Today we decided to do the most boring thing imaginable: mattress shopping. On any normal day I would refuse going with anyone who would even suggest it. Unfriend them on Facebook-the whole shebang. However, in our current situation-with the whole world decaying around us, I'd do anything to cure my boredom. I suppose that sometimes includes putting my life on the line. Guess I'm an adrenaline junkie now. Great.

Even back before everything went down, boredom was probably the worst feeling in the world. Now that there's literally nothing to do but survive, it makes you crave any amount of release from that. The most mundane things are now somewhat enjoyable. Crazy, right?

It didn't take much to entertain us now-a-days. Throwing rocks at passing zombies usually took up a good amount of time. Well, besides trying not to die. Finding new books was probably the best entertainment there was. Sitting under some shade, reading a good book while the wind hits your face. Yeah, that's probably the most at peace you'll feel in a long while.

So there I was, outside of a Mattress Firm as Bonnibel and Prismo attempted to unlock the back of the building and hopefully not having to disarm any alarm system it may or may not have had.

We figured this was the best place to pick up a mattress considering you never saw anyone in Mattress Firm, even though there's one around every corner. In saying that, we felt as if the mattresses inside wouldn't be drenched in blood.

And yes, we could have gone down the road and taken some from our non-existent neighbors, but where's the fun in that? Also...gross?

In all honesty I think we were just needing to stretch our legs.

For an apocalypse, I wasn't seeing much action today. Maybe it was because we were out of the main city area and away from the large crowds of people, but something just didn't sit right with the lack of roaming zombies around.

I heard the door click open and the two went inside. I figured that meant I should ready the truck as they had fun picking out beds.

As I was sitting there, I continued to notice the lack of zombies. Usually there were at least one or two in the area that we had to watch out for. It was unusually quiet. I hadn't seen one since we left the base.

And listen I'm not trying to seem ungrateful or anything, but after eight plus months of constant hell and fighting for your life you get used to their presence. You're always aware of where they are-because those fuckers are not quiet and they're literally everywhere.

I felt the back of the truck bob up and down as the two started stacking mattresses in the back one by one. Instinctively I paid no mind to what they were doing, just ready to drive back whenever they were ready.

Prismo was the first one in the truck while Bonnie secured the straps. I wasn't sure why he thought that was a good idea, considering a zombie could pop out of nowhere and she'd have no immediate backup.

Instead I spoke my mind about the absence of said threat.

"I thought it's been pretty nice. We got a little vacation, you know?" Prismo said, stretching his long lanky arms over his head which was already touching the roof of the truck. "Their little growls get annoying pretty quick." I didn't deny that and yet it didn't calm my raging thoughts.

"Do you think there's something wrong?" Bonnie asked as she jumped in the back. I saw Prismo roll his eyes at her comment. I wasn't sure as to why.

"I really don't think there's anything for us to worry about." He added with this uncaring tone that added on to whatever attitude he held. It took quite a bit to hold back a snarky remark.

I faced away from him so that I wouldn't act on my annoyance. "Considering we haven't seen one all day." I thought aloud. "As much as I don't want to, we may need to stay at home. I could be too dangerous to scout out the area or come back."

"I think you're putting too much thought into it." Prismo argued, continuing on with his attitude and further aggravating me. "Don't take this moment for granted-enjoy it a little, will ya?"

I opened my mouth, ready to go off when a Bonnie's hand landed on his shoulder, admittedly stopping me from whatever I would say. "Marceline may be right. That's what happened when we went to the post office last time."

"We didn't even hear them coming..." I sighed. "It may even be the same horde. Anything could have made them come back." We sat in silence for a moment, just contemplating. "As long as we get back safe and don't attract any attention, they'll go around us."

"You're making it seem like they're coming straight for base." Prismo pointed out defensively, even crossing his arms over his chest with a small huff.

"We always have to take that precaution. We can't make any wrong moves. We could literally die at any moment." Bonnie's voice was stern to get the point across to him. I didn't blame her. His thinking was too reckless and sloppy, as if he didn't understand the dangers of what we've been through in all this time.

"You think I don't know that?" He started up, but I shut him down before he could go any further.

"Last time we were sloppy we lost C.O."

Prismo's body language noticeably shifted, his hands were in tight balls and he was no longer looking at any of us. His eyes were pinned on the passing environment as I drove, his lips pursed in anger. I didn't want to bring it up, but sometimes it was the only way to stop him. After all, C.O. was the only thing that kept him going all this time.

It was faint, but I heard him manage to whisper, "I know."

The rest of the car ride was silent and for this first time in a while we had the windows rolled down all the way back home.

That night the group had unanimously decided that for the time being, no one should go out of the fencing alone or without some kind of heavy firearm. I have to admit, it felt nice to have my thoughts acknowledged and taken into consideration.

And because I was the one who brought up the possible danger, I was on patrol duty that night. And just like it had been all day, it was unusually quiet. In the past hour I had only seen one zombie pass by and it gave off a weird vibe, as if it were determined to reach a certain designation point. It's hard to explain, but it seemed distracted.

Their patterns seemed to be changing recently, almost as if they were all on the same wavelength. It wasn't like anyone knew what had happened or how all of this started, so that might actually be a possibility. Which is a pretty damn scary thought...

The locusts and crickets were loud enough to fill the night air. It reminded me of the last time I went camping, before everything happened. I was with Keila, we were drinking with a group of friends and stargazing. That night was chilly, just like tonight.

The breeze brushed my skin lightly enough to make me shiver. Why I hadn't put on a jacket, was beyond me. We almost always wore some sort of protective gear, but that was usually when we were out and about. I guess we felt like we didn't have to worry about that in here. Maybe Prismo wasn't the only reckless one after all.

If I leave my post for a minute to grab it, it shouldn't be a big deal, I thought to myself.

After a minute of convincing myself that it's okay to leave for a moment, I made my way down the ladder of our makeshift vantage point and went inside. It was warmer inside even though there wasn't a heating system.

Bonnie sat in her usual corner of the room, her nose stuck in her book. Her usual messy blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and tucked inside of a tattered hat. I had to admit she looked adorable.

The newest book she was stuck on was Fahrenheit 451. From what I remembered, it was basically a confusing jumbled up mess. Personally, I couldn't read through the whole thing.

"Where'd everyone go?" I knew that since I was interrupting her she'd give a small pout and scrunch her eyebrows together as if she was angry, even though I know she didn't mind.

She did so right on cue and didn't look up immediately when she replied. "I think stargazing? I'm not sure." Then her eyes finally met mine, her gaze was piercing yet sweet. I gulped. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"No no, we're fine." I waved a hand, closing the door behind me and letting out a breath. "It's been pretty uneventful as expected."

Keeping a finger in place of a bookmark, she set the book down on her lap. A smile took the place of her pout. "Are you about done with your shift? I'm getting bored and you're usually mildly entertaining. "

"If you call having an existential crisis mildly entertaining." I chuckled. "Unfortunately I just came to grab my jacket. It's starting to get colder out."

"I guess I can wait. I think I may be able to convince Jake to switch shifts with me."

"Sounds good." I said, making my way out the door and gave her a small wave. I put my jacket on while walking down the apartment stairs and then climbed back up the ladder.

I heard a soft grown from a little ways away. Of course as soon as I leave, one would come stumbling past. It wasn't until my eyes poked up above the fencing that I saw a dark wave on the horizon approaching our current location. There was no mistaking what this was. It wasn't just one of them. It was hundreds that were thirty-ish minutes away.

Considering I hadn't seen them a few minutes before meant they were making good time.

I cursed under my breath and started running back toward the apartment building, up the stairs and swung the door open, causing Bonnie to jump.

"Whoa what-"

"We have to go on lock down. Now. Can you close the curtains and turn out any lights?"

She gave a nod and jumped up from her spot, completely disregarding her book and began searching through the apartment.

"What's the situation like?" She asked while shutting the blinds and blowing out the candles.

"From what I saw, possibly five hundred or more. I'd say we have twenty-maybe thirty minutes before they hit us." She gave another nod, rummaging through our pile of firearms.

"Can you go get the others and meet me up here while I load these?"

"Yeah, I'll be back."

Because our enclosure wasn't huge, it didn't take me long to find the rest of the group. Like Bonnie had stated, they were in the grass looking straight up into the bright night sky. Of course the perfect cloudless night would be ruined by a hoard of savage cannibals.

"Hey, we need to get inside." I tried not to sound too freaked out, but it obviously came across to them in a distressing fashion.

"What? Why?" Finn asked, only sitting up instead of following my orders.

"I was right about the hoard coming back. It looks like they'll be here in about twenty minutes."

"Do you think the fences will hold?" Jake gave a stern yet worried look as he said this.

I didn't want to lie, the chances weren't great. There was no point in lying about it. "If they come directly here and see us, I'd say there's a fifty fifty chance that it'd hold up long enough to pick them off or escape."

"Damn it, I knew we should have started reinforcing it." Prismo cursed, a little louder than I was comfortable with.

Finn spoke up, saying almost exactly what I would have said. "We don't have time to think of that right now, lets just get inside and see what we can do."

Prismo didn't object this time and instead followed us back to the apartment.

Once we got inside, it looked as if Bonnie had loaded up all of our available firearms. We didn't have a lot, but if we needed to, we would be able to take the hoard with (hopefully) minimal damage to our new home.

"I think we'll have just enough." She confirmed.

"Lets hope we don't have to." Jake mumbled, slipping past me to help Bonnie. "So what's the plan?"

"Stay in here and check every so often to make sure they keep heading past us instead of toward us."

"And if they come toward us?" Prismo asked.

Everyone looked toward Bonnie and I. We made about half a second of eye contact, both of us in agreement. "We get in the truck and lead them away. Then we come back and repair." Bonnie instructed.

After that, we all went silent. None of us said a word in quite a while until we could hear the hoard coming close. Their growling and moaning echoing into the sky and surrounding area. You wouldn't expect it to be as loud as it was, but it was even drowning out the locusts and crickets now.

Jake kept watch, glancing through the curtains every few minutes. Every passing moment he became seemingly more tense which didn't help my anxious thoughts subside.

Finn was huddled up next to Jake with his head on his shoulder. Somehow Bonnibel was reading and ignoring it all. I caught one of Finns worried glances to Jake, who refused to tell us what was going on-which was probably for the best.

I laid on one of the beds we had gotten earlier staring straight up at the ceiling, trying to block out all of what I heard, trying to ignore Prismo's pacing in the other room, all while trying to comfort B-Mo. He was curled up in my side, his head pressed heavily into my chest, shaking and sobbing.

I was running my fingers through his thick brunet hair. Just like all of ours it was a greasy mess.

He was only 13 or so and the poor guy and seen more than any of us could imagine.

From what Finn had told me, he was in class when it all went down. He saw the massacre happen as the place was flooded. Of course the teachers were the first to go when the school was overrun, then he watched as some of the braver students tried to fend them off while the others shut down and froze. I didn't get the full picture as to how he had made it out, but he did somehow.

Finn had found him as he was escaping the high school.

I never had that heart to ask him what had happened. I think he appreciated the space.

"I think we should be fine here in a few minutes." Jake whispered.

Bonnie closed her book, her eyes meeting Jake's. I saw Jake's eyes flicker to the other room where Prismo continued to pace. Bonnie took the hint and went in to check on him.

Prismo's footfalls stopped abruptly and instead incoherent whispering took it's place.

Bang bang!

Everyone froze.

Bang bang! Bang bang!

I sat straight up, almost throwing B-MO off me. Jake quickly looked out the window and his mouth gaped open. He jumped up and headed over to the stack of weapons and grabbed the only semi-automatic we had. That's when Bonnie and Prismo came back into the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Bonnie half yelled.

Jake put a finger up to his lips. We all fell silent as the gunshots continued. He gestured toward our gun pile.

Instead of heading over to grab a gun, Finn glanced out the window and his eyes went wide. "It's them." He whispered, his voice cracking. "Jake, we have to-"

Just then a blast was heard. From what I could tell it was right outside of our fence. We could feel in our chest, rattling our ribs. Bonnie and Prismo actually stumbled over.

Jumping over B-Mo, I grabbed a rifle and a handgun. I just barely missed Bonnie's grip on my pants as I ran out of the door, immediately shooting into the crowd of stumbling zombies. I was unable to hear what Bonnie was yelling as I shot one round after another. The explosion had taken half of the zombie horde with it; it also left a gaping hole in our fence. Our yard was raining bits of limbs and other miscellaneous body parts. Our white walls were now splattered with blood.

Yeah, we knew just how absolutely fucked we were.

Jake followed close behind me as I ran down the stairs, searching for the perpetrators. Whoever blew up the fence had to know we were here and have some sort of grudge. Or maybe not. People could do whatever they wanted without reason now.

I saw a head poke up from behind Jake's truck and motioned for Jake to follow. We were met with a few very unsettling faces of half cooked zombies. A few of them were flailing around with half of their body missing and caught completely off balance by their new forms. Their skin was now charred, red and visibly steaming.

The smell of burning flesh was enough to make me puke and I probably would have if it weren't for all of the adrenaline running through my veins.

Blood exploded everywhere when I pulled the trigger. I somehow overcame the overwhelming urge to throw up again and slid under the truck, immediately losing track of Jake as I did so.

On the other side was a figure crouched over hiding, his back was facing me. I didn't hesitate to fire off a round in whoever's spine it was. I wasn't going to play hide and go seek with this fucker. Next came their blood curtailing scream.

I actually had to cover my hears because it was so loud.

At this point, I didn't give two shits what would happen to him next. For God's sake he blew up our fucking fence.

Okay, yes I get that you're supposed to have some sense of humanity. But right now was not the time to be asking questions or worrying about anyone who wasn't your own. Within a few seconds the guy was surrounded by zombies. I only knew this because I could hear the crunching, ripping and smacking.

Because of their one track mind, they hadn't even noticed me underneath the truck as they ripped him apart. I was mere feet from their grasp, yet they paid me no mind as they ate him.

I took that opportunity to let my heart settle then I managed to find an opening and slipped away from the huge crowd that was now feasting on our enemy. However, a zombie came around my side baring it's blood stained teeth at me. Before it could take a hold of me I quickly stepped to the side and pulled the trigger as my gun leveled with its head. Blood and chunks of brain flew out from the other side where my bullet escaped like those fountain fireworks.

The gunshot was loud. I knew later I'd have a blistering migraine.

A bullet suddenly zipped past my leg and ricocheted off of Jake's truck, just barely missing me.

My eyes locked with the one who fired off that shot. I didn't care to remember what the man looked like or the expression painted on his face. My heart was beating fast and in that moment the only thing I could think of was to run straight at him. So I did.

I guess that scared him, because his fight or flight response kicked in and that fucker ran. The shooter took off sprinting in the opposite direction, but since we were in such an enclosed space it didn't take me long to reach him.

I maneuvered past a few zombie's not even worrying about shooting them down. I tackled the man to the ground and wrapped one arm around his neck. I managed to pull out my handgun and point it at his head. The gun came to life when I fired with a loud pop. In an instant his remains splattered everywhere; on the fence, on my clothes and across my face before he could even react to what had happened.

A few gunshots had fired off a little ways behind me and I felt the thud of a zombie hitting the ground not even two feet away, forcing me to turn and face Jake's horrified expression.

"Marceline, what the fuck was that about? Do you not realize that he could have killed you?"

God, I was being way to careless. Did I care at that exact moment? No. In fact I couldn't think at all. My mind was foggy and I was beginning to feel the tunnel vision in my eyes.

I hadn't even noticed the gunfire happening all around me. And there I was without cover in the middle of a battlefield.

"Either way he would have tried." I got to my feet, my legs wobbly and not wanting to move. I willed my body to move through it. I found my grip back on the gun and the two of us fired off rounds at the remaining zombies. "Are there any more of them?" I asked, my voice just as shaky as my hands.

"I'm not sure, there's too many of these assholes." He said between shooting off a few more rounds while I reloaded. I was surprised I was even able to understand him with my ears ringing like they were.

"Should we lead them away like we planned?"

He contemplated the decision for a moment before giving a nod. "Stay here. I'll grab the keys and will try to find where the hell everyone else is."

I covered him as he rushed toward the apartment building. A few zombie's followed, but I fired shaky shots. A few bullets wasted, only a few of their heads popped like water balloons. With each shot I felt myself steady and become more focused. Before I knew it I had gone through my whole clip within ten seconds. There were way too many to handle by myself.

Cursing under my breath, I jumped in the back of the truck bed. For a split second I had forgotten about the guy who was still being eaten on the other side. I ducked down really low, but I could still see the dead begin to surround the truck.

This time I couldn't stop myself from becoming a victim of another panic attack.

Where the fuck is everyone else? Why weren't they out here risking their lives?

My hands started shaking violently and my sight began to feel fuzzy. Fuck.

From what I could tell, the truck had already become completely surrounded, their bodies squished against every side. From my point of view, all I could see were outstretched arms and hungry eyes. They weren't smart enough to climb nor close enough to grasp me, but it didn't give me any relief. My heart was still pounding against my ribs.

That was when I heard rounds being fired to my left.

I was barely able to sit up enough to glance over and see who it was. Finn and Prismo were firing off rounds from the balcony in my direction.

"Marceline, duck!" I heard Finn scream as loud as he possibly could. Of course I didn't hesitate to do as I was told. I ducked down and I could see some of the dead change course and the other's heads explode inches away from my own eyes.

Suddenly a sharp pain hit my right arm and right under my right eye. I cursed loudly and grasped the area, seeing a few bullet fragments where it had ricocheted off the inside of the truck's metal bed. A hell of a lot of blood pouring out from the wound.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

I sunk lower into the trucks bed, putting as much pressure as possible on my forearm, my breath becoming heavier and wavering as the pain came in waves. My arm and face was warm with blood.

Another few zombie's heads popped about a foot away from my legs. It was stuck against the side, blood pouring from its head into the bed.

The shooting had slowed down all of a sudden so I peeked up at the balcony. Neither one of them were still there, instead coming down the apartment stairs toward the truck with their arms full of bags. I hadn't even noticed the lack of zombies surrounding the vehicle.

I saw Bonnie and B-mo as they ran toward the truck with the firearm bags. Her eyes met mine and even from this distance I could see how overcome with fear she was.

Jake was the first to make it into the truck, stepped over the rotting corpses around us and started up the truck. When Finn and Prismo made it, they threw their bags in the back with me and hardly gave me a second glance. Bonnie was the last, but unlike the others, she actually acknowledged me.

"Are you okay?" She asked through heavy breaths, throwing the bags in the bed.

"Don't worry about that right now, we need to-"

In a flash, I saw B-mo stop in his tracks, his eyes widened and pained for a split second before stumbling over, blood and brains splattered on the ground next to the truck. A split second later I heard the gunshot.

I heard the screaming from the inside of the truck and Finn's hands slam against the window. The scream caught in my throat and Bonnie's face flushed white, her mouth gaping in shock. She started to bend over to grasp him, but I managed to grab her arm and yank her against the side of truck.

"Bonnie, we have to leave." She shrugged out of my grip and pulled a pistol out-seemingly from thin air and aimed it at the emptiness around us. There was no one in sight. I heard the knocking and screaming continue inside the truck. "Bonnie, get in the truck now." A round zipped passed Bonnie's face, barely missing. "Get in the fucking truck, Bonnie."

She turned and gave a glazed over stare, as if we weren't currently being fired at. It was terrifying to see how much nothingness was behind her eyes. She gave a slight nod and took way too long to get in the bed with me.

As soon as she was in, I yanked her down into me so she was no longer in view and her head slammed against my chest-painfully so. She didn't move from her uncomfortable position, only tightly grasping onto me as the truck started up the bumpy slope of corpses.

I was being jerked around and sliding all over the bed and even banged my head against the metal. Blood splashed all over Bonnie and I, not that she gave two shits in this moment. From what I could tell, she was in too much shock to feel anything.

There was an immediate difference as we hit the road and Jake gunned it. I didn't hear any gunshots or other vehicles followings so I guess that was a good sign, but after getting hit by bullet fragments I wasn't going to peak over to see if we were being followed.

When the engine noise finally came to a reasonable level I held onto Bonnie to get her attention. "Bon-"

"He's just gone."

I let out a sigh, holding back tears at the realization. The memory replaying in my head. I ground my teeth to the point where the pain was almost unbearable. I suppose it was better than the alternative of feeling emotions or thinking of the nightmares it would cause. "I know." I said, letting my voice crack.

Her hand found a way to mine and she held onto it with a deadly grip. In a way it felt nice. "I can't do this."

"What do you mean?"

She found a way to sit up, combing back her blonde hair which was now dyed red with blood."I can't lose anyone else."

"That's unrealistic-"

"We thought we were safe. And what were the chances that we'd be found by the only people who were looking for us? And somehow the only person who didn't make it was the only child in our group. The most innocent one. When you went out there and looked death straight in the face and ran after some guy, got surrounded by the dead and hit with a bullet and-" She stopped herself mid sentence and just screamed.

She earned a worried look from Prismo who was inside the truck. His eyes were red from crying. I waved at him to signal she would be fine and I guess that was enough. He turned around.

"Listen, I'm sorry for being reckless."

"You should be. That was so incredible stupid and you should have died."

The implication stung, my heart literally ached. "I don't know which way to take that." I admitted.

"The fact that you didn't die after that stunt you pulled was just...Marceline," Our eyes met and her grip on my hand became soft, as did her eyes. I could see her vision clearing, her blankness dissipating. "Promise me you don't do stupid shit like that again."

"Bonnie, I-"

"Promise me."

I swallowed my pride and took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry that I wasn't thinking and that I worried you. I know I was reckless and that I need to think about my actions, but I don't regret it and I won't promise that I won't do that again. I might have saved one of you guys by doing that."

Her eyes filled with tears and the corners of her mouth pressed white before she collapsed into my arms. She gripped my bleeding arm, causing pain to shoot throughout and making me grunt loudly. I opened my mouth to tell her she was hurting me. The words wouldn't leave my mind, they stopped when she said, "You're such an idiot." and began sobbing.

I sighed, just letting the pain subside enough for me to say, "I know."