The morning sun shone through the dusty, broken windows, and the girl under the covers grumbled as she rose from the couch. Her shoulder throbbed, and her eyes felt heavy as she looked around the room; she was alone again. Just like after her brother, in an unfamiliar place with no one…

Anxiety buzzed in her stomach, and she jumped off the couch. Surely Eights didn’t leave her too… A chill ran up her spine, and she froze in place as she came eye to eye with the man from the mansion’s prison. His eyes scanned the room, and his face hardened as he sighed deeply. It was only then that Nine noticed the heavy bags under his eyes combined with a deathly pale complexion.

Turning to the exit, he walked off. Seconds later, the girl could hear the front door creak open, then shut, and her buzzing anxiety was next to leave as she watched Eights rush down the stairs just moments later. His eyes were bloodshot, and he didn’t have his usual chipper-ness.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“Not really…” His eyes shifted to the window.

Nine followed his gaze only to realize the grave was right there. She felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner; she could have suggested they stay in a different room last night.

“Sorry.”

Eights held up a small paper. “I found this while you were sleeping. I think my parents used it while looking for the Hidden City.”

“Are we going?”

Eights tilted his head, then looked over to the front door.

Covering her mouth, Nine followed his eyes, only now remembering the man who just walked out of the house. She asked, “Is he still here?”

Wood creaked under the boy’s feet as his eyes glazed over with a distant, blank stare.

“Eights?”

Slowly he turned to the girl, and a plastic smile stretched across his face as he said, “We should leave, right?”

Nine shook her head up… and then down, her eyes never leaving the boy’s face. He looked as if he could collapse at any second, but there was no way they could stay in the house if The Twelve’s henchman knew where they were.

“I suppose we should… Are you okay to go though? Shouldn’t you rest a—”

“No, I’ll be fine. Let’s go.” His eyes shifted back to the door, pausing for a second before turning abruptly and disappearing behind the stairs.

“Wa- wait for me!” Nine jumped off the couch, following him into what appeared to be a kitchen at one point and out the back door into the forest. For someone who seemingly got no sleep last night, Eights sure moved quickly.

Nine peered past the dense briar, cautious of any movement in the distance, of any… Chills ran up and down her spine. Why couldn’t they be in a wide open plain where they could see for miles, and instead? Crinkle! The paper scrunched in Eights’ hands, causing her to let out a startled squeak, and the boy stopped, looking back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just on the lookout for any zombies.” She clasped her hands nervously together; they felt clammy yet oddly cold.

“Don’t worry, the dead tend to hang out around cities, so as long as we avoid those, we will be safe.”

“Cities? Like Sky City?”

“I don’t know where that is… is it big?”

Nine shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve heard that it’s big… It’s where my brother and I were going when…”

“Sorry, you guys were probably close to the city.” Flustered, Eights nearly dropped the map before saying, “Never mind, forget I said anything.”

“It’s okay… I was thinking the same thing… So-so how will we get to the Hidden City if zombies are nearby?”

Eights, studying the map as if his life depended on it, said, “Maybe it’s better if we just keep heading north. Instead of going to the Hidden City. I mean… I didn’t think of it before, but The Twelve could have people looking for us in the area— Even if… you know, even if they can’t get into the city themselves, maybe they have spies and stuff.”

“Would they go to that length to find us?”

“I’m not sure, but do you want to risk it?”

A flash of red shot past Nine’s vision as she recalled the woman, lying so still on the ground. “O-okay… s-s-so what do we do the-then?”

Eights leaned closer, giving her a better view of the map; there was a lake in the right-hand corner he was smoothing out with his thumb. “It might be nice to live somewhere beside this lake, or who knows, maybe we can find a nice island to live on… and we’ll never have to worry about zombies again.”

“What if there are no houses on this island?”

“Well, we could figure out how to build one. After all, how hard can it be?”

“I would assume it would be pretty hard, after all, even your house looked like it was built before the fall.” Nine giggled. Looking back through the forest, she noticed that she could hardly see the old house anymore.

“How do you know my grandfather didn’t build it?”

“Come on! I saw that kitchen! It had old-world appliances and everything!”

“He could have built those too!”

“Okay, okay, let’s say he built it.”

Grinning, Eights stuck his chin up as he walked deeper into the forest, and Nine couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

_0O0_

The day passed quickly as the two got closer to the lake. Shadows covered the ground, and the chorus of chirping creatures died out, and the hairs on Nine’s arms rose as she crossed them over her stomach. Her eyes darted back and forth as the teenagers got closer to what sounded like a million stomachs growling at once.

The grumbling hum became more distinct with each step forward, as did Nine’s panicked gasps for air. She desperately tried to suck in air to fill her lungs, only to find herself feeling faint.

 Eights turned to her sharply; his face filled with concern as his hands rested on her shoulders; his mouth moved in a panic, but all that Nine could hear was the rumble of what were surely zombies in the distance.

“Nine!”

Jumping, the girl felt Eights’ hands shift down her arms until he was holding her hands in his. Little gasps filled the air as she continued her attempt to breathe.

“In through your nose,” He exemplified, and she copied as his chest rose. “Out through your mouth. Good! Do it again, slowly. I’ve got you, just keep breathing.”

Returning his grip, Nine could feel her head clear up as she looked at the boy’s goofy smile, and in no time, her breathing returned to normal.

A Crunch! accompanied a groan, caused the two to turn sharply to the side just as a zombie stumbled from behind a tree, through an assortment of leaves, right in their direction.

Pulling her closer, Eights led her across the dense woods and down behind a large boulder. Nine could hear her breath pitch in her throat as she planted herself behind the rocks.  Shuffling leaves crunched beneath a zombie's feet as it moved closer, and closer, and closer.

Nine could feel air trapped in her throat, and she quickly clasped her hands over her mouth. Eights grazed against her arm as he rose to peek over the rock, before darting back behind it. Then, scrambling around, he grabbed a large rock and, standing once more, he tossed it over the boulder, sounding a loud crack in the distance.

The shuffling, crunching leaves got quieter and quieter until she could no longer hear them at all. Pulling her hands from her face, Nine noticed they were invisible.

“How…” She jumped up, scanning the immediate area before ducking back down. “How did you know where I was?”

“I could hear you hyperventilating.”

“Oh!” She leaned back. “I thought I’d gotten better at controlling it.”

“I’d imagine if it’s linked with your emotions that when you heard the zombie… I mean after what happened with your brother and all, it’s understandable that you got a little scared.”

“A little scared might be a bit of an understatement, after all—”

Grrrrrrrr, a chill ran up Nine’s spine as the chorus of growls sounded all around. Meeting Eights’ eyes, she said, “Don’t tell me we’re surrounded.”

Eights shot up, turning three hundred and sixty degrees just as a group of zombies broke through the tree line directly in front of her. “Eights?”

 “This might be bad…” Grabbing her arm, Eights yelled, “Run!”

Zipping through the forest, the map fluttered before slipping out of Eights' hands. Nine turned to grab it only for a zombie to wobble from behind a tree, its teeth inches from her fingers. She jerked with a loud popping sound erupting from her shoulder.

“Leave it, Nine!”

“But… your parents!” Nine said through clenched teeth as a searing pain pulsed up her arm.

The boy nimbly dodged a group of three zombies, using the trees to stump them. He got up a large hill and stopped, causing Nine to slam into his back. Her arm tingled numbly as she pulled it out of his grasp, holding it close to her stomach.

“Why’d you stop?” She peered at the massive horde idling at the bottom of the hill when the first of them looked up, spotting the two of them.

“We’re screwed.”

Nine clutched Eights’ hand tightly, her eyes scanning the horizon when she spotted a wall in the distance. “There!”

“That’s on the other side of the horde!”

Looking back, Eights pulled Nine to the side just as a zombie approached, narrowly missing her and tumbling down the hill.

“How are we supposed—”

Grasping the boy’s hand, Nine said, “Trust me, and no matter what, don’t let go of my hand!”

He let out one quivering breath and just as the two of them turned invisible, a large group of zombies started tumbling down the hill. There was a seemingly endless number, joining the horde. Taking a shaky breath, she followed them down the hill and past one zombie after the next. Using the confusion, she pushed past the zombies up to the stone wall on the other side of the horde.

“Help me up,” She whispered, and in no time the two of them were over the wall, faced with an extravagant building surrounded by yellow streamers flapping in the wind with the words quarantine zone repeating over and over.