• "Are you sure this is allowed?" Alystir was apprehensive as he climbed into the passenger seat of the white van that had originally carted him off to the facility they were presently residing in. Nathan was climbing into the driver's side, buckling himself in with a very self-satisfied look on his face. "Sure it is! We're not hostages here! We can leave whenever we want!"

    "But are we allowed to take the van?" Alystir leaned over to pull his door shut as Nathan turned the key in the ignition and the van rumbled to life. The older zombie glanced over his shoulder to check his blind spot before pulling out of the garage onto the street.

    "We are as long as we don't tell anyone." Nathan finally replied, once they were a good distance from the facility and Alystir had no choice but to go along with him. Alystir slumped in his seat and reached out to grab the window crank, winding down the glass until he could feel the cool desert night air on his face. Through the window he could see billions of stars littering a black sky stretched out over the sandy horizon. The facility appeared to be a small garage out in the middle of the desert, but an elevator led down to miles of underground workings. The facility itself was the size of a small city and Alystir had only seen a tiny portion of it.

    "We're going toward the city. The roads are too congested for this van." Alystir said softly, feeling serene from the scent of the desert air and the breeze on his face.

    "We'll get out when we reach the city." Nathan glanced over at the younger zombie thoughtfully for a moment, before looking back at the road. "Do you remember being alive?"

    "I was part of a resistance movement against the zombies, a bunch of us had guns and planks and bats and poles. We were holed up inside of the elementary school, protecting the children there when a large mass of zombies swarmed in past our barriers and attacked us." Alystir shook his head, turning his gaze out through the window again. "The rest of my team was killed. I just barely made it out with the kids, but one of them grabbed me and bit me in the leg. I made the children run and hide somewhere else where they were probably killed. But I couldn't stay with them, not when I knew what I was to become."

    "You didn't have the heart to kill yourself?" Nathan leaned back in his seat, pulling a cigarette from the breast pocket of the leather jacket he wore that night.

    "I couldn't find a gun, and I was too afraid to let the zombies eat me alive.." He looked at Nathan, his tone a little choked.

    Reaching over to the boy, Nathan stroked over his black and pink hair. "My lover was turned. I had a gun and killed her. When her brains and blood splattered all over me and some got into my eyes, I was too chicken to even shoot myself in the head."

    Alystir sighed and tilted his head into Nathan's hand. "The livings in the city won't be too happy to see us."

    "Sure they will be." Nathan smiled. "We're going to be putting some of your old mates out of their misery." He motioned to the back of the van with his head and Alystir looked over his shoulder, taking note of all of the automatic and semi-automatic rifles with a quirked brow.

    Turning back around, he settled into his seat and watched the darkened city come into view.