"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A young female voice cackles as you struggle against gravity and a very tight knot. "Someone was trying to steal our supplies, huh?" This stills you. Supplies?

"What?" You try your best to turn to face the sound of the voice. "I wasn't trying to steal anything. I was running away from zombies!"

"You mean chompers?"

"Zombies, chompers, whatever. The point is I was running away, and NOT trying to steal anything!" You really hope she believes you. Getting impaled on a trident is definitely not on your list of "Acceptable Ways to Die." You manage to get the rope twisted around so that you're facing her, and you're met with a surprising sight. She's a girl, about two to three years older than you, with long black braids and glasses.

She ponders this for a minute, straightening up and pulling the trident away from your face. "Alright, I guess I'll trust you a little bit. But only a little bit." She warns as she yanks expertly on the knot keeping your foot in place, and you fall face first onto the ground, collapsing with a groan. "What's your name, kid?"

"John. John Egbert." You sit up and dust the dirt off your face and clothes.

"And where are your parents, John?" You freeze and look up at her with tear-filled eyes. She understands immediately. "Do you need a place to stay?" She asks quietly and puts a hand on your shoulder comfortingly.

"Yes." You manage to choke out.

"Okay, follow me." She hauls you to your feet. "Me and some others started a camp. All our families are dead too." She adds quietly.

"Well, welcome to the apocalypse." To your surprise, she laughs.

"You're pretty funny, kid. My name's Meenah. Meenah Peixes." You give her a polite smile. "Welcome to camp!" She steps aside and gestures grandly at the opening in the middle of the forest where the few survivors had set up. There were maybe six in all, all under the age of twenty.

"You're all kids."

"Yep. No parents to speak of anymore, remember?" She brushes it off as she strides over to the campfire that seemed to be the central meeting area. "Look what I found, everyone!" She holds out an arm and gestures for you to join her. "A new kid! His name's John. John Egbert." As you join her you see a girl with a wavy mop of hair look up to her at the sound of your name, and then to you.

"John?" She springs up and bounds over to you and you realize with a start that it's Aradia Megido, one of your friends from high school.

"Aradia!" You tackle her and pull her close. "Oh my God, Aradia, your parents?" She stifles a sob and nods against your shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry."

She pulls back and wipes away a few tears. "It's okay. And I'm sorry for your loss too. Where's-…Jade?" She looks around, as if expecting her to come out of the tree line shouting 'Surprise!' any minute. You meet her eyes and shake your head, and her eyes widen as she pulls you back in and wails against your shoulder. She and Jade were always a little closer than most, and you hate to see her heartbroken. Trying to keep her upright, you stagger over to a log and sit down on it, Aradia still clinging to you.

"It's…alright, Aradia." You pat her back and try not to tear up yourself, but it's no use. You hold on to each other for support as you sob.

Meenah clears her throat and tries to draw everyone's attention back to her, and for that you are grateful. "So, John's obviously going to be staying with us from now on, so try and treat him kindly. Now," She throws her trident down next to her and claps her hands together, "News?"

"We got soap from the drug store, along with more first aid supplies and band aids." A young girl with short, black hair offers, and Meenah gives her a grin.

"Good! We'll add those to the infirmary station."

"Already done." A lanky boy with a curly mop brown hair grumbles as he draws in the dirt with a stick. Meenah's eye twitches in annoyance.

"Thank you, Gamzee." She replies, trying to hide said annoyance, but obviously doing a very bad job, as he scoffs and goes back to ignoring her. "Anything else?" She rolls her eyes and addresses the rest of the camp.

"Yeah!" Comes a shout from inside a tent. "We got some booze on the way back!" You stare wide-eyed as a platinum blonde boy, known as none other than Dave Strider, comes stumbling out of the opening, holding a bottle of beer in one hand. "And will someone please tell me what all this crying is about?" He gestures wildly as he takes another swig.

Meenah rolls her eyes again and plants her fists on her hips. "Dave, we found a new kid, and he knew Aradia, so they were crying about the loss of their parents and friends. Perfectly normal. And put the beer down."

His ears perk up at the mention of Aradia. "He knew Aradia?" He scans across the campfire quickly until his eyes land on you. "Oh, God, Egbert? Is that you?" He groans.

You grind your teeth together as you reply, "Yes, David. It's me."

"I hoped it would be someone useful. Like Eridan. Or Sollux."

"How are they any more useful than me?" You ask incredulously and immediately, Aradia starts to sob again. Oh shit, you forgot that Sollux and Aradia were dating.

"That's how." He points at Aradia and stumbles away. You stare his back down as he manages to make his way back inside the tent.

Your name is John Egbert, and you fucking hate your best friend's brother.

~0~8~0~

Oh lord, why am I doing this, I am a terrible writer D: I apologize if Meenah's OOC, but in all honesty, I haven't completely met her in the comic yet, and at this point, I'm not even going off the RPer I was with. Ugh. Sorry.

I only have the first two chapters done, so bear with me. This is a quick, impatient upload.