The world has gone to hell. No one knows why they are here, just that they are. What was thought to be a virus, spread into a global pandemic killing millions. The dead began to rise from their beds and graves and began hunting. Anyone that wasn"t ripped apart by them, either ran away or was bitten and turned into one of them. It was a literal apocalypse. Soon around a billion were dead in just a few days. When will it end? Will there be an end? I"m not sure. I guess it"s a matter of who survives, if anyone does.

"Run!" The boy with the red hair runs past me and wacks down a few with a metal pipe. Those beasts. I hesitate not quite sure if I should stay and help or run towards the gates that lead to safety. I shouldn"t have hesitated. Gruesome, decaying hands reach out to me and another one of the kids whacks away the hands with his baseball bat. He gives me a look and I run towards the gates. There is a large chain-link fence surrounding a school. Is this where they had been staying? If so, they were lucky to have this much protection from the outside world. Out of breath, I finally reach the gate only to find it stuck.

From the four boys that found me only one comes to help. The others try to hold back the zombies but they continue to creep closer to us. I can smell their putrid skin from here, the smell of their rotting flesh. Black and red eyes stare at me as they roar, screaming for my blood. I shiver and keep pushing on to the gate. It may just be the key to us living right now. The guy next to me starts complaining and yelling at me. "Stop freaking out and help me open this gate!" Surprisingly his anger snaps me out of my trance. I take a few steps back and ram my shoulder into the gate. It crashes open and we rush inside. As two of the stronger looking guys push the gate close as the rest of us run towards the building.

The main hallway of the school is musty and dust floats around the air. All I can smell is dust and the scent of stale blood. I can only imagine what it was like when the first wave came. Those poor kids. My shoulder begins throbbing, pulling me back into reality and I can only pray it"s not broken. An injury in a time like this is not the most helpful thing in the world. While everyone takes a minute to breath, I look around at my fellow survivors. They all look around my age. Just high school teens. We are all just kids. How did we end up here?

I notice the others seem to relax a bit now and are talking while they stack chairs in front of the door. Should I introduce myself? What should I say? One of them seems to notice this and walks over to join me. "I"m Harry." I look at him, a bit confused. "What?" He laughs and gives me a warm smile. "My name is Harry. What"s your name?" Oh god. I have been here for five minutes and I"ve already made a stupid mistake. I take a quick look around the room and notice the other three are watching me closely. I"ve gotta look strong here! If I want to stay, or at least make some allies. Maybe even friends. I straighten my back and give him an equally warm smile. "My name is Charlotte."

His face flickers over with a quick pace of familiarity. Recognition even. But it passes and he keeps up the small talk. "So, your accent. Are you Australian?" "Yeah, I am. I moved here to the States about a two years ago with my family. My Dad is in the Air Force and he got posted here." I shouldn"t have said that. At the thought of my family tears spring to my eyes. Mum. Dad. Daisy. They could all be dead, and I would have no idea. They could have even been one of the beasts calling for my death just outside the gates. Harry notices the tears forming and picks up my hand. "Hey, are you alright? You"re allowed to cry, if you need to." Why is he being so nice to me? I don"t deserve this. "I"m fine." I whimper out. Why am I crying? I"m not normally this emotional. I"m not like this. "We"ve all lost something, haven"t we?" I stutter out. Harry looks like he wants to ask more but decides not to press it.

"How"s your shoulder? It looked like you hit it pretty hard." It hurts a lot, but I can"t say that. I need to look brave. I already look weak from crying. "Oh that? Barely even hurt!" I muster a small laugh. "How about you. Did you get hurt at all?" "Oh, I"m ok. Thank for asking. We"re lucky to have gotten out alive. Hey Zion!" He calls over to the boy with red hair, who wanders over to us. "This is Charlotte." I give a small wave and smile, nervously. He gives me a quick once over, and his face goes stoney. "I"m Zion. Be more careful out there ok? You would be monster munch if we weren"t there." Ouch. Harsh. But I brush it off and give a small mock salute and wink at him. "Sure thing!" Perfect! It looks cheerful so it should relieve tension from the room. Zion quickly turns away, but I can see a small smile forming on his lips. "Whatever. I"m gonna go find Scarlett." As he walks away, I realise what he meant. There are others here. More people. Maybe they could be here. My friends. My family.

Before I can start crying again, the boy that helped me at the gate comes over to us. "I don"t understand you." he says slowly. "Sorry?" I say. "Eugene." Harry gives the kid he called Eugene a quick look. Eugene rolls his eyes and turns back to me. "How are you so cheerful? We"re in the middle of the apocalypse! What"s the point of knowing names, when we are all going to be dead soon?" I"m not quite sure how to respond. Had I been overly cheerful? I avert his gaze. "I"m sorry." I begin, "I just wanted us to get along." He looks a bit taken aback by my words. "Oh well. Just don"t stay here too long. I"m going to take a nap. Don"t come looking for me until the meeting. Or unless more zombies attack." He turns and walks in the direction Zion left from, snickering to himself.

Now it"s just me, Harry, and one more guy. He looks a lot stronger than the rest. He"s tall, a lot larger than little, old me. Harry looks a bit nervous. "Ethan, why don"t you introduce yourself?" Ethan hadn"t seemed to be paying much attention to our conversation but at the sound of his name his head bops up. "...Ethan." "Nice to meet you! Oh, and thank you for saving me back there. I would be dead or worse if it weren"t for you" He smiles and then goes back to zoning out. I turn back to Harry who looks exhausted. "Thanks for trying anyway." I say. "Oh, don"t worry about it." I take a quick second to look at him. He"s fairly tall, about 5"10ish. He has hair so blond it"s almost white. He"s wearing baggy clothing that looks a bit worn down. Next time I go out I should get something for him. Those clothes don"t look like they"ll do much against the coming winter.

Harry notices my staring and quickly starts rambling. What"s he worried about? "I should give you a tour of the place. Come on!" He starts walking and I follow hurriedly behind him. The layout of the building is simple. He shows me bathrooms, classrooms, the different stairs. "Try to stay away from the middle school building. There"s dozens of zombies there." He warns. Maybe this place is not as safe as it seems. Still it"s better than going from house to house and being alone. We walk on for a bit and reach a classroom labelled "1-C". "This is where we come for meetings. I"ll explain that a bit more later. We are actually about to have one soon, so you can meet the others soon." The others. I wonder who they are. Harry opens the door and I follow in behind. That"s when I see her.

"J-Judy?" Standing there, next to a window, is my best friend Judy. She looks up from her conversation with another boy and runs over to me. I latch onto her and we hug. I start laughing and before I know it, I"m crying. Tears spill down and I can"t stop them, nor do I want to. Someone I know. I"m not alone anymore! And Judy is ok! My best friend is safe! "Oh my God! Charlotte is it really you?" she seems to be in disbelief. "Yes, it"s me! It"s me." I cry. She starts to pull back and I stand there shaking. "I was so worried! Are you alright? Do you need food? Water? A band-aid?" I give a short laugh and strike a pose. "Judy, it"s me. In all the time you"ve known me, when have I ever needed a band-aid?" Judy starts to laugh through her tears. Good. I don"t wanna see her sad. Besides, it"s a joke between us. The guy that Judy was talking to gives me a kind smile. "Hi there. I"m Lawrence. What"s your name?" He seems nice. Unlike some people here I could name. I give him a small smile in return. "I"m Charlotte. Nice to meet you!" He laughs and shakes my hand. "You might want to take a seat. Our meeting will start soon."

While Judy and I talk, more people begin to shuffle in through the door. First comes Ethan, who gives me a nod as he walks. Then comes a shy looking girl, who I learn is name Hailey. She gives a little gasp when she sees me and goes and hides in the corner of the room. A few minutes pass and Eugene wanders in, yawning. When he sees me, he simply says "Oh, You"re still here." Geez. Behind him are two more people. Another guy and a girl. The guy glares at me but the girl gives me a warm smile. She comes over and sits with me and Judy. "Hi there. My name"s Sue. That guy over there is Jay." We talk for a bit while longer before Lawrence pipes up. "Ok everyone, let"s start the meeting. Zion and Scarlett can come later. Now as you may have noticed-" The door to the classroom slams open, cutting off Lawrence. In files Zion and another girl, who I"m guessing is Scarlett. "Sorry we"re late!" she says. "We got caught up!" She walks into the room but stops suddenly when she sees me. "Uh, hi. I"m-" "Who is this?!" she demands.

Scarlett"s eyes narrow into small slits, as she stares at me. I want to slap her. No need to be so rude. As much as I want to slap her though, my want to stay here, with Judy and the others, outweighs the need. I simply smile at her. "Sorry, you mustn"t have heard me. I was talking. My name is Charlotte. I"m guessing you"re Scarlett." Scarlett looks a bit taken aback by my boldness. The shock on her face tells me that not many people dare to speak back at her. I give her an innocent smile and quickly glance around the room to see what the others reactions are. Zion and Eugene are snickering, and Ethan and Lawrence aren"t paying much attention to the conversation. Hailey looks as if she wants to disappear and Jay, Sue and Judy are all smiling slightly. It"s only Harry that looks upset. He shakes his head slightly at me, as if to say, "Don"t push it." I sigh and lean back in my chair.

Scarlett"s face is turning red and she backs away from me. "Oh my God!" she screeches. "She has blood on her! She"s infected!" I try to keep a straight face without letting my reaction show. "I"m not infected." What is this girl"s problem? "Have you even checked her?" Scarlett demands. "She could kill us all!" She turns to me. "Why are you even still here? Leave! You wanted help, didn"t you? You"ve been helped. So, go! Before you turn us all!" I pause, biting back the insults that I want to say. Instead I stand up and face the room. "I"m not infected." I say again "Symptoms appear within one hour of being infected. You can be infected through the transfer of saliva, blood, even urine from an infected person. I have been here for over an hour. If I was infected, I would be showing symptoms or already have been turned." I look over at Harry, worried I might have sounded too rude, but he smiles and nods at me.

"Ok so you might not be infected but what do you have to contribute?" Geez. When will these accusations stop? Before I can say anything, Scarlett continues. "We are already low on supplies and it"s getting too dangerous to keep going out. How are we meant to feed another person when we can barely feed ourselves?" Judy starts shaking and stands up. "Scarlett, Charlotte is my best friend! We can always go out to get more food! Besides we have enough for now!" Wow. I"ve never seen Judy this angry before. I can hear chairs scraping and this time it"s Zion who stands up. "Scarlett has a point though guys. We can"t afford to keep going out for food." I can"t help but feel hurt. I really want to stay here. The hurt must show up on my face because Zion turns away and won"t look at me. Jay speaks up as well. "They"re right. We"re barely scraping by. Just give her some food and kick her out." Judy is practically screaming now. "NO! She is not going!" People begin to take sides and I start panicking. No, no, no. I don"t want them to fight. "Stop." I whisper. But no one can hear me. Lawrence looks tired but stands up and shouts over everyone. "ENOUGH!" The others quiet down and sit down. So, I was right. He is the leader.

Lawrence begins to talk, and I try to listen and ignore the look Scarlett is giving me. "I have an idea for you all." I"m sucked into his words, wanting to hear what it is. "We can vote. Majority rules." No. There is no way I"ll be able to stay. The others barely know me. "This is unfair, Lawrence!" Judy stands up. "Charlotte deserves to be here as much as the rest of us do! If we kick her out can we even call ourselves human anymore? It"s practically murder!" Scarlett laughs and looks over at us. "Judy, if you want why don"t you leave with her?" Judy looks shocked by this. Harry looks annoyed at everyone. "Guys let"s not argue. We all know what happened last time." The groups faces darken and Scarlett and Judy both sit down.

I take this as a chance to talk. "Um, before you guys vote can I say something?" Now I have everyone"s attention. "I understand that you are low on resources, but I have a solution." I pick up my backpack and dump its contents onto the table. Inside there are a couple full water bottles, unopened and tightly screwed shut. There"s a dozen different foods, from canned goods to lollies and chocolate bars. There"s a few changes of clothes for me and some sanitary items like body soap and hand sanitizer. I notice that my old music player and headphones have fallen out and pick them up from the pile. There"s enough food to feed all of us for a month or so. "I"m pretty resourceful," I continue. "I can run fast, and I"ve managed to survive this long on my own to. I know basic medical skills as well. I got all of this by myself and I can really help the group." Everyone is quiet. You could hear a pin drop. That"s when I hear the laughter.

Across from me, Eugene is laughing. He stands up and walks out of the room. "Just let her stay." He says. "She looks pretty resourceful and does it even matter? We"ll all be dead soon anyway." I smile at him as he walks out. He has helped me, even if he didn"t word it in the best way. Ethan gets up and walks over to the door. Lawrence nods and turns to the group. "Alright, well Ethan and I will go set up the voting. You guys stay here and do whatever." As Lawrence and Ethan leave, Scarlett gets up to follow. "Have fun on the streets!" she barks at me. "What a drongo." I mutter. The others looked confused at what I"ve said. "Uh ok. I"m going with her." Zion walks away and Jay follows behind. Hailey looks nervous, but she walks over to me. "Um, hi." She whispers. I smile at her and start up some small talk.

We"ve been talking for about ten or so minutes when I hear a bang from down the hall. Smoke fills the walkway as the rest of us rush out of the room to see what was going on. I pull my shirt over my mouth to stop the dark black ashes and smoke from going into my mouth. We reach a small classroom where everyone else is already gathered. Ethan and Lawrence are coughing, and Harry is trying to help them. Behind them the classroom is on fire. Red and orange flames dance around, casting an eerie glow over the room. Zion rushes over, swearing profanities. Between curses, he manages out "The food is in there!" Time seems to slow around me. I don"t know why but I run towards the room dodging past Ethan and I slip into the room. Where is it? I can hear the others yelling at me and Scarlett"s ugly laughter. Sheesh, what"s her problem? I see a glimmer of red metal and I rush over to the fire extinguisher. I rip it off the wall and pull out the pin. I press down as hard as I can onto the nozzle and white, sticky foam sprays everywhere.

The flames die out and I"m grabbed from behind. I turn around ready to throw the fire extinguisher at a zombie, only to find Ethan and Zion pulling me out. Coughing and spluttering, I stand in the hall, covered in ash. "Charlotte!" Judy runs over wrapping me in a warm hug. I laugh and straighten my back. "Are you mental?" Eugene is shouting in my face. Everyone is either looking mad or worried for me. Harry steps forward. "You shouldn"t have done that. You could"ve gotten seriously injured." My heart sinks. Maybe I shouldn"t have done it. But one question lingers in my mind. "What about the food?" I splutter out.

Lawrence looks over. "Most of it"s burnt, but some is salvageable. We wouldn"t have any if it weren"t for you." He gives me a weak smile. I smile back tiredly, and my legs give out from exhaustion. Ethan catches me and sets me down on the floor, gently. "Sorry," I start to rush out my apologies. "I"m just so tired." He looks at me, his gaze piercing. When have I ever seen eyes so blue? "Get some rest." He turns and walks away. "Well, while she naps here like a bum, why don"t we vote?" Of course. Scarlett is whinging again. "Why does it matter?" Surprised, I look up at Zion. "She"s proven herself. She moved when we did nothing. Let her stay." He turns and walks away. Some of the others follow behind, yawning. "That was the last classroom on this floor that was free." Harry says. Judy speaks up, talking fast with excitement. "She can stay with me!" Harry and Lawrence look at me. I give a weak smile and a thumbs up. "Fine with me."

As they walk away, Judy helps me up. "Next time be more careful. You could have died!" I laugh at Judy"s attempt at lecturing me. "Judy, I grew up in the outback. We have bushfires all the time. I"m used to it!" She leads me to a classroom and opens the door. The desks and chairs have been pushed out of the way to form a clearing in the middle, where a large tarp lay. On top of it was a few makeshift pillows made from backpacks stuffed with cotton stuffing from the sewing class. A thin blanket lay to the side. Along on wall was a line of windows, which let in some light. To make the room look less depressing, Judy had drawn little, silly drawings on the chalkboard with the butt of a piece of chalk. "It"s not much but it works." Judy"s words snap me out of my trance. I give her a comforting smile. "It looks pretty homey! Let"s get some sleep"

I wait until I can hear Judy"s breathing, until I know she is completely asleep before I let the tears fall. I cry, deep into the night, softly, quietly until I fall asleep. I want to go home. I was meant to go out to dinner with my family that night. It"s only been a week or two, but the world feels dead. I"m in another town, heck another country even! I might have lived here for a year, but it still feels foreign. Everything feels so different and with my family gone, I just feel lost. I want this to end. How am I meant to survive when I can barely live a normal life?

A few days pass. I haven"t really done much lately. Just eat, sleep and talk with Judy. I"ve tried to get to know the others but some, like Zion and Eugene don"t want to know me. It"s tiring. It"s about my eighth day here and I still know barely anything about them. Sheesh.

I wake up to Sunlight hitting my face. I lie there for a minute, enjoying its warmth before getting up. I take a drink from my water bottle and I set off to explore. I remember Harry"s warning and I steer clear of the middle school building. Instead I walk along hallways and up stairs until I reach the rooftop. It"s still early morning and the Sun is still rising. I find a comfy spot next to a wall and plug in my earbuds. My little music player starts pumping out music and I allow myself to smile. I dig through my bag and pull out my solar charger and it starts charging, almost immediately. I sit up there on the roof, taking in the view for ages. It"s so peaceful up here. I"m glad I found this spot. You can"t even tell it"s the apocalypse. I let out a laugh at the thought of that. The apocalypse. Geez, when did I get so dark?

My hands begin to tap along to the beat of the song. What I wouldn"t do for a guitar! Music has always been my passion. Writing songs, playing instruments. I stare down at my bag and I can see the little bottle of pills. No. I don"t need them. I can be strong. I will make it through. I can do this. I"m strong. And I have Judy. I"m not alone anymore. I"m safe. I"m ok.

Suddenly my earbuds are pulled out of my ears. I spin around and see Eugene staring down at me. "G"day." He mocks my accent. "Yeah, hi." I roll my eyes and reach out for my music. "Can I have that back?" He grins at me and sits down next to me. "Depends on what your listening to." He puts in one earbud and offers me the other. I allow myself a smile, not wanting to overstep my boundaries. I accept his offer and choose a song. I scroll through my list of songs and choose "Side to Side" by Ariana Grande. Eugene starts laughing.

"What"s so funny?" I ask. He grins at me. "This is the exact type of music I thought you"d listen to." I can"t help it, but I laugh to. "Ok then. You choose." I hand him the player and he goes through my list of music. "Geez, your taste in music sucks." I respond by sticking my tongue out at him. He looks for a bit and finally chooses a song. "I really like this one. It"s by a small artist on YouTube. She"s really good but she"s also pretty secretive. Won"t even show her face in videos." I wait for him to press play and try to hide my shock when I hear the song. It"s my song.

For a few years I wrote songs. After awhile I started recording and producing my own music. I have over a hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube and I"m really starting to get noticed. I had completely forgotten this song was on here. It was my most popular song, with over a million views! But the fact that Eugene knew my music...I must be better the I thought!

Eugene doesn"t seem to notice my shock. He closes his eyes and keeps talking. "I think she"s Aussie, like you. Isn"t she amazing? I really like her music. It"s so unique! It"s upbeat and happy, yet slow and calm. It really puts an image into your head of what they"re singing about." I laugh at him. "I"ve never really thought like that before. I guess it does put a picture in you." We sit in silence for a few more minutes, listening to my voice play. I wonder how he hasn"t put two and two together. I remember how he looked like he had heard of me before, when I first introduced myself to Harry. I had said my name in my videos before. Just not my last name. I guess the chances of running into an Aussie girl called Charlotte that sounds like your idol are pretty slim.

After another ten or so more minutes of this, we decide to head down for breakfast. We walk into 1-C and I take a seat next to Judy. "Hey! I was wondering where you ran off to!" Judy and I keep up the small talk for awhile until Sue joins us. We start joking around and soon enough we"re all on the ground choking in laughter. Hailey shyly comes over and Harry and Ethan join us to. Lawrence talks to Scarlett then sits down with us to. I found out a lot more about these people while talking to them. It turns out they lived in the middle school building with a lot more people until the zombies broke in. They were the only ones who made it out alive.

"Oh my...I"m so sorry." I don"t know what to say. How are they coping with all this? I decide to change the subject. "So how old are you guys?" Ethan answers this question. "All of us except Hailey, Judy, Jay and Eugene are eighteen. The others are seventeen. You?" It"s weird to see him talk. He seemed pretty quiet. Maybe he"s just shy. "I knew we were about the same age! I"m seventeen to!" Ethan smiles at me and I feel happy. Maybe I can fit in here. As Judy starts telling a story, I sit back and snack on a peanut butter sandwich. I finish it quickly and I get up to get seconds like some of the others are doing. I find an unopened tub of vegemite from my pack (Like the others would eat it) and I start making a vegemite sandwich. "You spread it thinly, right?" Lawrence is next to me, speaking with his kind voice. "Yup! Otherwise it"s too salty!"

While I make my sandwich, Lawrence explains some of the rules. It"s pretty basic stuff. No stealing food, no going outside unless you"re on patrol or out on a hunt. Patrols are what they sound like. Walking around with a partner and reporting any suspicious activity or zombies. Hunts are when they go out for food. "We go out on patrols every night. Nightwatches are only occasionally. Usually twice a week. You stay up for the whole night so just a heads up for that." Lawrence continues explaining more until I know all I need to.

After that there"s nothing much to do, so everyone kind of wanders off. Judy goes back to our room to take a nap and I decide to explore. I walk around the second storey of the building where all our rooms are along with 1-C until I get bored. I decide to go see if there"s a music room or maybe a storage closet with some pencils or paint. I"m going up the stairs to the top storey, when I run into Ethan. He raises his eyebrows quizzically, as if to ask what I"m doing. "Hey, I was going to go look for some art supplies. Want to come with me?" Ethan looks surprised that I"m looking for art supplies but nods his head.

We turn and begin our climb up the stairs. I start talking to Ethan about my idea. What I could do with paint. The different patterns, colours everything that was possible. He seemed to like it and offered to help. We walked for a bit longer until we reached a storage room. I pushed on the door and crashed into the room. As I lay on the ground, I can hear Ethan laughing behind me. I roll on to my back and start laughing to. It"s actually pretty funny. "I was expecting it to be locked." I admit. Still laughing Ethan reaches down and pulls me from the mess. I take a minute to look around and I"m excited by what I see. Rows upon rows of different art supplies. Oil paints, acrylic paint, water colours. Canvases, brushes, crayons, pencils, colouring pencils. "Bloody hell. That"s a lot of paint." I mutter. "Bloody what?" Ethan is looking at me confused. "Never mind."

Ethan and I begin the long journey back to my classroom, our arms carrying a box each, full of art supplies. "Why do you want to paint this place?" His question takes me by surprise. Why do I want to paint this place? "I don"t have an answer for you. I"m not quite sure myself to be honest. I think I just want it to look less...depressing." Ethan gives a dry laugh. "Depressing is a good way to put it." We carry my supplies all the way to my room, being careful not to disturb Judy. As I sit down, I realise how tired I am. I yawn, stretching out. I hadn"t had much sleep last night either. Ethan looks up at me. "You look tired. Did you sleep at all last night?" I must admit, I"m surprised at his concern. Everyone seems to be worried about me here. I don"t want them to be. It"s better if they"re not. "I got some. I might take a nap after lunch though." "Take one now. I"ll go." And with that Ethan turned and walked out of the room.

Bored, I plopped myself down next to Judy. I stretch out on the floor and close my eyes. I"m so exhausted. I feel myself drifting off into sleep. That"s when the dreams begin. Dark things, nightmares. Running from zombies as they chase after my friends and family only to have them become zombies themselves. Getting pinned as a zombie tries to rip my face off, switching between people I know. The worst one I had was watching people walk away from me. Just from their backs I could tell who they were. Judy, Mum, Dad, Daisy (My little sister), even Harry, Zion, Ethan, Eugene and Lawrence. All I could hear was Scarlett laughing and saying, "I knew she was infected!" BANG!

I woke up, soaked in sweat. Bang! Someone was at the door, knocking as hard as they could. Shakily I stood up. "Just a minute!" I called out. Judy woke up. "What"s going on?" she asked. I ignored her and opened the door and behind her stood Scarlett. She smiled at me creepily. "I"m hungry." She said. "So?" Her eyes slanted angrily. "Get me food. Or there"ll be no chance of us being friends."