1

It wasn't like him to be late, but he had to run to get to school on time so he didn't have much choice in the matter. It was already 5:30 when he entered through the doors of McKinley High, his heartbeat beating at double time as he scanned the room for signs of his friends.

He spotted Noah in one corner, surrounded by several of his fellow delinquents who were all shouting excitedly. He ran over to the group, shoving people out of the way until he made it next to the other boy.

Noah grinned up at him, his eyes shining with excitement. "Did you see what happened last night? Some guy came up to my locker after class and told me some really cool stories about how he's saved more than half the world. Can you believe that?"

Kevin rolled his eyes at his friend. It wasn't like there hadn't been rumors about an apocalypse before; this was just the first they'd heard about any survivors. There was no way someone would actually save the whole world. And even if there was someone crazy enough to try, there weren't enough resources or people left to keep track of them. That was why they sent people to go find food and water, to try and bring back their families. They weren't doing that for anyone except for themselves.

Noah nudged him slightly. "Hey! You still here? You're starting to look kinda worried. What did you think of it?

Pedro says I think it's a big bullshit story, which is basically the same thing he said yesterday, Kevin thought. The truth was, he'd never even thought about what it would be like to have another person tell him something about the outside world that wasn't completely fabricated. And yet... It sounded so real. Kevin couldn't help feeling a little guilty that they probably wouldn' even want to help him anymore.

But the idea of going outside and seeing where the rest of the world had gone made a spark of hope inside of Kevin's chest. Even if he'd only ever known one place - or even three - his entire life, the idea of living somewhere else was pretty.

Peter says Kevin how is your family? And then, after we get out of here, we're moving to a bigger city to live.

He'd never considered the possibility that they might not get to move.

And even though it felt wrong to even consider it, Kevin realized that he wanted to live somewhere different. Maybe they could finally find a town that wasn' overrun with the undead. A little town with houses and stores. Somewhere where he and Pedro and Peter could build their own homes without having to fight and kill every living thing they saw.

He glanced around. Where had everyone gone? Where was everyone going?

A chill swept through his body at the realization that it was quiet. Too quiet.

then a horde of zombies start to appear.

They're wearing these weird suits and are coming towards us, all lined up. They're trying to attack us and we're shooting everything that moves, I'm trying to shoot, but the bullets don't hit anything! We keep firing but nothing is hitting, we keep firing but nothing hits! I see Pedro and he looks scared. It's then I notice the ground all around our feet is covered in zombies, just lying there, dead, just staring at us, their eyes are open and they're trying to get at us and-"

The sound of someone slamming into him jolted Kevin awake. He sat straight up in bed, drenched in sweat. Someone yelled something incoherent in Spanish behind him and then there was a hand gently shaking his shoulder.

"Kevin?" Pedro asked. "Are you okay?"

He swallowed hard, his eyes still adjusting to the darkness. The dream had seemed terrifying now that he knew what the actual zombie apocalypse looked like. At least the zombie apocalypse involved blood. This was different. Something was wrong. He took a breath, and forced himself to calm down.

"I'm fine," he answered.

Pedro was silent for a moment. "That wasn't a nightmare, right?"

"What do you mean?"

not being is a certain zombie apocalypse says Kevin, Pedro repeated silently to himself. He had never heard his boyfriend say any of his nightmares aloud before. Not since the one he had told Kevin a few weeks earlier had ended badly.

"You were muttering and talking in your sleep," he said. "Something about zombies."

"Oh yeah." Kevin sighed. "Yeah, I guess I was. Sorry for waking you up." His voice trembled, betraying his panic.

"No worries, bro." Pedro wrapped his arms around Kevin's waist. "I can always wake you up again."

Chapter 2

There were days when Kevin wished things could be simple and easy. Days where he could walk down the street and pretend there weren't zombies in the distance. Days when he didn't have to worry about where the next meal was coming from.

It was a lot easier to forget about those things when you could go outside and feel the cold air against your face instead of hiding inside a dark house.

Still, Kevin missed those days sometimes. Times when he didn't know where his next meal would come from, or that if he could survive long enough, he would finally have a shot at getting away. Sometimes, when the wind blew harder, Kevin could swear that he smelled rotting flesh wafting through the air.

One night, when Kevin was asleep, Pedro woke him up because his breathing had started sounding too labored. Kevin's eyes flickered open in surprise and he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He could hear Pedro sniffling behind him in the dark of the bedroom, which set off alarm bells ringing loudly in his head. "What'

there's a horde of zombies approaching us says Pedro, sounding desperate and scared.

"Okay!" Kevin snapped. "We need to go!" Without waiting for Pedro to reply, he reached over and grabbed his jacket, tossing it onto his boyfriend and standing up before grabbing Pedro and dragging him outside of the house. He pulled out his knife and crouched in front of Pedro

but the zombies were surrounding the house on every side, cutting off any chance of escape. One lunged forward at Kevin but he sliced its neck cleanly open with practiced ease. When Pedro finally managed to make it outside, his eyes widened at the scene around them.

"I wish we could've taken the car," Kevin muttered, wiping the dirt off of his hands. It didn' t smell quite as bad out here, but it didn' t exactly make him any less nervous. "Can you handle these guys?"

"Don't worry about me," Pedro reassured, readying the machete strapped to his belt.

There was a sudden scream and Pedro turned to see three zombies charging directly at them from a nearby alleyway, their mouths gaping open as they advanced. He tried to slash through their legs to slow them down but the creatures merely dodged out of the way. He tried shooting them with his gun, but each bullet ricocheted off of their bodies.

Before Kevin could react, Pedro leapt forward, slicing through one of the creatures with his knife. Kevin followed him, taking out two more. Pedro turned to smile at him, only to yelp in surprise when one of the corpses suddenly tackled him to the ground. when the zombie was trying to bite Pedro, a shot hit the zombie in the head on top of Pedro's head, sending it flying backwards.

As Pedro pushed himself to his feet once more, he heard the sound of something whistling through the air.it was a man calling David, and the rest of his group were killing all the Zombies that was surrounding Pedro's house and Kevin. Kevin rushed forward, taking aim and pulling the trigger of his revolver several times. He watched in satisfaction as the zombies stopped moving.

Then they started walking toward them.

Without thinking twice, Kevin launched forward, swinging his machete wildly in front of him and knocking down zombies one after another. As the last few zombies fell to the floor, Kevin felt something collide with his back, throwing him off balance. Before he could even register what happened, his vision began to grow blurry and everything went black.

***

"Kevin," Peter called softly in his ear. "Can you hear me?"

Kevin cracked his eyes open, yeah they were in a dark room, until Kiko leader of the group that saved Kevin and Pedro enters the room with two strong henchmen at his back.

"You alright, Kevin?" Peter asked quietly. "We got caught in the firefight, we got separated. We're safe now though."

Kevin nodded weakly and looked up at Pedro who was standing over him and glaring at the henchman holding the gun pointed at him. "I'm okay

Kiko says are you ok no and Kevin nods and Pedro turns to look at the henchmen.

"Leave us alone," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

One of the henchmen scoffed and stepped closer to the three teenagers. He held the gun tightly in his hand as if it were an extension of his arm rather than a weapon

Kiko says calm down my young people you haven't even seen the fun part yet

Kiko says hold them both don't let go

the strong and big henchmen held Pedro and Kevin firmly in one hand each. Kevin closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall as the henchmen walked slowly towards a large wooden door in the opposite wall.

Kiko says follow me

He leads the three teenagers into a wide, dimly lit hallway, illuminated by rows upon rows of windows lining the walls. There are several rooms, all looking empty, although the light spilling from some of the windows makes it seem like there are people inside of them. The henchmen push past the teenagers, leading them to the end of the hallway. Once they reach the door, they stop.

Peter steps forward. "Please don't hurt them."

Kiko looks at Pedro with a sadistic look, Kiko taking his machete is ripping Pedro's hand off the hilt.

you will watch while i kill them, he tells Peter

Peter shakes his head. "But please. You don't know-"

Peter doesn't even finish his sentence before his hand is severed from the rest of his body, hanging limp from a thick length of rope tied tightly around Kiko's wrist. Pedro lets out a cry, falling to his knees and holding his bloody stump to his chest.

Kiko laughs cruelly. You think i'm going to spare this kid? this stupid little boy, he asks Peter. Peter stays silent, watching as Pedro falls to the floor. He stares at Pedro' s bloody stump and closes his eyes. After a few moments, Pedro starts screaming. A shrill piercing noise rings through the hallways and all four teens cover their ears in pain. Then silence.

"Stop," Peter whispers. "Just stop."

Kiko just grins. Peter turns to face the other two henchmen. "Go get a doctor," he says quietly. They nod and quickly rush from the room. Peter takes a deep breath and turns back to Kevin and Pedro. He kneels down next to the teenager, putting one hand on Pedro's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I wanted them dead, but…" He sighs deeply. "They're not worth it."

Kevin's stomach churns uncomfortably. "How many?" he asks, not wanting to believe he was asking a person he cared so much about how many zombies were left alive.

"Fourteen," Peter replies sadly. "And that' s not including the ones we killed earlier tonight."

Kevin squeezes his eyes shut. "Is everyone else okay?"

Peter hesitates for a moment. "I… I dunno," he answers honestly. "Most of our friends died fighting. The police came pretty early, before the zombies arrived." Peter takes a shaky breath. "The town was overrun. People ran and screamed when the zombies entered the neighborhood. The fire department showed up eventually and helped the survivors to safety."

For a few moments, they stay quiet. Then, Kevin speaks up. "Do you think they were infected?"

Peter shrugs helplessly. "Probably, but I can' t be sure."

Kevin's eyes sting and he has to swallow hard to keep the tears at bay. Pedro is crying, too, sitting on the ground and staring at his hand that hangs useless from his stump. Tears roll down his cheeks.

"You should've been safe, Pedro."

A tear slides down Kevin's cheek.

"They were going to eat you."

***

When Kevin wakes up the next morning, his whole body aches from being beaten up by his captors. His arms and legs feel stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor and there's a huge bruise on his forehead where he banged his head. He opens his eyes, wincing slightly due to the bright sunlight streaming through the window.

As he sits up, the familiar throbbing sensation returns to his head and he presses his fingers against his temples to stop the headache. Kevin tries not to look at Pedro's broken body in the bed across the room, still curled up in a ball.

When the door bursts open, Kevin jumps and turns to face whoever entered. When he realizes that it's just Ben, he lets out a heavy sigh of relief and sinks back onto his mattress, pressing his hands over his eyes. He wants to tell Ben he's sorry, he really does, but then again, Ben shouldn'T know what his friends have done in the past...

Ben enters, closing the door quietly behind him. He approaches Kevin slowly, as if Kevin would run away at any moment. Kevin forces himself to sit up and turn to face Ben.

He reaches out, touching Kevin's shoulder gently. Kevin flinches

that Kiko is your leader, because he did this with Pedro says Kevin sadly. Ben nods, lowering his hand from Kevin' s shoulder and turning to face him.

"Yeah," he confirms. "And he'll probably do the same thing to you, too."

"If he hurts you… If he kills you…" Kevin begins slowly, his throat suddenly feeling dry. "It's… It's on me, I swear."

Ben shakes his head, leaning his back against the bed. "No," he says softly. "That wasn't your fault. This entire situation was my fault." He pauses for a moment, running a finger over his bottom lip. "My uncle used to say that life isn'

how Kiko's psychopath got to be the leader of his group says Kevin.

Ben snickers. "What did he say?"

"It's funny actually, he said that he'd make the biggest mistake of his life if Kiko ever finds out. Said that he couldn'

tell his boss, or he wouldn'

.

He stops talking and sighs. He runs a hand through his hair and looks down at the ground. Kevin watches carefully as he takes a deep breath and meets Kevin's eyes again.

"Kiko found out that your mom and I had been dating since I was 17 years old. That's when you were born, actually. I tried my best to keep you under wraps and hide you from Kiko, but he found out anyway."

Kevin's heart drops into the pit of his stomach, knowing exactly what happened when he was born. "He found out because I told him," Kevin says quietly.

"He didn't find out right away," Ben explains. "I was trying to protect you, but Kiko found out anyway. It took him awhile to figure out the truth, but once he did he went crazy. My mom was kidnapped and taken away, and after she was gone, I knew Kiko would be coming for you. So, I had to do something."

"He kidnapped me?"

"It wasn't a choice I could make. At first we thought we could send you to an orphanage. But then I heard about an asylum nearby that would take care of boys and girls like you. So we decided to bring you there."

Kevin feels nauseous.

"Where are they keeping mommy?" he asks weakly.

Ben gives him a sympathetic smile. "She's okay." Kevin looks away quickly. Ben continues speaking. "After I rescued her from her captor we went back home. I was supposed to leave and never come back until I could convince you, Pedro and Kevin to leave together with me. But Pedro wanted to go to university and learn to play soccer. I couldn't let him give up everything he had built just so I could escape."

Kevin looks away, feeling a lump form in his throat. He's never been good with emotional talks. He hates crying, he hates crying when he cries. He hates it, but when his dad tells him that things are going to be alright, Kevin believes it, but he just doesn't understand how to deal with the sadness, with the fear that comes along with being told something like that. Ben notices this and smiles at him.

"I'm glad he didn't give up," he says.

"Me too," agrees Kevin. Ben smiles and sits next to Kevin on his bed.

"Anyway," he says. "I managed to convince the guards to let us both leave together, which we did a few days ago. The plan was that we'd meet up with the team somewhere far away and start from scratch. I had contacted some of the guys who work in the orphanages, so we were hoping that some of them could come here. I know it sounds kinda creepy, considering what I'm doing, but that's what we have to do now, Kevin. We need to survive."

Kevin nods, understanding that. "You'

not this time says Kiko entering the room with two giant henchmen is strong men, dressed in black leather uniforms and carrying silver guns in front of them.

"We don' t know that for sure," protests Kevin.

But he's interrupted by the henchman nearest to Kevin. He grabs him roughly by the shoulder and pushes him against the wall. Kiko's eyes widen in surprise.

your friend without, he already said he dated my wife, right, I haven't forgotten what he did to me says Kiko as he points a finger at Pedro.

He grabs Pedro and holds the boy against the wall too, looking right in his face. You hurt me! he growls angrily as he glares at Pedro. How dare you try to kiss my wife?

Ben moves quickly, grabbing one of the henchmen' s guns and holding it threateningly towards the other henchman. Kevin stands up, grabbing the second one' s gun out of Ben's hand and pointing it at the man. The man freezes, looking between Kevin and Ben, who still hasn' t moved. His eyes dart around, nervously looking anywhere but at Kevin.

Don' t shoot, says Kiko quickly. I want them alive. He releases Pedro and gestures to the henchmen holding Ben and Kevin. Kill them.

The henchmen release their grip on Ben and Kevin, who falls forward. They each grab Ben and pull him off the wall and slam his head against the wall repeatedly.

good trick ben but as you know i have tricks too says kiko, chuckling darkly. The henchmen hit Ben again and again until Ben starts screaming, his voice barely able to be heard above the loud thuds of his skull hitting the wall. Kevin tries to move towards them and yell out Ben's name, but Kiko grabs him roughly by the collar and drags him away from his brother' s fallen form. I don't need you getting hurt, kiddo, he says menacingly as he pulls Kevin into one of the small rooms in the infirmary. Kevin struggles as he gets thrown inside, hitting his head on the doorframe. He groans slightly, rubbing his head as blood drips from it. As he rubs it gingerly and stares blankly ahead at nothing, his mind races with thoughts, images and emotions, all racing around his brain.

They're hurting my brother Kevin thinks angrily. I've got to do something to save them, even though I won' t be able to help.

as you hear Ben's screams groaning in pain too loud to ignore echoes in Kevin's brain. his hands curl into fists as anger overtakes him. I have to save him! Kevin shouts desperately, fighting against the invisible bonds holding him in place. Kevin tries to stand up, but finds he can't

Kiko opens the door with his henchmen holding Bem with both his eyes pierced through the hole in the door. He smirks wickedly, letting Bem fall to the floor, landing hard on his feet. Kevin lets out a shout of frustration and charges at him, but before he can get very far, he feels an arm wrapped tightly around his neck, pinning his arms to his sides.

This time I win, Kiko's voice sounds cold and angry through their link. You know what, Kevin? This might not have worked the last two times. I think it's time I gave it a shot this time, huh? With that he slams the door shut behind him and locks it.

Kenny struggles, his fingers clawing uselessly at the door handle, but Kiko's arm is locked around his chest, forcing him to his knees and pinning him to the floor. A moment later, he hears Ben shout.

You've gotta stop it! Ben screams. Don't let him put you in this position, please Kevin! If you fight this, you'll lose! Ben knows that Kevin needs to escape; he knows that Kevin loves his mother more than anything in the world. Kevin's family means more to him than anything, and that has to be enough to get Kevin to let it go. But Kevin can't. It just won't happen. Not now and never ever.

Kiko is walking across the room towards Kevin, whose body trembles uncontrollably as he tries to push away from the floor.

Stop fighting him Ben pleads. He'll kill you if you stay still. Just give him what he wants.

NO! Kevin yells as he fights against Kiko' s hold around his neck. STOP FIGHTING, BEN!

A moment passes as both Kevin's and Ben's minds run wild in search of a way out. Finally, Kevin stops struggling, allowing himself to lay defeated on the floor.

Thank you Ben whispers, a bit sadly in his mind. And thank you, too, Kevin.

I love him, Ben tells him. And I hate that he's hurting you too. I'll be fine, Ben promises silently, squeezing Kevin's hand reassuringly.

I know, Kevin assures as Ben squeezes tighter.

Kiko approaches the two of them slowly and kneels down in front of Kevin

Kiko says see how they work, no matter if the world is over, you Ben will have to pay for your sins. Kevin feels Kiko remove his glasses.

As soon as they're off, Kiko lifts Kevin's shirt up, showing him his wrists, where his tattoos are.

Do you know what these tattoos represent? asks Kiko.

Yes, they represent the sins he's done, but what does that mean? Kevin wonders

.kiko before leaving the room tells Kevin, Kiko says boy taking care of people outside, the danger is not the zombies, it's the humans, but if you keep running into danger you are going to end up dead like everyone else. Then he exits the room leaving Kevin alone to contemplate what Kiko had just told him.

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Kiko stands in the hallway with a grin on his face.

I go to my office tomorrow after school, he thinks to himself happily as he walks back to his room. I finally have the chance to take care of that rat and his friends.

He goes inside his room, shutting the door carefully behind him. He takes a deep breath, and then exhales loudly as he looks at his reflection in the mirror.

He' s been working for Kiko for years now, since he joined the group at thirteen. Kiko has trained him well. He can do what he's asked, and he's gotten a lot better thanks to Kiko. He doesn't think he could do any of what he does today without the help of the leader. And he wouldn' t change a thing, not even when he was younger or when he started training with Kiko. It's always been this way since then. He would never change a thing about his life. Even if it cost him his freedom, or his health, or worse - his death.

he closes his eyes and breathes deeply. I wonder how my mom, dad and Ben are doing. Hopefully everything turned out alright.

It took them less than an hour to reach the hideout in the woods. They drove straight through the desert surrounding them for hours, passing by endless desert with nothing but endless sand, rocks and trees. In the meantime, Ben couldn' t believe that it really came as a shock to him when Kiko told him that those three boys kidnapped his brother. What was even more unexpected was the look of pure horror on his father's face when he heard what had happened to Kevin and his parents.

After all the things they had gone through, losing their only son was still so painful to them. No matter how much they tried to keep strong they couldn't. So seeing Kevin being held captive and beaten up by them, knowing that it was because of them, caused their hearts to break into million pieces.

Ben turns the radio up to drown his sorrows. He didn' t like hearing his family talk about how terrible they feel; the sound just brings back memories of them crying and mourning the loss of their own son. After that night, they never spoke about Kevin again.

Ben sighs softly, looking ahead of the truck at the empty road in front of him. He' s never felt so alone and scared in his life. There were days where he felt like he wasn' t worth anything to anyone anymore, like his presence in their lives meant nothing to anyone. Other times he felt like he didn' t exist. Like he was nothing more than a ghost haunting the halls of a school he' d been forced to attend for the past four years, watching all of his classmates laugh and dance and enjoy themselves. Sometimes it was even worse; there were times when he wanted nothing more than to cry, to scream and throw himself onto the ground in grief for his entire life.

but right now he's here, surrounded by people who care and who accept him for who he truly is. He's grateful for every single day he spends with his family, no matter what happens in the future. Because the reason why he's here and alive is because of his brothers and sisters, and if he loses his brothers, he'd be lost forever. He' re sure of that. He can't imagine what he'll do once they're gone. He can never forget the image of Kevin' s lifeless body laying on the pavement of the street with that big gaping hole in his abdomen, or the sight of Kevin's blood pooling underneath his limp body; the scene haunts him each and every single day, waking him up in tears and causing him to wake up screaming in terror.

But he's alive right now, thanks to his siblings. All of their sacrifices had paid off, and they hadn't just saved his life, they had also changed him forever.

Kiko's story had broken something inside of Ben. Sure the others might've been afraid of him at first. Sure he might've looked different to most of them, but Ben knows that that doesn't make a difference. None of them are stupid. They'd seen him for who he really is; they' d known exactly how dangerous he actually is. The fact that none of them had given up on him or stopped believing in him, proved that they knew who he really was and that they still cared about him.

He smiles as he remembers his little brother telling him that he' d forgiven him for what he did to his parents. He knew that eventually he'd come to understand that Ben had done nothing wrong, but still Ben had hoped that one day he wouldn't blame himself any more for his brother's death. He knows that Kevin's anger towards him isn't really directed at him; it's just that Ben had hurt him too much for him to ever completely forgive him.

But he did, Kevin had said. And when that happened Ben knew that he' d managed to earn Kevin's forgiveness. That was the reason he'd accepted his brother's invitation to join them: to help make up for all the suffering he'