Towards Safety. Towards Hope.

Cold air knifes through the open service door as Benjamin steps into the overgrown yard. Behind him, the thudding at the house wall grows harder, more urgent.

Louis and the Standing Survivor lurch forward with the Injured Survivor between them, half-carrying, half-dragging him toward the fence. The Miller Woman leads, quick and tight, one hand near the knife hidden at her side.

A heavy удар shakes the back of the Miller House. Dust sifts from the frame. The open doorway behind them feels suddenly too far away and far too loud.

Benjamin moves with them, keeping pace as the yard narrows into darkness and tangled weeds. The injured man sags again, and the group has to adjust, fast, or lose him.

Another impact slams from inside. The front of the house answers with a hollow crack, and the escape becomes a race to the perimeter.

Benjamin plants himself in the weeds and swings low, forcing the first undead shape off the fence line before it can grab at Louis.

The bat cracks bone and rotten cloth, and the thing spills backward into the dark grass, buying the others a clean shot at the rails.

Louis and the Standing Survivor heave the Injured Survivor up and over the fence, while Benjamin keeps the gap clear with short, brutal checks.

A second undead hand scrapes the top board, then drops away as Benjamin shoves it back into the yard with one hard step.

The Injured Survivor lands on the far side with a strangled cry, and the Miller Woman reaches down to steady them.

Benjamin plants his feet at the fence and keeps the gap alive, chopping down every reaching arm that comes through the slats. The bat drives one undead head sideways, then another, and the yard-side shape staggers blind into the weeds.

On the far side, the Miller Woman hauls the Injured Survivor upright while the Standing Survivor braces them under one shoulder. Louis swings up and over the fence after them, landing in a crouch beside the opened path.

Another undead throws itself at the boards, but Benjamin snaps the bat across its wrists and sends it reeling back before it can grab purchase. The fence line holds.

The Injured Survivor limps toward the dark yard beyond the fence, helped by both the Miller Woman and the Standing Survivor, while the last shape in the weeds loses interest in the opening and turns away snarling.

Benjamin stays at the split in the rails for one last beat, bat raised, as the group clears the yard and the pressure at the fence finally thins.

Benjamin plants a hand on the fence rail, swings a leg over, and drops through the gap with his bat tight to his side.

He lands in a crouch on the far side, knees bent for balance, then straightens into a quick, ready stride behind the others.

Louis heads the retreat, glancing back once while the Miller Woman shepherds the injured survivor forward through the dark yard.

Benjamin falls in beside them, eyes cutting over the weeds and fence line as the house recedes behind a wall of muffled impact.

Ahead, the yard opens toward the side gate and the shadowed street beyond, and the group keeps pushing that way.

Benjamin surges ahead of the retreat, bat up and shoulders square, cutting straight into the path the undead are trying to take.

The first two bodies he meets go down hard, one shoved into the weeds, the other spun aside before its hands can close on the stragglers.

Louis and the others keep moving behind him, boots whispering through grass as Benjamin keeps the pressure off their backs.

A fresh cluster lurches out of the dark, and Benjamin drives them back with a brutal swing that clears the lane toward the street.

The Miller survivors press into the opening he makes, and the whole group breaks free into the darker stretch between the yard and Benjamin's house.