Chapter 4

"Hang on!" Amanda cheered as the truck gained speed and started plowing through the mutants head on. Megan turned the volume up and she yelled happily and Amanda joined in. Then D.J. and the others in the backseat cheered and joined in as well.

Mistakenly, D.J. rolled down the window and he yelled at the mutants on the side of the road as they drove by. At that moment, the plow of the truck sliced into a group of mutants and coagulated blood and gore splashed into the truck, all over D.J., hitting Megan in the face, and it even reached Amanda's leg.

"Ugh, come on!" Exclaimed Megan as she used the bottom of her shirt to wipe her face.

"Uh! Gross!" Exclaimed Charlie as she and the others laughed.

"Fowl play, D.J.!" Exclaimed Amanda as she hit the button and rolled the window back up. D.J. couldn't help but chuckled, however, then the smell hit his nose.

At that moment, everyone groaned and covered their noses.

"Gross!" Exclaimed Reggy and he chuckled with Thomas.

Evidently, Megan turned the music down as they turned onto the Lake Shore drive and pulled up to the Villa.

"Wow! What a disaster! I hope we can get up to them." Stated Megan as they all looked at the half fallen building.

Amazingly, the building that once held condominium apartments was leaning to its side, and one side had completely crumbled to the ground in shambles. There were daywalkers staggering around the building and it seemed like they had no purpose. Evidently, the amount of dust in the air signified that the building had crumbled recently.

"I hope that they are still alive." Breathed Brian nervously.

At that moment, Amanda grabbed the little handheld radio and she clicked the talk button three times, and they all waited silently for a response. Amanda hoped that Joe, or one of the other survivors heard the clicks and would respond.

Suddenly, the radio clicked as it made a static noise and Amanda held her breath.

"Hello?" Asked a raspy voice.

"Are you guys alright?" She asked as she blew her breath out.

"Yeah, but the building has collapsed." Whispered the voice. Noticeably, it wasn't Joe's voice and Amanda looked at D.J. and Megan.

"Who is this?" She asked suspiciously.

"This is Josh." He said and D.J.'s face went white. Amanda ignored him. She had to keep her focus on saving the survivors.

"Okay, Josh, where is Joe? Is he with you?" She asked.

"Please hurry. We are trapped and I don't think we have much time before this building collapses fully." He said frantically and Amanda looked at D.J. as he swallowed hard and nodded.

At that moment, he realized that the men behind the radio were his cousins and he couldn't believe that they were still alive. However, the fact of the matter was that they were trapped in that building and they had to save them.

Quickly and without a word, Amanda, Megan, D.J., and the privates in the backseat all grabbed their weapons and they hopped out of the vehicle. Evidently, they began firing at the mutant stragglers that were staggering around and one by one the disgusting creatures fell to the ground dead.

Unfortunately, they didn't see the herd that had snuck up behind them and Reggy and Thomas screamed as the mutants attacked them.

"Oh, my god!" Charlie screamed as she ran for the building with Brian. Suddenly, Amanda turned to D.J. and gave him a serious look.

"Go back to the truck! We will get them out!" She ordered and Megan gave him a clipped nod.

"But I can't let you rescue my family without my help. What if you run into trouble and you need me?" He asked frantically and Megan looked at him firmly.

"We need you to stay alive!" Stated Megan and he hung his head as he nodded. He knew that they wanted him to stay safe as much as he wanted them to be safe. His girls always made judgement calls and he was always stuck because they wanted to keep him safe.

Before he turned to fight his way back to the truck, he snatched Amanda's arm and she looked at him.

"You and Megan better come back to me." He said in a low voice and he put the radio in her hand.

"Yes, sir. Now go!" She said as she stared into his eyes. He nodded and then he headed for the truck. Megan and Amanda fired at the daywalkers that tried to attack him and they were relieved when they saw that he made it inside the vehicle safely.

Cautiously, as they walked into the building, Megan and Amanda stayed close to each other and Brian and Charlie were close behind. Inside of the building, half of it was still intact, but the other half was nothing but piled concrete and drywall and parts of the fallen apartments.

Evidently, Amanda noticed a stairwell and she pointed to it.

"Come on. Let's see if we can take them up." Whispered Megan and cautiously, they made their way to the stairwell.

Seemingly, the stairwell was on the side of the building that was still intact and the stairs went high up. Suddenly, they heard a screech and they didn't stick around to find out what it was.

Quickly, they ran up the flights of stairs and then they finally had reached the twentieth floor. Breathing heavily, they all looked at each other and nodded. Megan cautiously pushed the door open and Brian and Charlie decided that they would go first. Closely, Megan and Amanda followed them.

Shockingly, one side of the hallway was the part of the building that had collapsed and Amanda hoped that Joe and the other survivors weren't stuck on that side. Evidently, some of the apartments on the good side of the building had started to cave and the doors were slacked open.

Curiously, Amanda peered into one of the apartments and she heard a low growling noise coming from a caved in hole in the floor. Carefully, she walked to the edge and peered over the broken floor.

A decaying man and woman looked up at her as they groaned and began clawing at the rubble that was around them. She looked at them sadly.

At that moment, Eddy flashed in her mind and she felt tears threatening the back of her eyes.

"Poor bastards."

Amanda jumped at the sound of Brian's voice beside her. She took a deep breath and forced her tears away as she sniffed.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked with concern in his voice and Amanda nodded as she quickly gathered her thoughts.

"I'm fine." She breathed and then she walked out of the apartment.

"Hey." Megan said as she approached Amanda and rubbed her shoulder.

"I am fine." She said as she pulled away from her friend. Seemingly, Amanda didn't want comfort at the moment, she just wanted to find D.J.'s family and get the hell out of there.

"Let's just find them!" She said and Megan, Brian, and Charlie nodded as they proceeded to walk down the empty hallway.

Suddenly, there was a loud tapping noise as if something with tiny feet was walking down the hallway. Seemingly, Megan held up her hand signaling for everyone to stop and they all stopped and listened.

"What is that?" Charlie asked as she strained her neck to listen.

"It sounds like a dog with really long nails across a tile floor." Amanda whispered and Megan looked at her with a questioning look.

"What? You never heard a dog walk across a floor?" She whispered and then Megan shook her head.

At that moment, a loud snarl echoed through the building and the four of them jumped as they looked toward the end of the hallway.

The ugly creature was disgusting looking that stood at the end of the hallway and growled at them. The thing had six legs like a spider that sprouted from a human body. The legs were thick at the point where they came out of the body and then they thinned out as they reached the floor.

The body looked like it had been completely turned inside out and nothing but the person's muscle structure was showing. Shining in the dim light from the windows, as coagulated blood dripped off of it slowly.

Strangely, the head looked like a three dimensional triangular shaped structure and the snout ended in a point. It seemed like it was made of some protective material, so shooting it in the head was out of the question.

Impatiently, the large creature tapped its pointy leg at them, and then it let out a loud, ear crushing roar.

"Jesus christ!" Charlie yelled as she began shooting at it, slowly moving closer.

Horrified, Megan, Amanda, and Brian watched as the creature picked up one of its hind legs and then stabbed the pointy end into Charlie's chest. Evidently, Charlie stopped shooting as her arms hung lifelessly at her sides.

"Charlie!" Brian screamed as her body slid off the creature's leg and tumbled to the floor.

Angrily, he began firing his gun at the monster as he screamed at it, and unfortunately, he seemed to have suffered the same fate as Charlie. Again, the creature picked up its hind leg and stabbed Brian in the chest.

At that moment, Amanda and Megan ran and ducked into a nearby apartment and looked nervously at each other.

"Okay, so we can't shoot this thing in the head with whatever it has on protecting it. So, slide and slice?" Megan whispered and Amanda looked at her for a moment.

The slide and slice was a maneuver they had come up with on one of their silly conversations about the end of the world. However, they would practice the slide and slice on the base and they had even used it in a few of their missions.

Seemingly, Amanda swallowed hard and nodded. She knew that she would have to do the sliding and slicing while Megan distracted that thing.

"You distract, and I execute!" Amanda said and Megan nodded nervously. Amanda gave Megan a determined look as she put her hand on her shoulder.

"Look, we got this." She said encouragingly and Megan took a deep breath and nodded.

"Slide under the beast, slice it from beneath, and show it no mercy!" Amanda said in a low growling voice as she cracked her neck and bounced on the balls of her feet. She could tell that Megan was still nervous and she looked at her seriously.

"We are walking out of here with all of those survivors." Amanda stated and Megan straightened.

Quickly, Megan peered around the door frame, saw that the creature was still in the same spot and then she pulled her back.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." Said Amanda as she pulled her knife from the sheath on her hip and Megan nodded as she pulled her hand gun.

At that moment, Megan stepped out of the doorway and she began firing at the beast. Quickly, Amanda gritted her teeth as she ran out from behind her and toward the beast.

As Amanda neared the beast, it snarled at her as it tried to stab Megan with its back legs. Thankfully, Megan was far enough away that the monster's weird thinning legs couldn't reach her.

Strategically, Amanda turned her foot to the side and she slid to the ground, and underneath the ugly, foul smelling mutation. Aggressively, she stabbed her knife into the human chest of the beast and surprisingly, the blade of the knife easily slid with her until she stopped right underneath its torso.

Disgustingly, the chest of the body opened up and coagulated blood and gore from its insides poured on top of her. The creature screamed an ear piercing screech, but Amanda didn't care as she repeatedly stabbed the creature's body, screaming at the creature to die.

Suddenly, the creature groaned and Amanda looked up at it as the mutant lost its footing and slumped over on its side. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and she looked from the creature to Megan with wide eyes.

"Oh, my god! It worked!" Megan exclaimed and a laugh escaped Amanda's lips as she wiped her face with her forearm.

All of a sudden the girls heard groans coming from their dead partner's that were laying on the ground at their feet. Amanda and Megan gave each other a knowing look as they both pulled their guns and shot Brian and Charlie in the head.

"We set you free." Said Megan as she closed their dead open eyes. There was the sound of a couple clicks and static over the radio.

"Amanda, Megan? Do you copy?" Someone whispered. Amanda looked down at her radio on her side pocket, and she grabbed it and shook the gore off of it.

"Yeah?" She whispered into the radio.

"Are you guys okay?" Evidently, it was D.J. checking on them after he had heard the commotion.

"Are we okay?" Amanda asked Megan sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes.

"Brian and Charlie are dead. On the twentieth floor. Looking for survivors now." Amanda whispered into the radio and then she clipped it back to her side pocket.

Megan looked at Amanda and then she laughed.

"I think you have a little something on your face." She laughed.

"Yeah, where?" Amanda asked as she tried to wipe her face on her forearm again.

"Everywhere!" Megan bursted out laughing and Amanda sighed.

"Thankfully, we have showers back at camp." Stated Amanda as she looked around. She was glad that they didn't hear any more mutants around.

"Hey!" Someone yelled from the next open apartment door and the girls looked at each other. Megan nodded her head to the door and Amnada nodded.

Cautiously, they pulled their guns and they crept up to the open door. Slowly, Amanda pushed the door open and they both peered inside.

Surprisingly, half of the once beautiful apartment was half caved in and there were two sinkholes in the middle of the living room. Megan and Amanda looked at each other and they took a couple more steps inside.

At that moment, they heard a couple of loud screeches come from the hallway and they quickly turned around and pushed the door shut.

"It won't close!" Cried Megan as she pushed on the door with her back. Without a word, Amanda began fidgeting with the lock and thankfully, they had gotten the door closed and Amanda locked it.

They heard the sound of the walkers on the other side of the door and they signaled to each other to be quiet as they sighed a sigh of relief. They were safe for now.

Amanda turned away from the door and helped Megan to her feet.