Our course would take us north past Redding, through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, up to Crater National Park, through Idaho to Salt Lake City in Utah, past Zion National Park, through the Grand Canyon, past Las Vegas and Death Valley, and by San Francisco to get back to the stronghold. It was gonna be a long trip, seeing that there were gonna be detours and Strongholds, as well as natural barriers along the way.

On our first night, I went on the roof. The sky was clear, and it seemed peaceful up top. I spent a few moments thinking about life. What an unpredictable thing.

We made our way to Redding. There was a great open plain to set up camp, so we stopped in the middle and settled in.

There were a lot of zombies. They came around the campsite and the children went inside, whereas the adults got on the roof.

I was watching the window. A zombie was close up. It was not like other zombies. It was undoubtedly a Phantom. It had razor sharp teeth, sharp nails, and as I watched, It let out a roar so loud that Jake rolled off the bed. It clawed for the window, but an arrow or spear pierced its head.

It dropped to the ground.

I heard a sound and frowned. It was faint compared to the yelling of the adults and the groaning of the zombies. I listened again and froze.

"Help! Help!"

I looked through the window to find the source. After a few moments, I saw a bright yellow flag with black spray paint on it. I peered closer. I managed to make out an S. Then an O. Suddenly, a zombie sprang up at the window. I recoiled and didn't get a chance to see the other letter, but I knew what it said. SOS.

I decided to help.

I nudged Jake.

"Hey. There's a flag out there. It says SOS." I whispered.

"Really?" he asked.

"Shhh, keep your voice down. And yes." I looked out the window. "There!"

"I see it!" Jake sprung up and headed for the door.

"What are you doing?" I followed him.

"Duh. Telling the adults."

"Good idea." We headed for the door, but then Seth woke up.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked. Thankfully, he spoke so softly I could barely hear him.

"There's an SOS banner out there," I told him. 

"Really?" he walked to a window and pressed his face to the surface. A few seconds later he recoiled.

"I found it." He stood up.

"Yeah. We're gonna tell the adults so we can try to save them."

"I'm coming with you." he stood behind us.

It was got a bit crowded when Mark's dark form stood up.

"You punks. Trying to be the hero. Well, not today. No one's leaving." He barreled past me and blocked the door.

James stood up and ran to him as well.

I was getting a bit concerned. There wasn't enough room to slip past them, and only two people could fight them at a time. I could take them both out, of course, but that would reveal my secret, and trying to overpower them would take too long. So I went with the fastest method. Burns.

I said, "Wow, you guys are blocking that hallway really well. How many hamburgers have you eaten today? 20? 30?"

James reddened, but Mark held his ground. "You're mistaking muscle for fat. In fact-"

"Wow, really? I didn't know! Like really, it was pretty surprising." Seth said.

Mark sputtered, but before he could think of a good comeback, I shushed him. "Hey, stop thinking. You might sprain your brain. I don't want to have to pay for that."

James finally decided to speak. "Don't feel bad, there are a lot of others who are ugly."

Seth hesitated, but I knew something was coming and was ready. "Hey, can you please stop using me as a mirror? It's really offensive."

With that, Mark cracked. He charged towards us, and I fluidly stepped to the side and stuck out a leg. He tripped and landed headfirst onto the floor, where he didn't get up.

I joked, "He's living proof that a man can live without a brain." And with that, we rushed through the door, shouldering James aside.

There were two adults down in the kitchen. It was Doc and his scientist friend, Dr. Gene (pronounced gen). They were pouring over a couple of papers. When we came through the doorway, he looked up. His face went through emotions of surprise, confusion, anger, and nervous once he saw our faces.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I saw an SOS banner outside," I answered.

He rushed to a telescope and asked, "Where?"

I pointed in the direction, and after a few seconds, he saw it.

"Wow. You must have great eyes. We must alert the others immediately." He went up the ladder, and after a few minutes, came down with Dan, the driver. He looked through the telescope, and then promptly rushed to the driver area. The speakers boomed.

"Hold on, folks and come back down. We're going on a detour to investigate a neon yellow SOS banner. I'll give you twenty seconds to get down."

Adults came down the ladder, and us kids were pushed to the back to the bunk. The trailer suddenly jumped forward.

After a few minutes of everyone glued to the windows, searching for the banner, we finally got close. The banner was at the top of a building maybe four or five stories tall. I couldn't get a good glimpse through the rain with everyone else jostling me. Ten adults were chosen for the rescue, with Jake, Jack, Seth, and I with them. We hurriedly threw on our gear and headed outside.

The zombie horde hadn't caught up yet, so we ran inside and closed the doors with ease. We checked the rooms for zombies or survivors. It seemed to be an office building.

On the third floor, there was a small group of zombies that were taken care of easily. There were also a few other grizzly things.

On the fourth floor, there was a huge room in the center. One of the adults opened it, expecting a minimal amount of zombies. Instead, she found a large group of more than fifty. Way too much.

I was checking one of the other rooms when a shout echoed down the hall.

"Zombies! In the main room! Evacuate!"

I grimaced. If they were coming from the main room, I would have to race to reach the stairwell. The elevators were of course much closer, but I didn't want to rely on them.

I sprinted for the stairs. I met Jack and Seth along the way, and we ran together, the halls echoing with our footsteps.

As we came closer, the air was full of zombie stench. We got to the stairs, only to find that the stairs had already been climbed by the zombies. The undead creatures turned to us, and we turned and ran in unison.

I yelled out, out of breath, "Circle around to the other side of the stairwell!"

So we ran all the way around to the other side of the stairs. Now the zombies were either doing a loop around to us or going down the stairs. As the zombies appeared behind in the corridor, I was left with a conundrum.

We couldn't outrun the zombies forever. They would eventually block all exits. I was still reluctant to use elevators, and the zombies blocked the way down. I decided to go up then.

Without waiting for discussion, I started to climb up the stairs to the fifth floor. After a brief moment's hesitation, the others followed. I looked around and saw that this area was like a gym or for recreation.

I kept climbing to the roof, where the floor was soaked. I quickly looked around for a fire escape. None.

Seth shouted over the rain and wind. "What now?"

I looked at the drainage gutter and had an idea. Quickly, I ran back to the fifth floor and found some bungee cords. I also climbed to the top of an abandoned climbing wall and got three harnesses. Then I ran up to the roof, where the others had waited, perplexed.

I said, out of breath, "Okay, we've got a few minutes before the zombies catch up. I want to try to make a few harnesses so we can jump down."

Somehow, without arguing, we set to work. There was a machine up there, and we looped the bungees so it would be able to support our weight. After a few minutes, Seth went down to try to secure a few doors. He returned a few minutes later, blocking the door to the fifth floor.

We secured the harnesses, just in time. The door cracked with a sickening crunch, and a horde of zombies burst through the door, Seth went first. He carefully stepped off the edge and edged his way down, rain drenching him. Jack went next, and I stepped off right before the zombies reached me.

I edged my way down slowly, making sure I wouldn't fall. Seth slowed down a little, and I wasn't sure why until I drew level with him. His eyes were filled with terror, and I realized that he was afraid of heights.

"Come on!" I yelled, and he glanced at me and said something, probably thanks, but it was lost in the wind.

We made progress, and I was just getting level to the third story when Seth yelped.

 I glanced up at him and realized, to my horror, that his harness was becoming undone. I started climbing up the building to reach him before it broke completely.

I strained and pulled until I was level. He was clinging to the wall as if that would somehow reverse the damage. I reached for his hand, and he grabbed it just as the harness splintered.

He hand was jerked as his harness broke free and as he fell. I managed to hold on, and Jack climbed up to support him. We carefully lowered him down. It was a long process, and eventually, we made it to the second floor. I heard the trailer behind us and sighed in relief. Looking down, I saw the trailer coming towards us, and I sighed. Maybe that's what did it.

Maybe I relaxed my grip, or maybe Jack did.

Whatever the case, Seth screamed and lost his grip. He fell down the rest of the way, and before the zombies could get close, I yelled at the wind and undid my harness. A split second later, I fell into the grass he had fallen into. There was quite a lot of mud, and I got it everywhere, but I helped Seth up and hit the first zombie while he recovered his breath.

In a few moments, Jack was there too, and we hit and shoved and kicked and dodged over and over, and it lasted a moment and also a century, and it was terrifying and exhilarating, completely crazy. I had adrenaline in my mind, it felt like. We fought until the trailer came close, and as we ran into the trailer, I was glad and relieved, and also disappointed and disheartened, for that moment and that century was amazing and disgusting, all at once.

And I lay awake at night for hours, and indeed dreamt thinking about the monster I was for wishing, just for a moment, that the whole ordeal would happen again.

It never happened, of course. It was much worse the next time around.