Thank God, I'm with Emma and Madelyn. I love the other girls but with them, I am just more comfortable and I always know I am in for a laugh, which I really need right now.

"I'll be back, guys," Madelyn says as she gathers her weapons and heads for the door.

"Where are you going?" Emma and I ask at the exact same time. It's kind of creepy how alike we are.

"We're gonna have squirrel tonight for dinner," Madelyn smiles as she takes out the revolver, which I'm guessing she stole form the stash Mary had, and checks to make sure there are enough bullets.

Gosh, she has a serious problem. For some reason she has this hatred for the poor, fuzzy, little animals. I understand people killing them for food but she has been torturing poor little squirrels as long as I've known her. She used to shoot them with her Nerf Gus before this whole apocalypse thing started.

"Really, Madelyn?" Emma asked.

"Yep. Our group did establish our individual roles and I am the 'Provider'. Therefore I make sure we got what we need and dinner is on the table," she says proudly. For some reason she seems to think that she is better than everyone else because she gets everyone's food for them and it really ticks me off. She fixes her cowboy hat on her head, it has a name but I forgot it, and starts heading for the door.

"And where exactly are you hunting for squirrels?" I ask, realizing that she thinks that she is going out in the woods all by herself.

"In the forest area," she said casually.

"Seriously?!" I ask as I block the door. Does she really think that she can hold off a herd of zombies by herself if they were to attack? This has gone beyond coincided to downright stupid.

"Yes, seriously," she says as she steps in front of me, challenging to see if I will try to hold her off. She is a good foot taller than me but that doesn't mean I won't tackle her to the floor to keep her from getting herself killed. "Why can't I?"

"Because Mary said not to go alone," Emma said as she moved over next to me to help me block the door.

"Guys, I don't plan on going far. I'll be back in two hours if that," she wines, readjusting her cross bow.

"Madelyn, no," we say at the same time again. Seriously creepy.

"Fine," She sighed as if seeming to give up but then quickly shoves us out of the way and barrels out the door. I try to grab her arm but am too late and she is gone.

"Well she will have to sleep on the cot then," Emma says. I turn to the room and realize that there is a bunk bed on one wall and a cot on the other. Emma puts her stuff on the top bunk and I walk over and start unloading mine on the bottom.

I walk back over to the door and look outside. She is deep in the forest by now.

"Damn it Madelyn! Why do you have to act like such an idiot?!" I scream and kick the door. I make fun of her a lot, but can you blame me? She always acts so high and mighty.

"Ugh, she acts like she can do anything and nothing will happen to her. Well she can't and if this keeps up she is going to get herself killed," Emma says.

I walk back over to the bed and lay down with my pillow over my face.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom," Emma tells me. I hear the door open and I am alone with only my thoughts. I dig my phone out of my pocket. No service.

I stare at the ceiling. The shock from earlier today is finally setting in now that I'm alone. I would have been dead. If not for Madelyn I would have died. I would have been eaten 'til I was a lump of tissue too chewed to be recognizable, or I would have been a rotting corpse walking around eating other people. But either way I would have been dead.

The tears start to leak from my eyes against my will. I don't worry about the others seeing that I had been crying. Normally when I cry it isn't noticeable. My mom always called me her pretty crier...

Mom. I hadn't thought about my family this whole time. I was too busy trying to stay alive and reach Valley Station to think about them. Are they alright?

I get up and run over to my bag, grab the gun from inside Chubbykins, and run outside, checking my phone as I go. The battery is almost dead. This stupid phone never holds a charge longer than five hours. Thank God I had put it on airplane mode or there would be no battery life left at all.

I was running by a split in the trees when I see something move and I stop. I stare into the clearing looking for any sign of life, or I guess undead life. I don't know what to call it, but I see nothing. I figure it was just my paranoid brain and I keep moving.

As I come close to Annie's and Mary's cabin I hear the familiar ding that says my phone is in range. I raise my phone to eye level and go to the contacts. Finding my dad first I call the number. No answer. I search through my contacts again, more urgently this time, and find my sister, Ellie's name. I hit the number. No answer. This time I am rushing through my contact list so fast I almost miss my mom's name. I hit the number. No answer.

My phone falls from my hand and makes a low thump as it hits the ground. My knees give way and I sink to the ground just starting out into the woods.

I wonder if it makes me a hypocrite that I thought they were better off. I mean I was fighting for my life, trying to stay alive, what makes me think they are better off? If it were true then why wouldn't I just kill myself right then and there? The gun was simply resting in my hand. It would have been so easy.

I stare down at the gun and scoff at myself. Coward, my mind tells me. They may not even be dead. Their phones could have died. They could be looking everywhere for you and you want to kill yourself. That would make you a miserable coward.

I set my gun aside, pull my knees to my chest and rest my head, starting into the dark woods.

I'm not sure how long I was sitting there when a hand rested on my shoulder. I look up to see a concerned Annie looking down at me. I wipe a left over tear from my check, give her a small smile, and turn back to the woods.

"Is it your family?" she asks me

That isn't the only thing on my mind but I didn't want to go into it so I just nodded my head. She sat next to me and I laid my head on her shoulder.

Annie has always been there to look after me and to comfort me when I am sad or don't feel well. We met at camp years ago and became friends there. After summer ended we lost contact. Then it was pure chance that we ended up at the same high school. We sit there in silence for a while and that is all I could've ask for. I didn't want to talk, but I didn't want to be alone. I'm not sure how much time passed when I heard a rustling in the trees.

"Did you hear that?" I asked her just to make sure it wasn't my ears playing tricks on me.

"Yes," Annie says, standing up.

As soon as the words escaped her mouth zombies started to fill the clearing that was empty a few moments ago.

"Well, I guess it's time for some action," she says, running back to the cabin to get a weapon.

I look at the zombies that continue to come out of the woods and something dawns on me. My family may be dead right now, but my friends are here and as long as they are here by my side I will not let them down. I may not be the strongest in the group but I will not let them die.

So with a new found strength in my heart that wouldn't be crushed, I raised my gun, aimed for the zombie in front of me, and shot it through the head.