NO MORE THAN THE DEAD

Harry with the others have left Toby with a gun and a note to their next destination, DC. The closest thing they have to a Utopia, allegedly. Harry and their party is driving north and having a detour. They drove past a delivery truck that has stopped beside the road but they continued forward. After a few more minutes they see the 95th interstate. seeing the state of the 95th interstate they headed for another interstate. 76th intestate to the 83rd interstate, they came across a massive horde. Among the hordes they can see children amongst them. Some even have their lower body cut off, or missing half of their face.

They stopped at Susquehanna Grace Community Church. They all expressed their sadness and worry for Tobias, Harry is the most hurt out of all of them. He broke down not knowing the fate of his baby brother, he started to bawl. Bryce and his team checked every house near them.

"Why? that fucki--....….fucking idiot"

"....."

"Dumbass, acting like a hero"

Harry started to punch the cement ground until his fists starts to bleed., he kept going and going until Elizabeth stopped her. She hugged her husband and whispered to him calming words. Harry grabbed her hand and continued to kiss.

"Guys, we have some supplies, we probably have to change clothes, water is running too.. so"

"Yeah, thank you Bryce"

"You're welcome, we'll be lookin' out"

"Sure"

They got into two of the houses and they took a warm bath after months. They all switched positions as the other finished taking a bath. They all slept together in the same place, in the church. Much more window and their field of vision is bigger, they cannot be too comfortable. They switch lookouts for every two hours, 2 pacing inside of the church while one on top of the roof with a sniper. Despite seeing no undead insight they are still on look out.

"Wake up, we're here Toby"

"Oh, yeah.."

"We almost drifted away"

"Thank god we didn't"

"Yep"

They landed on horseshoe point and they are immediately on alert, guns aimed and senses keened. Amanda with Craig and the two siblings waited at the dock while Tobias and Randall looks at every houses thoroughly and carefully. They would put any unperishable they find in bags and put it in a truck. So far the small ward has no dead inside. After sweeping through the whole area they have gathered a decent amount of supplies.

'Uh, Toby...here.. for the kids' He handed a book to him, he opened it and its a children's book, Charlotte's Web. Randall also handed a heavy duty backpack, Toby put some supplies in the back then the book. They got into a hummer and drove directly to DC. They are driving down Pennsylvania avenue, they can see different houses in ruins or smeared with blood.

"No horde so far, Randall?"

"Call me Randy, and yeah no hordes"

"Okay"

"....."

"....."

"Toby, I told you them corpses are animals right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think there's types?"

"Types?"

'sort of a' He looked over to a group of dead in different ages.

"A?"

"Family"

"Family?"

"They hunt and eat as a whole, that explains the horde increasing"

"Okay"

"You have noticed some of em are running and walking right?"

"Yeah, are those roles?"

"Yeah, them 'runners' would bolt at ya and pin ya down, then drag you there horde"

"the other ones"

"'Stroller' I call em, they walk slower than walking"

"Okay are there still more?"

"Yeah, sleepers, they sleep in dark places or somethin'"

"Cold"

"Yeah?"

"They like the cold, their more active when its night.. they are still terrifying when the sun is out"

"Nocturnal"

"Jesus...hopefully their alright"

Upon realizing how the dead could have mutated in a short amount of time, everything gets riskier and dangerous. Since mutation is possible for these beings it can and might mutate into something horrible and much more deadlier. A true apex predator in the making.

'Wake up' Harry woke everyone up as dawn has come and now its time to move to DC. They all started to put some of the supplies that they have garnered and put it in their different vehicles, and they set off. Harry stayed awake the whole night, loathing and blaming himself for not saving his brother.

Despite being upset, now is not the time to worry about a lost. He needs to look forward and continue to survive, he'll feel like a burden if he is not able to help the group. Planes and helicopters are flying over their heads as they get nearer to the city of Washington.

They cannot see the neighborhoods around the highway that they have taken because of the trees. They can hear different noises, from the sounds of the risen dead to the guns and vehicles that an army is using. 2 military trucks surrounded them and asked them to pull over. At first they didn't but after the army's warning they stopped.

4 soldiers came out of both trucks and surrounded them, they started to check their mouth except for Louanne, they checked for decaying in their teeth, or their eyes starting to bleed. One of the soldiers checked Harry's fist.

"Alright, stay on our asses we're going to bring you to somewhere safe"

"Okay okay"

They got back into their vehicles as the dead has started to appear, but they managed to drive away before anything gets worst. The drivers in their party has started to feel a deep sense of fear as their group is in their hands. The White house and its surrounded blocks are surrounded by massive concrete walls, the Utopia that they are expecting is close to hell than a Utopia.

Out of nowhere, an explosion. A soldier accidentally dropped a high explosive bomb and one of the concrete wall has started to weaken, soldiers came and put long planks of wood to support it, but was too late. The dead has started to get in the protected blocks, and they easily got in. They start to devour everything, some are dying but not enough to lessen the amount that is getting in.

Some people are getting into different trucks, those who have vehicles are leaving one by one. The place that they are wishing to see as a Utopia is crumbling down like any community. Majority of the soldiers are being dragged and devoured, the size of the horde seems to not have decreased. Out of nowhere, planes bombing them, not a care who they are heating. A disastrous damage control by destroying the capital of the country.

"So, you guys were awake the whole time while we were on Kent point?"

"Yeah, bombs were dropping, but what we saw yesterday was by the far the biggest...we might see a fucking crater"

The people are being dropped bombs on, smaller in scale that what will be dropped on them, Harry got into their vehicles and got any supplies possible amidst the chaos. Harry noticed Bryce carrying Amare who is wounded, he looked over where they are and Dalia, has turned. The hairs in his body stood up and he killed her.

Harry helped Niall who is dragging Corey who is wounded, they got him into the RV. The others who are in the cars are shooting covering for them, they drove away from the Utopia that they so wanted, they ran through a gate that is in the 66th interstate. They passed by massive cities that is filled with the dead heading towards DC. They stopped at the outskirts of the town of Washington, all of them broken and dirtied by sooth and blood.

They all are in a daze about wat they saw earlier. Elizabeth and Lizzy hurriedly patched Corey with Bryce and Niall. Corey who is screaming in pain as he woke, they have to amputate his forearm to save him from the infection. He later calmed down as he took pain killers. Amare is crying on Lee's soldiers as the only thing he remembers of his mother is her getting tackled and devour by those creatures. Harry sat down inside of the RV with his daughter who is smiling, the only purest form of purity and innocence in this hell of a world.

After an hour or so they have started to calm down and everyone is adjusting mentally.

'Holy mother of God' Randall looking through his binoculars.

Toby and his group went to the highest point of Washington of DC, Fort Reno Park. They see the whole Washington DC, filled with craters and the biggest crater. The White House and its surroundings has been reduced to rubble, water from Potomac river has flowed down to the crater.

A massive radius from the impact of the bomb has singed trees around it. Buildings in ruins. It must have been horrible for people who have experienced it first hand.

"Toby...we should go"

Toby looked at Randall with tears in his eyes, and nodded. The two got one and into the hummer. They drove away.

*Hello everyone, this is the final message of a radio broadd------ The President of the United States of America ---s fallen to the vi----God save amf---- Keep sa--- and God is w---*

The radio went into a loud pinging noise, Randall turned off the the radio. Toby is looking on his dog tag as the two siblings sleep beside him. Tears drip down his cheeks.

'What did you see?' He thought to himself, thinking of what they saw on that terrifying day.

More planes flew by their heads as they sit around in the RV. They hear the jets filling the sound of the air, planes dropping aerial bombs. Explosion happening clearly from the city of Washington. Until a massive plane flew by them, and something big is coming. The sound started to distant, then suddenly a massive explosion. Followed by another distant one, they can hear and feel the shock wave pushing them.

Harry seeing it paled, he fell down on his knees. It sounded like it hurt. He took a big gulp and screamed as the cloud formed into a mushroom. Louanne started to cry in her mother's arms. His nails digging into his arm marking then bleeding.

"Randall"

"Yeah"

"To the new world... survival is useless"

"Why?"

"The people who have the power to save us... abandoned us...to them we're nothing more than the dead"

Randall understands what Toby is feeling.

"We'll survive...we'll thrive...for ourselves"

Everyone agreed to what Harry declared. They got into their vehicles and drove away, the mushroom cloud behind them towering over them.