Autumn was alone, in a corner of Pendleton watching his hand. It was shaking, and not from the weather. This was something he had never witnessed before. He was so scared that it was having a physical effect on his body. Shoving the shaking hand inside his coat, so that no one could see he thought back to the last couple days. 

Autumn had been living in an apartment in LA since his family had died in the fire. It had been a hard transition at first, but he had quickly adapted. After a little while he noticed that living in such a different place wasn't so bad. Though he still had a hard time falling asleep with the constant sound of cars. On his third day of his new life in LA, Autumn had met a guy named Seph. He lived just down the hall from Autumn. They had met while picking up their mail and instantly were friends. 

Shivering at the memory, Autumn felt a pain in his chest at the loss of his new friend. On the fifth day in LA, Autumn and Seph were in Seph's room eating pizza and drinking together, just having a good time. The T.V. was on, but they weren't paying much attention to it. Seph was laughing at something he had said when the screen of the T.V. flickered and switched. Their conversation died and they looked to see what was going on.

On the T.V. screen a reporter came up. She looked panicked and frightened and was talking very fast. Almost like she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Some of what she said was impossible to comprehend, but they did clearly hear the words "Infected," "Dead," and "Dangerous." They turned to look at each other just as the power in the building died. 

It had taken three full days to safely get out of the building, four if you include the day they spent trapped inside the apartment dumpster. After getting out they headed towards a haven they had heard about. A place called Pendleton. Seph never made it close. Just a block from the apartment one of the infected had jumped out from an alley. It face planted onto the pavement in-front of Seph, reaching out for him. Seph reacted trying to throw himself away, but it got its fingers stuck in his shoe. With a quick bite on his left calf, they both knew he was infected. Autumn had to kill the infected and his friend that day. It was the toughest thing he had ever done. And he was still feeling the effects of it now, judging by the shaking of his hand against his rib cage.