The Filion family continued their slow march south along Broadway Ave. There were several cars parked along the east side of the street. A low stone wall gave way to Fort Tryon Park. Joe contemplated moving south along the park. At least on top of the wall they could retreat either back up Broadway or into the woods depending on the situation.<br/><br/>He pulled Theresa and Joseph in close. He spoke in low tones, "I want to move along the edge of the park. We'll get up on the wall and follow Broadway south as far as we can. If we run into any ToGo Zzzs, we can use the woods as cover." Joseph Junior and Theresa nodded. "Jojo, you're on point. Theresa stay close to me." Joe Junior hopped up on the wall and the three headed up the slight rise towards the trees. Their clothing did blend in with the forest of the park better than the City College Academy of the Arts and their deserted yellow school buses parked out front.<br/><br/>Within a half hour, the family turned right, using Bennet Avenue as a hand rail. They had to climb a steep rise above abut a fifty or sixty foot outcropping of ledge. From this vantage point, they could see above this portion of the city, including the brick apartment building on the corner. Eventually, they ran out of woods and had to return to the city.<br/><br/>The family agreed they would head to Central Park and at least search for their mom. Any sign would be good for them. It was one of those things that kept them going. Joe, was ready to feel that she was gone, but kept his heart open to the possibility that she could still be alive. He slowly agreed to Theresa's pleading.<br/><br/>As they descended the hill next to Bennett Ave, Joe Junior lost his foot and rolled part of the way down the hill. A ToGo Zombie heard the rustle and began moving toward the 18 year old son. He lost track of his carbine during the fall and struggled to get his hands on the thing. The zombie, an older gentleman dressed in blue Dickies and a gray sweatshirt seemed to be fixated on the boy. He was about thirty feet away when the boy's dad came out of the trees. He pulled his .45 out of its holster, aimed at the zombie's head and squeezed off a round. The full metal jacketed ball round entered the man's head near his left temple and  exited out the rear right side of his head, pulling brain matter and skull bits with it. The kinetic energy of the impact knocked the zombie onto his backside. The sound of the round, was like a homing beacon for about thirty or forty other zombies who were apparently in the area.<br/><br/>"Crap!" Joe stated matter of fact. "That will bring all the ToGos down on top of us. Theresa, set up over here, in the tree line and aim your muzzle south along Bennett. Joe, you get behind her and watch the north. Be prepared to turn in the opposite direction." The three Filions set up on higher on the slope in order to view in both directions. The plan would be to wait there for fifteen minutes to see if anyone came looking. They didn't have to wait that long.<br/><br/>He didn't want to waste this time, but unfortunately, the zombies didn't give  hoot about Joe's timetable. Within a few moments, a group of ToGo dead turned the corner from West 190th onto Bennett. When they were fully around the corner, Joe started counting. There were a diverse array of zombies including one young man who appeared to be wearing the uniform of a New York Yankee ball player, number 23. When the group had approached to within fifty meters of the Filions, Joe tapped Theresa on the shoulder, signaling her to fire. She hesitated. Joe grabbed her shoulder. He whispered impatiently, "Do you want to die!?" He looked at her terrified face. "If you don't pull that trigger, they will have your for lunch!"<br/><br/>Theresa turned back to the group, now forty meters in front of her. She put the lead zombie in her sights and squeezed the trigger holding on for two seconds. A burst flew through the crowd. The hammering staccato of the SAW echoed off the brick building to their west and sending reverberations up and down the city. Little Joe and Big Joe both began picking up targets and engaging them. Joe Junior focused on the zombies and soon acquired tunnel vision. It is a common syndrome when in combat; to focus on the immediate threat and nothing else. Since Big Joe was aware of that, having served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, he would occasionally, look back north along the street and then back up the hill into the trees.<br/><br/>As it stood, the only threat was to their immediate front. They weren't getting any closer. The bodies began to pile up  under the smoke of Theresa's Light Machine gun. After forty five seconds of firing, the three stopped shooting and attempted to listen. Naturally, their hearing was shot and it would take some time to recover. "Let's get back up on top of this hill and recover there!" Joe yelled at his kids. They jumped up and scrambled up the hill as best they could. The adrenaline was pumping through all three. Little Joe was the first to the top. He lead the others into the entrance to an apartment building. They would wait in there.<br/><br/>The Filions slowly made their way to the top of the building; eight floors up to check the city. It was there, they were able to remove their masks and breathe some fresh air. They were covered in sweat and need to drink a few of the water bottles they packed from the minivan up on University Heights. Theresa began to weep. She hated shooting the zombies. She knew that just a few months ago, these people were contributing members of society who had a mother and maybe someone else who loved them. She thought of her mom, her Aunt Susie and her sisters. She<span style="font-style: italic">knew</span>in her mind that they were all still alive. She needed to cling to hat notion in order to keep moving on. They just had to be alive. But moments like the one they just endured made it harder and harder. Afterall, who was she to decide who lives and dies?