Author's Note:

Another chapter? Man, I'm just hashing these things out quick, aren't I?

As promised, this will be a longer chapter and includes the first zombie fighting/chase scene of the story. Not much else to say, so here we go!


No one spoke on the ride back to Third Street. There wasn't really anything to talk about anyway. They all knew that what they were doing was dangerous. They all knew the risks.

T.J. fiddled with his pistol as Francis drove the truck. He was both happy and terrified at what they would find back home. He was praying that he would find what he was looking for.

As they got closer to the town, T.J. began seeing the ruined remains of familiar sights along the road. There were also the usual signs of destruction everywhere. Wreckages of cars. Buildings in ruins. Burnt patches of grass.

And corpses. Lots and lots of corpses.

Many of the bodies that lined the roads and ditches, T.J. knew, had once been ordinary men, women, and children. Then they had been brutally murdered by either marauders or zombies. Or they had been zombies themselves before someone else killed them.

Finally, T.J. saw in the distance what was left of Third Street school. It actually didn't seem all that damaged. The windows were all broken, and several pieces of the wall were broken off, but other than that, it seemed pretty much intact.

"Pull up to the school," T.J. told Francis, pointing to the school entrance. Francis nodded and pulled the truck up to the entrance, skidding on the grass before stopping.

Everyone jumped out of the truck and raised their weapons, in case their arrival had been heard by zombies. After a minute of silence, Vince gestured to the roof.

"Scout it," he ordered. Ashley nodded and ran for the wall of the school, scaling it quickly. Within seconds, she disappeared over the side of the roof.

"How many words has she spoken exactly in the past eight years?" T.J. asked.

"Less then fifty or so," Vince replied. "Her silence actually makes her a good scout."

"I know, I know. I've read your reports."

About a minute later, Ashley appeared and made several hand signals.

"Looks like there are a few zombies a few blocks down," said Vince. "Dormant for now. But if we make too much noise, they'll wake up for sure."

"Only a few zombies? That's all?"

"Apparently. Looks like Butch was wrong."

"Has there ever been a time where he's been right about these kinds of things?"

Vince thought about it for a moment. "No, not really," he admitted.

He turned to the rest of his team. "Get to the Hustler Warehouse and gather anything useful you can find."

"You got it, Vince." Francis motioned for the others to follow him.

"So, where do we start?" Vince asked T.J. after the others were gone.

"The playground," T.J. told him. "That's the last place we saw her, after all. So that's the first place we look."

Vince nodded and the two headed around the school.

The playground was in worse shape than the school. Old Rusty had fallen apart, there were several new, rotting holes in the Cheese Box, and there was nothing left of the Ashleys' clubhouse but a pile of tires.

The playground. The spot where it all began. Even now T.J. could remember that day. The day that everything changed.


It was supposed to be another regular day on the playground at Third Street School. The Diggers were digging, Swinger Girl was swinging, and King Freddie II was overlooking his dominion.

At the basketball court, T.J. and his friends were playing an intense basketball game against Lawson and his crew. T.J. himself currently had the ball and was trying to dodge Lawson.

"You're going down, Dipweiler," Lawson said with a sneer.

"Not today, Lawson," T.J. replied, throwing the ball over Lawson's head, where it landed right into the waiting arms of Spinelli. She dribbled it down the court and passed it to Vince, who then threw into the basket. Swish!

The gang all cheered and high fived each other. It was another victory against Lawson.

For one final moment, everything was perfect.

Then…everything changed.

The kids heard a loud scream.

"That sounded like one of the Ashleys," T.J. said.

"So? They probably saw a mouse or something," Spinelli remarked.

"We should still see what's up," T.J. told her, already starting to run in the direction of the scream. After exchanging a look, the rest of the gang followed.

A crowd had already formed around the outside of the Ashleys' clubhouse. In the center of the crowd were Ashley A, Ashley B, and Ashley T, who were huddled around Ashley Q, who was clutching her arm in pain.

"What happened?" T.J. asked as he and the gang pushed their way to the front of the crowd.

"One of those Kindergarteners, like, totally got into our clubhouse and bit Ashley Q!" Ashley A exclaimed.

"So? The Kindergarteners go after people all the time," Vince remarked.

"But he was like, so totally dirty," said Ashley B.

"And grunting like a monster," added Ashley T.

"And his eyes were all, like, red and stuff," said Ashley A.

"That still doesn't really sound unusual," Vince said.

"Yeah, the little guy was probably sick," Spinelli added.

"But like, Ashley Q doesn't seem to good," protested Ashley B.

It was true. Ashley Q was now moaning in pain, sweat glistening on her brow.

"Maybe the sun is getting to her," Gretchen suggested. "It is, after all, a hot day."

"Or it could be something far worse," Butch said off to the side.

"Whatcha talking about, Butch?" T.J. asked.

Butch removed the toothpick from his mouth. "Word on the street is that all the Kindergarteners have been acting more savage than usual today," he explained. "Biting each other, trying to bite the teacher. They've been pounding on their gate for the past hour."

"What does that have to do with all of this?" Spinelli asked.

"They looked just like the one that attacked here," Butch went on. "And word on the street is that stuff like this is happening all over town. People going completely nuts, biting their friends and family. And when they bite someone, they turn them into one of them. And they aren't stopped by anything. Some say that they're not even human. Some say that they have become…zombies."

"Noooooooooo!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Oh come on, guys, Butch is just messing with us," T.J. assured his friends.

"Am I?" Butch challenged.

Suddenly, Ashley Q started spasming, writhing back in forth. The other Ashleys all screamed and backed away.

"What's happening to her?" Gus asked in terror.

Ashley Q writhed around for a few more seconds, then went completely still, eyes closed.

"A-Ashley Q?" Ashley A asked tentatively, reaching a hand out.

Ashley Q's eyes shot open, now bloodshot. With a snarl, Ashley Q jumped up and sank her teeth into Ashley A's neck.

Ashley A screamed, along with everyone else.

"Told ya," Butch said, already running away.

"Run!" someone shouted, and the crowd of kids turned and ran back towards the school.

"Come on guys!" T.J. yelled, leading the gang into the crowd of stampeding students.


"Teej?" Vince put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah," T.J. replied, snapping back to reality.

"Then come on. Let's find proof of Spinelli's death and meet back with the others."

T.J. considered pointing out that, once again, there was no proof that Spinelli was dead, but decided against it. He couldn't waste time arguing with Vince about this. There was work to be done.

Suddenly, Vince stopped and knelt on the ground.

"What is it?" T.J. asked.

"Footprints. Fresh ones too. Heading off into town."

"Spinelli?"

"No. There are several sets." Vince stood up. "My best guess is that there are a few marauders in town."

"How many?"

"At least four."

T.J. nodded and gripped his pistol tighter.

Marauders were a bunch of random survivors that wandered the ruined remains of society, killing and plundering anything that got in their way. Generally, they had been driven insane from all the chaos and zombie attacks.

"We should be on our guard," Vince said. "Those marauders could be anywhere."

The words were barely out of his mouth when gunfire started echoing in the distance.

"What the hell?" T.J. asked.

Vince pulled out a walkie. "Francis, what's going on?" he asked.

"That wasn't us, Vince," Francis replied.

"Well whoever that is, they're going to wake up the zombies," Vince said.

Sure enough, they heard the low moans and growls as nearby zombies stirred and started running for the sounds of gunfire.

Vince cursed. "Francis, hurry up with those supplies!" He whipped out his pistols and took aim around him.

"We can't leave yet," T.J. insisted. "We still have to—"

That's when the zombies started coming over the nearby wall.

Each one was filthy, with torn clothes and decaying flesh hanging off in patches. Their eyes were blank and bloodshot, and their snarling mouths were filled with sharp teeth.

"Damn it to hell!" Vince yelled, turning his pistols and firing several rounds at the approaching horde. T.J. raised his pistol and did the same. Many of their shots hit the zombies in the chest or arms. A few hit their heads, bringing them down for good.

"We're going to get overrun!" Vince yelled. He turned to head back to the truck only to see that zombies were coming back the way that they had come.

"We're cut off!" Vince called to T.J. "Let's head for the town! Circle back and meet up with Francis and the others!"

"Lead the way, then!" T.J. replied, reloading his pistol.

The two friends leaped over the wall on the other side of the playground, trying to escape from the zombies. As they ran, more and more zombies joined the chase.

"I thought Ashley said there were only a few zombies in the area!" T.J. yelled.

"Well clearly more of them were hidden out of sight from the roof!" Vince replied. He fired backwards at the rushing horde, taking out a few more zombies in the process.

"There's too many of them!" T.J. yelled.

"Gee, you think!" Vince replied. "We're going to have to split up!"

"Split up! Are you crazy!"

"Trust me, Teej! If we split up, that'll split the zombies up too and make them easier to handle! We use it all the time!"

"Vince—"

"Go! We'll meet back at the truck later!" Before T.J. could stop him, Vince had turned down a random street, causing several more of the zombies to follow him.

"God damnit Vince!" T.J. yelled after him, turning down a different street. He was going to have a serious conversation with Vince about who was actually in charge of things.

He ran down the street, pursued by even more zombies. He didn't dare stop to reload his weapon. One wrong move and the zombies would be on him, and that would be that.

His pistol clicked empty, so he threw that at the horde and grabbed the rifle off his back and continued to fire back. But despite his best efforts, the zombies chasing him just kept coming.

"Stupid undead zombies," he muttered under his breath. He needed headshots to take them down, but he had no time to aim without stopping.

He turned one last corner and found himself in a dead-end alley. "Oh, come on!" he yelled in annoyance. Of course he had to run into a dead-end alley just like the heroes did in every horror film in existence.

The zombies rounded the corner behind and started charging him. T.J. cursed and fired back at them. At least now he could actually kill them now.

Apparently, Vince had drawn off more zombies that T.J. had thought, because there were a lot fewer than when the chase had started. Or maybe he was a better shot running for his life than he realized.

T.J. kept shooting, taking down zombies one by one. However, when there were only about five zombies left, T.J.'s rifle clicked empty. He cursed again, throwing the rifle aside and drawing his combat knife.

He took a step back and tripped on a loose piece of gravel. He fell back, hitting his head on the concrete. Pain exploded through his head and he instantly saw stars.

The five remaining zombies surged towards him, ready to tear his flesh from his body and turn him into one of them. T.J. struggled to rise, or do anything to get away from them, but it was no use. His body wouldn't obey him.

And then more gunshots rang out as someone leaped down from above and shot four of the five zombies from behind. For the last zombie, this newcomer pulled out a machete and chopped its head off.

The last thing T.J. saw before he blacked out was the figure walking steadily towards him.


Vince's pistols were both out of ammo, and he had no time to stop to reload. So he kept running away from the dozen or so zombies still chasing him.

Back during his Third Street days, Vince had been pretty much the best athlete in school. He could outrun just about everyone. Of course, back then it was just about getting first place, not about life and death.

Vince rounded another corner and brightened to see Francis and Ashley waiting with their weapons. The moment the zombies appeared, they opened fire; Francis with his twin machine guns and Ashley with her sniper rifle. In less than a minute, the zombies were all dead.

"Thanks guys," Vince panted, reloading his pistols. "That was a close one."

"We should get moving," Francis said. "All this gunfire will have attracted the attention of more zombies. Where's T.J.?"

Vince activated his walkie again. "T.J., do you copy?" He was met with nothing but static.

"Teej? You there?"

Again, only static.

Vince cursed under his breath. "He must've dropped his walkie, or he's still running from zombies," he said. "We got to go help him out."

"Ashley, go with him," Francis ordered. "I'll help the Diggers get the last of the supplies to the truck."

Ashley nodded, and followed Vince back the way they had come.

Vince hoped that they were not too late.


When T.J. woke, he found himself staring at a pair of boots. A very familiar pair of boots.

As he blinked his eyes and tried to get a better view of his surroundings, the pair of boots rolled him over on his back.

"You had quite a fall there, buddy," a familiar voice told him as a face came into T.J.'s line of sight.

His eyes widened in shock. Her face was dirty and bruised, but he recognized it instantly. He knew who it was.

"Spinelli?"


Cue the fanfare! Spinelli is alive and well!...or at least as well as anyone can be during the apocalypse. Of course, none of you are surprised by her being alive, because let's face it: why would I kill her off page?

Hope you enjoyed the first little flashback moment. Actually, that flashback moment was going to be my original start to this story, with it then progressing to the present and following both what T.J. and Spinelli are doing in their different locations. I decided to change it and mainly focus on T.J. so that I could leave what Spinelli's been up to and how she survived the past eight years shrouded in mystery.

Next time: Reunions, more zombies, and maybe a narrow escape or two.

Anywho, don't forget to drop a review so you can yell at me about how I'm messing everything up. I know I'm typing these out so fast that there's barely any time for a review, but there may be a few more days wait until the next chapter is up for this story so I can get back to writing the next chapter of my TD fanfic. Until next time, this is Guest 1138 reminding you to always wear sunscreen when going out to play in the hot sun. Ciao!