Deep growls left the ragged throat of the undead Woolcat, its twisted neck gouged with bites and cw marks which allowed twisting tendrils of velvety vibes. Curled ferns twitching like a lizard tasting the air, cwed paws dragging the infected body forward.

  "Fuck!" Sani excimed. Stumbling backwards, he nearly tripped over Debra before his back hit the metal gate. Eyes wide in shock as he took in the horrific visage of the infected Woolcat.

  Licking rotting lips it moved forward with a casual pace as the mob of undead Veriyn.

  "Open the gate!" Charlene screamed, cracking her voice in desperation but her voice was overtaken by gunfire and the roaring cries of the Cress.

  The two guards unloaded, their rifles bring as they tried to thin the ever growing horde. The older shouted into his radio demanding backup, calling out the progress of the encroaching horse.

  "Bst it." Snapped the younger soldier. They jumped down, ignoring the dder and hitting the ground with a painful thud.

  Ember put her hand out, and Jake snatched the pipe from her, quickly returning Ember's favored fire axe.Ember almost in the same motion swung that axe and split the skull of an encroaching Cress.

  Monet and Waylon were wildly swinging their batons, cracking bones and staggering the undead. Monet and Charlene kept the infected away from Debra's trembling form as she sobbed over Phil's body.

  The second soldier ran to the gate, scrambling as they reached for the gate switch. Breath heavy as they desperately tried to open the door and allow the survivors inside, practically stumbling over themselves.

  Debra's cries are muffled by the deafening cacophony of infected screams and the shouted commands of the survivors scrambling around.

  The sudden absence of gunshots ended as the older soldier shot down his comrade. They didn't have a chance to make a sound as their body hit the grass just feet away from the open button.

  Bernadina narrowed her eyes, being one of the few who noticed as the man betrayed his own. She gripped Dern's arm and started to pull her oblivious boyfriend towards the more sparsely occupied alleyways.

  Dern's startled excmation drew a few gnces, looking his way.

  Pounding hearts filled with a sense of overwhelming dread. The beast closed in as hungry growls left its throat.

  Gss shattered as the beast smmed into the back of the bus forcing it forward the ram into the gate, the metal hardly scratched but the front of the bus scrunched. The children inside yelled as they were jostled back and forth by the sudden impact.

  "Fuck!" Ember excimed, eyes going wide as she realized they were now cut off. Jake, Ewell, Sani, and herself, were on one side of the bus while Debra, Creed, Charlene, Dern, Bernadina, Monet, and Waylon were on the other. The two boys remained in the bus, crying.

  Ember smmed down with her axe severing the head of an infected and splitting it with a second strike.

  Bernadina spun back, her and Dern narrowly dodging the bus "Run!" Bernadina excimed, pulling at Dern's arm again, she overpowered his encompassing fear and got his frozen feet moving.

  Undead poured down the main street, bumping off cars and tumbling against one another as they surged towards the survivors like a wave.

  Creed gaped. Eyes moving back and forth unable to decide where to go. Bernadina ran, dragging her boyfriend along with her as she shouted for them to follow her. Debra blinked. Her cheek was bleeding, nicked from the bus' debris. She didn't notice the bus had moved until her head raised.

  Creed was screaming, him and Charlene calling Debra to stand. The world felt like slow motion. Like there was cotton on her ears and fog over her eyes.

  "Boys?" Her voice ghosted, nothing more than a whisper amongst the screaming.

  She unched herself to stand as the sadness turned to panic, eyes searching for her children. The back of the bus was dented in, the emergency door wide open as the infected Cress cwed their way inside. Debra blinked and moved to throw herself into the bus's bent side door.

  The wailing sobs from two Day children briefly turned to screams before silencing all together.

  She made it one step forward when she was suddenly yanked back. She called out their names so loudly her voice turned into a hoarse whine. Cutting herself off with a spitting choke. Creed wrapped an arm around Debra's middle and dragged her back away from the overrun bus.

  She cried out and fought against him but he lifted her and ran with the others.

  As the group of survivors were forced to split up the undead overwhelmed the bus, scrambling over each other, piling and grabbing until they managed to swarm enough to

  Charlene's voice broke through the screams and undead howling, calling for Ember and the others to rendezvous when they can, running through the tight alleyway they were moving so quickly Monet almost lost sight of Creed, who was trailing behind trying to carry Debra.

  Bernadina had her arm looped around Dern pulling him forward while he shouted in confusion, his eyes darting to every connecting alleyway watching as the undead blotched out the light, dashing after them. The tall buildings felt like they were closing in on them getting suffocating, Dern's chest burned as he huffed in breaths, an athletic guy but his panic made him heave.

  Meanwhile, across the street. Back at the buss the undead had poured over it, climbing to the roof and throwing themselves carelessly onto the other side of the fence, the Woolcat's angry yowl was followed by the sound of twisting metal as the massive creature lunged forward, throwing itself into the weakened link fence, toppling both yers of it with ease.

  Its eyes searching with malicious intent, matted fur catching on the chain fence as it ripped itself away without a care, snarling, but instead of following the horde deeper into the camp it unched itself towards the survivors, batting broken paws their way attempting to maul and cw.Ewell swung, filing the baton in his head smacking against reaching limbs as the undead snatched towards him.

  Ember screamed as she leapt back, crying out a curse as she tried to pick a direction, towards the swarmed bus, the undead filled alleys, or the beast trying to devour her.

  She wasn't given time to make the choice as Sani bolted, running into the alleyway and using the baton to clear a path.

  “C'mon kid!” Jake shouted, but he wasn't quick enough. The Woolcat dashed forward with a supernatural speed for its broken form, its massive body crashed against Ewell, bloody shoulder knocking the Draconic teen to the ground with a pained yelp that drew the attention of some of the feasting undead.

  His one eye went wide, waiting to see sharp fangs and a rotting tongue but the beast had no interest in him. Howling it leapt past Ember and followed Sani's fleeing frame into the alleyway.

  Sani screamed as the beast tched onto the back of his suit and drove him to the ground. Gnashing teeth tore into flesh as the Woolcat bit into him, the surrounding Cress followed suit and gnawed onto any bit of Sani they could get their hands on.

  The roar of a motorcycle drew Ember out of her horror as Jake leapt onto their bike and shouted, Ember spun around, snagging Ewell by the arm after stuffing the wand into her jacket pocket. Ewell yelped at suddenly being manhandled, dropping his baton. The pain from the car crash fred across Ewell's numerous injuries, exacerbated from being tossed around making his vision blur, Ember shoved Ewell onto the bike, pressing him on the edge of both seats as she tried to fit three people on the motorcycle. “Don't move!” Ember excimed as she squished Ewell between herself and Jake, careful not to poke herself on his broken horn.

  She reached forward and held Jake's shoulders as they suddenly drove forward, the bike wobbled, unbanced with too much weight, if Ember believed in the Gods she would be praying for the bike to stay stable. Cress lunged at the bike trying to rip them off of it, their bodies lunging and fingers bent into cws trying to tear them apart.

  Jake wobbled as he drove, fighting to keep the bike upright as he weaved between the straggling undead, most of the bulk of the mob had torn into the camp, all sprinting towards the meager tents.

  As they drove away they heard the distant sounds of gunshots.

  The other survivors, on foot, didn't hear the bike's engine over the shouting of each other and the undead. They kept through the alleyways but as undead seemed to come from every street they quickly felt hopeless.

  “We need to get out of the open!” Dern excimed, dragged forward by Bernadina's strong pull.

  Their eyes quickly searched for any building or safe spot they could see, everything looked broken or boarded, everything else had undead stumbling out of doorways and through broken window fronts.

  Their shoes beat against the concrete, breathes heavy. Their eyes scanned every building looking for any and every possible pce to run and hide, Debra's sobs drowned out by the hungry growls of the Cress.

  The buildings around them were desote and tall and the survivors' stamina waned, the undead storming after them had no concern for running out of breath or getting tired as their pnt infested bodies forced them forward on mangled limbs and inhuman endurance.

  “There!” Charlene pointed out towards a rge, fancy hotel, that was pced on the edge of the city park, outside of the evacuation centers, from the look of it they had used the hotel before, there were remnants of a moved military camp, a jeep left behind stripped for parts, empty crates of used supplies barricaded most of the entrance way.

  The group barreled towards the building, Creed still struggling in the back to carry Debra's filing weight, Charlene led while Monet attempted to help Creed.The grand entrance of the chain hotel was dirtied and bleak now as they dashed towards it “Almost there!” Charlene excimed, she was the first to arrive at the entrance, the main revolving door was broken, lodged shut, but the smaller doors on the sides were propped open.

  They heard engines and gunshots, however they were faint under their own shouting and the hungry cries of the undead.

  She knocked away the crate that kept the door open and used her body to open it wider “Hurry!” she shouted as they began to pile inside, Bernadina and Dern moved inside first with Waylon following, the door smmed behind them and Charlene and Dern quickly pushed anything debris they could in front of the doors but the way the frame groans and bent under the onsught of cwing fists made it obvious the barricade was temporary.

  “That's not going to hold!” Dern excimed

  The rge lobby of the once opulent hotel was dirty, hastily abandoned camps with a few left behind sleeping bags and crates. Bernadina pushes past the group and runs to a small board, there were lines of text with arrows directing guests on where to go. Her fingers traced the words while her other clutched Dern's bicep like a vice.

  "Where do we go?" Monet's panicked voice called as her eyes scanned the desote lobby. Walls dingy and floor space sparsely furnished it hardly looked like the five star lodging she remembered.

  "Kitchen. Weapons." Bernadina replied before she dashed off, following the directions from the sign while dragging the stammering Dern with her. His questions never really nding.

  Charlene nods, she sped up to follow them. Pressing debris against the heavy frame Monet and Waylon were attempting to hold the bulging door shut as boney hands smmed against it again and again. Monet watched Charlene's every step as she disappeared down the hall.

  "Charlene!" She called to no reply.

  Creed tried to follow but as Debra fred her fingers and cwed his arm he finally released her, allowing her to fall to her knees sobbing. Her voice was hollow from screaming.

  The panic in the room was suffocating and no one could even think. Creed searched but he didn't know which way Charlene went, he weakly called her name, his voice hardly a whisper as his ragged breath overtook his words.

  Monet yelped as the door splintered, seeking tendrils of velvety vines forced their way through the cracks, stripping the flesh of the Veriyn form that encased them. Waylon ducked down as more holes began to break through the thick wood.

  Waylon could hardly keep himself from seizing, his anxiety choked his dry throat and he could only whimper as he held strong against the onsught.

  Creed couldn't catch his breath, his hand searching for Charlene's beside him came up empty as he found himself searching for her, stumbling back away from Debra.

  The hall to the rgest rental space, mostly used for weddings, was sealed off, and the elevator was disabled. The front desk is bare and dusty. In the back was a rge three way hall split, the signs too far for him to make out and then an open door revealed a pin grey stairwell going up.

  He didn't see anything else. Nothing living or undead.

  Monet shrieked as the gss revolving door shattered under the weight of the undead, throwing themselves into the pile of junk that was the barricade.

  Waylon and Monet screamed as they watched them break through, the fear overwhelmed their defense and they pulled away from the wooden door, causing the frame to explode outwards.

  Creed couldn't think he just grabbed Debra again not knowing what else to do, he ran towards the staircase door, it was the closest thing he could shut, the only other thing he could focus on. He dragged her limp body forward as her sobs trailed into dry heaving.

  Waylon and Monet sprinted towards the doorway following after Creed as the sudden rush of undead poured through the entrances. Waylon nearly fell over himself, dropping the baton he was given as he scrambled back into his feet. The four dashed onto the stairwell and smmed the door short, they went up a single flight before the weight of the chasing Cress smmed against the stairwell doors.

  They ran as fast as they could to the next open door, the stomps and growls of enclosing undead haunting their trail.

  Monet ran forward to take more of Debra's dead weight, handing off her baton to Waylon who managed to swat at a few closer undead. The flights of stairs were thick and short, as they turned round the third bend in the stairwell Waylon felt a tug at his pant leg.

  He nearly tripped but caught himself on the higher stair, gasping when he felt something thin slither up his ankle. He screamed, below the perforated metal was the upper torso of an undead, pnt life split from the bckened tears of the body, the undead torn apart just above the navel but the corpse still moves with little problems.

  The undead's arms filed with feral hunger and cwed at his shoe, biting against the bottom of the staircase as the creature pulled itself up, long tendrils of thick malleable stems clung to the stairs like a horrible spider. The limber vines dexterously constricting the metal, while the Veriyn flesh of the infected host snapped its jaws like a starving beast.

  "Go!" Monet cries, shoving Debra further against Creed, encouraging him to keep running. With extreme reluctance Creed obeyed, pulling Debra whose legs began to wobble into some sort of a walk, with him.

  Monet ran back down, Waylon wailed in panic, he took the baton and swung his long arms hard, bashing the head of an encroaching Cress so hard its neck cracked back. The jaw bent at a broken angle and the undead stumbled from the surprising force.

  Monet dropped to her knees and ripped at the green tendrils surrounding his ankle, Waylon shoved his upper body forward, using the baton horizontally to force the staggered undead backwards, smming it against the others, they tumbled backwards. Undead bodies smmed against each otherin a gorey fall down the stairs.

  It gave Monet just enough time to pull away the st of the vines and free Waylon's leg.He swung the baton back and forth as Monet snatched his arm and began to drag him away, the staggered undead struggled to recover and their fellow infected trampled over them in desperation, arms out and grasping, trying to capture any piece of the survivors.

  "Creed!" Monet called Hmmm she and Waylon resumed their mad dash up the stairwell.

  "Sixth floor!" Creed's voice called from above.

  Monet had two more floors to go.

  Waving Waylon alongside her they ran as fast as they could, stomping, feeling cnking off the metal stairs with a heavy beat as their desperation and fear threatened to overwhelm them.Howling calls of infected Veriyn following their every step.

  Upon reaching the sixth floor Monet saw two rge doors, a noted difference to the single doors of the previous floors, they were propped open revealing another hall which led into a rge gss skybridge connecting the hotel to the parking garage.

  Partially down the bridge they saw Creed, standing over two undead while he finished a third with a jagged wooden chair, smming the leg down again and again.

  Monet and Waylon ran towards them, sprinting to catch up. They ignored the side welcome and check in desks and smmed the stairwell door shut, giving them a precious few seconds to run to the bridge before the chasing undead broke it open.

  They glimpsed the outside as they stepped out into the almost fully gss overhang. There was a fire in the distance, a short but growing fme back towards the camp.

  Infected Cress ran through the streets in chaotic lines, pouring in and out of alleyways with no clear direction other than following the sound of prey. Monet heard an engine. The quiet roar nearly lost in the cacophony of panic.

  Monet ran to pull Debra to her feet, the distraught mother weakly protesting. Waylon's eyes darted side to side trying to make sense of anything he was seeing.Creed snatched the baton from him and barked out "Carry her!" with a low and aggressive tone that he hardly ever used.

  Waylon stammered, faltering for only a brief second before he fell into line and pulled Debra to her feet, his meek voice repeatedly apologizing as he turned to carry her.

  Monet snapped her head to the side as that mechanical noise drew her attention again. She saw a bike fly by leaving a trail of dusty undead in its wake.

  Eyes wide Monet threw herself against the thick gss, hands gripping the railings. "Ember!" She waved before the motorcycle carrying three passengers drove under the skybridge and further towards the edge of the city.

  Squidble