The Payne Legacy: Zombies Again

"Dang I love chocolate." Heine was munching his donut with chocolate icing. He had invited us for lunch as gratitude after we, The Infinity League, had saved him. I started feeling sick after my second donut.

I couldn't handle the pain so I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I threw up. It was all really gross. I cleaned up and went back to the dining room where everyone was chatting. Reeve and Colin were having a violent arm restle while Heine played ref.

In the end Colin won. "Cheer up Reeve there's always next time." He rewarded himself with a glass of champagne while Reeve drunk away his sorrows by means of booz and whiskey. We carried on partying until the end of the night.

Colin walked me home because I had been half drunk. "Thanks Cobby." I walked in my house dizzly and fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning I woke up with a serious hangover. My head ached and I went to drink some water. After a while my head cleared and I went out for a stroll on the beach. Life was good. I lived in a mansion by the beach and had awesome friends. Leila and Dave had just gotten their first child, Nathan.

Everything was good for me except for one thing. Liam. He was still in the hospital recovering from massive injuries and was in a coma. The doctors said he showed progress and he might wake up soon.

I decided not to think about it and enjoyed my afternoon. I spent most of it at the beach but then I got hungry. I took my car and drove to the Java café three blocks away from home. The waiter escorted me to a table and I ordered a fruit cocktail.

After a few minutes my phone rang. "Yellow!" I took a few sips of my drink before I got an answer. "Hey Alice it's Jade. Listen I was wondering if you wanted to come with Justin and I on a little adventure. We're going on a little trip to the Ypreec Forest. We'll be renting a few luxury cabins. Jaihne and Zayn will be there too. Jaihne invited Ele too. So what do you say?"

I didn't really feel like going but it sounded like a good way to bond with my friends. "Sure. I'd love to go. When are we leaving?" She texted me the details and I headed home to pack my things. She had only given me two days.

*Departure Day*

I had two bags in each hand and a bag over my shoulder. The bags were really heavy so I had to pull hard to get them anyway. We were supposed to be boarding in about an hour.

Justin had a private jet flown in to get us all so we would be going first class. I handed my bags to the flight attendants. I went to go take a seat in the waiting lounge and looked for my friends.

After a few minutes I spotted Zayn, Ele and Jaihne. They had already given their things to the flight attendants.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in ages!" I hugged Ele and greeted the others. Zayn and Jaihne seemed really tense but it wasn't any of my business so I started chatting with Ele.

In half an hour the pilot announced we would be boarding now so we all got up and gave our passports to the flight attendants. We went through I tube-like thing connected to the plane.

Justin and Jade were already inside. We all greeted each other and took a seat.

"Oh my word guys this is awesome. I really am glad that we could all go on a trip together!" Jade was really excited. I figured Leila and Dave didn't come because they were pre-occupied with little Nathan.

The plane was really luxurious and had a tropical styled them to it. There was a little mini bar which I grabbed a few lemon ice teas from. I went to greet the captain and he told me about the plane.

He was a really jolly old man and the co-captain seemed a lot younger than him. I left the control room and went to the bathroom. The toilet was heated and the tap flowed on its own. This was only the main bathroom.

I went to 'Room 4' and used the key I had been given by Jade. I opened the door to find that my eyes were hurting. There were so many colours and patterns it looked like a rainbow had exploded. I LOVED IT. I jumped onto the bed and looked through the closets. I had plenty of space and I had found some incense.

I then headed for the bathroom and I gasped. It was awesome. There toilet was cooler than before and the sink had three different options. I stared at the huge bath tub. I jumped with joy.

If this was the plane, I wondered what the lodge in the woods was like. I heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. Jade stood in the doorway. "You like it? It's the best one. Alice you deserve to be spoilt!" I hugged her and went to go fetch another Ice Tea.

I sat in front of a window at looked out. It was a really pretty view. I always liked NYC, the vibe was awesome. I owned an apartment in the centre of NY just above a little coffee shop. My other house was a mansion in the Hamptons.

I fell dozed off in that huge bed and before I knew it, we had reached out destination that had a lot more to it than we all had expected.

***JADE***

"Wow!" I was holding Justin's hand as I exited the plane. "What a view!" We had landed on a strip a few kilometres away from the lodge because the pilots explained that it would be impossible to land in the forest, especially if we ever wanted to get out.

Zayn, Jaihne and Ele followed us and Alice quickly said thanks to the pilots and caught up with us. She was still holding a glass of what looked like ice tea but also like whiskey.

We reached the lodge and the flight attendants handed us our luggage. The people working there took our luggage generously to our cabins.

A tall man walked to us. He was old and didn't have a name tag so I suspected he was a guest. Justin mumbled something about booking the place just for us.

A woman came our way but this time she had a name tag. "Hello guys! I'm the manager here and you can call me Keishia!" She was young and hyped. She had a wide smile and I couldn't help but like her instantly. "My name's Jade." I shook her hand and the others introduced themselves.

"Mr Bieber! You're early! Your cabins are ready and I'll escort you to them. Right this way!" We followed her to four cabins beside the pool area and then she handed us four keys. "There are spares if you need them." Then she left.

***ALICE***

'Bear, 2' The rest of the keys had funny names too. Jaihne's said 'Snake, 3' Jade's said 'Panther, 1' and Ele's said 'Koala, 4'.

We parted ways and headed for our cabins. Mine was in the middle of the left. It was a big log cabin with a porch. On the roof there was a sign that read 'Bears are forest creatures that seem fierce, but on the inside they're just as scared as you are.'

It was a wise quote. I stuck the key in the whole and turned it around. I noticed something was written on the back of the wooden label. I looked at it closely. I looked like someone had written 'BEAREADY'. It didn't bother me much until later and I entered the cabin.

It was stunning. This one wasn't very colourful but it was completely black, white and forest green. The carpet was a picture of a bear with some Latin writing that I didn't understand. The couch was soft and bouncy and there was a little kitchen with a bar.

I opened the bar and saw it was full of ice tea, LEMON ICE TEA. I cried out in glee and took one out. I drank it as I explored my cabin. The bedroom was stunning and yet another amazing bathroom experience.

I changed into something more comfortable and went to go meet my friends. They had all loved their cabins too and a ranger cam to tell us we'd be going on a hike after dinner.

*After Dinner*

I had just eaten two portions of Spaghetti Bolognese and I felt sick. In time the nausea went away and we were all ready to go on a hike.

I put on some boots and we began our hike. We were assigned an Asian ranger. We walked through the woods on a rocky path and the Ele started complaing about bugs. After a while we got pretty tired and took a break.

"Look over there!" Zayn was pointing to a rock. "Nice, a rock." The sarcasm in my voice must have been clear because he rolled his eyes. Justin and Zayn went to go check it out while the ranger told us about the flowers and their names.

It had been about ten minutes since we last saw Zayn and Justin so Jaihne and Jade went out to look for their boyfriends. Ele and I stayed behind. We bonded pretty well since we were both from out of the country.

A few minutes later the girls returned. "We can't find them! We checked everywhere! They are gone!" Jade started to sob while Jaihne went back to look. She returned with nothing but bad news.

We packed up our things and headed in the direction the boys had gone. The ranger tracked their steps until they ended exactly where Zayn had pointed to. We all stared at the rock for some time.

Behind the rock there were was a mark in the ground. I looked like something had been pushed onto it then pushed back.

Push. The thought sprung into my head. "Come on guys push the rock forward." We crouched down and began to push. I was heavy but nothing we couldn't handle.

I looked at where the rock had been. Ele gasped. There was a hole in the ground with a ladder. I seemed like an old bunker.

"This is weird. Something isn't right." We all stared down into the hole. "I'll go first." I left my bag on the ground and climbed down the ladder. It was dark but I had taken the torch out of my bag and turned it on.

I was right, this really was weird. I looked around. The room seemed like a lab of some sort. Something crashed behind me. Jade had followed me into the hole. "Ow!" I helped her get up and we looked around.

"It looks like a chemistry lab." She was right. There were tubes and vials all around the place.

I almost had a heart attack when an old man walked out a door. He looked at us and had a fright. He obviously hadn't been expecting us.

Wait. Something seemed familiar about the man. YES! It was the man I had seen earlier today after arriving at the lodge.

"Who are you?" It was Jaihne who had spoken. She too had followed us into the hole.

The man looked at us. "The name's doctor Jones. Now what are you doing in my lab? How did you find me." We all stared at the man. He wore a shaggy lab coat and Harry Potter glasses.

"What's more important is WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?" The man gulped. "It isn't any of your business now please go."

"Dude look. We saw our friends come over here. Have you seen them?" The guy looked a little relieved. "I haven't seen your friend. BUH – BYE." He started pushing us to the ladder and we stopped him.

"Hold up Mr. We won't leave until you tell us what you're doing down here." He nodded numbly. "Fine, but then you cannot tell anyone. Understand?" We nodded back to him.

Then his story began.

"Do you remember the zombie apocalypse earlier this year?" We all looked at him and nodded. We had lost many friends and family during that time. The Infinity League helped to stop the war with the help of all agencies across the world. It had been a dark time. The past ordeals were a horrible time for many people in the USA.

"After all the zombies were all REALLY dead. My family was evacuated to the next state and my brother was left behind. The North Koreans attacked and my brother joined the army. He was killed in action."

We felt sorry for the old man. We all knew what it was like to lose a loved one. Rumour had it that Alicia was killed at the island. The Alicia we had truly loved was gone forever.

"In this lab I'm trying to create a mixture that might cure zom-" He didn't get to finish his sentence because by then the ranger had jumped into the hole and took out a gun. He pointed it at the old man and we all stood frozen. The said one last word, "You're Ko-" and then he was shot in the forehead.

We stared at the ranger who quickly climbed up the ladder and ran as far away from us as he could. We looked back at the old man. There was a blood pool around him and his eyes were still open.

I slid my hand over his face to shut his eyes. In doing so I saw his finger was pointing at a computer. He had died trying to tell us something.

We all stood around the computer and I took the mouse. There was still a window open. I clicked on it. I was a video of the man taken by his computer's camera. "Press play." Jaihne was holding my shoulder. My hand was shaking over the mouse and I scrolled onto the play button. I pressed it.

The picture started to move and the man started to speak. "I have to make this quick. The Koreans are after me. They've been looking for me and they are all over the lodge. This is the only place I can work on the cure." He turned around and faced the room.

"If you find this video and you're not a traitor to our country. Watch it and then delete it. Break the computer and rip out of the plugs." We were horrified. "Listen closely, the cure I'm making it to avenge my brother's death. Zombies were the cause of his passing and I want him to die a hero. The cure is in the place closest to my heart."

The picture stopped moving. "Where? That could be anywhere! His granny's house? His wife's apartment?" Jade was freaked out.

I let go of the mouse. Break the computer. That was the man's dying wish and we had to honour it.

"Break it!" "Break what?" "The computer! We can't let anyone else find this!" There was fortunately a fire extinguisher and I threw it onto the computer. The hard drive was in a million pieces and the screen was cracked.

Suddenly Ele jumped into the hole. "Guys what's going on? I saw the ranger run away!" She screamed when she saw the body of the doctor. "Is he… dead?" Jaihne nodded and Ele fainted.

Jade and I carried her back to the lodge.

I lay in the bed of the cabin. All I could think about was what the man had said. The cure is in the place closest to my heart. But where was that?

It angered me that the man hadn't given a more detailed explanation. I took the key to the cabin and stared at it. 'Beaready' It said. What was I supposed to be ready for?

I put away the key and fell asleep. That night I had the most horrible dream. I heard screaming noises and then silence, I didn't know my nightmare was about to come true.

The next morning I woke up to discover that Justin and Zayn had not yet returned. Jade had asked all the staff to look for them. The rangers looked for the boys but we kept the bunker a secret.

The hours went by but no luck. We started to lose hope. But I refused to lose hope for my friends. I looked around the lodge for weapons.

All I had come up with was a kitchen knife stolen from the chef, a gun from one of the rangers and a trash can lid. I found some paint in the art gallery and finger painted my face so I could blend in with the environment of the forest. I put on some green cargo pants and a brown jacket. I put on hiking shoes and took a bag with some rope and I first aid kit.

I took one of the rangers' cars and stole a key from the front office. I was on the steering wheel and changed the gear. Then car took me south into the forest.

I tried to find the path we'd followed yesterday. I jumped out the car and tried to find my way through the forest. I scared some squirrels and stepped on some sticks. The birds flew my way and started crowing like they did in those movies.

I took out the gun and held it in front of me. There was in awful smell coming from the east. I ducked at any sign of movement. I took me about five minutes to find any humans.

Or were they humans?

I heard groaning sounds. I was stealthy and hid behind the trees. I saw a group of figures heading towards the lodge. Maybe it was the rangers? I took out some binoculars I had packed. I found them in a desk in the cabin so basically it wasn't stealing. Right?

I looked into the binoculars and I saw the figures. They were the rangers but at the same time they weren't.

They were zombies.

***JADE***

"Has anyone seen Alice?" I'd been looking for her for half an hour. She had disappeared somewhere. I asked for a spare key to her cabin but she hadn't been there either. She was nowhere to be found.

I asked Jaihne but she hadn't had any luck. We were both feeling scared and worried because our boyfriends were lost in the forest. Ele was in bed the whole day. She couldn't get the picture of the dead doctor out of her head.

I looked all over. What if she had gone to the forest? Maybe she went with the rangers to find the guys? What if she got lost?

My heart started to pound. Oh god. I freaked out. I went to go change into my hiking clothes and took a ranger's car into the forest.

***ALICE***

I ran for my life. ZOMBIES! They were back! But how?

I figured the traitor ranger had brought some kind of chemical here that changed humans in zombies. I started running back to the car.

I was about twenty meters away from it when I noticed two zombies eating squirrels right beside it. I felt a wave of nausea over through me and I threw up in the bushes. Unfortunately the zombies noticed me and came zombie-walking my way. I almost screamed when I saw their faces.

It was Zayn and Justin.

I began running far west. I had to go back to Dr Jones's laboratory . I needed to find that cure.

Eventually I had lost the zombies and pushed the rock. I climbed down the ladder. The whole place had been ripped to shreds. Koreans.

I started looking everywhere for the cure. They had probably already found it since the whole place was basically metal and glass shattered on the floor. I lifted up a piece of wood and found the professor's body.

I almost threw up again because he had started to decompose. The place closest to my heart. Where was that? It was probably miles away.

Then it hit me. How could I be so stupid? I ripped of his lab coat and looked in the left chest pocket.

I cried out in joy and pulled out a bottle with yellow liquid. It looked like just the right amount to cure two zombies. I stuck it in my pocket and climbed out the hole.

A pack of zombies had been surrounding me. I went all Peter Rollock on them and pulled out my gun. I shot all of them in the head and made a run for it. I wish I had more ammunition. I took out the drink in my bag. I finished the whole red bull can and ran as fast as I could.

Suddenly a car stopped in front of me. I said, "I almost hit you!" It was Jade. "Come on get it! Wait… are those ZOMBIES?!" "Yes! Now let's get out of here." I jumped in the car.

"Are you sure you don't want to drive?" She looked at me concerned. "Do you know how to shoot a gun?" "I am not very good but-" "THEN STEP ON IT!"

Jade drove back to the hospital while I killed a few zombies. We jumped out the car.

"EVERYONE! ZOMBIES ARE COMING! GET YOUR GUNS BECAUSE YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO BEAT THEM IN A FIST FIGHT!"

All Hell broke loose and people started to scream. Luckily a nearby town had heard all the commotion and all the police officers had arrived. I told them about the zombies and how to kill them.

"Shoot them in the head three times and they'll be goners!" I went to go shack up on the ranger's ammunition.

"Did you find Justin and Zayn?" It was Jaihne and she looked terrified.

"Look, Jaihne now isn't the best time." I pointed to the fires happening at the cabins.

"I DON'T CARE TELL ME IF YOU FOUND THEM!" She was yelling into my ear.

"I DID FIND THEM, BUT THEY WEREN'T EXACTLY LOOKING TO GREAT!" I shouted back at her and loaded my gun. I handed her an extra gun. "TAKE THIS TO PROTECT YOURSELF. GET JADE AND ELE WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

She looked pale. "What do you mean? Were they hurt? Oh no! WERE THEY DEAD?"

I looked at her with sad eyes. "YOU COULD SAY THAT."

I ran off in the direction of the zombies.

"Hasta la vista, Jaihne!"

I killed all the zombies in my path.

***JADE***

"ELE!" I was looking for her. I couldn't find her in any of the crowds of women.

And then I realised it. Ele was still in the cabin.

The gun I was holding was heavy and I needed a quicker way to get to the burning cabins. I took one of the staff's bicycles and rode it to the cabins. I dropped the bike and ran to the Koala cabin and opened the door.

The whole place was on fire and I had to run through a few of the flames to get to the stairs. I jogged up the stairs and went into the bedroom. Ele was standing against the wall. She was screaming and I followed her eyes. There was a zombie standing right in front of her.

I took out my gun and shot it in the head four times. I grabbed Ele's hand. The staircase was on fire and the only way out was the window.

"HOLD ON AND JUMP!" I pointed to the window and we ran.

Before I knew it we were falling out the burning house.

***ALICE***

I had killed about fifty zombies already and hadn't seen Justin or Zayn. I told the rangers I would go find them.

I had divided the cure equally in two flasks. I kept them in my pocket. I checked to see if they were still there. And they were there along with the Bear cabin key, the one that had said 'Beaready'. I finally realised what it meant. Someone had written it to warn me.

But who?

I ran into the forest in search for the two guys. They were nowhere to be found. I called out to them and finally saw two zombies heading my way. I made them part ways and I first got to Justin.

"HEY ZOMBIE! LOOK AT ME! FRESH MEAT!" I was swishing my hands through the air to attract him. I threw a bag of meat onto the ground so he stopped and ate it.

I kicked his head up and opened the flask. I poured the cure into his mouth and prayed it would work.

Just then the other zombie snuck up behind me and held my arm. He almost bit into it but I stabbed him in the chest. My arm was bleeding heavily and I cried out in pain.

I fell to the ground. The zombie was coming back to me and I couldn't do anything about it. I began to prepare myself for the worst pain in my life when a human leg kicked the zombie in its zombie-groin.

"I've always wanted to do that but never have I had a good enough reason." It was Justin! The cure had worked but he was bleeding a lot on his face and leg. He helped me up.

"Hold him back and I'll cure him." I gave him the knife and I took out the second flask. Justin was holding him down when I poured it in Zayn's mouth.

It was the grossest sight ever to see a zombie transform back into a human.

Justin and I carried Zayn back to the lodge and we loaded him onto a truck. He was bleeding almost everywhere and he probably had a few broken limbs.

Jade, Jaihne and Ele had gotten there just in time and they got onto the truck. Justin go into the driver's seat and I went shotgun.

Then we drove as fast as we could to the closest hospital.

*** TWO WEEKS LATER***

Sitting in the Infinity lounge felt pretty awesome. It felt like home because there was really no other place to go to. My houses were empty so all I really needed was my friends.

Colin and I were playing darts and so far I had been winning. Reeve entered. He had been sharpening his katana.

The force had been looking for recruitments for a while but no one had been good enough. Heine had 'auditioned' a few times but he just didn't have the ability needed. Thinking of Heine reminded me of Jaihne. She and Zayn had recently gotten married and took a vacation. Leila and Dave were happy with their little Nathan. They had recently purchased the mansion next to mine and Dave was taking his career to the next level.

Justin and Jade were pretty quiet and I hadn't heard a lot from them. After all they had been through maybe they just needed a little time together away from others. I don't know why but I seem to be a trouble magnet. Hmph.

Eventually I won the darts game and Colin was drinking with a smile like he always did when he was hiding something. I punched him in the shoulder and accused him of letting me win. He just laughed and pulled me onto his lap.

I stared at him. I guess he had been really drunk. I just enjoyed the moment and played with my throwing knives.

Life was good.

Okay that's it! :D I hoped you guys liked that! I'm really proud of myself it's the best one so far! Dedicated to all my friends :D

Shout out to:

COLIN, :D LUL UR COOL BRO

REEVE, YOU BADDASS.

JAIHNE, MY BABE.

LEILA, MY BESTIE.

JADE, AWESOMEST FRIEND EVER U SUPPORT ME ILY!

ALICIA, MY TWIN, UR AWESOME!

ELE, DUDE UR SO AWESOME WE SHARE THAT YOU KNOW ;)

HEINE, THAT LITTLE BOY!

KEISHIA, LOL UR AWESOME THATNKS FOR SUPPORTING ME!

BROHANNES, LUL MA BRU.

THANKS GUYS!

THE PAYNE LEGACY WILL CONTINUE!

"I came to chew bubble gum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubble gum."