Banshee: Hello everyone! I am soooooo sorry that this took so long. ;_; I just had a lot of stuff going on in the past couple of years, but I won't bore you with my life. Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! Oh! And be sure to check out the new poll in my profile. be sure to vote~!

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot.

Chapter Two

A few hours later, Red and Blue had finished searching the house, and went to investigate the mysterious fire they had seen hours before.

They reached the shoreline, the source of the fire, and found that the white sandy beach was covered in ash. Some burned bones could be seen lying amongst the ashes, and they could barely make out the charred silhouettes of bodies. Zombies were at the scene, but they were severely crippled. Some had no legs, others had no arms, and some had no limbs at all; they just laid there like logs, trying to move by wriggling around.

"What the hell happened here?" Red asked after surveying their surroundings.

"A fire." Blue said flatly.

"Don't be a smartass." Red growled. "I know what happened. What I mean is, what could have caused it? We are in the right place, aren't we?"

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Blue.

"With a fire that big, I thought one of the gas stations might have exploded. But we're right by the ocean. There's nothing here to start a fire."

"Maybe they just spontaneously combusted." Said Blue.

"Maybe." Red agreed.

"That light may have attracted more zombies. We should leave before they show up." Blue said.

Red nodded in agreement, and the two turned around and left, but not before Blue turned to the crippled zombies and shot them.

"Was that really necessary?" Red inquired.

"What?" Blue snapped. "They were as good as dead anyway. Now let's get out of here. It's getting dark. We need to find a safe place to settle in for the night."

Red shook their head, and the two walked over to their bright yellow hummer, opening the doors and using the step to climb in. Blue sat in the driver's seat while Red sat in the passenger's seat. Blue turned the keys in the ignition, and the hummer's engine revved up. Putting the hummer in drive, Blue stepped on the gas, and the tires threw up sand and ash as they left the beach.

…

- Meanwhile -

- Roxas' POV -

…

We have been searching for hours, and there was still no sign of Nikki. Now it was getting dark, and all the walking and running around we did left us exhausted.

"I'm so tired…" Demyx whined. "Can we please find some place to sleep?"

"I'm tired too. But where can we go?" I asked. "The island is crawling with zombies."

"I don't care.." The nocturne declared stubbornly. "I would stay in a dumpster if it meant I could get some sleep…"

"Stop your whining." Axel snapped irritably, making Demyx and me flinch. "We're not at Summer Camp. Do you think the zombies are going to take a break, and wait courteously for you to wake up so they can maul you? No! They'd tear you apart in your sleep! I don't care how tired we are, or how dark it gets! We're going to keep moving until we find Nikki!"

"That decision isn't yours to make, Axel." Zexion pointed out. "Remember, I'm ranked higher than you. I'm the one who should be giving orders."

"Fuck you and your stupid rank!" Axel shouted angrily. "You think anybody out here cares?! Wait! Listen… You hear that? That's the sound of NOBODY GIVING A SHIT!"

Zexion sighed. "You're speaking out of exhaustion and hunger. We should find some food, and once we have something in our stomachs we'll find a safe place to sleep. Now let's get moving."

"Don't tell me what to do, you book-reading emo midget!"

"Ouch. That really hurt." Zexion said flatly. "Stop yelling, you idiot. We'll never be able to rest if you attract zombies with your childish tantrums."

"He's got a point, Axel.." I agreed. "All this arguing won't get us anywhere. Besides… some food and sleep does sound good…"

Axel opened his mouth to respond to Zexion's 'childish tantrums' comment, but froze when his stomach grumbled. "You know what?" He said. "Food sounds good.."

…

- A Short Time Later -

…

It didn't take long for us to find some food. There was a small supermarket downtown, and we managed to sneak in without arousing any unwanted attention. When we went in, we gathered some non-perishables, because everything in the refrigerated section had gone bad and the smell was unbearable, and some water, the whole time trying to be as quiet as humanely possible. We gathered enough food for the four of us, and left as quickly as we came in.

After that, we found a safe spot on a roof, and Axel sealed the door shut so no zombies could come up and surprise us while we were there. Using some debris, we started a fire to cook the food we picked up. The food, soup to be specific, was ready in less than five minutes. We didn't have any bowls or spoons to eat the soup with, so we had to drink it out of the cans. As soon as we were done eating, we put the fire out.

Soon the sky went from orange to pitch black. Other than the moon and the fires that littered the island, there was no light.

In order to avoid any surprise attacks by zombies, Zexion ordered us to take turns keeping watch. One person would keep watch while the others slept. Every few hours, we switched places. Soon it was my turn.

I couldn't sleep very well. How could I, knowing that there were zombies skulking around two stories below us? All together, I got three hours of sleep; and I wasn't even technically sleeping. I kept opening my eyes every ten minutes.

"Hey."

Turning around, I saw Axel get up and walk over to the ledge where I was sitting. He sat down next to me, and asked, "You alright?"

"Not really.." I said. "How can you guys sleep knowing those things are down there?"

"It's not easy for us either." He admitted. "But we need to at least get some sleep. We can't look for Nikki on a zombie-infested island if we're tired and hungry."

I arched an eyebrow. "What happened to 'I don't care how tired we are, or how dark it gets! We're going to keep moving until we find Nikki!'?" I repeated what Axel said hours before with a jovial smirk.

"Now that I've had food and some sleep, I can think rationally again."

"That's good." I said. "You're no fun to be around when you're in a bad mood."

Axel chuckled a little, then looked down at the street."How's it looking down there?" He asked.

I shivered and drew me knees to my chest, raising my head so I was looking out towards the horizon. "It's so quiet out there, it's creepy. I don't even hear any owls. It's like the whole island died…"

There was barely any noise, besides the fires crackling and the moaning and groaning of zombies. Earlier that day, we had heard the sound of gunfire, but that stopped a little bit after nightfall. Maybe there were other people on the island besides us, but with the amount of zombies there probably was, the probability of them surviving were pretty slim. But we weren't concerned about anybody else. Our main concern was Nikki. She was out there, probably alone - with the exception of Momo - and constantly running and fighting to stay alive.

Axel must have noticed the sad, worried expression on my face, for he put a reassuring hand on my shoulder and said, "Hey."

I looked over at him.

"It'll be okay, Rox." He assured. "We'll find her."

I paused. "… I hope so…"

"Why don't you go and get some more sleep. I'll take over."

At first, I was reluctant about going back to sleep, but the bags under my eyes and the weight on my eyelids prevented me from staying awake any longer. I did as Axel suggested and went back to lay down with the others while he took over keeping watch for me.

…

- The Next Day -

- Normal POV -

…

The group woke up relatively early the next morning, but they waited until the sun was higher up in the sky - to provide better lighting - before they started moving. They grabbed a quick bit of breakfast, which consisted of some doughnuts that still had a few weeks until they expired, and resumed their search for Nikki.

One thing that they could say was that the brunette knew how to cover her tracks; and without Momo to sniff her out, they were running around the island blindly with no clue where to look. As they walked around, Axel remembered something crucial about his superior, Zexion. He could identify scents as well. It didn't really have anything to do with one's natural body odor - though he could identify that as well if he wanted to - it was more-so the level of darkness in their heart. Even though Nikki didn't have enough darkness in her heart, her natural scent left a trail wherever she went.

Tracking Momo was another option because he's half Heartless, and Heartless are the physical embodiment of darkness.

But both methods would have their drawbacks.

Tracking one's natural scent was a good idea, except the island was littered with dead bodies that stank to high heaven. And as for darkness… From what they had seen from post-apocalyptic survival movies, the end of life as you know it leads to people being free to act out on their darkest, most twisted desires. Either way, there would be interference.

But it was worth a shot.

"Zexion," Axel said, getting the steely-haired Nobody's attention. "you have a good nose. Try to pick up her scent."

At this, Zexion stopped in his tracks and faced Axel, his arms crossed. "Just because I can identify other's scents does not mean you can treat me like a dog." He huffed, offended.

"But you're the only one - other than Momo - who would be able to track her down." Roxas reasoned. "Can't you at least try?"

"Nikki does not have enough darkness in her heart for me to be able to sense it. I could track her based on her natural scent, but it will be difficult to single out with all these-" Zexion involuntarily breathed in the scent of a nearby corpse and coughed. "-unpleasant odors.."

"What if we went up on higher ground?" Roxas suggested, pointing to the buildings.

"Hmm.. That could work.."

Following Roxas' suggestion, the Nobodies teleported to the roof of one of the buildings. It was a three-story building; just high enough to provide an ideal view and the air quality was - slightly - better.

"Could you all stand over there, please?" Zexion asked, pointing to the other side of the roof. "I don't want any… interference."

"Hold on a minute, are you saying we stink?"

The shorter Nobody looked at Axel and said with a slight smirk, "I didn't say that; though you don't exactly smell like a basket of roses." He put up his hand and shooed them away. "Now go on. Shoo."

The redhead would have come up with a comeback, but decided against it. When the others moved to the other side of the roof as requested, Zexion stood quietly for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, he spoke. "… I smell vanilla."

"That's her!" Axel yelled. "Where's it coming from?"

"It's all over the place, but it's strongest in that direction." Zexion said, poitning straight ahead.

"Then that's where we're headed."

…

- Meanwhile -

…

Of all the houses on the block, only one of them showed any signs of life; a little blue house with a moderately-sized yard and a white picket fence. The windows were boarded up, but slivers of light shined through the gaps in the wood. Zombies stumbled down the street, only aware of the people inside the home when gunshots rang from the front window. In that window was a gap just large enough to fit your hand through, and nestled in that gap was the barrel of a shotgun.

The man holding the shotgun was none other than Nikki's father, Raymond.

He sat by the window, surrounded by an assortment of guns and ammunition, as he watched for zombies, shooting any that wandered onto the property.

His wife, and Nikki's mother, Catherine, sat on the couch in the living room by the radio, nervously kneading the handle of the handgun her husband gave her. With all stations disconnected, the radio on the coffee table hissed with static.

"I'm worried about Nikki…" Catherine admitted, breaking the several-hour-long silence. "We haven't heard from her in two days.. You don't think the infection spread to where she is, do you?"

"I doubt it." Said Raymond. "According to her, the Organization she lives with are in a castle that floats above the ground. And there are no people in the world they live in. Even if the infection spread there, it wouldn't reach her."

"That's… good.. We already lost one daughter. I don't think I could bear it if anything happened to Nikki…"

"She's in a world where she's safe." Her husband assured her. "As long as she stays there, we don't have to worry."

As he said this, Ray turned away from the window to face her. While his back was turned, Catrherine noticed a zombie approaching the window. It reached its hand through the gap in the wooden boards, groaning as it groped around the air in the room.

"Ray!" She shouted, pointing towards the window.

At her exclamation, Ray whirled around at an inhuman speed, sticking the shotgun out the window and shooting the zombie dead on (no pun intended) in the face. Its head exploded as its body crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"It'll be a cold day in Hell before I let any of you bastards set foot in this house!" Ray declared, cocking the gun.

"Ray.." Catherine began worrriedly. "What if Nikki's here, on the island? She must have seen the news yesterday. You know her. It's not in her nature to sit by and do nothing."

"She gets that from my side of the family, you know."

"She gets her stubbornness from your side too."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"With those… things out there?" She exclaimed heatedly, pointing out the window. "Yes! It is a bad thing! There are swarms of them all over the island!"

Then Catherine started crying, throwing the gun aside so she could bury her face in her hands. Her husband could hear her muffled words, which emphasized her worry for their remaining daughter and audibly wondering to herself what danger she might be in in that very moment. Between sobs, she could also be heard praying to God for her safety. Abandoning his post at the window, Raymond put the shotgun down and sat down next to his wife and embraced her.

"Don't worry, love." He said comfortingly as he caressed her hair. "She's a strong girl. If she was here, she would be more than capable of handling herself."

Catherine continued to cry, though not as bad as she was before, but not before composing herself enough to reply, "I hope you're right…"

…

…