Hey. So this isn't the first story I've ever written, but this is the first I've worked on in a long time. A few weeks back this idea popped into my head, and I knew I had to roll with it. I'll be continuing this story in my free time as long as I'm able to, and plan to see it through to its completion. I hope you enjoy reading, and any/all feeback or constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you, and enjoy.

Oh, also, I DO NOT own the Loud House, The Walking Dead, or pretty much anything featured in this story. They're owned by Nickelodeon and AMC, respectively. I do not claim ownership or anything like that. I'm just writing a non-profit story here.

Edit: So apparently, my method of separating different scenes or locations won't work. So if you read this before that got fixed, I apologize for any confusion that caused in the story.

It was a cloudy August afternoon in Georgia, but otherwise pleasant. The highways were bustling as usual, but many side roads were oddly vacant for the most part. This became increasingly apparent to all of the occupants of Vanzilla as it went by unopposed. Although none of the Loud family members gave it much thought. They were all preoccupied with either their own unique hobbies, or were thinking of the trip they now found themselves on.

A few months back, the Loud's Patriarch, Lynn Sr, got a lengthy call from an old college friend. After catching up with his old companion, the father of 11 children shared that he and his wife were planning to take the kids on a vacation for the last few weeks of summer. On that topic, Lynn learned from his old buddy that there was a fantastic camping site along the coast in Florida which their family frequented nearly every year. And, learning that the Loud's own plans weren't set in stone, they were quick to endorse the area for its gorgeous view of the forest, ocean, and night sky.

After weeks of planning, scheduling, and convincing the children that they'd enjoy the change of scenery, the bustling family now found themselves on their second day of driving to the lower half of the country. At first only a couple of the siblings were excited about their vacation; namely Lana, and Lynn Jr to an extent. But over the week they'd spent thinking, packing, and, in a few cases, smuggling unknown cargo into the back of Vanzilla: they'd all grown to be at least interested for the family getaway. Or, in the case of a certain princess, tolerable to it. This served as a relief for their parents,

Lori, the eldest, was currently texting her boyfriend, Bobby, and was more cautious than normal to ensure nobody else glanced at the contents of her phone. Leni, second child, had a personal hand mirror out, which she'd been staring into for the last hour or so. Luna, third eldest, was strumming her signature guitar, careful to not be too loud after previous noise complaints. Luan, fourth child, who was sitting right behind her father, was leaning forward to share jokes with him. Lynn Jr, fifth child, was tossing a baseball lightly (again, after noise complaints) against the seat in front of hers, and catching it effortlessly as it bounced back.

Lincoln, the middle child and only boy amongst his ten sisters, was staring out the window, almost lost in thought. Lucy, seventh child, was writing another one of her poems in a notebook she'd brought along for the trip. Lana and Lola, the twins, were having some kinda hushed discussion amongst themselves, although anyone who glimpsed their way could guess that they were on the verge of some form of roughhousing. Lisa, the four year old who could rival most scientist, was tinkering with some kind of device that none of her family could make out just by looking at it. And finally, Lily, the baby of the family, was currently sleeping peacefully next to Lincoln (and served as the main reason noise was being kept down).

As mentioned, Lynn Sr was currently exchanging terrible jokes with Luan while the family's matriarch, Rita, was driving them along the increasingly empty rural roads of Georgia. Now, they'd hoped to reach the campsite by 3pm today. But due to an, um, incident the morning prior involving some (most) of the siblings, they would be lucky to be there by nightfall. Regardless, they'd have a few good weeks to enjoy themselves and each other's company before school started up back home. Hopefully. Given the family's track record, who's to say what could happen.

"...Alright, so what do you call 100 rabbits walking backwards?" Lynn Sr asked, a large smirk plastered onto his face.

Stifling a giggle, Luan responded, "I dunno. What do you call that?"

"A Receding Hair-Line!" Both father and daughter erupted in a fit of suppressed laughter, doing their best to keep from disturbing the peaceful baby in the vehicle.

"Okay! Okay, okay…" Luan covered her mouth until she could keep a relatively straight face, "So, dad, y'know that allounce you gave me last week?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Well, I bought a wooden whistle, but it wooden whistle. So I bought a steel whistle, but it steel wooden whistle. So I bought a lead whistle, but it steel wooden lead me whistle!" At that, the pair of comedians had trouble keeping themselves in line. Out of all the bad puns they'd thrown back and forth over the day, that one seemed the least horrible. Sadly.

Lincoln, seeing his baby sister begin to stir, got their attention, "Hey, guys? You might wanna quiet it down a little bit…"

Taking moderate control of themselves, the duo responded in unison, with large grins on their faces, "Sorry."

Rita shook her head, a small smirk adorning her left cheek. With Vanzilla growing moderately quiet again, she looked at her children through the rear view mirror, "So, who's excited to visit Florida? I hear that the view's unbelievable."

Lisa glanced up from her devise to confront Rita, "Well, judging by recent weather patterns and the state of the Atlantic, it's safe to assume that there's no threat of severe storms or hurricanes from ruining our designated area of recreation."

"What Lisa says is true." Lucy interjected, "Before we left the spirits claimed we would only see fair weather the rest of this month." She thought back to that seance, the night before they'd left. Aside from ensuring they wouldn't get flooded out, the ghost had also tried conveying other messages, but oddly they were jumbled and made little sense. Lucy wasn't hugely worried about it, as she had no reason to right now, but curiosity had certainly gripped her regarding it.

Leni looked away from her mirror, "Oh! Do you think we'll see any of those big fish? Y'know, those long fish that are, like, smarter than people, or something? The ones with those holes on the back of their heads for breathing?"

Lynn stopped tossing her baseball for a moment to process the words she'd heard, "...Dolphins?"

"Yeah!" Leni exclaimed in excitement, "Doll-fins!"

Lisa glanced up yet again, "Um, actually, Dolphins are a breed of-"

"It's pointless, Lisa." Lori stated, not with a mean spirited tone, but rather matter-of-factly. She only glanced from her phone for a moment, adamant about keeping up with her Boo Boo Bear in their seemingly endless text session.

A small sigh, "Yeah, I know…"

The twin's dispute finally ending, Lana glanced a few squirrels climbing a power pole they drove past. They were quickly going from a vast farmlands to being surrounded on both sides by lengthy forest on both sides, and she was quick to spot other woodland critters scattering about among the trees, "It would be awesome to see some Dolphins. Or a whale! Do you think we'll see a whale?!"

Lynn Sr chuckled at his kid's enthusiasm, "Oh, I don't know for sure. But you never know-" He was cut off as their van quickly swerved towards the left side of the road, shocking all of the present passengers aside from the slumbering Lily. Seconds later an oncoming smart car, driving the wrong way, came barreling by at least ten miles above the speed limit. Once she was clear, Rita more smoothly returned to her previous position on the road.

Luna, feeling her heart slowly calm itself, watched the car quickly disappear out of sight, "Dudes, what was that about?"

"Why was he driving like that?" Lola asked, now slightly shaking, resulting in her being comforted by the rougher twin.

Rita shook her head as her husband wiped his brow, "He could've hit us…"

"Was that guy literally insane or something?!" Lori nearly shouted, finally distracted from her phone as it began blowing up with more messages.

Luan took a deep breath "Heh, I dunno about you guys, but that seemed more like a dumb car to me." It was a terrible joke, but it did succeed in calming most of the car's inhabitants further. She patted herself for thinking of it as quickly as she did. Admitably, though, she was (somewhat) slightly concerned that she thought the joke up while said car was in danger of ramming them.

Lincoln frowned, "That was the first car I've seen all day…"

"How was that the first car you've seen?" Leni asked, mostly unfazed once the incident was over, "I mean, aren't we in a car? Lori, is Vanzilla a ca-"

"Yes."

"Are you su-"

"Yes."

"...huh."

Lynn Sr and Rita both made sure the kids were fine once they'd gotten a grip themselves. The family remained in a relatively calm state after that ordeal. Nobody was talking, and most of the previous activities were put on hold for the time being. Eventually, Rita broke the silence, "Looks like there's a bad bump in the road, kids. Everyone be prepared."

Moments later, despite going slower to pass it smoothly, Vanzilla experienced a few seconds where half of the tires were much lower than the other half. This rocked everyone about a little bit. Thankfully, all of the children were wearing seat-

There was a thud "Augh!"

…

...belts.

Currently, eight of the loud siblings, along with their father, bolted their attention in the direction of the new voice. Two of the siblings stared ahead, their eyes as big as saucers while they began to sweat in fear. And the mother, well, she held an expression which could best be described as a mixture of smug, disappointed, and yet somehow, indifferent.

"Hmm." She chuckled, looking to the back of Vanzilla through her rear view mirror, "I wonder who that could be." The two guilty parties quickly sank back into their seats, while an air of 'oh crap' resonated from the back of the vehicle among their luggage.

"Uhm, Lucy, did I hear one of your ghost friends?" Leni asked, being one of the few now oblivious to what was going on.

"No, you didn't."

"Are you su-"

"Yes."

"...huh."

After what felt like an eternity of forced silence, Rita spoke once again, "You can come out now. We all know you're back there."

…

A defeated sigh, "Okay, Mrs. Loud." Any doubts as to the new person's identity quickly sank as soon as he spoke, "You win."

Rita's face became noticeably more smug as she watched the luggage far in the back rustle about. Oh yeah, she knew. She knew about their stowaway, that her child cleverly hid away at the start of their journey. She knew that said teen girl was now fully submerged into her seat. She knew all along about the two teenagers currently in the-

'Wait, two?!' She did a double take, glancing between the mirror and the road multiple times, before turning to face the back of Vanzilla directly, "What the-" She was now a mixture of confused, and irritated, "What are you doing here?"

"Um…" a new voice, this one belonging to the girlfriend of a certain musician, spoke up, "I thought you knew we were both here…"

"No, I didn't, Samantha." She informed the teen girl, "I only knew Bobby was back there."

"You knew about Bobby?!" Lori yelled, now feeling sick with worry.

"You didn't know about Sam…?" Luna somehow sank further, knowing that she could have potentially avoided this revelation for now.

Roberto Santiago Jr, referred to as Bobby by most, had been on the wrong side of the van when they'd hit that huge bump on the road. He'd gotten tossed backwards, his shoulder making contact with the rear window, which caused him to, unfortunately, cry out in momentary pain. Knowing he'd gotten both himself and Luna's friend caught, but feeling he shouldn't talk in that moment, he sent Lori a text without needing to see the phone.

"Sorry, babe." Lori only glanced at the sudden message.

...

"its ok"

Sam gave a weak wave to Luna, who nodded half-heartedly. When she turned back to find a pair of eyes staring her down through the rear-view, she officially became one with the fabric of her seat. Most of the Loud siblings (along with Lynn Sr) were both surprised about the display, and silently approving of Lori and Luna's bravery.

"Kids." Rita began, glaring at the new passengers. Anyone who was about to speak up were silenced by her voice as it beamed with authority, "Do your parents know you're here?" There were a few moments of murmuring from the back, both clearly stating 'Yes' sooner or later in their response. The matriarch nodded, "Alright. In that case: why didn't we know you were here?" She demanded, referring to herself and her husband.

"Um, well, y'see Mrs. Loud." Bobby began, "We were going to ask-"

"Don't lie."

"We wanted to ask, but it was decided, at some point, that it was best to…"

"We thought it was best to surprise you!" Sam declared, taking the reins, "That way when you guys go to the campgrounds, there'd be two extra people to help pitch tents and all that!"

"Yeah, totally!" Bobby agreed, with Sam nodding quickly to seal the deal. Rita only glanced between Lori, Sam, Bobby, and Luna, getting a read on them in that moment.

It had been planned so perfectly. On the morning that they were packing up to leave, Lori had convinced Leni, Lola, and Lana to distract mom and dad long enough for her to sneak Bobby into the van with their luggage. Initially he would follow them in his car, with Lori telling him what roads to take along the way, until tragedy struck and his car's engine got ruined by an inexperienced mechanic. After that, they came up with Plan B: he'd hide out in the back, with Lori constantly texting him to keep the poor guy's mind away from his claustrophobia.

As mentioned, it had been planned thoroughly. In fact, it went better than expected! Aside from her three helpers, who played their parts well; Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln had also taken to gaining the adult's attention for an impressive amount of time. In fact, they were so good at the task, that the sounds of crashing and something breaking could be heard coming from the house. I mean, it worked, so…

However, when Lori and Bobby had gotten behind Vanzilla to enact stage two of their marvelous plan, they discovered a certain younger sibling with a similar line of thought. It turns out the second trio of siblings had been hired by Luna, who was currently hiding Sam in a similar fashion to what the eldest had in mind. Both siblings, and their cohorts, were initially worried they'd been discovered. But it was quickly apparent that great minds indead thought alike, and in a moment of mutual respect, a silent pact was forged. And so, Bobby hid among the other half of the luggage pile, with Lori and Luna rearranging a few bags to both give them room and keeping all the changes from looking out of place. With two water bottles and some packed provisions to hold them over, the pair had expertly evaded being discovered for well over a day.

That is until now, anway.

"Well, uh," Lynn Sr began, still looking back at the teens, "It's nice to see you kids. I hope the ride back there hasn't been too rough."

"Good to see you too, Mr L!" Sam beamed, happy to get welcoming response from one of the parents, in light of the circumstances, "My necks kinda sore, but other than that…"

Lincoln glanced between his siblings, "Not to sound rude or anything, but what exactly was your plan here?"

Rita turned from the road once again, "Yes, children, what was the plan?"

Luna rubbed the back of her neck, "Well, the idea was that…" She ran through what she'd planned to say, realizing there was no great way to put it, "After we'd gotten everything set up, and everyone had settled in, Sam would sorta announce herself. By then it'd be a waste to drive all the way back…" Lori nodded as the younger sister spoke, confirming that was along the lines of her plan as well.

Letting their story settle in, Rita glanced at the stowaways once more, "I want you both to be honest here. Do both of your individual parents know that you're on this trip?"

This time, there was a clear "Yes." from both of them in unison. Except, Bobby soon followed his with, "My mamá thinks you're aware about it, though."

…

"You could have just asked us."

"WHAT?!" Four voices declared in disbelief, staring at the mother behind the wheel.

"You could have just asked." She repeated herself, looking into the rear view once more as the road curved, "We would have been happy to include them from the start."

Lori sat up, "Wait, but last week when I asked about bringing other people, you literally said 'no'."

"Well, there must have been some misunderstanding, dear. Because I remember saying..."

"Honey, stop the car."

"...that we were-"

"Rita, stop the car!"

All the Loud children, along with his wife, Bobby, and Sam, were taken back by the sudden outburst from their father. Rita glanced from the mirror to face him, "Lynn, what's…" Before she could turn her head, she saw it. Vanzilla was now brought to a smooth, but swift halt.

It was haunting. Not far down the road, partially concealed amongst the trees due to the winding road, there was a mangled wreck of cars. It was hard to tell from this distance if it was two or three vehicles involved in that mess. Then again, it was hard to make out much of anything, given how they were almost fused into one ghastly monster of what used to be working machines. Scraps of metal could be seen littered all over the area. Along with shards of glass, plastic, and what could only be shredded patches of tires, in closer proximity to the main pile.

It was the worst wreck any of them had ever seen, even for the adults were both in shock at the sight, mouths agape. Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Bobby, and Sam spotted the mess as well, and had no way to immediately respond in voice. When Lola, Lana, and Lisa attempted to see what had their family's attention, they were shielded from it by several of their older siblings. Or, at least, they tried their best to protect them.

"Dude…" Luna was the first to speak, and that was all she could muster.

"Oh my God." Rita gasped as Lynn Sr shook his head, saddened that his children could see the wreck, but at least thankful that they weren't any closer. If it looked so bad this far away, one could only imagine what it was like up close.

"What is that?" Leni asked, squinting at the mess ahead, "Why do those cars look so weird?"

Lynn had nearly dropped her baseball once she'd seen it, and had since barely mustered the strength to move, "It's a wreck, Leni. Those cars…" She couldn't quite bring herself to finish, nor break her line of sight from the wreckage quite yet.

Nearby, Lily had begun to awaken. Not wanting the baby to have this sight stuck her mind, of all things, Lincoln was quick to soothe the child back to sleep. He soon had the assistance of Luan and Leni, the former moving back in the van towards them to help. By now the twins and Lisa had glimpsed what they shouldn't have, and were quickly regretting it. Lori, Sam, and Bobby had yet to turn away from the sight. Lucy was likely the least freaked out among the van's inhabitants, but that didn't mean she was even slightly unfazed.

Rita, coming back to her senses, realized that her children shouldn't be seeing this. She was all set to move the van back a few good yards when Bobby spoke up, "Hey, I think I see something moving!"

"What?" Rita gasped, freezing before the vehicle could move.

"There!" He pointed, directing everyone who'd looked away back towards the wreck, "I saw something moving, further up the road! Behind those cars."

"Do you think someone's there?" Lori asked, in disbelief. She couldn't imagine anyone who was in that accident walking around afterward. Certainly they'd be too hurt, or worse.

Lynn dropped her ball, "I saw it, too! There's definitely somebody over there!"

Her mother saw it now, too. It was unmistakably the silhouette of a person moving around, further up the road. Either someone else had come across this mess, or…

Without saying a word, Rita threw Vanzilla in reverse. Rather than leaving the scene, as she'd planned a minute prior, their family vehicle steered off and was carefully sent back into the grass on their right. After a few moments of confusion from the Loud siblings, the van was parked just off the side of the side of the road. Satisfied that they were safe from oncoming vehicles, Rita threw off her seatbelt, "Children, stay here. Your father and I are going to see if we can help."

"Wait, we are?" Lynn Sr asked, turning to his beloved wife. She was already out the door, "We are." He followed suit, removing his seatbelt and stepping outside.

"Are you certain that this is the best course of action, Father?" Lisa inquired, the smallest hint of worry in her voice.

Luan turned to their dad, as Lily drifted back into a deep sleep, "Yeah, shouldn't we call an ambulance or something?"

Flustered from the situation, and seeing his wife was already walking a bit ahead, he nodded, "Good call. Lori, I want you to call 911 while we're gone. Get them out here as quick as you can. Chances are good someone needs help over there right now, though. So your mother and I are gonna go up the road a bit to see what we can do." The teen had the number dialed by the time he finished his sentence.

Lynn Jr stood up, "Then the rest of us should come too, right? We could help."

Luan, Luna, Leni, Lola, Lana, Lisa, and Lucy all went to say something themselves when they were cut off, "Absolutely not, girls. Your mother would kill me if any of you went out there." He turned to Lincoln, who looked back in anticipation, "Same goes for you, son. Just stay put."

Sam grabbed his attention before he could shut the door, "What about us, Mr. L? Can we help?"

Bobby nodded, "Yeah, do you need us to do anything?"

Lynn Sr thought on it for a moment. Having more muscle over there could prove invaluable if anybody was stuck or otherwise. He nodded, "Okay. Bobby, come with us. Sam, you go ahead and stay here. Come get us if something happens. Understand?"

"Yeah, you got it." Sam followed behind Bobby as they careful hopped over the back seats, navigating their way to separate spots in the RV. While she squeezed herself in a seat next to Luna, Lynn Sr helped the other teen slide open the left side door. Once he was out, Bobby turned to shoot a comforting gaze at Lori. She returned a worried expression, the phone up to her head.

The older man turned towards his children once again, "I am being serious right now, okay." He stated, making sure everyone aside from the slumbering baby had his attention, "If I catch any of you leaving Vanzilla without our express permission, you'll be in serious trouble when we get back. Understood?" There was a chorus of murmurs and nods in understanding. Glancing between his children once more, Lynn Sr slid the door closed. The kids were left there, watching him and Bobby catch up with their mom.

Neither of them said a word as they caught up with the matriarch. Rita remained silent as well despite questioning how wise bringing Bobby up to the wreck would be. Given the likelihood of them seeing something no young person should, it might have been better had he stayed behind. But she didn't speak up. So the three of them continued along the side of the road, getting close to the wreck sooner than they'd wished.

It had already been a shocking sight from a distance, but up close the wreck was even worse. There was definitely three cars involved in this collision. Two had struck each other, while another could be seen on the other side of the scrap pile. The smaller of the two vehicles, a grey station wagon, was a head-on collision. It was so caved in that one could mistakenly assume it had been cut in half. The second, decently bigger SUV had swerved into the smaller machine, creating a gapping dent in its side. The third, and likely the least damaged of the totaled trio, looked to be some kind of sports car. That one had slammed into the larger vehicle from the other side, effectively sandwiching it between the smaller transports.

Lynn Sr threw a hand to his mouth, while Rita and Bobby became similarly repulsed. There was no mistaking what they saw. One of the doors along the wagon's left side was wide open. It barely hang on, and could very well collapse to the asphalt at any moment. Outside of that door, smothered over the ground, was a small pool of crimson. An unsettling amount of it, with even more crawling its way down the pavement like a swarm of ants in perfect formation. More splatters of red could be seen around the vehicles, along with a few trails leading away from the scene. It was clear this had gone down more than a few minutes before their arrival.

Among all that they could see, they didn't find anyone moving around anymore. Unless they were hidden beyond the wreck, they were no longer within sight.

"Hey!" Bobby called out, turning their attention away from the horrid view, "There's another one down there!" He was right. This part of the road had a small decline on either side. To their right, there was a brown pickup truck that had tumbled onto its side and straight into a tree. It could be inferred by the visible tire tracks leading into clumps of grass and dirt that the driver, more than likely, crashed to avoid the dogpile which now blocked this road.

"Ah, jeez, this is really bad." Lynn Sr declared, slowing trying to get a grip of himself. In all his years, he'd never been faced with a situation quite like this one. He watched as his wife slowly slinked her way forward, forcing herself with each step.

Bobby soon began his own subdued march towards the truck, pausing to turn towards his girlfriend's father, "I'm gonna check out that truck. Y'know, in case someone's down there."

The adult nodded, "Alright, just stay safe. If you see any leaking gas, back away and let us know." The teen nodded before turning away, continuing down the hill. Mustering up all the fortitude he could, Lynn Sr made his way forward. Hopefully someone had survived this disaster.

Lincoln had soon been overtaken by anxiety after their parents and Bobby left. Not knowing what was happening over there, with his parents and his older friend, was killing him. At the same time he almost understood why none of them were allowed to follow. He'd felt ill when he first spotted the cars beyond the trees, and whatever he might see close up would surely be worse. So he listened to his father and stayed put. Thankfully, Lily was nearby to offer some passive comfort. The baby shared a close bond with her eleven year old brother, even to the point where she'd sometimes only calm down from a fit when he was present. And likewise, she could ease the boy's mind when he was worked up from whatever the day's events had brought. He smiled at the toddler, even if she wasn't awake to smile back.

He scanned around to silently check up on the rest of his sisters, none of which were faring much better. Lori was still on the phone, but had not said anything to anyone on the other end, which just made things worse for the younger siblings. Leni resumed looking at herself in the mirror, although wasn't as invested as she normally would be. Luna had been staring out towards the wreck in worry, prompting Sam to lay a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. Luan tried telling a few jokes to ease the tension, which might have worked if she was as invested in them herself right now. Lynn had taken to tapping her right foot against the van floor; creating a faint clopping sound as her shoe repeatedly made contact with metal. This didn't help anyone in the slightest.

Lucy seemed like she was trying to write in her notebook, yet the pencil she held hadn't moved yet. Watching the young goth for a moment, Lincoln could almost swear she wasn't even looking at her paper. It was as if she was staring into nothingness. The twins weren't faring much better, as both Lana and Lola hadn't spoken a word for the last few minutes. Lisa was currently preoccupied with her device, keeping all thoughts away from whatever was going on elsewhere. Prodigy or not, she was only four years old. Probably best to not hypothesize what happens when two or more vehicles going at high speeds suddenly collide.

A few of them, Lincoln included, jumped as Lori suddenly growled in frustration, "Ugh! Nobody's picking up! I keep getting sent to this stupid automated message!"

Lincoln had been worried, but now he was getting a little scared, "W-what? Have you tried calling them again?"

"I've literally tried four times now, Linc." She stated, taking the phone away from her ear, "It's the same thing every time."

Lucy slightly shook, although only her brother noticed it. Lana scooted forward in her seat, "Why wouldn't anyone answer? Do you think something's wrong?"

Leni turned to her older sister, as some of their younger siblings began to panic, "What if it's just your phone? Maybe it's just having trouble calling. Or it-" Lisa wanted to interject, and say that wasn't likely, but Lori beat her to the punch. Pressing a few buttons in quick succession, Lori brought the phone to her ear once more. Seconds later, buzzing could be heard nearby. Leni looked down at her phone in confusion briefly before picking it up to answer, "Hello?"

"My phone works." The eldest stated sharply, speaking through the phone.

"Oh, okay. Is my phone working?" Nobody had the will to answer that question right now, while Lisa and Lori facepalmed simultaneously.

As that nonsense was going on, Sam stood up to make her way towards the right side door. Luna watched her girlfriend, almost standing up herself, "Hey, where are you going?"

Sam slid the door open, setting one shoe down to the grass below before glancing over her shoulder, "Your parents oughta know that 911 isn't picking up. That's worth going over there."

Luan spoke up, "What if it's not a big deal? They could just-"

"Even if it's nothing," She interrupted, now standing entirely outside she turned to face the sisters, "I still need to tell them that we aren't getting an ambulance out here anytime soon. That they need to know."

"Should one of us go with you?" Lynn asked, desperate to get out of the van right now.

"Dad told us to stay here." Lola pointed out, with Lana nodding in agreement, "He said that we'd get in trouble."

Lynn spoke before Lola had finished, "I don't care, I've got a real bad feeling in my gut right now. We should be getting out of here. Right now."

"And leave behind people who might be hurt?" Lincoln demanded, "What if nobody else comes by to help?"

"Look, just..." Sam paused, "Just stay here, alright. You'll be fine." She closed the door before going into a light sprint, staying on the edge of the road.

Something didn't feel right. Luna couldn't put her finger on it, but something about what was going on was pushing her closer to the edge. Perhaps Lynn was right. Debating only for a moment, Luna forcefully threw her seatbelt off. She darted towards the door, to the protest of everyone else in the van.

She took one step out of the vehicle, before yelling out, "Dude, wait! I'm going with!"

"Luna. Luna!" Lori demanded, struggling with her seatbelt as the musician left them, "Come back here now!" Lynn began following in Luna's footsteps much to the dismay of her present siblings. She darted past Lori to get outside, but was quickly caught by the older sibling before she could get far. She struggled as the eldest called out, before their sister could gain any real distance, "Dammit. Luna! Get over-"

She was cut off. Lynn froze. Luna froze. Sam froze up ahead. All the children currently in the van were taken off guard, a few nearly scared senseless. There was screaming up ahead. A blood-curdling shriek that echoed throughout the trees, causing birds all around to take to the skies. And they knew right away who it was, they couldn't mistake it. In that moment, eleven hearts sank, and the world around them grinded down to a screeching halt.

The two adults had been worried that Bobby might be scarred by what he would see by following them over here. As it turns out, those extra years of life experience they had on him didn't make them much better off. The sight of the demolished cars and running crimson alone would likely cause them a good few restless nights, and more than a couple of trips to a therapist, but once they made their way around to the other side…

It got worse.

The stomach churning amount of blood was enough that they could assume people had not survived. It wasn't difficult to figure that out, given everything. But it was one thing to know a stranger was dead, and another to see their body for yourself. Outside of the sports car, draped over the busted hood, was whom they could only assume was its driver. His left arm was stretched forward, making contact with the SUV before it, while his right arm was caught in the exposed engine. They couldn't see his head from this angle, and something told them they should be grateful. His entire body was bent in unnatural ways, covered in all manner of gashes and cuts. Glass stuck out of him in too many spots to possibly count. And the smell…

Lynn Sr ran back a few feet, unable to hold it any longer. Rita looked away from the body, shaking, while her husband emptied his stomach over the pavement. She was close to joining him. Mustering her courage, she continued forward. Wisely avoiding eye contact with the makeshift hood ornament as she grew closer. A quick glance elsewhere was made, in hopes of finding the person she and Bobby both spotted before. If they were involved in this mess, they wouldn't make it far on their own.

Those thoughts flew aside when she heard a thud. The SUV's passenger door, which had been ajar since they arrived, was flung open without warning. A body fell from the seat, falling face first to the hard ground. This one was in similar shape, minus the glass sticking out of its everywhere. Rita almost squealed at the sight, tears forming rapidly. She wanted to turn away, to return to her kids and just leave this grisly scene. Every part of her urged for that outcome. There's no possible way somebody was alive here. No way.

That's what she kept telling herself, up until the new corpse proved it wasn't so lifeless. It wasn't much, but the guy was feebly attempting to push himself off the ground. Given how magled he looked, despite the fact that bones were poking holes in his arms, he was trying to get himself off the ground.

"Oh my…" She gasped as the man's arm very easily gave out, and he once again smacked against the unforgiving road. Rita, despite a voice telling her to leave him, rushed to the man's side. He took notice of her after a brief moment, halting his second attempt to get up. She crouched down, taking in the man's gruesomely damaged body like one harsh wave after another.

"Rita?" Lynn Sr weakly called out, turning towards his wife after wiping his mouth with the end of his sleeve, "What's-"

She turned away from the wounded man, despite the voice now screaming, while the man reached out towards her, "Lynn, I need help! This guy's still alive!"

He could barely see who she was talking about, his wife blocking the man's upper half from view. Bobby, hearing them from down the hill, quickly trudged his way back up to assist.

"Lynn, now!" She demanded, still facing her husband, "We need to-" She was cut off. With all of his strength, the man she wanted to help grasped the woman's left shoulder, and pulled her down with him. Before she could move, or speak, or even realize what had happened, he did something that she had no hope to understand. He raised his head menacingly above hers, opened his mouth wide, and brought it down. Before Lynn Sr could even find his voice, or Bobby could reach the top of the hill, or Rita had the chance to regret her decisions that day, the man she'd wanted to save had bitten off a chunk of her face. Reaching a hand towards the missing skin and muscle, unable to move any more of her body from the shock, she let out a deathly wail. One that could be heard for a mile around.

"RITA!" Lynn Sr cried out, rushing towards his wife in a desperate attempt to protect her. She continued to scream, the volume unchaning, until her tormentor brought his head down again. This time, he went for her neck, immediately silencing his would-be savior's deafening howls. Now all she could do was gurgle as her attempts to breath were cut off by her own rushing blood. Her mind began to slow down as the world around her quickly blurred into a bright haze. All she felt was shockwaves of pain coursing over her. Soon, everything went black.

Yelling for the man to let her go, Lynn Sr grabbed a hold of the love of his life to pry her away from the madman. It proved to be a challenge, as the broken crash victim somehow had the strength to keep Rita locked in place. Lynn tried to pull her away, but that didn't even faze the crazed attacker as he went for another bite. Desperate, the patriarch tried knocking the other man away. While this did work, mostly, it left him vulnerable as well. Grabbing onto Lynn Sr, the man pulled him towards the ground. Before he could get up and return to his wife, who was bleeding profusely, he yelled out in sudden pain as teeth sunk into his forearm. He yanked away, part of his sweater sleeve staying behind to hang from bloodied teeth.

Ignoring the pain in his arm, Lynn Sr grabbed a hold of Rita and pulled her away. The attacker, not close to being done with this sick affair, crawled his way after them. Sickening cracks resonated from countless bones as the broken psychopath forced himself forward, as if he didn't feel a thing. His chase was short lived, however, as a third person he was unaware existed ran up out of nowhere. Bobby, with a slab of metal plucked from the ground, struck the assailant squarely in the forehead. Without another sound, the killer fell back to the earth. Never to move again.

Shaking not only at what he'd done, but what had gone down, Bobby dropped the makeshift weapon, leaving the blood stained tool where it now lay. He kept his eyes trained on the still corpse, expecting it to spring back to life any moment like some kind of faulty robot. Seeing how ruined the body was, he could hardly believe this person had moved at all. Snapping back to reality, he turned to help the parents of his girlfriend, only to stop dead in his tracks. Mrs Loud wasn't moving, still bleeding, but her husband wasn't helping her. Instead, he was mourning her. She was already gone. Rita Loud was dead.

Lori couldn't breath. She tried, but it just got caught in her throat. For a few seconds she heard the unmistakable screams of her mother. Then silence. Lynn, who hadn't broken free of her sister's grasp, no longer tried. She, too, hadn't moved an inch. Neither did Luna, who had stopped by the treeline, or Sam, who was several yards ahead. All of the van's inhabitants weren't able to do much either. The sound had torn through them like a thousand knives, and not a single one had the will to respond.

Lucy began to shake again, more visibly this time, promoting Lincoln to bring himself out of shock long enough to approach her, "L-l-lucy?" She didn't respond. Instead, she allowed her notebook to fall to the floor, and embraced her older brother as if her life depended on it.

Outside, Luna turned back towards her siblings, hoping one of them would say something. Soon, one of them did, as Lori found her voice, "Luna. Get back in the van."

"I… But we…"

"Luna, please." Luan, who poked outside the still open doorway, pleaded with her sister. From the van, she could hear similar pleas from Lana, Lola, and Lincoln. They were terrified, and didn't want her going out there.

With a simple, light nod. Luna looked back towards Sam. The girl resumed going towards the wreck, but was being much more slow and cautious about it, "Dude," She hollered, hopefully getting her attention, "Maybe we-"

She was cut off. Two arms popped out from the trees, just out of view for everyone behind at Vanzilla. Caught off guard, Luna was yanked off to the side with a yelp. Lynn, Lori, Luan, and everyone else who saw screamed out her name in distress. Sam turned around to glimpse the event, quickly running back. Lynn, with newfound will, broke free of her sister's weakened grasp. Followed by a few of her siblings, she charged forward.

Losing her balance, Luna ended up rolling to the ground, a few feet away from the grasp of whoever had pulled her away. She groaned in anger, "Hey! What the hell-?" When the teen turned to face her attacker, she nearly cried in shock. He was covered in blood, streaks of it running all over his body. His torso was bent in a way that shouldn't be physically possible. And his face…

It was gone. All of the skin below its nose looked to have been removed, or ripped away. Leaving only blood soaked muscles, and boney teeth.

Desperately trying to back away, the disfigured attacker quickly caught up to its prey. Without warning, it tripped forward, landing right on top of her. She screamed, catching the freak before it could smother her. A hand on both of it's shoulders, she wanted nothing more than to toss this guy away so she could get up and run. But in truth she was barely able to keep it from getting even closer. Her legs thrashed about violently as her lower half was pinned by the emotionless assailant. With her arms busy pushing it away, she couldn't stop the wacko from tearing away at her shirt, monotonously trying to get at the skin underneath.

As Luna laid there, struggling and screaming, help swiftly arrived. Lynn, running at full sprint past the trees, tacked the larger figure from the side. Despite the size difference, she successfully knocked the brute far enough away. An immediate attempt was made by the freak to grab his new target. Years of playing varied sports paid off in that moment alone, as she was able to evade the sloppy sipe with ease.

Sam and Lori reached the spot soon after. The latter nearly lost her balance at the sight of the attacker, who was picking himself up in that moment. Luna, despite how unbalanced she felt, wobbly pulled herself off the ground. She was assisted halfway up by Lori, Sam, and Luan, who had followed her siblings out here in terror. Lynn, meanwhile, grabbed a long, sturdy tree branch from the forest floor in both hands. With all the might an athletic thirteen year old could muster, she swung the substitute bat at the rising figure. With a loud, resonating crack; both her weapon and the thing's arm snapped in the middle.

She'd expected the guy to yell in pain, or at least get dazed by this attack. Instead, it barely lost its balance for a brief stipend of time. It was then that she took in the thing's disturbing appearance. Dropping the broken branch, she backed away, almost knocking over herself and Luan as she was helping their sister. Letting out an inhuman groan, the creep lunged forward, prompting the girls to back away in fear.

Acting quickly, Luan picked up a rock from nearby and threw it at the wacko. While it didn't stop him, a bigger rock was soon airborne as well, this time thrown by Lynn. This one had the force to send the thing falling backwards into a tree. While it was down, all five girls were quick to turn back and make a dash for Vanzilla. Behind them, Luna's assailant was quickly rising to its feet, and began its pursuit.

Seconds after Luan had given chase after Lynn and Lori, more of the siblings began leaving their seats to go see what was happening/help however they could. Lana was the first out, followed Lincoln, then Lisa, and finally Lucy. Lola was too freaked out to move, despite her fear for Luna and their parents up the road, while Leni had been told by Lincoln to stay behind and watch Lily. The four kids could see the comotion not too far beyond the trees. However, they were taken by surprise when bushes to their right began to rustle. From the woods came a man with a slab of metal sticking out of his chest, and shards of glass jabbing out of his side. Arms outstretched, he advanced on the closest of the kids: Lincoln.

Reacting quickly, Linc jumped back as the man went forward to grab him. Missing the boy, he clumsy fell to the ground, pushing the metal further through to his back. Lana shrieked at the guy's self impalement, while Lucy and Lisa were too shocked to move. Without missing a beat, the critically injured ambusher began to pull himself off the ground, scaring the children even further. The older teens only became more panicked upon seeing another one of these psychos, right next to the young ones.

Lynn went with her tried and true tactic, and tackled him to the ground. This proved to be both effective yet costly, as one of the jagged shards sticking out of him punctured her right shoulder. Leaving a nasty gash in its wake, the glass thankfully did not exchange host. Still, while her target tumbled away, Lynn was left rasping in pain on the ground.

"LYNN!" Most, if not all of he siblings called out. Lincoln, Lucy, and Luan helped the injured athlete from the grass.

Lori stopped amongst her siblings and gave an order, her voice daring any of them to deny her this time, "Everyone, in the van! NOW!" They listened. Lana and Lisa were the first two inside. Right behind them was Lincoln, Luan and Lucy, as they guided Lynn to safety. Sam helped Luna get in, the latter still shaken from her close encounter. Lori hopped in once she knew everyone else was inside, and quickly slammed the door closed.

She tried, anyway. But a pair of hands gripping the edge of that sliding door had other plans. Blocking their only barrier from closing, those hands began to pull the door back open, revealing the impaled man's emotionless face as he began to force his way inside. Several of the girls screamed, Lisa nearly losing her glasses from backing against the wall too hard. Lori tried to force the door closed again, but to no avail.

Luna, pushing aside her fear, joined in trying to force the door closed, "Don't let him in!" She declared, knowing they'd be in grave danger should he make it inside Vanzilla, "HELP US CLOSE THIS THING!"

Sam and Lincoln immediately went to help, followed by Luan, Lucy, Lana, and Lisa. Leni, knowing enough to realize what is going on, joined them as well. Lola went afterwards, her valid strength helping immensely. Lynn tried to join as well, but her injury quickly forced her to retreat back into a vacant seat. Still, the cluster of arms and bodies pushing against the door was enough to counter and overtake the invader's forceful attempts. But while they could keep him from getting in, they couldn't keep his arms from jamming up the entryway.

Lisa was flabbergasted as they slammed the door into him repeatedly, to no avail, "His appendages shouldn't be able to withstand this much trauma! Why has he not pulled them away?!"

"He must be on some serious pain meds or something!" Sam offered, strained, "How else would he walk around with that thing going through his chest…!" By now Lily had woken up, and was crying out in confusion about what was happening nearby.

"Come on, we can do this!" Luan's instincts were to make some kind of a joke, but the thought hadn't crossed her mind since they'd heard mom's scream. It felt so weird, but she had no time to think on it right then. This was real, and they were in serious peril.

Without warning, another set of arms forced their way into the opening. The deformed face of Luna's attacker could be seen through the gap, scaring the senses from everyone who hadn't seen it previously. They were now facing a losing battle as they were quickly growing exhausted, while the two things outside still had barrels to draw from. They weren't going to keep this up much longer. Those things were about to make their way inside. And they couldn't stop them any longer.

Lynn Sr stayed their, kneeling before his dead wife, for what felt like an eternity. Everything around him became lightyears away from his reality. The lifeblood pooling before him was an ocean that he'd soon drown in. In an instant, his world had been set ablaze. The fires of grief and self loathing destroyed nearly everything in their path. He'd failed her. His wife counted on him, and now she was gone. His Rita was gone. Forever.

Bobby tried to get the spiralling man's attention. He tried to tell him he was sorry that this had happened. He tried to apologize for not being nearby to do something. That and everything else fell on deaf ears. He didn't exist to that man right now. Bobby might as well be on the other side of the planet. Neither of them moved for some time, as time went past.

Growls came from nearby. Lynn Sr paid them no mind, but Bobby turned to see what they were. Three figures were slowly encroaching on them, two from the woods while the third was on the road. One of them looked to be a child, while the other two were fully grown. They were all disfigured, one walking on what appeared to be a broken foot. Two plus two dictated that they must have been in this crash. Given what the last guy had done, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Mr Loud, we gotta go." He stated, rising from the crouched position he was in. He got no response, "Mr Loud, we can't stay here! I'm sorry for your loss, but we have to leave. Now!" Nothing, "More of those freaks are coming, we can't be here any longer!" Still not a word, or even any sign of movement.

Just then he heard screams, back from the way they'd come. Several of them in unison. He ran a few feet to peer beyond the cars. His entire body quivered as he saw it. One of those things was trying to force its way into the van, and wasn't giving up. Another one was advancing on Vanzilla from the woods, moving to join its buddy in tormenting the people inside. Bobby turned back to find Lynn Sr looking towards the source of the noise. The sound of his children had pulled him back to their world.

Scraping his previous weapon off the road, fully intending to use it once more, Bobby tried one more time, "Mr Loud, we gotta get back to your van! Your kids are in danger!"

"Kids…" He choked out, looking past the teen, "...The kids…"

"That's right! We need to help them, right now!"

The gravity of what Bobby had said finally settled in. Lynn Sr, pulling himself together as best he could, turned back towards his wife one last time. Under his breath, underheard by anyone else, he choked out, "I'm sorry…". With that, he rose from his knees, following Bobby as the younger man was already running at full speed back to Vanzilla.

Lori was beginning to cry, but did her best to hide the tears. By now most of them had foolishly wasted their energy trying to force the first one to back away. Now slowly, but surely, the two of them were making their way into the family vehicle. The bent, lipless one was the first to force its head inside; growling and snapping its teeth as it did so. Luna was shaken by the sight of it once more, the face that would likely haunt her for years to come. Lynn, seeing that they were almost done for, fought through the pain and rejoined her family in keeping the freaks outside. It was all for nothing. That thought was all that ran across their minds, as the door jerked once more, and the thing stepped into the van.

They'd been so distracted, both the assailants and the van's inhabitants, that nobody saw the two men sprinting towards them from down the road. So when sickening crack of metal swinging against a skull was heard outside, none of them knew what had happened. No Lips, still focused on the nearest human (Luna), was the next to be surprised as he was pulled out of the doorway he'd fought so hard to get inside. Through the windows, they could now see Bobby and Lynn Sr outside their sanctuary. The impaled guy was lying on the grass, unmoving, while the two men forced No Lips to the ground. Bobby struck him several times with the metal object, bending it more and more with each swing. Lynn Sr, meanwhile, raced around to the other side of Vanzilla, efficiently sliding his way into the driver's seat. With the keys still in the ignition, the engine was quickly brought to life.

With one final strike, Bobby abandoned the now destroyed car scrap along the edge of the road. Sam and Lori opened the door for him, the latter embracing her boyfriend once they were safely inside. She wanted to say so many things in that moment. Others wanted to question where their mom was. None spoke before Vanzilla was abruptly sent in reverse, back onto the road. Their father, in a tone none of them had heard before, ordered everyone to sit down and put their seatbelts on. Without another word from him, Vanzilla made a full U-turn, and made its way down the road, back the way they'd come from. The No Lipped assailant, now rising once more off the ground, watched as the van started barreling down the road. It followed in the direction they went before losing interest later that day.