Run And Hide

Tony would do anything for his children. They were the most important people in his life and would do anything to keep them safe, no matter the cost. 

He never thought he could love another human being as much as he loves Pepper but then his three beautiful children came into the world and everything changed. Everything he did was for them. 

So he was in charge of making the tough calls when need be. 

Like now. 

The family of five watched the news on the tv. Tony and Pepper were worried but were trying to stay calm for their kids. Harley was seventeen, Tony knew he was old enough to be included in the grown up conversations now but Tony didn’t want him to. Not yet. 

“Should we go?” Pepper asked, watching the virus outbreak numbers rise on the tv. It was going up at an unimaginable rate. 

Tony blinked and the numbers went up one hundred. It was unreal. He ran his hand through his hair. “And go where? We have three kids. Let’s just stay here for now.” 

Tony had no idea what was coming, how could he? 

Pepper turned to lower her voice so their children couldn’t hear her although she knew they were listening, they always were, even when she didn’t think they were. The life of having a curious six year old and eight year old. “This is getting really serious and I’m scared.” 

“I know.” Tony was scared too but he didn’t want to admit it. He was the man of the house so it was his job to protect his family. “It’ll all blow over in a few days, two weeks tops hopefully.” He didn’t believe it. He didn’t know why he was saying that. 

He ruffled Peter’s hair and held his hand out for him. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed.” He held his other hand out for Morgan. “You too. It’s bedtime.” 

Tony tucked Morgan into bed first then walked Peter to his room and sat on the edge of the bed. He picked up Peter’s bumble bee teddy bear and tucked it against his side. 

“Thank you, daddy.” Peter said, rubbing his cheek against his bumble bee. 

Tony gently caressed Peter’s cheek. “I love you so much. Close your eyes and dream of something nice.” 

With a content sigh, the six year old closed his eyes and fell asleep. Tony watched his chest rise and fall with each even breath he took. It brought Tony so much comfort, watching his kids sleep, knowing they were safe and happy. 

He left the room after that, going into his and Peppers bedroom to get ready for bed but he found her watching the news again. “Turn that off, Pep. This has been going on for weeks now. Nothings changed.” 

Pepper turned the volume down but she didn’t turn it off. “Whatever this… virus is, it’s making its way into America now and the numbers are rising like anything I’ve never seen before.” 

Tony looked at the tv screen and saw that the numbers from just twenty minutes ago were almost triple now. He grabbed the remote to turn the tv off. He was worried only because Pepper was worrying a lot more than he thought was necessary. “The same thing has been going on for weeks now, it’s not any different.” 

Pepper walked into the bathroom to wash her face and get ready for bed. “I just feel like… I don’t know, I just have this nagging feeling in the back of my head.” 

“What’s the feeling telling you?” 

Pepper laughed but nothing was funny about it. “To run and hide.” 

Tony wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her neck. “Now what’s that voice saying?” 

“Oh, Mr. Stark,” Pepper giggled, turning around to pull Tony in for a kiss. “Let’s take this to the bedroom.” 

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Tony walked into the kitchen to grab a coffee. He dropped all the kids off at school over an hour ago and he was already exhausted from the day. Peter had refused to get dressed in the morning since his pants weren’t green like he wanted them to be, even though he didn’t own any green pants so Tony had a fight with him and that took all of his energy out of him for the day. 

He planned on watching some tv and relaxing a bit before he had to go into his office to catch up on work emails and meetings. 

All of that was thrown out the window as Pepper came running down the stairs with Harley freaking out on the phone. “Tony! Tony! Oh my god!” 

Tony dropped his coffee into the sink and grabbed ahold of the phone. His first thought was that Harley was hurt but then he tried to get Harley to calm down so he could understand him. “Wait. Wait, calm down. I can’t understand what you’re saying, Harley.” 

There was a lot of screaming and muffled sounds coming from Harley’s end. “He just- we were in class and some guy walks in and just- he just starts eating the teacher! Oh god! He’s dead, they’re all dead and-and-” 

“Harley, what do you mean? I can’t…” Tony looked at Peeper. Was this what they thought it was? Harley was freaking out on the other end still. “Where are you now?” 

“You have to come get me. Please. It’s… oh my god!” 

“What?! Harley?!” Tony ran his hands through his hair, thinking they just heard Harley get attacked on the other end with all the screaming and commotion going on. 

“Dad?! You gotta come now… it’s-” 

“Okay! We’re coming! Meet us at the side of the school by the green box. Your mom will be there in fifteen minutes. I gotta go get your siblings.” Tony made sure Harley heard him before hanging up the phone and passing it to Pepper. “You get Harley. It’ll be easier. I’ll go get Peter and Morgan.” Tony grabbed his phone off the counter and both of the car keys. 

He handed one to Pepper as they ran out the door. “You take the truck. I’m gonna take the van. Call me when you have Harley and I’ll call you when I have the little ones.” 

“Wait! Where will we meet after?” Pepper asked in a panic, jumping into the truck and starting it. 

“Back here!” Tony called out to her before getting into the van and driving towards the elementary school that was a twenty minute drive on a normal day while the high school was only ten minutes away. 

Tony expected there to be chaos out in the streets but there wasn’t. There were barely any cars on the road besides for him and one other car. He ran every single red right and stop sign until he turned onto the Main Street and once he did, all hell broke loose. 

There were people running wild in the street, screaming bloody murder. Cars piled into each other one one side of the road and up in the distance was a pillar of smoke. He was heading in that direction but it was too far for it to be the elementary school. 

Tony almost hit a man on the road who looked like he had half of his face ripped off but he couldn’t look at him long enough to tell what it really was. He kept on driving and pulled up to the school finally. 

He could hear the screams before he even got out of the van. There were people and running around, looking absolutely mental but Tony figured that was what he was about to look like as he searched for his children. 

Cars were parked in almost every spot available, making it seem impossible to actually pull out of there. 

Tony ran into the school, bumping into people and getting body checked by others. “Peter! Morgan!” He yelled, barely able to hear himself through all the other screaming children and parents. 

He spotted a little boy crying but he was too old to be Peter. The boy got knocked to the ground by all the people running around so Tony pushed his way over to him and picked him up so he didn’t get trampled on. “Are you okay?” 

The boy clung onto him. “Where’s mommy?” He cried out. 

Tony didn’t have time to help the kid search for his parents. As much as it hurt him to do so, he just couldn’t. He was about to set the boy on a tall desk by the office so he could stand on it but someone was grabbing his arm. 

“Oh my baby! Come here!” The woman cried and took the boy from Tony’s arms, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you!” 

“Mommy! Mommy!” The boy cried, hugging onto his mom. 

Tony grabbed the woman’s arm. “Have you seen another little boy and girl? They’re my kids. Please.” Tomy begged but she was already turning and running away from him to get the hell out of there. “Morgan! Peter! Morgan! Peter!” 

Tony pushed past some more people, starting to freak out. They were too young to think like Harley, Tony knew Peter would either hide somewhere or go wander around looking for his parents so Tony knew he wouldn’t find Peter if he was doing those things. Morgan was older and smarter but he knew she would also be hiding if this much commotion was going on. “Peter! Morgan!” 

“Daddy! Daddy!” 

Tony tried to focus on the voice. He could hear other children searching for their parents and screaming the same names but this voice registered with him. It was Morgan. “Morgan! Morgan! Where are you?!” 

“Daddy! I’m here! Daddy!” 

Tony tried to make his way towards the voice but it was too hard with all the other people pushing past him and screaming for their children in his ear in the process altogether he didn’t blame them, he was doing the same thing because he understood that a parent would do anything for their children. 

“Morgan!” He screamed again, looking around wildly but he couldn’t find her. 

“Daddy! Daddy!” 

Tony looked over and spotted her jumping on something, trying to get his attention. He pushed past a bunch of people and pulled her off the bench and into his arms. “Oh god. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He pulled away to look at her face but he didn’t have much time because Peter was still lost. 

She shook her head. “No, I’m-I’m okay. Peter’s not with me!” 

Tony set her on her feet and grabbed onto her hand tightly as he pulled her through the crowd. “Do you know where he is?” 

“No.” 

“Peter?! Peter?!” Tony screamed for his youngest baby, knowing it was going to be a lot harder to find him. He was still in kindergarten so he started making his way down the hallway to hopefully find him safely in his class. “Peter?! Call for him, Morgan.” 

“PETER!” Morgan screamed, almost silencing everyone in the building with her scream. “Wait- I hear something!” 

Tony stopped walking and pulled Morgan against a wall so they weren’t in the middle of all the people. “Call him again!” 

“PETER!” 

Tony heard it too this time. He pulled Morgan down the hallway and into a classroom but everyone was running towards them, fear written all over their faces as they ran down the hallway, back in the direction Tony and Morgan had come from. 

He had no idea what they were running from but if Peter was in that direction, he wasn’t going to leave him. He pulled Morgan along faster. “Peter?!” 

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Help me! Daddy!” Peter cried out, a lot closer this time. 

Tony pushed open a door to a classroom and spotted Peter standing on a desk in the middle of the classroom with his backpack still on him. The windows were broken and there were blood drops across the floor, leading outside the room. 

He immediately ran over to him and pulled Peter into his arms, kissing his face. “I love you. Oh god, are you okay?” 

“There were monsters in here!” Peter cried out, clinging onto Tony as hard as he could with his tiny arms. Tony held him on his hip, holding onto him with one arm so he could hold onto Morgan’s hand with his other. 

They had to get out of the school. Tony didn’t want to go through the hallway again so he walked towards the window to see if they could climb out of it to get to the van but it was way too sharp so he made the decision to go through the hallways again. 

“Daddy, I’m scared. Where’s mommy and Harley?” Morgan asked, struggling to keep up with Tony. 

“She’s picking up Harley.” Tony briefly forgot about Pepper, he wasn’t sure if she called but he couldn’t call her yet. He needed to get out of there. “Don’t let go of my hand, Morg.” Tony told her, pulling her through the crowd of screaming people. 

Peter buried his face into his neck, wrapping his tiny arms around his neck. 

Tony almost let go of Morgan since she was close to getting ripped away from him but he managed to hold on and get outside where it was still so chaotic. 

“We gotta get to the van.” Tony said, running across the parking lot to where he parked the van but it wasn’t there. He wildly looked around, trying to see if he parked it somewhere else but it was gone. “Where is it?! Look for it. Do you see it?” 

Morgan looked for their van but she couldn’t see it either. “No! I don’t see it.” 

“Fuck. Someone took it. Fuck.” Tony had no idea what to do. They had no way of getting home and he couldn’t possibly start walking with two young kids. “We gotta… I’m gonna call mom.” 

Peter lifted his head off Tony’s shoulder. “Daddy you said a naughty word.” 

“I know. Sorry, baby.” Tony wasn’t focusing on that right now. He was trying to find a place to let go of his kids so he could call Pepper. He ran to the side of the school and placed Peter down on a garden ledge then picked up Morgan and stood her on it as well so he had eyes on both of them. 

“I’m scared, daddy.” Peter cried out. 

Morgan hugged him. “It’s okay, Petey. I’ll hold your hand.” 

Tony fumbled to pull his phone out of his pocket, seeing eight missed calls from Pepper. He called her back and she answered on the first ring. 

“Tony! Do you have the kids? Where are you?” 

Tony heard a loud crash and turned around to see what it was but so much was going on all around them that he couldn’t see what it was. “I have them. You have to come pick us up. Someone stole the van. We can’t get home.” 

“Okay! Okay! I got Harley. We’re driving to get you guys now.” Pepper rushed out. “Are you guys okay? Where will we meet you?” 

Tony heard another loud crash and then people were screaming. He looked over and saw someone grabbing onto another person and biting into their neck. He picked Peter back up and grabbed onto Morgan’s arm, running in the opposite direction. “I don’t know! We can’t stay here!” 

“Get somewhere safe! Tell me where to go, Tony! Where do I pick you up?!” Pepper yelled into the phone but Tony didn’t know. There was nowhere safe. 

He looked around, trying to find a place to run to but people were everywhere. He saw someone banging their head against a car, trying to get in so he ran in the other direction. “Fuck! I don’t know!” 

“Dad!” Harley yelled into the phone. “Go to the car shop, behind it there’s a fence, just hop the fence and there’s an abandoned parking lot. We’ll meet you there.” 

Tony didn’t know how Harley knew about that but it wasn’t the time to ask him. “Okay! Okay! Come fast!” He hung up the phone, shoving it into his pocket with the hand that was holding onto Peter still. 

He went to run across the street but a car that was on fire causally drove down the street so Tony pulled Morgan back. “We just have to get across the street and to the parking lots down there. Can you keep up?” 

Morgan nodded, trying so hard to be brave but Tony could see that she was so terrified. He didn’t blame her, he was scared and he was a grown adult. 

Tony checked to see if the coast was clear before hoisting Peter up higher and squeezing Morgan’s hand. They ran across the street while Tony kept an eye out for anything about to attack them. He had no idea what it even was, it was the virus outbreak but it wasn’t supposed to get to America, it was contained in Germany. 

He didn’t know what they were up against. 

“Daddy! That persons bleeding from their face!” Morgan pointed across the street so Tony looked over there and saw someone standing in front of a convenience store, blood pouring down their face but they didn’t even look alive. 

“Try not to look, Morgan. Look away.” Tony told her, pulling her in the opposite direction. He knew the auto shop was down this street but he didn’t know where exactly and he didn’t have the time to pull his phone out to check for directions. 

He just wanted to get Peter and Morgan to safety so he ran down the street some more, frantically searching for the auto shop when he spotted it at the end of the block so he ran towards it and down the side street, towards the back. 

There was no one back there which he was thankful for and just like Harley said, there was a fence. He had no idea how he was going to get an eight and a six year old over that fence by himself and before anyone came. 

“Uhhh…” Tony tried to decide how to do this. His kids were good climbers but he knew they couldn’t climb this kind of fence. He placed Peter on his feet and picked Morgan up. “Morgan, you’re gonna sit on the fence and throw your leg over and then help your brother climb up.” 

“Daddy, I can’t!” 

“You have to.” Tony lifted her up, trying to help her get the other leg over so she was sitting with each leg on the fence. “Hold on with this hand then help your little brother up with the other hand.” 

He made sure Morgan was steady and then he picked Peter up and practically swung him on top of the fence. “Do you have him, Morgan?” 

“No.” Morgan struggled out, still trying to hold Peter up without falling down herself.  “He’s too heavy.” 

“Daddy! I slippin’!” Peter screamed, trying to grab onto Morgan so he didn’t fall. 

Tony reached up to swing Peter's other leg over the fence and then climbed up himself, sitting on the fence so both of his legs were on one side, not able to sit how Peter and Morgan were. “I’m gonna drop you onto the grass, Peter.” 

“Nooo!” Peter screamed but Tony didn’t have time. He grabbed Peter by his backpack and lowered him down as far as he could and then he dropped him. Peter landed on his feet but lost his balance and fell onto his butt, slamming into the fence. 

He did Morgan next, grabbing her arms and carefully dropping her onto the ground below. He then jumped down and picked Peter back up, taking Morgan’s hand and running up the hill. 

Just like Harley said, there was an abandoned parking lot and in the middle was their truck so he ran towards it with his kids and opened up the back door, lifting them into it and getting in himself. 

He sighed with relief once Pepper started driving. “Oh god. Are you guys okay?” 

Peter nodded as he attempted to climb into his car seat. 

“Do we go home, Tony? Where do I drive to?” Pepper asked out in a panic. There were people running out in every direction and cars slamming into each other. 

“Get us out of the city-” 

“Mom!” Harley screamed, pointing to a woman running towards their truck. 

Tony looked into the woman’s eyes. She looked dead but she wasn’t dead. She was running towards them. “Lock the doors. Lock the doors!” 

Tony locked his door and reached over to lock Peter’s but he was too late because the door was opening and Peter was being ripped out. “NOOO!” Tony reached across Morgan and grabbed onto Peter’s arm, pulling him back in. Everyone in the car was either screaming or crying. 

“AHHHH! DADDY!” Peter screamed, trying to grab onto Tony but the woman was pulling him out. 

Tony pushed Morgan behind him so he could turn around and kick the woman in the face, getting her off of Peter. Once she let go of Peter, Tony yanked him into the car and slammed the door shut, locking it behind him. He pulled Peter into his lap and made sure he was okay. “Oh god. Baby, you’re okay. Are you okay?” 

Peter cried violently against him so Tony held him close, checking him over just to make sure he was okay. 

“Tony?!” Pepper yelled. Tony hadn’t noticed she had been yelling at him for an answer the entire time. 

“He’s okay. Get us out of the city.” Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket. “We can… we can go up North. Maybe it’ll be safer there.” 

Harley handed his phone back to his dad. “Everyone is going up there, dad. We should go back home and wait it out.” 

“Harley’s right.” Pepper insisted. “We don’t know where else to go. Everyone is trying to get out of the city so they’ll all be going up North.” 

“Well, we can’t exactly stay in the city.” Tony ran his hand through his hair. He debated going home but that was too risky. They lived too close to the city which meant they wouldn’t be safe there for long. “Let’s keep driving North. Go North, Pep. It’s our safest bet.” 

“We’re empty, Tony. We need to get gas.” Pepper pointed out. 

Tony didn’t know what to do. It was too risky. Every single person would be trying to get gas but they needed it and would be screwed without it. “Okay. Harley, you stay in here with your siblings, I’ll go in to get some things and Pepper, you’ll fill the car up. No more than five minutes.” 

“I should go in with you, dad.” Harley insisted. 

Tony wasn’t going to risk that. “If we leave the truck, someone will take it. You need to stay here with your brother and sister.” 

Pepper pulled up to the gas station but there were cars scattered everywhere, people were running in and out of the building with supplies and Tony got a really bad feeling about this. “Okay. Be quick. I’ll be in and out in two minutes.” 

“No. Tony, you should take the kids. We can’t leave them in here. If you take Harley in, you guys can get more things. Let’s make this a one stop thing.” Pepper told him desperately. Tony could hear how scared she was, he was too and they both weren’t thinking straight. 

“Drive over the curb. There! There! There’s an open pump.” Tony got out of the truck and looked around. Everyone was running wild. He didn’t want to take the kids in but Pepper was right, he couldn’t leave them here. “Come. Come.” He picked Peter up and grabbed onto Morgan’s hand again. “Look for food and grab it. Batteries, water, anything valuable that we’ll need.” 

Tony grabbed a shopping cart and ran into the store, he placed Peter in it and ran down the aisles, throwing a bunch of food into the kart. Morgan ran beside him, trying to keep up. “Morg, grab those bottles of water.” 

She went to grab it but the whole shelf was falling over so he quickly grabbed her out of the way. Harley ran over to them and dumped batteries into the cart. 

“Harley, take Peter and the cart and go to the back aisle where the medicine is. We might need it.” Tony instructed so Harley pushed the cart with Peter in it to go do that. 

Tony grabbed onto Morgan’s hand and went to go get a gun at the back. He grabbed two boxes of gun ammunition and handed it to Morgan. “Hold this.” 

“No guns, daddy. That’s dangerous.” She tried to tell Tony but he was already hopping over the counter and grabbed one. 

“DADDY! Help me!” 

Tony looked up and saw the shopping cart slowly rolling out of an aisle with Peter in it, Harley wasn’t with him. He jumped back over the country and shoved the gun into the back of his pants and grabbed Morgan’s hand, running towards Peter. 

He grabbed the cart and looked down the aisle Peter got pushed out to see Harley on the floor with a man trying to drag him away by his legs. Tony pulled the cart behind him and pulled the unloaded gun out of his pants to aim it at the man. “Hey! Get off him!” 

The man quickly let go of Harley and ran out of the aisle. Tony sighed heavily. 

“Dad, were you actually going to shoot him?” Harley stood up, quickly making his way over to Tony and his siblings. 

“No. It’s not loaded. Let’s get out of here. Take Morgan’s hand.” Tony lifted Peter out of the cart and ran outside with it and over to the truck. Pepper just finished filling it up and Tony was so incredibly relieved to see her there and their car still there. 

He handed Peter over to Pepper so he could help Harley toss everything into the truck. “Get the kids into the car, Pep, I’m gonna drive this time.” 

Tony and Harley were throwing everything into the trunk as quickly as they could and then Tony shut it and got into the driver's seat, waiting for Harley to climb into the passenger seat before he was backing out, going over the curb again. “Make sure your doors are locked.” 

Tony had no idea where they were going. He wanted to drive for as long as possible and hope that they found something. Anything. 

In the backseat, Pepper tried to take Peter’s backpack off that he was still wearing. “Take it off, Peter. You don’t need to wear it anymore.” 

Peter whimpered. “No, I want to still.” 

Pepper pulled Peter onto her lap and tugged it off of him. “Did you put bumble bee in here again?” 

“Uh huh.” Peter reached into the bag and pulled his stuffed animal out, rubbing his cheek against it. He knew he shouldn’t keep bringing it to school but he liked to cuddle it when he missed his parents so he snuck it in there. 

“That’s okay. You have him now so he’s safe.” She reassured Peter then placed his backpack on the floor. There wasn’t much room in the back with two car seats and only Morgan sitting in hers. 

“Mommy?” Peter asked quietly. 

“Yeah?” 

“I have to go potty.” Peter admitted, looking up at Pepper through his eyelashes. 

Pepper looked out the window but they were driving on a highway with a ton of other cars going in the same direction as them. Almost no one was heading in the opposite direction. The cars that were heading that way made Pepper wonder if they were only going that way because they had family in the city. 

“Tony, Peter needs to pee.” Pepper said, not knowing what he was going to do about it while he was driving. 

“Um…” Tony looked around the car. He spotted an empty water bottle on the ground. “Can you hand me that, Harls?” Harley picked up the plastic bottle and handed it to his dad who handed it back to Pepper. “He’s gonna have to go in this, Pep. Just help him.” 

Pepper opened the lid and showed Peter. “I’ll help you, okay?” 

Peter nodded and waited until his mom helped him get situated before he relieved himself. 

“I’m all done.” He announced so Pepper closed the lid on the bottle and put it on the car floor, not really knowing where else to put it. 

She pulled up his underwear and pants and checked on the roads. From where they were, they could see a ton of traffic up ahead that she definitely didn’t want to get stuck in. There were too many people so it was too risky. “Tony, I think we should pull off the road. It’s too dangerous.” 

“Where would we go?” Tony asked her. He pulled over to the right lane so he could possibly turn off. “I mean, we could try and find a hotel- no. Definitely not.” Tony shot that idea down straight away. 

“We’ll find somewhere else to go but right now I think we need to get off this highway, Tony. As soon as possible.” She leaned forward and pushed herself up to get a better view of the road up ahead. “Imagine getting stuck in that and those… things, whatever they are, come.” 

Tony pulled off at the next exit, driving a bit on the grass since he made such a sharp turn. “What are we looking for? Somewhere to sleep?” Tony checked the time. 

It was still early in the afternoon but he didn’t want to get into a position where they couldn’t sleep at night. 

Especially with two young kids. 

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They had been driving for a few hours now and each hour that passed by was one more hour that both parents still didn’t have a plan. 

Tony had Harley pull up a map to try and find a place they could drive to and stay for a few days until they either figured out the long term plan or until this whole thing blew over. 

Harley’s phone died in the first hour and Tony’s phone was about to die so Pepper’s phone was the last one left. They were trying to save that battery. 

Peter rubbed at his eyes with a whimper. “When are we gonna be there? I’m so bored.” 

In the backseat, Pepper was trying to keep Peter and Morgan entertained but it was hard. “I don’t know where we’re going yet. We’re trying to figure it out now.” 

“Mommy?” Asked Morgan. “Is something really bad happening?” 

“No, Morgan.” Tony interrupted. He didn’t want to scare them. “Everything will be okay. It’ll all pass over soon.” 

“Tony,” Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re not going to lie to them. They’re old enough to know.” 

“Daddy’s a liar?” Peter asked, chewing on the top of his thumb. 

It was Tony’s turn to narrow his eyes at Pepper. 

“No, baby. He just doesn’t want you guys to be scared because of what’s going on.” Pepper simply explained. 

Tony looked back in the mirror but when he looked back on the road, he spotted something up ahead so he toned out the conversation going on in the back. They had to drive through a small city just out of the city they lived in but the end of the road seemed to be blocked off. 

“Wait. Something isn’t right.” Tony quietly said, more to himself. 

“What is it, dad?” Asked Harley, putting the phone down to try and see what the problem was up ahead. “Is that the military? Did they block the roads?” 

“I don’t know-” 

Tony was cut off as a car hit the side of their car and sent them spinning out of control down the road and smacking into another car. It took a few seconds for Tony to register what happened since it all happened so fast. 

He took off his seatbelt and tried to turn around to see his kids in the back. “Are you guys okay? Pepper, are the kids okay?!” 

“Yes.” Pepper checked them over, looking at Peter who looked like he was about to start crying. 

“We have to…” Tony grabbed his head, feeling a bit dizzy for a second. “We have to get out of the car.” The front was smoking and it wasn’t going to start again, even if Tony tried to start it. 

“Dad! What’s that?!” Harley pointed up ahead to a ton of people trying to break through the barricades that the military set up. 

Tony snapped his head in that direction. “Let’s go now! Pepper, get Peter!” Tony ordered, knowing that Peter was strapped in his car seat and she was closest to him. 

He got out of the car and looked behind him at the pile of cars pulling up behind them. People were already getting out of their cars and running towards the city so Tony didn’t understand and thought that they must be seeing something that he wasn’t. The city was the last place to go. 

“Dad!” Harley yelled and ran around the car. “That guys eating that guys face off!” 

Tony snapped his head in that direction but he couldn’t see where Harley was pointing to with all the people running crazy and some even jumping on top of each other. “We gotta go. Now!” Tony opened up the back door to grab Peter since Pepper was struggling to do it with Morgan in the middle. “I got him. Get Morgan out!” 

“Daddy! Don’t leave me!” Peter cried out, reaching for his dad with desperate arms, thinking that everyone was going to leave him. 

“I got you.” Tony undid his car seat buckles and set him on his hip, running towards the rest of the family but Peter screamed. 

“My bumble bee, daddy! I can’t leave him!” Peter cried out so Tony put him in his feet. “Go get him.” 

“Keep running that way, I have to get his bee.” Tony pointed at Pepper to get them to keep going as he ran back to the car as quickly as he could. He jumped into the back and searched for the teddy bear, finding it on the floor of the car. 

Loud screaming started from behind him so he snapped his head to see what it was and saw a woman aggressively banging her head on the window of a car. She pulled a man out as if it were nothing and bit into his arm. 

Tony watched the man squirm and wither on the ground for a few seconds and then he was standing up and running towards someone else and biting them. Tony wasted no more time watching that. 

He ran towards his family. “Run! Go go go!” He yelled at them, watching Pepper take Morgan’s hand and run with Harley but Peter was just standing there. Tony ran towards Peter, scooped him up and ran. 

These were some type of zombies. He had no idea what the virus really was since no one ever said what it was and so everyone was trying to run from something that they didn’t really know what they were running from. 

He caught up to his family, trying to keep them all in the same place as they ran, not even knowing where they were going. “We gotta find a house or a building!” Tony yelled, holding onto Peter for dear life. He handed Peter his bumble bee that Peter clung onto tightly. 

“Daddy!” Morgan screamed. Someone was running and bumped into her, sending her flying on the ground and scraping her knees. 

Tony grabbed her by the arm, practically dragging her to catch up with Pepper and Harley. “Run, Morgan!” He knew she was only eight but she had to run or those things would catch up to them. 

“Let’s get to that building!” Pepper pointed to a building in the distance, trying to get Tony to see it in the midst of all the chaos going on around them. “Tony! Over there!” 

“I see it!” He didn’t know where else to go so he pulled Morgan along, having no time to feel bad for doing so. “Pepper! Watch out!” 

One of those things came out of nowhere and grabbed onto Pepper, throwing her on the ground. Tony placed Peter on the ground and let go of Morgan’s hand. “Harley, take your siblings and run towards that building!” 

Harley grabbed onto both of their hands. “Dad! No!” 

“Go! Now!” He handed Harley the gun to use just in case he needed it. “Shoot it if you have to!” 

Harley let go of Morgan’s hand and placed it in the back of his pants before grabbing onto Morgan again then ran towards the building. 

Tony tried to kick the zombie off of Pepper but he couldn’t so he grabbed a garden rock that was in the street and threw it at it’s head, smashing it in. “Are you okay?!” He helped Pepper up, looking at her arm to see if she was bit. 

“Yeah.” She looked herself over, trying to make sure. 

“Did you get bit?” Tony asked, terrified of the answer but he didn’t think so. She would have already turned. 

“No. I-I don’t think so. Where are the kids?!” 

Harley kept looking back to see if his parents were behind them but all he could see were people running and attacking each other or trying to sprint away from everything around them. 

Peter tripped for the fifth time so Harley picked him up, knowing he could run faster if he held his six year old brother. “Faster, Morgan!” He yelled, trying to pull her along. He ran to the building and ran around the back, not even bothering to get around to the front. 

“Where’s mommy and daddy, Harley?!” Morgan asked, trying her best to keep up. 

“I don’t know! We gotta find a way in. Look, Morgan!” Harley let go of Morgan’s hand to pull out his gun and held it in one hand, aiming it up just in case. 

Peter dropped his bee teddy and screamed for it but Harley didn’t stop. “Noooo! My bee! Nooo!” 

“Stop! We can’t go back!” 

Morgan tripped again but got right back up and followed her brothers but she found a door. “Harley! Here! We can get in here!” 

Harley ran back towards the door. “Good job.” He looked back towards the busy street for his parents but he couldn’t see them so he hoped to god they were okay. He opened the door and went in first, aiming his gun up but not entirely sure how to use it. “Hurry.” He said to Morgan who ran in after him.

He looked around, he couldn’t hear anything inside the building. It was an apartment building and they walked in through the back entrance so he put Peter on his feet and started walking up the stairs slowly, trying to listen. 

“Harley, carry me. I’m scar-” 

“Shh. Shut up.” The seventeen year old said to his little brother, trying not to alert anyone that they were there. 

Peter stuck out his bottom lip in a pout so Morgan grabbed onto his hand to comfort him. “It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe.” She whispered, continuing to follow Harley up. 

They climbed four flights of stairs and stumbled upon a door that was unlocked so Harley aimed the gun again and opened it. He peeked his head out and didn’t see anything but then out of nowhere, a zombie ran through the doors and attacked Harley and threw him to the ground, landing on top of him. 

“AHHHHH!” Peter screamed, jumping up and down in fear and not knowing what to do. 

Morgan tried to kick the zombie off of her brother but it didn’t work so she screamed with Peter. “Ahhhhh!” She picked up the gun that fell and handed it to Harley. “The gun! Shoot him!” 

Harley was holding the zombie with one hand by the neck, away from his face and with the other hand he aimed the gun at the zombies forehead and shot it. 

Instantly the zombie died so Harley pushed it off of him and spit out the blood he got in his mouth. He handed Morgan the gun, not wanting his siblings around if he was going to turn so he didn’t attack them. 

“Take it and run!” Morgan took the gun but she didn’t move. “Go! Now!” 

Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand and started running up the stairs. “Run, Peter! Hurry!” 

Peter struggled to keep up but his tiny legs couldn’t run more than putting each foot on a step at a time. “I’m trying!” He cried out, turning to look behind him but not seeing Harley. 

They climbed three floors and then Morgan grabbed onto Peter’s hand and ran to a corner, pushing Peter behind her and standing there with the gun aimed in shaky hands, holding it up to anyone who tried to come near her and Peter. 

She knew it was her job to protect her little brother, even if she just lost the rest of her family.