By Its Cover

New survivors arrive outside the house and stir-up a ruckus, prompting Andrew to make a rescue attempt. But they aren't all that they seem.

2 Weeks Later...

Andrew and Casey sat downstairs in the living room. Andrew was working on a laptop, trying to contact any other survivors who could help them.
"Give it up Andrew." Casey said, looking over at Andrews pathetic state, slumped in the chair, staring into the glow of the computer.
"No." Andrew said, not even looking up.
"None of your friends have been on Facebook for days, no website has updated in days, and the 'Survivor Forums' you go on haven't had anyone post in them but you."
"I'm just trying to get help, or supplies, or something." Andrew said.
"What would you need supplies for? We have enough food for a good three weeks."
"Well what happens after the three weeks? And we could also use some clothing for you and Ivan."
"Oh, he's fine, wearing Lukes clothes." As she said this, Andrew and Casey heard Ivan and Luke laugh from the T.V room down the hall.
"They are happy as can be." Casey sighed.
"Lets just hope the T.V networks keep running, because that means the zombies might not have spread across the whole country."
The two sat in silence. For the past two weeks, Casey thought to herself, she and her brother had been living with Andrew and Luke. It was okay, Andrew and Luke were very nice, though Andrew had been very moody since the death of his father. He had taken to wearing black. A black t-shirt, black shorts with red stripes, and black fingertipless leather gloves. Casey thought the abundance of black made him look scary, but who was she to judge? Part of the reason he was wearing black was that he and Casey had to share clothing, and Casey hated black. 
She also knew what the other reason was. However, Andrew was the least of her 
concerns. What truly worried her was that Ivan and Luke were completley 
oblivious to the danger they were in. Casey prayed, for Ivan and Lukes sake, 
that Andrew found some sort of help.

Later...
"Lunch!" Andrew shouted. Luke came running into the kitchen.
"Whats for Lunch?" Luke asked.
"Peanut butter and jelly and water."
Luke face looked dissappointed, "Again?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm sorry Luke." Andrew said, patting him on the head, "Its all we have."
Luke, dissapointed, took his food to the dining room table. Ivan followed suit.
"We have to get some more food." Andrew said to Casey as he prepared his sandwich.
"I'm sure the zombies would spare a human hand or foot. Maybe even a heart if 
your lucky."
Andrew looked at his half finished sandwich. "I'm not hungry anymore."
Casey laughed and took her plate out to the dining room to eat with Luke and Ivan. Andrew finished his sandwich and brought it out too.

Andrew sat down at the table, "So what have you two been up to?" Andrew asked Ivan and Luke.
"We were playing xbox." Luke said.
"Having fun?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, but there's less and less people to play with everyday for some reason. It's starting to get boring." Ivan said, looking at his food and not at Andrew or Casey.
"Thats too bad."
The four sat in silence for a second, then Luke asked, "Can we go outside?"
"No." Andrew said, no hesitation.
"Why?"
"Because it's too dangerous."
"What makes it Dangerous?"
At that moment, the group heard a loud roar, "Whatever that is." Andrew said. 
But then they heard more roars, and a different sound, gunshots. Andrew and Casey looked at each other. There were more survivors outside.

Andrew, Casey, Ivan, and Luke ran up to the bathroom on the second floor, the only way in and out of the house. Andrew opened the window and looked outside. He could just barley make out three figures, holding off several approaching infected, ressurects, and possessed.
"Whats going on out there?" Luke asked.
"Nothing. Ivan, Luke go back to the Xbox." 
"Fine" Ivan said, dissapointed "Something is definetly going on."
Andrew picked up a shotgun from beside the window and then checked his belt to make sure his pistol was holstered and checked to make sure his bat was strapped to his back.
"Your not seriously going out there are you?" Casey asked.
"Why?" Andrew asked, pumping his shotgun.
"Because, if you go out there. Every Zombie on the property is going to know that 
there are survivors in this house. And it;s gonna be even more obvious if you 
manage to get back inside."
"Well, we will just have to see what happens. There are people out there who need our help."
"Fine." Casey said, turning away. Andrew climbed out the window."Your Crazy."
"I know." Andrew said, jumping onto the roof outside his window.

Andrew jumped off the low roof. He landed softly on the grass of the front yard. He looked up and saw an infected running towards him. He realized he had dropped his shotgun, and the infected was closing in fast.
"This is it." He thought to himself. Suddenly, a bullet whizzed through the infected's head and it fell over. Andrew looked back up at the house and saw Casey, leaning out the bathroom window, M1A1 in hand. 
"Go, go!" Casey shouted, firing on the nearby zombies. 
Andrew quickly grabbed the shotgun, shooting an approaching possessed. The possessed fell backwards, covered in blood. Andrew began to run towards the road. As he ran, something jumped on his back, "Thought you could stop me b$%&#?" 
"What the f#%$&!" Andrew said. He began to shake and spin, trying in vain to throw the possessed off of him.
"You can't rid yourself of me f#%$&!" The possessed began scratching Andrew, clawing at him and drawing blood.
"f#%$&!" Andrew jumped backwards, landing flat on his back. The possessed loosened his grip long enough for Andrew to break free, draw his pistol, and shoot it in the head. It's body ceased to move, and Andrew knew it was dead.
"Andrew! Keep moving!" He heard Casey shout from the window. All around him, more infected, possessed, and ressurects were moving towards him. He quickly grabbed his shotgun before he continued moving. 

Andrew ran through the hordes of the undead. He kept telling himself, "If their ressurected or possessed, aim for the head. If their infected just make sure their dead." He was firing and firing, fighting his way to the street. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he made it to the other survivors.
"Who are you?" One of them, a young man around 18-20 asked.
"Thats not important, follow me, I'll tell you at the safehouse."
Andrew inspected the group while fighting. The young man had black hair. He was wearing black clothing with a lether jacket and had an earring. He was holding a shotgun. The next person looked around 13-14. He had brown hair and was small. He wore a white t-shirt with black shorts. He was using two M1911 pistols. The third man was an older man, around 30 years old. He was wielding a fully automatic M16 and seemed to be the leader of the group.
"Follow me!" Andrew said, the group began to run back to the house. The zombies were following close behind, but the group managed to get back to the house. Andrew and the Older man boosted the other two onto the roof, and then the older man boosted Andrew onto the roof.
"Come on!" Andrew said, reaching over the side of the roof to lift the man up. 
The man grabbed hold of Andrews hand, but was tackled and smashed into a wall by a possessed. It held the man on the ground as he reached for his sidearm. But before he could even grab the gun, the possessed made a belching sound. Black liquid oozed from the possessed's mouth, and the man ceased to move.
"Holy f#%$&!" Andrew shouted. He jumped up and ran across the roof, climbing up to the bathroom window. He climbed in, sealed the window, and sealed the bathroom door.

Andrew ran downstairs into the living room, He arrived downstairs and saw the two new arrivals on one side of the room, and Casey, Ivan, and Luke on the other. Andrew oumped his shotgun and aimed it at the two new arrivals.
"Who the f#%$& are you!" He shouted.
"Woah man! Calm down!" The older teen said, holding his hands up. The younger one followed suit.
"I said who the f#%$& are you!" Andrew shouted again.
"Alright! My names Ricky and thats Nico."
"Where do you come from?"
"We are from Peakdale, we were among the group holding out in the school."
"I thought the school was overrun?" Casey said, Andrew glanced over and she gave him a confused look. Ivan and Luke watched in silence.
"It was." Nico said "But the faculty and students managed to take back about a quarter of it. That quareters where we have been, this whole time..."
"Everyday, our numbers dwindled." Ricky said, "We were running out of supplies, more and more people were becoming infected, or ressurected, or f#%$& possessed. And to make matters worse they were... changing." Ricky looked away from Andrew and nico stared down at the floor.
"Who was changing?" Andrew asked.
Ricky looked back up "The possessed. They were getting smarter, they could predict our every move. It was getting harder and harder to hold them back. Especially after they started, well, vomiting."
Andrew lowered the gun, realizing how grim the situation really was. It was bad before, but had just gotten 10 times worse. The room was dead silent.
"Where's Bill?" Nico said quietly.
"Who?" Andrew asked.
"Bill. Our thid guy." Ricky said.
"He didn't make it." Andrew said.
Ricky looked away again, and Nico let a tear roll down his face

It was 9:00 pm and Andrew was continuing his online searches for any survivors.
"How's it going?" Casey asked.
Andrew closed the laptop, "I'm done, theres no one left."
"I told you."
"Yeah well, I like to have a more positive outlook."
Andrew got up to move to the kitchen, and there was a slight akward silence. Andrew decided to break it. 
"Do Ricky and Nico like their room?" He asked.
"I brought them up an hour ago, and neither have come out since. I would say they like it."
"Good, you should go to bed too. We are going to have alot of work tommorow."
"Doing what?"
"I'll tell you tommorow."
"Fine." Casey said, waving goodnight before walking upstairs.

Andrew had a glass of water, turned off the lights, and walked upstairs. He was tired, the possessed kept him awake everynight with their taunts and he could only imagine what they would be like today. He was amazed that Ivan and Luke could sleep, let alone peacefully, with the shouts and growls outside the house. 

He walked into his room and placed his shotgun on a rack. He placed his pistol on his nearby desk and slid the bat under his pillow. He got dressed in a large t-shirt and some basketball shorts and went too bed. Intent on trying to ignore the possessed.

It was around 1 AM when Andrew woke up. He heard something opening his door, and could see the hall light gleaming in his face. He quickly reached under his pillow and grabbed the bat. He turned around, only to see that the thing in his Doorway was Luke.
"Hi Andrew." Luke said, rubbing his eyes. He was wearing long pajama pants and a oversized shirt.
"Hey Luke, what are you doing up so early?"
Luke walked over and sat on Andrews bed. Andrew turned his desk lamp on to get a better look at him. He could tell that Luke had been up for awhile. He had bags under his eyes and squinted because of the light.
"Andrew, whats going on?"
"Do you want the fake truth or the real truth?" Andrew had started asking Luke that when Luke turned 7, so he could no if he wanted to take bad news or not.
"The real truth."
Andrew let out a breath and then told Luke, "Something has happened. It has caused people to change in many bad ways. They are very dangerous, and thats why Casey and I walk around with guns and your not allowed to play outside."
"Did we change?"
Andrew smiled, "No, no we didn't. We are fine."
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"How long are we gonna be fine?"
Andrew took a deep breath, not sure how to answer Luke. "As long as we can..."
Luke nodded but looked away, Andrew then asked another question,
"Is that whats been keping you up?"
"No, Ricky and Nico have been making alot of noise downstairs."
Andrew was confused, but nevertheless said, "Okay, i'll go talk to them."

Andrew brought Luke back to bed. He then returned to his room and got his pistol. He didn't think he would need it, but just in case. Andrew walked downstairs, but started to hear voices. Nico and Ricky's voices, whispering. He walked slower and quieter so he could hear what they were saying.
"Ricky I don't want to do this." Nico said.
"Shut up, were doing it!" Andrew heard Ricky say.
"It's wrong!"
"Wrong doesn't matter in this world anymore kid. All that matters is surviving."
"Yes, but sacrificing others to survive is wrong."
"So what, we steal their ammo, open the front door, and go out the back. Zombies kill all of them, and we get off scot free."
"So essentially your same plan at the school?"
"Essentially. Now help me with this door."
Andrew heard a large, metal object striking wood. He ran down into the living room, he c#%$& his gun at he went, saw Ricky and aimed it at him.
"You little f#%$&!"
Ricky just gave Andrew an evil smile, holding up his shotgun to him. Nico did the same. "What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm gonna stop you thats what."
"Oh really, cause if you shoot either one of us, the other will just kill you. And even if your girlfriend manages to kill them. Your no longer here to protect her, or her brother." Ricky pumped the shotgun, "Or your own brother."
Andrew lowered hid gun and closed his eyes, praying that Ricky had mercy on him. He heard the shot go off.

He opened his eyes. He was fine and could see Ricky lying in a pool of blood.
"Cut that a little close didn't you?" Andrew said, facing Nico, holding his blood splattered gun.
"You should just be glad that I did it."
"Andrew smiled as he heard footsteps of the others running down the stairs, "Don't worry, I am."

Author's Note

ignore grammar