“Hugo?” said Lila. She poked his eyelid.

“Ow,” Hugo said. He opened his eyes but was blinded from direct sunlight. He shut them tight and sat up. He was in a room seemingly on the second floor of some building. The windows were broken and one had the morning sun directly on him. He was on a foldable bed with pillows under his body. Everything was sore and the back of his head stung like crazy. Lila was there beside him, looking at him. “Lila?” He hugged her. “It's nice to see you.”

Lila hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder.

When Hugo let go, he moved his legs off the bed and sat up. It hurt doing that but he forced himself to stand.

“Here, Lila. Rest,” Hugo told her.

Lila crawled into the bed and covered her face with a blanket.

Hugo shuffled through the door of the room, stepping into the living room of what he could now tell was an apartment. There was a chair placed beside the door. On the two couches of the living room was Mordecai and Genesis and on the carpeted floor was Jacob, all of which were sleeping soundly.

“Where’s Carmen?” Hugo whispered. He looked around the apartment for another sleeping body. He found no one in the kitchen, second bedroom, the restroom or the closet.

Finding himself in the living room again, he noticed the chair and realized it was meant for the doorknob, but was moved for some reason.

Hugo kneeled beside Mordecai, and with one hand shook him awake.

“Mordecai,” Hugo whispered. “Mordecai.”

“Huh? What?” Mordecai said, lifting his head into view. It was stitched from where he was shot, like someone pinched the side of his face really hard.

The sight took Hugo aback for a moment as he took it in.

“What?” Mordecai repeated, a little annoyed at Hugo’s stare.

“Uh, sorry,” Hugo shook his head. “Where’s Carmen?”

Mordecai noticed the chair beside the door and nodded Hugo towards it.

“Outside I guess,” Mordecai answered. He dropped his head back onto the couch and went to sleep.

Hugo stood up and walked to the door. He was about to put his hand on the knob when he stopped. Glancing around the apartment once more, he found a spare knife in the kitchen. It was only about seven inches long but Hugo assumed it would get the job done.

Stepping out of the apartment, he paused once more. It was similar to the structure of his brother’s apartment, the day the world ended.

Down the stairs and through the lobby, the barred metal door was shut but the latch wasn't locked.

Hugo opened it and stepped outside. The streets glowed yellow in the sun. Nearby wanderers practically glowed and some were stuck staring into the sun. Hugo avoided killing if he could, and wandered around looking for Carmen.

He headed toward the building from last night, the one he fell off of. Wait, how did I survive? he thought to himself. He decided to think about it at a later time.

Walking toward the next corner, Carmen came out from behind it. She was almost sprinting, out of breath.

“Hugo?” she said. She paused, heavily breathing from her mouth. “Run!” she said.

She ran past Hugo, but Hugo didn't follow.

“What’s happening?” Hugo asked.

A hungry roar came from around the corner. Hugo looked to see an army of wanderers coming for him and Carmen. He took off behind Carmen, though he was much slower.

He ran as fast as he could. Every movement he made felt like cracking a bone or pulling a muscle.

He and Carmen got back to the apartment building. As they entered the lobby of the building Carmen put the latch down, locking the door.

“What was that?” said Hugo, out of breath.

“What do you think?” Carmen answered. Her hands were on her knees as she huffed. “We need to get out of here, *huff* now!”

The roar of Wanderers began to grow from around the corner, they appeared in the streets. 

“Everyone! We gotta go! Now!” Carmen yelled. Her voice echoed through the lobby and to the apartment with Mordecai, Genesis and Lila.

“What was that?” said Mordecai.

Genesis was playing with Lila on the floor.

“I think that was Carmen,” Genesis said. She got up and opened the door to the apartment. “Carmen? Is that you?” 

The roar of wanderers came from the other room through the window.

“We gotta go! Now!” Carmen screamed from the lobby of the building.

Genesis and Mordecai heard it loud and clear. They gathered what they could, woke up Jacob and grabbed Lila by the hand.

Scrambling downstairs, Genesis gave Lila to Hugo, “Take you sister,” she said.

Carmen flung open the door to the building and the group ran into the streets. The wanderers were flooding in from the south and west sides, forcing the group to go north-east. Running through the streets, they passed by several cars and stray wanderers.

“Wait!” said Hugo, stopping the group.

He pushed over a wanderer and quickly checked it’s pockets for keys.

Mordecai did the same and the two knocked over half a dozen more wanderers searching for keys until finally.

CLICK

Hugo’s keys unlocked a nearby jeep. The group rushed in, Hugo in the driver's seat, Carmen in the passenger’s, Mordecai, Lila and Genesis in the back seats, and Jacob crammed in the back.

“I can do this, I can do this,” Hugo whispered to himself.

“You better do this!” Mordecai spoke.

The horde crowded around the car, clawing at the windows.

“AH!” Lila screamed. Genesis held her, both of them feared for their lives.

Hugo started up the car and wanderers crowded the front.

RNNNNNN went the engine.

The car started to rock at the wanderers trying to get in.

Hugo kept pressing the gas but the car didn't move.

“Bro,” said Mordecai, annoyed. He leaned forward and moved the gear shift into drive. The car burst forward, knocking everyone back in their seats. Hugo took a second to get a hold of the steering wheel but then he drove smoothly up the road.

Everyone took a sigh of relief and Hugo kept driving north, into the mountains.

In his rear view mirror, he noticed Master top of a nearby roof, watching the car drive away. He looked forward, hoping nobody else noticed it.