Safehouse

Avery got out of the van and opened the side door when he saw them leave the house. Charlotte shut and locked the front door, so by the time she turned around the van was already open. She was surprised to see that there were so many people already in the van, probably more so by the children.

"We made a stop before we came here and picked up a few more people. I'm afraid we're limited on seating, so you'll have to sit on the floor."

Soren motioned for them to keep going while he turned to look around. He could sense mutated closing in on them, more than he wanted to deal with at the moment.

"I suggest you hurry and get it, we've been here too long."

Soren made his way to the drivers side while Avery helped them get in and closed the door. The van did not offer the same security as a house and would have been leaking the scent of humans for a while. With Soren nearby, it negated some of the appeal for the mutated, but only if he was close.

Soren started the van and pulled out the moment that Avery shut the door. Three mutated appeared in the yard as Soren was turning around. The street that the Marsh family lived on was a dead end street.

"Can you take a couple out?"

"I think so. Drive close and slow."

Avery climbed out the open window until he was sitting on the door, legs braced inside to hold himself steady. He drew a gun and rested his hands against the roof of the van as they drove back by the house. Two more mutated had joined the group and they were watching the van move. They could smell Soren now and were wary.

Soren drove on the wrong side of the road and kept their speed at a crawl. Soren's scent was the only thing keeping the mutated from attacking. Avery released his breath as he lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. The mutated did not respond until the second one fell. By the time they started moving a third had fallen.

When he saw that they were out of range, Avery slid back into his seat and buckled the seatbelt. The rearview mirror showed that everyone in the back had covered their ears and everyone but Fry had wide eyes.

With Avery back inside, Soren sped up. He had no plans to stop this time around, it would be a simple trip out of town. That was the plan anyway. They were halfway through town when two men came running out into the street, aiming for the van.

"Wait! Wait!"

Soren slammed on the brakes and barely missed hitting them, throwing everyone in the back, that were not secured, forward. Fry could be heard from the back cursing.

"Please, take us with you. There are monsters everywhere."

The one speaking had short black hair, blood was splattered all over his clothes and he held a bloody metal bat in his right hand. He looked like he was in his early thirties. The other man looked more like he was in his twenties, his blond hair was unkempt and long and gave him a skater vibe with his sarcastic graphic shirt and shorts.

The blond had more than just blood splatter on him, his white shirt and khaki pants were soaked in it. His eyes were wide and his complexion was pale. Before Soren could say anything Avery pulled out his gun and shot out the window.

The two men jumped at the sound and turned to see a mutated fall onto the pavement with it's brains leaking out of the hole created by the bullet. If Avery had reacted any slower the mutated would have hit it's target.

"Get in, quickly."

Soren commanded and Fry opened the side door. They ran to the side of the van without hesitation and jumped in. Fry slammed the door shut and Soren pressed on the gas, almost knocking her down in the process.

Fry stood and used Avery's seat to hold herself steady.

"We need to have something to secure me without locking me down. I'm no good if I have a fucking concussion from getting tossed around."

Soren chuckled, "I'm more worried about you destroying the van than getting a concussion. Your body is stronger than that."

Fry flipped him off and sat down. She muttered under her breath, "Fucking asshole." When Soren heard her he just laughed and shook his head.

Kelly looked at Fry with narrowed eyes and motioned toward the kids. Fry simply smiled and shrugged.

"Thanks for taking us. My name is Ashton Smith, this is my friend, Darcy Morgan. I thought we were done for."

"Charlotte Marsh and my daughter, Bentley. How bad is it out there?" Charlotte spoke up, taking in the appearance of the two men.

Ashton took a quick scan of everyone in the back of the van, taking note of the kids who bore blood splatter and the fact that Charlotte was clean.

"It's bad, ma'am. We were shopping at Wal-Mart when people started screaming. One moment they were human, and the next they had changed. There weren't a lot, just a handful of people that changed, but once they did they started to attack the people around them.

"Bastards went after Carl and…"

Ashton glanced over at the kids and moved closer to Charlotte so that the kids would not be able to hear what he said next.

"They bit his throat and ripped it out in one go. It's got Darcy messed up, Carl was his twin brother. I've never seen something so horrific, it was like we were in hell the way they just started eating people."

Charlotte's expression turned pale and her eyes widened, the hand she held over her mouth was shaking.

"T-they ate people?"

Ashton nodded, "They're like zombies, ma'am. You take them out the same way, too. I grabbed this bat while we were there and used it to clear an escape route."

Ashton turned to look toward the front where Soren and Avery were. "Are we heading to anywhere in particular?"

"A safe house outside of town."

Fry replied when Soren did not say anything right away.

"Is everyone together?"

Kelly shook her head, "No, but I suppose we are now. I'm Rori Kelly, Ms. Kelly to the kids. We were locked in a basement for a whole day without a way to communicate with the outside world. We're probably as out of the loop as Charlotte is as far as what is going on. Though we've had first hand experience on what they're capable of."

"We came to town to check on it's state. You can call me Fry. The driver is Soren and our leader, Avery is the one with the guns."

Ashton's full attention was now on Fry, "You weren't worried about coming across the monsters?"

Fry snorted, "We've been trying to do something about them for a while. Soren has done everything he could to keep it from getting this bad. Some people just don't give a shit. That's why we created the sanctuary to try and save as many people as we can."

Silence filled the van for the remainder of the drive as everyone digested what Fry had said. The existence of the mutated was scary enough, but for them to find out that people had known about it before it got to that point was sobering.

Charlotte found herself remembering what Soren had said about being in contact with the government. She was not sure if they were telling the truth or not, but her fear made her move closer to Bentley. She had lost one child, she did not want to lose another. While she held onto Bentley she said a silent prayer for her husband and Ava.