Author's Note: Well, since nobody else did anything, I decided to throw together a few short little stories myself =/ however, if you still wanna submit a story, go ahead and send me an e-mail. It's a hotmail account, DarkAngel347.

Send it and as long as it's literate, I'll more than likely put it up here!

Story Title: The Competition

Author: DarkAngel347

Genre: Comedy

Summary: Andy and Kyle decide to have a friendly contest to see who the better sniper is.

Paintball guns.

Deep in the sporting goods there had been a good amount of paintball guns along with ammunition. There were a rainbow of colors too; red, green, blue, orange, pink, purple. The colors were nearly endless. When Michael had stumbled upon this assortment of nowhere near lethal weaponry, everyone had had the same idea.

All out battle royal!

Well... not quite.

The group split itself into two teams and to keep things fair; Kyle and Ken were placed on opposite teams and made the team leaders. In the end it had broken down to Tucker, Steve, Terry on Kyle's team while Michael, Melissa, Ana and were on Ken's team. Everyone else had decided to sit it out or just hadn't been around when the game was brought up like Andre and Luda.

They're decided that the top floor of the mall and the roof was their playground. There had been three games. During the first round, surprisingly enough, Kyle was the first to be shot. He'd stepped out of his hiding place to take a shot at Ana who'd been creeping around alone in the middle of the mall, an obvious trap, when a hail of orange paintballs hit him. Kenneth was the culprit. In the end of the first round, it had come down to Terry and Steve against only Ken. Somehow, the police sergeant demolished them.

During the second round Kyle kicked it into overkill mode; he'd begun to hunt down everyone on the opposite team on a one man mission to eliminate them all. He'd managed to take out Melissa and Michael, but Ken once again stopped his assault. Well, not before Kyle had managed to whirl around and fire off his own rounds. With three-on-one, Kyle's team made short work of Ana.

It then all came down to round three. Kyle and Ken had become rivals in this game and picked off each other's team members single-handedly. Between the two of them, it had taken a total of thirty minutes to end the round.

Kyle lost.

The next day, Kenneth had been going over the competition and his victory, explaining it to Andy the gun store own who was across the lot. Kyle was still stewing, drinking down a glass of hot chocolate he'd gotten from Hollow Grounds when Ken had turned to him.

"Hey Kyle." He said.

Kyle glanced up at the police sergeant, signaling for him to continue.

"Andy wants to know if you wanna do a shooting contest."

The idea was odd. Andy had a seemingly infinite amount of ammunition supply in his store, but the group here in the mall had a very limited supply. Beside, how could they tell who was shooting what?

For some unknown reason, Andy had a few of his own paintball guns in his store. Apparently he'd originally tried selling them as treats for teenagers and other paintball lovers, but since the mall had them too, it didn't work out in the end and he'd never made the time to get rid of them. Now, however, they could be put to good use.

The competition was set. Each shooter suited up a paintball gun complete with scope and tweaked it out the way they wanted. Early the next morning, they prepared for the competition to begin. Kyle would be using bright, neon green paintballs while Andy was using bright orange.

Kyle and Andy both loaded their weapons with fifty paintballs and had a large tub of their paintball color next to them, ready for when they needed to reload. The rules had been decided.

It was a five minute window; in those five minutes, both snipers would shoot as many Infected as they could. The head was worth ten points while the body was five. Whoever had the most points in the end was the winner.

Kyle grinned and crouched down near the edge of the roof. Across the way at the gun store, Andy did the same. Ken stood behind the Lieutenant, a large water balloon in his hand. When the balloon hit the ground, the competition was on.

"You can do it, Kyle!" Melissa cheered from behind him.

"We've all seen Andy's skills." Steve said. "I don't think Kyle has a chance in Hell." He snorted.

Melissa responded by elbowing his softly in the ribs. "And you've never seen Kyle's skills. He saved my life with that rifle he had."

Steve only grunted, mumbling to himself.

"Andy's ready." Ken said, glancing down at Kyle. "What about you?"

"Yeah, let's do this." Kyle answered with a nod.

A couple of seconds later, Kenneth hurled the balloon. Kyle tensed a bit as the balloon flew through the air; hand around the small stopwatch he'd be using. As soon as the balloon exploded, Kyle's thumb came down and clicked the button. Time started counting down.

As soon as he pushed down, the watch left his grip and he brought both hands to the gun. He took aim the nearest Infected, a small woman, and eased the trigger back. About two seconds later, a flower of green exploded onto the woman's shoulder. Beside her, two counter colored flowers of orange burst to life on two other Infected.

"Shit," Kyle continued his assault, doing his best to hit what he could in the head. "he's good."

Splat, splat, splat, splat. Down below, orange and green flowers exploded all over. The Infected crowds below weren't pleased with the small paintballs hitting them and they groaned in agitation, some turned and swatted at the closest Infected to them.

Kyle squeezed the trigger back and seconds later, the burst of green splattered all over an Infected man's face. The man stumbled back, grunting in surprise. When Kyle turned to target another, nothing happened.

"Damn!" Kyle left his sniping position so that he could reload. About four seconds later, Andy began to reload as well.

As soon as the weapon was ready, Kyle got back into position and began squeezing out paintballs again.

This continued for the next five minutes. The stopwatch Kyle had set began to beep as he was reloading for the fourth time. Grunting, he glanced back at Ken. The police sergeant nodded and Ana went to work counting off points. Kyle glanced down at the Infected below, noting that a good chunk of them were covered in paint. He laughed, trying to find out if he had more points or Andy. Fifteen minutes later, Ana had finished counting.

"Well... Honestly, it's hard to tell who had more points." She explained.

Kyle frowned, glancing up at her. "What do you mean?"

Ana shrugged. "I mean I have to say it's a tie."

"Damn." Kenneth said, genuinely surprised. "Didn't see that coming."

Kyle stood up. "W-wait! A tie! We can't have a tie!" He exclaimed. "We have to have a rematch!"

Everyone looked at each other. Kenneth laughed and shrugged, scribbling something down on his whiteboard. He held it up and Andy glanced over at it from across the way with his binoculars. He then wrote something down on his own whiteboard and held it up for Ken.

"Rematch is on." Kenneth declared. "He's got some purple paintballs he can use. We'll go get some red ones."

Kyle grinned in delight and began to empty out the green paintballs he'd been reloading into his paintball gun. Ten minutes later, Michael and Terry came back jugs full of red paintballs. Kyle didn't wait for them to start loading them in the tub, he snatched one of the jugs and began to shovel them into his gun. The stopwatches were reset, Kenneth filled up another waterballoon and both snipers took their positions again.

Kyle wait impatiently for things to start. This time he was determined to win. As soon as the second water balloon shattered, both unleashed a hail of fire on the crowd. After a good five minutes and a ton of paintballs, the shooting stopped the counting began. This time Michael was the one to count. After a few minutes, he pinched his lips.

"Umm..."

"Umm what?" Kyle asked.

"Well... It's close Kyle. Too close..." Michael said hesitantly.

"What! You've gotta be kidding me! Dammit!"

"Sorry."

"Another rematch!"

And another rematch was declared. Unfortunately, the results were the same this time. And the next time. And the next time. And the next time. And the next time. And the next time...

The sun was beginning to sit as Kyle and Andy ended their eighteenth rematch. After hearing the results, which were the same as every other time, Kyle declared another rematch.

"Give it up, Kyle!" Michael, one of the only four spectators left up on the roof, said.

"Never! I refuse to allow this end in a draw!"

"Sorry bucko, but it looks like it has." Tucker chimed in.

"I refuse to accept this!"

"Looks like you don't have much of a choice." Kenneth said, chuckling. "Andy's going to sleep early tonight."

"What! No! No, no, no! Dammit!" Kyle stamped his feet in a rather child-like manner, causing everyone else to laugh.

Sulking, Kyle slumped to the edge of the build and sat down. Meanwhile, Kenneth, Tucker and Michael made their way to the stairs. Melissa, however, walked over to Kyle and took a seat next to him. After a few seconds of silence, she turned to him and smirked.

"You're a pretty competitive guy." She said.

Kyle shrugged. "Yeah, I can be."

"That from the Marines?"

"Nah. I've always been that way."

They both laughed.

"It actually got me into a couple fights at boot camp though." Kyle admitted. "Card games at break got alot of people mad at me." The Marine grinned, turning toward Melissa. "I'm a total card shark."

The News Reporter giggled. "I'm not too bad at Poker myself." She declared. "C.J. and Bart seem to be good too since that's pretty much all they do cooped up in that cell. Maybe we'll all have to sit down and play sometime."

Kyle nodded in agreement as he stood up, helping the Latino Reporter up as well. As she was pulled to her feet, she smiled brightly. As they walked toward the stairs, she turned to him.

"You sure to be in better spirits." Melissa pointed out.

Kyle nodded, still grinning. "Yep."

"Why's that?"

"I've got something to look forward to tonight. I'm sure I saw an unopened pack of playing cards in one of the stores while we were looking around. I like my cards to be nice and fresh when I play."

Melissa stopped dead in her tracks, her smile fading as the First Lieutenant continued forward, disappearing down the stairs. She stood there for a couple of seconds, wondering if Terry and Nicole knew any good hiding places in the mall.

What had she gotten herself into?

Story Title: Ladies Night

Author: DarkAngel347

Genre: Comedy/Hinted Romance(s)

Summary: The ladies take over Hollow Grounds and half of the second floor, making it a 'girl's only' territory.

Oddly enough, it had been Norma's idea. It was her idea to chase all the guys out of Hollow Grounds and block off a good portion of the Mall's second floor for what would be a ladies night in. Nicole had been a bit unsure, unwilling to leave her new found boyfriend Terry. After some convincing however, she agreed. Unfortunately, Luda absolutely refused to leave Andre's side. Oh well, her loss. Now, the ladies roamed free on the second floor of the Cross Roads Mall. This was now Norma, Ana, Melissa, Monica, Nicole's territory. At least for the night.

There was plenty of giggling and chattering between the females as Ana finished pouring a large mug of hot chocolate for herself. Everyone else had a mug and were dressed in what they consider to be their P.J's.

Nicole was dressed in a long sleeved, satin, baby blue colored Capri pajamas outfit that was decorated with stars while her hair was tied back into two tiny pigtails.

Ana was dressed in similar attire to when she'd first arrived at the mall; cotton pants there were turquoise in color and a wife beater tank top. As usual, her hair was tied back into a low-set ponytail.

Monica was dressed in something a bit more sultry than the rest; a thin, spaghetti strapped top and a pair of black boy shorts with red lacing while her hair, was usual, was wild and messy.

Melissa was dressed in a black colored wife beater, courtesy of an unwilling Kyle, and a pair of violet, satin boxers which traveled down just below above her knee. Her hair, which she had had shortened a bit earlier in the day was nice and fluffy thanks to a shower and tied back like Ana's.

Finally, there was Norma. Norma had a thick, fluffy white robe draped over a pale pink, traditional style nightgown which did strangely well to suit her aging body.

All in all, the males who had been chased away were jealous that they couldn't join in the girl's festivities - mainly because there'd be no eye candy tonight. It was no secret many of the males gave their female companions admiring glances more than once a day, even if they failed to admit it, like Kenneth, Michael and Kyle. Tucker and Steve made no attempts to hide their lustful thoughts and gazes. Tucker would constantly whistle at the younger girls, though even then, it was usually a joke and Steve was... well, Steve; it was no secret that he and Monica were basically fuck buddies.

Terry and Andre however were probably the only two who didn't; Terry was too busy with Nicole to have a wandering eye and Andre was never around, and even when he was, he never spared anyone more time than absolutely needed. Everyone thought it was rather cute that Andre was so committed to his wife and her pregnancy.

"Mmm, this is nice." Ana said after taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "No guys to worry about."

"I dunno..." Nicole said, her knees hugged against her chest.

"Oh don't worry, Nicole." Melissa said, patting the younger girls shoulder. "Terry'll be just fine without you for one night. Besides, you two need the time apart. You two've been spending so much time together, you'll end up suffocating each other. One of the keys to a good relationship is knowing when to give each other space and how much to give."

Nicole nodded, a smile appearing on her face. "Thanks."

"Speaking of Terry," Ana said, propping her head up with her hand and knee. "you two seem pretty close."

Nicole's cheeks tinted a light shade of pink as she nodded.

"Have you put out?" Monica asked suddenly, leaning forward.

In a second, the pink Nicole's face stained a dark scarlet color. She shook her head furiously as she buried her face in her knees. Everyone else laughed.

"Do you still actually have your V-card, Nicole?" Monica inquired.

"Well... yeah." The blush on Nicole's face stayed as gave a muffled answer.

"That's cute." Monica giggled before looking around at everyone else. "What about you girls? Anybody else still have their virginity?"

Norma was the first to answer. "Sweetie, I've had five husbands. What do you think?"

Everyone laughed before turning the conversation to Ana.

"Nope." Ana said. "My third boyfriend. I was convinced he was the one and he just might've been if he hadn't gotten Cancer."

"Awww, I'm sorry hun." Norma said with a frown.

"It's alright." Ana said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "When I met Luis, everything got better."

There was a small fit of laughter as Ana was forced to explain an abridged version of what went down with her third boyfriend.

"Mm, that sounds nice. He sounds like he was a good guy in more than one way." Monica said snickering.

"Hard to find these days." Melissa pointed out.

"That's for damn sure." Norma agreed.

Everyone then turned their attention to Melissa, skipping over Monica. It was plainly clear that the curly haired blond was no angel; she and Steve had a rather… lustful relationship. No real shame in that though, was there? Maybe, maybe not.

"And how about you, Melissa?" Monica asked, leaning closer to the New Reporter.

Melissa's face suddenly turn a light shade of red. She curled up a bit, pulling her knees to her chest in similar manner to Nicole. She giggled before shaking her head. "No, I'm not."

There was a small gasp, then a giggling fit. Before she knew it, Melissa was bombarded with multiple questions.

"Who was it?"

"How long did it last?"

"Was he good?"

"Was he a sweet guy like mine?"

"How did you feel afterwards?"

"What age did you do it at?"

Melissa shrugged her shoulders, her smile and blush fading. Everyone suddenly calmed down and pulled back, a bit put off by Melissa's sudden change of attitude. Sighing, she spoke. "It was a mistake. That's all."

"Hm… I see darling." Norma said with a slight nod. "We won't push it anymore."

The group nodded in compliance and Melissa slowly formed another smile. "Thanks."

"No problem darling." Norma smiled. "Anyways, let's move onto the next topic of discussion. The guys."

The group brightened up at this, everyone grinning.

"Mmm, I don't know about you guys, but Kyle's a fine little soldier boy." Monica said, not bothering to hide the lust behind her voice. "But he's so straight-edge and old school. I tried and didn't get anywhere. It was kind of a bummer."

"M'hm. Kyle's a high-class kinda guy. He's sweet, and kind, and nice, and chivalrous, and just all around great." Melissa said dreamily.

"Oh my, sounds like someone has a crush." Ana said with a large grin.

Melissa squeaked, her face reddening again. She shook her head quickly in response. "No, it's not like that." She protested.

"Oh, don't kid us Mel." Monica rolled her eyes. "We all know how close you two are."

"Yeah, and have you seen the way he looks at you? I think he might have a thing for you too." Nicole said with a smile.

Melissa's red face only continued to darken as everyone spoke. She shook her head once more. "No, I don't like Kyle like that. We're just friends."

"For now." Norma said suddenly. "You like him, it's plain to see and we're all pretty sure he likes you too."

"Exactly." Ana chimed in ."You've gotta go and get closer to him. You're the closest person to him and vice versa. Not to mention you two make a good couple."

Melissa looked around at all the other girls. She pinched her lips together, trying to come up with some type of material she could use in a protest. After several long seconds, she nodded bashfully. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"Of course we're right!" Ana grinned.

"Hm. Speaking of couples…" Melissa shot back, her own grin forming. "What about you and Michael?"

Ana's grin instantly faded, a light blush crossing her cheeks. "What about me and Michael?" She asked.

"Oh ho, now it's time for you to be all shy." Monica said, laughing.

"I'm not shy!" Ana shouted. "I'm just… unsure."

"Unsure?" Norma blinked. "Ana, you two have been spending a lot of time together, especially lately. Plus, the way he talks when he's around you and stuff. Have you noticed? I think he's got a bit of a thing for you hun."

Ana sighed softly, shaking her head. "I'm not scared that he doesn't like me, I'm sure he does. I mean… well, you know. We're close and stuff, it's just…" She hesitated before going on. "I've already lost someone I care about to this whole thing. I don't wanna lose another…"

Everyone paused. Every girl - Hell, everyone in the whole mall could relate to Ana in that department. There was an awkward silence as everyone became lost in their own thoughts. Finally though, Melissa opened up.

"Ana, I think we can all relate to you there. Everyone we've known or cared about is dead, or... worse." The Hispanic News Reporter swallowed. "But... we can't let this stop us. We all have to keep moving forward and live our lives. New people to meet, new romances to be involved in, new families to be apart of. That's what this is all about, right? We're all like... one big, strange family. In a werid way..."

All eyes were on Melissa now. Again, there was a brief silence before everyone grinned and began to cheer.

"Damn, Melissa. You should be a motivational speaker." Norma said.

"Yeah Melissa, that was great!" Nicole threw in her two cents.

"Definitely. Thank Melissa, that really helped." Ana smiled.

Melissa's cheeks were once again red from embarrassment. "Oh, don't compliment me like that. My head's big enough already."

The feeling of happiness had returned.

The chattering and conversations went on for another three hours. It was 12:00 am before the girls decided it was time for sleep. They all curled on the floor and began to fall asleep rather quickly. Melissa smiled to herself as she lay under a baby blue comforter. In all honesty, she had been quite unsure that she was thinking right before her little speech. She felt close to everyone in the mall - Ana, Nicole, Monica, Norma, Michael, Kenneth, Kyle, Tucker, Glen, even Steve. She had been unsure that they felt the same, but now she knew.

She was glad she had been wrong.