I stared at my old house. I looked at the front yard, the memories hitting me hard. The wall I had built along the edge of the driveway to hide behind had been smashed down and was falling apart. It had felt like years since I was last here. My memories played tricks on my eyes. I could see Kristy running around in the front yard as Luca and I chased her. I could see us inside watching a movie on our flat screen, sitting on the couch in the living room as Luca sat and watched out the window. We would eat microwave popcorn poured into a bowl from the cupboard room where we stored most of our food. Luca wouldn't leave the window because he always waited for dad to come home... Luca...

I wondered...

I got out of the car, finally finding my composure and my sanity. I grabbed my keys from the car and walked over to the door. I took a second, checked the door and it was still locked. That was a good sign. I pushed the spare key into the lock and turned it with some effort. My key was stashed in my car and I didn't bother going to get it in the hopes that the spare was still in the fake brick and in fact, it was. I pushed hard on the door, which would always stick no matter how many time we tried to fix it. I slowly walked into the house, the others following behind me.

"Luca?" I called out quietly, just in case someone had been at the house since it all happened and never got a chance to leave. We used to rent out the basement to our neighbor's kids, because it brought in more money because it had only dad working to support us. I had wanted to get a job as soon as I turned fourteen, but dad refused, saying it wasn't my place to make money and that he was the one that was supposed to care for us. He wanted me to have some sort of life besides work and school so he just let me continue being a kid for as long as he could.

"Who's Luca?" Bev questioned when all of us fell silent. I heard the familiar clicking sound of claws against the hardwood floor in the hallway upstairs. I sucked in a breath and held up a hand quickly, and everyone froze. A medium sized Doberman came around the corner with a short-haired brown bear in its mouth. It had been Kristy's stuffed bear that he always took when she wasn't looking. I guess he could have it now. Then it hit me. He was still alive!

"Luca!" I said, running up to him. He was quite thin from the last time I had seen him, and I was surprised he had even made it this long locked up in the house. It was a good thing that we had a dog door installed into the back door or else it would smell like absolute crap in the house, literally. Another sound got my attention quickly. More clicking, coming around the corner fast. Another dog, this one a Doberman pup, came bounding around the corner, sliding into the wall. Bev awed at the pup, and I smiled. I walked upstairs, letting everyone in.

"This was my fathers house. If there is food, eat it, but don't touch the crispies if you find any. I claim them all." I said, and people started to explore.

"Oh and be careful. I'm not sure if we're alone yet or not. So stay on guard. The basement is the last place we check. Clear all the rooms, then when that's done, we'll go into the basement." I said, and Karen tapped me on the shoulder.

"What's in the basement?" She questioned and I shrugged.

"We used to rent it out, back when the world was normal. Obviously, I'm not 100% sure if they were here or not when it happened..." I said and she nodded.

"Lisa?" I heard Bev question from down the hallway.

"Bathroom is the last door in the hallway." I said and she said thanks as she ran to the bathroom.

I didn't know whether to be happy I was home, or saddened by the fact that I was here without them. I wanted to be happy, and I thought they would want me to be happy, but it dampened my mood being here. Luca sniffed my leg and pushed his nose against my stomach. He always did this when he was hungry.

"Oh, you probably want some food." I said and he followed behind me closely as I walked towards the cabinet in the kitchen; his food was stored in a cabinet next to the walk-in pantry and his treats stored on the top shelf in the pantry. Luca ran out in front of me, almost as if he was leading me to his food. I opened it up, grabbing the big bag of dog food, and put it down on the floor, pouring it into a big bowl for the two of the dogs to share.

"How did you make it this long without your food?" I questioned then walked up to the pantry door which was slightly open. I opened it and smiled. Food had been knocked off shelves, and bags torn apart. Things on the third row and down were on the ground or shredded. I smiled and sighed. They had to survive one way or Luca probably would have eaten the pup. His treats were still on the top shelf and I pulled them down, looking for my crisps.

The good thing was that they were always stored on the fifth shelf, the second highest, just so my sister couldn't find them that easily. Once she knew that I had bought some, she would tear the entire pantry apart to find them. It looked worse than it does now. She was one funny girl and would practically do anything for food. I ran up the step ladder in the back of the pantry and searched the shelves.

"YES!" I shouted, when Blake scrambled around the corner. He looked down at the mess, and looked back up at me in confusion. In my hands were probably the only bag of unopened crispies left in the house. Unless my stash was untouched...  I stepped down and ran to my room, and I mean full on sprint, pushing Blake out of the way and almost knocking down Cindy.

I hopped up onto my bed and pulled down the vent cover. I reached inside, but only found half a bag. I looked inside the bag and found a note.

You really did think you were good at hiding things. You need a better spot. Sorry about the open bag, I got hungry.

- Love Kristy

I looked at the note for a few minutes, and sat down on my bed, placing the bag of half eaten crispies down next to me. I held the note in both hands, tears threatening to break free from my eyes as I stared at it. Blake came around the corner and peeked into my room. He looked at me for a moment, then walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed beside me. He looked at the note and put his arm around my shoulder and scooched closer. Luca came in as well and put his head in my lap. The pup had followed Luca and hopped up onto the bed, trying to go in between Blake and I.

"You can cry if you want to, I'm not going to judge you. I'm always here if you need a shoulder to cry on." He said, and I gave him a half smile, the tears now streaming down my face. I gave him a side hug, Luca sniffing his own fur. He smelt terrible because he hadn't been bathed in about a month and a half. Luca started to sniff Blake, trying to identify him. Luca nudged him a couple times with his nose, trying to come up and lay beside me as he always used to. He whined and gave up, laying down on the ground. I laughed at him and his ears stood up, the way he always had done when I laughed.

I looked down at the note again then sighed. I folded the note and tucked it into a small zip lock bag, putting it in the small front pocket of my back pack. I stood up, wiping the tears from my eyes. I grabbed the bag of opened crispies and took one out, popping it into my mouth. They were extremely stale, but I didn't really care. Luca sat up with his ears perked up every so slightly, his nubby little tail wagging back and forth. He tilted his head to the side and stuck his tongue out, panting like no tomorrow. I knew exactly what he wanted. I reached into the bag and threw one up into the air, him catching it in his mouth.

I smiled, when the little one from behind hopped off the bed, snatching the bag from my hand and ran out the door.

"Hey!" I exclaimed when Blake ran after the puppy down the hallway, trying to get the bag back. I ran after them, and Luca followed us slowly, trailing behind. I slowed and turned around to look at Luca. Something wasn't right.

His ears were pinned back as he stared at me. He turned his body to stare at the basement door and started to growl lowly. Cindy and Jack came out of the back room with Maggy, looking at Luca who was planted in place. The door had been locked from the outside, now that I finally looked at it. Someone had wrapped a belt around it, slamming it into the top of the door so it wouldn't open from the other side.

"What's going on?" Cindy questioned when Luca turned to look at her. He barked in surprise, going over to her and sniffing her leg. Cindy looked down at him with shock clear on her face. I've only ever seen two people scared of dogs in my life, and Cindy was one of them.

"Don't worry. Luca's friendly." I said and she put her hand on his head, smiled, and began to rub her hands behind his ears. Luca moved onto Maggy to scent her, when he saw Jack and barked again. Blake came around the other corner with pup in his right arm, the bag of chips in his opposite hand. The pup squirmed but Blake held him firmly in his arm.

"What's this little guys name?" Blake questioned when he looked up and saw everyone crowded around the door. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It sounded more like a lazy thump at the door, like someone had casually leaned up against it. Until there was another one. And another. It wasn't in any pattern of any sort, but it was sort of rhythmic.

A moan came from the other side, and Blake slowly put the pup down on the ground. I kneeled slowly and grabbed my knife from my boot.

"How many?" He questioned quietly and I shook my head.

"We only housed three, but they often had guests over so I don't know. There could be up to ten of them." I said, then Paul, Bev and Kye came around the corner with Karen. They had been in the living room chatting about who gets what room. They didn't seem to notice what had been happening and they all stopped and stared at us. Another thump happened and they looked at me with my knife out.

Kye pulled his knife out from its sheath, Bev taking hers out from the side of her bag, and Karen unsheathed her machete. I leaned forwards with my knife in hand and began to cut through the belt, grabbing the door handle firmly.

"Everyone ready?" I questioned softly, and they nodded, backing away slightly.

I cracked the door open and stepped back quickly. Ruban, the one guy who rented the basement, came out as a slow bitter. He looked like he had been down here for a long time. I grabbed him by the shoulder and plunged my knife into his skull, dropping his limp body to the ground. All of a sudden, Percy came out almost catching me off guard, when Karen stepped in, slashing her machete into his head and letting him drop to the ground.

The basement smelt, but not as bad as I had thought it would. It was quite dark, so Blake took out his flashlight, pointing down the stairs that twisted around the corner. I took the first step down, the step squeaking under my weight, when I looked back up at Blake. Luca bounded down the stairs, followed by the pup.

"No!" I said and hurried down the stairs after them. I didn't want anything to happen to them and was terribly worried that there was something else down there. Blake followed down the stairs after me and into the big living room. The couches down here were over turned, blood splatters covering the once white walls. One of the windows was smashed, which explained why it didn't smell as bad as I thought it would have. The carpet on the ground had been torn in places and there were a lot of different colored stains.

Luca and pup had gone into the room at the end of the hall. I followed them and went around the corner. It was brighter in this room, so I could see without the flash light. I covered my mouth and turned out of the room. It smelt like death in that room and my stomach twisted at the smell. Luca and pup ran out of the room, and I closed the door behind them. Blake didn't question me, but walked back up the stairs, following the dogs. I looked around the basement when something caught my eye.

My father's gold watch, the one my mother had given to him on their anniversary before she died in childbirth, along with a note was sitting on the table in the corner. There was no possible way for it to be down here without someone doing it purposefully. It was too dark where we were down there to read the note, so I grabbed the watch and the note and headed upstairs. I made it to the top of the stairs with Blake and closed the door, looking down at the note.

I made it out Lisa. You'll find me at the place we grew up.

 -T

I swallowed hard. She made it. I knew she would.

"Who's T?" Karen questioned over my shoulder.

"Taylor. She was the other girl we had rented the basement out to. Percy and her had been good friends. We had also been friends at one point during our childhood and reestablished it because she was here so often," I said, taking a deep breath to clam my nerves.

"I think... I think she's still alive. I can, feel it. Somehow." I said, and Karen gave me a weird look.

"How would you know she's alive?" She questioned and I shrugged.

"I don't know.... call it a gut feeling? I may not know for sure, but I need to know. I knew her from before when the world was normal." I said, and Blake tilted his head to the side, reading the note from where he stood next to me.

"Where's this place you grew up together?" Blake questioned and I shook my head, thinking for a moment.

Oh no.

"My elementary school." I said, and Jack shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but she's probably dead now youngen." Jack said, and I glared at him. I didn't want to believe anything until it was confirmed. Karen took a step forwards, giving Jack a disapproving look.

"Have a little faith, gosh. Maybe she is still alive, and maybe she's with more people. And just maybe, she could be quite helpful in this group." Karen said, looking back at me.

"How far is the school?" Bev asked and I shrugged, looking outside. It was getting pretty late, but we would have time to make it there and back before sun down.

"It's three blocks that way. We could walk there and back before dark. I just want to know if my friend is dead or not. Is that so much to ask for?" I questioned and Bev shook her head.

"You watch my back and I'll watch yours." Karen said, peaking through a crack in the curtains to check outside. I moved next to her and checked as well. A few bitters were walking on the opposite side of the street but were slow and we could easily outrun them.

"Blake, you up to coming? Paul, Kye, Bev?" I asked and they all nodded.

"I think this is a bad idea." Cindy said, finally speaking her mind.

"We're not asking you to come with me," Kye said as he moved towards the back door. Blake, Paul and Bev moved towards the door with them as well.

"You can stay here, where it's safe for you and the baby. Jack and Maggy will stay with you as well. We won't be gone long." Kye continued, as he opened the back door and stepped out. I followed suit, the rest joining with us to head out to the school.