Peering down below, a group of travelers consisting of 3 men and 1 woman look at a girl with puffy raven hair. The girl was still like a lone doll on a shelf. The only way they were able to determine if she were alive was how her lungs would go up & down. Shuddering to stay alive. Maybe her determination had made the group pick her up or they had also felt a twinge of nostalgia for their own families from long ago. They had stern faces, so no one could tell how they were feeling. 

Trudging on with a newly added member to the group, they shared a moment of silence. In that silence, however, a small flicker ever so slight passed the trees. Almost as if it were watching the girl and only leaving until someone had picked her up. 

Driving off, the group talked amongst themselves. 

“So watcha beggin’ we do with the lad in the trunk? I know we ain’t for sure got money for another mate.” The ragged man in the passenger seat says with vodka in his hand. 

“I say we drop her off at the hospital and drive off.” The man in the driver's seat says with every ounce of his attention on the road.

“Isn’t that a bit harsh? You know where we are. Dropping the girl off at a hospital is basically leaving her to die.” Says the woman gripping her hand nervously. 

“Hah! Sorry, innit this topic a Lil sensitive for ya, Steph?” The man with the vodka laughs happily as the woman twiddles her thumbs. 

“Ignore Gunner, Steph. It’s okay.”  A man perched next to Steph puts a reassuring hand on hers. 

“Oh and here comes Felix to save the day. Always the hero.” Gunner twirls his finger in mockery in the air. 

“Maybe we can see if there’s any hospital staff stationed and if there is, we’ll leave the girl there. Is that better, Steph?” The man in the driver's seat says as he takes a sharp turn. 

“Yeah. Thank you, Roy.” 

Roy only nods his head before adjusting his hands on the wheel. 

The 4 drove off in silence before reaching the flashing red lights of an emergent hospital. They parked in front of the slowly revolving doors before going out to head to the trunk. 

“What if the lad died?” Gunner says to break the silence. 

“There’s no way she did. We had a safe drive here.” Roy says in response. 

“Why are you punks hesitating ‘en?” A moment of silence ensued before Gunner rolled his eyes and opened the trunk. The girl was shivering, but still somewhat alive. 

“You were the one who made us hesitate by the way,” Steph says as she reaches for the gun behind the girl. 

“Ay, ay why are you pinnin the blame on me? You were also wondering if she died too.” 

“Let’s not make a ruckus, please.” Felix says with a slight tone of annoyance. “You’ll attract the monsters.” 

“It is almost sun down. The monsters will awaken soon.” Roy says while pursing his lips.

 Felix and Roy grab a gun in unison before Gunner reaches for his launcher. 

“Let’s live to see another morning, everyone.” Roy says as he shuts the trunk. 

“Yes, yes.” Gunner spoke for the rest of them. 

“Steph, you have the girl?” Roy turns to see Steph as she points to her backpack containing a small little puff of raven hair. “Okay, let’s check out this hospital.” 

Inching closer to the hospital, Roy peeks in before motioning his hands for his team to roll out. Stealthily, everyone walked through. 

The hospital was a bit more cleaner than the group had expected. A few pieces of paper on the floor and some dust, but no signs of death. Everyone nodded in unison as they all took a breath of relief. 

“Thank god there are no signs of a monster in here.” Steph said before straightening her back.

“You preach, sister.” Gunner smirks. 

“Really?” Steph says. 

“Let’s search the area to see if there are any useful supplies.. or staff. ” 

“You got it, boss.” Gunner replies. 

After a minute of scouring the place, they group together near the revolving doors. 

“Have you guys noticed how desolate this place is? Even though there is electricity.” Steph says as she walks over to the group. 

“We should be more careful then.” Felix says while tightening his grip around his gun. 

“Definitely. We have no idea what’s above.” Roy says while darkening his gaze. 

“Found some ol’ alcohol though.” Gunner says. “Rubbing alcohol. I’m not that addicted to vodka.” 

“That’s good.” Roy says. “Let’s move onto the next area now.” He slings his semi-automatic rifle onto his shoulder.

The floor above seemed more of a mess. More papers flung to the floor and some glass shards were present all around the group. A desolate wind breezed through, dancing with the papers on the floor. 

The group doesn’t talk this time and spreads out in search of useful supplies. When they got back together, they nod side to side in unison before heading to the next floor. 

The floor above this time was even more of a mess, but this time Felix came back with some bandages before the group headed upwards one more time. 

The fourth and last floor seemed like a bloody battle. Hospital staff were all face down in a puddle of their own dried up blood. Glass shards were more present and a chilly wind ensued. 

“Now this is more of the normal around here.” Gunner says while shifting his launcher.

“No, there are way more people here than normal and the last 3 floors were clean with no bodies in sight which is weird.” Steph said while navigating around the bodies. 

“Did the monster jump into the fourth floor?” Is there even a monster like that?” Felix says while rubbing his neck.

“We’ll have to find out.” Roy says before giving a hand signal to separate and explore. 

A few minutes later, a gunshot rings in the air and the group runs to the direction of the sound. Gunner was with his hands in the air and a lady with a handgun had a piercing gaze towards him. 

“Lady, I dropped my launcher! Chill out!” 

The lady with blood splashed across her face doesn’t drop the gun and only holds it more firmly. 

“Alright, alright. My name is Gunner. The group next to me are my pals. We’re here because we have a lil’ lad that needs emergent attention. We pose no threat, I swear! On my bloody life!” 

The lady scans Gunner before scanning the rest of the group and puts her gun down. “Sorry about that. We had a little scare before running into you guys, so we have no idea who to trust at the moment.” 

“We?” Felix says abruptly. 

“A little scare?” Steph says as she nervously moves her hand towards her gun. 

“We as in the scientist hiding behind me and the scare was some people who tried to steal from us before. Glad to see you guys have supplies, so I figured you wouldn’t want to steal from us.” 

“We wouldn’t, but what are you guys doing camping out here?” Roy says as he tries to take a peek into the room the woman was in. 

“Same thing as your lad that needs medical attention. I got injured so I came to the hospital. I was looking for supplies before the monster attacked and bit every last hospital staff there was. I ran into this room and met this scientist.” 

“Hiya.” The scientist peeks over the woman’s shoulder and waves. 

“What kind of monster was it?” Roy says sternly. 

“It was like an insect. A bee maybe?Iit travelled in a group… those pesks. Sucked the blood out of all of em.” 

“Mosquito hybrids?” Roy asks while looking with a distant gaze. His head was obviously trying to put two pieces together. 

“Could be. We don’t know yet.” The woman says. “Anyways, i’m Grace and the scientist behind me is Kimmy. We would like to travel with you guys. We can’t stay hidden forever.” 

“True, more chances of getting killed if you stay in one spot.” Felix says. 

“Exactly.” Grace replies before packing up clothes into a duffer bag. “What about your little friend that needs medical attention? How’re they holding up?” 

Steph looks in shock as she had forgotten about the little girl and quickly takes her out of the bag. 

“She’s burning up.” Grace says as she lays a hand on her tiny forehead. “Kimmy, you have some medical supplies left over?” 

“Yep and an ice pack.” 

Grace wraps the ice pack in some bandages before letting it rest on the girl’s head. “She should be fine for now, but it’d be best Kimmy looks over her, so that her fever doesn’t worsen.” 

“Real persistent on travelling with us, aren’t ya? Real suspicious.” Gunner says as he glares at Grace. 

“She’s just trying to help, Gunner.” Steph mumbles as she jerks her elbow into Gunner’s side. 

“No, it’s fine. It’ s better to be suspicious of people than trust them completely. It’s good that you did that.” Grace says with a bitter expression. 

Steph glares at Gunner and Gunner mouths a confused ‘What?’. 

“Anyways, we all know we can’t bring along anotha mate. We already had our hands tied with the lil miss over there.” Gunner says as he shrugs his shoulders. “We simply dun’t have the funds for Miss.Grace and the trembling scientist, right Roy?” 

“We don’t. Especially since we can’t leave the girl in the hospital any longer. We’ll need a bigger car and more accommodations.” Roy replies. 

“Told ya so.” Gunner smirks. 

“I can fight and Kimmy is on the same level as a doctor. Maybe higher.” Grace immediately replies. 8

Kimmy stands to say something before Grace pressures him down. 

“Can you use the gun you held to Gunner?” Roy asks. 

“I was in a specialized unit in the military. I can.” 

“Ouu, this chick’s hella hot.” 

Steph jabs Gunner once more in an attempt to shut him up. 

“That ain’t gonna get the wind out of me,” Gunner says as he crouches down. 

Roy and Felix's exchange looks before Roy takes out a hand to Grace. “Welcome.” He says. 

“Pleasure.” Grace replies. 

“Ok, let’s rollout.” Felix signals the rest of the group as they head down to their car. 

Kimmy puts the little girl in a baby carrier as Grace puts her handgun into her leg sleeve. They both head down to see Gunner motioning them outside. No one could know what to look for next.