Chapter 16

"Violet, I'm so glad to see you my dear!" Barry said as he tightly hugged his granddaughter.

"Where are all the others?" Julian asked as he stared at Matthew, Christina and Barry, who were the only people in the room.

"Well, it turns out that Ron and his gang were only there to kidnap us. The dangerous mafia dude who threw you in here, he's the boss and his plan is to use us as bait," Matthew explained.

"I'm sorry, you said bait?" Julian asked confused.

"Yes, he's going to feed us to the zombies because he thinks he can train them like dogs,"

"He's insane," Violet said.

"Well, if you don't want to be zombie food then I suggest we should get out of here," Matthew said.

"But how are we going to get out of this room?" Christina asked as she stared at the large steel door.

"That's a good question," Violet said, "I don't really think we'll be able to get out of here. It's impossible,"

Julian felt worthless; he didn't think any of this through. How is he going to get his family to safety?

"Where's mom?" Violet asked Matthew.

He looked down, "She's with Ron. He promised her that he'll keep her safe if she helped them feed us to the zombies,"

"Are you serious?" Violet asked in shock.

He nodded.

Violet gasped. She didn't know what to say, everything was falling apart. At that moment she didn't even care anymore. She just accepted that it was the end.

They all sat there waiting to die, suddenly the door opened and Shelly stepped inside.

"Shelly!" Violet said as she hugged her tightly.

"Hi, guys. Listen, I have to get you out of here before they come and get you. I couldn't bring any weapons because they think I'm in the bathroom. So I'll help sneak you out then you run okay? As fast and as quickly as you can, you keep running until you find a safe place. And don't stay at one place for too long because I know they'll find you,"

"How long do we have to get out?" Matthew asked.

"I'll say about three minutes, maybe less," Shelly replied.

Everyone nodded and got up. Shelly peeked into the hallway to make sure that no one was around and then she gestured for everyone to follow her out.

They got to the first floor without any problems. Just as they got to the door of the building someone shot in their direction. Luckily the person shooting missed. They kept running and the guard kept shooting. Suddenly Barry fell to the ground. Violet wanted to turn back but Julian grabbed her arm "We can't go back, he's gone Violet,"

She stared back one last time and a tear escaped her eye. The rest of them got out safely; they got back to the Ford which Violet and Julian left behind a few trees near to the building.

"Hurry guys!" Julian said as he held open the car door for Matthew and Christina.

He jumped in and they drove off. Violet was sitting with her head in her hands. All of this was getting too much for her.

Julian put his hand on her leg "Don't worry honey, we got out safely. We just need to get out of town,"

Violet nodded slowly and wiped the tears from her eyes.

A few minutes of silence passed by when the back window suddenly shattered into small pieces, Matthew and Christina quickly covered their heads when another round of bullets shot in their direction.

"Damn it," Julian cursed and quickly swung the car into the first road that turned left.

He drove as fast as he could and turned into any road just to get away.

"Julian, look out!" Violet cried as she saw a tree right in front of them.

He stared at the tree as if time stood still. It was like he didn't even realize what was happening. With one loud crash the car jammed into the tree, smoke escaped the bonnet.

Violet's forehead was covered in blood, Julian's nose looked as if it was broken, Christina had a busted lip and Matthew just had a bruised eye.

"Is everyone okay?" Julian asked.

"Honey, your nose," Violet said as she stared at his nose in shock.

Before he could check his nose in his rear view mirror he realized that Ron and his people are right behind them.

"We have to get out of here now!" he commanded.

They got out of the car and ran into the woods. Hopefully they are a little safer behind the trees. But not for long, Ron sent in three Pitbulls to sniff them out.

"Keep running!" Julian said as he saw the dogs coming in their direction.

"There, get in that tree!" Violet exclaimed as she gestured to a tall tree a few feet from them.

They got in the tree just in time. The dogs lead Ron and his men right to their victims.

"Hello guys, long time no see," Ron said with a sarcastic smirk on his shaved face.

Julian wanted to shoot him right in the head.

"Let's make this simple, shall we? You come down or I come get you, how does that sound?"

Violet gazed at Julian "Let's just go, we don't stand a chance anyway,"

"There is no way, they're going to kill us Violet," he replied in a harsh tone.

"We're going to die anyway; we might as well get it over with," Christina said.

After thinking a few seconds Julian decided that there was no way out of this one.

They got out of the tree and followed Ron back to their camp.

"Ah, glad to see you're all safe and sound," the old guy said as they stepped into the building "I guess we can head to the city now. Everything is ready,"

The guards handcuffed all the prisoners and lead them outside to the Jeeps. They left for the city, it felt like forever to get there. Julian has never been so afraid in his entire life, it was totally over, and there was no saving each other now. There was no rescue party, it was all over.

"Get everyone on the crane and open up the gates on my mark," the old man instructed.

The guards took them and tied them to the crane. He lifted them up, they hung in the air like shark bait.

"You see my dear friends; we don't have to live like this. We don't have to kill these so called "zombies" they are merely animals. They need attention and caressing. So we are going to train them, teach them to behave. And so we can live together and create a new world," the old man explained.

"You're a sick man!" Christina yelled.

"Oh no, my dear, I'm smart. And I'm willing to compromise my lifestyle so that these poor animals can live a happy life," he smiled and winked at her before he gestured for the guard to open the gate.

Slowly the gate opened and thousands of zombies came dashing through all the broke-down cars. The groaned at the sight of a nice fresh meal right in front of them. The guard lowered the victims into the large swarm of zombies.

Julian looked at his fiancé one last time "I love you honey," he said.

She looked at him with wet eyes "I love you more,"

THE END