Happy (Almost) Christmas everyone! I hope your holiday season is wonderful! I'm sorry for the short chapter, but on Christmas Day, I'll be launching a Zone Five companion piece named "Hostage". Please make sure you read it too, as it is essential to understanding a new charactor coming into the story. Also, please make sure to review. Even a simple thumbs up would be nice:) well, anyways, enjoy!

Love and Hugs,

Nikki

Darkness.

It was like a black wool blanket had been thrown over her head, turning all visions into the deep vortex of nothingness. She felt the cover grow tighter, beginning to strangle her as it smothered her. Voices swirled around in her head, most of them sounding worried and tense. She couldn't pick out who was who. The darkness intensified. Gunshot, vibrating noises that made her flinch. Her body was tired, slackened as someone grabbed her roughly. More voices. Gruff, taunting ones that she had never heard before.

"She should be awake now!" A voice called.

"They gave her too much. She might not come out of this." Another male said.

"What do you mean? You have to help her!" A feminine voice called.

"We're doing the best we fucking can!"

Helicopter blades whirring against wind. The smell of gasoline and wheat. She began to smell again, the scent of perspiration and death looming around her. Something was not right. Her hands began to grasp something, what was the cold metal of the helicopter. She began to feel things. To almost see things. Blurs of cold color. She could smell blood all around her. Then, she could open her eyes.

"Scar?" A warm voice called.

She tried to talk, but her voice was gone. No sound came out. Her throat was so tight and chapped. Scarlett was laying on a ratty old blanket, her hands grasping at the metal floor of the helicopter cabin. Two military soldiers were stationed with them, along with a small group of nurses, and patients. The helicopter was huge. Scarlett tried to gulp, her throat touching together and making her cough.

"Here. Drink this." A nurse handed something to her. She gulped down the water.

Blood was caked on her tattered clothes, which consisted of a black winter coat, nylon running pants and lace up combat boots. She could feel a too tight bra chafing underneath it. Someone had changed her, most likely Phoenix. She was sitting next to Scar, a worried look on her also bloodied face.

"What.. Happened?" Scarlett coughed.

"Everything's overrun. The infected got past the Mississippi." Phoenix replied ominously.

Scarlett responded with widening her eyes. She new that showing fear was against her morals, but an overwhelming sense of dread was felt through the cabin. Scarlett's mind then wandered to the rest of their team. Where were they evacuated to? What about Nick? Oh god.

"Do you know where they are evacuating us?" Scarlett whispered hoarsely to Louis.

"Somewhere up in Canada. Least, that's what they're telling us." Louis shrugged.

"Are all of the Zones gone?" Scarlett felt questions bubbling up.

"Yes. Oh shit! We left Flame in 5. Serenity is going to kill me." Phoenix groaned.

"Don't worry about him. The infected only eat humans, 'member?" She responded.

"Still, Serenity's going to skin me alive. That was like her little baby."

"You can probably find another one. We need to think about staying alive, not about them." Scarlett's voice cracked.

"But-" Phoenix started.

"Shh. Don't think about them, think about surviving." Louis cut her off.

A nurse came over to the trio, and handed them scarce morsels of food. They ate in a comfortable silence, eavesdropping on the other panicked survivors. Some talked about rebellion, or the glee of holding a weapon again. Those people consisted of headstrong bikers and snarky females. Most of them, though, just stayed silent. They were just as scared as she was.

"Do you ever think this is going to end?" Phoenix asked after she finished her food.

"What?" The question caught her off guard.

"The whole 'Zombie apocalypse shit.'"

"The only way we stand a fighting chance is with a cure." Louis answered for her.

"Or they all starve to death." Scarlett added.

"But what if they don't? If we die out first, for example. What do you think would happen?" Phoenix pressed.

"Maybe they would cure themselves. It's a long shot, but if all the humans disappear, they could morph back." Scarlett pursed her lips as she thought.

"Or life as we know it would be destroyed forever." Louis mumbled

"That's most likely going to happen." Phoenix whined slightly, rocking on her knees.

"Don't think like that, 'Nix. Get some rest, okay? It's getting dark." Scarlett nodded to the dimming lights, signaling the night.

"Okay. Promise you won't leave?"

"Promise."

Scarlett didn't sleep. She stayed up through the 'night', sitting up with her arms wrapped around her knees. Snores and sniffles filled the cabin, along with a few shuffling of nurses' feet. Louis finally succumbed to slumber, his body rock still and quiet as he slowly slept.

She didn't know how long passed, whether it be minutes or hours, but her subconscious mind made her think about him again.

"What the hell?" The man breathed.

"why were you in my way?" Scarlett said back, pointing her gun warily.

"Doll, I wasn't in your way." The man smirked.

She warily sized him up, starting with the suit. White and blue, no doubt coming from somewhere he needed to dress up. Maybe a casino. Yeah, a casino was right. He had a strong jaw, with black stubble lining his face. He had thin, but masculine lips, a ski slope nose, and emerald green eyes. He held an assault rifle. Nothing special, other than the fact he was holding it wrong.

"I'm not going to bite." He said sarcastically, bringing his eyes to her face.

"I hope not. I'm Scarlett, the badass bitch your lucky to meet."She cocked an eyebrow

"Nick. Badass bitch, huh?"He winked, making her insides slosh.

"Do you have teammates?" Scarlett asked.

"I got three. You?" He made a face.

"Two." She replied, looking at her feet.

"There's a safe room up ahead, maybe they're close by." Nick grumbled.

"I doubt it. Probably lighting shit on fire." She stifled a laugh.

"Ahh. So they're rednecks?" He scoffed.

"Unfortunately. Jonathan and Tyler. War vet and a dumbshit teenager." Scar groans, padding up the stairs.

"We gotta dumbshit, names Ellis." he responds by pointing his gun at the group.

"He doesn't look like one." Scar said, cocking her head.

"Trust me, he is." Nick popped his jaw.

"Are you going to introduce me or what?" Scarlett snapped.

"Well, I didn't bring you up here just to look." he snapped back

Scar lowly chuckled at the memory of their first encounter, remembering how much of a bitch she was back then. How much he had changed her from then. Her eyes were flecked with salty tears, her fingers tracing the engagement ring he had given her. The flashbacks were almost to much to bear right now. Escaping the mall. Meeting Phoenix. Saving Josie from the Whispering Oaks amusement park. Defying death countless times. All of the memories connected to his face, his laugh.

Something made her jump out of the thoughts. The helicopter jumped up and down, before a metallic screech filled the cabin. Lights went completely out. People were screaming. Scarlett's heart dropped as the helicopter did, knowing this was going to be it. This was her deathbed. The helicopter was going to crash, and kill everyone on board. Never being much of a religious girl, (her mother raised her as a Catholic, but she stuck to her Dad's Lutheran views) Scarlett grasped Phoenix and Louis' hands in the darkness.

"God, please have mercy on us. Please make this as painless as possible."

And that's when the helicopter crashed.

Perspiration dripped off the cave's walls, the droplets splattering on the ice cold floor. Desi was mesmerized, the snow beginning to melt from the heat of the fire inside. They had kept the tarp over the opening, mainly since about a foot of snow was falling nightly. It was probably about eight at night, and she could hear the shuffling of dead feet against snow crystals. Bristol exhaled slightly as she chewed on a few strands of dried grass, her beautiful snow white tale moving back and forth. She was a beautiful Clydesdale, at least sixteen hands across.

Roland was poking at the roasting logs absentmindedly, the fire crackling and spitting out grey smoke. His hair was astray, his eyes darker and less optimistic. They had been stuck in the cave for at least a week, and supplies were running out. Desi prayed the snow storm would let up for a few hours so they could gather resources. Desi sat across from him, his jacket draped around her body. She was freezing, and Roland refused to let her be cold.

"When do you think this storm will thaw out?" She asked, watching his eyes flick up to hers.

"Soon, I hope. Bristol's getting antsy, and I can't stand staying put for this long."

"Neither."

The awkwardness could be cut with a butter knife. After the kiss, Roland had been different around her. Desi couldn't understand why he was acting so strange around her. He would only sleep close to her when the night was at its coldest, and only speak to her if spoken to. Desi got up with a huff, pushing his jacket off her body. He looked at her with a somber expression as she turned to look outside.

"Are you okay?" He whispered.

"I should ask you the same thing, Roland." Desi responded.

"Look-" Roland started.

"Did I do something? You're ignoring me, and you're acting like I'm a stranger or something. Shit, I dunno." Desi threw her hands in the air for emphasis.

"Des, it's not you! It's just that, I like you, okay? A lot. And it's weird, because I only met you like two weeks ago." Roland blurted.

Desi sighed, sitting back down next to Roland. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno." Roland put his head in his hands.

"You don't have to be scared of me, Rol. The only person worse than me is my brother." She laughed.

"I dunno if thats reassuring." Roland laughed back, nudging her slightly. "Tell me more about him."

"My brother?" Desi coughed. "Umm, okay. Nick was the typical ladies man in high school. We were two years apart, so I basically knew all about him. He sold drugs, had sex, and practically did all the things he was taught not to. Then, he moved to Vegas and never saw my parents again. I visited him once in a while, I lived in Denver, but he always had a girl or two hanging off of him."

"Well, I'm not like him." Roland wrapped his arm around her waist.

"But he genuinely cared about people. Well, at least me. We spent all the holidays together, and when I got sick, he came and cared for me in the hospital."

"You got sick? What kind?" Roland asked..

Desi sighed awkwardly. He was probably going to be disgusted. "A while back ago, I had a boyfriend named Peter. He was kind of a sleaze, but we really loved each other. Nick obviously hated him, warning me that he was most likely going to kidnap me or murder me. One night, Peter and I got into a heated argument, and he tied me to a bed..." Desi gulped.

"You don't have to finish if this is uncomfortable." Roland reassured her.

"No, no. You need to know this. Peter raped me that night. He took away my virginity. And a few days later, I passed out at Nick's when he was out selling weed or something. He took me to the ER, and they found out I had contracted syphilis. Nick went berserk. But I wasn't upset about that, seeing as though it's curable. The STD had made my eggs infertile, and sterilized me." Desi slowly finished.

"Des, I'm so sorry this happened. Did Nick take care of him?" Roland wondered.

"Never heard from him again, so I'm guessing yeah. " Desi felt herself resting her head on his shoulder.

"Y'know, I'm really starting to like you." Roland grinned.

"Same here."

"Jockey!" Nathan called out as the infected leaped at him.

Josie finished it off for him, Nathan kicking the head in for good emphasis. Both of them ad hardly gotten out with their lives, let alone firepower. Nathan was lucky enough to find a Remington shotty, while Josie was stuck with a Desert Eagle and a nasty attitude. Josie had also found a fully gassed up Jeep Cherokee, which had supplies and food rations to last them a few weeks. They had driven northwards, following Derrick's plan to reunite the group, but had ran out of gas twenty miles from the Washington border.

"I have never seen a place so rainy!" Josie exclaimed, looking around.

Nathan grinned, slinging his shotgun around his back. The infected here were slightly younger, the skin not yet rotting off their bodies or turning a ghastly gray. They almost, almost looked like humans. A metallic red saferoom door glinted in the slick rain, thunder cracking above them. The storm sounded like it was going to get worse, and Nathan didn't want to get stuck in it. The duo climbed up into the saferoom, as it was built into a gigantic pine tree.

"I missed automatic weapons." Nathan sighed, looking at the guns that laid on the ground.

"Well, you're in luck then." Josie smirked, snapping a new clip into her magnum.

Nathan picked up a glossy M27 and put the nose sticking out of the door, and fired a few rounds. The infected were slower due to the massive amounts of rain pouring down on them, which gave Nathan better accuracy. Soon, all of the infected lay face down in a pool of their own blood. Josie snorted slightly as Nathan blew on the nose of his gun in emphasis, before slipping into the shadows of the room and falling asleep.

Nathan also sat down, but he couldn't fall asleep. His mind raced, thinking about everything... Especially her. Nathan wished he could see Phoenix again, so he could tell her exactly how he feels about her. Nathan saw himself falling harder and harder for the ginger haired child every day, and now he was almost as crazy as Nick to find her. Nathan had read the messages Ellis had sent to Josie. Besides from the vomit inducing love notes, Ellis spoke of Nick's attempt at suicide.

It was scary to hear that a man that tough and strong could succumb to all of this pain for a girl. Sure, Scarlett and Nick were so in love that it annoyed the shit out of Nathan, but both of them were his friends. Nathan remembered this one time when he had fallen off a rooftop and scratched up his knee, and how scared Scarlett seemed to be. Nathan blamed it on her maternal instinct.

And that's when he heard the helicopter whirring above the safehouse. His first instinct was to run outside and flag it down, but it didn't sound in prime condition. The sound got louder and louder until it was at least twenty feet away. Then, an explosion so loud Nathan swore it was right on top of him. The jolt woke Josie up.

"What in the name of-" Josie staggered up.

"A helicopter just crashed out there." Nathan stated the obvious.

"Shall we check for supplies, or what?" Josie looked out of the saferoom door.

"Is it safe? No walkers?" Nathan peered out behind her.

"Nope. C'mon, I bet we can find a survivor or two!" Josie hopped out of the room.

Hmm, wonder who that could be!? :) hope you enjoy this simple chapter, please give me feedback!

Nikki