The zombie looks to be a man, it has the right build and facial structure of one, but with how much flesh was gone from its body, it was hard to tell. There were body parts missing, and chunks gone throughout the entirety of its body, exposing bone, tendon and muscle. Its jaw hung loosely by some tendons, it dragged its right leg behind it as it stumbled closer to the restaurant, and its left arm was severed at the elbow.

I look around the restaurant, and nobody else seems to be aware there’s a zombie lumbering towards where we were eating. I sigh, running my hand through my hair. I hate taking initiative, but if it meant saving lives, then so be it.

I quickly climb on top of my chair, steadying myself with the back of it, and shout out, “Yo, everyone! There’s a zombie coming this way!” I lock eyes with one of the workers, his name tag reading, Cooper, and tell him, “Get the keys and lock the doors.”

Surprisingly, he listens to me, immediately running into the back, and grabbing his keys from his coworker, before returning to the front, then jogging around the counter to the front door, sticking his key into the door lock, and locking it. He then jogs to the other set of doors and locks those.

“Are those all the doors?” I ask, jumping down from the chair.

He nods, replying with, “Yeah.”

“What are we going to do now, Quinn?” Claire asks me, coming to stand by my side. Her eyes are wide with terror.

I look back at her, letting out a frustrated sigh, and running my hand through my hair. Why did I have to be the one to come up with a plan? I chew on my lip as I glance back towards the windows, looking to see what the zombie was doing. It was still slowly lumbering towards the building, now about 20 feet away.

“Quinn?” Claire tugs at my arm.

“I’m thinking.” I snap, my gaze flicking back to her, and my eyes narrowing in annoyance. She flinches away from me, and it draws a sight from my lips. “Sorry, Claire. I just don’t understand why it’s suddenly my responsibility to figure out what we need to do.”

“You were the one who took charge.” She snaps back at me, and I’m surprised. She’s never one to get angry with me. “When you told the restaurant workers to lock the doors.”

I grit my teeth. She was right, and I knew I couldn’t argue with her. Sighing, I mutter out, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be getting angry, I should be trying to figure out what we need to do from here.”

She doesn’t say anything to my apology, she just nods.

“How about someone keeps an eye on the zombie to make sure it doesn’t get too close to the restaurant, and if it gets within… 10 feet, let us know?” I suggest. “The rest of us can work on getting the tables and chairs up against the windows to safeguard them.”

“I’ll keep an eye on the zombie.” Claire says bluntly. She walks over towards the windows, and leans against the wall there, watching out it.

I sigh, watching her. I knew I had fucked up by getting annoyed with her, but I couldn’t worry about it now. I grab one of the tables and heft it over my shoulders, before placing it next to Claire on its side.

I mutter another, “Sorry, Claire,” and another sigh escapes my lips as she doesn’t even acknowledge me.

Whatever. I think as I walk away from her, combing my fingers through my hair. 

I watch as the Wendy’s workers and even the other customers work on getting the tables and chairs up against the windows, and I nod approvingly. 

One of the workers approaches me, the one who locked the doors, Cooper, and he asks, “What should we do now?” Cooper looks to be in his early to mid 20’s, but his gray eyes have already lost their usual color. Depression, I’d assume. His brown hair is cut short in a buzz cut, and he has a clear lip piercing in. 

I sigh, and look around, before my gaze lands back on him. “I don’t think there is anything we can do until the zombie goes away.”

“Don’t you think someone should call the police to let them know about the zombie?” A girl just a couple years older than me, wearing the Wendy’s uniform, asks, walking over to me and Cooper. Her name tag reads Harper. She’s shorter than me, has a heart shaped face, kind hazel eyes, a nervous expression on her face, and she’s chewing on her bottom lip. Her black hair is tied up into two ponytails and swept up underneath her hair net and Wendy’s hat.

“What good would that do?” Another male voice asks, from behind the three of us, and I see Harper roll her eyes with a look of annoyance on her cute face.

I turn to look at him, see his name tag is Liam, and open my mouth to respond to him, but then Claire’s voice rings out, “Quinn!”

Immediately, I turn my back to Liam, and run over to Claire, asking, “What is it?”

“The zombie.” She says, pointing at it.

I look out the window towards it, and I furrow my eyebrows in annoyance. It had gotten so much closer. “Fucking hell.”

Then it does something that neither I nor Claire could imagine it doing, especially with how fucked it looks. It starts running towards the building.

Claire yelps in fear, and I let out a loud, “fuck!” grabbing Claire, and pulling her away from the window as I jump back.

The zombie hits the window with a loud thud, the exact one we were looking out, and the glass splinters.

I hear multiple loud curses, screams, and cries of fear coming from the people in the restaurant, but I don’t pay attention to them. Claire’s digging her nails into the flesh of my arm, breaking skin, and I spit out, “Claire, my arm.”

“S-Sorry.” She mutters, letting go of it.

The zombie backs away from the window, only to throw itself back at it, and everyone in the building, including Claire and myself, aren’t shocked when the glass shatters, but we are surprised when the whole window shatters.