Free Phase One: Identify (Territory of the Dead) by Rose Wynters

out stepped our salvation.
     
    He was somewhere around six feet tall, with light brown, wavy hair. It was parted in the center, long enough to brush the top of his collar. His eyes glittered in the moonlight. They were a mesmerizing shade of blue, so bright they seemed to burn from their own hidden light.
     
    I couldn't tear my fascinated eyes away from him. His presence was one that nobody living could ever ignore. It wasn't the athletically-built body or his tanned skin. It was something else. He had a powerful aura about him, to magnetic to resist noticing and responding to. For the first time since the zombie nightmare started, I felt safe.
     
    His eyes met mine, lingering for one long moment. I was powerful to blink, move, or even breathe. An undercurrent of some feeling I didn't quite understand passed between us. By the time he looked away, I felt dizzy. 
     
    He didn't mince words. “Anyone that wants to live, get in.” His voice was deep and powerful, matching the promise his body made. He was confident and self-assured, the kind of man you wanted in your corner when the monsters came knocking. With his arrival, our chance of survival had just shot up exponentially.
     
    My dad's mouth moved, but nothing came out. Jayden and I exchanged a look and shrugged, before moving to the window. Time was running out. I could hear the zombies making their way through our house. It wouldn't take long for them to discover exactly where we were at. 
     
    “Come on, Amanda,” I heard James say. I didn't turn around to look. Jayden grabbed a thick blanket off the couch and his duffel bag off the floor, as we passed by. My back pack was still on my back, completely forgotten until now.
     
    The mystery man hopped out of the Suburban, completely in tune to his surroundings. He reached back in and grabbed a shotgun. It was black, with a sling attached to it. He was fully strapped with guns and two bandoliers crisscrossed across his broad shoulders. He was in his element, completely comfortable with them. I wasn't sure what was more dangerous, the guns or the man himself.
     
    He was dressed completely in black, and his clothes didn't look cheap. The button down shirt was long-sleeved, but rolled up to his elbows, exposing tanned forearms. He was wearing a shoulder harness with a pistol tucked in one side. There was also a harness around his waist, with an extremely long pistol hanging partially down his thigh.
     
    Leaning over the hood, he aimed his shotgun and started firing. “You might want to move a little bit faster,” he said sarcastically over his shoulder. “We don't have all night.”
     
    Jayden threw the thick blanket, double-folded , over the window frame and broken glass. He climbed over it easily before reaching back in to help me out. A zombie approached from the rear of the Suburban, squeezing between the vehicle and the wall. Without any hesitation, Jayden ended him quickly with his knife.
     
    By then everyone was out of the house, except for Mom and Dad. Dad hesitated on the other side of the window frame, his face suspicious. “How did you know we were here?”
     
    The man never looked back at him. Instead, he aimed and blew the head off of another zombie. He was good at what he did, so good he made it look easy. “I'll answer questions later. If you want a way out, get in. This train is rolling out in about thirty seconds, and this is its last stop.”
     
    I could see he meant business. “Come on, Dad.” I said, urging him to climb over. Behind him, I saw movement. “Oh no,” I gasped, my heart stopping for several seconds. A pack load of zombies were standing right in the doorway to our living room.
     
    Dad must have seen the horror in my face, because he immediately turned and looked as well. “Move, Beth,” he ordered, lifting her over the window frame. I was too horrified to really let that sink in. I loved my dad, but he wasn't exactly athletic. For him to pick up anybody and lift them