"Check that crate over there. There has to be some good stuff in them." A few Mobians were breaking open crates and making sure if there's anything in them. "Nothing in them." The grey hedgecat sighed. Her hair and the edge of the hair dyed. She wore a faded black and blue striped shirt. Her pants were grey and torn from it getting caught on objects. The red hedgehog looked at her and rubbed his head. "It's fine. We'll find something eventually. As long as we still have Ivory, we'll never run out of food." This hedgehog had on a grey t-shirt and very holey blue jeans. He wears a holster with two pistols and 4 clips of ammo as well as a katana he wears on his back. The hedgecat looked down, about to get teary eyed. Her mind if starting to flow with memories of some of her friends who were caught up with an issue that was never expected to happen. 2 months ago, she was hanging out with a guy named Ryan, one of her best friends in the whole wide world. She learned from his wife Amy that he was torn to shreds from an unsuspecting cannibal. That cannibal however, wasn't truly alive but infact dead. Showed no signs of emotion, only hunger.

Day 73 of the outbreak….

A brown lynx was jumping up and down when she heard the sound of dinner. "WHAT IS IT?! WHAT ARE WE HAVING!? ARE THEY MUFFINS?! PLEASE TELL ME THEY ARE MUFFINS!" The lynx spoke so fast, she barely gave any time for the emerald green fox to speak. "Calm down Rhaps." She spoke with a soft voice. "Sorry Ivory." Rhapsody replied. Her calmness returned with a storm when she saw there were muffins on the platter. "I KNEW YOU WERE HOLDING OUT ON ME!" She yelled with an excited voice louder than anyone in the room could possibly do.

A grey wolf walked in very grouchy about Rhaps. "Jesus… calm the heck down Rhaps. You're waking everyone up." The grey wore a red shirt with the words 'killet' on there. A letter was missing due to an earlier encounter with the undead. She wore green shorts. Ivory looks at the grey wolf and smiles. "Good morning, Aspen." Ivory said. Aspen nodded back and heads over to sit in a chair. Ivory walked out of the room for a moment and came back to find all the muffins were missing. "Rhaps… Put back the rest of the muffins… everyone needs something to eat at least…" She walked over to find Rhapsody, hiding the muffins and acting strange, saying while rubbing one, "My precious." Ivory decided to back off.

A light grey echidna walks up and stretches his back; he pumps a crank light in his hand. After charging it for a few moments, he drains its electricity and sets it back into his pocket. The echidna wore a lab coat, brown pants and glasses. His dreads were grey besides the tip in which it glows brighter blue the more electricity he absorbed. "Have you seen Oliver?" He asked.

"No, I haven't seen my brother." Ivory replied.

Aspen jumped into the conversation. "I saw him leave to catch up with Star, Speedy, and Leanna. It shouldn't be long before they come back."

"Thank you." The grey echidna replied. He walks over and sits down. He zaps an outlet to power a coffee maker and sits down letting the coffee maker do its job. "Nice trick Zero." Aspen complimented. Zero nods and goes back over to eat some fruit that were grown by Ivory. "These apples are delicious, Miss Ivory."

Ivory was too busy looking out the window. She then found a blue cat making his way into the window through a spiral of water. The water disappears and the cat smiles. "Hey guys." Everyone smiled back at him. All except for Zero. "Welcome back, Hydro." Aspen went as far to say.

Hydro bows to each of everyone. "Thank you. Thank you. You wouldn't believe what I found." He sets a backpack down and pulls out a couple of boxes of twinkies. He walks over and sits down on the old couch they have. Zero sighs and looks out the window. Down below him and his group is a horde of zombies just walking in the street.

To Oliver….

The dark green fox with red eyes was walking along the path towards where the search party is. This fox has on an orange shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. His eyes glow red and his scar from an event in the war covers his left eye. He twirls his revolver around and walks passes a zombie. Compared to the rest of the group, he is undead, or rather half-dead. He's a half-vampire and it makes him have some advantages over the rest of the group. He is able to sense the heart beats of the living as well as any fresh or stale blood stains. He can also stay in the daylight thanks to being only half a vampire. The most positive for him is the fact that he barely has to eat anything. The only problem to this "gift" is that he needs blood. So badly infact he may lose control and drink the blood of a random person to the point they die.

"HELP ME!" Oliver heard a girl scream and he runs over. As he turns a corner, he found a zombie on top of the girl who is desperately trying to survive. He shoots the one on the girl in the back of the head and shoots at the other few moving towards her. The guns shots traveled further than he would've hoped and even more started to limp towards them. There were even screams of the dead from a distance. "Take my hand!" The girl takes his hand and they both ran towards the nearest building. He hurries up and barricades the door with her.

"Oliver?" the young girl asked. Oliver looked at her confused. "Do I know you?" He asked back. The girl lowered her hoodie and his eyes were shocked. He only need a second to just hug her. "Thank god you're alive, Pash." Pash blushed and hugged back. She's a brown husky with pink highlights on her hair. Her tail was brown with a light pink on the tip. Her eyes were red. "I thought you died." Oliver said as his voice shook. Tears were forming in his eyes. Pash smiled. "I'm not thanks to you." She said. Their little reunion was cut short.

Screams of the dead are breaking at the glass, walkers clawed at the glass while the newly infected charge and ramming the glass. Oliver looked over at the glass. "Shit… infected… We have to get you somewhere safe."

Pash looked worried a bit. She looks up to him and asks in a trembling voice, "What about you, Olive?" Oliver started to barricade the doors and windows, trying to slow the break in of a horde of dead. "I'll be fine, I'm undead after all." Pash nods to him and tries to find a place to hide in the building.

The windows began to crack.

To Speedy, Leanna, and Star…

"Guys I heard gunshots!" A blue hedgehog with a tanktop and black jeans came running in. "The infected started running away from here. We need to hurry before they come back!" She commanded. Speedy nods and starts cracking open crates.

"What if those people need help? What if they are survivors like us?" Star was questioning the idea of allowing themselves to take advantage of this opportunity to reap all the goods in the warehouse in exchange for a life of someone else or even a group. Are goods really more important than a life? Leanna looks at her and sighs. "Most of the time, we would try to help them… but our group could really use some scraps... Winter will be coming and Speedy can't constantly keep the fire going. He has a limit just like most of our friends." She turned and saw a couple of crates that were opened by them.

"This stuff could make good firewood if needed." She said. Speedy could tell she was implying to come back later for it and nods. Star on the other hand stopped. "I'm going to help those people. It doesn't seem right to not help them." Star ran outside and towards where she heard the gunfire.

"Star!" Leanna yelled. She was just about to run when Speedy stopped her. "Let her. Her powers can keep her alive… hopefully though she doesn't run into the special infected hiding in dark areas…"

She nods and looks back at the doorway where she ran off.

Star ran and watch as a horde was walking towards the store. The glass was broken open and more gunshots were fired. She was about to run in when an infected turn towards her with a horrifying scream. Some of the horde turn towards her and started limping while some of the infected charged at her. She picked up a car with her psychic power and threw it at them. "FUCK OFF" She yelled. She watched a whole group hit, but the infected dodged to the side and gave a louder scream. One of them dropped behind her and tried to bite her, she elbowed it and throw a pipe that was on the ground at it. She looked towards the big horde and decided it was not worth her time right now to deal with this issue. Whoever was in there is probably dead by now. Night was falling and all hell would break loose if the specials come out. She uses her powers and flew away just to see that the sun was about to go down. "Oh no."

She flew back to the warehouse she was looting. "Guys! Night's about to come!" Leanna and Speedy turned to her. "Fuck, I thought we had more time." Speedy cursed the time flying too quickly. "Get whatever we have now and move!" The three grabbed a couple of wooden crates and started running out of there. Speedy slashed up any of the shamblers that came by in front of the group, Leanna and Star were behind him following the path he is clearing.

To Oliver and Pash…

"Just die!" Oliver was curb-stomping an infected, the head of it splatter all over the floor and blood sprayed on the side of the wall, some even got on his pants. The infected were smarter than the walkers. They knew Oliver was nothing like them. He pulls his gun out and shoots but yet no bullet was fired, only to click.

One of the infected pins him to the wall and attempts to bite him but he snaps the infected's neck. Another comes at him but he grabs a hat stand and whacks the infected upside the head. He pulls out his knife and stabs the infected through the jaw and the dead just falls dead onto the floor. Oliver huffs and looks as more of the dead walk inside. "At least they aren't the fucking infected." He goes over to help Pash after clearing out more of the infected. "You alright?" He asked her.

"I should be asking you that question." She said with a scared look. "You were crazy to fight them off on your own!" Oliver smiled at her. "Still here am I? Besides we have to move to someplace more secure with light." He said and starts guiding her to the back room to find a heavily metal plated door with a key in it and a dead body next to it. "Worth a shot on what's inside." Oliver opened the door and the smell of blood and rotting corpses flooded out of the room. He coughs at it. "Rotten blood…" He shuts the door and closes it "Seems like a couple of people turned and started to rip each other apart."

"That's terrible!" Pash quietly shouted so that the dead don't hear her. "Come on." Oliver whispered. "We have to find a safe place before night falls."

Night is coming… To the base group…

Aspen was eating a twinkie as she was listening to her ipod. She was glad that Zero was there to charge it for her. She looks over to see the scavenging groups arriving at the entrance with a couple of crates in the truck. "Hey guys, they are back." She called out to everyone and runs downstairs. When the whole gang arrived, Star sat down on a bean bag chair and started to cry. Aspen walked over and knell to her. She was attempting to help calm her down. Hydro looks at all the crates with amazement in his eyes. "This is the most stuff we gotten in a long time!" Leanna smiled. "There is also some more back at the warehouse that we plan to move tomorrow. Zero looks out the window and sees that there were only minutes of light left. "You three timed it perfectly. Any later and you all would've been dead."

"That's not helping, Zero." Speedy replied with a frown. He just shrugged and walked away. Aspen handed Star an Ipod that Star has her songs on as well as Aspen's headphones. She knew that Star needed it the most. As Star listen to her songs, she hummed them quietly enough that only Aspen could hear. Aspen smiled to see that Star's attitude got slightly better and stood up to help unload stuff.

As the group unpacks the last package, they heard a roar from outside. "Shit! Shut the lights off!" Speedy ordered them and they all did so. As the whole room was dimmed, they saw outside an undead creature with glowing eyes. "Hunter…" Zero whispered. The hunter is a creature that is attracted to light and if any unlucky soul was caught near it would be torn to shreds. The creature had long claws and the lower part of the jaw was missing flesh. After a few minutes, it spotted a light source from a distance and runs after it.

Leanna sighs. "Hydro, mind helping me board up the windows tomorrow? Would stink if we are unable to use light because of those creatures." Hydro nodded with a smile. "Sure." Aspen just sighed and loads a rifle. Her job for today was to take the nightshift. If any creature were to come close to the building, she has to shoot it. Her rifle was fitted with a DIY silencer and a night vision scope. She climbed up to the roof and sat in the sniper's nest, a tower fitted with a chair. A very uncomfortable one at that.

Zero goes down to the basement and continues to research. As the group focuses on surviving, Zero plans to make a vaccine for the virus. Every day, he's willing to give up his share of food for any muscle tissue of the dead. He tends to stay up for days. Instead of coffee that keeps him focused on the project, his only caffeine was a picture of his lover, Jordan.

Leanna sleeps on a sleeping bag with Speedy. The two have been married for 6 years now and had kids. However during the outbreak they lost them to the infection. Speedy had to put down his daughters who were turning and Leanna was unable to take care of their son's illness from a rare disease.

Star finds herself crying to sleep each and every night. She tends to have only nightmares of her husband dying over and over again. Her love for him was more powerful than anything she could imagine. However her sanity slowly slips every now and then due to black blood that was injected into her.

Aspen is an ex-rebel. Her war with a corrupted leader has ended but her fight against the undead has begun. For winning the war, she was given a second chance in life and became solid again. Good for her but at the same time not. Now that she is mortal again, she knows she'll easily get harmed by anything again. She'll have to get used to the pain she lost since the war ended.

Hydro sits and looks at his sword a bit. A blue cat with green eyes that was once yellow. His water powers somehow managed to absorb the Chaos creature and its powers. He has the power to provide water for the group without waiting for Leanna to have the ice melt. He also helps Ivory a bit with growing plants.

Ivory, also known as Ivy, is the morale booster. Her powers to allow plants to grow in an instant helps keeps the group happy and full of food. She has also taken part of helping Zero in his research by having her create the right kinds of drugs he needs.

Rhapsody was sitting and looking out the window from their 7 story building. She was once married to an evil genius Dr. Fintevus. Her love fell apart once her lover has abandoned her as he has heard about the outbreak. She doesn't know where her kids are but believes that Fin took them someplace safe. She knows Fin wouldn't leave the kids but it pains her to think about how he has abandoned her. Even with her current problems, she couldn't help but think about how life will get better for her.

"Night everyone." Speedy yawned. Soon everyone replied with a night as well. Everyone except for Zero, Aspen, and Rhapsody.

"So cold…" Pash was shaking a bit from the temperature reaching freezing levels even though it was in the middle of the fall. Oliver takes off his jacket and hands it to her. "Here." He said and puts it on her. She couldn't help but blush a lot. The two managed to find a cozy spot in an old arcade place in the staff room with tables barricading the door.

"Thank you, Olive." She whispered quietly. Oliver smiled at her gratitude. He sits down on a chair and looks at her. "You might want to get some sleep. No point in having you stay up all night." Pash nods but frowns a bit. "I don't know if I can sleep. I have been suffering from insomnia lately because I have been worrying about you too much."

"You don't have to. You know I'm hard to kill. If I have to, I'm sure I can break a few of the infected bones."

She laughed a bit at the certainness but frowns. "I just don't want you hurt is all." She scooted closer and rested her head on Oliver's shoulder. Oliver was caught off guard at first but allowed her to rest.

"Night Pash. Tomorrow I promise you we will find a safer place."

Back to the main group…

Aspen looked at the infected with her nightvision googles that Speedy had took with him when the outbreak happened. She was glad that Speedy was so resourceful to the group when it comes to firearms and gear. She's trying her best to keep a good eye out in case any infected were to start mutating into a certain special infected and so far it has been a very silent night. No brutes nor any hunters were nearby. Not even the powerhouses were lurking. She's glad it has been silent though an ill feeling of something is watching caught on. She looks around for a bit and sees nothing different. She sighs and heads downstairs and wakes Star up. "Hey, your turn to watch." She said and handed Star the night vision goggles. Star rubbed her eyes and accepted the goggles. She heads over to the roof and watches. As she was looking, a certain infected had caught her eyes. The dead roared and shot fire at the others. Those that caught on fire started roaring and running around. She grabbed a binoculars and looked at the infected closer. The infected was a wolf with a torn grey hoodie, the muzzle was barely noticeable due to the darkness. The dead's stomach was torn open and leg is badly eaten at.

Star lowered the binoculars and tears started to form. "Ryan…" She whispered to herself. She was afraid of Ryan for that he has become a special infected, classified to Zero as a powerhouse. Zero claimed that anyone who sees them should stay out of their paths for they are more dangerous than the sirens.

She can easily spot him from a distance, something has caused him to engulf in flames rather water or electricity. She can tell that this powerhouse was looking for someone. She decided to pull out the rifle and aimed towards him. As she zoomed in a bit, she had a clear shot at him. Her hands shook and her eyes were watering. Her best friend that was taken from her now walks among the dead. She shook her head and aimed again, she aimed the crosshairs at his head and fired. The shot was silent however, the bullet didn't travel where she wanted, it fell short and hit Ryan in the foot. The powerhouse yelled and more infected were engulfed by fire.

Aspen ran up after hearing the scream. "What the hell are you aiming at!?" She silently yelled at her. Star tossed her the rifle and looks at her with tears dripping from her face. "Look over there." She pointed over towards the brightly lit area. Aspen went towards the edge of the roof and aimed at Ryan. With years of combat experience, she knew exactly how to shoot this weapon. She aimed her weapon a bit higher and licked her finger. She holds her finger up and felt the wind was traveling with them. She aims a bit lower and adjusts the sights so that she can aim at him from where she is. She took aim, just above his head. Star watched silently and decided to go back downstairs to rest.

She didn't want to hear the gun sound off…

It was a few hours till morning arrived. Speedy just woke up and looks over at Aspen to see she's asleep. "Who was up watching last night?" He gets up and goes to the roof to see who was up. Star was laying in the corner just thinking about what happened last night. "Are you okay?" Speedy asked her. Star just moved her face a bit more away from him. He sighs and figures prying isn't the best thing to do. He goes over and looks at the edge to see some zombies around the building. He drops down and pulls out his katana. He runs up and slashes one's head clean off and stabbed one in the chest, he pulls back and spins to kill 3 more. Once he's done, blood from the blade dripped and he holsters the blade back.

Rhaps came running downstairs and came out of the building to join up with Speedy. "Morning Rhaps." Speedy said to her. She shoved a sock puppet of Fin in his face and spoke with somewhat fake rage. "Don't you dare speak to my wife again!" She laughed. "I'm kidding red-head." She stuffed the puppet back into her backpack. "So I'm supposed to go searching with you?" She gave a smile after asking a simple question.

Speedy laughed a bit. "You're here right now aren't you? What we are lacking currently is medicine and alcohol. Zero has been testing out each type of drug we already had and no effects on the more recent shamble he locked up. " Rhaps nodded and starts walking. He followed her with a surprise look as if she knew where she was going. She noticed this confusion and laughed a bit "There's a pharmacy I know nearby. We should be able to get a lot of medicine we need." She pulls out her mace and caved in a skull of a dead that was walking towards her. "FORE!" She yelled. Infected yelled back.

"You had to wake up the hive, didn't you?" Speedy said in the most displeased tone as he pulls out his katana."

"Damnit! I am so close! I just know it!" Zero was looking through each record and getting very upset. He turns towards Ivory. "Give the subject some meat. He's becoming all bones right now." Ivory gulped and grabs a bucket of raw meat. Zero knocked on the glass and the shamble started to walk slowly to where Zero was. Ivory quickly dumped the maggot covered meat and nearly threw up with it as well. She shut the door and gasp for fresh air. The shamble then smelled the raw meat and shuffled over to it and kneeled down and started eating it by hand. Zero took notes of the zombie's nature. ADAH, slow, and very, very stupid. "Seems like the virus keeps the systems working but makes the host horrible at performing actions. Would be amazing to capture one of the special infected and research a bit more on them."

Ivory then started to throw up into the bucket. Zero shook his head and patted Ivory's back. "It's fine. Let it all out." His expression showed almost no sympathy for her. "I understand this job is gross. Heck even dangerous, but you know this is very important. If we can at least make a vaccine for it, life will live on. Cure is a long ways away however." He then waited for the zombie to finish eating before using his powers to force the zombie against the wall. The zombie had handcuffs on him showing that before all of this he was arrested by a police officer. The criminal now is no more than a test subject to Zero and the echidna was grateful that he found such an shamble that can be contained so easily.

He opens the door and walks up with some pliers and gloves. The walker grown at him and tried its best to bite at Zero but no luck. Zero went ahead and took a skin sample from the zombie and walked back to the door, he released the zombie and it shambles over to him. Looking through the doorway, Zero closes the door getting one last look at the monster before leaving the room.

Ivory set the bucket aside and moans a bit. Zero sets the flesh under the microscope and studies it. "You may leave me to my studies now, Ivory." Ivory nods and goes upstairs. Zero sips a cup of coffee. "I will find a cure. The world depends on it."