger in a band-aid, she heads back to her chair.

Bang. Bang. Bang

Dakota jumps in fear, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She quickly crawls over to where she was sitting, grabs her sword, and crawls in front of the couch to hide. She starts shaking in fear as the banging continues on the outside of the building. The noise gets louder and louder. Suddenly,

Crack

Ethan looks over the couch and his eyes widen as he notices a huge crack going from the floor of the garage to nearly the top of the wall. He slides off the couch and attempts to help Dakota up, but in the state he is in, he cannot even stand by himself. Dakota immediately retaliates and looks at Ethan, shocked that the kid is even strong enough to move.

"Ethan, what are you do-"

"Hush! Do not yell! Go t-to the storage room, now!" He instructs.

"What about you?!"

"D-don't worry about me. I'll find somep-someplace to hide. Go, Now!" Dakota nods twice in fear and gets up. She runs towards the storage room. Ethan grabs the sword Dakota dropped and crawls towards the same room.

A very sharp pain suddenly shoots up his leg, preventing him from moving forward anymore. He rolls onto his back and grasps his shin with both of his hands, wishing the pain would go away, but it just gets worse.

Dakota turns around to find Ethan collapsed on the ground. She runs over to try and drag him to the room. Zombies then break into the garage, giving Dakota very little time to get her and Ethan to safety. She tries to move him, but neither one of them move.

A great rush of adrenaline kicks in Ethan as soon as he notices the zombies. He fights away the severe pain in his shin and stands up, surprising Dakota. He quickly picks her up and runs into the storage room. He kicks the door shut and puts Dakota on the ground before collapsing onto his stomach.

Dakota gets up and latches the door shut. She sits down next to Ethan, watching him struggle to breathe while he writhes in pain. She tries to wrap her head around what had just happened. How was he able to move? Where did he get all that strength and energy from??

"E-Ethan, what just happened?..." Ethan tries to say something, but no words are spoken. He slowly regains enough strength to sit up against a shelf. Dakota moves closer towards him. She attempts to grab his arm, but Ethan very weakly grabs her wrist.

"Do-don't. I'm-I'm fi-" He couldn't even finish his sentence before he passes out and collapses onto his side. Dakota gasps and sits right next to him.

"Ethan?" She asks softly. She puts two fingers on his neck and notices his pulse slowing down. "No, no, no, no, Ethan, come on! Please! Wake up!!"